CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 3~

What is happening?

I thought to myself.

We waited for hours for the zombies to pass by our hiding place, but they kept lingering around making it impossible for anyone to leave yet.

I guess we'll all be spending a night here because it was really dark already.

"Diana I'm scared." My little sister said to me with tears in her eyes.

"I know Mel. I'm scared too. But don't worry, I'll get us home, one way or another. I promise." I said to her and held her in my arms.

"What if something bad has happened to Mom?" She asked me.

"Nothing bad has happened. Let's not think that way just yet. Okay?" I say to her and she nodded and placed her head on my shoulder.

We spent the rest of the night snuggled closely to each other.

Thankfully she was able to close her eyes a bit. I, on the other side, couldn't sleep a wink, not with all the thoughts running through my mind.

~~~~~~

My eyes remained wide open until there was brightness again.

It's morning already.

"Okay everyone, I know we're all feeling very tired and confused right now but don't give up hope yet. We need to make it to our homes first." A middle aged Man said to everyone.

I shaked Mel a bit, trying to wake her up.

"Hey. It's morning already." She said with a sleepy voice.

"Yeah. It's time to go." I said to her and she nodded lazily.

Everyone in the shop stood up, stretching and flexing a bit after sitting uncomfortably the whole night.

The Man from earlier opened the shop first, peeping outside to check for any form of dangers, once he stepped outside, everyone followed suit, one by one.

Everywhere looked so quiet, no single person in sight, no movement of any sort.

Just us bunch of strangers walking down the street in silence.

We walked for some more hours and everyone seemed to be getting tired already.

Some slowed down their paces, lagging behind, but Mel and myself tried to keep up with the ones up front.

"Diana, I'm so hungry and thirsty." Mel said to me.

I observed her face closely and she looked like she was going to pass out any moment.

"Hold on." I said to her and unzipped my backpack.

I had a bottle of water and some chocolate bars in it.

"Here have some water first." I gave her the bottle to drink.

I also gave her one of the chocolate bars and took one for myself, leaving the last one in my bag just in case for later.

"I'm sorry, can I have some of that please?" A lady asked us.

"Yeah me too. Just a little bit." Another man also requested.

Before I knew it, a few more people surrounded us, asking for some of the water and chocolate.

I looked pitifully at my sister. Before breaking my own bars into tiny pieces and sharing with who I could.

Mel mirrored my gestures and did the same with hers.

We did the same thing with the water too.

"Don't worry, I've got one more bar just for the both of us." I whispered to my sister's ears and she managed a small smile.

~

After the long journey, some of the people separated as we were all going to different directions.

Thankfully, We finally got to the street close to where we lived but the only problem was the zombies crawling all around the area.

There were 6 other people leaving in that area as well.

Atleast I was glad it wasn't just Mel and I.

"Guys stay down and walk behind something. Don't let them sight us." An elderly man said to us and we complied.

We were being as careful as we could until Mel mistakenly stepped on an empty can which made everyone panick.

"Shit. Careful kid." One of the lady with us whispered aggressively.

"Oh no, they're coming this way." The elderly man said.

"I'm sorry everyone, but I believe you can get to your various houses on your own now." The elderly man said to us and crawled to the other side of the road, leaving us.

"Mel get ready to run." I told my sister and she nodded.

We sneaked around the car we were using as a hiding spot and picked up a race. Down the road, straight to our house.

Once we got to the front porch, I opened my backpack to find my keys to unlock the door.

My hands kept on shaking as I searched for the key.

"Diana hurry up, they're coming!" Mel yelled out in panick.

When I successfully got my hands on the key, I inserted it into the lock only to find out the door had already been unlocked.

"Mel it's open." I said to my sister before pushing the door and the both of us got in and shut it back.

"We Made it." Mel said sounding relieved and I laughed.

"Yeah we actually did. Can't believe it." I said launching myself on the floor.

"Mom. We have to call Mom." Mel suggested.

"You're right. Need to charge my phone real quick." I said and got up from the floor to plug in my phone in the living room.

"I'm gonna go eat something. I'm so hungry." Mel said and went into the kitchen.

I was powering on my phone when I heard something break in the kitchen.

"Mel? Are you okay? What was that sound?" I asked her from the living room.

"Diana!!!" I heard Mel call for me.

Her voice sounded serious which made me leave what I was doing and ran to the kitchen.

"Oh my God." I said once I got there and saw what I saw.

Mom.

She doesn't look like herself.

"Mom??" I called to her.

My mother who was now deranged turned to face me Instead of Mel.

She growled and snarled at me which made me flinch back.

"Mel, I'll lead her to me, once I do, you make a run for it. Got it?" I said to her.

"But.....we have to help her. She's Mom!" Mel cried out.

"No. I don't think she is anymore." I said sadly while looking right at my mother.

I took a knife at the kitchen cabinet, hitting it on the counter while moving back slowly into the living room.

"Now Mel! " I yelled out to her and increased my pace as my mom started chasing me around the living room.

Mel quickly ran out of the kitchen and headed towards the front door.

When she opened it, she was met with a crowd of vile looking zombies.

I was too shocked to react.

The zombies rushed my sister and surrounded her, my Mom left my side and joined them to devour my sister mercilessly.

Mel. No.

"No!!!!" I yelled out in agony.

Suddenly all the zombies attention was focused on me now.

I panicked and ran upstairs into my room as fast as could, locking the door after me.

I slid down the door sobbing and crying my eyes out.

This can't be happening. This can't be happening.

It's not real.

I kept trying to convince myself that it was all a dream.

But no matter how much I tried, I couldn't wake up from this nightmare.

The zombies kept banging on the door, trying to knock it down.

I used my desk and anything else heavy I could find to support the door and opened up my window planning a way to escape.

I looked down from my window, contemplating how I would jump from there.

It was pretty high and I could seriously sustain an injury. But I had to try.

I'd rather die jumping from up here than dying and turning into one of those things.

I took a deep breath and finally jumped off the window, landing on my back.

I was feeling the excruciating pain from the jump on my waist area but the pain suddenly faded immediately I saw some of the zombies coming towards me.

I scurried up from the ground running.

I didn't know where I was running to, but I just kept on running as far away from my house as possible.

~~~~~~~

~A FEW WEEKS LATER ~

After days and days of wandering the town alone and breaking into some convenient stores occasionally to eat something, I couldn't let hunger be the death of me after surviving this long.

I decided to find a place I could use as a permanent shelter since my house was gone now. My whole family gone.

I decided I was going to survive this curse all alone.

I found a metal shop for tools and decided to pay it a visit, taking some weapons I could use to defend myself from the monsters.

I took some axes, hammers, and every Gardening tools I could lay my hands on and dropped them in the convenient store where I was sleeping for the night.

Thankfully there was some food and snacks here to last me for months, even a year if I was eating sparsely.

I was eating some snacks and having a drink when I heard the glass of the store shatter.

Oh no. Someone's here.

I was immediately on alert and carried my axe ready to attack what ever monster it was.

I tracked down slowly where the sound of movements was coming from and peeped from a corner. It was some guys that broke in, there was three of them.

This isn't good. This place is supposed to be my personal hiding spot.

I waited while hiding patiently for them to take whatever they wanted and leave but they were wasting too much time and it was already getting late.

What am I supposed to do now? It's not like I can just walk up to them and tell them to leave because I've made this store my home now.

I kept watching and waiting patiently for them to leave. But they never left.

They ended up staying here for the night, completely unaware of someone watching them like a hawk.

"Hey guys, do you think we should go back to the others?" One of the guys asked the others.

"I don't know men, you know what we went through to find this place. Every store around town has already been vandalized, we're lucky to find this one still stocked." The second guy said.

"But we can't just abandon everyone back at the gym. We promised to find some food, and look, we've done that, let's just take as plenty as we can and come back when it runs out." The last guy said.

"Yeah but what if someone else finds the rest of the food here before we run out of the one we take now?" The second guy said again.

"Then we'll find another store. There are lots of stores we are yet to check out. Let's just take the ones we can from here and go back. Then tomorrow, or the next, we'll come back here again for some more. Agreed?" The third guy said.

"Okay. Sounds okay to me." The first guy said in agreement.

"Okay. Sure.." the second guy said.

I sat at a hidden corner in the store with wide eyes watching them all night long.

I couldn't risk them finding out I was here.

They don't look like I can trust them.

Once it was morning, the three guys woke up and gathered more food from the store before leaving.

Immediately they left, I decided it was time for me to move out of here with the rest of the food they left behind.

I used a big bag I found in the store and stocked it up with lots of snacks and drinks and other things.

I took all the necessary stuff that I would be needing to survive, then also packed my weapons with me.

I couldn't take everything in the store because it would be impossible to carry them all with me.

I dragged the bag with me as quietly as I could along with me.

Walking down the street in fear, I prayed not to meet any monster along the way because of the load I was carrying.

Thankfully I didn't encounter any till I reached a small flower shop.

I broke open the lock and made my way inside the shop.

It wasn't as cozy as the convenient store but it seemed safe enough to me.

This is a flower shop, I don't think anyone would want to break into a place like this to vandalize anything.

I dropped the heavy bag I was with, laid my blanket on the hidden corner of the shop and took off my shoes and settled in.

I opened the bag I was with and took out a pack of snacks and a bottle of energy drink to eat that evening.

My Mom would've freaked if she found out I was taking energy drinks now. She never allowed me take them before.

Tears rolled down my eyes as I enjoyed the delicious snack and drink I was having for dinner.

~~~~~~

TBC~