Amara

The world is as silent as if it ended in the night. The sun is still resolutely below the horizon and the street is as dark as some old-school black and white movie. As I close my eyes, I feel the heady pull of my dreams, beckoning me back to play. Like a little kid at the swings who's been told it's home-time, I turn begrudgingly to the light switch and flick it, immediately the room is bathed in that unnatural electric glow. I should do something about that, get some fancy soft glow bulb, or perhaps just a bedside lamp. But the cool blue strip light was free with the room, along with the rising damp and the cockroaches. I guess underground homes are meant to be like that. You know, bad quality, bugs and random water leaks after a bit of rain. At least my underground home is like that. I wish everything was okay. I wish this this outbreak didn’t happen. I walked over to the little map stuck on the wall. I clicked the blue button with the letters ‘search’ spread on it. The whole map turned green and made a quite beep sound. A number popped up on the screen. 123.

“Ugh. There are still so many zombies out there.”

I started playing around with the map trying to find out how many zombies were near us.

“Hey Amara” Kaitlyn called from behind.

“Hey! Look there is only one zombie group near us” She answered

“Really?”

“yup! One zombie group must be anywhere between 5-20 zombies.”

“That’s amazing!”

“I know but altogether there are still 123.”

“okay not that much of an improvement but it’s okay I guess”

“Yeah at least we are safe” Kaitlyn whispered, her tone rapidly going from an excited one to a calm one.

I hugged her tightly. She really was my best friend.

She turned back towards the kitchen.

Ah yes, today was her turn to cook. I honestly love her mac and cheese. Katie and I were roommates when we started college around a year back. That’s when the COVID pandemic hit us and we weren’t allowed to go back home for the holidays. We got really close and became friends easily. After that everything whooshed by so fast, I can’t even think of what happened. All I know is that there was some news that the Titan Plague had spread throughout the USA. When it hit Italy and was coming near our school, we were forced into the safety underground homes. There wasn’t much time nor room so they said we would have to move in with our roommates. So now we are here. We have been attacked many times and we are in the little population of the school still left alive. Most of the other teachers and students have all been contaminated by the Titan Plague or more so ‘Zombified.’ It’s scary. It really is. But after nearly six months of hardship and pain, we’ve gotten used to it. We even got news that Kaitlyn’s parents had been contaminated. That was of course near the start when most of the Italian population was still alive. Now there’s no point of telling everyone where their loved ones are so I pretty much have no idea where my parents and baby brother are.

Maybe they're dead.

Maybe they're suffering.

Or maybe they're zombies.

I pop out of my pondering and go and help Kaitlyn in the kitchen.

“What happened? I thought you hated cooking. Plus, it’s my turn today” Kaitlyn questioned while taking the macaroni out from the cupboard.

I completely zoned out, so I didn’t hear her question

“Are you doing this, so I help you tomorrow cause I ain’t doing that.” Kaitlyn chuckled

“Huh? What? Oh. Nah, I just feel like helping”

“okay. What happened with you? You alright?”

“Yeah of course. Why?”

“Nothing you look off.”

“Everything’s fine” I lied.

Nothing was fine.

It had been another two months which meant it was time to go out to get food from the abandoned grocery shops. Kaitlyn probably didn’t know. We had done this thrice already but just got back safe. I couldn’t hold it in. I had to tell her.

“Umm Katie”

“Yeah? What happened Amara?”

“It’s actually been two months…”

“Wait. No. NO!”

“Yeah. And That’s why I was worried. I think I should go alone.”

“What? No. Have you gone mad Mara? It’s too dangerous.”

“I would feel guilty for the rest of my life if anything happened to you.”

“But I’ll feel guilty if something happens to you. It’s groceries. We both need them. Not just me or you.”

“Please let me go alone” I begged

“But– “

“Please!”

“Fine.”

“Thank you.”

I walked over to the door opening to a ladder leading upwards. To the ground. I turned back before leaving.

“If I’m late then I’m either dead or I’m sick of this underground home” I said smiling.

“Well you can’t die because you’re the blatant identity of a super good zombie fighter and you can never leave this home because you love me.” Kaitlyn declared

I hugged her tightly and set off.         

The ground was crunchy with dried brown leaves forlorn on the forest floor. I remember when they were once happily hanging from the stiff tree branches. The once cheerful sole bench is now flaking and filthy. I saw the abandoned grocery store near. It’s lights always flickering. The grime and rust were everywhere. Luckily most of the zombies don’t go near the grocery store and most of the food isn’t put out in the open so it’s reassuring that the food is safe. I grab a bunch of snacks, fruits and other cooking items. Oh of course can’t forget the macaroni, it’s our favourite.

Carefully sneak out and keep an eye out for the zombie group. It’s fine if I meet one or two zombies. I’ve learnt how to beat that much. Five is okay but if I encounter like 10 or 20, I’m in big trouble. I keep on walking back home in silence. Hang on. What’s that sound? Growling? Groaning? Hissing? Wait. That’s a zombie. I turn around. Zombies? Check. Knife? Check. Plan? Check. Too many? Not check, there are only two. That’s good.  I run up stabbing one in the chest with my knife while punching the other. One dead. I stand there thinking of what to do. Okay, I think I had to use my knife again. I’ve done this many times so I can do it again. I run up towards the tree doing a half somersault and stabbing the zombie straight through the neck. I smirked and brushed my shoulders. Maybe Kaitlyn was right, I am really good at fighting zombies, I joked around. On the way back, I found no zombies but for some reason, I had that weird sense of feeling that someone was around me. I looked around for ages but found no one. Finally giving up, I was just about to go back down the ladder to home when I felt something on my back. A hand. A woman’s hand. My mum’s hand.

Tears poured down my face.

I saw my newborn baby brother which I only had seen on facetime till now. My mum hugged me tightly and whispered in my ear.

“His name is Jacob”

I pulled away from the hug horrified. Jacob was my dad’s name. Why would she name my brother that? She started crying and shoved her face in my shoulder. I knew what happened straight away. Dad had passed away. or had zombified. My brain went numb. I couldn't imagine a life without him. My dad. I started crying with my mum. Sharing each other's shoulders.

"We-e shou-ould get to safety-y" I explained stammering.

At least they were safe.