Zombie States of America

You’d think that walking into the Hospital you would see nurses, doctors, and patients running, walking, talking, but as of yesterday that is not to be. The one thing you thought could never happen just did; the impossible has become the possible. How would I know? Well, I’m witnessing it, the horror of this place no longer safe. A woman no older than 21, runs the halls trying to find refuge from those things, her panting and the sound of her feet hitting the floor are the only thing to be heard and this is her story.

Jessica’s POV

My lungs are burning, I came to the Hospital to see how my mother is doing and I found this hell, people eating other people, I gasp at the horror. I see one of those things turn towards me; it makes a hissing sound and starts to make its way towards me. I panic and run farther inside the building, it was a big mistake the moment I turn towards the first hallway, a herd of those walkers are there now aware of my presence. “Shit” I curse; I run the other way and make sure I don’t run into the first walker that was following me, although I am more worried about the herd. As I ran down the hall, I see the elevators and start to push myself to run faster, as I get closer I feel a hand grab my arm and pull me.

I was about to let out a scream when it covered my mouth, “Be Quiet” the voice said, “Come on” he said, “We have to get to the roof” I was a little hesitant going with him, but I really had no other choice. We made our way up the stairs and made sure those walkers didn’t know we were in here, so we had to be in constant silence. We finally made it to the roof, it really came to a relief since I was shaking in fear, I finally looked at the guy who saved me, and he was apparently a doctor, with brown hair and brown eyes wearing glasses. What made me nervous was the fact that he looked incredibly sick, “Are you okay?” I asked while trying to catch my breath. “Just fine” he said, when he turned around to look at me I noticed his arm placement, I looked at him and saw the wound. “What happened to you?” I ask pointing at it, “I got bit, but I think I’ll fine once I get some antibiotics in me” he said grabbing some from his doctor’s bag. “I’m Collin by the way” he said, “I’m Jessica, nice to meet you even if it was like this” we chuckled.

All of this seemed familiar, I mean I’ve seen plenty of movies about this kind of thing and my eyes widened in realization, “Zombies” I whispered, he must have heard me because then he asked, “What?” I bit my lip not wanting to cause any unwanted problems, so I decided to say, “My book, I dropped it while we were running up the stairs and I was wondering if you could get it” I said trying to sound convincing as I could. He furrowed his eyebrows, “You’re worried about a book?” he asked, “My mother gave it to me before she died, please it has sentimental value” I said, although I didn’t really know if my mother was dead, but anything to get him away from me. He sighed, “Fine, just keep the door open, is it okay if I leave my stuff here, so I don’t have to carry anything” I nodded my head, there was a chain and lock on the outside of the door so I knew I could put that on to give me some time to form a plan and leave to find my sister and find a safe place.

He stepped back inside the building and asked, “Where did you think you dropped it?” he said looking up at me, “I’m so sorry” I said, he was confused, and “Why are you sorry?” he asked, and realization came quickly to him, “Don’t Jessica” he said before running up again, I closed the door before he reached it and placed the chain and lock. There was a small window on the door and I saw his face, he was angry and scared, “Open the door” I heard, but I shook my head, “You’ve been infected, I can’t take that chance and let you turn into one of them while I was here” I said with sadness. This only made him angry; he continued to bang on the door.

Narrator’s POV

He didn’t realize that the banging was heard, and soon the door to the staircase was opened, groaning and moaning was suddenly heard from the Dr. Collin, he froze he turned to see the walkers reaching for him. He closed his eyes knowing this was his end, Jessica stood on the other side of the door, watching Dr. Collin, “I hope you get what’s coming to you, you little bitch” he seethed, and she was taken aback and all of a sudden he was ripped from the window, she covered her mouth in horror as she saw the zombies eat Dr. Collin, ripping his flesh and eating it. She looked away making sure that none of those things saw her through the window. She moved away from the door and walked to the other side of the wall and sat down her legs against her chest and cried; she had cried herself to sleep.

Jessica was woken up by her cell phone; she fluttered her eyes open while looking for her cell phone in her bag. Once she located the small phone she pressed the green button, “Hello?” I asked, “Jessie?” my sister whispered. At that point I knew something was wrong, “Val, what’s wrong? Why are you whispering?” Jessica asked, “There are these things banging on the door, and on the window, they have blood all over them, I’m making my way towards the attic and locking the door” Valeria said, “Good. Make sure to lock it well, whatever those things are, and make sure it doesn’t get to you and hide” Jessica said, “Okay, I’ll call you later” Valeria said.

Jessica’s POV

I hung up, I stood and looked at the door, the window was bloody, and so I wasn’t sure if there were zombies still in there. I slowly made my way towards the door and decided to try and see through it, as I peeked through the spots where there was no blood I saw that there was still a couple of zombies lurking around, but what I didn’t expect was them dropping dead. I furrowed my eyebrows, “What’s going on?” I asked myself, I see a couple of people walking up the stairs and shooting every walker in their sight. I was smiling, one they reached the top, and I started to bang on the window of the door, the three people standing there looked towards me and as soon as they did they pointed their guns and crossbow at me. I gasped, “No, I am not a zombie” I yelled through the window, I had hoped they heard me, the guy in the sheriff outfit put his arm out, he walked closer to the window and I waved with a smile, “Open the door” he said.

I bit my lip, “I don’t think I can, there is a lock, but no key” I said, he seemed to understand me, “Okay, look for a fire escape if you see one tell me and we’ll head out there to meet you” he said, I nodded my head and walked onto the side of the building. I found one by where the hazardous dumpster was, I ran back to the door, “There’s one on the dumpster is for hazardous chemicals” I said. “All right, go wait by it, don’t come down until I say so” he said. “Okay” I said, he began to walk downstairs with both men behind him, once they were out of sight I walked over to the fire escape and waited for them.

I looked over the ledge a couple of times, until I finally see the guy in the sheriff costume and the two men beside him. I whistled, “Up here” I tried to say without causing any attention to the walkers, they looked up to where the whistle had come from. They looked out for any walkers, when the sheriff looked up and waved his hand down, I started making my way down the fire escape, but not before grabbing my bag, and the doctor’s bag full of medical supplies. Once I made it down I thanked the guys, “So what’s your name?” the guy behind the sheriff asked, “Oh, my name is Jessica” I said, “Nice to meet you, although it might not be in the most conventional way” he said, “I’m Rick, and this is Shane and Daryl” I waved.

“We have to go back to base camp” Rick said, “Come on” he waved me over. I walked in between Daryl and Shane while Rick led the way; we made to the parking lot of the Hospital and saw two other men putting things into the car. “Hey guys” Rick said making both men turn towards us, “Who’s the girl?” the black guy asked. “We found her on the rooftop, she was able to save herself by locking the door with a chain” he said, “These guys are T-Dog and Glenn” Rick said to me, “Nice to meet you both” I said. “Let’s head back to camp” Rick said and Daryl went over to the driver side, while Rick opened the door to the truck and told me to get inside, I sat in the middle of the truck while Glenn sat next to me.

Rick, Shane, and T-Dog, remained in the back of the truck making sure no walkers got close to us. As we made our way to their base camp, I knew I had to convince them to find my sister, I couldn’t leave her there. I knew she wouldn’t last without having to go out and get food. We made it to the camp a lot quicker than I wanted, Rick being the nice guy he was showed me around the camp and introduced me to the rest of the people staying. “Can I talk to you real quick?” I asked Rick; “Sure” he said we walked little farther away from the camp before I said, “We have to go back to get my sister”.

“I didn’t see her at the hospital, maybe she’s a--” I cut him off, “No, she’s back at our parents’ house, she called me while I was on the roof and she said she was going to hide in the attic, it’s a pull out so she pull it up when she’s in it” I told him, “I really need your help it’s already been a couple of hours and I am sure she won’t be able to stay there long before she gets hungry, so I don’t want her wait any longer” Rick looked at me with sympathy, “I don’t know it was dangerous enough going to the hospital” I looked away from him, knowing that there was nothing I could do and walked away.

Narrator’s POV

Rick sighed and walked towards Daryl and Shane knowing that even if there was animosity between them, he could count on them. “Hey guys, I have a favor to ask you”

Rick spoke with Shane and Daryl about what Jessica had asked him earlier, Daryl was a little hesitant about going back, “I don’t know I mean we had a hard time getting to the hospital, if she lives in the suburbs it’s going to be twice as hard, we won’t be able to use guns” Shane said. Rick sighed, “What do you think Daryl?” he asked, Daryl had a scowl on his face and as much as he didn’t want to go back, he knew how it felt to have family left behind. He sighed, “Well, might as well go get her. At least do it as payment for leaving Merle on the roof” T-Dog flinched, and Rick looked away ashamed.

Jessica’s POV

I was by the lake soaking my feet when I heard footsteps behind me; I stiffened at the thought of it being a walker. “Relax” I heard, I turned around to see Shane behind me, I smiled shyly “Sorry” I said, he smiled, “So, I wanted to be the one to tell you that Rick, Daryl and I decided to help you get your sister” I gasped and ended up hugging Shane, “Thank you very much”.

Narrator’s POV

Shane smirked as Jessica hugged him, not aware that Daryl was looking from the trees, he clenched his fist that was around the crossbow. It wasn’t the girl he was worried about, it was Shane, he knew now that Rick was back, Lori would want nothing to do with him, and Shane wasn’t going to be put aside like that. She let go of Shane and walked over to Rick, “Thank you Rick” she said, he smiled at her, “It’s fine, we just have to know how to get there and we’ve decided to let you take us there” she nods in understandment. “When will we be going?” she asked, Rick answered, “It’s already getting dark so we would have to wait until tomorrow morning, the walkers are more active at night” she knew she had to call her sister before the lines went down by itself, “okay” she said before she moved away from the group and went far enough where they could hear her, but she had some privacy.

She dialed the familiar number on her cell phone and waited for her sister to answer, “Come one answer” she whispered hopefully. She almost gave up hope when she heard, “Hello” whispered into the phone, “Val, are you okay?” she asked worriedly, “Yeah, I’m still in the attic, and I am getting hungry, I only have enough food for another day or so, when are you coming for me?” her sister asked, “Tomorrow morning, I was found by some people and they’ve agreed to come help me get you” she told her sister, “Oh thank god” Val sighed in relief, “Yeah, so hold tight” Jessica said, “Do not leave the attic until I get there” she stated firmly to her sister.

“Okay, I won’t” she said before a dial tone met her ears, “Shit” she cursed, “You know you shouldn’t be out here by yourself” Jessica jumped at the sudden voice behind her. There leaning against the tree was Daryl, “You scared me” she said.

Jessica’s POV

“Sorry” he said although it didn’t sound like he meant it, “just a warning, I wouldn’t get too chummy with Shane” he said, I furrowed my eyebrows, “Why? I mean he seems like a nice enough guy, he’s helping me get my sister back” he scoffed, “You’ll get hurt, not that I care or anything, at times like these people get desperate” I crossed my arms against my chest, “I think I can handle it, I’m a good judge of character” I wasn’t going to let this redneck tell me who I should or shouldn’t talk to, “Like I said, it was only a warning, whether or not you listen to it is up to you” he turned and left me there standing.