Among the Dead

Christine

April 2018

I still dreamed of that last winter. Raoul had taken Papa and I on a skiing trip for Christmas.; it had been the best month of my life. Snow had settled heavy on the Colorado mountains, transforming the small resort town into a fairyland that reminded me of the tales Papa tell when I was little. I would sometimes pretend that I was a golden princess, and Raoul was my brave and armored knight, climbing the great glass mountain to secure my hand in marriage. I had never told Raoul any of that, of course. He would have laughed at my silliness. Still, the mountains were beautiful. Papa would sit by the fire and watch through the frosted window as Raoul and I skied and played in the snow. I could still taste the hot chocolate (without marshmallows, of course), could still hear Papa's violin, and could feel Raoul's hands warming mine after a day in the snow.

I could still feel it, but none of those things belonged in this place. It was warm here-too warm. My forehead was dripping with what I prayed to be sweat. There was no time- there was no time.

I nearly collapsed in fear as another scream erupted from behind me. I prayed to God that the stairway was still clear. My lungs throbbed- no, my lungs heaved- but with one more rattling breath, I ran. I ran past the practice rooms, the classrooms, the baby grand piano- I ran past all of it and threw myself at the stairwell door with as much force as I could muster.

There was no time!

I had been stupid-so stupid!- when I didn't go with Meg right away. We had been hurriedly packing our possessions to the sound of the Emergency Broadcast System when the phone had rung. It had been dear, sweet, Raoul, calling to make sure that I was safe. Meg had begged me to leave it behind, but I had told her to give me five minutes. Raoul needed to know where I was, where I was going.

"Get to your Dad's house, Christine! I'll find you. I promise that I'll find you, Christine! I'll-"

The phone had cut off. I had tried to call Papa, but he hadn't picked up. I had a sudden image of him dead on the kitchen floor, or being brought up to heaven in the Rapture and leaving me here alone on Earth. Before I had been able to do anything else, screams had erupted from Jamie's room.

And they had been everywhere! it Half of the school had to have caught whatever plague this was.

Now, I had five minutes to get to Parking Lot D as people around me were panicking and, God have mercy, dying. Recklessly, I threw myself into the outside door and ran, my flip flops snapping against the pavement. Why hadn't I changed into sneakers when I had the time? I was so stupid. I veered around the dorm building and pulled to a dead stop. The top of my flip flop, unable to handle it any longer, popped off, leaving the bottom on the ground behind me.

Mark Reynolds, the jerk who lived in the coed dorm house next to mine, was standing twenty feet in front of me, and he was one of them: dead, but not really. I never liked the guy, but I never wanted this to happen to him! His skin was grey, his eyes were glassy, and- God, his arm was gone!

Whatever was left of my sanity fled. Screaming for mercy, I took off running, heedless of direction. Good God, I was going to die! This was the end of the world and I wasn't worthy to go to heaven. I would wander around until Mark Reynolds, the jerk, would eat my arm and turn me into one of those- those zombies! There was no hope! I had left my Bible in my dorm and Meg was Jewish, so we were both cursed to become mindless walking dead and go to hell, oh god, I hated fire, and there was no way I could survive in hell and there was no way I could ever survive a zombie apocalypse-

"Stop screaming, Christine!"

The force of Meg's slap snapped my head to the side. Without ceremony, she shoved me into the passenger seat and slammed the door shut. Effortlessly, she leapt over the front of the car and slid into the front seat, neatly shutting the door behind her. The sane part of my mind appreciated how cool that had looked. The rest of me, though, was trying to stop gasping for air like a drowning dog.

Biting her bottom lip, Meg turned the engine on and floored it. Well, the speed certainly wasn't helping my stomach. I couldn't contain a small, panicked moan.

After glancing at me, Meg shoved my head in between my knees. She always knew what to do. Dependable Meg. I love Meg. She would get me out of this. She would get me to Raoul. God, when had I lost a shoe? I hoped that Meg had her soccer equipment in the car. Nobody wanted to fight zombies with one shoe. I felt like I was about to throw up.

"I'm going to Carly's house. If she's not home, we're just going to have to head up to Illinois without her. I'm assuming you want to get to your Dad's house?"

I made a noise in the back of my throat that somewhat resembled a sound of agreement. God, there was no way I was going to make it through this.

After determining that Carly wasn't home, Meg and I stood in the driveway, emptying out her trunk. We both pointedly ignored the puke outside the passenger seat door.

"I have some backup soccer equipment. That will have to work for now, I think." She began to gingerly pull out the shin and elbow pads, passing off her backups to me as she put her own on. I felt slightly better after throwing up, honestly. It was just hard to get my thoughts together. Weren't there movies everywhere about zombies and the Rapture and surviving? I just needed to think.

"Wait. Meg, do you have any duct tape?"

She quirked an eyebrow, but ducked into the back of her trunk, pulling two rolls out.

"If we put them on our body, the zom- um, the teeth won't be able to get us. Do you think they bite? Oh my god. This is so screwed up."

"Good, Christine!" Meg exclaimed, ignoring the end of my sentence. With a grin, she yanked the tape off and began to secure it around her arm.

Did she really have to be so condescending? Though, I guess that I had been acting like a child, screaming and throwing up all over the place. Meg deserved better. Papa and Raoul deserved better. After taking a stabilizing breath, I resolved to be stronger from here on out. Come what may, I would get to Papa, I would get to Raoul, and I would get through this.

Hopefully, without anymore vomiting.