The Rising
Alfreda
I shuffled along behind the others, now taking up the rear myself. How could any of us survive this? We’d been lucky so far. But I knew that could change any moment. There were only four of us and hundreds of them. I knew they weren’t very intelligent, but they could still overpower us if there were enough of them. God, why did this have to happen? Even my father had been turned into one of them.
The thought brought tears to my eyes, as I fell deeper into my trance thinking of my life before all of this had happened. I slowly waked behind Colette, staring at my feet as I did so. Everything had been so normal before the infected meat had been consumed by nearly everyone. And now it was spreading around the entire world…but how?
I grit my teeth, trying to keep those thoughts away from my mind. I looked up to see the others following my silent example. I couldn’t help but wonder what they were thinking. Were they thinking of their families or their lives? Were they thinking about the future they’d never get to have?
That thought was even more depressing than the first. I had wanted to be a pilot, but now I’d never get to do that. No, instead I’d spend the rest of my life fighting to keep it. Gustav, the baby of our group, had wanted to be a soldier. This was as close as he was going to get. I had no idea about Justin or Colette since I barely knew them, but I knew whatever they wanted to do with their lives was now shattered as well.
I brushed my hair from my face and grimaced. This was our life now. We were among the few still living-possibly the only ones left in this town. We would be doing this until all the zombies were dead. But that was a silly notion. The zombies would never die. There would always be more of them.
The silence seemed to grow heavier and heavier with each passing second. I looked up at the sky through the branches and frowned. By the looks of it, it was afternoon. I adjusted the straps of my bag, and turned my gaze to the front. “This is our life now.” I said after a moment.
“This is how we’re going to spend the rest of our lives until we die…” I felt my stomach twisting itself into knots. The other three glanced back at me, obviously confused. “We’ll never get to do what we wanted with our lives.” None of them said anything, so I felt silent once more.
How could this all have happened with just contaminated meat? How did no one find out quick enough to make a recall on all of it? How could the meat be infected on accident? Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. What if it hadn’t been an accident? What if someone had infected the supply of meat that was shipped everywhere on purpose? What if they had done this just for this reason?
I snickered to myself. No. That was just a plain stupid thought. That would never happen. No one would purposely cause an outbreak of zombies and cause the total destruction of the world….would they? No…No, not at all.
After a moment I had another thought. I knew Justin was our leader. He was the one to make the plans. But I couldn’t stop myself from blurting out the words. “We have to get out of the state,” I said, narrowing my eyes at the three of them. “We can’t just stay here. Maybe we can find a state that isn’t overrun…yet.”
The thought brought tears to my eyes, as I fell deeper into my trance thinking of my life before all of this had happened. I slowly waked behind Colette, staring at my feet as I did so. Everything had been so normal before the infected meat had been consumed by nearly everyone. And now it was spreading around the entire world…but how?
I grit my teeth, trying to keep those thoughts away from my mind. I looked up to see the others following my silent example. I couldn’t help but wonder what they were thinking. Were they thinking of their families or their lives? Were they thinking about the future they’d never get to have?
That thought was even more depressing than the first. I had wanted to be a pilot, but now I’d never get to do that. No, instead I’d spend the rest of my life fighting to keep it. Gustav, the baby of our group, had wanted to be a soldier. This was as close as he was going to get. I had no idea about Justin or Colette since I barely knew them, but I knew whatever they wanted to do with their lives was now shattered as well.
I brushed my hair from my face and grimaced. This was our life now. We were among the few still living-possibly the only ones left in this town. We would be doing this until all the zombies were dead. But that was a silly notion. The zombies would never die. There would always be more of them.
The silence seemed to grow heavier and heavier with each passing second. I looked up at the sky through the branches and frowned. By the looks of it, it was afternoon. I adjusted the straps of my bag, and turned my gaze to the front. “This is our life now.” I said after a moment.
“This is how we’re going to spend the rest of our lives until we die…” I felt my stomach twisting itself into knots. The other three glanced back at me, obviously confused. “We’ll never get to do what we wanted with our lives.” None of them said anything, so I felt silent once more.
How could this all have happened with just contaminated meat? How did no one find out quick enough to make a recall on all of it? How could the meat be infected on accident? Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. What if it hadn’t been an accident? What if someone had infected the supply of meat that was shipped everywhere on purpose? What if they had done this just for this reason?
I snickered to myself. No. That was just a plain stupid thought. That would never happen. No one would purposely cause an outbreak of zombies and cause the total destruction of the world….would they? No…No, not at all.
After a moment I had another thought. I knew Justin was our leader. He was the one to make the plans. But I couldn’t stop myself from blurting out the words. “We have to get out of the state,” I said, narrowing my eyes at the three of them. “We can’t just stay here. Maybe we can find a state that isn’t overrun…yet.”