We Are The Survivors

by Vanessa Marie

  “Drive a race car,” Gavin offers.

  Oliver rolls his eyes, “Boring.”

  “Would it be more interesting if I told you I didn’t have my license?” Gavin asks arching his eyebrow.

  Oliver claps his hands together, “Reckless driving now that sounds fun.”

  Reckless driving? Are you kidding me? Am I the only one who finds fault with this? Sure you could go fast without getting a ticket but that doesn’t mean you can’t flip the car over eight times. “Really? Can’t we do something fun not dangerous? Isn’t almost getting bit by dead people enough?” They freeze for a second in thought, taking in what I said, then they get to talking.

  “Speedway it is. Rain, any other suggestions?” Alex asks.

  He was listening to me after all. There is one thing I want to do. One thing I’ve always wanted to do. It shouldn’t be that hard to accomplish. There will be tons of zombies but maybe since the boys count reckless driving as fun this will be fun to them too.

  “Was he the one your reading was talking about?” Cassandra asks.

  “It sure seems like it,” I say.

  I had the urge to tell her that Blake hit me. The reading was about him. I had to tell her how it came true. I had to ask her for advice too. Should I tell him I don’t want him here? “I don’t know what to do.”

  Claire comes out of the hall and sits on the couch with us. She says hi. I tell her good morning.

  “Asking you for advice was wrong. I shouldn’t overwhelm you with my problems,” I say. “Can you teach me about casting spells?”

  “Sure. Trust me you’re not overwhelming me. I’m part of this group. You came to me with a problem that affects all of us here. It was right to tell me,” she says.

  “Yeah, I want to know if I’m safe here. You can’t let him stay here,” Claire says.

  Cassandra tells me that spells are cast for the good of everyone. You can use herbs, crystals or other objects to achieve a specific result. You could do a spell for anything. You can make the spell rhyme or not. When doing a spell, you have to have a positive mindset. You believe the spell worked so it does. Spell casting requires a great amount of your energy and intent. You can’t mess with anyone’s free will either.

  I ask her if I should do a spell to protect myself and the people here. She tells me that it would be a good idea.

  Alex opens the door. “Ready to go yet?”

  I got ready before I came here. I found a purple sweater with a leather jacket, jeans and leather boots in one of the rooms. They almost fit me just right. We should get clothes for everyone soon. I don’t feel right wearing someone else’s clothes.

  I walk with him to a house that has the garage door open. We take a purple car from Sarah’s mom’s house.

  The doors to the speedway aren’t locked. We can walk right through. There are dead bodies of people and zombies on the floor that I have to step around.

  Oliver pounds on the vending machine by the entrance doors until a candy bar falls to the bottom. He takes a candy bar from it. He offers it to me first then when I decline he eats it.

  I have never been to a speedway before. I’ve never been in a car that was going faster than a hundred miles an hour either. We get to the speedway itself. Gavin persuades me to get in the car with him. Oliver and Alex decides to race us. He gets up to a hundred and sixty miles an hour. My surroundings are a blur to me outside my window.

  “Slow down!” I yell.

  “Relax, I got it,” he says.

  He makes one lap around. Oliver is ahead of us. Gavin gets in front of him and we take the lead. Oliver passes us once more waving as he drives by. Gavin passes Oliver, both of us return a wave as we go by. When his eyes connect with the road again we both see a zombie in the road. He hits the zombie, which rolls over the hood cracking the windshield. He struggles to stop the car. I shut my eyes waiting for the impact of us hitting the wall. He stops, I could swear, a few inches from the speedway wall. Gavin smashes his head against the steering wheel. I hit the side of my head on the window. Thank God we were wearing helmets.

  He backs up. He hits three zombies in the lanes as he does. He drives through a crowd of them. One goes over the roof and rolls off the hood of the car. We get out of the car. Gavin takes off his helmet. He hits a zombie stretching his arms in front of him with his helmet. The zombie falls to his knees. I look at him over my shoulder, I see a gash in his head where the skin on the left side of his face has pealed from his skull. I shudder and keep pace with my cousin. Oliver has stopped five feet in front of our race car. He catches up to us. Through the building we run jumping over the dead bodies. The boys make it to the doors. Behind me are about ten zombies. I try to run faster. The boys call for me to run faster. I step by a zombie and slip. I see blood on my shoe. I slipped in a puddle of blood. A zombie on the floor grabs my leg. My cousin kills it with one shot from his pistol.

  More zombies come from the race track. They were from the crowds of people watching the race. They have to be. I get through the doors. The boys shut the doors behind us. So much for having fun.

  Gavin holds the doors while we catch our breath. Oliver sits in front of the door. Alex folds his arms.

  “It was fun while it lasted,” Alex says.

  “You want to go do my thing now?” I ask.

  Alex beckons for us to follow him, “Let’s do it.”

  The boys agreed that they would like to zip line down the Strip. It seems like a crazy risk because of the zombies there but it can’t be any more dangerous then what we just did.

  The Strip is blocked by a huge gate that has signs on it. It reads: Quarantined Area Turn Back or Risk Being Infected or Shot by Military.

  What a welcoming sign. Behind the chain link fence is a crowd of zombies. They tug on the fence at the sight of us. There are so many of them. I can’t believe that the Military would leave so many people to die. Was it hard for them to leave? Did they do it with a guilty conscious like I had to when I had to defend myself? Did they just walk away with no feelings at all because they knew they would be safe by leaving others to die?

  Alex stares at them through the gate. “Do you want to leave?”

  Oliver shakes his head. “No man, we’ll find a way in. I want to do this.”

  A zombie walks slowly to the gate like she is limping from a hurt leg. She has blood stained black hair. Her eyes are a bright amber color, which was probably hazel when she was normal and alive. The disease makes your eyes change color dramatically.

  Something moves next to her up to the gate. It’s so short I don’t know if it’s a dog or another small animal. I hear a growl and a small child bangs on the gate in front of me next to the zombie with amber eyes. She can’t be any older than three years old.

  The child’s eyes are bright emerald green with flecks of purple in them. She has black hair down to her chin. Her face is pale and brown in some spots. Telling by the facial features they are mother and daughter.

  I want to hold a hand out for her or do something for her. I can’t. She didn’t deserve to die like this.

  This is exactly what I didn’t want to happen to the kids at the community. That’s why I volunteered to make a cure.

  The boys are so silent. I catch Oliver wipe a tear from under his eyes. Alex closes his eyes not wanting to look at the little girl’s face. The face of a child who has blood dripping from her mouth.

  “I didn’t want this to be the kids at home or any one of you,” I say wiping tears from my eyes.

  Seeing a little kid like this makes me realize how much we lost. How much we are still losing. This whole time I wanted to forget everything about the first day. Behind the walls you can pretend that there isn’t any danger. Like that is your home, where you have always lived. I try to pretend none of this is going on. I can’t.

  A growl accompanied by a bang on the fence snaps me into reality again. There is another kid. It’s a boy with black hair. He is the same age as the girl. How many kids are dead in t
here? There are more kids I see walking around. Two of them are eating a soldier in the distance. They have ripped off his arm and are holding it together, tearing the flesh from the bone. I cover my mouth trying not to throw up.

  Alex starts to climb the fence at the end where it is clear of zombies. “Let’s find a way in.”

  I ignore the kids walking to the end with him. I can hardly see anything. The massive crowd is obstructing my view of possible entrances. I tell them to go to the other side of the casino to my right. Gavin leads the way in a hurry to get away from the zombie children. That side has a fence too. This path is clear of zombies. Oliver jumps over a part without coiled barbed wire on it.

  “Hey, what are you doing?” Gavin asks.

  “Running until we get there. If we run fast enough we’ll make it,” he says.

  Alex jumps on top of the gate making it sag under his weight. I jump over next. Gavin jumps over last.

  I’m uncomfortable leaving the car there without someone watching it but everyone wanted to come.

  The crowd of zombies are staying to the far left of the street. The zombie kids are still eating that soldier. I focus on where I’m walking. We get to the first tower where the zip line starts. Gavin climbs the zip line first. He is the lookout for us in case the zombies take notice of our presence. Oliver and I climb up on the tower. Oliver ties the harness around me.

  Last night Alex said that it would be a good idea to check for medical supplies and weaponry. He said that since this area was quarantined they might have set up some emergency medical stations. I didn’t think they did. I guess it all depends on how long the whole infecting people lasted until everyone was dead.

  Oliver is about to push me forward so I can glide down the line and Alex screams. I can see him kicking zombies’ hands that are pulling at the bottom of his jeans. Gavin shoots the three zombies that are grabbing at him. The crowd from the other side of the street start coming towards us.

  The zombie kids are first in the crowd. Never before have kids been so menacing and evil to me. There beady, little eyes that are useful for nothing now except hunting living people and their blood covered hands chill me to the bone. I’m dangling, frozen over the street still connected to the harness.

  Alex climbs on the tower. The crowd is halfway down the street now.

  Oliver grabs the harness going to push. “I’m going to have to push you. We’ll zip line across after you. From there we’ll come up with a plan.”

  “No, this is insane.” He pushes me.

  I don’t keep my eyes away from the tower I left. The zombies are pushing on the tower trying to knock the boys off. I turn to focus on getting on the other platform. I only have seconds until I need to unbuckle the harness. I stop at the tower. I hear wood breaking. The zombies at the opposite tower are breaking the plywood sides of it that advertise the ride. Gavin shoots one of the zombie kids that was breaking the wood.

  “Hurry up!” Alex says in a terrified scream.

  I try to unclip the metal clips that are keeping my harness on. They won’t unclip no matter how many times I pull on them. I hear a growl. I forget the harness. A zombie in a black T-shirt and jeans reaches for me. I assume he was the one who harnessed people. I’m far enough for him not to be able to grab me. He has a knife in his shoulder. I reach for the knife. I pull it out and stab the zombie. I pull it out. The zombie falls, smashing his head on the ground. I put my feet on the platform and I cut the wire connecting the zip line to the harness. I fall on the platform from shaking from fear.

  “Come on!” I yell. I didn’t have to because Alex is already coming to me. He unclips the harness easily. Shots from Gavin’s gun go off three more times. He pulls the trigger and the gun is empty. We should have brought more guns. Gavin gets his harness from Oliver and he glides down the line. Gavin gets on the platform. Oliver takes another harness from a box. He attaches his harness when the tower shakes. He pushes himself with his feet. The tower leans to the left when he stops in front of us. He unclips the harness. The tower falls to the left. The lines snaps from being stretched, it makes a whipping sound in the air. The metal and wood crushes some of the dead.

  I shield the sun from my eyes with my hand, gazing down the street to the left of us. The street is clear from this view. I tell them that we could make a run to the car. They say that it’s worth a shot. Gavin climbs down first. Once we hit the ground we run as fast as possible.

  I run so fast that my legs hurt. I keep running, pushing myself to go faster. Gavin is running ahead of me with his hand on my jacket pulling me with him. Oliver runs into the gate. He climbs over the top of it. I’m next with Alex next to me. The last one is Gavin. He sits on the ground gasping for breath.

  “Son of a bitch,” Oliver says bent over with his hands on his knees.

  Gavin takes a breath. “Hell of an adrenaline rush.”

  Oliver straightens up. “Get the car started.”

  Gavin digs through his pocket for the keys. There is shock on his face when he takes an empty hand from his pocket.

  “Don’t tell me you lost the keys,” I say.

  He holds his head in his hand ashamed. Alex sighs heavily. Oliver kicks the tire frustrated.

  “Can any of you hotwire a car?” I ask.

  Oliver shrugs, “I could try. When I was a teenager I stole a car by hotwiring it.”

  I smile, “Should I be glad or afraid of sleeping in the same vicinity with you?”

  He opens the car door. “Well at least someone was stupid enough to leave it unlocked. You can trust me. I don’t steal cars, anymore.”

  I ask him if he was ever involved in a high speed chase and why he stole the car. He tells me that his friends dared him to steal a car so he did. He only drove it a block away then he got paranoid and he left it. His friends wanted him to take the car so he would be riding in style. He also tells me that he was never involved in a high speed chase. I comment by saying that the story explains why when reckless driving was mentioned he liked it. He laughs.

  All the while I’m helping him hotwire the car I keep thinking of what I’ll go home to. This day was supposed to keep my mind off the altercation with Blake. It makes me worry more now that we have been out here all day.

  Oliver gets the car started. He jokes with Gavin telling him to not worry since we don’t need a key.

  When we get to the community Dave is showing people how to shoot. He is even teaching the kids. Oakland lets us in. I check the shooting lesson out. There are metal cans on top of the brick wall that encloses us. Xavier is at the front of the line. Gavin tells me to get in line, that I need to learn how to shoot. I agree with him.

  Xavier gives me a pistol. Dave tells me to pull the slide back to reload, aim and pull the trigger. I do what he says. I miss the can twice. On my third try I knock the can off. He tells me I’m doing good. I hand the pistol to Xavier.

  He shoots five times not hitting the cans. On the sixth attempt he knocks it off. He hands it to Alex and it goes on like that until all of us can hit the can on the first shot. I get the gun back when a hand is on my shoulder.

  I turn around to see Blake. He takes a step back. I grip the gun tighter. I point it at the ground. He looks ashamed.

  “I’m sorry for hitting you,” he says.

  “You scared me. I’m sorry if you took offense but I didn’t mean any. You had no right to hit me like that.”

  “I won’t hit you again, I promise,” he says quickly trying to put his hands on my shoulders. I push his hands away from me.

  I get frustrated with him trying to calm me down. “Stop it! Don’t touch me!” I scream.

  Xavier steps in front of him. Blake takes a step toward me. Oakland runs over. I point the gun at his heart. Blake puts his hands up.

  His eyes are full of hatred. “Shoot me. I dare you. Shoot me like you shot my dad, go on. You know what you don’t have the guts to kill me.”

  I start crying. I want to pull the trigger so badly. Oakland is pleadin
g for me to lower my gun. How could he accuse me of something I explained that I had no choice to do? This isn’t the man that I met at that store. That was just a façade that I couldn’t see past until now. He’s just like his dad. I don’t know if I should kill him. He taunts me to go through with it. My mother’s death replays in my mind. Me killing him without thought. I take my finger off the trigger still having the gun pointed at him. “Leave now. You broke my trust...you hit me and I can’t have someone here that hurts people. I don’t know who you are, what kind of person you are, I know that I want you gone. Pack your things and leave here tonight. If you ever come back…know that, I won’t be sorry after I kill you.”

  He laughs at my speech. I shoot the ground to let him know I’m serious. He backs up slowly with the smile gone. I watch him close the door to his house.

  I don’t want to kill him. I don’t want to kill anyone. I wouldn’t be better than my stepfather or stepbrother if I did kill him. I want him gone. If he stays away for good, I’ll be fine with it. He would be very stupid to come back after I threatened him.

  Xavier wipes my tears away. He hugs me. Oakland goes back to guarding the gate.

  Alex starts shooting. I go inside for lunch. I look in the cabinets and the fridge. I eat a protein bar. Avian walks out of the hallway. He is wearing an orange hoodie and jeans. He sits at the table.

  “I’m hungry,” he says.

  “I found ice cream in the freezer, you want it?” I ask.

  “Really!” His eyes are popping out of his head.

  “Yeah, why not?” I grab the container out of the freezer and a spoon.

  We’ve been washing dishes with bottled water. Paper plates add to the trash. We’ve been filling up the Dumpster here with garbage. Pretty soon we’ll be buried in trash from all the meals we cook.

  I set his plate in front of him. “This is the last of it?” he asks. I nod.

  “Don’t tell my sister.” He eats a spoonful.

  I look out the window by the door. I see Dave and Blake talking. Dave is waving his arms; I think he’s trying to tell Blake something. Blake is waving his hands in protest. I read his lips saying I don’t know. Dave points his finger in Blake’s face. Blake yells at him.