A Different Virus - Laura's Story

Chapter 5

I cried into my pillow. Nothing had changed. I lost count of the days even when I tried to write them down. I had tried to do the tallying they taught us in school, but the paper was so full that I wasn't sure how to count them all.

The first snowfall was happening and I was still stuck up here. Just like Rapunzel, only I could see the zombies in the street and knew how dangerous the outside world currently was. My family had always played outside on the first day of a snowfall. I felt like I had been betrayed.

Mom was still sick and wouldn't talk with me. Dad had still not come home. The power was still out. The water had stopped running a while ago, but thankfully the toilet still dropped the smelly stuff down the drain. I kept the bathroom door closed as it smelled bad in there.

My birthday was on June 30, and since it was snowing, that meant that my birthday had passed and I hadn't even known when it was. No one wished me a happy birthday. I had been up here alone from spring until winter. I was all alone and that thought hurt so badly. It was part of why I was crying. I missed my family and the way things had been before.

Eventually my tears stopped. Tears always stopped, regardless of how often I cried. Sometimes tears just seemed pointless after crying for a long time. They didn't change anything. I got up and went to look in the boxes of food again.

I was tired of crackers. There were lots of those in here. I had managed to pull the pile mostly apart as the weeks went by, searching for something that I wasn't tired of. I really wished that there had been apples or oranges up here. I had drank more than half of the fruit juice, so I was trying to save it and have no more than one a day.

Why did they buy so many crackers? I shook my head and piled some of the cracker boxes along one wall so I knew what was in them. I found another box of chocolate bars and candy, but kept digging. I was tired of that sort of stuff already. At first I had pigged out on it, but it was like Halloween where you get tired of candy. My stomach hadn't been happy for a few days after I had pigged out. I hadn't felt like even opening one up since I found the first box.

I found some trail mix and put it by the door. I hoped that something better was in here somewhere. I kept digging. I squealed as I found a big box of dehydrated apple slices. Finally! Something that I wanted to eat! I grabbed a bag and went back to the window sill. Still nothing except for zombies out there. I hadn't seen the neighbor's cat for weeks now. I had seen a deer a couple of times though.

I ate until I wasn't hungry and went back to my room. I looked around. I didn't feel like playing with my toys, I had played with them so much that most had broken or simply weren't fun anymore. I had read every book in my book shelf at least three times. I had even acted out some of the stories and thought of different endings the story could have had. What if Simba had been raised by a family of nice hyenas? What if Snow White had crossed the sea instead of staying with the dwarves? I had to think long and hard to make up stories of my own.

In the office I had found several books where you had to use the clues to solve a mystery and even read those. It was kind of fun to read the clues to find out what happened, but once you solved the puzzle it wasn't nearly as fun the try and solve it again. I had searched each room thoroughly and found other things I didn't know we had. The house was still very boring though.

        

            

I wondered what day it was. All I knew is that there was lots of snow outside. You could see trails where the zombies had walked. I couldn't figure out how they didn't get cold with just a shirt and pants on. Some of the ladies even wore dresses. At least our home was somewhat warm, but I still had to put a sweater or blanket on occasionally.

The moon was almost full and the snow gave the street an odd blue tint to it. Oddly enough I didn't see any zombies right now. It was pretty to look at. I crossed my arms on the window sill and rested my chin on my arms. I wished I could go outside, I was tired of being in here. I had slept most of the yesterday so I wasn't tired right now. It was too dark to do anything other than sit in the window and watch things outside.

Movement caught my eye. It was much faster than a zombie. I sat up and peered down the street. The spruce tree was blocking my view at the moment, but I was sure I had seen something moving quickly. Maybe it was a moose or deer. I loved seeing the animals if they happened to pass down the street.

I blinked as I caught sight of what I had glimpsed moments ago. It was a person, but they were moving faster than a zombie. The person was quickly jogging through the thick snow without slowing. I blinked and realized that it was a lady. She was glancing around a lot. Little glances here and there as if she was expecting something to jump out of the snow. She was wearing a backpack and looked like she was carrying some sort of box in her arms.

I froze as I saw that she had glowing blue eyes. That was not normal. Zombies had red eyes, so what did blue eyes mean? The news person had said that there was a type of fast zombie, but I thought that it also had red eyes. I had listened to the news so long ago that I wasn't sure any more. Was this a type of zombie I had never seen before? I had never seen a zombie carry anything before.

Blue eyes meant that she probably wasn't a zombie. People did not have glowing eyes either. If she wasn't a zombie and she wasn't a person, then what was she? I watched as she peered closely at the neighbor's elaborate cat mailbox. My eyes widened. Auntie's letter. I had not seen the mail man since Mom fell ill, so the mail had likely taken a very long time to arrive. Could she be looking at the addresses trying to find my house?

Could she be my guardian angel? Auntie said that they often looked like regular people. If it wasn't for her eyes, I would have thought that she was normal. Would she be able to help Mom? Auntie was able to lend me her angel, could I lend Mom my angel? I sat up on the stool in my sudden excitement. The lady immediately swiveled her head and her glowing blue eyes locked onto mine.