The Zombie Curse

People always say that everything is the same over and over again. I believed it, for the most part. There were always little things that I would notice but not closely examine. It never seemed to bother me though as I always told myself, “Oh, I’ll just see it after school,” but it would always be gone by then. 

One day, my school let out early due to something called a “Code Red Zombie Zone.” Honestly, I was pretty naive and didn’t think that much of it, but something deep down happened. There was a feeling of unrest that settled right underneath my chest, and never seemed to let go. As I walked home from school that day, I noticed an item on the ground, just sitting on the pavement. The sunlight seemed to even lighten the item, which was weird, because I don’t even remember what actual sunlight was for a couple of seconds. As far as I remember, the streetlights were the ones providing lights around me. That’s another story, I’ll talk about, one day.

At that exact same time, I heard a couple of gunshots coming from behind me. A couple of loud snarling and roaring were heard as the bodies were shot, most of them hitting the pavement loudly as they died. There were never enough bullets to keep them out. There were always more zombies. And they were coming for me. I better hurry.

“Quick! Grab the item!” I told myself.

I grabbed the items on the pavement as I ran, scooping it off the ground. A heavy white cloak stopped me in my tracks for a while as I tried to figure out how to transfer it. Sighing defeat as I heard the grunts coming a lot closer, I pulled the cloak on myself and suddenly… 

… I disappeared in thin air. 

Oh before we go any farther, I should mention who I am. My name is Irina Angevin and I am 16. I currently live on a planet called Avovine in a small town called Armskirk. The nearest city is fifty miles away called Zhuivine, where my cousin Kren lives. 20 years and a cold shoulder to everyone except our family. He has white hair and blue eyes, and a fox tattoo on his left shoulder. This should make more sense for zombies to be attracted to him, but no- a normal brown haired girl with brown eyes- is the one. Right, I’m off topic. Again. Opps. Let’s continue from before I started to rant. One thing about Avovine is that we have a random zombie apocalypse every couple of years. I have been a zombie target apparently since I was born. Well, I guess this adds to my popularity because both of my parents were also zombie hunters before they got bitten five years ago. All I know is that they’re currently out there. Kren, on the other hand, is still alive and well. I have yet to visit him soon.

Now we're ready. The attacking zombies looked confused, and turned to look at each other as if they were confused. Seeing their confusion, I took the chance to sprint away, dunking myself onto the deep grass as I watched them from deep far away. I crouched deep down and felt my hand move over to the right side, my hands on my dagger. 

I felt a touch on my shoulder, another human- great. Instantly, I drew my dagger as I flew around to see that it was my friend, Aelin. She had the power to see past anything. I gently put my dagger down away from her face as I slid it to the pocket. We're been friends since seventh grade, and she does this to me all the time. I should have been prepared.

“Surprise,” she said with a slight chuckle. Her brown hair was tied lightly in a braid, her green eyes fixated on me. “Found you.” 

I shook my head in disbelief. “Good timing,” I uttered. I looked back to see if the zombies would follow me. They were. She followed my eyes, her face immediately going into emergency mom mode.

She grunted, as she got me up from the ground.  “Why do I always find you in the middle of a run against the Necrotics?” 

“No idea,” I said, putting the cloak around me. She just watched me silently and then back to watching the zombies. “How far are they?” 

“Just about now-” she started as I heard the zombies sounds close to my ear, my hair standing up. “-to my house! Run!”

I followed her as closely as I could, the wind rustling past us. Her house was not that far away from us; she lives on the very edge of another small town called Pleasant. I could hear the zombies following us, and then a couple of gun shots from Aelin as she shot, the zombie sounds continuing to emerge louder and louder. 

“Please no! Not her!” My thoughts intruded. I took a look at her for a split sound. She was alright still and didn’t seem to get bitten. I’ll just ask her later.

We climbed a chain barbed stock fence over to a field, the zombies stopping as their hands scraped the metal.

Once we disappeared from the fence, I took off the cloak, and folded it gently between my arms. We said nothing as we continued to run since we were pretty heavily out of breath. We entered town, and as we did, we slowed down to a walk on a gravel road. A green sign with a white sign was inviting us to Pleasant with fifteen thousand residents. 

“It’s always more than that,” said Aelin. “They haven't been updated in like ten years.” I looked back to her to see that she had switched back into funny but serious mode. Her regular mode. She smirked at me.

I looked down at the ground, trying to focus my brain on what just happened. After a couple seconds, I looked up. We had stopped. “Are you okay?” I finally asked. 

Aelin looked at me. “Of course.” She looked confused. “Are you?”

I nodded, trying to get my air. “I think so,” I finally answered. “I really need to go running again. I’m so out of breath.” 

“You say that every single year.”

“It’s true.”

“Yeah, it is.” She lightly punched me in the shoulder, and then we started moving again.

“Did you get bit?” I blurted out. As soon as I heard the words come out of my mouth, I covered it in shame. “Sorry.”

She crackled hard at that, tears coming down her face. “Oh, that’s funny.” She thought for a second. “But no, I didn’t get bit. It was pretty close though.” 

“I’m glad you didn’t,” I said. “I thought you were going to be bitten like my parents were.” 

There was a couple of seconds before she spoke up. She was in deep thought. “That was five years ago, right?” she finally asked.

I nodded. “Yeah.” I looked down as I kicked a rock. The rock skiddled a little, and then stopped right near the street. “I honestly miss them a lot. It’s not the same, especially since my cousin decided to stay in Zhuivine. You also got my grandparents too.”

She looked at me, confused. “I thought your grandparents are still alive and thriving with you. Thus why you are able to stay at Armskirk High School.”

“Well, about that-” I started to say but closed my mouth as tears started to fall down.

She sighed heavily. “I’m guessing this is all new information?” I just nodded. “Alright, come with me. We’re not gonna head straight home yet.”

I felt a little tug on my hand as she pulled me to a tea shop called The Sweet Clam. I followed her, her hand still intertwined in mine. There were a couple of nods from Aelin as she politely returned their greetings.

“Hi Aelin, your usual?” A female voice asked her. 

“Yes please,” she replied back. “Oh, and some chamomile tea for my friend too.”

“Alright, dandelion and chamomile tea coming right up,” the cashier said as she put in the order. Aelin paid it with her cash. “It’ll be ready soon.”

“Thank you, Sherry.” Sherry waved her hand in dismissal. She was a middle aged woman with black locks. “I’ll see you soon. Come back soon.”

Aelin smiled, politely. “Of course, I will.” 

We sat in a far away corner as we listened to our order. At this point, my tears were mostly dried up. Aelin just took the cloak, watched me for a couple of seconds, before asking, “So what’s the tea about your grandparents?” 

“So, I’m 16 now. You know what that means.” She nodded, but I can tell that she didn’t really know what it meant. “You forgot the rule again?” She nodded again. “Look, the rule is that when anyone becomes 16 and a family relative doesn’t want to take control of them anymore, the family member just has to pay for the rest of high school and then freely has the chance to move to another place with zero contact.”

I got an “Oh. We’re good now. This makes a lot of sense,” expression from her. Then, I continued, “I have been independent for five months now, and it’s so hecking hard. All I did was come home from school, and there was just a note on the kitchen table, saying, “We’re moving in with your cousin Kren,” from my grandpa. Oh, I got so mad that I tore the note to tiny pieces.” I started to continue, but then I got interrupted. 

“Dandelian and chamomile tea,” Sherry called.

Aelian got up to retrieve it. “Be right back.” I just nodded, and soon she returned with the drinks in her hand. She put the chamomile tea down right in front of me. “I got this for you. I know how much you like it. Please continue.” 

“I was already so tired because I had finished a test in each class that day. On my birthday. You know it always happens. At least my grandpa still slightly keeps up with me by texts occasionally. My grandma on the other hand, she went full- no- contract. She doesn’t even want to talk to me when Kren calls me on holidays. And when I do visit Kren, it’ll just be the two of us hanging out at a nearby restaurant near his apartment.” 

“Valid crashout,” my friend added, between a slip of her drink. She seemed to drink it fast as she was already done with half of her tea. “What is wrong with her?” 

I shook my head. “No idea.” I finally took a slip, the sweet subtle apple flavor lashing into my mouth. “Even Kren is confused.” 

“You’re a magnet for chaos,” Aelian said, putting her drink on the table. “First, zombies always want to get you. Then, this happens. Honestly, you should move over to Pleasant at this point. That’s why we have that metal fence- to keep the zombies out.” She leaned a little bit forward. 

“You want to know what I am really thinking?” I nodded, interested. “Every single time it’s five something, it always seems that there is a curse that gets placed on you.” She was right, it was very logical. I didn’t want to focus on that though, so I switched the topic.

“I honestly want to, but I need to finish high school first.” I sighed as I drank my tea to completion. She was right, this tea did help me feel a lot better.

She sighed, disappointed. “Yeah, I get that. I would like to see you more often outside of texting. Not once in a couple of months when the zombie apocalypse decides to appear.” 

Then an idea plopped into my head. I strummed my thoughts before asking, “What if we actually figure out why the random apocalypse keeps happening? We both don’t want to deal with it, and neither does everyone else.” 

Aelian just looked at me with a really thoughtful look, her eyes shining with gleam. “Honestly, that’s a really good idea. Count me in.” She looked at our empty cups and stood up. “Are you done?” I nodded, following her.

“Great.” She grabbed both of our cups. I grabbed the cloak. “I need to show you at my house.” We headed out, Shebby saying her goodbyes. Outside, she looked at my dagger for a quick second. “You really need to update your dagger. That isn’t gonna cut it anymore.” 

“A gun would be so much easier,” I said, looking at my friend, then at her closet. Her closet was full of guns everywhere, packed full to the brim. I have no idea how she got all this stuff and how she was allowed without a permit.

She gave a black pistol and whistled with glee. I turned it over to take a closer look at it. “You should've used this the whole time.”