Becoming Them: A Zombie Novel

Fourteen

     It had been a few days since all the commotion with Jamie leaving, Joe kicked out, and Luther dead. The surrounding air had a sickly feel to it, and the symptoms of it would be grief, anger, sorrow, and isolation. The rest of the group would go about their day with hardly anything to say, only acknowledging one another through pointless greetings and orders on what to do and stuff. It was suffocating living with people that began to act like ... zombies.

     For some reason, Skylar could not sleep. Maybe it was because of the talk she had with Gavin. She had spoken to him when those other people needed help at the police station. He made her feel weird. Made her feel as though she should doubt the people who helped her and her brother from starving to death or dying in the rotting hands of the zeds that were trapped in the mall.

     At the same time, her mind continued to buzz from reminiscing the earlier events, making them play like a story. Her heart thumped rapidly against the walls of her chest. Her parents came to mind now, and it was always at night that she remembered them, the longing for them both being unbearable. Inevitably, tears emerged at her eyes and she wiped at them before they turned her into a wet mess.

     Leaving her mum behind was the worst thing she'd ever done. She regretted not going back for her every day. She always thought about how different things could have been. How she, Elliot, her mum and dad could have been out of this damned country, but it was decided at the last minute that they'd stay because of the late-stage cervical cancer that kept her mum bedridden due to the intense pain. She had run out of medication to alleviate the pain, and now she had the zeds to deal with, too. It wasn't great that she and Elliot had already lost their father, but not being able to know what happened to their mother was heart-breaking. Most likely she was dead, and Skylar weighed the blame on herself for being too much of a coward to go back and save her.

     If only they had left ... her parents would still be alive, and she wouldn't have to blindly trust a group of strangers.

     She rested a small finger on her cracked, dry lips and then realised she needed some water.

     What if those people that claimed to be so good were really not so good after all? What if Gavin was right?

     Skylar only got to talk with Gavin for a few minutes, but in that time, he seemed like a nice guy to her. She didn't understand why they would want to tie him up like he was some sort of animal.

     She thought she'd use the excuse of going to drink water to be able to talk to him again, that is if the topic ever came up with the others.

     Slipping out of the covers, she steadied her woozy self. 

     It was pitch black outside, Skylar confirmed. The outside was empty, no sign of life detected. Her chest felt empty seeing that.

     Along with feeling unsure about her safety with those people, Skylar had another dangerous thought. Sure, she was grateful for them to have saved her and Elliot, but something just screamed at her in her mind that she was wasting effort to survive and it was pointless since death was inescapable. Why else would God spread this dreadful disease? To wipe out the human race, of course. And it would not stop until every human soul was taken. The thought made Skylar want to give up sometimes. 

     Skylar scoffed. Only eleven and she was already having suicidal thoughts. This was what the disease did to people. What kind of childhood was that? However, she didn't have the strength or courage to go through with it, and sometimes she was thankful for that.

     Trudging tiredly down the stairs, Skylar made her way to the kitchen, having to pass through the living room first. She spared the prisoner a look. His head hung limply over his chest and she'd have thought he was dead if he hadn't been snoring so loudly. A sliver of saliva grossly escaped his lips. The man's hands were tied behind him as he was sat on a chair, his legs tied together, too. Dark red marks had appeared at his skin. Skylar made a look of disgust at that.