Death's Awakening

Chapter Thirty-Four: Karmen

Karmen scrambled backward, knocking over the lamp on the end table.

Her eyes opened wide, remembering the image of her brother's decomposing face.

"Hey, it's okay," Noah said. "You're safe. We're at my house. Everything is okay."

Karmen looked around, then rubbed her eyes. Her pulse raced, but as she focused in on Noah and Parrish, she realized where she was and started to calm down. Todd wasn't here. She pushed the blanket from her legs and studied her skin, searching for bite marks.

She sighed with relief and relaxed back into the cushions on the couch. She was okay.

Then she moaned. Crap. What happened to all her stuff?

"What happened? Did you grab my clothes and things from my house?"

Noah sat on the coffee table and shook his head. "No, sorry," he said. "When I found you, you were passed out cold and there were muddy footprints all over the carpet. Did you see any rotters over there?"

Karmen swallowed. She didn't want to talk about it. She didn't want to tell him about Todd. She felt stupid enough as it was for even going over there alone.

"No," she lied. "I can't believe you came all the way over there and didn't grab any of my bags."

She stood up and slammed her hands against her legs. This seriously sucked.

"Can we go back?"

"No way," Parrish said. "Not today, anyway. It's going to be dark soon."

"You never should have gone over there by yourself in the first place," Noah said. "What were you thinking?"

Karmen rolled her eyes. "I was thinking I was tired of wearing the same clothes for a week straight."

Parrish, at least, had been wearing layers. She had a skirt, a t-shirt, socks, a vest, and a tank top.

"There's something else we need to talk about first," Noah said. "Come over here and sit down, please."

Karmen crossed her arms in front of her chest and sat back down on the couch. She hoped she wasn't about to get another lecture from them about staying inside. She wasn't going to ever go out on her own again. They could count on it.

Parrish handed her a sheet of paper and Karmen read it, her eyes growing wider with every line.

Her face broke out in a huge smile and she jumped up on the couch, cheering. "I told you someone would come for us," she said. "Yes!"

She shook her butt and danced, but then looked down and realized the two worry-warts were sitting there looking all depressed.

"What?" she asked. "You can't seriously be upset about this. After everything else we've been through, this is good news folks. The government is still around. We're being rescued. What's not to love?"

"It's not that simple," Parrish said. "If we go to the safe zone, we're giving them complete control."

"So?" Geez, that girl could find the negative in any situation.

"So, we won't be allowed to leave, no matter what it's like there," she said. "They could turn it into a slave camp and we wouldn't be able to protest."

"A slave camp? Are you being serious right now? Why would they do that?" Karmen asked.

Parrish shrugged. "I'm not saying that's the best example, or that they're going to do that to us, I'm just trying to make the point that they will own us."

"They'll also take care of us," Karmen said. "Food. Water. Safety in numbers."

"My main worry is that they said no weapons," Noah said. "What will we do if the camp we're in gets overrun or something? We'll be sitting ducks without any kind of weapon."

He had a point, but Karmen thought both of them were worrying too much. "The soldiers will have weapons," Karmen said. "We won't have to take care of ourselves or kill the zombies. They'll do it for us."

The room grew silent and Karmen let out a long sigh.

"Are we debating whether or not we're going? Or just talking through how we feel about it?" she asked. "Because I'm going. With or without you guys."

No one said anything, but Parrish and Noah exchanged another look.

Karmen was tired of their meaningful looks. She felt left out and she hated it. She wondered if any of their other friends would be at the camp. She was dying to know if Kate was okay. And Melinda. Maybe they would be there.

But were Noah and Parrish really thinking it was a bad idea?

She stared down at the evacuation notice.

They had to go. "This is our chance at some kind of normal life," she said, lying back against the couch.

"Life isn't ever going to be normal again," Parrish said.

But Karmen still wasn't ready to believe that.

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