Zombie Bullshit

[leeeeeeeah]

Jez
I blinked a few times, not really quite awake. The sleep had made me feel groggy and slow. "Slept fine. Feel like someone's whacked me in the head with a fucking sledgehammer though," I said, rubbing my forehead. I had a feeling if anyone was going to hit me in the head it would be Calloway. I shook my head and sat up straight, sorting my food out to eat. I was kind of hungry now, but sleeping had made me feel better. Apart from the headache, obviously.

Cal
I did my little routine of opening the packets and warming and eating the food in perfect order and style. I pretty much ignored the rest of them; I couldn't be distracted from my routine or I might mess it up.

[grey scale:]

Kimberly
I frowned and opened up the glove compartment between James and I, searching for the bottle of ibuprofen we always kept inside. I found it and tossed it to Jezebel. "Here, it should fix your headache soon enough."

James
I quickly ate my food, wiping my mouth on the back of my hand and completely disregarding the napkin in the pack. "Where are we going, again?" I asked. "Nova scotia or wherever?"

[leeeeeeeah]

Jezebel
I caught the bottle and opened it, taking it straight from the bottle. Not like I had anything to measure out with anyway. "A cold place," I muttered. "Do we even have enough blankets to stop us freezing if we can't find a safe place to stay?" I said, turning in my seat to see what was in the back. We'd brought some blankets, I knew that, just not how many.

Cal
I finished my food and threw the packet out of the window. It couldn't clutter up the jeep. "I think death by zombie would be a lot less peaceful than death by freezing," I said, tilting my head. If you froze, you could just go to sleep and not wake up. Zombies would just tear you apart and I imagined that would hurt.

[grey scale:]

Kimberly
I leaned over the seat and the backseat and grabbed the mass of blankets I'd taken from my parents' closet. "Yeah. we've got plenty," I said. "Besides, if we come up on any stores, we can see if they've got any more."

James
I looked at Kimberly, shoveling in a bite of some mystery chicken-and-pasta mixture into my mouth. "You seem pretty damn comfortable with taking shit from stores," I said, digging a cigarette from my pocket with my lighter. I lit it and blew the smoke out the window.

Kimberly
I shrugged at James after handing everybody a blanket. "Either we could use it or the zombies could soil it. I see it as putting the merchandise to good use. If I had money and there was somebody there to collect it, I would leave some. But there's not."

[leeeeeeeah]

Jezebel
"Now isn't really the time for orderly purchasing anyway, don't you think?" I said, rolling my eyes and taking the blanket. I put it over me, my feet still tucked underneath me from sleeping and leant my head back. I was still tired, and the headache wasn't really doing me any favours while I was awake.

Cal
Apparently everyone had already written me off as crazy and weren't talking to me or listening to me. Not that I usually make much sense. I kind of regretted not remembering my meds because, in the flashes of normality in my weirdly functioning brain, I knew being this deranged wasn't healthy, especially in current circumstances.

[grey scale:]

James
I sat silently for a minute, listening to Cal quietly mutter to himself and the wind howl outside of the jeep. "My dad had a store once," I said after a long while, staring at the trees in the distance, swaying in the promise of forthcoming rain. "Looters took everything from his shop days after the drop before I could get it all. He was already gone, but I still had the store till then," I mumbled, almost mesmerized by the swaying trees and shrubs on the horizon.

Kimberly
I watched as James spoke, feeling something pull at my heartstrings. I remembered the last month and a half I'd spent alone with my father -- it had been terrible, lonely, frustrating, claustrophobic, and undeniably exasperating. And yet we had never been closer, and I had never felt closer or more grateful to my father. Looking at James now, I saw the exact same thing -- the conflict, the sadness, the betrayal, the confusion -- in his eyes. "I know how you feel," I said softly.

[leeeeeeeah]

Jezebel
I listened and watched them both until the end of James' story and then leant back in my seat, retreating from them. They all had these experiences with their families to bond over and cry over and miss, and I didn't. I was simply at home the day it all happened and my mother and sister were out so I left the house and ran away. Nothing tragic or dramatic about it, really.

Cal
I stopped muttering to myself about half way through James' little story and I just sat there and stared at the back of the seat in front of me. I had a dad. Maybe. He just ran off after my mom and never came back after promising he would. Why did he do that? It was so unfair. He never loved mom anyway -- the amount of money I'd been paid to keep quiet about dad's usual 'overtime' at work was proof enough. He could have just stayed. I felt myself beginning to get frustrated with all my stupid emotions, and I didn't really know how to let them out and they were just building up, and eventually I felt myself starting to cry.

[grey scale:]

James
I heard a bit of a strangled noise coming from the backseat, and I turned to see if maybe zombies had silently gotten in and attacked the other two without our noticing. "Cal...?" I asked hesitantly upon seeing the boy's tears, because that's what I always thought of him as -- a little boy. A scared shitless, crazy-as-hell little boy. "Cal, man, what's wrong?"

Kimberly
I frowned when I heard Cal begin to cry. I sereptitiously pulled my feet onto the seat in front of me, lying my head on my knees and hugging my legs to my chest. This whole zombiedisease was ruining everything. Everybody was dead, aside from those of us like James, Calloway, Jezebel and I, who were either immune to the anitbody or had been fast enough to get away from any pursuers for seven straight months. Towns were now completely deserted. Other countries were beginning to catch the disease, like France, Portugal, and the UK, and most of the Middle East. Everything was going to shit.

[leeeeeeeah]

Cal
I ignored James - barely heard him, really - and cried into my knees, at first because of my dad but then just because of the entire situation we were in. Zombies were overrunning the damn world and there was barely anyone left, and soon there wouldn't be anyone at all. People were dying in the most horrible ways, and pretty soon, we would join them. I had a hunch it would either be death by zombie, as they got stronger and faster, or we ran out of supplies. Either way was pretty terrible, but at least zombies would probably finish you off quickly. The complete and total hopelessness of the situation was now what was upsetting me the most.

Jez
I watched Cal for a minute, not entirely sure why he was crying or what to do or anything. James seemed to be trying to handle it, so I turned my head and blocked them out. I'm not good with dealing with other people's emotions, or even my own really. I couldn't even comfort my own sister when she was upset, so how was I supposed to deal with complete strangers bursting into tears next to me?

[grey scale:]

James
I sighed frustratedly and put a hand on Cal's shoulder. We'd been together for about three weeks when we found Jez around the beginning of last month. He'd always been a bit cooky but he'd never seemed sad -- nonetheless as depressed as he sounded at the moment. "Fuck it, Cal, answer me!"

Kimberly
"Don't yell at him," I snapped, but when I saw James's shocked expression I sighed and softened my tone. "It won't help anything, James." I put my feet back onto the floorboard and turned around, straddling my seat awkwardly. "Calloway, what's the matter?" He was directly behind me, his face red and tear-stained, his forehead pressed tightly to his knees in front of him.

[leeeeeeeah]

Cal
I didn't want to talk to anyone, or tell them why I was crying. But if I didn't then we were all going to get very angry with each other and then we'd probably end up killing each other. Another way to die added to my growing list. I let my sobbing calm down before I said anything. I lifted my head only slightly off my knees, and looked at Kim, tears still in my eyes. "We're all going to die," I said quietly, almost whispering. "And I don't want to die."

Jez
I turned my head back to look at Calloway. Had he really just said that? Really? "We're not going to die," I said, shaking my head. "I will be damned if I let myself die anytime soon, and it just so happens I need you three if I have any chance of surviving this. I have not left my home and travelled god knows how far just to let you all die and me go along with you. So stop crying. Nobody's going to die yet." And with that, I turned back around to look out of the window, listening to Cal's sniffling slowly subside. Now I really was going to have to stay with them. But I did need them.

[grey scale:]

ASDFGHJKL
Jezebel is so uptight, oh my goshhhh D:
WHERE DO YOU COME UP WITH THIS SHIT
And apparently, William sends his regards.
___________________

Kimberly
So in between my ponderings of Jezebel having completely NO SOUL AT ALL, I turned back around and made a split-second decision to restart the car and drive some more. "It's not like I'm sleeping any time soon, apparently," I grumbled irately, what with Calloway sniveling like a little girl in the backseat for such a reason as us apparently dying in the near future -- really? I mean, what the hell?

James
"Where are we going?" I asked Kim lazily, already fully reclined in my seat with my feet propped on the dash. "Another town, we might be able to find some abandoned houses that are still safe enough for us to stay in," was the muttered reply. I turned away and looked out the window; whatever, it's not like I really cared where we went anyway.

[leeeeeeeah]

I'M GINGER, THE SOULLESSNESS COMES NATURALLY TO ME.
Also, dying in a scary thought Kimberly, y u be lyke dat? D:
_____

Jezebel
I watched out of the window as Kimberly drove. She was probably pissed off with me and everyone else in the car but hey, maybe she's on her period, I don't know. I was just hoping we'd be able to make it to a suitably non-zombie-infested abandoned town before it got too dark. Because really, who wants to be out in the dark with a bunch of zombies that hunger for human flesh?

Cal
I eventually stopped sniffling and snivelling, but stayed in my knees-up-head-down position for the remainder of the drive. I kind of really wished I had my medication right now because when I don't have it I start to panic like this and I really hate it. Maybe there'd be a specialist pharmacy in the town we go too. I mean, my medication wasn't exactly serious or anything, but only specialist places seemed to have it.

[grey scale:]

Kimberly
I just drove, silently keeping the high beams on so I could see everything. If we came across a stray zombie, I ran over it.

James
"Cal," I said, breaking the silence a few minutes down the road. "You need your medication. Do you want to see if whatever city we find has a pharmacy?"

[leeeeeeeah]

Cal
I nodded slowly, still staring at the floor. "Yeah. Only specialist places have it though," I said quietly, glancing up at him and then looking back down.

Jezebel
I watched out of the window as we drove, looking up when we passed a sign for a city. "There's a city coming up. Five miles."