Brain Dead

      Zombies. Jessie hated apocalyptic novels because they were always the same. It was always zombie virus this, infection that. The novels had bored her to no end before The Event. Now, she just wished she could go back to the normal world with zombies that were only present in stories. The Event was the zombie outbreak, but no one wanted to talk about it. It was given a neutral nickname and then speaking of it was forbidden. At first, The Event did not seem overly terrifying. Scientists had found a new species of beetle and got overly excited about it. They took a couple back to a lab and poked and prodded at them, but two of the beetles escaped. No one thought much of it at first until something started to happen. A parent had come to the doctor scared to death. Her son had been bitten by one of the beetles and was starting to act strange. It was as if he had forgotten how to do anything. He stumbled around as if he did not know how to walk, he was not able to talk in complete sentences, and he was trying to bite his newborn sister. The doctors studied him for days. They were absolutely perplexed. Finally, a breakthrough was made. His brain seemed to have started to be replaced with some green gunk. The gunk was removed and the doctors brushed it off as some kind of disorder, but other people started being bitten by the bugs. Even animals were infected. Many people came to the vet with stumbling, aggressive dogs and cats to see what was wrong with their typically friendly companions. The biting led to the infection spreading all over the United States and a lockdown was called. No one was to leave their houses at all, but few people actually followed the order. Soon, more than half the people in the world were infected and scavenging for resources became necessary. The zombies seemed to have gotten more intelligent in the time everyone spent indoors. That is when everyone started moving around in packs. Only the toughest survived.

           “Jessie, stop spacing out and be useful.” Armina hissed. They were currently crouched behind a tipped over table, waiting for a signal. Jessie and Armina were part of a group of children whose parents had been infected. They had no one to look after them, so they looked after each other. Trust was established in the group and anyone who broke said trust was thrown out to the zombies. It was a cruel, but efficient way to survive. A coughing sound came from somewhere near their base and they were on the move. Cameron was the worst at signals.

           “A cough? Really?” Jessie whispered to Armina. The question was met with rolled eyes and a small smirk. A small scream startled them out of their snarkiness.

           “That didn’t sound like one of ours…” Armina looked around warily. Instead of wariness, Jessie broke into a run towards the sound.

           “Stay there!” She called to Armina. Armina let out an exasperated sigh.

           “Remember that you can’t save everyone!” Armina yelled after her, but her words fell on deaf ears. Jessie’s feet pounded on the ground as she sprinted towards the scream.

           “Help me! Someone help me!” A little voice shook with terror from under a pile of debris. Jessie quickly started flinging the small pieces of rock off. Moving the larger ones would take too long and she did not have much time before the child’s distressed calls attracted a zombie.

           “You need to stop yelling.” Jessie whispered. The child’s voice died out at the sound of someone helping her. Jessie continued to fling rocks off the pile until she made a hole large enough for the girl to crawl through her. She could not have been more than six or seven and had obviously been crying. Her face was blotchy and her nose was running. Apart from that she looked well groomed and fed.

           “Were you left behind?” Jessie asked, immediately suspicious. The girl looked confused.

           “Why would my mommy leave me behind?” She wrinkled her nose and scrunched her eyebrows together as if in deep thought.

           “Well, then, what are you doing here alone?” Jessie rolled her eyes as the girl animatedly started acting out how she had gotten under the pile of rocks and other such things.

           “I was walking with my mommy when something fell of one of the buildings. I wasn’t walking fast enough. Mommy was way ahead of me. She told me she’d be right back for me, but it was dark under there and scary and no one had come back and Elody-“ The girl stopped there as if she had just realized something.

           “What is it?” Jessie groaned as the girl pawed at the pile she had just came from.

           “My baby sister, Elody! I was carrying her, but I wasn’t anymore in the scary heap! I had set her down because she’s heavy! She has to be here!” Jessie was catapulted into action at those words. It was dangerous for this girl to be under there, but it could have been fatal for the baby. Throwing off the rocks, Jessie quickly found the baby. The cries were muffled by the rocks, but she was alive.

           “Okay, kid-“ Jessie was interrupted by the girl firmly telling her that her name was Lorelei.

           “Okay, Lorelei,” Jessie started again, “I’m going to need you two to come with me for a second. Is that fine?” The girl nodded her head. Jessie picked up the baby, took the girl’s hand, and then took off.

           “Why are you running so fast?” Lorelei complained. Jessie looked back to see the girl falling behind.

           “We need to move quickly.”

           “But I can’t move any faster!” The whining aggravated Jessie, but she walked back to Lorelei and picked her up too. Running was much more difficult with a baby and child in her hands, but Jessie moved as quickly as she could. Loud growling filled the air as a zombie stumbled into view. Several made their way behind them and they started filling in the sides. Jessie inhaled sharply and swore under her breath.

           “What does that word mean?” Lorelei questioned. She was quickly shushed. The zombies were closing in and Jessie was not in a great mood. A quick whistle covered up the zombies groaning for a second. Armina.

           “Armina!” Jessie screamed. A yell attracted the zombies’ attention for a second, but that was all Jessie needed.  She broke into a dead sprint with the two kids still in her grasp.

           “You’re kinda slow y’know.” Lorelei’s words were met with a glare.

           “We’re going to make it.” Jessie whispered. Armina was in view with the door to shelter open for them, but, like all poorly thought out plans, this one failed. Jessie was tugged back by an arm. An infected arm. The rest of the zombies were closing in quick and Jessie could not get out of this one’s grip. She dropped Lorelei to the ground and handed her Elody.

           “Run to Armina.” Jessie watched as the mouthy little girl took off and quickly reached safety. Struggling harder, Jessie managed to finally get out of the zombie’s grip just as it was about bite into her. She ran faster than she had ever thought she could run, but it was not fast enough. A tackle from the side brought her to the ground and the stench of rotten flesh filled her nose. It was so strong that she could taste it. The thing that tackled her had her pinned to the floor without much hope of escaping as the rest of the zombies closed in. The last thing Jessie saw was Armina shoving the doors closed and looking at her with eyes full of regret.