Devotion

Class ?? Outbreak: June 21st at 4:20 pm

Current Location: Around Washington, DC
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I really began to hope that this was all a dream, better yet a horrible nightmare that's taking way too long. Maybe I got hit with something really hard and I fell into a coma or something.

But, the hours still passed, and the sadness came again. I tried to slip away from Olivia and Braxton, but of course, that was impossible. I think they could tell that something was wrong with me, because every time I pushed them away, they refused to leave me. I didn't tell them this, but I appreciated it. 

"Can we go outside? I hate being stuck inside of here," Braxton said, giving me those pleading eyes that kids do when they really want something.

And when they force me to talk, I'd say short stuff like this: "I'll talk to Navarez about it."

Braxton sighed and glanced at the door. I did as well, since I secretly understood the urge my little brother had. I just wished that we were still in Orlando, having fun at Disney World like our parents promised us.

Then everything had to go to hell, and I wanted to hate whoever could've possibly caused this. This whole outbreak killed my mom.

And I was scared that my dad would be next on the list, wherever he could be in the world, if he's even still alive. The thing was, even though I'm still being pretty edgy about this, I still have some hope left in me. Maybe this whole thing will stop soon, and we could live our lives, still on the edge, but together nonetheless.

Bzz!

I frowned and looked around the bed, wondering what that sound was. I looked at the kids, still halfway expecting it to be them, but they looked just as confused as I was.

Then I jumped out of the bed and ran to my bag. I dug through it and pulled out the phone that I gave up on a while back. Looking at it, a few messages were revealed on the screen. 

"What...?" I mumbled to myself, seeing that there was nothing on it. I noticed that my sibling were waiting ever so anxiously behind me, curious on what it could actually be. I wanted to turn away, but they deserved to see, I guess. 

It seemed to be a message from one of my friends, Bryan. 

Hey man, you alive? 

I stared at it for a long while before responding, not really knowing what to say at first. Soon enough, Olivia broke my train of thought. "Are you gonna say anything?" 

"Yeah...I think so," I said. "I just have to think about what I have to say." 

Bryan was a pretty good friend of mine back before the apocalypse began. We used to do all sorts of stuff together, like go to parties, play football, play games, all that kind of stuff. To put it simply, we were close. I decided to text him back with this: 

Yeah, how are you?

All I could do now was hope that he was nearby, which was unlikely. But who knows? I had also hoped that Dad was nearby too, but that was unlikely as well. 

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Even though South Carolina was a mess, I could only be more grateful for the amount of blood on my hands. Sense the sarcasm? Yeah, I wasn't necessarily grateful for that. I at least needed gloves or something to make me more willing to get up in a zombie's face to kill them. 

I still didn't have any better transportation than my own two feet. After the long hours of walking, I became worried that blisters would show up on the bottom of my feet. They're hurting, sure, but I couldn't stop more more than ten minutes for a break. 

I could tell the sun was setting, because it was getting even more darker than it already was. Seeing some signs made me happy that I was near a small town named Northlake. The only thing that bothered me was that it was one of those smaller towns near a larger one, Greenville. I knew that I didn't have much other choice, unfortunately. 

A small house appeared in the distance, and nothing and no one seemed to be nearby, thankfully. I took the chance and began to jog up to it, and I thanked God that it was actually empty. 

I checked the house, making sure that my instincts were true. Smelling death upstairs, I knew something bad had happened recently, so I grabbed a wet towel and tied it around my face. 

"Okay, here we go," I said, opening the bathroom door, not really knowing what to expect. I pounded on the door, checking to make sure that whatever was in there, it was hopefully dead. Hearing no sounds, I took out the pistol I looted from a raider and turned off the safety. 

What I saw was truly indescribable. A man probably in his early forties was laying dead with a revolver near his right hand. A dried up pool of blood was everywhere under his body. He must've been bitten by a clicker or a spore cloud came at a bad time, because dead mushrooms were all over his neck and arms. I knew I had to do something, but I didn't know what. I couldn't touch his body, or I'd end up like him. 

Except I was too devoted to turn into a zombie. 

Out of curiosity, I bent down and examined the man, wanting to see if he was bitten or not. His shirt was covering his neck, and I knew better not to touch it. Sighing, I got up and got out of that horrible scene. 

I took the towel off of my face, catching my breath. I found some food and water in the refrigerator, and I shook it to see if it was contaminated, and it was still good, but not cold. I downed a bottle quickly, and I found a few canned foods that were still good to eat, so I rummaged through the utensils and found the can opener. 

I ate like I've never eaten before, and I crashed on the bed, never have feeling so tired and exhausted from walking. Little did I know, nightmares and dream demons would fill my head, giving me a sense of what's to come.