It's not a straight line, though. When I drew a straight line, the freeway numbers kept changing all the time, and I can't memorize all that, and I can't stop all the time either. I think that it would be easier to just go right to California and then up to Oregon. Besides, if I ever lose the map, it's easy to remember how to get there.
It's going to take a while, but I hope that taking the bike wont make it so bad. It'll help me carry my stuff too. I keep wanting to take all my clothes with me, but there's no reason to. I'm still growing, so they wont fit forever. Makes sense, right?
Oh, when I was at the library, I found this book about myths and old stories... and it talked a lot about different kinds of creatures. I found the monsters in it! I couldn't believe it! The book says they're called “zombies.” Sounds scary, doesn't it?
Zombies are dead people, but then they come back to life without their souls to eat living people. When a living person gets bit, they turn into a zombie too. It's like a curse. It explains why I haven't seen any real people in a long time. They all got turned into zombies.
The book said there's lots of different reasons why zombies show up. Sometimes it's the devil letting his demons take over the world, sometimes it's a curse cast by a witch. Well, I guess it doesn't really matter anymore how they got here. They haven't gone away, and I don't think they will.
Oh my gosh, I almost forgot to remind you! Today is my birthday! I turned 10 today! I can't believe I made it this far! I may not get a party this year, but its not a bad thing, either. I'm a lot more grown up now, I don't really need to have a party to show that I'm older.
I think I know why it used to be so hard for grownups sometimes. Taking care of a house, making sure its safe, making sure theres always food...... it's a lot of work!
It gets really hard finding food, but you knew that already. It's why I need to go to my grandpa's house, he'll have a lot of food and a place for us to live. I still kind of hope my family made it up there.
I should get the rest of my stuff packed up. I actually found my old backpack with the broken strap, but I fixed it with a bunch of safety pins. I can't bring my favorite dress though. I don't want it getting stuck in my bike, and I don't want the monsters... I mean, zombies grabbing it. It's weird. I've been calling them monsters for so long.
I think all I need is two pairs of clothes and a jacket. As long as I switch them a lot, I won't get too stinky. I really want a bath right now, but that's not going to happen today. I'm saving space for my road maps, flashlight, bedsheet, and you Barbie. I can barely fit my bedsheet, but I know I might need it. I'll just have to squish it in as much as I can.
I hope I have enough food to last a while. I have a bunch of bags of chips, some of those protein bars, some bottles of water, those chewy vitamin C's in case I get sick, a spoon and some cans of soup. I want to bring a lot more, but I don't have a car, and I can't drive. I have to ride my bike with all this stuff. Besides, it's not like theres much food here anyway.
You know what? I need to take down all the notes I have in the house, and write some brand new ones. You know, just in case. These are the last notes I'm going to leave for them, since I probably won't be coming back here. I still don't want them to think I got eaten up by zombies, so if I make sure that they see I went to Oregon, and how I'm going there, they can come find me.
It's really weird that I'm leaving. I've been scared a lot before, but this is a different kind of scared. Not like hiding from the zombies, but it's... I don't know.
Yeah, that's it. I'm scared because I don't know.
I dont know how long its going to take me, I dont know if my family will be there, I dont know if I'm going to find any food. But I think I'd rather be hungry forever than sit around here and wait for the zombies to find me. There's way too many for me to try and stay here. It's not safe anymore.
At least I'll have you and Mr. Floppy with me.
I'm going to go write those notes now. Then i'm going to make sure I have everything I need. I'll sleep one more night here, but then in the morning, I'm leaving.
I'll talk to you later, Barbie.
Chapter 13
Dec. 5, 1993
Well, I just wanted to talk a little before I left. I left notes all over the place in the house. There's one on my bedroom door, one on my parent's bedroom door, another on my sisters door, in the hall next to the kitchen, on the TV screen, even the bathroom doors.
It sounds like a lot, but I really want to make sure that if they get back, there's no way they can't figure out where I went. It's been a long time since I've been away from home for a while. Besides Grandpa's house when I was visiting last year, this will be the longest I’ll be away from home.
I'm a little scared. Okay, I'm a lot scared. I've been working really hard on figuring out how to get to Grandpa's. It's really happening now. I didn't realize how hard it was going to be to leave. I never thought about it much until now. I may never come back home.
It's just not safe here. I know I talked about it a lot already, and you know everything that's happened since the beginning, but I kind of feel like I have to keep telling myself that. A lot of this still doesn't feel real, like it's one of those dreams that feels like it lasts forever. Those are usually the scariest.
I really have to just go now. I have you and Mr. Floppy with me, I'll be okay.
All right, here it goes.
Chapter 14
Dec. 6, 1993
Hey Barbie. I finally found a good spot to sit down for a while. I'm almost outside the big city now. It took a while to get here because there were a lot of the zombies in the downtown part of the city.
I found this park by the river and I climbed up to the top of the playhouse thing. I should be safe for a while as long as I stay quiet. I saw a couple of them around but they're really far away, so I'm not too worried right now.
It's really weird around here. There's no kids anywhere, but I see a couple of backpacks around and some shoes. I guess nobody's been here for a long time. The grass is really tall, kind of like those meadows way out in the plains. Except parts of it are dying because it's starting to get cold.
Yesterday was pretty scary. I was riding on the freeway, but when I got close to the downtown part, there was a lot of cars in the way. I had to ride around a lot to find a way out, and I went back to where I could get off the freeway and on the street. The map said there was a street that was right next to the freeway, so I wouldn't get lost if I came off.
Right when I got off the freeway, I saw a zombie. I got scared and I fell off my bike and I cut my arm on the ground. The zombie saw me and started walking to me. I spilled a bunch of stuff and I was trying to pick it up, but it just kept getting closer. I was picking up my bike and then it made that yucky sound and tried to grab me.
I dropped my bike and ran around the other side to get behind it. Zombies don't turn around very fast, so then I got behind it and pushed it away really hard. It fell over, then I picked my bike back up and started riding really fast. I saw a lot more zombies around, but I've been practicing with my bike, so I got around them easy.
I'm really glad I'm not in the city anymore. That place is scary. There's so many zombies there! My dad used to talk about traffic a lot, and that there was a lot of people walking around downtown and it was hard to get anywhere. I kind of know how he feels now - there was all these crashed cars, some of the buildings were broken, I even saw zombies stuck under cars.
I haven't felt safe in a long time. Even when I was at home I was still worried that the zombies would find me. They never did, I'm really good at getting away from them, but I also had a lot of bad dreams that they got into the house and ate me. I always kind of had a feeling that they might get me one day.
Zombies aren't very smart, and I'm glad for that. They're also slow, so I don't have to run very long to get away from them. They can't jump, or climb, or open doors. Well, there was that one time a bunch of them broke the door and got inside that store, but the do
or was already kind of broken, so it wasn't that hard. So they just kind of break things to get what they want.
I haven't thought about it a lot until now. I wonder if there are other kids like me. I haven't seen anyone else since it happened, but are they just really good at hiding? I got good at hiding after a while, but it's nothing like hide-and-seek. I don't have any friends coming to find me, I just stay hiding until it's safe to come out.
I can't be the only kid alive... can I? I can't think about that right now. It makes me feel lonely, and then I get sad and want to just go back home.
But there isn't anything left for me to do there. My family never came home, I didn't have a lot of food or water, and there were too many of the zombies. I tried, Barbie. I really tried to stay there just in case they made it back. I don't know how far they made it, but they probably didn't want to go home.
If they ever do, they'll see my notes that I went to Grandpa's. Maybe we'll see them again soon, if they ever get back to the house. But then they'd have to get back out of the city, and I had a hard time getting out of there, so it probably won't be easy for them either.
I just looked around and I saw a baby stroller over by the bench. It looks broken with parts of it ripped, and it's really dirty and knocked over. I just.... I hope they got away.
Sorry, Barbie. I don't know why I keep thinking about that stuff. It already happened, and I don't think anyone else is here. Everyone either ran away or got eaten. It's a waste of time to think about it. I dont have a time machine so I can't go back and fix it. I dont know what I'd do anyway, maybe try to save people. Go back to the night before and take my family far away.
I guess it doesn't matter anymore. I'm here right now, and I just need to keep trying. I'm going kind of slow right now, but it's because I'm still in the city - theres still a lot of cars and zombies and stuff. But I'm going to find the freeway really soon, then I have a really long ride before I find the 10.
I'm going to go over to where the food stand is and see if there's anything safe to eat. Maybe not, they probably had things like hot dogs, and those probably went bad by now. But maybe there's some chips or something I can find.
Love you, Barbie.
Chapter 15
So Barbie, I made it to this city called Fredericksburg. I'm getting close to where I run into the 10 freeway. The map looks like it's about 40 more miles away. I can probably make it if I keep going right now, but I don't want to ride at night. Zombies like nighttime, so it's better that I stay hiding at night.
All day I've been riding next to a river, and I'm glad I did, because I finally got to wash my face. I feel really gross with all this running and biking and stuff, so it was really good that the river was there. I can refill my water bottles here too.
I'm also glad I waited until it was colder before I left, because if I was riding around in the heat, that wouldn't have been very good. I would have run out of water a lot faster too. I don't know the next time I'll find water, because the cities are getting farther apart. There are more cities the further I go, but its the in-between stuff that looks empty.
There are some houses around, but it looks like a smaller city than where I lived. I saw a few zombies walking around, but they didn't see me, I don’t think. I don't know how many there could be here, but I think as long as I go through here real fast, I won't have any problems.
I found a gas station right when I got here, and that's where I am now. I didn't see any zombies around so I'm going to stay here for the night. There's a back room that has all these boxes inside, and it has a door that can close and lock. I think this will be a safe spot.
Most of the boxes in here have food, so I'm going to see what is still okay to eat and then take some more with me. I've been really hungry since I started, but it's hard because I can't carry a whole lot with me. I wish I knew how to drive, then I can just pack a car with food and not have to worry about it.
Ok..... that was close. My flashlight started going out so I went into my bag and got two more batteries for it. I only had a couple left, so I went out to the store to see if there were any more around. I found some, but then I saw a zombie walking by outside, and I think it saw my flashlight, because it started walking to the store. I turned off the flashlight, but I could still kind of see that it was coming because of the moon.
I saw another exit door on the side of the store, so I thought maybe I could distract it and make it walk somewhere else. Like I told you before, zombies aren't smart, they're really easy to trick. I picked up a tuna can from the shelf and went to the other exit door. I hid around the corner and saw it walking around the front.
I shined the light on the zombie and it saw it, and started walking to the light. I turned it off again, then threw the tuna can out into the parking lot away from the store. It followed the sound of the can and walked away from me, so I went back inside and locked the door with the... I don't know what it's called, but it looks like a bar hook that you slide into a hole to lock a door. Latch? I'm not sure, but it locked the door.
I don't know if the front door locks or not, but it may not matter because it's made of glass. I've seen zombies break glass doors, so locking it isn't going to help much. I just have to keep really quiet and stay in the back room with the door locked. I think that's the only way I can be safe until morning.
I always wanted to go on trips, like to Disneyland and stuff, but I never got to go. The farthest I ever went was Grandpa's house, but I was on a plane. Maybe I'll still get to see it one day, if things ever go back to normal. It's weird, it's like every day that goes by I feel like things get worse. I still haven't seen any other people, just zombies and sometimes animals. I start thinking that it's never going to go back to normal.
I guess I just have to keep going. Grandpa's farm is really big, and it's out in the middle of nowhere, so I think he's probably still safe. I hope his horses and stuff are still okay. I always liked his horses, they were fun to ride around on. My favorite is the black and white one. She's always hungry and chewing on something, so Grandpa calls her “Nibbles.” I can't wait to see her.
Ok Barbie, I'm getting tired, so I'm going to try to get some sleep. I'll talk to you a little later.
Chapter 16
December 7 1993
Well Barbie, I'm here at the 10 freeway! I stopped next to where the freeways come together. There's nothing here though. The map didn't say there was a city right here, but I was kind of hoping there'd be a gas station or something.
I don't really have anywhere to rest right now, and I have probably another 20 miles or so before I get to this city called Junction. Maybe its 20, I don’t really know. I want some time to look around the city while its still daytime.
Anyway, I just had to tell you real quick that I made it. I'll talk to you more when I get to Junction.
Okay, I'm in Junction now. It took a lot longer than I wanted, because my bike broke. and I had to walk all the way to the city.
I was riding on the freeway and I was going around all these broken cars. I was going pretty fast too, I think I’m a lot better on my bike than I used to be. Anyway, my chain broke and I fell over! I have no idea why it broke, but it did! All my stuff fell out of my basket and bags.
I'm glad there weren't any zombies around, because it was a really big mess and it took a while to pick up everything. I had a hard time trying to carry it all, so I just put some things back in the basket, a couple bags I put on my handlebars, and I walked my bike to the city.
When I got here I found a mall kind of building. But its really dark and I don’t want to go inside there. Well, I do, but I think I’ll wait until the morning to do that. Right now I’m in an empty car in the parking lot. So far theres no zombies so I think I’ll be safe for now.
My legs are really tired from all the bike riding and walking. I guess I’m used to walking everywhere now, but it doesn’t make it easier.
I’ll go inside when the sun comes back up. I’ll talk with you later.
>
Chapter 17
Dec. 8 1993
Hey Barbie, I’m in the mall now. There's lots of stores inside! I found a store that has clothes, so I can finally change into something else. I need some warmer clothes, it's been getting colder.
I need new shoes too. The ones I have feel a little tight and I think they have holes. It sprinkled rain earlier, and when I stepped in a little puddle I felt my socks get wet. It felt really gross.
I haven't seen any zombies in here, and I'm really glad about that. You'd think there would be because it's a shopping place and there's lots of people that go shopping, but maybe the store was closed when... everything happened.
There's a little jewelry store where they have really pretty necklaces and bracelets, and I finally got to try on a bunch of things I think look nice. I found this purple stretchy bracelet, and I think I want to keep it. It's not really sparklie, but it's kind of shiny and I like it.
I found a penny fountain in the middle of the mall. It doesn't work anymore and the water is kind of gross-looking and it smells funny, but the fountain is pretty. It looks kind of like a couple flowers growing out from each other. I bet if the water worked it would look really cool.
I'm going to go check out the rest of the mall for a little while. I'll tell you more about it later, okay?
Chapter 18
Dec 9 1993
Hey Barbie! I had a really busy day today. I'm still inside the mall and I havent seen a single zombie. I haven't been everywhere yet, but if I havent seen one by now there probably arent any.
I'm in one on those big stores right now, I think it's a Sears or something. I'm lying on this really comfy bed - I wish I had this bed at home, I'd probably sleep a lot better. I slept really good last night on it!
Kellie's Diary (Books 1-3): Decay of Innocence Page 3