5 Minutes Later

June 24, 2075

0935 CDT

South Winner, South Dakota

Luke Miller's Point of View

“Oh my god! Shit! Shit!” Teresa exclaims as we catch our breath.

They’re on our ass! This empty two-story auto repair garage has a few windows inside of it and a staircase that leads to the roof. We need to go before we get-

“This is fucking bad. We have to find a way to return to the others.” Duy says as we attempt to catch our breath.

“They’ll be ok, Duy. We need to worry about ourselves right now,” I say.

Poor Teresa.

“Oh, God! J-just give me a second!” Teresa urges, followed by her vomiting.

“Heh. We-we’re in trouble,” she chuckles in sadness.

She’s drenched in her cousin’s thick blood and guts from top to bottom, and… I couldn’t do a damn thing to stop it.

“What, what the hell, guys? H-how could you shits just leave her to die?!” She cries as she strikes Duy’s chest. “J-Julie is my only cousin! She’s my blood! She’s an Olympian! She’s my friend! Sh-She’s our friend! An…and you guys just, what the fuck?! Is, is this what the world is really like outside of our bubble?! It’s so scary!” She quickly panics and nods her head as her voice cracks, her eyes filled with disbelief. “N-nobody should suffer like that. Nobody should ever have to suffer like that! That’s-” she vents with mixed emotions in her face.

Duy is hugging her.

“Julie!” She achingly yelps into Duy’s shirt.

A hug is the only thing we can do. Being powerless is depressing, wait. Maybe I can try this.

“Teresa, we know where you’re coming from. Julie was our friend too, but she… put us in a life-or-death predicament. Duy and I were forced to make a tough choice.”

“Shut the fuck up, Luke. Just shut your fucking piehole,” she says with intense hatred in her eyes as she approaches me.

Agh! I’m so stupid! I should’ve waited to tell her that. She’s already straightening up by wiping away the blood and tears from her face.

Oh. That’s not the face of recovery. It’s the face of defeat. The innocent, sly, wise-cracking, mischievous, caring, candy-loving, book collecting, Teresa Young I knew for six years is long gone, and that’s how things are out here, just as I remember. Julie and the rest of today’s casualties should’ve lived happy, carefree lives! We’re all so young and shouldn’t be forced to fight for our lives every day. Something about this world, this system has to change.

“I don’t remember much about my parents. I only know my aunt and uncle,” Teresa calmly reveals. “Kiko and Julie were my everything. Julie gave me a comic book when we were kids, and that changed my entire life. It inspired me to read so many books and learn as much as I could about everything. Her baby cousin became a bookworm, and she was proud. Kiko, Julie, and I were nothing like most girls, which made us as rare as a diamond,” she reminisces with a faint chuckle. “Only dummies dared challenge the might of us, three goddesses. Well, Kiko and I were the brains, and Julie was fine with being a cheerleader because it made her happy to see me happy. Unfortunately, time is an unwinnable matchup, and I was the only one who couldn’t grow up figuratively and literally. I get treated like poop because of my appearance. No matter what I do, I’ll always be dubbed as zombie bait. I have no choice but to embrace it, but if it weren’t for Julie, zombie bait is all I would ever be, and now she’s, dead!” She tearfully grieves with all her heart.

“I’m sorry if what I’m about to say seems heartless, but we have to keep moving,” Duy promptly urges her. “We’re still in deep shit, and need to reunite with the others,” Duy explains as she slowly stands upright.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

You’re a good leader, Duy. Experience is the only thing keeping my own head together.

“Yeah. I-I get it. I’m sorry for being the weak link as usual. Not only did the group split up because of me, but I dropped one of our extra bags of ammo when Ju- when I fell. Sorry,” Teresa apologizes.

You’re the strongest one of us all, Teresa.

“Luke, take out your communicator. We need to figure out where,” Duy ord-

Shit! The windows shattered! They’re getting in!

“Upstairs! GO!” Duy commands as he immediately opens fire on the zombies.

“Teresa, let’s go!” I say.

Not good, hurry! Up the stairs!

The door to the roof is fucking locked! Rookie mistake! Wait. Duy has a crowbar!

“Teresa, can you help me fight? The door is jammed, but Duy’s crowbar can open it. We’ll have to switch places with him and fight the dead until he can open the door.”

“Ok, ok,” she says with a few deep breaths. “I-I can do it. I refuse to continue to be dead weight,” she assures as we run downstairs.

So many of them! They’re close to flooding the entire garage!

“Duy! Switch with us! Use your crowbar to open the door! We’ll handle things downstairs!” I say.

“Son of a bitch! Of course, it’s locked!” He yells out as we run past each other.

“Teresa, you shoot. I’ll use my knife to kill the ones that get too close. We still have to conserve ammo, and I’ll give you my rifle if you run out. We’ll have to retreat upstairs after we run out of breathing room. Remember they’re stupid, and we’re smart. You’re probably the smartest person in the squad.”

No mutated zombies from what I can see, but luck always runs out.

“Probably the smartest you say?” she says with a soft smirk as she opens fire.

One of them got too close for comfort but I was able to kill it. We’re making good progress. Hurry up with the door, Duy!

“Luke, give me your gun!” Teresa anxiously orders as we slowly back toward Duy.

Come on, Captain Unibrow!

“It’s open!” Duy announces as the zombies break through the staircase window from outside.

Fuck! They must be piled up to be able to reach this height!

“Teresa, keep shooting at your twelve!” Duy says.

Only a few made it through the window, but they’re blocking the way to Duy.

“Watch it, Luke!” Duy yells as he rushes down the stairs.

He’s obliterating the ones in the window with his crowbar, while I exterminate the ones on the floor.

Silence? T-Teresa? She stopped firing! There’s no way!

Sigh.

She’s alive but isn’t shooting! She can’t be out of ammo already, but she’s backing away in fear of something.

Oh. It’s Julie. She’s staring at her reanimated cousin. Julie’s intestines are hanging out of her body, her bright brown eyes are now blood red, half of her hair and body are missing, and her youthful skin has become as dull and grey as the rest of the monsters. Julie has become a zombie, and she’s failing to comprehend that fact!

“I’m sorry,” I say as I stab Julie in the head.

That you have to see her die twice.

“Time to beat feet, Teresa!” I say as I grab her hand and run upstairs.

*

Fresh air!

“Luke, I’m sorry! I froze up and almost got us killed,” Teresa weeps.

“You’re fine, Teresa. You shouldn’t have had to see that. Killing someone you knew is always different.”

The next test is about to begin, now that we’re on the rooftop. There’s nothing up here except some old AC units and the door we came in from. Damn! Nowhere to escape, and it’s not secure enough to camp in!

“The fucking door won’t close!” Duy struggles to say while pushing the door.

We gotta help him!

“There’s nothing,” THUD! “Up here to barricade the door with!” Teresa shouts.

“No way! We’re not dying here! I refuse to let that happen,” Duy yells out to us. “We all have big brains, so we need to think of a way to avoid becoming zombie meat!”

Zombie meat? Julie’s blood! We could cover ourselves in the undead’s blood and blend in with them, but there’s no time for that because they’re knocking on our door! Another option is… The only other option that I could think of is if someone became zombie bait as a distraction! Duy won’t approve of my dangerous plan, and he’d rather sacrifice himself before letting one of us die.

Someone sacrificing themselves doesn’t change the fact that we’re still surrounded by hundreds of them. It’s a horrible thought, but one of us could purposely let one zombie come up here, to allow enough time for the other two to kill it and play possum using its blood and guts. But that would mean we’d have to silently watch the sacrifice be torn apart in front of us. Ugh. Don’t throw up! I’ll be the sacrifice; I don’t give a damn if Duy approves of it or not! I won’t let my friends die, but that means I’ll never get to see Sonya and the others again.

“Alright, Captain. You won’t like this plan, but…” I say.

Automatic gunfire from the street? An armored truck is making its way towards us, with a gunner lighting up every zombie bastard in sight!

“Holy shit!” The three of us say.

Jinx.

I can’t believe it! They’re mauling through the zombies like it’s nothing! Although… they don’t have a choice but to keep driving! If they stop the truck, then they won’t be moving ever again.

“Are you two thinking what I’m thinking?” Duy asks as we continue to struggle with the door.

“We’ll have to jump on top of the truck when they get closer, right, Captain?” Teresa answers hesitantly.

“Yeah, we’ll only have one shot. If we mess up, we’ll die,” Duy clarifies.

“Don’t worry. We’ll make it,” I say.

I can’t waste time thinking about the pain in my arms! The truck’s getting closer!

“Ok, we’ll let go of the door on 3! 1….2…3!” Duy orders.

Don’t look back! Just run! They’re slowing down, but barely! Teresa’s on my left, and Duy on my right! We all look so fucking terrified, but we just need to go at the same speed, and carefully time our leap of faith when the truck reaches a jumpable distance!

“Jump!” Duy says.