The Dead Walk Among Us

Chapter 2: So Far

Me and Jade found an abandoned house. I sit at the dining room table. I don't feel safe here, but it's night time. It's not safe outside in the daylight, it's even worse in the dark. We decided to wait it out until morning. I hope Jack has the same idea we had.

"I can't believe Jack ran. It would have been better if he had jumped," I say.
"He was just trying to be safe. We'll meet him at the airport," Jade says.
"Let's just hope that place in California is real. We have travelled so far to get there," I say.
"It has to be real," Jade says.
I see a light blue truck drive by the dining room window. I open the door and go outside. We could use a ride. Maybe they'll help us.
"What are you doing?" Jade screams.
I run to the truck.
"Help! Help! Help us! Help!" I yell.
"Help! Hey! Stop the truck!" Jade yells. The truck stops. A man gets out. He has short black hair.
"Please, we need help," I plead with him.
"Are you people headed to the airport?" he asks.
"Yes, can you take us?" 
"Alright, I'm going there, too. Get in," he says.
How lucky are we? A random truck drives by and the driver agrees to take us where we need to go. I walk over to him. His eyes are normal, thankfully. We get in.
"How far are we from the airport?" Jade asks.
"About an hour and a half. I'm Eric and I'm headed to that place in California. This virus took my wife and kids. I was the only immune one in my entire family," he explains.
"Immune?" I ask confused.
"Yeah...one in every ten million is immune to the virus."
"Ten million? How does someone know they are immune?" I ask. Hopefully me, Jack, and Jade are all immune.   
"How long does it take for a person to turn?" Jade asks.
"Anywhere from thirty seconds to three days. It all depends on the person's immune system."
"Jade...did you get bit?" I ask. Please, say no. Please!
"Yeah, that zombie in the grocery store bit me. I didn't want to tell you because I wanted to get you to the airport. I didn't want to hold you back," Jade says.
"So, you lied to me? You could have turned and killed me!" I yell.
The man stops the car.
I get out of the car.
"Yes, but I've shown no symptoms whatsoever. If I was really infected, I would be experiencing symptoms by now. Maybe I'm immune," Jade says.
"I do have a immunity test in the truck. If she wants, I can test her," the man says.
"Okay then. Do it," Jade says.
Please let her be immune. I can't lose her or Jack. I can't lose anyone! My parents were killed by zombies when they were attacked. They came to the house and forced their way inside. Our parents told us to hide in the basement. Jack doesn't remember much of what happens, I remember clearly though. After hours of us waiting, our neighbors came to check on us. They saw our parents dead. We were found in the basement. They took us to a evacuation center. They left us there, thinking we were safe.

Then the center was overrun by zombies. Me and Jack hid. Even the military couldn't stop the massive amounts of the undead. Jason was there. He found us and offered us a place to stay. We accepted.

That was the worst decision I think we ever made. He brought us to his parents' bunker in the woods. Jade and Anne found the bunker a few days later. Jack and I are lucky to be alive today. We survived so much. I just don't want to lose anyone again. I can't bear the thought of Jade turning into a uncontrollable creature that eats human flesh.
"If...if I'm not immune...please don't let me turn into one of those things. I don't want to cause any pain to anyone. I just want...I just want you to kill me. I don't care about my last seconds. I just want to be sure that I'm not a zombie," Jade says.
"If you are infected, I'm not killing you. I...I really couldn't," I say. 
The man walks over. "We will know whether or not your friend is immune in about five minutes," the man says.
We sit there in silence.
"Okay we got great news! Jade is immune," the man says.
Yes! She's not infected.
"Do you have any other tests?" I ask. I would want to know, if I'm immune or not. That way I could be super cautious, if I'm not. If I am, I won't be panicking after being bit.
"No, that was the last one," the man says. "But I did hear that they're giving them out at the airport."

I guess I'll just have to be careful until then. We get back in the truck. I'm glad Jade is going to be alright. Since we still have so long until we arrive, I guess I'll try to sleep the rest of the way.
I fall asleep shortly after. Jade shakes me awake an hour later.
"We're here," she says.

The sun is just starting to rise. A plane flies overhead. We made it! I hope Jack is here. He has to be. I can't live without him. Just thinking about not having him in my life makes me upset.

We walk into the airport. It's crowded with people shoulder to shoulder. I guess there still are a good amount of survivors left.

I walk up to a woman who is behind a computer. She has light blond hair and blue eyes.
"Have you seen my brother? His name is Jack Smith. Here's a picture of him," I say as I hand her a picture of Jack. It's from a few years ago, but he looks almost the same now. She types on the computer.

Come on! Was he here or not? She looks at the picture, then at the computer. She turns the computer to me. A newer photo of Jack is on the screen.
"Is this him?" she asks.
"Yes, that's my brother. Where is he?" I say with tears in my eyes.
"He currently is boarding a flight to California," she says.
"Okay, we have to get on that plane!" I say.
"The plane is already at full capacity. There's nothing I can do," she says.
He wouldn't have gotten on a plane without us. I know he wouldn't.
"Come on! That's my twin brother! I have to get on that plane!" I say.
"Everyone says they have to get on the plane but can they all? No, sit down, and wait like everybody else," she says.
"Fine. How long until the next flight then?" I ask.
"Well the plane has to get there, get fuel, and come back. It's going to be a while," she says.
I sit down. It's going to be hours before we get anywhere. I hate waiting! Jack is always more patient than me. Even though we're twins, we couldn't be more different.
"We have received information that a person in this airport is infected. Don't panic we are handling the situation," I hear over the speaker.
Everyone panics, even though they were told not to. I see a man in the corner eating another person.
"We need to hide! Now!" I say to Jade.
We get up and run into the bathroom. We hear screams, then gunfire. After ten minutes, the screams and gunfire finally stop.
"We have room for ten more people on the flight that is headed to California," I hear over the speakers.
"We have to go. We can make it!" I say.
"It's not safe," Jade says. I pull the door open.
"It's our only chance!" I step outside.
There's blood everywhere. There's a few people who survived the zombie attack. We run towards the plane. We're checked for infection at the entrance and found negative. 

We sit down. We made it! We are on our way. I look to my left and see Jack sitting across the aisle from us. He's okay! 
"Jack? I'm so glad you're here!" I hug him.
"Iris, I thought you were dead! When I got here, they forced me onto the plane," Jack says.

I sit back down. Me and Jack talk for almost an hour. He says that he had to run from ten zombies. I look out my window. I see collapsed cities and destroyed towns. I wonder how many people are still alive. I know the number must be small.

I fall asleep. Jade shakes me awake hours later.
"We made it," she says.
We get into a truck with some other people. We finally arrive after twenty minutes of driving.

There's a tall cement wall surrounding a community with small houses. It's the size of a small town. I get out and go up to the entrance.

A person stands at the entrance. He checks to make sure no one is infected before we get inside. There's a large garden area in the center. If they can grow their own food, that's a big bonus. There are lots of houses, too.

On the radio, we were promised a zombie free city, but honestly, I'll settle for just this. I'm sure Jack and Jade will be fine with it, too.

A man with brown hair greets us. "I'm Daniel, one of the safe house leaders. I hope you'll like living here. We not only have a garden here, but we also have a greenhouse on the other side of the safe house. We don't scavenge often, but we do find a good amount of stuff out there. So don't worry about the food supply."
"Good, it's nice to not worry about food all the time," I say.
"You three will have to work. Everyone here has to work. It's mainly how we keep things running. You can help take care of the crops, you can help in the hospital we have, or you can go on food runs. All of this makes it easier for everybody else here," Daniel says.
"How many people currently live here?" I ask.
"Five hundred-thirty-six and we are still waiting for more to come later today," he says.
"How do you keep the dead out? They can easily scale those walls," I say.
"We have people watching and killing them," he says. "Anyways it's late. You guys are in the house down by the garden, it's the blue one. It has the number two-ninety-two on it," he hands me a key.

I explore a bit before I go to the house. Jade and Jack are decorating the house when I arrive.
"Don't get too comfortable. We still need to make sure this place is safe. We aren't out of the woods yet," I warn.
"Why not decorate though? This place is...ugly," Jade says.
"I know...has anyone seen your bite mark?" I say.
"Bite mark?" Jack asks.
"When we were in the grocery store Jade was bit. She's immune though."
"How come, no one told me? How come, I'm the last to know?" Jack asks. "People can be immune?"
"Yeah, and I'm one of them. Apparently one in ten million is immune. Just don't tell anyone here I was bit. I don't know how they would react," Jade says.
"I can't believe their feeding everyone here with those gardens," I say.
"Yeah, and even if one of those gardens is destroyed, they aren't going to have much food to feed people with,"Jade says.
I look around the house. It has one floor, but it's only the three of us, so space really isn't a concern. It's bigger than that stupid bunker we spent half our lives in. Being in that bunker was worse than anything. We had barely anything to do. We only had a few books. We mostly just talked about our pasts.

Anne stayed in her room most the time though. We only knew her name. In all ten years we lived there that's all we learned about her. She was weird.

When we did go outside, which wasn't very often, I'd try to bring back stuff to entertain us. I'm so glad to finally be out of there.
"Hey, do we know if we have electricity?" I ask.
"We didn't think to ask," Jade says.
"We just assumed we don't," Jack says. There's three bedrooms, one bathroom, a small living room, and a small kitchen. It's not the biggest, but we'll manage.

I go into one of the bedrooms. The walls are painted light pink. There's a closet, a bed, and a nightstand next to the bed. I open the closet. There's plenty of clothes inside for all of us. I want this to be my room. I don't really like the color pink, but it's a nice shade.

I go back to the living room. Jade is now painting the walls a light blue like the outside. I grab a paintbrush and help. Jack walks over to the kitchen.

I hear a knock at the door. I open the door. It's Daniel "Hey, I just wanted to tell you we have electricity, so you guys can use the oven, fridge, and lights but keep the use to a minimum. We get the electricity from solar panels so don't keep the lights on too long."
"Okay. Thanks for telling us." I close the door.

Jack starts cooking canned soup on the stove. I can't remember the last time I ate something that wasn't from a can. I switch the lights on. It's seven o'clock at night. We eat and then Jade and Jack go to sleep. I stay up the whole night. I don't trust these people here, yet.