Other Side

by Rose, Isabella C.

  “This is bad. Where the hell did it go?” she rambled off.

  Was she panicking? She was supposed to be level-headed! Peggy Sue always seemed in control. She couldn't lose control now when I needed her the most.

  “Hey!” I said louder. “We need to get to the house,” I grabbed her free hand.

  Her eyes came back to me, and she got herself under control.

  “Right, go,” she replied, her voice back to normal.

  I took a step into the yard and heard a noise coming from the front of the house. I stilled. What was that? The noise got louder, and I realized the noise was a vehicle.

  Peggy Sue heard it too. “No, they can’t be back right now. That zombie is out there somewhere. We need to warn them.”

  Peggy Sue took off running toward the front of the house, I tried to keep up with her and watch all around. She was being reckless. I kept glancing to the roof of the house, ready for a zombie to jump off and attack us as I chased after Peggy Sue. The noise got louder the closer to the front of the house we got, and I could tell that the vehicle was the truck by how it revved. Coming around the corner of the house, the truck pulled into the drive. My eyes frantically searched for Jaime in the cab. The truck halted as we reached them. I felt too exposed and not knowing where that zombie had gone gave me the chills.

  Buck jumped out wrapping Peggy Sue in a hug. “What are you doing out here?”

  Peggy Sue hugged him back, breathing heavily from her sprint.

  I filled him in as I saw Hugh get out behind Buck and Jaime get out the other side of the truck.

  “I saw something last night and we went to check it out, but we saw a zombie on the roof in the back and now it’s gone.”

  “Gone?” Hugh asked, checking out his surroundings, his gun out in an instant.

  Peggy Sue had moved to Buck’s side. “You didn’t kill the bastard?”

  She finally spoke. “No. It was asleep, and we were between it and the house. We went into the woods to see what was watching the house.”

  “Woman, you know better than to leave one of them alive!” Buck scolded her.

  “I know baby,” she responded.

  Jaime started toward us from the other side of the truck. He stopped when we all heard a child crying.

  “Hepp me peass.”

  The whole group was alert in seconds as the words came from Jaime’s side of the truck. Over the hood of the truck, I saw a tiny figure running toward us. She looked human with her pale skin, and clear, blue eyes. Her clothes were ragged, and her body was covered in dirt.

  Jaime ran toward her. “It’s okay honey, you're safe with us.”

  Time seemed to slow in the next few moments. The others rushed around the truck to catch up to Jaime as he got to the little girl. I tried to move, but my feet wouldn't move as he reached out for the child and picked her up in his arms.

  Buck with Peggy Sue saw it first and yelled in unison, “Jaime look out!”

  Hugh tried to run to his son, but Buck grabbed his arm, pulling him back. The child in Jaime’s arms sank her teeth into his shoulder. He jerked the child back, but it was too late—blood coated his tan shirt. The child had a convulsion of the virus taking over her body. Behind Jaime, I saw it then. The whole thing hit me at once. In the cover of the trees, just far enough back to not be seen unless you looked, was the fat lady zombie I shot in the woods before we reached here; the smile on her disgusting face will haunt me forever. Then the woods flooded with zombies from all around us. My heart sank. Jaime was bitten. Jaime would become a zombie, and there was nothing I could do about it. Tears filled my eyes of their own accord. I would never get a chance to tell him I loved him. I was robbed of any future with him. He looked straight at me, dropped his gun, held the child close, and turned running into the woods. The zombies ignored him as he would be one of them soon enough.

  His words brought me back to reality as he yelled, “Find a cure, Vi!”

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  The zombies grunted and wailed, their horrid screeches racing toward us. Buck dragged Hugh toward the house. Peggy Sue began shooting at the zombies closest to her. I turned and began doing the same as I raced toward the front door.

  Hugh’s sobs filled the air. “My son!”

  There were so many zombies coming for us. I knew this would be the end. I would die here or turn. We made it to the porch when the front door flung open, and Brandi came out shooting cover for us to get on the porch. Shots rang out from the second level too. Tiffany. Zombies dropped, but more ran for us. I made it to the porch when a zombie grabbed for me and was shot in the face. Turning, Annette’s face came into view over a rifle. We scrambled into the house and slammed the door shut. Zombies pounded the door. We held it closed, and Annette slid the lock in place. We stood back as the door took hit after hit. The zombies screeched even louder. Tiffany came bursting down the stairs. We looked at each other. Tears filled her eyes too. She knew what happened to Jaime. Gracie, Connor, and Julia ran to the top of the stairs.

  “What’s going on!?” Gracie asked, her voice strong.

  “We need to reinforce the door before they break it down,” Buck stated.

  The zombies took that moment to make the door bend inward slightly. I looked around and saw an oak cabinet on the other side of the living room full of books.

  “Help me!” I yelled, rushing for the cabinet.

  Buck, Brandi, and Peggy Sue followed me, gripping the cabinet on different ends.

  Hugh slumped to the floor sobbing, and Annette hugged him, crying softly. They had just lost their only child. I wanted to cry with them; my heart was breaking every second that went by. I let Jaime in and fell for him, and he was lost to me. Biting the inside of my cheek to focus as I had done so many times before when my step-father beat me. It helped me eliminate my feelings, and go to that place where I didn’t care about anything. The place that was both familiar and yet foreign after so long. It welcomed me with open arms.

  Heaving the cabinet, we forced it to slide across the floor and into place in front of the door. The bangs on the door continued. The rest of the house rattled as the barrage from the zombies pounded on the shutters and walls.

  “Mommy I’m scared,” Connor said to Julia from the stairs.

  I looked toward them watching Julia pick up Connor. Gracie stood close to Julia too, fear entering her face for the first time.

  “It’s okay, sweetie.” Julia caressed Connor's head.

  Her face met mine, and she knew it would not be okay but tried to be brave for her son.

  I pulled my gaze back, facing the door. “We need to do the same for the windows and doors on this level. We will worry about the other levels once this floor is impenetrable.”

  I ran to the TV, and lifting it off to get to the stand the TV sat on, I pushed it on its side toward a window. The contents inside the cabinet doors of the TV stand flopped to one side in a jumbling noise.

  Brandi came to help me as the others found other furniture to cover the windows that rattled. Pushing the stand in front of a window, I turned to go into the kitchen. The kitchen only had one window over the sink, and the door was solid oak. I heard the zombies outside. Looking around, all I saw was the table and barstools for furniture. I went to the table and swept my arm across the surface, knocking off the cups that were left on the table. They crashed to the floor and bench. I dragged the table out, and turned it on its side, and rolled it to the back door, thankful the table was round. I wedged the table against the door and grabbed a few barstools to secure against the table. The window would be a problem, I had no idea how to reinforce it. As that thought crossed my mind, Buck entered with a large wood piece of artwork, a circle piece of tree trunk that some artist had painted an ocean scene on. It had been on the wall in the living room. He hauled it to the window and pulled a hammer from his belt, nailing the wood to the window. Where he got the hammer and nails, I didn't know, but I certainly was grateful. Yelling came from the basement. Roth!
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  I ran to the door leading down and Buck joined me, his gun out. I opened the door and let him check. Nothing but the yelling was louder with the door open.

  “Help me! They are going to get me!” Roth’s voice came panicked.

  I followed Buck and when we got to the landing; the zombies’ groans echoed in the room.

  “Meattttttttt!”

  Buck went to the room Roth was being held in. Getting the key out he gave it to me to open as he held his gun up ready to shoot. I turned the key and Roth stumbled out as the door swung out toward us. He fell to the floor. Buck went in and I heard the gunshots. Roth scampered up and looked to me and back to Buck in the room. His eyes looked crazed to escape. I grabbed his arm, making him focus on me.

  “Don’t,” I started. “They are surrounding the house. You can’t get out.”

  His eyes went wide. “What the hell did you guys do? You condemned me to die here with you, fuckers!”

  Buck came out. “Shut your piehole. They peeled back the shutter on the porthole window and only had their arm in. I secured it. Is that the only window down here?”

  I thought and remembered the lab had a small porthole window too.

  “The lab,” I said, turning to race to the other end.

  Buck was on my heels. I threw the door open. Buck and I stepped in. Fear coursed through me when I looked at the window.

  The fat lady’s face was peering in and our eyes met—well, what I thought was eyes met because one of hers was all white.

  “Miiinnneee!” she said, licking her blood-stained mouth.

  Buck raised his gun, and she disappeared.

  “Grab me something to cover this.” He stood at the window guarding it.

  The lab didn’t have anything. I went back into the lounge and spotted a large cutting board on the bar. Back in the room, Buck secured it to the window.

  He turned to me. “Is that the zombie you told us about? The one that followed you from the mall and set the trap for you?”

  “Yes,” I whispered.

  I felt guilty. Was all this my fault? Did she set this trap for us because of me?

  “Phew, she is one ugly muck. Let’s go check on the others.”

  Roth stood at the door, and we went to the upper level. We found everyone huddled in the living room. I went over to Brandi, pulling her hand to mine. The zombies continued their beating on the house.

  “How’s upstairs?” Buck asked.

  “Good, we got the second floor secure. We didn’t hear any zombies attacking the house there,” Brandi answered.

  I found that interesting. Where was the zombie we saw on the roof? I caught Peggy Sue’s raised eyebrows. My emotions tried to take that moment to try and break through my barrier, my heart squeezing in pain. I buckled over, breathing heavily.

  Brandi reached out to me. “What’s wrong, Vi?”

  Jaime’s face entered my mind, and I shut it down. One last breath and I stood tall, the emptiness back in place.

  “Nothing,” I replied, harsher than I intended.

  The End…

  (for now)

  Work Cited

  Bradshaw, Claire. 3 Key Differences Between YA Fiction And Adult Fiction. Writers Edit. 2020. Retrieved from https://writersedit.com/fiction-writing/3-key-differences-between-ya-fiction-and-adult-fiction/

  Djikic, Maya, and Oatley, Keith. “The Art In Fiction.”[Capitaze each word in title.]: From indirect communication to changes of the self. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, And the Arts. 2014. Retrieved from https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fa0037999

  Konner, Melvin. “The Evolution Of Childhood. The Cultural Evolution Of Storytelling And Fairy Tales: Human Communication And Memetics.” 2010. Retrieved from http://assets.press.princeton.edu/chapters/s9676.pdf

  Penn, Joanna. Pros And Cons Of Traditional Publishing Vs Self-Publishing. The Creative Penn. 2020. Retrieved from https://www.thecreativepenn.com/self-publishing-vs-traditional/