Chapter 6

                                    

                                          
Chapter 6
                          
The car drive started out silently. 
                          
I rested my head against the window. I thought of everything. It all came at me like a sharp slap in the face. Everyone I knew, everyone I'd grown up with...they were all dead. 
                          
I closed my eyes as I felt the tears start falling.
                          
"Stop the car," I said suddenly, before I could think twice. 
                          
Here we go, thinking rationally again.
                          
Jeremy glanced at me like I was crazy.
                          
"What?" he asked, raising his eyebrow.
                          
"Stop the freaking car!" I yelped, suddenly feeling very angry. 
                          
The car came to a sudden and hard stop, and I opened the door stormed out. I could hear them calling after me, though what they were saying did not interest me. I needed to think.
                          
I blazed down the empty road. There was not a thing in sight. I wrapped my sweater around my body and moved to the opposite side, away from the car. I could feel the tears falling down my face.
                          
I'd lost my dad.
                          
I wiped a tear from my cheeks.
                          
I'd lost my sister.
                          
More tears started falling, rapidly this time.
                          
I'd lost my boyfriend.
                          
I couldn't see through my eyes anymore. Everything was blurry.
                          
I'd lost my mom.
                          
I couldn't feel my legs anymore. 
                          
I suddenly fell to my knees and cried.
                          
I hated this. It was the freaking end of the world here! Why did I have to live? I had no one left, nothing to live for. Why did I get to live?
                          
Those words ran through my head over and over again. The voice in my head screamed it at me.
                          
"WHY DID YOU LIVE?"
                          
"Why me?" I asked in a faint whisper to no one before choking down into my tears. 
                          
I heard the car door open. I did not want to talk to anyone. I wanted to be alone. I would have to get used to it anyways. I was alone in the world now.
                          
A shadow hovered over me, but I really didn't want to talk to Alyssa right now...
                          
"You OK?"
                          
I lifted my head slowly. That definitely was not Alyssa.
                          
It was Jeremy. 
                          
I stared at him. What did he want? He did not even know me. We weren't friends. He had no right to come here and give me a pep talk. Sure, we'd had a moment, but that was it. 
                          
I dropped my gaze back to the ground.
                          
"No. What do you want? Leave me alone," I commanded harshly. 
                          
He did not leave like I wanted him to. Instead, he knelt next to me. I stiffened. I was not used to sympathy, or people being nice to me at all. People usually ignored me, what with that whole 'curse' thing.
                          
"Listen, I know what you're going through-"
                          
"Do you really? Tell me how you could possibly know what I'm going through. I'm all alone in this fucked up, ending world," I suddenly burst out, standing up. 
                          
Jeremy followed.
                          
"Hello?! Would you look around? You're not the only one who's lost someone. We've all lost our families. They're freaking Zombies, for God's sake! At least you weren't the one there to see both your parents wake up from the dead after being bitten by a Zombie. They tried to freaking kill me!" He stopped for a moment, gaining control of his temper. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before whispering, "You're not alone in this, Ella."
                          
His words finally hit me, and they hit me hard. He was right. About everything. A second ago I'd been stupidly thinking I was all alone. But I wasn't.
                          
I had Alyssa and Dominic. And I had Jeremy.
                          
Without thinking, I threw my arms around him. His body's reaction told me he was shocked. He did not move a muscle. 
                          
Oh. Maybe I shouldn't have...
                          
Then he wrapped his arms around my waist, and I found myself crying into his shoulder.
                          
"I'm scared," I admitted, sobbing.
                          
He buried his head into my hair. 
                          
"I know. I am too. We all are." 
                          
I heard footsteps behind me and I slowly released my hold on him, turning around. Dominic and Alyssa were walking up behind us. Dominic had a three different guns strapped onto his body. Apparently, he wasn't taking any chances. Which was silly because we were miles away from our town. Hell, we were miles away from anything. 
                          
"Listen, you guys," Jeremy said, stepping forward. We all turned our attention to him, waiting for him to continue. "Right here and right now, we're sticking together. We have look out for each other. We're need to shoot anything that should have died. We're going to Washington D.C, and we're going to make a life. We're going to survive together. Who's in?" Jeremy's eyes looked at everyone before stretching out his hand.
                          
"I'm in. We need each other. And I'm not letting all those people who died back there die for nothing," Alyssa said, putting her hand over Jeremy's. "Besides, you're the only family I got," she added, smiling sadly. 
                          
Jeremy returned it, then looked at Dominic.
                          
"Whatever, as long as I get to shoot something," Dominic shrugged, putting his hand over Alyssa's. She blushed madly.
                          
Aw. Alyssa had a crush. Something was definitely up.
                          
Suddenly, they all looked at me. I thought about it. Alyssa was right. I was never going to let all those people who'd died be dead for nothing. Uncle Bobby and aunt Debby would not be dead for nothing.
                          
"What do I have to lose?" I shrugged, putting my hand over Dominic's. 
                          
We all stood there, all looking at each other.
                          
"Can we get back on the road now?" Dominic demanded, impatient. 
                          
We all nodded and headed back to the car. Jeremy came up behind me.
                          
"You OK?" he asked again. 
                          
I looked at him and smiled, nodding. Suddenly, his arm was around my neck, guiding me to back to the car. It should have felt weird with having his arm around me. I should have felt uncomfortable. I mean, he was my best friend's cousin, and I'd just lost my boyfriend.
                          
But it didn't feel weird.
                          
I liked it.