Desolate

After just a few minutes of driving, the box of saltine crackers she’d eaten from the convenience store was starting to churn in her stomach and her head was pounding from the numerous shots that were being shot at the herd of zombies still following them. She pressed her foot harder on the pedal to hopefully lose the zombies and the gun shots would stop. It seemed like forever before the shooting finally stopped.

“We won’t be able to stop for awhile,” Charlie mumbled, her eyes still on the herd of zombies that had gotten bored with them and stopped. Jordan swallowed hard, trying to send the crackers and bile back down to her stomach. She pressed her lips together and took deep breaths.

“Are you ok?” Zakk asked softly from the passenger seat.

“No, but I’ll live,” she mumbled under her breath. She rubbed her stomach and moaned softly. She glanced behind her to see if there was good distance between them and the zombies before she slammed on the brakes, “I just need to…”

She ran into an alleyway, out of their sight. Without any reaction time, Charlie slammed open the back doors and ran after her. Zakk sat in silence with Darren, Alex and Oliver for a few more seconds before he followed.

Charlie turned the corner and found Jordan on her hands and knees, her body shaking violently and rubbing her throat. Zakk met up with her and stood frozen, staring at Jordan but unable to say anything. Charlie glanced at Zakk and then walked slowly towards Jordan as if she were infected.

“I’m sorry I did that,” Jordan said softly, stumbling back onto her feet. Charlie wrapped her arm around Jordan’s shaking shoulders and sympathetically led her back to the van. It was one of the only times Zakk had seen Charlie with any kind of emotion on her face. He silently followed as they climbed back into the back of the van.

“Oliver,” Charlie said, gesturing to the steering wheel as she laid Jordan down. Oliver gave her a nod as he slid into the driver’s seat. They all stared at Jordan awkwardly and even Zakk couldn’t even help but stare. Charlie laid a blanket on top of Jordan and sat down by her feet. Zakk slowly sat down by Jordan’s head and slowly ran his fingers through her hair. She sighed softly and her nerves loosened.

“Maybe we should try to find something for her stomach,” Charlie said as she stood up and slipped into the passenger seat with Oliver.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Oliver asked, “I mean, we just had a herd of zombies chasing after us.”

“True…” Charlie muttered, tapping her chin with her finger, “but Jordan could slow us down.”

“It’s up to you,” Oliver mumbled. Charlie sighed and considered it for a moment. Jordan’s condition probably wasn’t fatal, but her throwing up all the time would really slow them down, and with their luck, she would slow them down when they would be trying to move quickly. And who knew when the oversized group of zombies would be coming back. They were fast and they hadn’t driven far enough to fully lose them.

Finally, Charlie said, “I think we can stop somewhere, for a while. If we can’t find anything in a few minutes, we’ll leave.”

Oliver turned into a small driveway into a shopping center with a Jamba Juice, a Game Stop, and a Rite Aid. Charlie gestured for everyone to follow her into the Rite Aid. Charlie pretty much knew where she could find medicine. But everyone took it as an opportunity to grab whatever they wanted. Even Jordan wanted to get up and look around.

“This teen pregnancy thing is so bad that they have pamphlets in every aisle,” Jordan muttered to Zakk as she picked one up. Zakk nodded in agreement as he grabbed another one. She looked through the pamphlet.

“Listen to this, the signs that are pointing to pregnancy are nausea, sensitive to certain foods, fatigue, and missed periods,” Jordan said, pursing her lips in disgust. She quickly folded the pamphlet and walked away.

“Charlie, this medicine isn’t necessary,” Jordan mumbled when she saw Charlie. Charlie looked up from the different boxes of medicines.

“Are you sure?” she said softly, “you feel better?”

“Yeah, totally,” Jordan replied awkwardly. Zakk came into the aisle, still reading the pamphlet that Jordan had rejected.

“What are you reading?” Charlie asked. Zakk looked up for a second, then looked back at the pamphlet, as if he didn’t see Charlie or hear her. Charlie snatched the pamphlet out of Zakk’s hands and studied it before she raised her eyebrows at him.

“Why are you reading this?” she asked softly. Zakk stood silently, as he had been for the past few hours. She looked at Zakk, then back at Jordan, then at Zakk again. She narrowed her eyes at Zakk and sighed as she rubbed her temples.

“You’ve got to be KIDDING ME…”