Blood Moon
Chapter 1: Fuck My Bloody Life
I was practically glaring daggers at the red traffic light as Jacky bounced up and down my passenger seat reeking of whiskey. Her voice was like nails across a chalkboard as she slurred and shrieked her own rendition of Animals by Maroon 5. That song was seriously being overplayed, granted not as much as Taylor Swift's crap, but I suppose the era of good music died long before my time. Once the light changed to green I gunned my precious Camaro a little too eagerly and made the tires squeal as I turned.
"Someone can't wait to get to work," Jacky giggled.
"This someone can't wait to get away from the smell of liquor to be precise." I rolled my eyes with a sigh as the urge to lecture couldn't be held back for much longer, "Can't believe you were out partying all night."
She blinked exaggeratedly, allowing one of her false eyelashes to fall off, "What's hard to believe? I like to party."
"Damn it, Jacqueline, you're twenty-six with a little girl depending on you. Act like you give a damn about her for once!"
"That's why I have you, wifey!" she immediately wrapped her hands around my bicep and leaned her head against my shoulder.
"Rose isn't my daughter. I don't exactly have the equipment to supply children like that, and I'm not your bloody wife. Can't believe I'm letting you work when you're pissed. You're so getting fired."
Jacky jumped back and I felt her drill her brown eyes on my face, "I'm not mad."
"No pissed as in knackered, smashed," I glanced towards her confused expression. "Drunk you twit," I sighed.
"I'll be fine. Just give me a few minutes to freshen up and no one will notice a thing."
"Sure."
A sudden pang of sadness pricked at my chest as his voice materialized in my head. I had a bad habit of using his favorite word to end stupid conversations. As I looked for a decent parking spot near the enormous mall memories of our adventures together played like an old-timey movie. I found myself curious as to how their lives evolved without me around to complicate their trials and trivial days. Aside from having a train wreck as a roommate my life had been dull, so much so I had grown rather numb to living. On the one hand it was a good thing but on the other I was starving for conflict. My entire life was non-stop battles, suppose it wasn't surprising I would be accustomed to living in war.
The mall was nearly empty, the place hadn't opened yet and we were the lucky few that had to open. Jacky and I went to our separate work places without a word. As I approached the clothes store crazy enough to employ me I deadpanned at the sign. Another dose of monotony to numb me further. I knocked on the clear shutters in hopes the manager was already inside, of course she wasn't.
Twenty-four years old, almost twenty-five, and I was a retail associate with a bad tempter and baby-daddy issues despite not actually being a parent. No way I'd ever become a parent and subjugate a poor soul to a fate as horrible as having to be my offspring. Dramatic much? Perhaps, but there was a perfectly good reason for refusing to procreate and frankly I was not inclined to elaborate. Compared to how I started out, compared to all the potential I possessed, the circumstance I found myself in was grating at my nerves and patience incessantly. I could do so much more, but probably shouldn't.
A cool breeze swept through the hall as the sliding doors opened automatically and I caught the familiar click of heels. I stood up as the manager approached and she smiled apologetically at me, "Sorry. There was a bit of traffic on the way here."
I grit my teeth and smiled, "Understood. Not a big deal."
The winch ground on as the shutters rose and we ducked under to enter the store. I marched quickly towards the back and set my leather jacket in my locker with my bag. The cool air immediately clung to the exposed, tan skin of my arms and back. I regretted not shrugging on a third layer like I usually did. My workplace was very fashion aware so I was constantly nagged for my less-than-runway-worthy wardrobe. Normally I was comfortable with my cotton t-shirts and denim pants, but since I landed the job I was stuck with skin tight leggings and flimsy nylon shirts possibly meant to showcase more of my body than I was comfortable. The hot pink tank top with ladder cut-out on my back was as close to conservative as I could afford, albeit the black leggings with leather trimming wasn't so bad. At least the manager allowed me to wear my usual black boots instead of forcing me to buy some infernal heels.
Wednesday morning dragged on much as expected, nothing but customers returning prior purchases and my manager complaining about the lack of funds we were gathering. Perhaps if the prices weren't so high for such piss poor quality material customers would be returning less merchandise. Of course, not that I could bring that up as the lowly retail associate with zero benefits. Missed were the days when I was capable of doing what I wanted when I bloody well pleased with practically zero consequence. There wasn't a being alive that could get in my way.
"I swear I brought my coupons with me," the middle-aged woman scrounged through her large bag as I stood behind the register. "Do you have any coupons?"
Took quite a bit of effort not to let my expression fall into my resting bitch face, "I don't have any on me. You could try the store's website or looking at coupon websites."
The woman whipped out her smart-phone and her wrinkly, manicured fingers fumbled expertly through the touch screen. "How about this one? The code is ninety-nine twenty-two."
"I have to see what the coupon is for, ma'am."
"It's for thirty percent off."
"Okay but I have to see it myself. Some rules may apply to this coupon."
She sucked her teeth and nearly tossed the phone at me. I ignored the blasted woman and read through the coupon, "Ma'am, this coupon is for online purchases."
"It says in-store right here!"
I heard my teeth grind as my jaw clenched tight, "That's for a different coupon."
"Okay then use that one."
"It expired two days ago."
"Just use the stupid code I gave you and see if it works."
Bitch face commenced, so much for my shining customer service, "The register won't let the code in if the coupon expired. Either use one that hasn't expired or lighten your haul."
"I wouldn't have picked all this if I didn't absolutely need it. Can I speak to your manager?"
For the love of Kai! This woman is going to end up mush under my boot if she doesn't check herself!
Lights started to flicker and suddenly the fire alarm went off. High-pitched wailing pierced the humdrum voices of shoppers as white lights flashed throughout the mall. An automated male's voice instructed everyone to evacuate the building.
"What's going on?" the woman asked.
"Something unpleasant. I suggest you listen to the robotic voice in the sky and get out."
"I don't have time for this! Just use the code already, I'll stick with the dress."
My jaw just about dropped, even in the face of an emergency the woman just needed to buy something. Damn consumerism in the country sure was bad. At that point I didn't particularly care if I had my bitch face on or if I was being rude. I crossed my arms and stepped away from the register as I went to retrieve my things. Despite the emergency lights and sirens I pulled on my jacket and bag as if it were a normal day. However, the moment I stepped back out it was apparent it was anything but normal.
People dragged themselves into the store slowly as the populace out in the halls screamed and ran towards the exits. I got a good look at one of the cumbersome individuals as he seemed to be locked on reaching me. His eyes were pale yellow with a fiery red ring in the outer edge of the iris. The skin was grey, bruised, and even rotting in some parts. Screaming cut through the air within the store and I watched some of the customers get tackled by these slow moving people. They growled and snarled like animals before tearing their teeth into the victims and staining the white tiles red.
Zombies?
I looked back to the decomposing bloke shambling towards me and felt the sudden need to check on Jacky. I knocked the nearest mannequin into the zombie and rushed my way through the rest of the crowd, but they were quicker than expected. As soon as I was in reach one of them gripped my arm. One of her buddies snarled and threw themselves towards me. I ducked under his arms and pulled my captor's arm so I could flip the bitch onto her back. Without really thinking I stomped her face in and felt the skull disintegrate under my boot.
The icy shiver of familiarity shot up my leg to the crown of my head as I stumbled out the store. As I looked around more people were either getting eaten or shambling through the halls mindlessly hunting for prey. A crowd of people stampeded in my direction as my store was closest to the exit.
Did Jacky make it out?
Better judgement would have me evacuate like a good little girl, but there was currently a little girl that could end up orphaned if I didn't make damn sure Jacky survived. Instead I ran towards the escalators, Jacky's store was at the fifth level of the enormous mall in the complete opposite end from where I was. Lovely odds, of course my luck would have it that way. I ran through the halls, leaping over pools of blood and corpses of unfortunate shoppers. In Jacky's condition I highly doubted she made it through the horde of frightened consumers unscathed.
Just as I made it to the corner of the mall with the escalators I stopped in my tracks and pressed my back against a wall. I took a deep breath and peered around the corner at the crowd of idle zombies just standing around like twits. "Fuck my life," I chuckled humorlessly.
Suddenly I felt my phone vibrating in my jacket pocket and answered nearly breathless, "Jacky, where are you?" The whispering and violent coughing in the background at least let me know she wasn't alone.
"I locked myself in a storage room when those things showed up."
"Which one?"
"I- I don't know. I didn't really get a good look at where I was when I got pulled here."
The coughing grew more violent and transformed to pained wheezing, "Who's with you?"
"Uh some security guards and some other people. Some of them were there where it started. They think someone smoked the mall to start this."
"Smoked the mall?"
"Yeah they saw smoke and then people started eating each other."
"Jacky get out of there! It's not safe!" My shouting had drawn a bit of unwanted attention and I saw a few zombies shamble towards my way, others actually started to run with flailing arms. "Peachy," I growled into the phone and started running.
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Okay nobody kill me. Yes I have unfinished stories. Yes I have some explaining to do. Life is life, what can I say? Two crappy retail jobs, part-time nursing major, and two unemployed parents take quite a bit of time from my days. I would be updating every day of my muse allowed. Unfortunately my muse brought this idea up during work and Sarah's own story served as the ignition that started me on my path to this piece of work. Not to say I'm not thinking of my other stories or plan to leave them be because I'm not. Just I need some time to get to them like this little sliver of time I had to write this. Hope you guys still stick around though ^_^