Trapped

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^*Harper’s POV*^
*^Five Years Later^*
“Well, looks like we aren’t going to have to rush today.” I told Parker as we sped down the ghostly empty freeway, and she looked around.

“Yea, I wonder where everybody is…” She trailed off, and I kicked back, propping my feet on the dashboard.

“I don’t know, but slow the fuck down, we’ll be early if we get to the shop now.” I said, and she slowed down some. I closed my eyes, hoping to get a little bit of sleep. I was up all night watching TV, and only got two hours of sleep. Not sixty seconds after I closed my eyes, Parker screamed, and I darted awake as the car lurched.

“Holy shit!” She screamed, and I looked around everywhere, but didn’t see anything.

“What?! What happened?!” I yelled, and she looked over at me, her knuckles turning white she was gripping the steering wheel so hard.

“I-I just hit someone.” She muttered, and we both jumped out of the car, and once I shut my door we both walked around the front of the car, and there was a person laying on the ground in front of us. Something wasn’t right with this person, though, he had blood smeared all around his mouth, and chunks of skin were missing from his arms and face.

“Jesus, how hard did you hit him?” I asked, and she just stared in horror.

“Not…not that hard. I was going slow.” She said, and I slowly reached my hand forward and shook his shoulder.

“Mister, are you okay?” I asked calmly, trying not to freak out that my sister may have just killed someone. “Hello, can y- AH!” I screamed as the person suddenly came to life, sinking it’s teeth into my leather jacket. “Parker! Help!” I yelled, shaking my arm furiously.

“Harp! You’re going to hurt him! He’s probably just a special needs guy! Don’t hurt him!” She yelled, but I did not spend fifty bucks on a leather jacket so some guy could use it as a chew toy.

“Get off!” I growled through gritted teeth as the man sunk his teeth deeper into my jacket. I scrambled back, but he wouldn’t let go. I put my foot on his shoulder, trying to pry him off, and then I thought I had just stepped into a nightmare, because his head popped off of his shoulders. His head was still connected to my jacket, even though his body had gone limp. I have never in my life screamed that loud. “OH MY GOD! GET IT OFF OF ME!” I cried, feeling tears stinging my eyes as I took the jacket off. I flung it as far as I could, shivering as I sat back down in the middle of the road, away from the headless corpse and next to Parker’s feet.

“HOLY FUCK YOU KILLED HIM! HARPER YOU JUST RIPPED HIS HEAD OFF!” Parker freaked out.

“P-P-Par…” I couldn’t form words. I just killed a person. Sure, I’ve threatened to rip people’s heads off before, but I’ve never actually ripped someone’s head clean off of their shoulders.

“Harper, it’s going to be okay.” Parks finally calmed down, and helped me up off of the ground. We got back in the car, and I curled up.

“Parks, I just killed someone.” I said as calmly as possible, and then looked over at her. “You were the greatest sister I’ve ever had. Will you promise to come visit me when the cops hunt me down and throw me in the slammer?” I asked, and she shook her head, obviously shaken by the incident.

“No!” She yelled, and I felt like I was going to cry. Even my own sister didn’t want to be near me.

“But you’re going to be what’s going to keep someone from making me their bitch.” I said, and she rolled her eyes.

“No! I’m saying you’re not going to prison, Harp. No one will find out, we’ll just act as if it never happened.” She said, and I looked at her as if she had lost her mind. I spaced out each of my words as I yelled at her.

“I just ripped a guy’s head off of his fucking body Parker!” I yelled, and her face dropped. “I am a fucking killer! I can’t just act like it never happened!” I took a shaky breath in, and let it out slowly, trying to keep from flipping out.

“Harper, look at me.” Parker said, and as soon as I turned my head towards her she slapped me, and then suddenly I could breathe again, and my mind was clear. She grabbed me by the shoulders. “You,” She pointed at me. “Are not,” She shook her head. “Going to the big house. You are not going to be anyone’s bitch, and everything will be okay. Okay?” She asked, and I nodded.

“You’re right. I’m sorry. We’ll just act as if it never happened.” I said, and she nodded, and put the car in drive, and sped off, but she forgot that the body was still in front of the car, and as the car went over it bones cracked, and we both cringed, and I put my head in my hands. “Oh dear lord we are going to hell.” I muttered. Neither of us said anything until Parker turned on the radio to break the silence, and what we heard made our stomachs turn even more than running over that poor headless guy.

“…We repeat, everyone is advised to stay indoors at this time, and avoid contact with anyone who may be infected with this virus.” The annoying DJ announced.

“What the fuck?” Parker muttered, bringing the car to a stop in the middle of the street, and I turned up the volume.

“Signs of this new virus are rotting flesh, a putrid smell, and the infected may appear to move in slow motion, and have what the report describes as ‘super strength’. So, apparently the dead are coming to life. Well, looks like we better lock our doors and brace ourselves, but luckily we have plenty of tunes to keep you company.” I turned the radio off and looked at Parks.

“What in the hell is going on?” I asked, and she looked around.

“New virus? I wonder if that’s why Huntington has become a ghost town…” She trailed off, and I thought for a second. I knew what that person looked like, and I knew what those symptoms sounded like, but I didn’t want to face it. I knew that Parker knew too, we had played enough video games in our time to recognize the walking dead when we saw them.

“Parks, you know what he looked like.” I said, and she shook her head.

“He can’t. This can’t…I mean, it’s not even December two thousand twelve yet.” She said, and I looked down at my arm, very grateful that the crazed man hadn’t broken the skin. “You’re okay, right?” She asked, and I nodded, holding my arm out.

“I’m fine; my favorite leather jacket saved my life. Damn I miss that jacket already.” I sighed, and she looked back.

“We can go back and get it.” She said, and I shook my head.

“Oh yea, and when someone asks why there’s a fucking human head hanging off of it I’ll just tell them it’s my new pet.” I said sarcastically, and she took off again, making an illegal U-Turn and speeding back home. “Where in the fuck are you going?!” I yelled, but she didn’t look over at me, even as she ran over the dead body again.

“I’m going home to check on mom and Sheen.”

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“Mom!” Parker called as we both walked into the house. Sheen immediately ran up to us and jumped on both of us.

“Hey Sheenie.” I said ruffling his fur before straightening up, and watching as Parker disappeared, still calling for mom. I ran up towards the stairs, our dad had some guns that he always kept for safety reasons in the back of his closet. I walked into my mom’s bedroom and went to the closet, and moved clothes out of the way until I saw the tall safe. I quickly pulled up the corner of the upper right floorboard and stuck my hand under, searching around until I found the slip of paper thirty-six, twenty, six. I entered the combination, and opened the tall door, there was a lock box, and two shotguns, and two boxes of ammo. I grabbed both guns and the ammo, put the two boxes in my back pockets, and made my way out of the closet, Sheenie following me as I made my way back down the stairs, where Parker was walking out of the kitchen. “Where’s mom?” I asked, and she looked at me.

“I was just about to ask you the same thing. I can’t find her.” She said, and I immediately thought the worst, but I didn’t let it show.

“M-maybe she got out.” I said, and Parker nodded, but I could see it in her eyes that she wanted to think the worst first too. I handed her a gun, and just as I was about to ask her about what we should do, the window in the back door broke, and groans could be heard.

“Go!” I ushered her out the door, and she called Sheenie, and he followed us as we ran out the door. She got behind the wheel, and I ushered Sheenie in the back seat and closed the door before I opened the passenger’s side door and got in.

“Where are we going?” She asked, peeling out of the driveway, and I had to think for a second.

“What about that Target? They’ll have food and shit, we should be safe there.” I said, and she nodded.

“Maybe other people will be there too.” She said, and I nodded.

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“Oh yea, there’s just fucking tons of people here.” I said sarcastically as Parker and I stood in the front of the Target, we had looked through the whole place, and there wasn’t a soul here. It looked like everyone had just…left.

“Well, looks like we have the whole place to ourselves. That’s a good thing, right?” Parker said, and I nodded.

“I guess. There’s a Home Depot next door, can you go over and get some boards and stuff? I’m going to make sure no one’s in the manager’s office. That’s the only place we haven’t checked yet.” I said, and Parker nodded.

“Sure, keep an eye on Sheenie.”

“I will.” I said, and she walked off towards the exit, shotgun still in hand. I looked over to see Sheen inside a toppled over shopping cart, resting. “Bark if any zombies come along.” I said playfully, and Sheenie barked. I laughed lightly, and made my way over to the customer service counter. I hopped over it and used the barrel of my gun to shove the door open. I walked in, and it was empty, just like the rest of the store, and most probably, the whole town. I sighed and walked on in, looking around at the messy room. Papers were scattered about, and things were knocked over. I put my gun down and picked up the laptop from the floor, sat it on the desk and opened it up. It wouldn’t turn on, but the charger cable was plugged in. I took the cable and ran my hand down it until I found that it had been chewed through. I sighed, and dropped the cable just as Sheenie started barking like mad form the front of the store. I grabbed my gun and ran out of the office, and slid over the counter, then stopped, gun aimed at the five men dressed in black at the front of the store.

“Woah, what the fuck?” One of them asked, and they all stopped in their tracks.

“Fuckin’ great, we narrowly escape our zombified producer, and now we have to put up with this shit.” One guy said, rolling his eyes and throwing his head back.

“Who are you?” I asked them, before the tallest of them all stepped forward.

“I’m The Rev.” He said, and then a guy with kind of long, jet black hair and a fedora stepped up.

“I’m Synyster Gates.” He said, and then a big, muscular guy with aviators spoke up.

“M. Shadows.” He said in a deep voice.

“Vengeance.” A guy with snakebites said, and I lowered my gun slightly, but not fully.

“I’m Christ.” A short guy with blondish-black hair said, and then Synyster spoke up.

“Now, I think we have a right to ask who you are.” He said, and I glared. If they weren’t telling me their real names, then neither was I.

“I’m Reject.” I said, and a second later Parker ran through the door.

“I heard Sheen b-” She stopped as she saw the five men standing before her. They all looked back at her. “Who are you?” She asked, and Christ smiled.

“We’re here to kill you!” Christ said cheerily, earning a slap in the back of the head from Shadows. “Ow, the fuck was that for?” He muttered, and Shadows shook his head.

“Jackass.” I heard Synyster mutter under his breath, and Parker walked around them and stood beside me.

“Who in the hell are they?” She asked, and I sighed.

“That’s The Rev, Synyster Gates, M. Shadows, Vengeance, and Christ.” I pointed to each of them, and Parker nodded. “I don’t trust them; they look sketchy, and sound even sketchier.”

“Reject, we’re right here! We can hear you!” The Rev announced, and Parker looked at me.

“Reject?” She asked, and I nodded.

“I don’t trust them, I don’t like them.” I said, and she nodded. I turned back to the guys, and motioned to Parks. “Guys, this is my sister…” I trailed off as I looked at her.

“Grimm.” She said, and called Sheenie over. “And this is Sheen.” She grinned. “If you upset him, you will be missing a ball.” I fought laughter at the guys’ expressions. “You can count on that.”