America the Lost

Chapter One

Most people find it hard living in a world of zombies, but when you’re born into it, it’s a whole other story.

“Peyton! Come on! Time for training!” I rolled out of bed at the sound of my father’s voice.

“I’m coming!” I called out then changed into a pair of pants that were loose enough for me to
move in and a black tank top. I quickly pulled my hair back into a ponytail and put on a hat that was a
solid black with no design on it.

“Peyton, now! You’ll be late!”

I scrambled for a fresh pair of socks and my hiking boots then put them on. Today would be
another day with no breakfast. I wouldn’t have time for anything.

Tomorrow was my twentieth birthday which meant today was my initiation. I would spend the
rest of the day performing challenges that proved I could handle fight for survival.

My mom had me three months after the survivors made it to this island. I wish I could say I
knew where it was, but I have had no schooling on geography. I hadn’t even stepped foot on the
place where this civilization used to call home. The United States of America.

If I passed the challenges I could choose to do whatever I wanted. I wouldn’t have to stay back
on the island and farm or become a fisherman. I want to explore the United States and study the
zombies. That was my purpose.

I walked into the kitchen to greet my mom. She pulled me into a warm embrace and kissed my
cheek. she didn’t want me to leave the island. Mainly because anybody who has left to explore has never returned. She hoped that I would stay and have a family. She
understood me though and that’s all I could ask for.

“Make me proud, Honey. Good luck and I love you.” She smiled at me with her emerald eyes
tearing up.

“Love you too, Mom.” I pulled away and ran out the door to my father.

“Okay, Honey. Remember. Aim for the head. Use whatever weapon you can get and no fires
even if you’re cold. Don’t blow your cover.”

I nodded. “Yes, Dad.”

“Do what you do best, Kid.” He winked at me and patted my back with a bright smile. “Now get
going.”

“Yes, Sir!” I took off running down the dirt road to the center of town where we’d begin.

I ran past huts that we built from local trees and baboon first discovered on the island. The huts needed yearly repairs for storm season, but they lasted enough for us to be comfortable when it came to living in shelter. Mothers called out to their children who were in the competition while others who weren't involved tended to yard work. This event happened so often that it wasn’t anything new.

As I entered the city center I had to push through the crowd of people to get to the small group
of competitors in the middle. It was called the city center because it was where everyone would gather for meetings such as this and it was surrounded by all the food stores. My mom always called it a mall, but I never understood why. She explained that back in America a mall was a huge building full of multiple stores that went from clothing all the way to food. I found it hard to believe her because we didn't have anything like that here, but I knew she wouldn't lie about that.

There were ten of us contestants. Four girls and six guys. That meant that all ten of us had the same birthday. We had all been on the island since we were born and trained for what was ahead.

“Was beginning to think you wouldn’t make it, Peyton.” Tony nudged my side as I stood in line
beside him.

He was only a couple inches taller than me with trimmed blonde hair and blue eyes. His muscles
bulged through his tight black shirt and his white teeth gleamed in the sunlight. He was the guy all the
girls chased after. He was conceited because of it.

“You wish. You know that I’m the only competition for you.”

He laughed. “That ain’t the truth. You couldn’t even beat me in your dreams.”

I smirked, “You’re on.”

“Alright competitors. As you may know, today is your day to shine. Much like a bee, you will be
given a job to attend for the rest of your life. Today is the only opportunity you will have to show your
skills and your weaknesses.” A tall skinny man walked up in front of us and spoke loud. He had long
white hair pulled back in a ponytail and a red baseball cap. He wore a white v-cut t-shirt and short
khaki pants with black sandals. He was known as our leader, Rodney. He discovered the island and
saved us.

“Do you think he gets tired of saying the same thing every day?” Tony whispered.

I chuckled and gave him a shrug.

“For the first competition we have combat. There are six dummies in the field. Grab whatever
weapon you choose from the rack and get in line.

Tony and I followed the others into a large field with scarecrow-like figures scattered around.
They all had targets painted on them for score keeping. A large rack full of weapons was in front of
us. None of them were guns. You could never rely on guns. They would run out of ammo and blow
cover. They trained us on things like bats, machetes, katanas (my personal favorite), etc.

“What are you aiming for?” Tony whispered behind me.

“All the heads. I’ll take them all in ten seconds or less.” My father and I spent every day training
for this day and I refused to fail him in any way.

“You going to use the katanas?”

“Not in this competition. This is speed. I’ll use the throwing knives.”

“Good choice. I’m using the crossbow. I get better accuracy with it.”

“Good luck, Tony.” I grabbed the knives and held them at my side.

The person before me used a machete to run through and kill all the figures. He was no
challenge to my goal. I would be even faster. Even though I was at a disadvantage because the
amount of knives I received didn’t come close to the amount of dummies there were. I was fast
though. I’d make it look easy for the judges.

“Okay, next one,” I heard a female voice announce.

I stepped forward and held four knife blades between my fingers and got into a running stance.
As soon as I heard a loud buzzer, I took off running at the dummies.

Instantly, I was alone in my focus. Nothing would bother me. I could only hear my breathing and
only see the dummies.

The first was easy. I threw a knife that lodged itself right in its left eye. As I reached to pull it
back out, I threw another blade at the second dummy. I repeated this until there were four more left,
that’s when I threw them all at once and nailed every mark. My breathing slowed and I turned around
to receive my time. I just wasn’t expecting everyone to be starting wide-eyed at me. Even Tony had
his muscles tensed.

“Six point eight seconds is your score. A new record with throwing knives and a lead in the
contest,” the voice faltered as it read my time.

I couldn’t help, but smirk. This was all about showing off. Something I could easily do. I spent
my whole life working for this and it wouldn’t go unseen.

I walked past everyone and stood with the people who went before me. As much as I enjoyed
beating everyone, I didn’t enjoy all the stares I was receiving. Half the people here were all amateurs
only doing it for fun. I had a purpose. I had to win.

“I’ve never seen you move that fast.” Tony ran over to me and stood beside me. He was still
catching his breath from his course.

“It never mattered before.”

“You mean to say you’ve been holding off all this time? Is that why you could never hang out?
Because you were off taking steroids?”

I let a laugh escape. “No, I was training with my dad. I had no time for fun.”

“Because being a macho badass is more important.”

I shrugged. Hard work eventually pays off. That’s what my dad always told me when I wanted
to give up.

“Next test is endurance. What do you think they will make us do?”

“A race is unlikely. That’d be too easy. I’m not sure what it will be, but hopefully all the miles we
ran in the sun will pay off.”

“True that. That was getting annoying.”

I nodded in agreement and watched as a tall skinny blonde walked over to us and perched a
spot in the middle. Her flowered dress blew in the breeze revealing the white sandals she had on and
the red nail polish on her toes that matched her lipstick. Her sunhat provided enough shade that she
didn’t need sunglasses, but that didn’t stop her.

“Hey, Nicole,” Tony greeted her with a gentle smile.

“Oh hey, Tony!” she laughed and revealed her perfect white teeth. “How have you done so far?”

“Well I’m in second place. Peyton kicked everyone’s ass completely.”

She gave me a judgmental look from head to toe then greeted me. Nicole was a year or two
older than us. Apparently that gave her the right to act taller than everyone else. Except for Tony, of
course. She wanted to make him hers.

“Hey.”

“You don’t sound too enthused to see me, Peyton. Did I do something wrong?” I could see a
smile hiding away. It was her job to be a grade a smart ass.

“What? You? Do something wrong? You really shouldn’t insult yourself like that. We all know that
you are about as perfect as the definition.”

“Oh? What’s the definition?” Her eyes lit up as though she clearly didn’t catch my sarcasm.

“Fake.”

She scowled then turned on her heels and walked away without another word.

“Why do you hate her so much?” Tony laughed.

“She’s annoying. Just because she is Rodney’s daughter she thinks she can have anything
without a price.”

Tony shrugged. “Be careful though I’m not sure pissing her off is a good thing.”

“Whatever. Shall we go to the next challenge?”

“Lead the way.”

The next challenge was on the beach. Everyone was gather around in a circle cheering out
names. It took me a while to notice that a contestant was chained to the ground with a zombie only
inches away from his arm.

The zombie was clearly a woman in a tattered and torn lab suit. Her eyes were as white as the
clouds and teeth. Black blood dripped out of her mouth and disappeared in the sand.

The boy trying to get away was pale and holding back a scream that clearly wanted out. He had
short red hair and light brown eyes. He was wearing a black shirt that was too small for his pudgy
body.

Every few seconds the zombie’s chains would pull further so it could get closer to the boy. Why
wasn’t anyone doing anything? The boy was scared out of his mind and any second the zombie would
be all over him.

I looked at Tony and saw his discomfort. He wanted to help just as much as I wanted to. His
knuckles were clenched so tight they were white. He was tightening his jaw and his eyes wouldn’t
blink.

“Oh! You’re gonna get it, Dough Boy!” A random kid was pointing and laughing at the red-haired
boy.

I couldn’t save him. That would only give him shame. So I did the best I could. I threw a small
knife so it landed right beside him.

He watched it bury to the hilt then looked at me. I point to my wrist and made a slashing
motion.

Only his ankles were bound in chain. His wrists were wrapped in rope. That’s when I noticed a
key that was on a necklace around the zombie’s neck. That must be the way to get out.

I hadn’t noticed until now that the roaring crowd had died and everyone stared at me. I just
couldn’t catch a break. Some gave me accusing looks while others had surprised or thankful
expressions.

Tony nudged me then pointed with his finger at the kid.

He managed to cut himself free and now pointed the tip at the zombie. His hands were
quivering so badly that even grasping the knife with both hands they shook.

“Put her down!” I yelled.

He looked at me and nodded then thrush forward until the knife buried itself into the zombie’s
eye socket.

A loud cheer erupted and people rushed around the kid. With his chains gone, they pushed him
onto their shoulders and paraded around the beach.

“That was smooth, Peyton.” Tony smiled at me, the relief pouring out.

“You didn’t notice it, did you?”

“Notice what?”

“He’s not our age. He wasn’t supposed to be there. Someone—“

“Stop!” A booming voice yelled and everyone froze.

I turned toward the voice and saw Rodney with an unhappy look. “Who put that boy up to the
challenge?”

Murmurs flowed through the crowd, but no one raised their hand. I didn’t expect them to. This
was a big deal.

“Arnie! Come here!”

The red-head jumped down and rushed over to Rodney. He stood before him and waited to
catch his breath.

“Who did this?”

“Tommy did. He said that I could hang with his group if I did this.”

The kid was laughing at Arnie ran into the open. His head was shaved revealing scars that ran
across his scalp. He wore a black muscle shirt with a skull on the front. He was too skinny. He was
tall though. Easily a foot over me.

“He’s lying! I did not!”

“Arnie?”

“He really did! If it weren’t for her I’d be dead.”

Now all eyes were on me. Again.

“You saved Arnie?”

“I…All I did was toss him a knife.”

“What is your name, Girl?”

“Peyton Spade, Sir.”

“Spade, huh? I’ve heard quite a lot about you. Number one in the competition.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“What path are you pursuing?”

“Explorer, Sir”

“Very well. We need people like you. I suppose you should be rewarded for saving my son.”

I couldn’t hide my surprise when he called Arnie his son. They looked nothing alike. Apparently
everyone was surprised because there were many gasps. Even Tommy looked like he was about to
shit his pants.

“That’s not necessary, Sir.”

“Don’t be so modest! I’m allowing you to become an explorer. No need to win the tournament.
By doing this I will still have another explorer position open for whoever chooses. Arnie, let’s go.” He
wrapped his arm around the kid’s shoulder and pulled away.

“Wait! Sir, what about tonight?” I called out.

“Do what you want.” He didn’t even slow down.

“Congrats, Peyton! You did it!” Tony pat my back.

“I’m an explorer?” I couldn’t believe it.

“You are! Man, I wish that I saved the kid. I wanted whatever I want.” He laughed.

“But if there are two positions open, does that mean I will have a partner?”

“Yep! Me.”

I glanced at him and couldn’t help, but smile. I wouldn’t admit it, but Tony was the only person I
could stand being around. As far as partners come he was the only one I could picture.

“Go tell your dad. I’ll do this challenge and then we wait for tonight. That’s when the real fun
begins.”