Kellie's Diary (Books 1-3): Decay of Innocence

by Thomas Jenner

  We didn’t find Lydia anywhere, Barbie. We’ve been looking for hours - we checked every rv here, every other vehicle… We asked everyone in town and nobody’s seen her anywhere! I’m so worried about her.

  The only thing left for us to do is start looking on the outside for her. Sarah told me that she was going to go. I said I was going too, but she’s making me stay here! I don’t get it, why can’t I help? I asked if she didn’t trust me because of what happened, but she said that wasn’t why I had to stay, she just wants to make sure that I’m safe while she’s finding Lydia.

  She made me promise to stay here. I didn’t want to promise anything, and she knew that, but I finally said okay. But the more I sit here, the more I feel like I’m wasting my time. Sarah, Dan and a few other people are looking for Lydia around the outside. Sarah always told me it’s better to have a group of people around you just in case there are zombies. Maybe that’s true, but I was alone for a long time, and I was just fine. I’m not afraid of going out there by myself, I’ve already done it.

  I’ve been sitting here for a while, but I don’t think I can do this for much longer. If we’re ever going to find her, I need to go out there too. I know I promised Sarah, but I don’t think I can keep this promise. I know I might get in trouble, but I really don’t care right now. Finding Lydia is a lot more important.

  Let’s see… I have the gun, my backpack with some water, and a flashlight. I’m also wearing the hoodie sweater that Sarah found for me a while back. It’s really cloudy out, and it looks like it might rain.

  The hole in the fence was fixed already so I need to find a different way out. I may need to look around a little while.

  Sarah, I’m sorry for breaking my promise, but I’m not going to just wait for Lydia to show up. She’s my sister, and I’m not sticking around here when she might be in trouble. I need to find her.

  Chapter 32

  I can’t figure out where I am, and I don’t know how to get back. I’m in this house really far away from the town. I think it’s empty but it’s hard to tell. My head and my ears hurt so bad right now, I’m tired and I can’t think straight, and I can’t hear anything!

  I don’t think this was a good idea. I came out here to look for Lydia, not to get myself lost!

  I snuck out of town when the front gate opened and one of Howard’s cars came in. I had to sneak around a whole bunch of the lookouts, but I got past them. I was walking around for a really long time through the trees and bushes. I wanted to yell for Lydia, but I remembered that I couldn’t be too loud. I learned that being quiet is better so it doesn’t attract zombies. Then it started raining really hard, so that wasn’t helping anything. I kept hearing some thunder, but there was no lightning.

  It was getting darker and then I heard walking, and when I found where it came from I saw zombies! A whole bunch! I haven’t seen this many zombies in a really long time. I didn’t have anywhere to hide, so I started running. Then I kept seeing even more zombies! No matter which way I looked, there they were! I didn’t know where to go or what to do, so I just hid behind a tree so I could think for a minute.

  I could hear them getting closer. I freaked out because I had nowhere to go! I just stood against the tree and stood really still. I wasn’t moving at all, and I just kept hoping that the zombies wouldn’t see me. I felt like I couldn’t even breathe because I was afraid they would hear me. The zombies started walking around the tree, and they walked right past me! I don’t know how long I was standing there, but it felt like hours! It was still raining, so I was standing there getting soaked.

  Finally there were less of them, then after a bit I didn’t see any more walking past. I still waited just to make sure they were all gone, because some zombies are slower than others. I saw the ones in front of me getting farther away. I didn’t hear any more walking or growling. So I looked around both sides of the tree to see if it was really safe. I didn’t see anything, so I went back around the tree to keep going.

  And then a zombie ran right into me! I don’t know how I didn’t see it, because I looked behind the tree! It fell right on top of me! It got so close to biting my face, but I pushed it up by the neck so it wouldn’t bite me. I couldn’t push it off of me, so I tried to get my gun. I had to hold it back with one hand, and it was so hard to do! Its teeth were soooo close to my face!

  I finally got the gun out, I put it up to the zombie’s head, and I pulled the trigger. Part of its head blew away and it fell down. I pushed it off and got out from underneath it.

  But then my ears started hurting really bad and I heard this ringing sound and felt pounding inside my head. Then I didn’t hear anything! I put my hands up to my ears for a minute, and when I took them off I saw blood! I think I broke my eardrums! I tried to get up and I felt really dizzy and had a hard time standing up. I started looking around and I saw a couple of zombies from kind of far away, but they were coming from the direction of that big bunch of them I just got away from. They probably heard the gun!

  I had to get out of there fast. I still couldn’t hear anything, so I was looking around a lot to make sure more zombies didn’t show up. I wasn’t running very well, and my head and my ears kept hurting even worse. It’s really scary not being able to hear anything. I mean I hear the ringing but that’s it. I can’t hear the rain, or wind… I can’t hear zombies…

  I think I was running for a while, but I had to stop for a second and get my flashlight because it was getting too dark. I know it’s dangerous sometimes but I have to be able to see, I can’t be deaf AND blind. But I was still dizzy so it was hard to run, and the rain made it even harder to see.

  I don’t know how long it was, but after a while I found this old-looking house. There was a big metal fence around it, and I found the front gate. I got in and closed it behind me. But when I got closer and looked with the flashlight, the front door was missing. I saw a couple zombies through the bushes outside the fence, but I'm just hoping the fence holds them back. I went in and I saw the door lying on the ground.

  I was still dizzy and hurting, but I went all over the house and made sure there weren’t any zombies. This house is scary. It feels like it's haunted. All the walls are breaking, it looks like almost all the windows are broken, and the back door was missing too. I went upstairs and the bedrooms up here don't have doors and the windows are broken, except for one room that still had a door. Some parts of the floor are wet, I think rain got inside somehow.

  I didn’t see any zombies around, so I went into the room with the door and I'm sitting against it now. It doesn't lock so I want to make sure nothing tries to come in. The room is messy and smells funny. There’s nothing hiding in the closet or under the bed, so I’m safe for now.

  I’m freezing and tired. My head hurts and I still can’t hear. I’m still bleeding a little, but it’s not as bad as before. I didn’t ever think about how important hearing was, but it is. So I’m looking almost every minute out the window to make sure nothing comes in through the front gate. I hope I can start hearing again soon. I’m trying to rest, but it’s hard when you have no idea what’s going on around you. Either way I have to wait until morning before I go back out. There’s no way I'll get anywhere in this dark. At least I have the gun next to me just in case.

  I was hoping Lydia might be out here, then neither of us would be alone. Why did she have to run away?? Sarah went and looked for Kitty! Lydia knows it’s not safe out here alone! Why would she do something so stupid? Now half the town is looking for her! I hope she’s okay.

  Okay, that was creepy… I just heard laughing.

  Chapter 33

  What am I going to do?? Bag-Man is here!! I don’t know how he found me! I'm hiding in the room again. I don't know what's going on!

  I heard this scary laughing, but I don't know how because I wasn't hearing anything all night! The laughing kept getting louder, and then it sounded like growling at the same time. It made my stomach feel weird and I got cold. Then I heard some mumbling,
and then I think something broke downstairs, like a crash!

  I hear him again, he's walking around downstairs! Why won't he leave? He needs to leave! I think I should just go down there and try to make him go away.

  Barbie, I need help! He saw me! I had to run again! I came out of the room with my gun, I started looking downstairs to try and see him, but I didn't see him anywhere, but then I felt him walking around! He's really big and tall, and every time he walks it makes the ground shake. I keep hearing him laughing. I started going down the stairs, and I could see the living room from the top of the stairs.

  I kept going down the steps as quiet as I could, and then there was a bunch of lightning and thunder. Then I saw his shadow! He was walking towards the middle of the living room. He started talking to himself, he was asking where the little bitch was. I know he's talking about me, because he always calls me that, and a bunch of other bad names. I never did anything to him ever!

  So I kept going down the stairs, then I saw him knocking over a bunch of stuff and he started calling my name. I went down the stairs a little more and shot at him when he was turned around. But nothing happened! He wasn't hurt! Then he turned around and saw me! He was even bigger than last time I saw him! There was a big knife in his hand, he had on this white shirt but it had blood all over it, the bag on his head was ripping up. His eyes are this really dark red color, and they kind of glow in the dark. He laughed at me again, then started to walk up the stairs!

  I ran back inside here and I'm up against the door. He hasn't tried to come in for some reason. Is he trying to trick me? If I open the door, he might try to hurt me! Maybe if I get up really quiet

  I need to get out of here... Bag-Man just tried to come into the room! He was stomping around and then he was pounding on the door! He said he knew I was in here, and that I needed to give him what was his! I don't know what that means, I don't need to give him anything! What is he talking about!?

  I think he just walked away, the door pounding stopped, then his walking got quieter. I can't just let him hurt me, but what am I going to do?

  Wait a minute... I just heard... Tommy? He was yelling for me! What's he doing here? I thought he was back in the town! He was bitten, and Sarah said he was close to dying! How is he here?

  I can't really understand what he's saying... I think he's yelling for help! He's calling for me and … oh my god, Bag-Man's going after him! I have to go help him!

  Chapter 34

  Barbie, I think there's something wrong with me.

  Remember when I heard Tommy yelling for me? I decided to get the gun and go back downstairs. I needed to make sure he was okay, I didn't want him getting hurt by Bag-Man.

  I went downstairs and I saw Tommy running through the house and he was still screaming for help. I asked him where Bag-Man was, but I don't think he heard me, he just kept running. Then Bag-Man came out from one of the walls! He grabbed Tommy when he ran by, then he picked him up and pushed him into the wall! It cracked the wall and I felt it shake the house!

  I started shooting at Bag-Man. I don't know how much, maybe 4 or 5 times, but he wasn't getting hurt! He looked at me and laughed again. I hate how he laughs, it sounds dark, if that makes any sense. Like really deep, and with a growl, kind of like the zombies, but worse. But he wasn't getting hurt.

  Then he started stabbing Tommy with that big knife! Tommy was screaming so much, and Bag-Man wouldn't stop! I shot a couple more times, but nothing happened, and I think it made Bag-Man really mad. He grabbed Tommy and started … pulling on his skin! In all the places where he got stabbed! Bag-Man Was trying to rip him up!! Tommy didn't say anything anymore, because he died there. Bag-Man looked at me and told me this was all my fault. I felt like I wanted to cry, because it was my fault that Tommy got hurt.

  Then Tommy looked at me too! He woke back up and started growling at me. He was turning into a zombie! Then Bag-Man smashed Tommy's head into the wall and started coming after me!

  I turned around and ran the other way. I didn't know what else to do! But then when I turned the corner to go upstairs, something grabbed me! I started screaming, then I couldn't hear anything again!

  I looked up and I saw Sarah! I had no idea she was there! I yelled at her to run, but she didn't. I looked at her, and her mouth was moving but I couldn't hear her. So I turned to see where Bag-Man was, but he was gone!

  I told Sarah to let go of me and I went back into the kitchen. She turned on the flashlight, and then I saw that Tommy wasn't there anymore, all the blood was gone, there was no crack in the wall.... nothing. But there was a bunch of bullet holes in the wall.

  It's like it didn't happen. But how? I know what I saw! I wasn't shooting at nothing, was I?

  Dan is here too. He was trying to talk to me, but I said I couldn’t hear him. They put their flashlight on me, they pointed at my head, then Sarah came up next to me and looked at my ears. She pointed at them and gave me a really strange look. I told her about me shooting the zombie and it hurting my ears, and that I can’t hear her.

  I hope you don't mind Barbie, but I let Sarah borrow a couple of your papers. It was kind of important. Since I can't hear still, I thought that Sarah could write me notes if she needed to talk to me. Now that she was there, I didn't feel like I was in so much danger anymore and I started to calm down. I'm feeling a little better, but I'm really tired.

  I asked Sarah if they found Lydia, and they did! Guess where she was. HIDING UNDER OUR BUS. She never left the town! We were all calling for her and looking everywhere, and she didn’t even go anywhere! Sarah found her after she left the second time, so that wasn't very long after I sneaked out. I’m really mad at Lydia for that right now, but I’m still glad she’s okay.

  I went to sleep for a little while, but I didn't get much rest, maybe a couple of hours, I think. It's hard to tell how much time passes. All I know is that the sun's coming up now, so it's really early in the morning.

  I still don’t get it, it's really bothering me. Why did I see Bag-Man? He’s only in my dreams, and then I saw him in real life. It doesn’t make any sense to me. Sarah doesn’t know who Bag-Man is, so she didn’t understand what I meant. She just looked really confused when I talked about it.

  Maybe I’m going crazy.

  Sarah just passed me another note to look outside. Be back in a minute.

  Chapter 35

  We’re in trouble out here, we’re surrounded by zombies. We looked out all of the windows, and the zombies are being held back by the metal fence. There are way too many of them to try and escape. Now Sarah and Dan are talking more, probably about how to get out of here. I don’t know, I still can’t hear.

  Actually, it’s not as bad, I hear really low mumbling in my left ear now, but I can’t understand it very well. I hope I get better soon. I asked Sarah how my right ear looked, and she wrote that it isn’t bleeding anymore, but she can’t see much else. She wants to get me back to Rita so I can get a good checkup, then we’ll know how bad it is. Sarah wants me to stay close to her at all times so she can protect me.

  This isn’t good. It’s not good for me, and not for Sarah or Dan either. I don’t want to cause them a problem because they have to watch out even more for me. Part of me wants to stay here in the house until I can hear, but I know that’s a bad idea. Those zombies aren’t going anywhere, who knows how long that fence is going to stay up… and what if my hearing doesn’t get better? What if I stay deaf?

  We have to get ready to go. Sarah explained what we’re doing, and I'm nervous. But I don’t think we have another choice. They’re going to run around the yard and start leading the zombies into one spot so we can open the front gate. From there we have to run for a long time to get back to the town. I asked Sarah how far away from the town we were, and she thinks it’s a few miles at least.

  It feels like a lot farther than that. Maybe if there weren’t zombies around, this might be easier, but we have no idea how many more are out there. There’s no way to find out either, we j
ust have to take the chance. I don’t think either of them want to do it, the way their faces looked when they talked, they weren’t happy. I asked Dan if he had any other ideas, and he shook his head. Sarah wrote that it was better we take our chances out there instead of being stuck in a house waiting for zombies to break in.

  Its weird, I thought the zombies might have broken the fence already, but the fence is really strong metal, and it hasn’t moved yet. But I understand what they’re thinking - I sure don’t want to wait around to find out if the fence will stay up. Sometimes taking a chance is the better idea. It’s better than doing nothing at all.

  It’s time to go.

  Chapter 36

  June 24, 1995

  Barbie, I don’t even know where to start. There's so much that happened and I'm having a hard time thinking about it all.

  Sarah, Dan and I got away from the house we were stuck in. Sarah and Dan's plan worked, even though it was taking a really big chance by making all the zombies follow them. But they did it, and we were able to make it out the gate. There were so many zombies around us, I wasn't sure we were going to make it.

  At least it was light when we were going through the forest, and the storm was over. I was still really tired while we were running, since I didn't get much time to rest at that house. We just kept on running as far as we could, but then more zombies showed up! It's like the farther we got away from the house, the more there were. No matter which way we turned, there they were chasing after us.

  Actually, I don't remember most of that time. I kept trying to stay close to Sarah, but I was so tired, my legs were hurting, the inside of my head was pounding, and I still didn't hear much. I know that I kept falling down and that Sarah and Dan kept picking me up. But then... I remember there being a lot more. A LOT more. I kept getting even more tired, I fell again and had a hard time getting up. The zombies kept getting closer, but Sarah picked me up and carried me. I feel bad about it now, being so tired and helpless, but I'm still really glad she was there. Still, we may have gotten farther if I'd have just tried harder to keep running.