Zombie Outbreak: A Zombie Apocalypse Short Story Read Free Page B

see anyone when we went inside.”
    “The gun shot,” I said. “I think it attracted them.”
    “So we can’t even shoot them without attracting more?” Candy asked.
    “We have to go!” I shouted.
    We raced down the porch steps so fast that I thought I would stumble. I wanted to get to the truck without having to look at them. I was afraid I might recognize someone. The dead ones followed us as we moved to the truck, but they were slow. We easily reached the truck and hopped inside. Candy started the truck, and we were gone before the dead ones even reached us.
    “That was like twenty of them,” Candy said. She clutched the wheel tightly to keep her hands from shaking.
    “Where did they all come from?” I asked. “I was too afraid to look at any of them because I was afraid I might recognize them. Did you look at them?”
    Candy glanced at me and nodded. “A few of them were people I’ve seen in town.” Her voice shook, and I wondered if mine was shaking too.
    We made it back to Candy’s house and headed toward the bunker, toward safety. I had completely forgotten about Mikael’s threat not to let us back in. We reached the bunker door and banged on it. I knew banging on the door was not a smart idea. It would probably attract them, but I didn’t want to be outside another moment. I glanced around, fearing I might see some of the dead ones, but there weren’t any.
    “Mikael, we’re back,” Candy said. “Let us in.”
    “Are you alone?” he asked.
    “Yes, now open this freakin' door,” she said.
    “Why is your voice so scared?” he asked. “Are the dead ones near you?”
    “No!” She banged louder. I wanted to tell her to stop because she might attract the dead ones, but I also wanted inside.
    “Please, we are alone. We saw some back at Grandma’s house, but they didn’t follow us,” I said.
    “How do I know you’re not lying?” he asked.
    “If you don’t open this door, I’m going to make sure I live long enough until you have to come outside, and then I am going to rip you open!” Candy shouted.
    I have no idea if Candy’s threat scared him, or if he just finally believed that we were alone, but he opened the door. He stood in the open doorway, blocking us from entering.
    “Have you been bitten?” he asked. “If you’ve been bitten and are turning into one of those dead ones, I don’t want you in here.”
    Instead of answering, we shoved our way inside and shut the door behind us. Together, Candy and I breathed a sigh of relief and shared a smile. Suddenly, our smiles turned into laughter. Perhaps it was the high of making it back in one piece, but we couldn’t stop laughing.
    “What’s going on?” Mikael asked. “Why are you laughing? Were you bitten?”
    At his question, we laughed even harder. I knew it wasn’t appropriate. I pictured Grandma, and wanted to cry, but my body wouldn’t let me. I was just so happy to be alive. I remembered just before I left bunker and how thought about death being better than living in this world, and I knew I was wrong. I was going to keep fighting to stay alive.
    “Answer me!” Mikael shouted.
    Finally, we managed to compose ourselves. Mikael did not look the least bit amused.
    “Shut up,” Candy said. “We’re laughing because we’re happy we made it back alive. Of course, a coward like you wouldn’t understand that since you stayed here like a baby.”
    “So you saw some of those things?” he asked, still inspecting us to make sure we weren’t slowly dying of a dead one bite.
    “Yes,” Candy said in a calm and flat voice. “Mae shot her grandma, but that attracted about twenty of them. They’re slow, so we managed to make it out of there. We have to start being quiet. They seem to be attracted to sound.”
    Mikael seemed thoughtful for a moment then he looked at me. “So you put her down?” It was as if he didn’t believe Candy and wanted to hear it from me.
    I nodded.
    “Good, one less of those thing to worry