Gemstones | Winners ✮ Anthology

The Salt Box House by @JankyFluffy

"We're all going to die before we reach the camp." Tommy stepped closer to the other college students.

A boy popped from behind the rainbow-colored RV and screamed, "boo!"

Tommy screeched and gasped. "Marcus, Stop that!"

"It was funny." Finley broke out in laughter.

"Don't encourage him." Tommy moved his blond hair out of his large eyes and shoved his thick glasses back on. He stared at the haunted house. "I'm scared," he said to himself.

Rotted McMansions on the tree-lined street appeared as if they came from nightmares. Salt covered the lawns.

A few growls filled the air from inside, but the zombies didn't leave.

The older home, transformed from a Saltbox House, was the only dwelling not touched by the plague. Zombies refused to enter. Even after sixty years, the scent of the sea lingered, a warning to the zombies.

A zombie screamed from the house next door. "Eat you." Sunken eyes stared out at a gap in the wall where a bay window used to be. The starving zombie pointed at Alice. The smell of fruity Zombie Dust filled the air.

Fragments of glass covered the rose bushes.

"Go away!" Alice picked up a clump of salt and tossed it. The zombie flinched and stepped back.

Tommy turned to the saltbox house again. He stared at the spray-painted door. 'Do not enter. House is haunted by my grandmother's murderous ghost.'

"We need to ransack the place before the looters come, or worse, the zombies. There is a ghost, and I need you and Finley to guard the RV," Alice said.

Finley laughed. "You don't believe that."

Alice shrugged. "And I didn't believe in zombies either."

"Did you have to paint that sign on your door?" Tommy asked Alice and her younger brother, Marcus. "It makes this even creepier."

"Grandma's ghost protects us." Alice rushed to the house.

Marcus was the youngest in the group, no older than nine. He spoke softly. "It's really haunted by our grandmother, but I'd rather see Grandma than the zombies." Marcus followed his sister. "I want you both to wait outside. It's not safe. Grandma doesn't like uninvited guests."

"Why did you let the kid talk to you like that? We could help." Finley shoved Tommy.

"It's okay. I'm waiting for a couple of friends and my new girlfriend." Tommy rubbed his arm.

A zombie leaped at him from behind a tree. He grabbed the mounds of salt and tossed it.

Finley kicked the zombie. "You're so obnoxious that Alice and her brother want you eaten out here, and I'll laugh." Finley gagged. "The girl you like isn't coming. You're a loser. Didn't she say that she'd rather her face get ripped out by zombies than be with you?"

"Shut up," Tommy said. "She said she loved me back."

"You're a freak." Finley approached the house.

"Marcus told us not to enter!"

Finley didn't listen. He ran his fingers through his blond hair and shut the door behind him.

Inside the House

Alice threw her brother's soft leather jacket at him. "I already placed the gardening tools, books, and seeds in the RV, but we will need food while everything grows."

"How will we keep safe?"

"Grandfather says there is a hidden salt mine near the camp. But even if there isn't, Grandma will protect us." She turned to the door.