Chapter 3: Some Mistakes Are Fatal
"I love you, not for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you."
-- Roy Croft
I could see them fighting and yelling. I watched in silence as they fought to live, fought to protect each other, fought for everything that mattered. I mostly watched my father though and marveled at his strength and stubbornness. He was old and warn from the last time that I saw him. That was years ago, when there wasn't any walking undead. I gulped and began to walk forward. Then, as I was about to, something pulled me back. I looked up to find Cornelius glaring at me, he mouthed the words don't do it and I simply nodded. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't go. I'd put us all in danger just because I wanted to catch up with my long lost father. My eyes streamed silent tears but for a split second, something rushed passed us. I opened my eyes wider and caught a glimpse of something giant and gruesome. Alex pulled us back so we wouldn't get crushed. I flew to my knees and watched as this thing ran over to them. I shrieked but something covered my mouth. Behind I heard someone whisper
"Shh, keep quiet Lucretia. He's dangerous..." Alex held his hand against my mouth but the tears still flowed. I watched it as it started to throw other zombies out of the way just to get at them. I had a perfect view but I wanted to look away. I needed to. I sobbed and squirmed out of his grasp to try and reach them, to try and save them. I screamed to get its attention but it ignored me and continued. Instead, I caught the attention of them.
"To the right!" An older looking one yelled.
"Get out of the way Zoey!" Another one screamed to a girl who was busy shooting a zombie in the face. I stopped and realized what I was doing. An undead trying to protect the living. Just as I realized that, they shot at me. I looked to see who and it was Francis. I stared at him but all I saw was pure hatred. Did he not recognize me? Quite frankly, no he didn't considering that I was a zombie. He reloaded his shotgun and glared straight at me. Then he spoke
"This is for killing them." and shot at me again. I moved out of the way though, he missed me only by an inch. My eyes were getting teary and I growled. I growled in frustration, not because of what I was. He stared me down and I could hear the others catching up. Apparently he did too and screamed
"Hunter, Smoker and Boomer to the right! Not to mention this thing!" He yelled and I realized that I was the thing. That hurt deeply. No wound on my body hurt more than what he just said. I took notice that Alex was going to attack the female up until I saw that he was flung out of the way by that monster. Then something inside of me told me to attack the beast, and I did. I lunged for it's face and started to claw away it's eyes. It hissed and growled as I scratched with all my might. He let out a painful wail and everything silenced. Behind me I heard the humans conversing
"What the fuck is this?" My father yelled
"It's attacking it's own kind?" The girl asked, surprise hinted everywhere.
"Now's our chance, lets get going." The dark skinned one said. And they left, running away and shooting other zombies. Here i was, clawing at a monster ten times my size at least. Then I heard Dustin yell
"Lucretia, lets go. While it's weak." I jumped off just as he said that and followed quickly behind. The blind beast wailed behind us as we went our own ways. The sound died out quietly behind us as we wandered back to the apartment. Everything was quiet and dark out. I stayed close to Alex but I could tell no one was impressed by my actions. If I had a heart still, it would be beating like crazy. I kept my head down and I touched my dirty crimson plaid skirt. I touched one of the pleats and thought about the day when it first started. I was at my school with my best friends Tess and Rachelle. Adam had rushed by to get us and we couldn't understand why. It was lunch time so we figured that he was really hungry or something so we went. But something was different about him. He was never a man that was scared easily but this time, he had fear written all of his face. I went to touch him and he flinched away. I stared at him and asked him what was wrong. He told me that he saw things that never should be seen. I wondered right up until something crashed into us. It was a little fuzzy after that considering I took a little force to the head and that this was two weeks ago. I looked up to Alex and stared at him. A few seconds later, he looked down towards me. There was soemthing hidden behind those eyes but I couldn't tell. They were a little sad but loving too. I looked away. I promised myself that no matter what, Adam would always be the one for me, no matter what.
"I'm sorry..." I whispered quietly.
"Damn fucking straight you should be sorry." Cornelius said angrily "Now stop your crying. God you're irritating."
"I'm sorry!" I spoke louder. "I didn't mean to..."
"What's wrong?" Alex asked and put a hand around me. I began to cry more now. I wanted him back so badly that it hurt so much. I'd give everything just to have him back in my arms again. I flew to my knees for the billionth time today and sobbed. It tore me inside out remembering what he said and how he lost that brilliant sparkle in those blue eyes. Nobody had me like he did, nobody ever would either. A few minutes passed by and everyone stared at me. Then I heard Dustin say
"Lucretia, what's wrong? You cry more than Witch does...something bothering you?"
"He died for me and I ended up dieing anyway...his life was wasted and it was all because of me..." I sobbed.
"No it wasn't." Alex protested
"Yeah it was!" I spoke angrily
"You're here now aren't you? Your life wasn't wasted. And look at it this way, if you were still living, you couldn't have saved your father today."
"I-I guess..." I answered. He was right. If it wasn't for my powers, they would have all been dead. I shook my head though, still angry and wanted to protest. I stared at the ground and heard Cornelius say
"Speaking of which, you're little outburst almost cost us our lives."
"We aren't living." Dustin replied in a wise-ass tone. Cornelius growled and began to walk away. Dustin laughed and told him to slow down. That left Alex and I alone. I touched my white blouse and fiddled with the ruffles on the front. I heard him laugh and say
"You know, for being dead, you're pretty cute."
"Pardon?" I asked, looking up at him.
"Hah, you're adorable." He said, touching a dried out cut on my cheek. If I could blush, I would have. I pulled away though and stared at the sky. The moon shined brightly but there were no stars to accompany it. As I stared and walked, he took my hand in his. I didn't look at him though but he spoke quietly in that dark voice of his
"Lucretia, come here, I want to show you something." The next thing I knew, I was being dragged somewhere. He put me on his back then began to head somewhere secret, only known to him. I held onto him tightly and dreamed of Adam. He was the only one for me and I would keep it that way, no matter what. Nobody would change that.