Chapter 5 – Jeremy
Everything was a haze. I couldn’t comprehend anything that was going on around me. I was moving, but I was still at the same time. Two figures were on either side of me, dragging me into what seemed like oblivion. My vision flared in and out of light and darkness, as all the while everything was a blur and always moving and turning. Finally, after what seemed like a lifetime, I seemed to be gently layed down on a platform. The two figures now stood above me staring. Then, I blacked out. I woke up to sunlight filling my eyes as my vision returned. My hand-eye coordination was off, so I couldn’t move much, but at least I could now comprehend my surroundings. I figured out I was in the RV in the master bedroom. I looked to my left and saw a blood pouch attached to me. I saw that I also had vital sign plugs into me and I was stripped down to my underwear. Just then, I heard static over a radio.
“Zach what’s your status?” asked a voice over the radio.
“Almost done with the RV, just give me a few more minutes.” Zach returned. I had no idea where they were, but I assumed Zach was by the RV, so he was within yelling distance. I tried to yell for him, but neither my voice nor my mouth would let me. Nothing would respond to my thoughts except my neck.
“Ryan what’s your status?” Haley rang through the radio again.
“Almost done fixing the power tools, should only be a few more minutes.” Ryan replied. The radio that the voices were coming through was on the bedside table next to me, within arms’ reach. If I could only move……..
”Wilson what’s your status?” Haley called again.
“Got all the gas I could carry, returning to the RV now.” He responded. I fought with my own muscles to reach the radio.
“Weir what’s your status?” Haley asked once more
“Finished all the RV armor upgrades”. He replied back. My had was halfway to the radio at this point
“Caitlin what’s your status?”
“Zombies still not here, returning to the RV” she replied. For a split second I thought about what I had said before the mission ensued. That if anything went wrong that Caitlin would be booted, why hadn’t Wilson brought this up with Haley? Outside of my head, my hands were so close to the radio it was unreal.
“Let’s try this again………….Jeremy…………What’s your status?” She said with hopelessness in her voice. At that, I smacked the ‘call’ button on the walkie-talkie and it sent out a ringtone to all the others connected to the network. The channel then flooded with people yelling ‘oh my god he’s awake’ and ‘get to the RV’. In a few short moments, everyone in my group was now crouched in the small bedroom as if expecting some big hero speech. Right now I couldn’t even talk, much less give an uplifting speech. After about 5 minutes of silence, Zach was the first to speak
“I guess I’ll go start up the RV and we can get away from this place. We have all the supplies we need from here.” At that he turned and started walking down the hallway to the cockpit. On the contrary, I didn’t want to leave just yet. I wanted to investigate that prison-like structure further. My hand was still clamped on the walkie-talkie, so with all of my strength I threw it across the room and hit the wall directly to the left of Zach. Zach turned around and our eyes met. I slowly shook my head, and he understood what I meant. Zach and I have been friends for so long, that he can almost read my thoughts without me giving a very obvious signal.
“Ok, I guess Jeremy wants us to stay a bit longer guys.” He finally answered everyone’s continuous stares at us. Everyone was confused, nobody understood what I had wanted to do.
“When you have the strength to talk Jeremy, will you tell us what you’re thinking?” Haley asked. I nodded at her and at that she dismissed everyone to bed. One by one everyone filed out, but she could be classified as a hypocrite by not following her own orders.
“Jeremy, I thought I lost you, everyone did.” She said in such a sad voice that it didn’t sound like the Haley I knew. She sat down on the bed next to me and almost started to cry. With every bit of my strength I lifted my hand and put in on the back of hers. I looked into her eyes and with all my might I muttered
“You’ll never lose me sis, you know that.” She smiled and wrapped me in a hug. This was the warmest brother-sister moment we had ever had. I wished it would last forever, there is nothing I love more than spending time with my sissy, and making her happy at that. After we broke away, Haley started telling me about how she had taken over as temporary leader due to my incapacitation. I congratulated her for keeping the group in order during my absence.
“It takes a true leader to step up in the face of certain doom; It also takes a true leader to do all of what you have done.” I told her regaining my strength bit by bit. She smiled and we kept talking, not only of just leading the group or my near death experience, but of the way things used to be. The time we made a mini-movie together, how we had gone from hating each other to brother and sister, how we could count on each other for anything and everything. Before we knew it, we were both asleep, and all I could remember was having a heart to heart with my sissy. It was a good night.
Kinemortophobia (The Fear Of The Undead) Book 1 Page 5