3.5.16, Edison New Jersey, 2:27 pm
"Today we are here with breaking news, tornado winds somehow flood the area and-."
The TV goes static, and a howling wind lets loose on cue.
The static buzzes, and keeps buzzing.
"Welp, let's try the radio," the young voice beside me grunts, flicking the switch on our drenched radio.
Static, I thought. The TV was off now, but the noise rung from the radio.
"D-don't worry guys," a girl says, giving a weak smile.
Pf, now's the time to worry.
"What do you think, Soph?"
"Huh?" I ask, surprised.
"We want to know what you think, you're the smartest of us all," Jackson remarked.
"Um…" A pause. "How about we go and see what 7-eleven's got?" I suggested.
Another pause.
"Sure then," Emily mumbled, heaving herself up slowly. Jackson bounded to his feet, opening the door for us both.
"Thanks dude," I said, I felt Em shooting glares at me. We headed out towards the truck, which was as rusty as an old man's jog. I hopped into the driver's seat, gripping the leather wheel tightly.
"So, are we going or what?" Em asked impatiently, not looking up from her phone.
"O-oh! Yeah, let's go." I backed out of the garage and swerved to face the curb, before stepping on the gas pedal.
3.5.16, Edison New Jersey, 2:34 pm
"Finally," Emily hissed, violently swinging the busted up door open. Jackson got out as well, and we all headed towards the door. The store was empty, but the delicious goods still remained.
"What're we waiting for!?" Jackson asked, kicking through the glass door, not fazed by the ringing alarms. We all trotted inside, and the alarms soon expired.
"Mmm, Oatmeal Cream Pies! Oreos! This stuff could last us forever!" I glared at him, as he drooled over the countless boxes of abandoned candy.
"We have to make sure it's safe to eat first," I said, snatching a bag of Sour Patch Kids from his hands.
"Of course it's safe, why would they sell it?"
"It's not for sale, dude. The last thing we want is to get sick, with almost everybody evacuated."
They both glared at me, before tossing the food on the floor.
"Then how do we know anything's safe!?" Em sobbed, covering her face with her hands.
"It's not my fault if you both die of sickness! You don't know what could've happened to this stuff! What is zombies infected it or something?" I explained, putting my hands on my hips. They both gave me frightened looks.
"What?" I asked.
"B-behind you!" Em shrieked, pulling me towards her. I whipped around, a rotted human was limping towards us.
"Y-you jinxed it, Soph!" she screamed, keeping on task as she dragged me over to the exit. Jackson stayed behind, throwing cups of cold coffee at the mindless monster.
"Jackson!" I screamed, ripping my arm away from Em's grasp. He looked back at me before getting tackled to the ground by the zombie.
"No!" I shrieked, kicking the zombie away from him. I looked down, here was a severe bite in Jackon's throat.
"Do something Miss Know-it-All!" Em screamed at me. "Or let's go!" I dashed towards the automatic doors, hopping through the large hole in the glass.
"Where to?" I asked Em as I slid into the driver's seat.
"Anywhere but here! How about to somewhere populated, like New York!?" she hissed, stepping on the gas pedal before I could. Low growling moans caused shivers to be sent down my spine, I could tell Emily was tense.
3.5.16, New York City New York, 4:42 pm
"Now what?" Em asked, kicking a loose piece of cardboard. We had just entered an abandoned apartment, and lit a fireplace.
"Why so sad? This is a lot better than before," I said, putting my hands in front of the fire. Emily crossed her arms, giving me a terrified look.
"I mean Jackson, dummy! What're we going to do without him?" she asked, waving her arms frantically.
"It's for the best, now we don't have to split anything we find three ways. We'll have more resources, and less people that could betray us,-"
"Betray!? You think he would betray us!?" she screamed, tears streaming down her face.
"Anybody would, especially at a time like this. He would probably kill us in our sleep or something."
Emily's gaze softened, before she grabbed a blanket and curled it up around her. There was silence for a few moments, before there was strong pounding on the door.
"Help! Is there anybody in there?" the voice asked. I rushed over to the door, taking a piece of sharp wood with me just in case. As I slowly opened the door, two figures dashed into the room without acknowledging me.
"Oh my god! Dude, that was so sick! What you did out there, throwing a knife at the guy's head!" the plump one said excitedly, bouncing up and down. The one next to him seemed to be wearied out, with scars all over his body. They were complete opposites, one spotless and chubby, the other dirty bloody scarred and barely a couple pounds.
"Um, hello?" Em said, waving at them. The huffing man wiped his brow, before plopping onto a leather sofa we hadn't noticed.
"Hey. You guys found a nice place to hide out," the guy mumbled, dabbing the blood on him with a spare paper towel in his pocket. A large rumble rang out in the empty apartment.
"Tee hee! Do you guys have anything to eat here?"
"No!" Emily hissed before I could tell him to check the fridge.
"Aww, I could really go for a hot dog right now," the fat kid said, patting his tummy.
He's definitely a setback, I'll have to get rid of him.
I headed over to the fridge, where there was some turkey sandwiches, along with a bowl of salad.
3.5.16, New York City New York, 9:57 pm
"Who's gonna be on guard?" I ask, hoping no one would volunteer. "I'll do it if-'
"No I wanna do it!" the fat boy cheered, now with a name tag that said 'Chad' on it.
"Whatever you say," I mumbled, nodding towards Emily. She nodded back, she definitely knew my plan.
"I'm going downstairs to see if there's anything useful. Soph, wanna come?" she asked me, heading down the stairs slowly. I followed down, and started to scour for items.
"So, what's the plan? To get rid of fatty?" she asked, picking up a box of matches.
"If we can find a knife, then we'll slit his throat while he's on guard, to make it seem like it was a zombie." The thought of taking away a knife for her own survival sent shivers down her back, cruel.
"Great, 'cause I just found a pocket knife!" she said, handing it to me with caution.
"But please, spare someone here," she said, before getting up. We both headed upstairs, shrugging our shoulders in fake disappointment.
"What'tcha find? A weapon for me?" Chad asked excitedly, greedily holding his hands out for something.
"Nope, nothing. Let's all go to sleep now," I mumbled, curling up right beside Chad's foot.
3.5.16, New York City New York, 2:01 am
My eyes flashed open, Chad was quivering in sleepiness.
Now's my chance.
I lightly took my blanket off, dropping it onto the floor. Then I slowly rose up, grabbing the pocket knife from my tool belt. I held it right behind his neck, barely touching it. I squeezed my eyes shut and jabbed forward, hearing sickly coughs soon after. I opened my eyes, and Chad's corpse lay on the ground, bloody.
"What was that?" I shrieked, falling to the ground as if I had just awoken. I slid the knife over to the door, hoping it would slide under the crack in the door. It did, fortunately.
"Oh my god!" Julian yelled, running over to the body. "Chad!" I walked over to the body, Emily followed me with stomach turning grief.