Chapter 3
*Eight years before infection
It was my first day of fourth grade, and my first school year with hideous braces. I sat by myself at a desk, knowing that these people who I've been with since kindergarten wouldn't dare to talk to me. The teacher stood in front of the class, "Okay class, we have a new student here at South Lake Elementary. Please welcome Darcy McCormick."
"Hello Darcy." The class said,
"Darcy, you can take a seat next to Sophia." The class snickered, Darcy sat down next to me.
I kept my head down, "Hello." She said, I half smiled but kept looking down, "Are you okay?" I nodded, "C'mon, talk to me, I don't bite." I looked at her, "I'm Darcy." She smiled, showing braces that were just as hideous as mine,
"I'm Sophia." I smiled back,
"Woah, cool braces. Mine are ugly..." The conversations carried on from there, and soon we became best friends.
*Present*
"Oh. My. God!" I shoved my gun at Ellis and ran at her, "Darcy!" I squeezed her in a big hug,
"Hey Soph looks like you're glad to see me."
"I thought you were dead!"
"Well... In a way I kinda am, that day you left me at the gas station, I felt the changes but didn't look different. I saw others of my kind, and headed to the mall, got me a hood, and stayed there. Finally something didn't seem right, five survivors were walking through the mall. When I saw that you were there I had to follow you, make sure you didn't get killed." She smiled at me.
I punched her in the shoulder which seemed to unphase her, "Why the hell did you not tell me it was you?!"
She shrugged, "I guess I didn't want to get killed."
"Right..."
"Oh, and this is my friend Max, he's a... Whatcha call it? Smoker?"
"Yeah."
Max stepped forward. He wasn't ugly like any of the smokers I've seen, he looked as human as any of us (minus Darcy), "Well, he's more like a frog than a smoker, isn't that right Max?" He nodded, "He doesn't talk much... So, why don't you introduce us to that lovely group of yours?"
"Uh... Just a second."
"Okay."
I went back to the group, "So, what's up?" Nick asked,
"They're gonna keep following us, so we might as well make them a part of our group." I said,
"I don't know if that's such a good idea." Coach (the excellent idea guy) said,
"Wait a minute Coach." Gina said, "Just hear her out."
" Think about it." I continued, "If we have two of them on our team, then the chances of us making it out of here faster is a lot better." Everyone looked at each other and nodded in agreement,
"That actually isn't a bad idea." Rochelle said,
"Okay Sophia, but if they do anything to make us distrust them, we will have to kill them." Coach said,
"Alright." I walked back to Darcy who was brushing her hair, "Why?" I asked,
"Because. So what's the plan?" She handed me the hairbrush,
"We agreed to let you come with us."
"Not like you had much of a choice, we would have followed you anyway." She threw her black hair back into a ponytail,
"Okay, let's go." We headed back to the group. Ellis was smiling at me, I smiled back, "Guys, this is Darcy and Max, Darcy and Max, this is Ellis, Nick, Rochelle, Coach, Thomas, and Gina." I gestured to everyone as I said their names,
"Hello, nice to meet you all." Darcy grinned,
"Alright let's get our butts on that ferry." Coach ordered, we all did as he said.
Ellis handed me my gun back, "Thanks." I said, he smiled and sat down. Darcy had a huge grin on her face, "What?"
"He likes you."
I rolled my eyes, "Tell me something I don't know." I leaned in close to her, "We almost had sex this morning."
"What!" She exclaimed, a little too loud, "Why didn't you?" She whispered,
"We heard something outside so we stopped."
She rolled her eyes, "C'mon, the best place to lose your virginity is in the swamp during the zombie apocalypse."
I rolled my eyes, "You're an idiot."
"Just sayin." She leaned against the railing.
The ferry came to a stop on the other side of the river, "Max and I will scout ahead if you'd like, we can eliminate any threats that are ahead." Darcy said,
"Good idea, go ahead." Coach let them go.
Darcy put up her hood and leaped off, Max following close behind, Ellis wrapped an arm around me, "What were you and Darcy talkin about?"
"It was nothing, just girl stuff." He nodded.
"Check that shack for supplies." Nick said. Inside was just a chainsaw and some pills, which I put in my bag (the pills, not the chainsaw). Darcy and Max did a good job clearing the path for us because no zombies came after us. We caught up to them sitting on a picnic table,
"We cleared most of the path for you, we're taking a break." Darcy said,
"That's fine, good job by the way." Nick said,
"Thanks."
"We can't stay here long." Coach said.
As soon as Darcy felt ready to go, we headed toward a covered bridge that had a stairway going down to marshland. There were planks lying on the ground as a makeshift path, "Hold up." Darcy said and started sniffing the air,
"What is it?" I asked, she leaned in close, as if trying to hear something,
"Max, come with me, you guys stay here, we'll be right back." They ran off,
"What was that abou-" Thomas was interrupted by the sound of a scream, nothing was in sight though.
Seconds later Darcy came back, "Wheres Max?" I asked,
"He went ahead to the safe room, we took care of one of those annoying crying bitches for you."
We went down the stairs, onto the makeshift walkway, and finally into the safe house.