Page 5 of Dyana
Chapter two
Dyana
Past
The closer I got to my hometown, the clearer it became that, small town or not, nowhere was safe from the apocalypse. I took the familiar route to my home, winding through streets of still-burning houses, unsure of what I would find when I arrived. As I turned onto my street, I was relieved to see my house was still standing. Hopeful to find my parents and sister alive and well inside, I parked in the driveway, and after ensuring there weren’t any zombies around, I rushed to the front door and let myself in.
“Hello? Mom? Dad? Kelly?” I called into the quiet house. “I’m home! Where are you?” I searched the first floor, and the only thing out of place was the kitchen door, which was wide open. I closed it and went upstairs. I checked Kelly’s room first, but it was empty. “Mom? Dad?”
I heard a thump from their room and approached their closed door cautiously. Deep inside my heart, I knew they were gone. If they had been alive, they would have rushed out to greet me as soon as they heard my voice, but they didn’t. I pressed my ear to the door and listened to the growingly familiar sound of a zombie on the other side.
“No,” I whispered; tears flooded my eyes as I backed away from the door and slid down the wall to the floor across from it. I was too late.
I don’t know how long I sat staring at the door in my hall. How long I watched the shadow beneath the door as one of my parents moved restlessly around the room. How long I cried and mourned the loss of my parents, my protectors, my cheerleaders, my champions. I hadn’t appreciated them nearly as much as I should have, and now it was too late. I wallowed in my pain until a singular thought formed in my head and spurred me to get off the floor finally.
Kelly.
I still didn’t know where Kelly was. Maybe she trapped our parents in their bedroom and ran. She could be out there somewhere right this minute, scared and alone. I had to find her! But first, I had to put my parents out of their misery. Perhaps they no longer knew who they were and felt nothing in this state, but I knew they wouldn’t want to continue like this. Wouldn’t want to be the reason someone else was hurt.
I stood and stretched. My limbs were stiff from sitting there for so long. With a final determined look at my parents’ bedroom door, I went to the garage where my Dad kept his tools and pulled a hatchet from the wall. I looked at the other tools hanging there, mentally cataloging them to take with me when I left my home for good. My eyes caught on my Dad’s compound bow, and I slipped the hatchet through a belt loop and grabbed the bow. Memories of my Dad patiently teaching me to use itflooded my mind. I hadn’t had any interest in hunting growing up, much to his disappointment, but had begrudgingly endured his lessons because it made him happy. I was grateful for them now.
Now that I was properly armed, I knew I’d need to figure out some sort of armor. I grabbed the roll of duct tape and went back upstairs to my room. I found a hoodie and covered it with the tape. I spent more time on the task than was necessary to delay the inevitable for as long as possible. When I ran out of ways to do that, I pulled on the hoodie, grabbed the bow and arrows, and crept back to their door. I listened carefully and tracked the movements inside. I opened it when I was sure they weren’t near the door. I knew I had to be quick. Kelly counted on me to find her, and I couldn’t do that if I hesitated and ended up dead. My mom turned at the sound of the door opening, but before she could rush me, I aimed and put an arrow through her forehead.
As her body fell to the floor, I spun to find my dad. What I saw sent me to my knees. His body was sprawled on their bed, his torso ripped open from where my mom had fed on him, but that wasn’t what broke my heart. Beside his hand was his handgun, and that, combined with the hole in his head and all of the blood, painted a clear picture. I checked my mom’s body to confirm my suspicions and saw the bullet hole in her chest. It was a murder-suicide, except Dad didn’t know that he needed to shoot Mom in the head.
The absurdity of my thoughts struck me, and manic laughter bubbled out of me. Never in my wildest dreams had I thought I would ever be standing in a room with my dead parents, critiquing my father’s efforts to kill my mother. I looked around the room as I tried to compose myself and spotted a folded piece of paper on their dresser with my name and Kelly’s name scrolled in my mom’s familiar handwriting. It instantly sobered me. Mom’s locket was sitting on top of it, and with shakinghands, I picked it up and unfolded the paper to read my mom’s last words.
Dyana and Kelly,
Oh, my sweet, darling girls. If you’re reading this, you’ve survived this world longer than your father or I. I’m not sure if that will be a blessing or a curse. When we heard the news that the virus had reached the college, we went to get Kelly from the arcade, intending to come to the college to find Dyana. While searching for Kelly, we were bitten, and understanding what that meant, we decided to return home and end our lives. We don’t want you to be put in a position where we could hurt you or force you to kill us yourselves.
I pray you’ve found each other. Stick together and watch out for each other. We are so proud of you both. Being your parents was the greatest achievement of our lives. I wish we had more to offer you. Some sage words to take with you as you move forward in this new world. All I can say is never to forget who you are, but do what you must to survive. You’re both strong, intelligent women. You can survive this world.
I wish I could hug you one last time. I’ll always be with you.
All my love,
Mom
My tears dropped onto the page, blurring the ink as they soaked into the already tear-stained paper. Mom was crying as she wrote this, likely with my Dad standing stoically behind her, squeezing her shoulders in comfort, lending his strength to hers. Beneath her letter, Dad had also left a message.
Girls,
Trust no one but each other. Take my truck and my bow. Extra arrows are in the trunk under my workbench.The combination to my gun safe is R23-L6-R18. Take everything with you. Conserve the ammo for emergencies only. They are attracted to sound. It won’t be easy, but I know you can do this. Try to get to your Uncle Mark’s house in Wyoming. He’ll take care of you. I love you.
Dad
I folded the letter and slid it into my back pocket. I secured the locket around my neck and unlocked Dad’s safe. Once I gathered all of the guns and ammo, including the one he used to kill himself, I left the room, closing the door tightly behind me. The sun was already setting, and as much as I wanted to look for Kelly immediately, I knew it would be better to wait for daylight. Instead, I made sure the house was locked up tight and all the shades were drawn so that the light didn’t attract unwanted attention. After I made myself something to eat, I began the task of packing up Dad’s truck. I gathered everything Kelly and I would need for our trip to Wyoming, including extra blankets and every non-perishable food item in the house. I wanted to be ready to hit the road when I found her.
I was up early the next morning. While sleeping in my childhood bed should have been a comfort, knowing my parents’ dead bodies were down the hall, my sister was God knows where, the world had fallen to shit, and there were zombies outside waiting for the chance to eat me put a damper on the experience. I was grateful when the sun began to rise, and I had an excuse to get out of bed. After scrambled eggs and half a pot of coffee, I donned my armor, grabbed my weapons, and left thehouse. I contemplated not bringing the bow because it was a little more bulky than I preferred, but I decided to do it anyway. I also brought a handgun with me, just in case.
I opted to search for Kelly on foot. While a vehicle offered me more security, I could get around town much quieter without one. I checked out Main Street first, which was naturally the most congested area for zombies. I learned that it was essential to take them down as quickly and quietly as possible. Once one noticed you and started a racket, the others joined in with their dulcet death rattles, as if they were in the Tabernacle Choir. Once they started singing, it was impossible to shut them up.
On the first day, I searched the top of Main Street. The movie theater was a particularly sketchy place to search; however, I did raid the snack bar and cleaned them out of Sour Patch Kids, Kelly’s favorite. I searched the rest of Main Street on the second day, including the arcade where my parents had started their search for her. I found Kelly’s purse there, but no other sign of her. I refused to consider it a bad omen. If the world were falling apart around her, she probably wouldn’t be too concerned about her purse.
I was now on day three of my search for Kelly. Since Main Street was a bust, I decided to hop in my SUV and drive through the neighborhoods in hopes that someone would see me and flag me down. It was incredibly unsettling that I had yet to see a living person. Where did everyone go? There weren’t enough zombies around town to account for every citizen, so where were they? After weaving through the streets, I gained quite a following.
Funny how less than a week ago, the word “following” meant something completely different.
