The wind tided gently against the cracked pavement. Pushing and pulling the grains of sand as an ocean to shore, and in the distance, a sharp roar cuts through, echoing off the mountain sides.
The heavy pounding of a ’77 Camaro, rusty and grey with faded racing stripes, zooms through the wasteland that was once a portion of the piedmont side of North Carolina. As he crossed through, his music blasted loudly, bass rattling from the hip-hop music.
“Uh, can you turn it down?” she says, screaming over the music, her pale yellow and burnt-out pink afro swaying with the wind. He doesn’t respond but just side eyes her. “ Okay, I get it, but you’re just being obnoxious”, he scoffs. “Yeah, it’s me, but you’re the one dumb enough to get trapped by a Zom”, she is taken aback by him. “ Not like it was one, like you’re implying,” she says with her arms crossed.
She looks out the window, and in the distance, a figure, stumbling towards them. It was only a glimpse as the flew by.
“That was one of the joys of a zombie apocalypse, I guess. When everything first kicked off, our parents were away on a trip; funny enough, if I remember it was for mom’s birthday, she always talked about going to Paris. When the outbreak spread and America got quarantined by the rest of the world, everywhere was chaos”.
October 12, 2019
Orange and yellow with mixes of green and red danced from tree to tree, complementing the laughter shared among friends. “Eddie, you’re stupid,” she says with a chuckle. She was tall, easily 5’10, maroon brown with dark eyes, and her afro was half dark brown and half blonde. She wore leggings with a denim overcoat that had tears in the sleeves. Eddie had cornrows and was very nerdy; his head was always buzz cut from his military family; his pants were sweats most of the time, along with a t-shirt and a hoodie. “Yeah, well I don’t think Isaac would appreciate it if I kept you from studying “ she throws up her hand to gesture away his thoughts, “Issac does not control me Ed” she says her dark brown eyes staring at his, making him nervous “I mean…..He doesn’t control you. Sure but he sure as shit can control everyone around you” his chuckle weak in nature.
She waved him off, looking past him and seeing her best friend Zack walking towards them, she was pale with Jet black hair that had navy blue tips at the ends. Her black boots with slim black leggings and ripped, faded black denim jacket screamed rebel. Which for the most part she was “Hey losers,” she says cheerfully. They noticed she was happier than normal, causing her to raise an eyebrow. “You alright, Zack?” she asked, “What? you don’t know?” she says in a sarcastic giggle, whipping her phone out and going to her Bluesky account.
Zack noticed their eyes getting wide. “Sooooo, Jackie, you wanna go?” Eddie scoffs, “Talk about me distracting you from studying.” Zack then points to the time on her phone, “Aren’t you late, their Ed?” his wide eyes don’t adjust to his body as it begins to move before he could think “oh shi….” He grabs his laptop back and shuffles away from the table “Yo, catch you guys later” he says as he walks back into the campus building, Jackie waves at him before he disappears behind the glass doors”. Zack rolls her eyes, “I still don’t see why you two aren’t dating already”, “You know Isaac wouldn’t approve, not because he doesn’t like Ed just…..he would rather us live more “, “What the fuck does that even me Jack?” Zack replies, to which Jackie just shrugs her shoulders. “I just chalk it up to big brother stuff.”, “ugh-huh, anyway are we going or what?” Zack asked her, obviously dismissive of Isaac’s intent.
Jackie sits back in her chair, leaning back and looking up at the clouds.
LATER THAT DAY
As the sun curved under the blanket of Earth, covering the sky in colors of onyx and royal purple. The stars twinkled against the night background as the moon came into place.
Zack’s car is rumbling and an old bright red 1969 Mustang roaring on the night road, as she pulls up to a decently sized. White on the outside, one of those houses that look like a plantation from the front, with a large front yard with two identical dogwood trees. She kills the engine and walks up to the front door, giving 3 rhythmic knocks. It’s a second before the door swings open, “Zack!” Isaac yells with a surprise chipper voice before hugging her, “Come in, come in.” She laughs, “ So you and Jackie are going to that party tonight?”, “We discussed it earlier, I’m just here trying to convince her to take a break from studying to go,” Isaac laughs before breaking away to walk into the kitchen. She follows behind, “What’s you’re beef with Ed?” she asks bluntly, leaning on the door frame.
He picks up an orange, tossing it in the air before catching it with a smile and peeling it. “No beef, just I don’t want him and Jackelin to rush into a relationship when they’ve been friends for so long.”, “Yeah, but you can’t control her”, “Not really controlling when it’s just an opinion; I’m not threatening anyone.” He stares at Zack as he bites into the now bare orange. Zack and he have an intense stare down before she rolls her eyes at him, “Ummm, whatever. Where is she?”, “What I’m not lying you know…” he says confused at her position “She is in the garage tho, working on something science related” Zack walks past him as he grabs her arm causing her to stop “Kinda hypocritical, no? if Ed and Jack can’t date because they have been friends for so long then neither can we” taking her arm back and walking out the back door.
She steps into the backyard, taking a moment to look at the field of a backyard covered in shadow from all the trees. Her concentration was broken by a buzzing noise coming from the garage, which was only covered by the muffled sound of rock music and the constant flickering of lights sparking.
She walks in behind Jack before getting amazed by what she was working on, “Whoa….Dude!”
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