The Start

"Help me." Roby squeaked out as my sister used me like a scratch post and clung onto me, her nails digging into my skin. My mother looked around and spotted the thick wooden sticks used in a sport of defense called Arnis. She took one of them, opened the door, unlocked the screen door and started attacking the nearest zombie by hitting it repeatedly on the head.

"Ma! Ma, no! Come back!" I tried to go after her, but my sister was rooting me to the spot. "Ma!"

"Run!" My mother told Roby, who ran into our house and clung onto me too.

"Great, now I really can't move…" I muttered as I stared down at the two who were crying with their eyes closed. A scream made me, and only me, look up. And the only thought racing through my mind? It's got my mom. "MA!" I watched in horror as one of them dragged my mom away, while biting on her leg. The other joined him and started feasting on her tummy. It was absolutely revolting. I couldn't take it anymore. I dragged myself toward the door, and the two, realizing what I was doing, screamed, let go of me and hid under the table. I took one more look outside, before locking the screen door and slamming the door shut. I leaned against the door and slowly slid down it. I spotted the two staring at me in fear so I gestured for them to come out, even though I can hear the moans and groans of the zombies outside, munching on my mother.

"Where's mom?" Hani asked as she and Roby crawled out. Before I could answer, a few shots were heard. I got to my feet with new hope as I put a hand on the doorknob.

*Bang! Bang!* Gunshots? I don't think zombies can shoot. Only real, breathing human beings can. And that can only be one thing. Rescue! Rescue's here! Finally, I can breathe properly again! I was about to open the door, when I realized something. No more gunshots. I moved back a bit and quickly went to the kitchen. Gunshots, but no voices? I didn't hear anything else either. What happened? I was startled out of my new thoughts when Hani and Roby screamed. I hid the knife I had found in my pocket as I turned to see the two clutching to each other and shaking like leaves. "What the heck is wrong with you two?" I asked as I stepped toward them.

"Z-z-z-z-ZOMBIE!" They cried and hid behind me, with their nails digging into my skin, yet again. I looked up at the window to see a zombie peeking at us with its unblinking eyes. At first, I thought it was one of the zombies from earlier, already done with my...mother. And then would mean that the gunshots were probably just a dream? Why am I so gullible?

That's when I heard snickering. What? Snickering? A zombie can't laugh.

"Wait a minute…" I gathered my courage to walk to the window and pull the curtain, only to see a guy with a cool looking Mohawk holding the zombie head up. As in, just the head. "Dude, like stop. You're scaring the heck out of the kids."

"Rico!" A stern voice called as a man appeared beside Mohawk guy. "Put that away." The guy chuckled and kept the head. He actually did, by the way. Something about that guy seemed comforting, despite the fact that he looked like one of those gangsters you'd see in jails.

"Alrighty Skipper." Mohawk said and saluted the guy. Skipper? What a weird name. Just then, another guy came to them.

"Sorry about that, but could you just open the door?" He asked with a cute little English accent. I looked at him suspiciously. He was younger and shorter than the other two, and he really looked like a kid with his get-up on, even his face and eyes were like that on a youngster. He looked too young to be doing something like this. "We won't hurt you."

"And who am I to trust you?" The guy who was called Skipper grinned and crossed his arms.

"I like this girl already." Yeah, keep grinning, 'Skipper'.

"Selena?" I turned at the familiarity of the voice and spotted an older and male version of Roby just standing behind the three. He wasn't wearing what he wore when he left, and he even looked freshly showered and all that. I stared at him for a while as the two girls looked at him with surprise.

"Dad!" The man turned to look at Roby. "Dad, you're back! And you're still alive!" He grinned at the little girl while I stared at him like he was a ghost.

"Of course, Roby. Besides, I would never leave you without saying goodbye first."

"What took you so long?" She asked while I turned my attention to the people outside.

"I got into an accident, and almost got bitten," He pointed to the bandage on his right hand, "but I'm here. Here and alive."

"And the others?" I inquired with my arms crossed. The man looked at me as he sighed.

"They, they didn't make it."

"Oh gosh…" Hani looked at the ground sadly.

"Poor them." Roby agreed as I rolled my eyes. I inwardly wished I could hit the back of their heads. What did they expect? Everybody's bound to die sooner or later, right? The man then turned to me.

"Open the door, Selena. They won't hurt any of you." He gestured to the people with him. "And the zombies are dead." I dropped the curtain and walked to the door, pulling it open and then unlocking the screen door. I slowly walked out, staring at no one but the three dead bodies on the ground as Roby and Hani pushed me to the side and ran to hug the man. Apparently, the others had also come out of their mouse holes to see who was screaming.

"Dad! Dad, I'm so glad-AHHHHH!" Roby screamed as what used to be my mother suddenly grabbed her ankle and raised its head to bite her. I quickly put one foot on the other hand and put the other in its mouth.

"Eat my foot, bitch." I said through gritted teeth in a soft voice so that nobody would hear as I took out the knife from my pocket. I looked at the knife then down at the monster chewing my soles, then gripped the knife and brought it down on the creature's forehead. It seemed to struggle and get away from me as I twisted the knife and slid it down its face. The thing finally stopped moving and I pulled the knife out slowly. I stared at the blood on the knife as I pushed my shoe deep inside its mouth causing it to crack open.

"EW!" The kids chorused as the rest of the blood and other things oozed out.

"That was so cool!" Roby and Hani chorused as I stepped off the creature.

"Selena, was that…" I slowly looked up at him with a blank expression and deadly eyes as he looked at me with a horrified look. "Tell me you didn't." He shook his head and looked at me disbelievingly. "You couldn't."

"Do I look like I had a choice?" I pointed at myself with the hand holding the bloody knife, staining my shirt.

"How could you? You couldn't, no, you wouldn't, do that." He gestured to the creature at my feet.

"Try me." I said as I gripped the knife tight.

"But-" I shook my head.

"You don't know me. Nobody does." He sighed as he crossed his arms.

"Tell me what happened then." I pocketed the knife, walked past the others, leaned against the wall near the screen door and crossed my arms.

"I don't want to talk about it, Will." Everyone calls that man 'Will'. Everyone but the youngsters.

"Well, aren't you the little emo?" Will crossed his arms as he looked at me. I just ignored him and stared at the wall beside me. Will shook his head and hugged Roby.

"Daddy!"

"Good to see you're safe, Roby."

"Um, Roby?" Hani pointed to her friend's foot, which still had the hand from before holding onto it.

"Ew! Gross! Yuck! Get if off get if off GET IT OFF!" Will reached down, grabbed the hand, wrenched the hand off, separating it from its wrist and gave it to Roby, who screamed and threw it away.

"GROSS!"

"HEY!" Hani threw it toward another kid, causing some sort of chain.

I threw my hands down as the hand soon came near me.

"For goodness sakes!" I grabbed it and waved it in the air. "It's just a hand!"

"You are not touching me." Hani pointed at me as she backed away. I looked at the hand.

"Okay, so maybe it's a little creepy." I dropped it and the kids backed away like it was going to attack them. "It's dead!" I said exasperatedly.

"And the dead are walking." Hani countered from her spot behind Will with Roby.

"Stupid hand!" I kicked the hand, leaned against the wall and started sulking. Until the truth of the hand came to me, and I felt like throwing up. I can't believe I did that...

"Well, by the way. I'm back with help." Will spoke up as he gestured to the people with him. They didn't look like they came from the Philippines, or anywhere in Asia. As a matter of fact, they looked more like Americans. They must have been visiting the Philippines when the disease struck. They were also equipped with all sorts of weapons, backpacks and utility belts. And they seemed to be dressed nicely, like they've showered recently or something. They all had new clothes and their hair wasn't unkempt. Wow. But I don't mind MY unruly hair. I like it messy. It's me.

The only female among the 'rescue' team walked up to me with a smile. She had hazel eyes with hints of green seemed to smile back at me too.

"Hi, I'm Marlene." The brunette said as she held out a hand. The others seemed scared and so was I, but I didn't want to sound rude, so I shook her hand.

"Just call me Selena."

"Okay, Selena. I'm Private." English said as I shook his hand and gestured to his friends. "That's Skipper." Private pointed to the Boss guy who nodded. "And Kowalski." The really tall guy, the one I just noticed, smiled at me. He was probably 6 ft. something while I was 5 ft. 4. That guy practically towered over me and though he wasn't as scary as Skipper, his height terrified me. That was enough, since I wasn't a fan of getting up close and personal with Neanderthals.

"Pleasure to meet you." I formed a small smile and nodded slightly, shoving my silly fear to the back of my head.

"Pleasure's all mine."

"Eeeeeeee!" All the kids chorused as they looked at me and Kowalski with huge grins.

"Why the heck are you kids implying that now?" I turned to them with a glare as I crossed my arms.

"Nothing!" They all chirped.

"I'll never understand the Filipinos." Kowalski murmured and looked away. It was strange how, compared to the others, he was dressed smartly. There was even a nice red fountain pen tucked into the pocket of the immaculate white lab coat he had on. Um, lab coat + tall guy =…? Lab guy? Obviously it's not coat tall. That would be weird.

"Oh, and this is Rico." Private gestured to the Mohawk guy.

"Yeah, zombie guy. Hey." I gave him a short wave. Rico grinned as he waved back.

"Has anyone seen mom?" Hani chirped as she looked around.

"She went up." I murmured.

"Really? I didn't see her come in." Hani was about to go in, but I grabbed the back of her shirt and pulled her back roughly.

"I said, she went up." Hani got out of my grasp and glared at me.

"I want to see her, okay?" I face-palmed myself and murmured.

"Idiot…"

"What was that, loser?"

I reached for Hani, about ready to drop her on top of the zombie pile, but Will stepped in and pushed us apart.

"Girls." His fierce gaze did nothing to deter me or my sister. "Until now?" Hani crossed her arms, with her glare still focused on me.

"So what if the world ends. She's still,"

"I dare you to say it." I hissed angrily, feeling my hands curl.

"A," Will shook his head and placed his hands on our shoulders.

"Enough. With your parents gone, I'm in charge of the both of you. And I say you two keep your knives away from each other's necks. Do I make myself clear?" I tore away from Hani and shook Will off.

"You're not my father. Don't ever tell me what to do. I've had enough of testorones. They disgust me."

"Selena," Will started with a frown but Hani raised that proud head of hers and glared at me.

"Don't bother, Uncle Will. She's as stubborn as a donkey's ass."

"It's jackass, idiot." I harshly corrected my sister, not minding the fact that the fight had an audience.

"Stupid pathetic pighead." She fired back, and just as I was about to do the same, Will stepped between us.

"Girls!" The two of us immediately backed away from each other and looked away. With a sigh, Will turned to Hani. "Why don't you go pack up, Hani? We'll bring you guys to the safe house. You guys too." He said to the others, who went into their houses.

"Fine." Hani went inside as I stayed, head bowed. Roby's dad took out a box of matches and put it in my hands.

"What is this for?" I asked him as I looked up.

"We need to the burn the bodies." He nodded to the ground. "You can start the fire. Somebody told me that you loved doing that." I slowly pushed the drawer out and looked at the colorful assortment of matches as Will, Rico and Skipper picked up the three bodies and dragged them to the desolated area at the back of the apartment housing. I followed them with my sinking heart, knowing that I'll never live this down.

If I get to live at all.