I can't believe this thing works! Ok, where to start? I need to write down everything truthfully so that anyone who finds this will know what to do. Ok, but first my name's Joy, funny since I've never been the happiest person in the world. Quite the opposite actually... Either way at the start of this I was... Oh, my God! I was 14. I'm fricking 17 now! It's been... So long. But things have finally cooled down enough for life to start to go back normal. Or as I like to call it,'The way things were before the shit hit the fan!' Either way, what to say?
How about I just start from the beginning of the outbreak? Yeah, I think it'd be best to start there. Memories don't fail me now!
AVAVAVA
As I mentioned I was just 14 when this started. I was probably just screwing around on the internet, most likely . Then I heard cars crashing outside, we lived close to a road that a few people would take to just get to Memphis or Jackson. I'd lived there my entire life, there had never been a wreck out there that I could, or can remember.
I looked out through my window, which happens to look out over the highway. I couldn't believe my eyes, people were walking around the cars, which were in flames, like nothing had just happened. Not only that they were trying to get into them! I mean, that doesn't... That's not even close to being ok.
"E? E!" I called out, hoping that my little brother was in the house. Something was happening outside, and I didn't want to think about what it could be. Maybe this was just done sorta prank. Yeah! Nothing ever happened in this town, everyone would be going nuts over this! It was the perfect place to do this sorta thing!
"Joy! Get all the food you can into the truck!" I heard Eli shout along with the slamming of our door. I ran out of my room and went straight towards the kitchen. I stopped on my way there, only to see Eli grabbing what looked like every gun we owned from our laundry room. And yes, we kept our guns in our laundry room, don't judge us!
You see, we lived in Bolivar, Tennessee, according to the internet the most redneck town in Tennessee. While our family wasn't a redneck family, my dad enjoyed hunting. We had about... Five, maybe six guns for hunting, one shot gun, and two bows which neither of knew how to use. He left the bows alone.
"E, what are you doing?!" I screamed at him. He looked up at me, fear evident in his eyes. He looked down at the shot gun in his hands, eyes wide, yet serious. He tossed it over to me. Me being afraid of what would happen if I didn't catch it, scrambled to get it and luckily succeeded. I panted for a moment, fearful of the gun that was in my hands. Of course being the daughter of a hunter I had handled a gun before, but that didn't mean I liked them. I looked at Eli, unable to believe he had thrown it at me. I knew it had the safety turned on, but still! "What the heck, E?!"
"You know how we always planned for the zombie apocalypse, ya know as a joke?" Eli asked me. And of course I remembered that, they were some of my favorite memories. We would talk about what to take, who tho take, where to go. You know all the important stuff. We would often make plans for different types of zombies. Mainly depending on speed like the limping ones, the walking ones, and, possibly the most horrifying, running zombies. He stood up and looked at me, eyes filled with horror. "We're heading to Wal-Mart."
"Wait, what?" I said, as I walked down the stairs and set the gun down on the counter next to the sink. I was still unable to process what was happening. This couldn't be real. This had to be some sort of prank! This... This couldn't be real! "You... Please tell me you're joking with me. All right, where's the camera? What show am I on?"
"J, this is real. You know it," he said pointing to me.
"This, this is insane! Zombies aren't real! They're the creation of man and nightmares, in other words not real!" I screamed. I ran a hand through my hair. I was dreaming, this had to be a dream. I'd had tons of dreams just like this one, Eli and I fighting off zombies. But this... It was so vivid. This was real, and I knew it. And I wished with all my being that it wasn't.
"Joy," Eli said to me, grabbing my shoulders. His grip tightened on them slightly as he sucked in a shaky breath. He had to have been terrified. Sure, he was a sucker for this kind of plotline if it was in a first person shooter game, but this was real. Sure he could handle a gun and a knife as well, but he was only thirteen. If push comes to shove, I would have stood by him all the while, but he was just a kid. So was I back then.
He opened his eyes, his pupils dilated. "Get clothes, food, and medical supplies, okay?" He put on a small smile, probably trying to comfort me, as well as his nerves. He had always been a very mature person, but he loved to joke around. And that was good because he was one of the witty-est people I've ever known. Putting on a smile was his way to cope with certain things. This was no exception. "I'll come and help you out as soon as I'm done. Oh, wait! Before that call mom and dad."
I smiled back at him. It quickly dissolved once I had gotten to my room. Our parents, our relatives, our friends! They could have be dead, or hurt, or... I pulled out my phone and went to favorite contacts as fast as I possibly could, immediately pressing on the photo of my mother.
"Please, God. Oh, please Lord, please. Let them be alive..." I whispered as I waited. I had never been more fearful in my life. If they were dead the last thing I would have said to them would have been a half assed 'Love you, see ya when you get home.' Tears started flowing from my eyes as I continued to wait, I had gone to trying to get a hold of my dad when mom wouldn't pick up. They were dead weren't they? 'Please, dear God. Let them be alive and without their phones or dead, simply dead and in heaven with you!'
"No." I whispered when it went to voicemail. They... Were gone. "No. No! No, goddammit! Dad! Please! You have to call me back! You have to be alive! Call me back, please! I love you! I love you and mom so much! I'm sorry for everything and anything I've ever done to make you mad or sad or... I'm sorry! Please, please, please be alive! Don't be a walker! Just be dead, it's better than that! Please! I... I'm not going to die, I'm going to live just for you, I effining promise!"
"Joy! Hurry up and start packing, some are trying to get up through the field!" Eli shouted from what sounded to be the kitchen. I brought the phone away from my face, starting at the picture of my dad I had for the icon. A tear rolled down my cheek, it was from our last family vacation. It would probably be our last as an entire family. I pushed the hang up button on the phone with my thumb. I was going to live, I was not about to break my promise to them. I felt something inside me settle. It was probably my new found resolve for living, for making it through this.
I sent a quick text to our friend, and Eli's crush, hoping she was ok. Then I grabbed everything I thought we would need, which included clothing for every type of weather or season. Except rain, I just packed umbrellas for that. What? We didn't have rain coats or anything. I also raided the medical chest of drawers our mom always made sure was filled with stuff for any kind of emergency. It had everything from bandages to a thread and needle for huge cuts, as well as disinfectant.
Eli had finished packing all of the guns and ammo that he could find earlier than he thought he would so he actually handled food, so I had time to get personal items. Like some of my favorite books, pads, and ask of the things we would need for cooking. Mostly spices. And anything thing else I thought we'd need on the way out.
It was when Eli fired the first shot I knew we were out of time. The last thing we would need would be the most difficult to transport.
"E! We have to go and get Brianna!" I called out to him as he shot another one in the chest with one of the hunting rifles. It went toppling down our sloped driveway making the other one behind him go down with him. I was thankful that only those two were the only ones even close to our house at the moment. Eli looked at me with a look of disbelief at what I had requested. He ran a hand through his blonde hair, obviously trying to think of what we should do. I knew he was against the idea.
Brianna, the person I wanted to pick up, is a little girl I looked after. I won't deny it, Bri's an acquired taste. At first she annoyed the shit outta me, but over time I began to find that her cute childish antics made my day. But what really clinched it for me was when I learned what happened to her sister.
She had drowned when she was my age. Only her big brother, William, had survived. They had decided to go swim in a lake close to a barn they were staying at. They had tried to get Will to come with them too, but he had been tired for reasons even he couldn't remember. But that was the only thing that had let him live.
You might be wondering, why would that have made me force myself, and eventually become willing to be friends with Brianna? It was the fact that I accidentally said that her big sister was an imaginary friend she'd made up before I heard that story. When I told my mom she said she really did have a big sister, but she had just died before Brianna was born. I felt so guilty, the next time I saw her I apologized to her immediately. She said she would forgive me on one condition; I had to be her new big sister. I was shocked by her request, but I said yes.
We both said we'd live with each other in the distant future. We'd never leave each other, we'd be like real sisters. I, being the only female child in the family, always wanted a little sister, Brianna was a good substitute for that.
"Eli Zane Jenison, we are going to get Brianna! That is not a request! I will walk to get her!" I shouted at him. His head snapped up at the mention of his full name. I gave him the most serious look I could muster, which was not very hard for me. He knew I was being dead serious.
He let a groan of frustration as he ran to get to the Toyota Highlander, the car we'd been packing our stuff in the entire time. With the back row down the entire back end was filled with the essential survival gear we'd packed. He swung the driver's side door open and got into the seat. The vehicle roared to life moments later.
I know what you're thinking, you let your brother, who's younger than you, drive!? Yes, I did. But there is a good reason! You see, I always have had a kind of fear of driving. No, not even riding in one, just driving. I know, I'm weird. But I'm pretty sure it had something to do with the fact my first car wreck happened when I was like nine. And yes, I was in the car alone... I released the energy brake and since we live on a hill I crashed into a light pole, ok?! And then there was my little brother, who had driven down a highway, had driven through some forest roads without any accidents, and did that same thing again without any help.
Who would you want behind the wheel?!
"E, what do ya say?" I asked him when reached his window. I had been serious about walking to her house, it was only half way around the block, but I knew it would be dangerous. We lived near the less populated side of the block.
He looked at me, his eyes unreadable. He let his poker face slip and shoot me a grin that simply screamed, We-are-going-to-freaking-die-you-know-that-right-well-not-really-but-you-know-I'm-kidding.
I smiled as I began to walk around the car to get to the passenger's side, only to be stopped stopped by a male zombie. I screamed at the sight, it was hideous. And it looked scarily simular to the walking dead zombies. On a different note, I have no idea why, but my instinct was to kick it in the balls, which is what I did. It let out an unworldy screech and fell to its knees after I did it. I wasted no time and kicked it on its head. It was still moaning, letting me know it wasn't dead.
Make no mistake, I know getting my for that close to a zombie's head was stupid, but (If you want to take notes, this is something you might want to write about me.) I do not deal with adrenaline very well. It makes me not think straight, and I know that's dangerous, but I can't help it.
Luckily before it could bite my feet or legs, I heard this come from my little brother, "Joy! Get down!"
A good thing about adrenaline and me, I'm inclined to follow orders without much hesitation. I dove out of the way of my little brother, scraping my legs on concrete. I looked back in time to see him shoot it in the face coating his shoes and the lower parts of his jeans in what used to be human blood. Some of it had also reached my legs, but not my shorts. I know I kicked a zombie in the face with nothing protecting my legs. You are probably thinking I'm the stupidest person ever, or I'm the most kick ass person ever.
"E... I'm so... Thank you..."
"Ok, we need to get you some sort of weapon! Knowing you, it'll most likely be a giant chainsaw!"
AVAVAVA
The trip to Brianna's wasn't very long, most of it spent in silent horror at how many walkers there were. While we didn't know a lot of our neighbors personally, we did recognise a lot of, now deformed and rotting, faces. I kept looking for Brianna's young little face, but I was so thankful I couldn't find it. I remained thankful until I heard a scream of horror come from the house we were approaching.
It was the scream of a nine year old little girl I'd cared for for about three years.
"Brianna!" I screamed as I swung open my door without thinking. No that's it, I wasn't thinking. Period. I unbuckled my seatbelt as fast as I could and jumped out of the car and ran towards the house. In hindsight I am so lucky there were no walkers close to the house or else I would have done something even more reckless than what I did next.
I knew I'd be killed if I ran in there without a weapon, but I didn't have time to run back to Cade and get a gun. Aside from that, I was a terrible shot. I looked around as I was running, not daring to take the time to stop and carefully look around. I spotted something that would do the job quite nicely. As I was running to the stairs of the house I had to stop right next to them and quickly grabbed what looked to be a three feet tall metal garden cross. It was one of those stylized ones with tips pointed. In truth it looked more like Excalibur in the ground than a cross, in my mind it felt more like it as well.
I rammed into the door with my shoulder, cross sword in hand, causing the door to come off is hinges. The sight in front of me made me want to throw up and cry.
A place that I had grown to love was now forever ruined in my mind. A living room that I'd watched countless episode of whatever Brianna wanted to watch, that I'd played board games with the family with, eaten and loved the Mrs. Amanda's cooking with Bri and her brother... Was now blood splattered and filled with the gore and guts and bodies of them as well as strangers. And there was poor, innocent Brianna having to hit the reaching hands of three walkers with a base ball bat, covered in blood, hair tangled, and tears streaming down her face of porcelain skin.
She looked up at me, probably fearing that I was another walker. But her mouth turned into a giant smile, even though she was still crying and terrified. Her brown eyes showed something else in them now that I was here. Hope. Then it disappeared.
"Joy!" Brianna cried out, pointing at me... Or something behind me. I twirled around to see something approaching me. I was scared until I realised it was Eli. I let out a breath, then I rushed into the building. There were three of them, two elderly, the other was a younger woman, but not younger by much. I could take 'em.
"Bri, keep your eyes closed!" I shouted as I ran to the youngest one first, best to get the strongest out of the way first. All it took was one stab to the head to kill it. Sounds easy right? Nope. I had to kill a person, then rip my weapon out of her. My hands became covered in blood, as well as my shirt. But she was dead that was the point. And three shots rang out throughout the house, and probably the street. I knew Eli had hit his marks.
I looked back at the object we had been protecting, she was still alive and well. I knew it had been worth it. She was alive and unharmed, more or less. She was about to shit her pants she was so scared, but she was unarmed. Physically anyways. Emotionally? I would find out later.
AVAVAVA
Oh, I gotta go, it's my turn to make dinner tonight, even after all of this is over I'm still the cook around here. I'll write later tonight, bye.
AVAVAVA