In Darkness & Light

Zombies. Zombies everywhere. They were all wandering around the school parking lot. Most of them were bumping into cars since they can't see very well. Garrett motioned to the three of us to the left. We could see the bus garage, which had to be a mile away. We all nodded, knowing that once he counted down we would all sprint to the bus garage. Garrett put his hand up, putting his pointer, middle, and ring finger up. He dropped his ring finger, and then his middle. Once he put down his pointer finger, we all quickly sprinted to the building which seemed so close yet so far away. I looked around at all the zombies; they could sense that we were running. Some of them started to walk in our direction, but to our advantage they aren't really fast. We ran because there's just so many of them. Garrett, John, and Pat were starting to run faster than me. I haven't worked out in so long, ever since Garrett and I broke up. I have no one I feel the need to impress anymore. I could feel myself getting short of breath, but I pushed through it as much as I could. The building became closer, but the boys seemed further away. I was trying so hard to run; I was literally gasping for air. I looked behind me, the zombies were getting closer to me.

"Garrett!" I shouted with my last breath before I fell down. My legs felt like they were on fire. My lungs felt like they were collapsing. I took deep breaths to try to get my breath back. The zombies were getting closer... All the signs pointed to my death, until Garrett's hand was on my arm. He pulled me up, and I could tell he was out of breath too.

"Come on, you gotta push through this... I can't carry you.. just run as fast as you can, okay?" He pleaded, taking a short breath.

I nodded, and he held onto my hand as we started to run again. My legs and my lungs felt better since I took that small break, but the zombies were closer to us now. They had to be at least ten yards away from us, so we had time to get away from them. John and Pat were approaching the bus garage. Garrett and I pushed through the last few minutes of sprinting. Our feet were hitting the concrete roughly as we got to the bus garage. We ran inside, and John shut the door after we got in. He locked the door and then offered us each a bottle of water which was in the fridge right near the door. I took the bottle and quickly drank all of the water inside of it.

"Pat's checking out the place for any of them, and for some keys," John said as he drank the small remainder of the water in his bottle. "If we can't find any keys, I'll just hot wire one of these buses."

Pat walked back to us, carrying a set of keys. "It's clear here, and I found the keys to bus 122. I looked and the bus is right over there." He pointed to the exit door.

Garrett walked over to the fridge, taking out all of the water. "Put all of these in your bags. Look around for any food that's stored here. We need all we can get. If there's no food, we can stop at an abandoned convenient store."

We all took some bottles of water. We split them up so we all got five. I put them all tucked away in my bag, but I left my Physics binder on the table. I wouldn't need it anymore, and I needed the room. Pat found some small donuts and granola bars in a pantry, and Garrett found a few bags of chips in a cabinet. We all split them up once again. We all got two bags of chips, one package of five frosted donuts, and three granola bars. We all sat down to discuss our plan. We let Garrett talk since he knew more than we did.

"Okay, so we take the bus, right? John can drive since he's the fastest, and we're going to his house first. We go to John's house, John and Pat will go get John's dad's guns. Me and Stas will go get clothes for all of us. We all meet in the kitchen and find more food. Also, the deal is, we don't take anyone with us unless they're healthy, or they're friends and family. Everyone know the plan?" Garrett told us.

"Where are we going?" Pat asked.

"Wherever we find peace and wherever we find more survivors, if they take us in. That's why we need to get as much food as we can, to offer for their safety," Garrett answered.

We all stood up and Pat handed John the keys. We all walked to bus 122, and John and Garrett pried the doors open. We all got on, and I sat down in the front seat. Garrett sat next to me and Pat sat in the seat across from us.

John sat in the driver's seat and smirked. "I've always wanted to hijack a bus. Sorry if I hit curbs, I haven't passed my driver's test yet, anyways!"

We all started to laugh. John started up the bus and added, "And I'm so fucking excited to plow these fuckers over."

John turned on the bus and skidded out of the bus garage, hitting some of them as he pulled out of the parking lot. I think John was purposely trying to hit them. Garrett's arm slid around my shoulders, and I glanced over at him. His face looking so innocent but scared at the same time. His nose was pierced on the left side which was facing me. His left wrist had two birds which looked like they were flying away. Also on his left arm, there were three hearts on the outside of his left wrist. I like these the best since I have the same ones on my hips. We also got matching tattoos on our ribs which read "I Need You So Much Closer." It's from the song Transatlanticism by Death Cab For Cutie. Garrett's planning on getting other tattoos, along with his zombie tattoo. He wants Ryan Adams’s Cardinology Sign on the inside of his right arm, and a tattoo that says "Make Your Line" on his right arm.

I wanted to push his arm off of me to prove a point to him, but I didn't move. "You can't pretend things are okay between us just because we're stuck together, you know," I mumbled as I looked down to my lap.

Garrett slid his arm off of me, putting it back next to his side. "I'm just trying to not make this awkward between us."

"It's always going to be awkward between us."

"Why can't we try to not make it awkward, Stas? It seems like you don't even want to talk to me anymore," he said, his voice soft.

"You cheated on me, Garrett. You slept with another girl. How would you feel if I had sex with another guy? You would feel the same way. I was so in love with you, Garrett. It wasn't fair to me at all. I tried so hard to please you. Was it because I went to slow with you? What did I do wrong?" I blurted out, all of the words I've been wanting to say pouring out of my mouth.

"You didn't do anything... I'm so sorry I made you feel that way. You never did anything wrong. I honestly don't even remember what I did with that girl. I didn't even know I had sex with her until John told me the next morning. If I was sober, I wouldn't have done it and you know that. You know I was so madly in love with you. I didn't care if we had sex or not. I just loved being with you. I loved having you next to me. I loved playing with your hair when you fell asleep in my arms. I loved our late night runs around the town. I loved having you as my girlfriend. If I could do anything to not make you hurt, I would do it. The reason I don't talk to you is that I figured you didn't want to have anything to do with me. I never ever wanted to throw away our relationship. I still love you. I love you so much and it hurts every day that I can't have you. I fucked up so badly, and I just want you to forgive me," he looked away as tears started to form in his eyes.

I didn't know what to say. I kept looking down as tears filled my eyes too. "I forgive you. I love you too, Garebear." I looked up at him, giving him a soft smile.

He smiled back at me, wiping his eyes and then mine. "Can we try to make this work again?"

I nodded as his hand rested on my cheek. "I would like that, a lot, actually."

John shouted at us. "Hey, you love birds, we're here. Let's get going. Don't have sex in my room while you're getting the clothes, okay?"