The Wallis Family

A great story about a family trying to survive the zombie apocalypse.

It had been a normal Friday night. I had just finished my math homework and was watching a rerun of Parks & Recreation. My dad was working on a crossword puzzle and mom was making some lasagna for dinner. Maggie, my sister, was scrolling through photos on Instagram.

Suddenly my episode was interrupted by an emergency broadcast. The screen froze and flashed to a reporter in a gray suit. Her hands were slightly jittery.

“The Center for Disease Control in Washington, DC has issued a viral outbreak warning. State and local officials have reported cases of nausea, high fever, death and even cannibalism. Please stay put until further notice.”

I looked at my parents and shut the television off. Their faces were white, but not frightened. My sister shut off her phone and hugged my mom.

“Alright, now everyone just need to keep calm, and we will be fine,” my dad stated, while kissing my mom on the forehead.

“It's the zombie freaking apocalypse! We are all going to die,” whimpered my sister.

"With a good plan we won't,” added my mom.

“That's right. I think I have some ideas,” I input. “First we need to gather up the useful supplies that we have here, and then go and loot maybe a grocery store, outdone survival store, and a gun store, you know, get some weapons.”

“That's good. I'm really good at fishing, maybe we could head to the Monte river? There's a spot where it sits right on top of a hill,” said my dad.

“Why don't we split up and meet back here in twenty minutes? Everyone needs to get clothing, toiletries, canned food, blankets and one pillow, and anything else that you can't live without. Okay? No non-essentials. And, make sure to take a quick shower to, because from now on I doubt that we'll have the opportunity to do it again,” said my mom.

Instantly we all rush around the house. I grab my best running clothing, a big box of Chapsticks, toiletries, my big fluffy pink blanket from my bed, and some baby pictures. I gather a few more items and dash downstairs. All of my things were packed into a light backpack that I had used for hiking, except for the blanket. Then I slipped on some cargo pants, my new pair of sneakers, and a short sleeved, green t-shirt after taking a one minute shower. I make extra sure to bring my body wash, because running away from zombies will definitely make me work up a sweat.

Once we were all gathered back in the living room, I made stock of the other things my family had brought. It looked like everyone else had gone the green route, and had packed lightly. Besides her own stuff, my mom had collected the kitchen ware, family photo albums, some school books, (of course), and had brought our bikes out of the garage. Luckily our bikes had big baskets on the end, and one of our cars was a roomy Subaru with solar panels on the top. My mom has always been very green.

“I turned off all of the power and water. We all need to take water bottles and some snacks, because we don't know what will happen between now and when we get to the outdoor store,” comments my dad.

"But Dad, won't everyone be going there? There'll be a mob scene, a breeding ground for zombies," I input.

"Yeah, but we really can't afford to go without supplies. The store we're going to is newer, so there will be less people there than others.

“This is so scary. Will we see our friends again? What about the cousins, or Grandma and Grandpa? We were going to see them this summer, but now I guess not ever again!” sobbed Maggie.

“It will be alright sweetie. We just have to be strong. Right now all we know is that we need to get out of here,” coos my mom, embracing us and starting to sing a lullaby we loved as children. My dad joins in and we know that we will be alright as long as we stay together.

After our long group hug we come up with a list of things things we would need to steal from the stores. There is a shopping center about five minutes from here, so time wouldn't be a problem. My dad said that it would be dangerous out there, and we had to be on our guard the whole time.

Each one of use had our own makeshift weapons until we could find some more proper ones. My mom had a kitchen knife, I had the cliché baseball bat, my dad had his rifle that he kept unloaded and hidden somewhere in the basement, and Maggie had a poker.

Soon we piled into the car after saying our goodbyes to our childhood home. My dad had boarded up most of the first story windows and locked every door that he could, so it would be hard to come and loot the house. He also mounted our bikes onto the top of the car.

As we started driving to the shopping center I was frightened by what I saw. There were people running through the streets, and cars parked anywhere that they could find. Some people were collapsed on the ground, sobbing. Thankfully the disease hadn't reached my neighborhood yet.

When we got to the outdoor supplies store, the doors were opened, and a few people were already rummaging through the products. The store was tucked into the corner of the shopping mall, and my Mom said it was something called a "military surplus store." I imagined Dick’s was a riot. We each split up to get the items that we were each assigned. I needed to get a big waterproof tent, foldable chairs, sleeping bags, water purifiers, some hunting knifes, rope, a crowbar, masking tape, night vision goggles, binoculars, helmets, and walkie talkies. It looked like it would take the better part of the hour to locate all of the supplies that we needed. Thankfully they had large shopping carts.

Growl! I heard a banging on the doors to the shop. The doors had been cracked open, but it seemed like someone had accidentally closed them. But when I look at who's at the door, I froze like ice.

It was Kylie Wicket, a girl from my school. But instead of the prim and proper look she usually has, her body was a wreckage. I could see about three of her ribs, most of her right leg muscle, and the skin had peeled off of her in most places. Her face was all slobbery, and her eyes were ferocious. Most of her skin was a dishwater gray, the kind a dead body has…

Soon she was joined by another boy, who I recognize as Cooper Campbell, her boyfriend. The other people in the store shrank into the corner, hidden behind a giant display of tents. I dashed toward my parents who already had out their weapons. They slowly inched toward the door, and I followed. Maggie tracked a few feet behind me, but stayed put once Kylie, no, the zombie, started wailing and gurgling.

What happened next seemed like a blur. My dad smashed open the door and started firing his gun. The shots rang into my ears, as loud as gongs. Both of them fell to the ground, and I let out a sob. The girl who lent me pencils in History class, the boy who helped me carry my violin to the practice room when my backpack was too heavy. Dead. Undead.

My dad gulped, but his face was stone. Everyone was breathing heavily. My mom stroked his arm, but he turned around.

“They weren't human. None of them are anymore. They may look the same, but inside they’re animals,” said my mom. She glared at the bodies. “We need to get going. I know at grocery store that's a little of the radar, and then we need to get weapons. Does everyone have what they were supposed to get?”

She was answered by a chorus of yeses. The other people that had been in the store had dashed out the fire escape, not wanting to step other the bodies. Quickly we loaded the supplies into the car’s roomy trunk and raced off to the grocery store. As we sped through the streets, the half an hour we had been at the store seemed to make all the difference.

There were large groups of zombies now, but they seemed less turned than the one we had already encountered. They roamed the streets, not seeming to notice our large vehicle trucking down the road. However more zombies there were though, there were that many people. They must have picked up on the whole zombie apocalypse thing.

Maggie opened the roof, to get a better view from the car. She stood on top of the seat, and poked her head out. Instantaneously she slammed closed the screen and started yelling.

“Drive! Drive! Oh my god! Just Drive!” Maggie screamed. My dad hit the gas pedal and we all jerked forward. “I was looking back to-” but before she could finish explaining we knew exactly what was going on. There were a group of five or six zombies, running like maniacs towards the car. They weren't slow, either. Their arms were flapping in the wind like those blowup things stores use for advertising. They must have caught onto the scent of Maggie’s flesh. Or brain.

Thankfully Maggie had closed the roof quickly, or we might have been killed. Slowly the horde started jogging, and then their slow roaming pace. They looked at each other, and the fierce look that had covered their faces was replaced by a dull, flat look.

After a few more twist and turns, we reached the grocery store. It was a far walk from the car, and there were no zombies milling around. The sky was as dark as a black cat. When I checked my watch, it read 11:00. I expected to yawn, but my adrenaline was pumping hard. I wish I had felt like this at one of my track meets.

We all had to bring our weapons, because you never know when you might encounter one. My dad told us to get in a diamond formation, that way we were all covered incase of an attack. He also said that we shoot to kill.

Once we got to the grocery store, I could tell I was no average Giant or Whole Foods. The “G”, “E” and “S” in the Greg’s had burned out, covered in dust. The other letters were probably powered by a backup generator. There were wrappers and papers covering the sidewalk. When we stepped in a bell rang and I jumped back a foot. Rough, beaten tile looked that looked like it was from the '50s covered the floor. A cash register sat in the corner and behind that was a door I could only assume lead to an office.

“Well, I told you it was off the radar,” commented my mom. “Let's all split up, get our assigned items, and meet here in 20 minutes. Just like the outdoor store, ok?”

We race off, and I head to the pharmaceutical and first-aid part of the store. I grap gauze, band-aids, and rubbing alcohol; anything that I think we would need, I stuff into my grocery bag. Soon the shelf was almost empty and we met up at the cash register. My mom and Maggie were over loaded with canned and non-perishable food, and my dad had some few miscellaneous items like duct tape, a fan, and sunscreen. He was also carrying large air tight containers to store the food and supplies.

The bags took a few trips to take back to the car, which was slowed down even further because two of us had to be together at all times. Soon it was 12:00, and we still had to go to the gun store. My dad knew one that was about 30 miles from the house, so we needed to back track to find our way. All the internet servers were down, which meant no more GPS. Maggie and I laid down in the back, hoping to get at least an hour of sleep. My parents would have to start switching turns driving, so the other one could rest. One bonus of the zombie apocalypse was no traffic lights, no traffic, and no speed limits.

When we got to the gun store my mom shook me awake, and we hopped out of the car. I reached for my baseball bat on the floor, and handed Maggie her poker.

"Ok guys, so this will be different. This is a gun store. We don't know what to expect, so we need to be on our best game. Heck, we should always be on our best game. Stay behind me and your dad, and no matter what, don't be afraid to use your weapon. It's outlast and outsmart. If anyone gets lost for what ever reason, meet back at the car," said my mom. "I love all of you so much, and we need to stay together," she choked out. Tears stream down her face. I felt my eyes watering up.

"It's okay to be scared. We all are. Just stay strong and stick together," inputs my dad. He wraps his hand around my moms waist. She then leans in and kisses him. Maggie and I scrunch our noses. Without a word, we walk down the gravel path and enter the store.

As soon as we walk in, we know that we weren't the only ones who thought it would be a good idea to get guns. There were people running all over the place. A man was standing on a crate, yelling at everyone. He was clad in a leather jacket and jeans.

"Hey! Only two guns per person! We need to make sure that everyone gets some! Did you hear me?!" He shouted.

My dad looked at us and made a face. Together, we dashed over to a section of handguns. There were only about ten left. He handed one to each of us, saying that it was a Sig Sauer P226. He explained how to load it, turn the safety on, and how to fire it. I already knew the gist of it though; aim, and shot. As soon as we were going to go and get ammunition, a fight broke out.

"What the hell man! That's my gun, and it's in your hand! Give it back to me right now, or I swear to god..." growled a middle aged man. He was tall, and wide. A mustache was in full bloom on his face.

"And who's going to make me, huh? The government? Well they're all dead now," yelled another man, a little bit younger. He had an awful looking mohawk. He shoved mustache man which knocked him into a row of rifles. My mom huddled us into the corner. Dad took the safety off of his rifle. The skirmish continued to escalate while everyone else in the store seemed even more frazzled than me.

Eventually they were both bloody, and two other men had tried to break up the fight. The man who had been on the crate starting yelling at them about how the zombies are the enemies, not each other. What happened next was so etched into my brain that I could pause and pass forward like the DVR.

Mustache man aimed his weapon. He fired. Mohawk guy held up a crate, reflecting the bullet. Moms piercing scream. Mom came crashing down. Dad rushing to the ground, cradling Mom. Me screaming. Maggie screaming. All of us screaming.

"Holy crap! You shot me in the arm!" seethed Mom. Blood gushed out of the top of her right arm. There were beads of sweat on her forehead.

"Lydia! Maggie! Go get the medical stuff now!" barked Dad. He was crying, which had only happened twice before. Once when Grandpa Wallis died, and once when, I assume, we were born. Mom, on the other hand, cried whenever someone else did on TV.

I sprinted back to the car and popped open the trunk. Then I slid out the bag with the medical supplies. I tossed it to Maggie and we raced back, like a relay race. It was only a shot in the arm, right? The worst that will happen is a hell lot of agony, but no death. For a split second though I'm sure all of were thinking the worst had happened.

When we got back Dad tore open the bag and grabbed a pair of tweezers, rubbing alcohol, bandaging, and numbing cream.

"Alright, girls, I need you to turn around. This will not be pretty. I'm going to take the bullet out, and then I need your help to wrap the bandage around Mommy's arm. I'll tell you when," he said with deep, rapid breaths. Mom had trust her head back in pain. I worried she might go into shock.

"Oh my god, honey, this hurts so bad. It's even worse than, worse than when I got that infection on my other arm," she shakes out.

I turn around, and plug my ears when Mommy starts grunting. While I'm waiting I survey the room. The two men had fled the scene, likely not wanting to stick around to see the aftermath of their actions. The other people had left to, but not before cleaning out most of the store's already empty arsenal. Eh.

"Ok, I need your help now. Maggie, come hold the bandage and Lydia you need to wrap it. I'll tape it, 'k?"

Maggie gripped the gauze, her hands as jittery as the time she had to much coffee. Slowly I wrapped the gauze over Mom's arm. Thankfully Dad had already covered it a little bit so I wouldn't have to see the wound. Blood seeped through the wrapping, so I wrapped it tighter. It knew that if she lost to much blood, that she could die. How much would it suck to die because of a human in a zombie apocalypse.

After we finished caring for Mom's wound we headed back to the car. Her arm was weak, but at least it wasn't her leg or abdomen that had gotten shot. Now it was around 2:00, and we were all exhausted and decided to hit the sack for the day. Because we were sleeping in the car and not outside, we thought it was okay that we were all sleeping at once. But when we started sleeping in the tents, we knew that it would have be in shifts.


I woke up to nothingness. There were no birds chirping, no traffic honking. Even the sun seemed to want to rise later. My back and shoulders were sore from sleeping on the ground of the car. Used to my thick mattress and comforter, a blanket and the floor did not do me justice. Then when I rose to take my usual quick hot shower to get ready for school, memories of last night flooded in. And drowned me.

Everyone else had already woken up and looked even more tired than myself. They had packed up their blankets ad I could see them chewing on something.

"Rise and shine, sleepy head. Breakfast is some dry Cheerios and a granola bar, if you want," said Dad. "But remember, we need to start rationing. It looks like today we're going to drive up to Montrose hill and set up camp there." I replied with a loud yawn. When I realized that I still had on my clothes from last night, I peeled them off like I was a banana and looked for something to wear in my backpack. I tossed them in a trash bag that everyone else had put their dirty clothes in. I wondered if we'll do laundry in the river? My hair had been getting pretty greasy, but I probably needed to toughen up. I doubted conditioner and shampoo grew on trees.

"When we get to the hill, we can all bathe in the river," Mom reassured me, who must have seen me looking distastefully at myself.

"Ok, now that we have all of the supplies that we need I think it's time to gear up. Everyone gets a Kevlar leather jacket, and hiking boots," said Dad. He started passing out the gear. "We each get a bag with basic supplies to, incase we get separated for what ever reason. Don't use these except for a emergency, because you always want to have them." He was now passing out small brown string bags. Those types of bags usually irritated me with the thin straps, but these looked thicker and more durable. I opened mine and peered inside. There was a lighter, a case of water purification tablets, a pocket knife, a small water bottle, and two MREs.

"We also need to start doubling our water intake. Lydia, I know you only have a glass of water at dinner. Maggie, you to. A gallon a day for each of us," declares Mom.

"Alright..." we both mumble back. I didn't have a strong objection, though, if it helps me survive. I would also have to start bulking up. It's not like I'm totally out of shape, because I have a strong one-pack. Luckily my school doesn't have to run the mile until 7th grade, ' cause I suck at doing it. We had a practice mile a couple of months ago, and I did not fare to well.

After we took stock of everything that we had, we started for Montrose hill. It had been a long hour and a half, so I peered out the window. The land was a wasteland now, transformed from the pretty suburbs overnight. At least power would be on for about a couple days, so we could crank the radio. Nothing like a good Justin Bieber song to cheer you up.

When we finally cleared stretches of rocky, bumpy roads we stopped at a patch of grass off the main road. I stepped outside of the car, smelling fresh unpolluted air. The chirps of birds were sonorous. We stretched for a few minutes, letting the openness of the great outdoors seep in. The sun glared down at me.

"So we'll have to bike up the rest of the way. There's a pretty clear cut bike path, so it shouldn't be bumpy. We may have to take two trips to carry all of the supplies, but that's no worry because it's only about a fourth of a mile up," said Dad. He had gone camping every other month with friends from work. Brandon, J.D., and Lon were always really nice. Whenever they came over, they brought chocolate pieces for Maggie and I. I wonder how they fared...

Soon I snapped back into the present when we started out for camp. The gravel itself was hard to navigate, but with a box full of supplies I was weighed down heavily. My bike wobbled, but quickly I adjusted. It was a sleek green mountain bike that used to have flashy tassels, before I had to rip them off because they could attract zombies. I almost got distracted by the swirling blues in the clear sky, lying a couple meters away from me. After about 10 minutes of slow biking we reached a small clearing about half the size of a football field. There were trees surrounding us at all sides and I could hear running water, probably the river Dad had mentioned earlier. I hopped off my bike and parked it on a small patch of dirt. Everyone followed.

"Here, take some water," said my mom. She handed us a jug of water and we each took turns sipping from it. The water was lukewarm, but it was still refreshing.

"Hey guys, I have an idea. What if instead of drinking from a group jug, we each just use our water bottles. Then, if you run out you can just fill it up again. Our bottles should last us the whole day, 'cause they're kind of big," suggested Maggie.

"Alright, that sounds good," we all answered in different forms, in unison. We rested for a couple more minutes, but in pure silence. I guess no one had any thing to say. But I did.

"Mom! You know how you and Dad work for the DOD? Well now you don't have to worry about classified information so you can tell us everything!" They both exchanged faces.

"Well, I guess. So the big one was that we were training a small group of people to be a special forces team. High skilled operatives. They were going to be like a SWAT team, except even better," said Dad.

"And also, we know a lot about the missions that take place, that the army carries out. You know Dad supervised planning, and I was involved with the logistics of the missions, making sure everything was where it was supposed to be. Very stressful," elaborated Mom.

"That's so cool!" exclaimed Maggie. I was pretty impressed.

"Alright, we need to keep working. Let's go get the other stuff and then we can have lunch," said Dad.

We rode back down to the car. It was actually harder going down, because the faster I want the bumpier the ride became. Soon we gathered all of the supplies and started to make lunch.

"So we have a lot of options for meals. We can have dish that your Dad collects, we could have part of our MREs, or some canned and non-perishable food," said Mom.

"I don't think that we should use the MREs, because we should only use them if we are in an emergency," I comment.

"That's sounds good. It will take awhile for me to fish in time for lunch. Why don't we dig into the canned food?" said Dad.

"Alright..." mumbled Maggie. It would take while to adjust to this lifestyle.

Finally we settled on dried fruit, granola bars, and some beef jerky. We hoped our meals would become more elaborate once we got the fire started. There were sacks of rice we could cook as well.

"Now it's time to set up camp!" I said enthusiastically. Mostly because now I could sleep in an actual bed. First we sat up the two tents, and stationed them up a clump of trees at the edge of the field. They were a dark green, and they were very roomy on the inside. I think they were called wall tents, and there were two rooms separated by a large flap. The ground was harder than the usual tents we used when we went camping, because this was a better quality tent. I still felt a tinge of guilt over looting all those stores, but it was every man for themselves. Or in this case, family.

After that we wrapped a rope around two different trees, directly over the left side of the tents. We did the same thing on the right side and hung a tarp over the two ropes ,for extra protection from the elements. It was hilarious watching Dad lift Mom up to tie the rope, and she wasn't making it easy for him. Two cots, our backpacks, and a pile of blankets filled up most of the back room, and in the front room we had put a gas stove and other cooking supplies. I was paired up with Dad and Maggie got Mom. She definitely got the short end of the stick. Mom snores.

Soon it was time to build a fire. We had lighters, so it was just a matter of collecting firewood. There were a few pieces scattered a few yards into the woods. Sticking together in a horde, we adventured in.

"Dry wood is the best. Don't get anything damp, because it won't really burn," Maggie added.

"How'd you know that?" I questioned.

"When we we camping with the Girl Scouts last year. Remember they made us make our own fire?"

"Yeah, that was pretty bad. I got so many splinters."

"Mm, it remember I was the one who had to pick them out for you," Mom injected. I smiled and we giggled.

I spotted a thick branch laying a couple feet away from me, and I grabbed it. Suddenly, a bug peered out from under it. It was about half the size of my fist. Man, that thing was huge! Its shell was as dark as the night sky, and was speckled with white dots like stars. The bug leaped onto my arm and I shrieked.

"Oh my gosh what happened?" Dad yelled.

"It's a gigantic bug! And it's in my arm! Ew Ew Ew!"

"Lydia, really? I thought it was a zombie," scolded Mom.

"It's totally going to kill you!" teased Maggie. Jokes was on them, because it had been flying right towards Maggie's hair.

When we finally finished, the fire crackled and spurred smoke. There was a ring of chunky rocks I had collected and made a circle around the fire with. It had taken us about an hour to find enough fire wood to make a decent sized fire and have extras incase there was a day we couldn't find some. We placed the fire under the tarp if it rained, but far away enough from the tents that it couldn't burn down the shelter. It reminded me of a more untamed, but more pleasant fireplace.

I gazed at the darkening sky. A low, dark cloud was looming in in the horizon. Dang it. We had just set up and now it rains? At least we could collect rain water. I grabbed an empty bucket and laid it a couple of feet away from the tarp.

"I think it's time to call it a day. It's not like we can do anything in the rain. We'll have to bathe tomorrow. It's almost time for dinner, anyway," sighed Mom.

"Should we have night shifts? That way there's always a lookout."

"Remember when Maggie opened the sun roof, and all of those zombies chases after us? But when she closed it they stopped? Well I think these zombies have to be able to smell you, be in the same room with you," theorized Dad.

“But we don't know for sure. I say we do it tonight, and see what happens,” I said.

“You’re right. How about I go first, and then Dad you can go. Maybe the kids can of it together one night. Probably not,” joked Mom.

“But…!” moaned Maggie. I was about to join in, but Mom said,

“We all have to make sacrifices to survive. I know its so hard, but its only going to get harder. Lets just do it day by day.” Everyone nodded in agreement and returns to their tents.

I tossed and turned most the night. Dad was already asleep, which was alluding me. Usually the raindrops would soothe me, but I just couldn't stop thinking about what happened to the people who got turned. Who got killed. Were you yourself, could you think? Or are you just blinded by a hunger to feed? Hot tears streamed down my face. My snuffles were muffled my the layers of blankets I had covering me to block out the cold.

The following morning was damp from the rain. When I stepped out from the tent I saw Mom and Maggie already had cooked breakfast. Apparently there was a huge bush of safe to eat berries right next to the campsite. Along with those I had a breakfast burrito that was cooked over the fire.

A whiff of my own hair proved that I reeked. I also hadn't changed my clothes in two days. My shirt and trousers were starting to stiffen.

"Mom, I think we should head to the river. We all smell," I urged.

"I guess so. It might be cold through, to warn you. Or warm. The river should be running very fast. We'll need to find some sort of pool of water or a place where it doesn't gush as fast," she said. I stepped back into the tent and grabbed a towel and a bar of soap. The crinkling sound of the tents were really getting on my nerves.

When we reached Monte River I was pleasantly surprised at the size of it. Water gushed and poured over rocks. It was calm though, and I felt soothed. I squeezed mud between my toes and brushed my hand into the water. Ice cold. Winter was hardly good timing for a zombie apocalypse.

"There should be plenty alcoves of water along the river. I say we spilt up and meet up in say, 20 minutes?" mentioned my dad.

"I guess so. But, maybe half an hour? Bathes are so great," said Maggie.

"So it's settled. Oh, shout, I need to change the bandaging on my shoulder! Johnathan, eh, Daddy, can you help me?" replied Mom.

Eh. I’m really glad that I don't have to change the dressing and all of that…But what can she do? We split-up, and I start walking along the river.

Maggie and I are going north and Mom and Dad are walking south. We were walking on the grass that was adjacent to the muddy bank of Monte River. The weather had cleared up from the morning so the water shouldn't have been a problem. Quickly I got wrapped in watching a blue jay and Maggie snagged a small runoff from the river, about four feet deep. The water was clear, but still a little murky so I couldn't see the bottom.

“You snooze you lose!” She said then giggled. She dipped her toe into the water and deemed it warm.

I spotted a small pool of water after about 150 meters away from my sister. After laying my towel on a nearby rock, as well as my clothes, I plunged myself into the few feet deep water. The stress of the last few days, and grime, washed away. My feet gripped the rocks and pebbles on the bottom.

Soon I was finished and I had started to stroll back to the meeting point when I noticed a human figure as far back as I could see. At first I had though it had been a fellow survivor, but then I could see it’s face. Even though it was far away, I could make out the grotesque looking features. Crap.

I started sprinting to where Maggie was. She was finished as well and was just gathering up her bar of soap and her towel. As soon as she turned around to greet me her eyes widened.

“Oh my gosh!” she mouthed. Now the figure was only a hundred meters away from us. It was still going slow, but I knew that the second it smelled us the thing would go berserk. We didn't have time to run back to the camp, and we needed something to cover our scent. The water.

I river to the water and I motioned for us to get in. She made a confused face but without thought she slipped in. We left our things behind, hoping that they wouldn't give us away. My clothing billowed when I got in, but I didn't care.

“He’ll smell us if we stay above the water, we need to go in!” Maggie said franticly. We dunked our heads underwater.

“But its to shallow and small here for both of us to do it! The only place to go is the river!”

“Then lets go the river! The currents maybe strong but it’s our only choice. Just hold on to each other and start swimming towards the rendezvous point.”

I gulped a large breathe of air just as the creature reached our things. My hand grasped Maggie’s and we try to swim, but it was like walking through manses. Impossible. There was only enough light to see about two feet ahead of me. I tried to do long, slow strokes to keep my oxygen supply high. Not that I had much to begin with. I looked at Maggie and gestured to move up and get more air. Her hair was floating up, so she resembled Medusa. She shuck her head and we kept going.

After about a minute underwater my lungs could have been on fire. Only after being deprived of oxygen for so long does one realize the value of fresh air. Both of us had been pretty good at holding our breathes, but this was pushing it. Finally we went up for air, and saw how far we had gone. The zombie was out of sight, but that didn't mean that we could get out of the water.

“Ok, we’re really close. Just about another minute,” estimated Maggie, with deep breathes between every other word. We were both exhausted, not just from the swim but from the fear. Another gulp of air saw that we went under again.

After another minute I looked up through the water and saw two blurry shapes. Mom and Dad. We hopped out of the water and flopped onto the ground.

“A, a zombie is be-be-hind us,” stuttered Maggie.

“Our stuff is back there. We were about to come back when we saw it. The only way for us to make it back here was to swim, so it couldn’t smell us.”

“That’s awful,” said Mom, wrapping us into giant hugs. We were both still wet. “We need to find the zombie, so it won’t wonder onto the camp. Lets go back, get the guns, and shoot it.”

“We never should have split up like that, especially without weapons. I guess you can’t be safe anywhere,” Dad announced. His black hair was in little spikes from the water. He wore a frown on his face.

After each taking a gun from the weapons bin at camp, we snuck back toward the area of Monte River where we saw the walker. Dad was in the lead, Mom in the back and Maggie and I in the middle. I had chosen to bring my baseball bat, and my sister her poker, because we had yet to be trained with using guns. Sure I knew the basics but brandishing something that could kill as easily as a gun still seemed, well, scary.

The crunch of some leaves on the ground started me. Everyone turned toward the sound and there was the zombie. It lurched at me, his mouth curled into a devious smile. With a shriek I swung my bat at its lower abdomen. Dad cocked his handgun at its face and shot. Another one was dead.

The rest of the day mostly consisted of chores. We had to walk down to the creek first and fill up the already mostly empty water tanks. Purifying it would come next, which was dropping small tablets of something into it and then waiting 30 minutes. There was also a water pump that purified the water. I was assigned to collect more berries, bump the rain water off of the tarp, and help Dad skin and de-bone some fish for dinner.

“This,” he said pointing to a normal looking fish,“is a common carp. And this one,” he was now pointing to a long, gray fish,”is a gar. These are a lot harder to find, and they don't give as much protein as a carp. They taste good though.” Dad handed me the last few fish and I picked out the bones.

"Lydia!" yelled Mom. I spotted her in the shade of a few oak trees, next to a two poles made out wood. She was carrying one of them, and she didn't look like she could do it for much longer. I rushed over.

"Ugh! I'm trying to make a place where we can hang our laundry, but the wood is heavy. Can you help me?" I grab the end of it and we lay it down on the grass. She was panting now.

"Ok, first we need to dig holes where the two poles will go. Then all we'll have to is tie the string. Can you go and tell your father that we need to use some of his extra fishing string?"

"Sure. How much do we need?"

"Mmm...Maybe about 6 feet?" I nod my head and collect the string from him. After we finished the laundry line everyone helped pitched in one a few more projects. We found flat rocks and made a path to the river with them, and Dad made a spit over the fire and hung the cooking pot over it.

My favorite project we did that day was building a fence around the tents and cooking area. I found logs, Mom cut them, Dad placed them, and Maggie tied then together using vines. Soon the sun was setting and the small light of fireflies could be seen, which I sometimes mistook for stars.

After a couple more days at Monte hill I started into a rhythm of chores, leisure time and expeditions into the forest to collect berries and firewood. We played card games every night when dinner was done, and I was on a winning streak.

"Ha! Nice try, Maggs, but I have an ace!" I said, and laid my hand out on the fold-up table. Maggie gave a sigh of defeat and started to reshuffle the cards.

"Alright guys, time for bed," interrupted Dad through the tent flap.

Author's Note

I'm not finished yet, but I'll update frequently! Please give positive criticism so I can improve my story.

Reviews

[H.k_04]

it seems a bit plain like it lacks a certain imagry but other than that it was good
plz check out my story and be extremely harsh as i am 15 and am aspiring writer so plz rate harshly