The Death Of Us

Chapter 3

Mariah P.O.V.

Location; forest in New York 

The sun slowly disappears behind the trees, and Katie, Brandon, and I are silent the whole way back to our cabin. It doesn't surprise me. Katie and I tried to avoid people, so we could avoid seeing death. I notice Antlia's bow around Katies chest.

"are you stealing from dead girls now" I say. "what? No! I thought that Brandon maybe wants it" she whispers, it's the first time I saw Katie be a little overwhelmed by other people's death or feelings in general. We are almost at our cabin, but Brandon stops, leaving us confused. "what is it?" I ask him.

"something isn't right" I look in front of us, and I think he is right. It's too quiet, even at sunset we can hear at least 10 z's, but now. It's a little bit suspicious.

Katie takes the front lead, "stay behind me" she says, with each step we get closer to our cabin, we are passing the truck that the cabins owner used to own before, they didn't even leave us the keys, how rude. Katie doesn't know that I can hijack the car, and I don't want her to know, she always sees an innocent girl in me. But my father taught me some things, that may be a little useful in an apocalypse.

I notice that the door to our cabin is open, "is somebody robbing us?" I ask Brandon. "i don't think that a robber would leave a door open, so a z can attack him anytime" he waits a second "it must be something else".

Katie steps closer to the door, she stands in front of it and gets attacked by a z, I react fast and hit it with my tanto. At the exact same time, a lot of other zombies are running to us from the woods. Did they make a trap for us, Imposible, zombies can't think?

"we need to get out of here" Katie yells.

"impossible without a vehicle, and I guess that you don't have the keys for this truck" Brandon shouts back, while pointing to the blue pickup truck.

I think I need to hijack the car, i just hope that they won't ask to many questions about it.

"i got it, just have my back" I run towards the truck, I struggle a little with the car door, but Brandon just smashed the window and opened the door for me. I open the door to the car and sit in the driver's seat, I pop open the console and get the cables out starting to try and find the right spark.

"Mariah, it would be nice, if you hurried a little" Katie says, "give me time, woman!" I retort back. I find the right cables, and of course I connect them. The motor starts to work. "well, I don't know how to drive, so Brandon you get the honor to do so", I jump back into the back seat, while Brandon and Katie get in the two front seats.

And Brandon starts driving. "at least we have a full tank" he says, and we drive away.

We are driving on the only road, that there is in this forest, and we eventually are out of here in around 25 minutes. Brandon stops the car and get out. Katie and I exchange confused and move my shoulders upwards to signal that I don't have a clue on what's happening. Katie gets out of the truck and tells me to stay inside. I hear very little of their conversation, but it's clear that Katie doesn't have success in what she is trying to accomplish.

She comes back in, and I ask her "what's wrong". "well, he wants to be on his own, he is off the wagon because of his daughter, and I don't know how to change his mind" she says, "let me try" I say, while getting out of the truck.

I look at him, and say "I know it's hard for you, to lose somebody, but you aren't the only one. And you won't be able to honor your promise to Antlia, without us. Because you will die if you are alone" I say emotionless before looking ahead of me.

"you all are just two teenagers, one of you has trust issues, while you seem like somebody that only see the good in people even if you, they wronged you" he takes a short pause and continues to talk "Just like my little princess" he says with a sigh and I look back at him.

"look I know it hard to believe that Katie has feelings, but she went through a lot, alone. And you will end up like her if you won't stay with us. We need you too, you know" I interlace my fingers together and look ahead of me.

"As much as you think we're just two teenagers with issues, you're a grown-up with issues" I say before looking at him with a small smile. "But that's alright with us, if one of us is lacking something the other ones doesn't that's what makes a team. That's how Katie and I have survived for this long"

"You both look like an odd pair filled with surprises. I mean up until 25 minutes ago I thought Katie would be the one to know how to hijack a car" Brandon says, and Katie joins us with a small chuckle, and I nod.

"My dad taught me that" I whisper before taking a deep breath trying to control my emotions. I've barely thought about him through this apocalypse and I liked it that way. "He taught me a lot, bad and good" I say earning confused looks from both of them.

"He wasn't a good man, hell nowhere near that" I whisper.

I'm walking towards my house; the streets are busy, and I spot one of our neighbors getting ready for a BBC they're holding tonight. One that my family is invited to. My mother never turns down the invitations and likes to hold BBC's too every once in a while.

The sun shines down on me warming me up. I wave and smile to people but as soon as I pass them my smile is wiped off. This is a normal day; my life is nowhere near perfect and it never will be. I walk up the steps oof my house. It's pretty big, we just recently moved here, and I have no idea how my dad even affords this place.

"No, James! You can't do that!" I hear my mother yell loudly. I halt in my step unsure of what I should do, should I make myself known or should I leave? My parents are nowhere near perfect, they fight a lot, but my mother never raises her voice at my father. That never ends well.

"You, Margret, don't get a say in this! I will do what I want when I want and you will never get a say in that" I hear him yell back only louder than my mother, I flinch holding onto the table nearby.

"Do you understand?" He asks loudly. My mother is stubborn just like me, she doesn't just back down, and my dad knows that.

"No, I don't" She says through gritted teeth and I look into the kitchen just as my father slaps my mother, my mother falls to the ground clutching her cheek.

"You do as I please, you bitch"

"I'm sorry" Brandon says sympathetically, and I can see a hint of what looks like jealousy in Katie's eyes, but it can just be my eyes betraying me.

"We should get going" I say jumping off the hood on the Truck then climbing into the car. We start to drive, and the air is awkward. I lean forward and start the radio hoping to hear some music instead someone's voice is heard through.

"If anybody's in the radius of this message, there is a camp nearby, we have food and water. If you want to survive, come to us"

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Writers; Kaynad M. & Maryam S.

Word count; 1346