Is This The End? Rachael J. It is December 22 nd 2032. Everyone said the world was going to end, but no one knew how. It is pure chaos in the in the city of Tampa, Florida. Fire, screaming, blood, mass destruction, just like they said. I m not sure what s down there on the streets, and I really don t want to find out. My parents are at work, and they left a voicemail on my phone saying that I must not go outside. No matter what. I can t even bare to look out my window seeing people that I know run for their lives in terror. I think to myself this must be a dream. It has to be. I pinch my skin hoping to wake up from this nightmare. Nothing happens. I gather up the courage to look outside, and what I see is unbelievable. Humans, it seems, but they are distorted in ways that are utterly disgusting. These creatures have a rot set in them, almost as if there was some chemicals decaying, and deteriorating through their face and all throughout their skin. They attack every human they see, eating and clawing at their skin, with an overwhelming urge to devour any person they see. I have watched many movies about zombies like these and I am truly scared because now it seems like everything we humans thought we knew, had just been completely twisted and distorted. 1
I see a young child no more than five years old, probably looking for her parents, completely terrified and confused on what she is witnessing. A zombie notices the young girl from a distance. I can t just sit here. I need to do something. I rush down the stairs in the two story apartment building I live in. before I left, I grabbed my mother s prize possession, her katana that she got as a souvenir from one of her trips to Africa. It s pretty sharp and I know how to use it. I spot the little girl and the zombie coming towards her. She is too shocked to run so instead she screams at the top of her lungs. I stand in front of her as a shield and slice the zombie in the side of the head, making it drop to its knees in a pool of its own contaminated blood. The little girl behind me is now crying uncontrollably, unable to stop. I pick her up and head back towards my apartment, when suddenly I hear a voice. A human voice. Behind you! the man shouts. In an instinct I grab the katana, setting the child down, and slice blindly behind me, chopping the zombie s face in half. The smell is revolting. I look away from the sight of the decapitated zombie and direct my attention to the man who saved the child s and my life. He is a tall African American man that is in very good shape. He has a semi-automatic rifle that is killing the zombies in mass amounts. I run toward him with the child holding my hand. I shield her eyes from the dead bodies covering the ground. He motions me to watch behind him to make sure his back is covered. He also 2
hands me a hand gun which I m not used to. I see a zombie coming out of the grocery store heading at a faster speed than the other zombies I have seen. I look through the pin sight, aiming directly at the head. I pull the trigger and nothing happens...i forgot to turn the safety off. I quickly move the switch, aim and fire just in time not to get eaten. The man has killed all the zombies we can see for now. Come on. We have to go. There will be more. Lots more. As I crouch down to give the girl a piggy back ride I ask her as calmly as possible, what s your name? she looks at me with the saddest look I have ever seen and said, Where are mommy and daddy? On vacation! I say with a convincing smile They asked me to watch you! What is your name sweetheart? Vanessa she said sweetly. I wonder if she really believes me about her parents going on vacation, I mean how do I explain all of this?! Then we just started walking on the highway in complete silence. Do you know where we are going? I ask inquisitively. To the scientist who started all this 3
You mean you know?! I ask with a concerning look. Rachael J. No. but I know the man who does. The man is so blank and monotone when he talks. It s hard to read his emotions. I don t know anything about this guy, and I m walking around in the zombie apocalypse aimlessly in the middle of the highway. This seems logical. What s your name? I try and ask as non-annoyingly as possible. You don t need to know. He said firmly. Then what am I supposed to call you?! Bubbles?! Is that what you want?! Sure. Call me bubbles. Call me anything but my real name because this is a new world. A new beginning. Isn t this what they call the end of the world? I say with a slight chuckle. Not for me. I just want to start over again, and this is the perfect opportunity. So you re actually glad this happened?! I ask being very confused. In some ways. In other ways not so much. I d rather not talk about it. there? 4 Fine, Bubbles. Be that way, I say laughing. So how far is it until we get
Let s just say we need to find ourselves a car. He says with a heavy sigh. Well there are plenty of cars rights here on the side of the road! We can always just take one of these. Yes, but we need something durable. And fast. He says looking with watchful eyes. Sorry I don t know much about cars I am a girl after all. That s no excuse! You just took down quite a few walkers all by yourself! Using two completely different weapons! It doesn t matter if you are a girl; you still have proved yourself useful. Walkers? Is that what you call them? I ask surprised by how much he knows already. I wonder if he knew this was going to happen. Yes. That is what we call them back at the lab. I wonder, but I don t ask. He knows so much already, almost as if he had been preparing for this day for a long time. I want to know just as much as he does about these things. It seems like there is so much to learn. This one. The man says pointing to a large truck that looks brand new. 5
I take Vanessa off my back, almost forgetting she was there, and set her down so she can get in the truck. I ll sit on the tailgate, and let you know if there are any stray people walking around. The more the merrier! he shouts while he gets in the truck. truck. I laugh a little until I see a small group of walkers heading toward the Let s go! There s a group of walkers back here! I shout getting concerned as they crawl faster toward me. There s no gas in this one! he yells. I pull out my katana ready to defend myself, when suddenly I hear five gunshots, dropping the walkers to the ground. It wasn t the man because he was still in the truck. A man and his son reveal themselves from the woods on the side of the road. Thank you. I said to them relived. No problem. Said the man. My name is Uriah, and this is Mark. He said gesturing to the boy beside him. He looks about fourteen or fifteen, about the 6
same age as me. I vaguely remember him from school. He was my lab partner a couple years ago in science class. Hey man! said Uriah almost as if he knew Bubbles. They give each other a bro hug, and immediately head towards the truck that Vanessa is still in. she looks confused and frightened. I climb in the truck to pick her up and carry her out. Uriah and Bubbles are filling up the gas tank by collecting gas from other vehicles. Alright we should be good to go now. Said Bubbles with a jest of confidence. You and Mark should stay in the back and watch for more people. Alright, I guess that would work. Said Mark with no enthusiasm what so ever. He rolls his eyes and gives me a glare. He was always a part of the popular group at school, and of course I wasn t. Yeah I don t like this either, but ya know what? What else are we supposed to do in the fricken zombie apocalypse? So deal with it. I say with an extremely annoyed look on my face. I just don t understand why I had to be stuck with you. He mumbles under his breath. I just glare at him and then look away. They start the truck that luckily the keys were still in, and headed to some place that I don t even 7
know existed. I don t even know if I can trust these people. I can t think any longer. I m so tired I can barely keep my eyes open. I daze off into a light sleep. a haze. Wake up. Wake up. Said Uriah in a firm whisper. I slowly get up, still in How long was I asleep? I mumble still trying to process this. Three hours. Your must have been exhausted emotionally and physically. I know this is draining but you have to get used to this. said Bubbles also in a whisper. I look around to see that we are no longer outside. We are in a parking garage. up. Why are you guys whispering? I ask still not fully coordinated as I get he snaps. Sshhhhhh! hisses Mark. We don t know if there are any still in here! Sorry. I say rolling my eyes at Mark getting extremely annoyed with his attitude. I jump off of the tailgate lightly and follow bubbles with Vanessa on his shoulders. I have my katana still in hand, ready for what s to come. There is a corner coming up and he slowly peeks his head around it to check for walkers. He quickly tucks his head back and gestures for us to slide underneath one of 8
the vehicles. I hear their feet slowly dragging across the ground, barely able to walk. Bubbles is underneath the car beside me, covering Vanessa s mouth so she doesn t let out a scream of terror. Mark is under the car across from me, and Uriah is under the car across from Bubbles. One of the zombies trip and fall right in front of Bubbles and Vanessa. It reaches toward them both, and Bubbles pulls out a knife and sticks it right in the head, blood squirting everywhere. This must be traumatizing for Vanessa. I slowly control my breathing, trying not to make a sound, each breath getting harder and harder to take in. My muscles are so tense right now I m starting to get a Charlie horse in my calf. My face twists in pain, as I m trying not to make a noise. The pain is unbearable. I bite my sweatshirt sleeve to relieve some of the pressure. I gently bring my knee up to my chest trying to massage my throbbing calf. The pain is pulsing through me as if someone kept stabbing me with a knife in the same spot and wrenching the blade while it is already in my wound. I use my sweatshirt as a gag so that I don t cry out in pain. Bubbles is looking at me with confident eyes, as if he is saying do what you have to do in order to not make a sound. We remain underneath the vehicles for at least 25 minutes after we were pretty sure the zombies were all gone. Uriah is giving us a hand motion saying that it is okay to get up. We try not to make any noise because everything in a parking garage echoes. We walk around the corner with caution, our weapons 9
ready. We are in a circle formation so we can see at all angles. Bubble is in the front, Uriah is in the back, and Mark and I are covering both of the sides, with Vanessa in the middle. Nobody has said anything about Vanessa, but whenever I see Mark looking at Vanessa, he always looks at her as if she is just in the way. It s not fair for such an innocent girl to be stuck in such an evil world. We make it to the elevator with only having to kill two walkers. The elevator is not going to work. We don t have power, remember? I say snobbily, still kind of grumpy from my nap. Uriah glares at me and put his pointer finger to his mouth, gesturing for me to shut up. We follow Bubbles for another good five minutes, finally arriving at a staircase that looks as if it could go on forever. I was getting tired but then I heard something behind me quite alarming. A group of walkers. I pull out my katana and start slashing the heads of walkers, it getting tougher and tougher as my arm is beginning to get tired, as if someone is putting five pound bricks on my arm one by one. Mark, Uriah, and Bubbles are all shooting from behind me, taking down the walkers farther away. I hear a scream, a quite familiar scream. Vanessa. She wiggles and fights, but there is nothing I can do to save her. No one was watching the stairs because they were all focused on me. I cannot save her. I turn my head just in time so I didn t have 10
to watch the walker dig its rotten teeth into Vanessa s neck. Bubbles kills the walker, but not quick enough. Vanessa lies there, pale, and lifeless. I watch a tear fall from her soft blue eyes. I am so distracted that I trop my Katana and fall to my knees, my ears ringing from the booming sound of gunfire. I faintly can hear voices yelling and screaming at me to get up and fight, but I don t care. I just sit there balling my eyes out over some little girl that I barely knew. But somehow I manage to push all that aside and fight like the emotionally strong person I am. I am raging with anger as I envision every walker I kill, killed Vanessa. When all the walkers are dead, everyone is looking at me with mixed emotions. Instead of saying anything at all, I wipe my sword on my pants and ignore them all, making no eye contact whatsoever. We walk up the stairs trying not to look at Vanessa s cold, dead body. I let everyone pass and then I take my katana and force the sword through her head, making sure she won t have to carry out her life as one of those cruel foul things that took her life away from her in the first place. As I walk I feel nothing. Absolutely nothing. Almost too much of nothing. I feel light headed and begin to lose my balance. I feel like a huge wave of heat just poured over me. I am sweating uncontrollably and panting. I don t even know if I am climbing stairs anymore because I lost feeling everywhere. I pinch my arm trying to feel something, something at all, but I feel nothing. 11
I take a huge breath of air, filling my lungs as I begin to panic. Shhhh sweetheart. Calm down. a lady says to me in a comforting voice. But then I realize this isn t just a lady. It s my mother. You were asleep for two days. What?! Where am I?! Where are Bubbles, Mark, and Uriah? I say in a panic, the beads of sweat still on my forehead. I think you had quite the nightmare hun. My father says with a smile across his face, as I jump from being somewhat startled because I did not know he was here. You were crying, tossing and turning, and sweating really badly. You just hit your head on the coffee table when you were playing with Jonah. My mother said sweetly. it was her 5 th birthday on Wednesday. You missed most of it. dream.. Where is Jonah?! Is she alright?! I say extremely paranoid about my Yes, yes, yes she is perfectly fine. She is at the park with her babysitter. My dad says as he gets up from his chair and rests his hand gently on my shoulder. 12
The doctor said that you will be fine. It s just that we need to ice your head, and keep you in bed! my mother said with a chuckle. It s good to have you back hun. I agree. It is good to be back. I say with a sigh of relief. And I gently fall back into a peaceful slumber. 13