Elle McBriar

not really sure what day it is

My eyes fly open. The cold sweats making me shiver. I'm staring at a roof. A white roof. Oh my God. Have I been kidnapped?

I sit up quickly, a shooting pain in my side, "Ah fuck!" I scream, clutching my ribs as hushed whispers fill my ears. I look down, seeing blood cover my hand. I was shot? Who the hell shot me? Surely it wasn't a zombie.

I get down off the table I was laying on and look around. It looks like a break room. Old posters hung up, an old coffee machine was sitting on a table. It's sad.

I go to my holster to find it empty. I begin to panic.

Holy shit holy shit holy shit.

I don't have my gun, or my knives! I'm about to be ambushed, and die! Goodbye sad, zombie world!

The whispers suddenly stop and I press my ear against the door. What I don't expect is be to flying backwards and landing on my ass.

"Well that hurt." I winced, laying flat, "Look zombies, if you're here to kill me, just get it over with. I'm sick of being alone. It sucks you know. It sucks! It sucks big fucking shit!" I rant. Its then I realise I don't hear zombie noises. Lifting my head up, I see people.

Actual real life people.

Scurrying backwards and standing on my feet, I feel myself start to shake.

"Fuck y-you're a person." I stutter, feeling the air leave my lungs.

The first boy looks at his friends behind him, "Yeah? I am, did you uh, hit your head."

He comes closer to me and I flinch away, causing him to stop.

"Please, just give me back my stuff and I'll leave you alone. I didn't mean to trespass I'm just hungry. And I needed somewhere to sleep-"

"Woah woah, slow down. We're not going to hurt you." The first boy rushes out.

I give him a 'are you stupid' look, and glance down at a hole in my skin.

"In our defense, you looked like a zombie." Rolling my eyes, "Thanks."

My hand is still by my side, clutching the bullet wound as the boy comes in closer.

"I'm Alex, Murphy." He holds out his hands, I didn't take them. "Elle McBriar." He looks back at his friends who are staring at me intently, "Elle, can I ask you a few question?" My eyes widen, "I'm not in trouble, am I?"

I hear one of the guys scoff, "What is she, stupid?" He mumbles, I shut my mouth.

"I just want to know if you're okay. You're the first human we've seen since this whole thing started, it's weird you know."

I nodded, following Alex Murphy back into the grocery store.

He guided me to a seat, behind the counter.

"Whats the last thing you remember?" He asks, "Someone yelling 'die fucking zombie' and then waking up here." I shrug, "Okay."

He stops talking, "Is that all?" I asked, he shakes his head, "How long have you been alone for? Out there?" I look down, fumbling with my hands, "Four months. Since this whole thing started."

Alex Murphy nods, giving me weak smile as he gets up and walks over to his friends. I feel light headed. I know the loss of blood is not helping. I get up, a stabbing pain in my side every time I take a step.

"Hey, no one said you could go anywhere." Someone yelled at me. I froze, "Price, calm down."

"No, she could be bitten for all we know." "Price, you're gonna wake the baby." A baby? There's a baby? This price guy comes up to me, glowering at me. Without saying anything, he grabs my wrists, aggressively turning them over, he pulled my neck and my legs, "I'm not bit, I swear."

He sighs, "She's clean."

Alex Murphy comes back over, "Do you want to stay here, for tonight? The sun is setting and you won't get far with that wound." He asked, sounding sincere, "Sure." I shrugged, "Can I get my stuff from the car?" He nods, "Oh, here." I feel two guns being placed in my hands and I thank him.

After stepping over the broken glass, the sun is setting over the trees, casting a yellowish glow over the town. I open the jeep door, throwing the keys in the passenger seat.

"McBriar, to your left!" I hear shouting and I look to my left, seeing a zombie approaching me, without hesitation I grab my gun, shooting it twice before running around the car, scanning each corner and open space.

Holstering my gun, I reach over, pulling my bags out.

"Nice aim." Alex compliments, I smile, "Thanks. I've had practice."

A blush rose to my cheeks, it's been a while since I've talked to anyone, let alone a boy. Even if it was on my zombie killing.

This Price guy is eyeing me up, "What's in the bags?" He asked.

I held them firmly, "My clothes. And my weapons, food and such." I sigh, "You can search them." He seems compliant with my rules so I sit back and wait, hearing him mutter shit under his breath.

Suddenly, another guy re-appears, talking to Alex.

"So, how did you guys survive this?" I ask, making small talk, "We don't talk to you. So sit down and shut up." Price argued, yelling at me. I rolled my eyes, "What are you? A fucking drill sergeant? Don't tell me what to do."

I wish I could keep my mouth shut.

Price comes over to me, earning a warning glare from Alex and the other guy. "Don't talk to me like that we just saved your goddamn life." He hissed, I glared at him, standing him up despite the pain aching in my side, "And I just saved yours. Check the other bag, genius."

Price stood down, picking up the other bag.

His eyes widened and his shoulders relaxed as all the contents fell out.

The rope, knives, guns, bullets, gas and everything I've collected is on the floor of this dirty, dirty grocery store, "You're welcome."

"Are you God?" Price asked, "Excuse me?" I say, "I gotta say, I'm impressed. A little girl like yourself, fighting off zombies alone is quite an achievement." He smirks, "Thank you. Before this I'd never even hit anyone before. So I can tell you, the thrill of shooting my old neighbors is, quite a rush." I say sarcastically.

"I like this girl." Someone said, I looked up, "I'm Gage. You've met Alex. And this motherfucker is Paxton." He hit Paxton upside the head, he growled.

"I'm Elle. Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"The pleasures all mine. Look, come over here."

I was led into the same room I was in before, but this another door opened. It led to some stairs. I walked up them and found myself in a hallway. A narrow hallway, but a hallway nonetheless.

"This place is so cool." I said, looking around.

"We've been living here for the past couple months. Zombies can't climb stairs and we're too cool for them anyway." Gage smirks, leading me into a kitchen.

It's a plain kitchen. White tiles, white ceiling. Even the cabinets and sink are white. There's leftover coffee cups sitting on the small white table in the corner of the room. Dead plants in pots sit on the windowsill while a telescope sits between open blinds.

"You hungry?" He asked, I shook my head, "I'm okay."

Despite me saying no, Gage handed me a sandwich on a paper plate, I smiled at the kind gesture and ate it, feeling myself wake up a little more.

"Ignore Paxton okay, he's always been a bitch. But come sit, tell us about you. I know you're probably confused and scared but I can answer most of your questions."

I was sitting on a red couch in a different room. This one was a bit bigger. There were two couches, red ones, two seater. A baby carrier and stroller sat in the corner, with guns, bullets, grenades and knives in one big tub. I swallowed, feeling fear scratch at my throat.

"I don't really h-have an questions right now. Mainly just, how are you guys alive?"

Gage smiled a small and sad smile, "Alex, Paxton and I are best friends. My father owned this grocery store and this house up the stairs. We were all in my room playing video games when the whole thing broke out and my Dad warned us to stay inside. So we did. And Alex almost died, because we went downstairs. But we fought it." Gage sighed, running his hands through his hair, tugging on it.

"We survived off each other. Helping each other rationing food and looking for anything to defend ourselves with." He shrugged, a soft knock interrupted us, "Come in."

I heard a baby crying and Alex came in, a tired look on his face, "He won't stop crying, I don't know what to do."

Alex passed the baby to Gage and Gage tried calming him down. But he cried harder. It as cute, seeing boys try to hold the baby, "Can I try?" I ask, knowing it was a long shot. They gave each other a look but gave him to me anyway.

I held the baby in my arms, the warmth radiating off it's body onto mine, "Hi there little guy. Aren't you a cutie, yes you are." I whispered, "His name's Riley. He's my little brother." Alex gushed, sitting on the couch next to Gage.

As I sat opposite them, the tiny baby in my arms, they looked at me.

"How did you survive?"

I sighed, "I don't know, honestly. I just hid. My little brother and I were downstairs watching TV when it happened. My Mom and Dad they..." I paused, cringing at the memory, "They were tearing each other apart. So we hid under the stairs until all we heard was quiet. I don't really know what happened, those last two weeks after everything went down, but I quickly picked up on how to stab a zombie, and then my brother suggested going to the gun shop, and we did. I picked up four, almost shot myself, and had to read a pamphlet on how to load one."

I smiled at the memory, the baby asleep in my arms, "When I went back, the guns were gone and now I know where they ended up." I chuckled, "But that's it. My little brother was attacked a month later and here I am. Alone."

Gage sighed, "It's brutal. Seeing your family and friends die in front of you." I nodded my head, "Yes, yes it is."

Gage left after Alex whispered something in his ears, "There's a bathroom here, if you want to take a shower. And then I can show you to your room for the night."

"Thank you."

It felt so good to have a shower. Feel the hot droplets of water cascade down my back. I hadn't had a proper shower in months. I washed my hair and my body, scrubbing off the blood and dirt that clung to me. I hopped out, not wanting to waste all the hot water.

I wrapped a towel around my waist, seeing my fresh clothes on the counter.

I looked at myself in the mirror for the first time since it happened.

My cheeks are hollower, my eyes more sunken in. I'm skinnier, for obvious reasons. My hair is nearing my waist and my eyes are tired. I hate feeling like this.

Like I'm constantly losing.

"You okay in there?" Alex knocks, "Yeah, just changing."

I open the door, seeing Alex smile at me, "Thank you so much. I feel so, clean." I smiled.

"I'm glad."

* * *

hii

she made friends!

i'm so happy :)

anyway, happy reading