Yesterday was such a mess.
Buffy wasn't out to sabotage the group but it still sent a ripple out. Soon after I made the entry yesterday there was a knock on the door, the twins.
Elliott and Charlie were both highly upset about my house guest. Their yelling woke Buffy up. I had no words, I didn't know what to say... how to make it right again. Apparently Jeremy was frantically searching for her and was causing everyone else stress.
"I just thought-- Nevermind." Charlie said with tears swelling up. I knew what she thought, and she was right. We had been playing a mental game ever since I got here but we had never physically acted on it. Just random touches here or there, spotting each other during work outs or lingering hugs. I thought it was just the need for companionship, not sexual. I guess I was wrong. "Hey, life is to short for drama, okay? This sucks but I don't want to be on bad terms. I don't want to regret words. We can talk later." Charlie shot Buffy a look, bit her lip and motioned to her sister to leave with her. They closed the front door and I spun around to face Buffy.
"Well, I should get back now. I don't want Jeremy to cause us to get kicked out." Buffy finished getting dressed and left... not even a kiss good bye.
I sat by myself and sipped my coffee. My stomach was in knots. I did a breathing exercise I used before the zombies, my anxiety breathing. My, "Everything works out in the end" and "I can do this." mantra. Having feelings was strange. How calm everyone was even though tension was high was strange. Things are different now.
Another knock at the door.
This should be wonder-fucking-ful.
"Hi. Umm, sorry about earlier. I just--- didn't know how to act. Ya know... about that girl." Charlie stood there, sniffling between words. I couldn't help but be surprised at how upset she was. Even though we flirted it always felt more of a reflex than anything else. Teenage girls flirt and especially flirt with people that would make their Daddy angry... that's all. I thought. "Jasmine, one of the cheerleaders... well... come with me." She grabbed my hand and lead me to the far corner storage unit. My throat was clogged with anxiety, I could barely swallow. I knew what she was going to show me before she pushed open the large door. A hog tied zombie lay in the corner. The smell made my eyes water.
You never get use to the smell. Out in the open it becomes a tool to know when they are coming but in close quarters it's just like finding a dead body that has been forgotten about for months, in a car, on the hottest day of the year. Bugs won't even feed on these gnarly bastards. I covered my nose and mouth with my shirt. From the noise of us approaching the tied up beast started thrashing and kicking. Black ooze leaked from around her bindings, her skin was torn from thrashing around. Charlie sat down on the floor beside me. We had an easy six feet between us and the thing Charlie called Jasmine.
I pulled my knife from it's holster and looked at Charlie. We both jumped when Elliott slipped under the storage door. Charlie continued into her quiet sobs while Elliott put a hand on my shoulder.
"Jasmine was Charlie's girlfriend. They were on the squad together and our parents just thought she was a close friend. Charlie saved Jazzy in the beginning and we moved here. Their relationship became hard to hide when we were all crammed in the truck for days getting here. Daddy even blamed Jazzy for the deaths of the other girls. Our parents ignored their relationship because obviously there was bigger shit to deal with. Jazzy got bit while we were helping Benny and his family secure these apartments. Charlie and Jazzy wanted to have their own apartment to have more privacy." Elliott made a grimace, "Well, Charlie tied her up when she died before she... came back. I helped her put the body in here. I thought--" Elliot choked by a sob, "I hoped that Jazzy was taken care of."
"I couldn't do it." Charlie sobbed.
I walked over and plunged my blade deep into the skull of the undead cheerleader. The thrashing stopped and her body went limp. I pulled the knife out and blackness oozed everywhere. I spat at the ground to get the smell out of my mouth. I wiped my knife off on the dead girl's pant leg. I calmly walked back over to a hunched-over sobbing Charlie and her sister who was consoling her. I leaned over to be face to face with Charlie and lifted up her face by the chin with my now black ooze splattered hand. She shivered with pain and tears as I told her very solemnly, "That wasn't your Jazzy. This isn't a game. You put everyone at risk. Are you hiding any more dead girlfriends? You have to clean this shit up. Got me?" I kissed her forehead, nodded to her sister and walked out of the storage unit straight to Davis and Lilly who were talking with Krista and Jeremy in the courtyard. I had black splatters on my pants and shirt. As I approached Jeremy and Davis reached for their weapons.
"I would say relax it's me, but I'm pretty sure my news isn't going to be a day at the spa." I said through clinched teeth.
Since it was in the middle of the day we all helped the twins clean up the storage unit and burned the officially dead girlfriend. Charlie won't even look in my direction and Elliott keeps talking for her and apologizing profusely. Buffy and I haven't spoken about our night together. No one in the group has brought it up either. Tonight is my night to keep watch so people think I will be sleeping most of the day. I think it's a good thing.
It's amazing how the end of the world can put things in perspective. Krista is banging all the men in her group. Even Kroger who apparently doesn't speak. They call him Kroger because that's where they found him. Held up in a grocery store he was a night janitor at. Smart hiding place, if you ask me. He kind of speaks through hand jesters and Jeremy swears he's said a few words in the year they've been in the "Zed Wars" together. Jeremy was a teenage drug dealer turned distributor to now zombie killer. Kroger was the first "living being not out to kill anything that moved" (his words) he came across after the dead stopped dying completely. Point is-- no one cares about that extra drama. If anything the group is just happy to be "gettin' some" and now they are happy to be semi-comfortable. They have a whole apartment building now like the Benny's. Both levels of building seven. It was decided last night to integrate them officially. That means putting them on the patrol and the work schedule. We run like a hippy commune. I guess it helps that Benny's family has training in running and feeding large groups.
We are all just happy to be alive and now that all the skeletons are out of the... umm... storage units, we may be able to move forward.
Buffy wasn't out to sabotage the group but it still sent a ripple out. Soon after I made the entry yesterday there was a knock on the door, the twins.
Elliott and Charlie were both highly upset about my house guest. Their yelling woke Buffy up. I had no words, I didn't know what to say... how to make it right again. Apparently Jeremy was frantically searching for her and was causing everyone else stress.
"I just thought-- Nevermind." Charlie said with tears swelling up. I knew what she thought, and she was right. We had been playing a mental game ever since I got here but we had never physically acted on it. Just random touches here or there, spotting each other during work outs or lingering hugs. I thought it was just the need for companionship, not sexual. I guess I was wrong. "Hey, life is to short for drama, okay? This sucks but I don't want to be on bad terms. I don't want to regret words. We can talk later." Charlie shot Buffy a look, bit her lip and motioned to her sister to leave with her. They closed the front door and I spun around to face Buffy.
"Well, I should get back now. I don't want Jeremy to cause us to get kicked out." Buffy finished getting dressed and left... not even a kiss good bye.
I sat by myself and sipped my coffee. My stomach was in knots. I did a breathing exercise I used before the zombies, my anxiety breathing. My, "Everything works out in the end" and "I can do this." mantra. Having feelings was strange. How calm everyone was even though tension was high was strange. Things are different now.
Another knock at the door.
This should be wonder-fucking-ful.
"Hi. Umm, sorry about earlier. I just--- didn't know how to act. Ya know... about that girl." Charlie stood there, sniffling between words. I couldn't help but be surprised at how upset she was. Even though we flirted it always felt more of a reflex than anything else. Teenage girls flirt and especially flirt with people that would make their Daddy angry... that's all. I thought. "Jasmine, one of the cheerleaders... well... come with me." She grabbed my hand and lead me to the far corner storage unit. My throat was clogged with anxiety, I could barely swallow. I knew what she was going to show me before she pushed open the large door. A hog tied zombie lay in the corner. The smell made my eyes water.
You never get use to the smell. Out in the open it becomes a tool to know when they are coming but in close quarters it's just like finding a dead body that has been forgotten about for months, in a car, on the hottest day of the year. Bugs won't even feed on these gnarly bastards. I covered my nose and mouth with my shirt. From the noise of us approaching the tied up beast started thrashing and kicking. Black ooze leaked from around her bindings, her skin was torn from thrashing around. Charlie sat down on the floor beside me. We had an easy six feet between us and the thing Charlie called Jasmine.
I pulled my knife from it's holster and looked at Charlie. We both jumped when Elliott slipped under the storage door. Charlie continued into her quiet sobs while Elliott put a hand on my shoulder.
"Jasmine was Charlie's girlfriend. They were on the squad together and our parents just thought she was a close friend. Charlie saved Jazzy in the beginning and we moved here. Their relationship became hard to hide when we were all crammed in the truck for days getting here. Daddy even blamed Jazzy for the deaths of the other girls. Our parents ignored their relationship because obviously there was bigger shit to deal with. Jazzy got bit while we were helping Benny and his family secure these apartments. Charlie and Jazzy wanted to have their own apartment to have more privacy." Elliott made a grimace, "Well, Charlie tied her up when she died before she... came back. I helped her put the body in here. I thought--" Elliot choked by a sob, "I hoped that Jazzy was taken care of."
"I couldn't do it." Charlie sobbed.
I walked over and plunged my blade deep into the skull of the undead cheerleader. The thrashing stopped and her body went limp. I pulled the knife out and blackness oozed everywhere. I spat at the ground to get the smell out of my mouth. I wiped my knife off on the dead girl's pant leg. I calmly walked back over to a hunched-over sobbing Charlie and her sister who was consoling her. I leaned over to be face to face with Charlie and lifted up her face by the chin with my now black ooze splattered hand. She shivered with pain and tears as I told her very solemnly, "That wasn't your Jazzy. This isn't a game. You put everyone at risk. Are you hiding any more dead girlfriends? You have to clean this shit up. Got me?" I kissed her forehead, nodded to her sister and walked out of the storage unit straight to Davis and Lilly who were talking with Krista and Jeremy in the courtyard. I had black splatters on my pants and shirt. As I approached Jeremy and Davis reached for their weapons.
"I would say relax it's me, but I'm pretty sure my news isn't going to be a day at the spa." I said through clinched teeth.
Since it was in the middle of the day we all helped the twins clean up the storage unit and burned the officially dead girlfriend. Charlie won't even look in my direction and Elliott keeps talking for her and apologizing profusely. Buffy and I haven't spoken about our night together. No one in the group has brought it up either. Tonight is my night to keep watch so people think I will be sleeping most of the day. I think it's a good thing.
It's amazing how the end of the world can put things in perspective. Krista is banging all the men in her group. Even Kroger who apparently doesn't speak. They call him Kroger because that's where they found him. Held up in a grocery store he was a night janitor at. Smart hiding place, if you ask me. He kind of speaks through hand jesters and Jeremy swears he's said a few words in the year they've been in the "Zed Wars" together. Jeremy was a teenage drug dealer turned distributor to now zombie killer. Kroger was the first "living being not out to kill anything that moved" (his words) he came across after the dead stopped dying completely. Point is-- no one cares about that extra drama. If anything the group is just happy to be "gettin' some" and now they are happy to be semi-comfortable. They have a whole apartment building now like the Benny's. Both levels of building seven. It was decided last night to integrate them officially. That means putting them on the patrol and the work schedule. We run like a hippy commune. I guess it helps that Benny's family has training in running and feeding large groups.
We are all just happy to be alive and now that all the skeletons are out of the... umm... storage units, we may be able to move forward.
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