Chapter 1: Optimism
Muffled sobs and loud growls could be heard near the girl, the unfamiliar sound disrupting her nap. Her eyes opened slightly, letting some of the light in. Her eyelashes fluttered open when she noticed one for her best friends sobbing uncontrollably next to her. She quickly sat up and stared at the girl.
"Chris..?" the girl asked her friend. Her blue eyes widened and her dirty blonde hair quickly shifted to the dynamic movement of reaching out to her friend and hugging her tightly. "Chris, what's wrong?"
"I-" she managed to say before a hiccup interrupted her. "I- Alex, is this real..? Is this all real?" The girl named Chris raised her voice.
Alex could feel the panic in her voice. She quickly let go of her and looked around. She scanned every inch of the room, noticing that they were in the bathroom. How did they get here? They were both in History class when Alex decided to take a nap. She looked back at Chris. Her dark brown hair was framing her face. Her eyes which were the same color as her hair were covered by her hands.
"Chris, why are we in the bathroom..?" Alex mumbled as she tried to calm down the brunette.
"I locked us in..." Chris whispered. "I locked us in the bathroom." she repeated herself louder this time.
"What, why?" The blonde asked her.
She reached for her phone, noticing an unimaginable amount of calls. She could feel her breath quickening as her shaky fingers scrolled down in order to see the messages. 32 New Messages. She could hear Chris mumbling something. Ignoring the brunette next to her, Alex tapped her phone. She first checked the messages from one of her classmates, Laurie. Her eyes were burning in the back of her skull. Only one word repeated over and over again: zombies.
Alex felt her heart beating faster and faster. She looked at the door, hearing the loud growls of the undead that were creeping behind the door, impatient to get a hold of them both. Devour them both. That was not going to happen. Alex got up and grabbed the brunette's hand. She quickly ran towards the window. She gulped and opened the window.
"Alex, what- Are you insane?" Chris raised her voice. The banging on the door were getting louder. The door was going to give soon.
"Follow my lead. We'll get out of here." Alex said and looked out the window.
She checked left and right, trying to look for an emergency ladder or something like that. Her blue eyes widened. The only way to go down would be to jump on the roof of the building next to the school.
"Chris, we have to jump down." Alex mumbled and stared at the brunette.
"What?!" Chris raised her voice as panic engulfed her whole. She could feel some tears begging to come back out.
Alex yelled out silently as a small portion of the bathroom door got smashed into, just slightly, so that the arm of a zombie could easily fit through. Chris screamed loudly before Alex placed her hand on the brunette's mouth, more muffled screaming coming from her.
"Chris, you need to be quiet. We have to jump!" Alex whispered. Her chest tightened when the brunette quickly shook her head no. "Chris, I beg you, please don't do this to me. Please don't make me leave you behind." Her eyes started feeling watery. She could feel her tears itching to come out.
Chris sighed and then sobbed. She looked at Alex and nodded.
"Let's get out of here. Quick." the brunette said, wiping some of her tears away.
She climbed to the window and jumped in a swift motion, landing on the roof of the next building. When her body hit the building, she yelled out silently. The brunette got back up and looked at her blonde friend. Alex couldn't move a muscle. She stared at the height of the building and felt her breathing quicken. She gulped and closed her eyes.
A loud thump emitted from behind Alex. Her head quickly spun around as she looked at the broken door. She screamed and quickly jumped out the window, landing next to Chris, on the roof. She coughed a few times, the impact being too much for her. Chris quickly helped her up and stared at the window.
"Laurie and Jo.." Alex mumbled and Chris looked at her. "Did they tell you where they went?"
Chris' eyes darkened as she shook her head.
"Let's look around though.." the brunette said, a hint of optimism in her voice.
Alex sighed and climbed down the emergency ladder with Chris. She looked left and right, her eyes widening when she saw the amount of abandoned cars and dead corpses. She felt weird that she was thankful that the corpses were actually dead. However, she tried to make herself think that it was okay to think like this. They were at peace. A shot in the head and you were at peace.
Suddenly, Alex felt thankful again for that random window in the girl's bathroom that had just recently been a good escape for her and Chris. She had never known why that window was there. Perhaps this was why. She was also thankful for those long hours of keeping up with the TV Show The Walking Dead. Or for those games and movies she had about the same topic. Laurie and Jo had to be alright. They had to be. Or was that just Alex's desperate thought process that got in her way? She had always been optimistic. Who knew it might actually be useful to be optimistic once in a while?
"Is that Laurie..?!" Chris raised her voice, pointing at a random silhouette in the distance. She felt the urge to run towards the figure, but the blonde stopped her.
"Wait." Alex said and squinted her blue eyes. She pushed her glasses back up on the bridge of her nose and looked at the figure.
The figure had long brown hair, with blonde streaks here and there. She quickly ran towards a car and opened its door. Another figure, a dark haired girl with light brown skin was following her. She looked around the place before she looked their way. The girl gasped and poked the other one that was searching the car.
"It's them!" Chris said and started running towards them. Alex followed her.
"Thank goodness you're both okay!" The girl with brown and blonde hair that Alex recognized as Laurie said. She hugged them both and sighed in relief.
Alex looked at them both. Their eyes were red and puffy. Of course they had cried because of this whole situation. Who wouldn't? The world was going to shit. It was called an apocalypse for a reason. Laurie and the two girls both looked at the car. It didn't surprise her. Laurie has always been the smartest one out of the group. It was no wonder she already had a plan on how to get supplies and weapons.
Alex jumped, her phone beeping, desperately showing that it had a new notification. Alex grabbed it out of her pocket and looked at it. "Battery Low: 5%" She gulped and looked at the messages once again. She checked her mother's messages now. Then her father's. Both were saying the same thing: "Stay alive."
Alex could feel tears forming in the back of her skull. She gulped and inhaled deeply, the smell of copper coming from the dead cop's blood that was laying on the ground next to her tattooed in her lungs. A tear fell on her cheek. She could feel her thoughts overflowing. They were dead, alright. She knew. It was real. This was the truth. So why play dump and listen to those optimistic thoughts that everything is going to be okay? The government didn't tell us anything. They didn't even care. They hear that a school is overrun by crawling zombies and they send in cops that are only prepared to deal with muggers and motor-bikers parking in the wrong places. To do what? To help the death count grow.
Alex knelt down next to the dead cop and grabbed his gun. It was heavier than she had expected. She scanned it quietly and sighed. She had never guessed that she would actually be holding a gun in the near future.
"Score!" Laurie shouted as the car began working. Alex put her gun in her back pocket and walked towards the girls. "I finally found one with a functioning engine and the keys already in the ignition." She explained. Talk about luck. She told them to hop in the car.
Alex followed her orders, getting in the front seat, next to Laurie. Jo and Chris both got in the back seats, shutting the doors and locking them just in case. Laurie grabbed one of her notebooks that she must have snatched from her locker back in the high school. She grabbed her pen and opened the notebook. Alex noticed the list Laurie had made. She struckthrough the first thing on the list.
"We need to find weapons now." She said and looked at Alex.
Alex grabbed her gun and explained to them how she had found it. The corners on her mouth rose slightly when she saw Laurie's shocked face. The girl held the gun and examined it thoroughly. Alex thought that it was quite amusing how much Laurie was into guns. She handed Alex her gun back and then proceeded in talking about the list.
"Then, after that, we must find food and a secure place to stay the night." She said confidently and looked at the girls.
"But.. Our families-" Jo mumbled.
"After that, we can go check if any relatives of ours are still alive next thing in the morning." Laurie said and began driving out of the city.
Alex looked out the car's window. She felt her chest tighten. So many dead bodies. Some still 'alive' and moving. What caused this? Who survives in a world like this one? A world that doesn't allow anyone to get attached to people, because they don't survive. No one will. Alex's blue eyes were burning.
She wasn't able to see the glass half full anymore.