Virus 2 - A Zombie Novel

September 13th 2014

"Emmeline, wake up!" Oscar shook me as I lie asleep in the backseat. My eyes flicked open, but it was too dark to see.

"What?" I whined.

"We're here." he said. I sat up, trying to see at least something. But then my eyes spotted a little light in the distance, and knew it was the farm.

"They're still here." Freya said sounding excited. We started to slow down, then came to an abrupt stop.

"Who's there?" I heard someone yell from outside.

"It's me! Freya and Oscar!" Freya called, sticking her head out the window.

"Freya? You guys are alive?" they yelled.

"Hell yeah!" Oscar called sticking his head out the window.

"Hey Ruby! They're back! Come on forward guys." The man shouted. Freya and Oscar put their head back in the car and drove forward, all the way up to the front porch. They jumped out and left me in the car; completely forgetting they had another person. I awkwardly opened the door and got out, to see everyone had gone inside to welcome back Oscar and Freya. I walked up the stairs to the front porch, but movement made me jump.

"And who might you be?" a man said. He was sitting on a rather large chair at the end of the porch watching me.

"Emmeline." I mumbled. "And you are?"

"Hudson." He smiled at me. He had short brown, wavy hair and big brown eyes. He also had bushy eyebrows and long eyelashes. He was rather handsome; in a manly way. "I'm guessing you came with Freya and Oscar." I nodded, crossing my arms. I could tell winter was coming, and I mean the season. "Do you need a jacket?" he asked me.

"No - I'm fine." I said. He smiled and looked at the door, then back to me.

"Do you want to go fence clearing?" he stood.

"What?" I said frowning.

"It's my job tonight to clear the fences." He said slowly like I was retarded. "Do you want to come?"

"Clear them of what?" I asked.

"Duh, Shufflers." He laughed.

"Shufflers?" I smiled - so that's what he called them.

"You know; dead people, biting your friends and loved one -"

"I know what they are." I laughed. "I just called them Walkers."

"That's a better name." he smiled. I nodded, lookin at the door.

"Maybe I should go in."

"They forgot you in the car I think they can forget you for another 30 minutes." He insisted. I sighed and looked back at him. He clasped his hands together and pretended to beg.

"Fine. Fine." I gave up. "If I get in trouble, I'm blaming you."

"Sure." He walked past me and down the porch steps, waiting for me to join him. I followed him down the stairs and walked in unison, across the grass in the night.

"Do you have a gun on you?" I asked. He shook his head and I stopped abruptly. "Why?"

"We're safe, I do it every second night." He said. I breathed out through my nose; and kept walking, unsure of this whole situation I'm about to be in. "And here; take my jacket." He added shrugging his off his back.

"No - I'm fine." But he gave it to me anyway. "Thank you."

"Extra protection, seeing as you're the dummy who didn't bring a gun." he said pulling out a handgun. I sighed in relief. He was lying to me. We walked in silence, trying to figure out something to say. "So Emmeline,"

"Call me Emmy." I interrupted.

"Like the award?" he laughed. I rolled my eyes; of course he asks that; everyone asks that.

"Yes; like the award." I laughed as well.

"Okay, so Emmy, tell me about yourself, I want to know everything." He asked me. I looked into the distance and still couldn't see a fence. Was there even a fence?

"I'm 18, I graduated high school this year in July, I was enrolled in Yale, but that won't work anymore. I had a sister - Melissa. We lived on a farm actually, until she died and I had to leave." I finished, there wasn't much for me to say.

"Were you in a group before Freya and Oscar?" he asked.

"Yes; I left my group for them." I said.

"And why is that?" he kept throwing questions at me.

"Because I refused to throw Freya and Oscar out on their asses when they were all by themselves; so the self appointed leader of the group told me to go with them." I crossed my arms, hugging his jacket.

"Sounds like he's an asshole." He laughed.

"How did you know it was a guy?" I asked.

"I could tell." He sighed. "Did you like him?"

"He was alright; we fought a lot." I said.

"No - Like like him." he asked. I stopped and looked at Hudson. The shadows made him cheek bones stand out.

"Why would you think that?" I asked.

"You didn't say his name; like it pained you. You made him sound assholish when what he was asking wasn't that bad." He laughed. "Sounded like you liked him."

"I didn't." I protested.

"Good, because I could never compete with a self appointed leader." I laughed at that comment. I could already tell Hudson was better than Joe. He didn't try to put a bag over my head or point a gun at me.

"Don't worry, you're already in the lead." I laughed. I could finally see the fence, it was about 3m tall and each wire was 10cm apart, leaving no room for anything to get through, and there were some dark objects moving around on it. I sighed with relief to know he wasn't taking me out there to kill me.

"What was his name?" he asked.

"Joseph." I mumbled.

"What a shitty name." he laughed. I looked at him, smiling slightly. "I'm joking; my neighbour was called Joseph, lovely guy." That's when I laughed.

"So tell me about yourself." I smiled.

"Well, I'm 21, I obviously graduated a while ago, when I was 17, and I lived here until I moved to the city my university was at." He opened his arms up.

"You're Ruby's brother?" I asked, and he nodded.

"I bet you're thinking; wow, she must be one handsome devil." He said beginning to walk again.

"Yeah; something like that." I laughed awkwardly. What I really was thinking was: What is she going to think? I ran off with her brother without even meeting her. "Do you think she'll let me stay?" I asked.

"I can put in a good word." He said just as we reached the fence. I smiled at him, ignoring the moaning of the stuck Walkers.

"You would do that?" I asked.

"Of course, no girl has ever volunteered to clear the fences with me before." He laughed, pulling out his knife and handing it to me. "Now, let's kill some Walkers."