The bedsheets twist and turn around a tired Aron Hughes. His dad, Kaleb, yells from downstairs, but Aron refuses to get up. He knows what today is, and it’s not a great day.
Aron’s grandparents are coming over for dinner. This would be nice if they were nice to Kaleb, but they’re not. They’re Aron’s mom’s parents, and Aron’s mom died in childbirth having him and his twin sister, Alya. Ever since then, his grandparents have blamed Kaleb for “killing her.”
“Aron, get up! I’m not gonna tell you again!” Kaleb yells from downstairs once more. Aron tries to yell back, but all that comes from him is a mumble. He doesn’t have the energy to yell. However, he wants to make his dad happy, so he untangles the bed sheets wrapped around him and he gets up to his feet.
Aron makes his way to his closet, but stops by his mirror first to see how rough he actually looks after he’s slept all day.
His dark brown hair is all over the place, the dark circles under his eyes have dug further into his skull, his light brown skin is stained with sweat beads, and he notices that he’s still only in his boxers.
He finally drags himself over to his closet and thinks about what he’s gonna wear. He could be fancy like how his grandparents always manage to be, but he refuses to do that. He knows this is gonna end badly anyway. Every time his grandparents come by, it ends badly.
Aron takes a blue plaid shirt, a white sleeve shirt, and a pair of dark blue jeans and combines them together as he gets dressed. As he’s putting on his jeans and his white sleeve shirt, he hears his door open. His head whips around to see his father standing in the doorway, looking nice.
Kaleb wears a white button up with a pair of khakis. He’s actually taking this seriously for once.
“I didn’t know if you were up or not and I got sick of yelling,” Kaleb tells his son in his deep voice. Aron nods as he finally puts on his plaid shirt over the white sleeve shirt and Kaleb stares at him.
“Not excited, are you?” “Why would I be? Every time they come around, they flaunt how much money they have and then they start up about how you killed mom,” Aron explains to his father, and Kaleb drops his head.
“I didn’t mean it like that… I know you didn’t kill her. That doesn’t-” “I know, it’s alright. I just wish you and your sister got to meet her. Your mom was an amazing lady,” Kaleb says, smiling. Aron smiles back, nodding. “I bet she was.”
Kaleb takes a look around Aron’s room, noticing it’s a mess but not choosing to say anything. “Alright, well… I’m just setting up dinner now, so come down when you’re ready,” Kaleb tells his son as he leaves his room, shutting his door.
Aron sits down on the edge of his bed, cupping his head in his hands. He thinks his dad is starting to notice that he’s been, well, all over the place. He’s been sleeping all day, his room’s a mess, he hasn’t showered in days. After both him and his sister graduated high school, he felt useless while his sister was having fun and being productive.
After a few more minutes of sitting there, Aron finally gets up and heads to his door. As he walks out, he bumps into his twin sister, Alya. They both stare at each other. They haven’t been super close in a while since they took different paths in life, even if they’re both still living under the same roof.
“Where are you going?” Aron asks his sister, noticing she has her car keys in her hand. Alya bites her lip and drops her head.
“I’m not staying here for this.” “Understandable,” Aron responds, and Alya sighs. “No, not because of grandma and grandpa. I found this babysitting job and it pays really well,” she informs her brother. Aron squints, staring at her. Usually she just walks to her jobs. They’re all local.
“Why the car?” “It’s, uh… The job’s in Ohio.” Aron freezes, knowing that she definitely didn’t tell Kaleb. He wouldn’t want her going a state away for any money, even if they need it right now. He likes keeping them together. He doesn’t want to lose them.
“Dad’s gonna kill you.” “I didn’t tell him.” “Obviously, but you can’t just leave without telling him. He cares too much for that,” Aron tells his sister as he walks away from her, going downstairs. Alya stands there, feeling guilty.
As Aron walks downstairs, reaching the kitchen, he sees his dad struggling to make spaghetti. He was never a huge cook, but spaghetti has always been his enemy for some reason. Kaleb hears footsteps behind him and looks back to see his son.
“Oh, Aron. Could you help me for a minute? I need bowls and forks. Five of each, alright?” His father asks, but Aron folds his arms. “I don’t think we’ll be needing five.” “What do you mean?” Kaleb asks with a worried look. Aron keeps his mouth shut, but coincidentally, that’s when Alya comes down the stairs. Kaleb walks over to Alya and towers over her, wondering if anything happened to their grandparents.
“Have you heard from Thomas and Carrie? Aron said something about not having five people, but he won’t elaborate…” Kaleb asks his daughter, knowing he’d get an answer from his daughter since she actually talks to their grandparents. Alya puts her head down in shame, staring at the ground.
“Um… yeah, dad. There’ll only be four.” “Why? What happened? Did Thomas die?!” Kaleb asks, very concerned. He knew they were getting old, but not that old. Aron chuckles to himself at that question as Alya shakes her head. “No. Um… I’m leaving. I had a job offer and it pays well. Since you lost your job, I figured that this is the best thing to do,” she tells her father, looking up from the floor to stare into his eyes. She needed to tell him sooner or later.
Kaleb stares at her, not knowing what to say or do. He knows that Alya’s been the main provider of the family ever since he unfortunately lost his job a few weeks ago, but he never thought she’d have to take bigger opportunities like this. Especially with babysitting.
“Where is it?” Kaleb asks, wanting to keep track of his daughter. Alya starts taking quick breaths, her pupils zipping over to look at her brother and then her father. “Just… it’s just twenty minutes away. I’ll be okay, dad,” Alya states, lying to her father. She knew he’d protest if she told him where she was actually going, so she lied. Aron stares at her, knowing she’s lying, but he keeps his mouth shut. He’s not a snitch, no matter how much he wants to be.
Kaleb nods and smiles. “Okay… if you think it’s a good idea, then I trust you. I love you, sweetie. Text me when you get there,” Kaleb tells Alya, kissing her forehead. She smiles and nods. “Of course. I love you too,” Alya tells her father. As she’s walking to the door, she yells, “And I love you too, nerd!” to her brother. Aron nods and responds, “Love you too.”
Alya leaves the house and Kaleb stares back at his son. Before he can say anything, a sizzling noise starts coming from the stove. The sauce is burning. Kaleb hurries over to the stove, shouting, “Fuck! Come on, Aron. I need bowls.” Aron nods as Kaleb shuts the stove off. As Aron starts taking four bowls out from the cupboard, someone knocks on the door. Kaleb knows it’s Thomas and Carrie and frantically starts scanning the place, making sure it’s clean and nice so they don’t say anything rude.
“Alright. I’ll make the bowls. You just get the door, okay?” Kaleb tells his son in a hushed voice, making sure they don’t hear him outside. Aron nods, just following his father’s orders.
Kaleb starts scooping the spaghetti into bowls as Aron walks over to the door, still in his socks. He grabs onto the door handle, giving himself a minute to prepare for the mess. A few seconds pass and Aron swings the door open, putting on a big smile for his grandparents.
“Grandma! Grandpa! How’re you doing?” Aron asks, making sure to be extra nice. Thomas and Carrie stand there with a smile, looking at their now grown grandson. Thomas is in khakis, a black button up, a dark blue blazer, and he’s wearing a gray flat cap while Carrie’s in a dark blue dress with a fur coat over it. Fancy.
“We’re good, my boy. Look at how you’ve grown! Really turning into a man,” Thomas tells Aron, staring him up and down. Carrie smiles and grabs onto Aron’s shoulder gently. “You look just like your mother, my dear. You have her eyes and everything.”
Aron stays quiet hearing that sentence, but he knows that the comment probably upset his father. As Carrie and Thomas get done paying attention to their grandson, they look around, realizing that Alya’s not there.
“Where’s our granddaughter?” Thomas asks, staring at Kaleb, who’s setting the bowls down on the table, preparing for dinner. Kaleb looks over at them and gives them a smile.
“She’s at work right now, but she loves you both and she’ll be here next time you stop by.” Thomas and Carrie just give a small nod as their smiles drop. They walk inside, looking around the place. You can tell the house is a bit banged up. The chipped paint, the slightly creaky floorboards, the dust floating around, but it’s not a terrible place. Thomas and Carrie walks over to Kaleb, trying to be friendly with him.
“Long time no see, Kaleb. You’ve gotten bigger,” Thomas notices, and he’s not wrong. Kaleb’s always been a quite muscular man, but before he got fired, he was working a construction job that required a lot of lifting.
“Thank you. Lifting piles of wood and brick all day pays off,” Kaleb jokes, and Thomas gives him a laugh. However, Carrie just stares.
Both of them eventually sit down at their seats and notice that Kaleb made spaghetti. It’s pretty much a first for him. Aron sits down next to his father, making sure that if anything goes down, he’s on his father’s side. He always will be.
“So, Aron…” Carrie starts, twisting her spaghetti slowly around her fork, “How’s school going?” “Oh, yeah. I ended up graduating top of my classes,” Aron tells his grandparents. Graduating is one of the only things Aron’s actually proud of. Carrie and Thomas smile, proud that Aron did something his father couldn’t do.
“Very nice! You were always a smart kid. We always had to get you science kits for Christmas,” Carrie reminds Aron, and Aron shows a small smile, remembering back on that. Alya would always get dolls and electronics and books while all Aron wanted was science kits and stuff to experiment on.
“You planning on going to college then? I think you’d like it. I know I did,” Thomas states, and Aron pauses. He doesn’t want to tell them that he won’t go to college because he knows his dad will be alone if he does. He wants to help out his father, and so does his sister. That’s why they’re still in the house. That’s why they haven’t went off to college, even though they both can.
“Uh… I’m still thinking about it. Sounds interesting though.” “It is, buddy. You’ll learn a lot if you end up going,” Thomas continues trying to convince his grandson, but Aron only nods to the conversation. As Thomas focuses on Aron and the food, Carrie’s head turns to Kaleb. She glares at him, noticing that he’s nervous.
“So, Kaleb… How’s your job been going?” She asks and she notices the grip on Kaleb’s fork get tighter. “Uh, well… I-… I lost it, but I’m looking for another,” he admits, and Aron sighs. He knew Kaleb wouldn’t lie. His father was never a liar. Carrie hears the news and just chuckles to herself. Kaleb stares at her in confusion.
“What?” “I knew it. I knew you couldn’t support these kids,” Carrie hisses, and Kaleb drops his fork into his bowl. “Whoa, hey-” before Aron can defend his father, Kaleb holds a hand up, silencing him. He can defend himself.
“I take care of these kids and I have since they were babies.” “Oh, yeah? Who bought this house for you? Who helps these kids when they don’t have enough money to go out and get lunch? Who paid off Alya’s car?” Carrie continues to point out, and Thomas puts his hand over Carrie’s. “Sweetheart, I-” “No, stop. You know it and so do I, Tom. Kaleb was never fit for these kids. Hell, they’re not even his! They’re Cassandra’s! He’s just a sperm donor that killed our daughter,” Carrie finishes, and it’s the last wire she cuts before the bomb blows up. Kaleb bangs his fists on the table and stands up from his chair.
“Don’t you bring up her name! I loved her!” Kaleb yells in Carrie’s face, but Carrie gets up from her chair as well. She’s not afraid of him. “You didn’t love her! You killed our little girl!” “She died in childbirth! I didn’t kill her!” They shout back and forth. Aron chimes in, needing to defend his father.
“Stop blaming him for how mom died. He didn’t-” “Aron, shut the fuck up. The adults are talking,” Carrie orders, but that’s the last straw. “Honey, you need to stop,” Thomas tells her, but she ignores him. “You will not tell my son to shut up. Leave. Now,” Kaleb demands, pointing towards the door. Carrie laughs in Kaleb’s face as the tension rises. “Leave? Leave the place that WE bought you?” Carrie continues laughing in his face.
“If you don’t leave, I will-” before Kaleb can finish his sentence, a big bang comes from the sliding glass doors on the side. It catches everyone’s attention and they notice their neighbor, Eddie, throwing his body against the glass. Eddie looks off. His skin’s paler and his mouth is covered in a red liquid. Almost like blood.
“Eddie?” Kaleb calls out, but Eddie doesn’t respond. He continues throwing his body up against the glass. Aron looks over at his dad and he notices Kaleb walking away from the table.
“Dad, what’re you doing?” “I’m going to get my gun,” he responds as he stomps away to his bedroom. Carrie, Thomas, and Aron are left staring at Eddie. “Is he on bath salts?” Carrie asks, assuming the neighborhood is full of drug addicts. Thomas stares at his wife, shaking his head. “Carrie…” “I’m serious! I think I saw something about it on the news,” she says, defending herself.
As Eddie keeps throwing himself against the door, the glass eventually starts cracking. Aron’s heart starts beating faster as he stands there in shock. What the hell is going on?
“Dad!” Aron shouts, but he gets no response. Eventually, Eddie throws himself against the glass one last time and the glass shatters as Eddie falls onto the floor. He lays there for a moment before looking around, growling. All three of them stay completely still, both in shock and hoping that nothing happens to them. Eddie stares at Carrie and lunges at her, trying to bite her.
“Thomas! Help me!” Carrie shouts as Eddie causes Carrie to fall on the floor. As Eddie pins Carrie down, he quickly sinks his teeth into her neck, ripping out her jugular. Both Thomas and Aron watch in horror as Carrie starts choking on her own blood. Thomas tries going to his wife, but Eddie growls at him as he chews on a part of Carrie’s neck.
All of a sudden, a gunshot rings throughout the house as a bullet pierces Eddie’s skull. Aron looks over to see Kaleb holding his handgun. Eddie falls off of Carrie and Thomas immediately rushes to his wife. His knees hit the floor as he scoops Carrie up in his arms. His tears drip down onto her dress as she continues choking.
“Oh, my beautiful angel…” Thomas cries out, staring at a dying Carrie. Aron continues looking at this scene in shock, feeling tears drip down his face. Before he can process exactly what’s happening, Kaleb grabs him by his arm.
“We need to leave. Now. Where’s Alya?” Kaleb asks his son, but Aron won’t look away from Thomas and Carrie. “Aron! Where’s your sister?!” He yells, and Aron snaps out of it. He looks at his father with shaky hands. “She, um… she went to Ohio.” “Ohio? She lied?” Kaleb asks, not believing it. Why would she lie? Aron nods slowly as he continues staring at his father, not believing anything that just happened. Before Kaleb can process that his daughter’s driving to another state, he hears more growling outside. Aron watches as his father peeks out through the broken glass door.
“There’s more. Thomas, we have to go. Come on,” he says, grabbing Thomas by his arm, but he won’t budge. He continues to look at his now dead wife. “Thomas! We have to go!” “I lost my baby girl… I lost my wife…” Thomas whispers to himself. Kaleb’s eyes look back and forth between Thomas and the zombies waiting outside.
“Thomas…” Kaleb calls out, but again, Thomas won’t budge. The zombies start piling into the house, walking straight over to Thomas. Aron watches as they start tearing into Thomas’s flesh as he just sits there, not making a noise. “Oh my god…” Aron mumbles, starting to gag. Kaleb takes his son by his arm and they both run over to the front door. However, as soon as they open it, they get met with more zombies.
“Get behind me,” Kaleb orders his son, and Aron obeys. He shifts behind his father, making sure the zombies can’t get to him. Kaleb starts firing off shots, shooting the zombies closest to them. He manages to take a good chunk down, but eventually his gun clicks. Out of ammo. Kaleb stares into the hoard of zombies, knowing how this ends. He turns around and shelters his son, making sure that his turn is last.
“I love you so much…” Kaleb whispers to Aron as Aron stays in a shocked state. Aron feels a few tears fall onto his neck as his dad silently cries, knowing he failed.
As the zombies get closer, they hear a slashing sound behind them. They hear heavy noises hit the floor and feel blood splatter onto them. Eventually, the growling stops and they can’t feel the touch of zombies. Kaleb stands there in confusion, but refuses to turn around. Aron’s still left in a shocked state, feeling his heart beat out of his chest.
“Hello? Earth to men?” They hear a girl’s voice behind them. Both of them slowly turn around to see a blonde woman looking to be around Aron’s age. She’s wearing ripped up denim jeans, a black crop top and for some reason, she has a pair of light pink heart sunglasses on her face. She’s gripping a machete as it drips blood onto the floor.
“Who the hell…?” Kaleb asks, not knowing where the hell she came from. Aron manages to calm down a bit and breathe. “Thank you…” Aron mumbles, and the woman nods. “I pay $1000 for each save, so you both are in debt here,” she jokes, but Kaleb and Aron are still catching their breaths, feeling the adrenaline run through their bodies
“God, lighten up a bit, will you? I saved your asses. You’re good. I’m out of here, if you guys are interested in following. Or die here. I don’t really give a fuck,” the woman tells them both as she starts walking away. Kaleb stands there with an empty gun still gripped in his hand, but Aron’s first instinct is to follow the woman.
“Why’d you save us?” Aron asks as the woman turns to him. She takes her free hand and wipes the blood from his face with her thumb. “I don’t really know. Wanted to get my rage out, I guess. I don’t even know why you both are still here. Have you not seen the news?” She asks Aron as they step over the broken glass, walking outside. She retracts her hand as Kaleb runs up behind them both, not wanting to stay in the house they almost just died in.
“What’s your name?” Kaleb asks, still confused on where the hell she came from. The woman shrugs, staring at him. “Why the hell does that matter now?” She asks back as both Aron and Kaleb observe their environment. As they start walking down the street, they see cars flipped over as sirens blare and people run and scream for their lives. They also notice fire starting to burn down a few houses from the smell of smoke in the air.
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“Listen, we almost died in there, so yeah. I’d like to know your name if we’re gonna be sticking with you,” Kaleb tells the woman, not trusting her at all. Aron sighs, knowing this is getting them nowhere. “Fine. Then don’t stick with me,” she says as she turns around and starts walking the other way. Both Aron and Kaleb stare at her, but only Aron catches up with her and continues walking.
“So what exactly happened?” Aron asks, wanting to know everything. Maybe he did sleep for a bit too long today. The woman laughs and shrugs. “What didn’t happen, dude? I guess some army guys tracked down a hostage and noticed that some weird cult was reanimating dead brains,” she explains, but Aron’s still confused. How the hell could one do that? Before he could try and solve the answer to the problem, he sees Kaleb catch up to them once again. The woman looks at him and smiles. “Nice to see you again, big guy.”
Kaleb refuses to respond as they all continue walking. “We need a car,” Kaleb states, needing to find Alya. It doesn’t matter how long it takes, he needs to find his daughter. “How many of those can you spot not flipped over?” The woman asks him, and Kaleb starts scanning the area. He notices the house they’re coming up on has a car that seems untouched.
“There. We can get in there.” “You got keys? Because breaking in isn’t gonna do us any good,” the woman tells Kaleb. Aron stares at the house, noticing that it seems empty. Maybe the keys are still in there. “You can check the house for them. That would be our best option,” Aron plans out. The woman smiles and nods. “Smart thinking, man. I’ll go in since your dad has an empty gun and you got nothing.” Aron nods, agreeing with the plan. The woman walks up the stairs of the house, but stops once she gets to the door. Her shoes scrape against the ground as she turns to look at Aron and Kaleb.
“By the way, the name’s Elio Alvarez.” “Alvarez? That sounds… familiar,” Kaleb comments, but Elio just smirks. “Don’t cream your pants there, I’m sure you’ll figure out why it is. Now, I’m going in. Godspeed, soldiers!” Elio salutes jokingly as she heads inside the house. Kaleb stares at his son with a disapproving look. “I don’t like her.”
“Why? She just saved our asses,” Aron points out to his father. As Kaleb stares at the car, dragging his fingers across the coat of paint, he chooses to respond to his son, giving him an answer. “She’s strange. She saves us but doesn’t really care. She doesn’t care about anything that’s happening, really.” “Some people just don’t, dad. Have you met teenagers these days?” Aron asks, and Kaleb places his hands on his hips. “Not really.” “Figures.”
Before they can continue their conversation, they hear voices come from inside the house. “Calm down, Goldilocks. You need my consent first before you make advances.” “Get the hell out of my house!” Before Kaleb can even say anything, Aron rushes up the stairs, hoping that Elio doesn’t get herself into trouble. “Aron, get back down here!” Kaleb yells, but Aron ignores him. As Aron enters the house, Kaleb sighs and runs up the stairs, following after his son.
“Knives are hot and I’m into dilfs, so today might be your lucky day.” “Stop fucking with me and get out,” a man tells Elio as Aron watches from the doorway. The blonde man has Elio pressed against a counter with a knife close to her throat. A boy’s hiding behind him, looking not as scared as he probably should be. The boy ends up looking at Aron, giving him a wave. The man notices this and before he can react, Kaleb ends up beside Aron. He sees Elio and the blonde man.
“We’re not here to hurt you, man. Put the knife down,” Kaleb tells the blonde man. He looks at Aron and then back at Kaleb. “That your son?” “My only one, and we’re trying to look for my daughter. Is that your car outside?” Kaleb asks, and they both notice a smile curling onto the blonde man’s face. He puts down the knife and hands it to his son.
“Yeah, it’s a 2017 Chevrolet Camaro 2SS. It’s nice, ain’t it?” The blonde man tells Kaleb as he picks up two duffle bags. Kaleb smiles and nods, happy that there’s a man out there that appreciates cars as much as he does. “Where you going?” Aron asks, noticing the duffle bags he’s holding. “Fuck. Anywhere but here. You said you were looking for your daughter?” The man asks Kaleb, and he nods. “Yeah. She went off to Ohio, so that’s where we need to go.” “Then stick with us, we’re friendly as long as you don’t sneak up on us like that. Name’s David Ward and my son back there is Bradley,” David informs them all. Kaleb nods, already liking David. “I’m Kaleb Hughes and he’s Aron Hughes. See that, Elio? It’s not hard to introduce yourself,” Kaleb quickly claps back at her, and Elio just smiles and flips Kaleb off.
“Ohio it is then. Come on,” David tells them all as he walks out of the door with his son following. Kaleb follows right behind him, but before Aron can join in, Elio walks up next to him and stops him. She hands him a cleaver she found in the kitchen of the house.
“It’s not a lot, but it’ll kill some off if you need to,” she explains, and Aron takes the cleaver, gripping the handle tightly in his hands. “Thank you,” he tells her. Elio smiles and nods, walking down the stairs to follow after everyone else. Aron watches her walk away for a moment before joining them by the car.
“How much did you pay for this?” Kaleb asks, still admiring the car. David starts to put his bags in the trunk as he laughs. “Man, you’re into this. I paid maybe around a little more than $40,000 for it. Got the money from a lottery ticket,” David explains, and Aron notices his father practically drooling in awe. “Is this thing gonna fit all of us?” Aron asks, looking at the width of the car. David nods, shutting the trunk. “Yeah, we can squeeze y’all in the back. Come on,” he says, opening the car. David and Kaleb get in the two front seats while Aron, Elio, and Bradley all manage to fit in the back seats.
“Why the fuck am I in the middle? I’m the oldest,” Elio complains, and Aron looks at her. “How do you know?” “I’m nineteen and legally blonde over here beside me looks about fifteen. What’s your answer?” Elio asks Aron, staring him down through the pink heart sunglasses. Aron stares back until he breaks eye contact, mumbling, “Eighteen.” “My point exactly.”
As Aron and Elio argue in the back, Kaleb slowly drags his fingers against the walls of the car, loving everything about it. “Is this leather?” “Damn right, Kaleb. I’m glad you love this car as much as I do,” David says in his light southern accent as he starts up the car and drives off
“So, Ohio?” David asks Kaleb. Kaleb nods. “Yes, sir. My daughter picked up a babysitting job there. She said it paid well, but we didn’t expect an apocalypse to come about,” Kaleb explains, and David nods. “I don’t think anybody did.”
“I am not switching seats with you,” Aron continues arguing with Elio in the backseat. “I don’t like middle seats. They make me carsick.” “But not the whole car?” Elio gives Aron a death stare and he smiles at her, kicking one of her legs playfully. “I’m not playing with you. Switch me seats.” “No.” They continue arguing and David eventually gets kinda sick of it.
“Alright, alright. Shut it down. We’re gonna do something that doesn’t involve arguing. Y’all ever play the movie game?” David asks, clearly excited to be introducing people to this game. “Dad, what the hell is the movie game?” His son, Bradley, asks him. David smiles as he continues driving down the long, empty road.
“The movie game is a game that connects actors to the movies they starred in. For example, if I was first and I chose to name an actor, say Tobey Maguire, someone else could shout out Spider-Man. If you did, someone else in the car has to list someone else from that movie, like Kirsten Dunst. Get it yet?” David explains. Bradley leans up against the window and shrugs. “I guess…”
Kaleb smiles and looks over at David, his new best friend. “That’s a game? Seriously?” “Yeah, come on. I’ll go first. Uh…” David pauses for a second, keeping his eyes on the road, “Leonardo DiCaprio.” Silence fills the car as Kaleb thinks, Bradley doesn’t participate, and Aron chooses to watch the first round to learn more about how to play. Elio looks around, her eyebrows furrowed. “Are you guys serious? Titanic, The Wolf of Wall Street, Django Unchained. Keep up, boys.” “Well… you only pick one of those, El,” David explains. “Oh, right. Uh… keep Wolf of Wall Street.”
David quickly glances back at Aron in the car and looks ahead again. “Aron, you want a turn? Name someone in The Wolf of Wall Street.” “I don’t know, man. I never watched it,” Aron admits, sighing in defeat. Elio shakes her head in disbelief as David nods.
“Okay, okay. That was a test round, we’re just practicing. Now everyone knows how it works. Aron, toss us a new actor and your dad gets to answer,” David explains once again as he keeps his eyes on the road, not choosing to play since he’s the driver.
“Fuck it. Tom Cruise. Go for it, dad,” Aron throws out, and Kaleb immediately jolts up in his seat. “Top Gun. 1986,” he answers almost immediately. David laughs, propping one arm out of the window while keeping the other on the steering wheel. “Oh, do we have a film buff on our hands?” David asks, enjoying the entertainment. “Make it two,” Elio tells David in the backseat, sliding her heart shades down slightly on her nose, getting competitive. David laughs once again as he taps on the steering wheel. Aron gets the idea that David doesn’t really have friends.
“You think y’all can go head to head?” David asks both Kaleb and Elio. Kaleb looks back in the backseat and both Elio and Kaleb stare at each other competitively. Aron grins and shakes his head. “Oh, this’ll be fun.” “Dear god…” Bradley mumbles under his breath, not having much fun at all. “Aron, help me out here. We’re gonna throw them actors and whoever answers fastest gets a point,” David says, and Aron nods. “Alright, I’m down.” “I’ll go first then. Matthew McConaughey,” David gives out an actor. Kaleb quickly answers “Interstellar” while Elio answers, “Tropic Thunder.” They both answered at the same time.
“Aron, now you give them an actor from either one of those movies. This is getting good,” David chuckles, and Aron chooses to play along. “Right. Um… Robert Downey Junior.” At the same time, once again, Kaleb and Elio answer. Elio says “Sherlock Holmes” while Kaleb chooses to answer “Iron Man.”
“You guys are getting fast,” Aron tells them, but they just send him a death glare. Maybe they’re getting a bit too competitive. “Alright then. Jeff Bridges,” David throws out, and once again, they answer at the same time. “The Big Lebowski,” Kaleb answers, while Elio says “True Grit.” “Hm… Josh Brolin,” Aron responds to their movies, and for the first time, instead of answering, Kaleb hesitates for a moment, giving Elio a clear window to prove that she’s the better film buff.
“The Goonies, No Country for Old Men, Hail Caesar. I can go on, really,” she brags, leaning back in the middle seat of the car. “So impressive. You listed some movies,” Bradley mumbles, complaining about the game. Elio quickly whips her head around to look at Bradley.
“Do you see the machete in my hands, you lanky motherfucker? How about-” “Okay, Elio. I think we get it. Thank you,” David calms her as he makes a turn to the right. Elio pushes her heart shades back up onto her nose as Aron turns his head to look over at her. “How do you know that many actors anyway?” He asks out of plain curiosity. Elio sighs, her mood seeming to change. “My parents were actors.” “Really? Who were they?” David asks, also very curious. Before speaking, Elio seems hesitant to answer the question. However, she gives in, wanting to trust these people.
“Tommy and Emily Alvarez.” “The fuck did you just say?!” David exclaims, looking back at her. Elio nods and looks over through Aron’s side window. “Yep. Always happens.” Kaleb turns to look back at her as well, getting a good look at her. “God, you really are their kid. I didn’t recognize you without the fancy clothes and the red carpet. Didn’t you win an Oscar when you were younger? And I thought they had three kids,” Kaleb finally finishes, and Elio nods. “Yeah, I won an Oscar, and yes, I do have two brothers,” Elio tells him, clearly feeling uncomfortable. Aron notices this and tries to distract her from his dad and David. Aron bumps his leg into Elio’s again. She notices and stares at him, smiling. She bumps into his leg back and he shows a small smile. However, Kaleb and David continue going on about it.
“This is crazy. Attacked by Hollywood is my favorite movie,” David admits, but Kaleb looks at him weird for it. “Really? Come on, Redemption of Your Nightmares was way better. Got more awards, too,” Kaleb points out. David smirks and shrugs. “Listen, Kaleb. I’m just saying that Redemption of Your Nightmares was your average shitty action film. I mean, come on. Dracula shouldn’t have beaten The Shadow anyway.” Kaleb scoffs at David’s opinion, although clearly they’re just messing around with each other. “Attacked by Hollywood is literally just a bunch of actors killing each other for money. It doesn’t even make sense. Why the hell does Ryan Reynolds end up the only one alive?” “Because it’s funny.”
“Can we stop now? Fuck…” Bradley asks, about sick of the two men rambling. “Yes, please. I would no longer like to talk about my parents,” Elio chimes in, still clearly uncomfortable. David nods and focuses back on the road. “Yeah, sorry. Ohio, here we come!”
As time passes, everyone grows bored and starts to get tired. This would also be the safest place for them to sleep. Bradley falls asleep with his head against the window, Kaleb just continues talking to David about cars, and Aron stares out of his window, recapping everything that just happened. His grandparents got eaten alive in front of him. His sister’s actually gone and there’s a good chance that she’s injured, missing, or just dead. As Aron’s mind deepens into these thoughts, he feels tears start to well up in his eyes and his throat get tighter. However, he can’t cry in the car. It’d just be awkward and weird, even if his dad taught him that men do indeed cry and that it’s okay.
All of a sudden, Aron gets pulled from those dark thoughts due to Elio laying her head against his shoulder. Aron slowly moves his head to look at her. Her eyes are closed and her blonde hair droops over his shoulder as she tries falling asleep. Aron smiles as this and moves his head back to the window, glad that she’s trusting him, even if it’s just enough to fall asleep on his shoulder.
As more time passes, everyone in the car jolts up, hearing something heavy scrape against one of the tires and start to slow down the car. “Well, shit… Alright. Everyone out,” David orders, and everyone in the car groans and complains. “Hey, I need my back watched. If there are zombies out here, I need help,” David tells them as he shuts his side door behind them, getting out of the car. Everyone else follows, closing their doors as well. Kaleb and David walk over to the tire that seemed to be faulty and they both make a grossed out face.
“What is it?” Aron asks them both. Both men stare back at Aron with the same face. Aron walks up front with them, trying to get a look at the tire. Once he does, he realizes what’s actually wrong.
“Oh, he’s wedged in there…” Aron mutters, staring at the zombie with its guts laying out under the tire. “The smell is…” “Horrible.” Kaleb finishes David’s sentence, and David nods along. “Yeah. Horrible.” “Do you guys need me to help you get the zombie from under the tire?” Aron asks, feeling useless. David shakes his head and shifts over so he can pick up the legs of the zombie. “No, we’re good, buddy. Just watch our back if anything happens,” David tells Aron, and Aron nods. He notices Kaleb shift to grab the zombie by the shoulders and he walks away, heading over to Elio. He notices her just leaning against the car, scraping her machete against the road.
“What’s up?” Aron asks, also leaning on the car beside her. “Literally nothing. What’s up with you?” Elio asks, still scraping the machete against the pavement. “Nothing, I just… I have a question for you,” Aron says, staring at Elio. Elio turns to look into Aron’s eyes through her shades, raising an eyebrow. “Ask, guapo.” “Well, you said earlier that you have two brothers. What happened to them?” Aron asks, not really the type to keep up with celebrity lives. Elio opens her mouth to spit out an insult, but then closes it again. She realizes that he’s genuinely asking and not being mean. “You have a sister, huh?” “Yeah. That’s why I’m asking,” Aron admits, and Elio nods. She stands there for a few seconds, still toying with her machete before she answers.
“Ian and Daniel. Daniel was the oldest and Ian was younger than him but older than me. Since Daniel was my parents' first child, they tried pushing him into fame. Hard. He was one of the most famous child actors, but then when he entered his teens… it was done. He didn’t want to do it anymore, and it pissed my parents off, so they tried the fame thing with Ian and I. Daniel moved out when he was eighteen and I was eight. While they were trying to push both me and Ian into fame, they had trouble doing so with Ian. Ian didn’t really have the looks that a lot of people wanted from him. Casting directors just wanted a sweet kid. He always looked pissed off, which was fitting for how our parents treated us. Anyway, my parents called him a failure and he was out by the time he was sixteen. I don’t really know where he ended up going, I just know that he ran away,” Elio finishes explaining. Aron stares at her, feeling bad about the way her brothers went. “I’m, uh… I’m sorry. I don’t think I could live without my sister, honestly.” “Well, good thing people have different relationships with their siblings and not everyone is as close as you two,” Elio jokes. Aron stares at her, taking him a few seconds to realize that she’s just fucking with him. Once he does, he just smiles and nudges his arm into hers.
“Also, what’s up with the sunglasses?” Aron asks, still not understanding why anyone would wear heart shaped sunglasses in the middle of an apocalypse. Elio shrugs. “They look cool.” “But do they really…?” “Fuck off, Hughes,” Elio says, laughing. “I do know they look stupid, but I don’t like to take myself too seriously, yknow? It gets depressing,” Elio tells Aron, and he nods. “I get that.” “Yeah, I don’t think you do. Here.” Elio takes the sunglasses off of her face and places them onto Aron’s. He looks even more goofy than she did.
“Do I look amazing?” “Absolutely stunning. You’re killing it right now. You should pose and make sure you get the golden buzzer,” Elio jokes, and Aron laughs. He nods as he takes the sunglasses off and hands them back to her. “Thank you for that.” “Don’t thank me. I like fucking with people.”
All of a sudden, they hear a weird sound come from the front of the car, almost like they ripped something apart. Elio and Aron notice that Kaleb and David got the zombie from under the car, but they ripped his body apart in the process. Kaleb holds the upper half while David holds the lower half.
“Well, look at that…” Elio mutters, putting her sunglasses back on. Aron notices movement behind the two men and looks behind them to see a horde of zombies. Eventually, Elio notices as well. “What is it?” Kaleb asks, noticing the blank look on his son’s face. “Uh… behind you.” Both David and Kaleb look behind them to see a giant group of zombies heading towards all of them. “Fuck! Everyone, in the car!” Kaleb yells, instantly dropping the zombie’s upper half onto the road. David follows after him and everyone starts to rush back in the car. However, Elio doesn’t seem to get in.
“Get in!” Aron yells, but she shakes her head. “No, I want the window seat.” “Are you serious?” As they continue arguing, Bradley takes Elio by the back of her crop top and pulls her into the car, forcing her in the middle seat again. Aron follows after her, closing the car door. As soon as David hears the slam of the door, he starts turning around, hoping that they can turn onto another road if they go back the way they came. However, once he turns around, they all notice that there are zombies both near the back and the front of the car.
“Shit…” David mumbles, tapping on the steering wheel as he watches the flood of zombies come closer. “What do we do?” Aron asks, not wanting to completely accept their fate this soon. Elio smiles and puts her hand on David’s shoulder. “You know you wanna do it, Dave. Floor it,” Elio whispers in David’s ear. David tries not to listen, knowing she’s basically the devil on his shoulder in this situation, but it’s the only idea they have.
“Make sure you got your seatbelts on,” David tells everyone as he quickly whips his car back around, wanting to go forward again. Everyone rushes to put their seatbelts on, knowing this is gonna be fucked up. “Ready?” David asks, and nobody says anything, so he takes it as a ready. David slams his foot down on the gas pedal and they start taking off towards the horde.
“This is gonna hurt!” Aron screams as the adrenaline once again flows through his veins. As they go as fast as they possibly can, they hit the horde of zombies. Blood and flesh starts hitting every part of the car as they continue cruising through the flood of zombies.
“This is so loud!” Bradley shouts, trying to cover his ears. “It’s so loud yet I can still hear you! Shut the fuck up!” Elio yells back, enjoying the blood splattering onto the vehicle. As they keep driving, they notice that some of the zombies end up grabbing onto the car. However, they get knocked off by the other zombies that they’re hitting. Eventually, they make it through the horde, even though the horde continues following.
“They’ll get to us if we keep going straight,” David informs the car, but before anyone can throw out a suggestion, Elio unbuckles her seatbelt, reaches upward and turns the steering wheel all the way to the left. The car instantly makes a path for the woods and everyone in the car starts shouting. Everyone but Elio.
“Get your hand the hell off my car!” David shouts, swatting her hands off of the wheel. She sits back into her seat, but as soon as David pays attention and looks forward, they crash into a tree. Everyone gets jolted forward and Elio goes flying out of the windshield, hitting the tree in front of them as the front of the car crumbles. David hits his head off of the wheel and Kaleb hits his off of the dash. However, Aron and Bradley in the backseat end up pretty safe.
“Wasn’t that fun?” Elio asks as she takes a chunk of glass out her leg, not understanding how the hell she even survived that. “You’re crazy…” Kaleb mumbles, stumping out of the car. Elio drags herself off of the front of the car, eventually falling onto the cold, crunchy ground. “Calm down, I knew it would work. I just didn’t think we’d crash,” Elio explains as Aron makes his way out of the back of the car. David also stumbles out and Bradley crawls through the window. As they all stand there, they hear the horde get closer again.
“We have to move. Now. Dad, are you okay to walk?” Aron asks, noticing blood start to drip down his head. Kaleb nods, wiping the blood away, hoping the zombies can’t smell something like that. “Yeah, I’m good. Uh… there. Over there’s a cabin. We can hide out there,” Kaleb points out through his blurry vision. Aron walks over to his dad to help him walk as they all start making their way to the cabin.
The leaves crackle under them and small twigs break as they try not to make much noise. They continue to hear the zombies get closer as they approach the cabin. Aron quickly opens the door and helps his father inside. Everyone else follows after, with David being last. David closes the door and sits down against it, making sure it doesn’t open for anybody.
They all sit down after David. Bradley sits under a window, Elio sits by a closet, and Aron and his father sit against the only wall with no windows. Kaleb continues wiping the blood off of his forehead as Aron notices a piece of paper on the floor. His bloodied fingers gently pick up the piece of paper to realize that it has scribbles and writing on it. Before he can read it, he notices that Elio also picks up a piece of paper. Aron looks back down at his and it writes, “I don’t remember. What’s my name? Is daddy still alive? I don’t remember anything. I don’t remember. I don’t remember.”
Elio looks down at hers with it reading something different. She hands the piece of paper to Aron as he picks up hers. Hers reads, “Father is our savior. Father took us to heaven. Father loves us eternally.”
“What the hell…?” Kaleb asks in a whisper, but even that was loud enough to catch a zombie’s ear. The zombies start growling outside as one breaks the window right above Bradley. The zombie starts grabbing at Bradley, bringing him to a chokehold. As David watches as a zombie tries biting at his son, he punches the zombie in the face. The zombie lets go, but continues growling at everyone. Everyone gets up and starts backing up to the further side of the cabin. Zombies start piling in when all of a sudden, they hear gunshots outside. The zombies pick it up and start crawling back outside, but they don’t make it far as the gunshots get closer.
Zombie bodies hit the ground with a thud as the bullets trace over almost every zombie. Eventually, the gunfire stops and the group stands there, not knowing if they should move or just stay still. A minute or two passes and they hear a clank drop down onto the floor. They all look down, but before they can recognize what it is on the floor, white smoke starts to flood out of it. Everyone starts to lose their ability to see as they put their arm up to their mouth, trying to breathe.
Around him, Aron starts to hear thuds, groans, and movement from the others, but he doesn’t understand why or where it’s coming from. All of a sudden, a heavy object hits the back of Aron’s head. He falls to the ground, going unconscious.