The Start of Something Horrible

Class One Outbreak: June 17th at 2:53am

Current Location: Panama City, FL
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Zombies aren't as easy to kill as it seems like in video games and things like that. These ones seemed close to impossible to kill if you didn't aim for the head. So that's what I had to do.

"Jeremy! Go before you get yourself killed!" Chance screamed from the top of his house.

"No way! I want to help!" I yelled back at him while knocking down another zombie.

BANG!

Unfortunately, I was forced to slowly back away once they all seemed to notice me there. I kept aiming for the forehead since it was giving me the best luck. Suddenly it just felt like I simply ran out of that. I was almost grabbed by one of the zombies, so I elbowed him backwards and hit him in the chest. He fell backwards and I shot him again in the head.

I reloaded a couple more bullets, thankful I thought to bring some. I noticed that we were making a little progress, and I smirked. It actually felt pretty good.

"Don't you dare get cocky." I said to myself.

I shot down a few more near the house when Chance yelled something at me that I couldn't understand. I reloaded once again and raised a hand to my ear to show him I didn't hear him.

"Go inside the house to make sure my kids are okay! I can hold them off from here!"

I nodded and went around into the backyard where me and Caleb, Chance's son, used to play basketball and football. I missed those days, and I hoped to make sure that continued.

The back door was unlocked and I yelled out the kids' names. I heard a scream come from the back of the house and I made my way there. I picked up a flashlight from the kitchen counter and turned it on.

I suddenly screamed louder than I should've, seeing a zombie almost right in front of me laying on the ground. I caught my breath and I kicked the body, and it didn't move. I willed myself to lift my foot up to crush its head to make sure it was truly dead, but I couldn't bring myself to do that.

I made my way to the room I figured they were in, and I knocked on the door.

"Hello? It's me, Jeremy! I want to make sure you're okay!"

I paused, and I knocked again. "Anyone in there?"

Still nothing, so I tried the door, and it was unlocked.

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I opened the door to see Chance's wife (I didn't even know her name at the time) cowering with the two kids in fear. I sighed in relief but they didn't even notice that I walked in.

"Guys? Are y'all alright?" I asked.

The mom of the kids looked up and saw me. At first she was relieved, but fear took over. It went back to relieved, but still scared once she heard Chance continuing to fire at the zombies outside.

"How's Chance?" She asked softly.

"He should be alright. I helped him out when I heard him shooting outside."

She nodded, satisfied with the answer. Cara peeked at me from her mother's arms. She gave me a small smile in appreciation, and I smiled back.

BANG BANG BANG!

"You know, I have never understood why Chance never liked you. I guess it was the age difference, but I never had a problem with it. I'd let you play basketball with my son you know."

I smiled and shook my head. "Nah. I don't want to cause any more problems than there already are."

We were silent for a while, and I began to think of Olivia and Braxton, my own siblings.

BANG! BANG!

"I'll go see if Chance needs any more help. Alright?"

The protective mother smiled confidently. "Of course, and thank you."

I returned the smile. "Anytime."

I made my way out of the backdoor, and I should've been paying attention. A zombie was hiding in the dark and immediately tried to grab me.

"Agh!" I yelped as I kicked him in the chest before he grabbed me.

I swung a fist to the side of his head with my index finger knuckle sticking out. The knuckle landed in his temple, and he was on his back, not moving.

Chance seemed to be running out of ammo, and I began to get a little worried. I decided the best thing to do was to help him out as much as possible. The good thing was that there weren't much zombies left to handle. I began to shoot down the rest that still stood, or limped rather.

He kept shooting the ones that got too close to the windows, while l took the ones at a little further away.

Finally, the loud sounds of the shotguns died down. I'd guess that the neighbors nearby were getting kind of pissed off with us by now.

"Jeremy, I think I can get off the roof by now. Think you could help me down?" Chance called out from the roof.

I jogged over there and picked up a few storage boxes and stacked them up under Chance to where he could hop down without any trouble. He almost fell, but I caught him in time.

"Thanks." He mumbled. I nodded, but I wasn't sure if he saw me.

Before he walked away, he turned to me and asked a surprising question.

"Why did you want to help?"

I thought for a second before answering. "Because I still care about you and your family. Your kids have too much going for them at their age, especially Caleb."

Chance didn't say much more. "Thank you Jeremy. I'll be praying for your family."

I thanked him and began to head back home to make sure everything was okay. It was already pushing four, and I didn't want to scare my parents more than they already were.

I made it back to my house in one piece, and I made sure all of the doors and windows were locked. Once they were, I creeped back and was relieved and amazed that everyone slept through the shooting.

But somebody was awake.

"J-Jeremy?" Olivia croaked as if her throat was sore.

"I'm here Olivia." I said.

She sighed and quietly cleared her throat while she climbed out of the bed. She leaned in and whispered in my ear, assuming that she didn't want to wake up mom and dad.

"I know that we don't spend much time together, but please sleep with me tonight. There's still room and-"

I cut her off by kneeling down to her eye level and putting a finger to her lips. "Ssh. It's okay, I'll sleep with you."

She smiled as she grabbed my hand and led me to the bed.

Yeah, shut up guys. I know that this is weird, but at this point, I didn't really care. She just wanted to feel protected, and I didn't have a problem with it whatever.

I slept in the middle of Braxton and Olivia, surprised that there was still room. At first I thought that it would be too weird to hold her close to me and all that, but she grabbed my arm and put it around her stomach.

I couldn't see it, but I knew she was smiling, and that's all I wanted for her.

I just hope I can live to see it again and again.

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