Desolate

Jordan tried to be nice and help Charlie, but Charlie had punched her and Jordan held good grudges, anyone who’d known her in the past would be able to confirm that.

They were all getting ready to go when Darren opened the driver’s door, startling Jordan to a point where she almost attached herself to the ceiling of the van.

“Sorry, but I have awesome news!” he said. When no one said anything, he continued, “I found this little motel to stay in for the night. We can eat, bathe and get a good rest!”

“Did you guys check the place out first?” Jordan asked.

“Of course. It’s a small motel, it’s totally safe,” Darren said.

“Still, it’d be safer not to sleep alone,” Jordan replied. Charlie let out a loud HA! Jordan whipped her head around and glared at her.

“What?!” she snapped.

“You only said that in hopes of little Zakkie sleeping beside you and holding you in his arms,” Charlie sneered with a few more laughs.

“If I hadn’t mentioned it, you would have in the same attempt to get wittle Ollie with you,” Jordan said, giving Charlie a satisfied smirk. Charlie gave Jordan the death glare, which Jordan shrugged off.

“She’s right though Charlie,” Darren said. Charlie grumbled under her breath. Jordan turned back to Charlie and gave her another smirk before getting everyone out of the van.

“Everyone inside now,” Zakk ordered, pushing everyone towards the lobby of the motel.

“What’s happening?” Jordan asked. Zakk pointed to the group of zombies that were running towards them. Some of them ran normally, some of the limped, some of them were crawling.

Charlie prepared to fire her gun, but Zakk pushed it back down, “I can’t let you shoot with a bad arm.”

“My arm is fine Zakk, don’t patronize me!” Charlie shouted. Zakk looked at Oliver, who then grabbed Charlie and gently led her into the lobby with Zakk and Jordan following.

“What do we do now? We have to go outside to get into those rooms!” Bianca whined as she stomped her foot in frustration.

“If we go through this door, there will be a fence that will separate us from the zombies,” Darren said as he opened the side door. Everyone filed out and walked outside. Bianca stuck out her tongue at the zombies, who clawed at the iron barred gate, trying to grab her.

“Bianca! Don’t antagonize the zombies!” Jordan snapped as she yanked Bianca by the arm. They ran up the stairs and filed into one of the rooms. Jason quickly slammed the door and locked it. He twisted around with his back against the door as he slid down.

“What do we do now?” Dylan asked, panting in between her words as she flopped onto one of the beds.

“Well good work genius, now we’re trapped here. Got any other bright ideas?” Alex snapped, jabbing Darren in the chest with her finger.

“It was either that or drive and drive. In case you didn’t notice, gas stations are very limited right now!” Darren shot back, jabbing Alex’s chest with his finger. Jordan watched as the arguments spread and everyone was arguing. Jordan let out a loud yell long enough for them to shut up and look at her.

“I haven’t been here for a full day yet and I’m already fully prepared to throw you out to those things!” she yelled, pointing to the sounds of moans and groans that were outside.

“Why are you all of a sudden acting in charge, Miss Self Pity?” Charlie said, with venom embedded deep within her words. Jordan clenched her fists and began to shake.

“Just because you’ve left behind any emotion to make you human, doesn’t mean you need to ridicule me…” she grumbled. Charlie raised her eyebrows, waiting for more.

“And that gun…your brothers gave it to you, yes?” Jordan said, gesturing to the gun that Charlie held tightly in her hands. Charlie looked at it and held it tighter to her body. Jordan could see the murder that had appeared in her eyes.

“You’re constantly acting like you’re the only one who lost someone special. But instead of letting it out like a normal human being, you distance yourself and you’ve built a wall between you and the world!” Jordan said, almost on the edge of tears, “But you’re lucky. You have something to help you relive your moments with them before the world went to total crap. I have nothing.”

Everyone’s eyes went from Jordan, to Charlie to see what her response would be. But the two of them just stared at each other. Jordan was fully waiting for Charlie to make her move, but she just stood there.

“Listen girls, I think we’re all just over tired and we need some sleep,” Zakk said softly as he took Jordan by the arm and led her out of the room. Everyone else followed them, leaving Charlie and Oliver alone.

“Can you believe her?!” Charlie yelled. Oliver sat down at the end of the bed and didn’t make eye contact with her.

“Charlie, you two are more alike than you think,” Oliver said softly.

“We are nothing alike!” Charlie snapped. Oliver smiled a little at Charlie’s reaction and slid back until he laid flat on his back.

“Sure, believe what you want,” he said, chuckling softly as he rolled onto his side.

“Can you believe her? Who does she think she is?” Jordan grumbled as she followed Zakk into their room. Zakk laughed quietly to himself as he spread out on his bed.

“What’s so funny?!” Jordan demanded. Zakk sat up, still laughing a little.

“Because Jordan, you guys are so much alike. It’s like she’s been waiting for someone to challenge her, and then boom, there you were. You force more words out of her than anyone else can,” he explained.

“Please, we are nothing alike,” Jordan scoffed as she threw the comforter off her bed and crawled underneath.

Just as everyone began to doze off, they heard a loud scream coming from the room in between Jordan’s room and Charlie’s room. Following the scream were bangs, growling, groaning, gurgling, the sound of blood hitting the floor. Zakk threw open the door. Charlie shoved Zakk out of the way and barely contained her scream.

“Dylan!” she shrieked. Her eyes went from Dylan to searching the room, trying to find Darren.

“He said he checked everywhere! What the hell?!” Charlie shouted. Jordan shoved past her with her gun in hand.

“No time to ask questions, just move!” she yelled as she furiously shot the zombie in the side of the head as he finished feasting on Dylan’s flesh.

“Jordan it’s too late! You’re wasting time and ammo,” Charlie said in a small voice, staring sympathetically at Dylan’s colorless body. She struggled to breathe as she coughed up blood, almost choking on it. Jordan grabbed a pillow and almost ripped the pillowcase trying to get it off. She got on her knees and pressed the pillowcase against Dylan’s wound as her weak arms tried to push her away.

“Get out of here before…” Dylan stopped and she inhaled deeply for the last time as her entire body went limp.

“We need to get our stuff and go…now.” Charlie said softly before she turned and left the room.

“What about Darren?” Jordan said softly as she got back onto her feet.

“He’s a coward, he can just rot here,” she replied blankly. Alex, Jason and Bianca, who’d popped up at the last second, stared at Dylan’s dead body in disbelief. Zakk lightly shoved all three of them, letting them know that they had to leave and they had to leave now.

Within a few minutes, they were all ready to go, their guns loaded and ready to blow off some zombie heads. When they got down to the lobby, the zombies had moved from the gates to the front of the lobby.

“What do we do? We’re outnumbered!” Alex exclaimed.

“Just never stop shooting, that’s all I’ve got,” Zakk said, fully knowing how lame that plan was.

“Well, it’s all we’ve got. Let’s do it,” Oliver said, opening the front door to the rotten smell of dead skin and blood. No matter how many times they’d experienced the terrible smell, it wasn’t enough to be immune to it. They all gagged as they killed the zombies.

They managed to make it to the van unharmed. Jason glanced at the blue van that was a good distance away from the girls’ van.

“It’d be too much of a risk for us to get that van. We’re going to have to share this one,” Jason said as he shoved the girls inside the back of the van. Zakk got into the driver’s seat, with Oliver next to him in the passenger seat.

As they drove away from the motel, the last thing they saw was Dylan slowly walking out of her room.

Except she wasn’t Dylan anymore…