Not The Last {Rough Draft}

Chapter 11: Crazy People and That Boy

  "Wow," I said as we climbed onto the roof of the store. The sun was just above the hills, casting a bright orange light on everything. The sky was bright blue near the sun and as you moved higher up into the sky it got darker. Since it was the middle of September the leaves on the trees were all a golden orange color. In that moment of awe, I actually forgot about the zombies.

  "Yeah, it's amazing. My way to escape the drama of... life," Ashley said staring in the direction of the rising sun.

  From the roof I could see fields of corn and wheat. Beyond that were the hills. Beyond that was probably the ocean. I had only seen the ocean once in my life. It was probably the best place I had ever been.

  "Hey, so, I was meaning to ask. What happened to your shoulder and face?" Ashley said not looking away from the horizon.

  "Zombie scratch," I said pointing to the side of my face. It had healed but there was still a faint white line of a scar. "and a gunshot," I said indicating to my arm. How did she notice that? Probably when I was changing earlier.

  "Gunshot?" Ashley asked finally looking at me.

  "Yeah, my friends and I stayed at a house one night and there was this kid that was a complete psycho," I said leaving out practically all of the details. I wasn't sure if I was ready to revisit the day that I had lost my friends. There were too many questions that I had.

  "Damn, and the zombie scratch? Can't you get infected from that?" Ashley asked looking down and squinting her eyes.

  "Ash, looked at me. Do I look like a zombie?" I asked gently pushing her.

  "Yeah, I guess you're right, but how did an ass kicker like you get jumped by a zombie?" Ashley asked. What was this, Twenty Questions?

  "It was the second day of the apocalypse. Wasn't quite an ass kicker at that time," I said. I honestly didn't want to revisit the day Victoria was killed either.

  "What happened that day?" Ashley asked gently.

  "Nothing, I was attacked by a zombie and this happened. Nothing else to it," I said turning away my eyes.

  "Astrix you can tell me," Ashley said putting a hand on my shoulder.

  "I can't tell you if it was nothing!" I said trying to get my point across. That day at the hospital was more than just Victoria dying. I had found out information that I honestly didn't want to find out.

  "Astrix-," Ashley started but I cut her off.

  "It was nothing Ashley! Honestly, stop trying to find out everything my life consists of!" I said a little harshly. I stood up  and jumped through the hole in the roof. I hit the top of a storage shelf. Not wanting to climb down the shelves, I jumped the 10 feet and hit the ground. I rolled when I hit the ground and stood up.

  "What's up Astrix?" Van asked as I stormed past him.

  "I'm going for a walk. I'll be back in an hour or two," I said. I could feel tears threaten to spill out so I didn't even wait for a response. I ran out of the store and towards the far end of the parking lot. I wasn't sure where I was going but I honestly didn't care. I just needed to get out of there. Immediately.

  After I got far enough away from the store I broke down in the middle of the road and cried. Damn I had broken my streak. I was trying to show that I wasn't weak and crying didn't exactly make me seem strong.

  The only reason I'm keeping secrets from them is so that they don't think that I can't handle myself.

  I didn't want to hurt them in any way. And something told me that if I told them about my theory of the apocalypse I would hurt them in some way. I was still trying to figure out how the man that had kidnapped me and my friends had found out that I knew a possible way all of this started. It didn't make any sense. I had thought about it at least once every day.