Life is never easy. Anyone who claims that is lying. Or trying to lie. That's what my mom told me. I remember her telling me that. I would say, being a mother is not easy. I can only imagine what my mom had to deal with.
And it only got worse these last few weeks. So much worse. I don't remember all the details. My mom and I were at the shopping centre. It was busy. Loud and packed like you would expect on a Sunday. It was a rather boring trip. Buying groceries for the week, maybe convince my mom to get me a few snacks for acing a test or something. I was always good at Math. Or, well I suppose I was good at English. Either way.
We were finishing up, walking back to the parking lot, when a loud scream ripped through the centre. Everything went quiet for a second, nobody moving. Hell, I don't even think I noticed anyone breathing. I didn't at least. A few people, likely guards. They had badges, I think and guns. They rushed past, shoving people out of the way as my mom squeezed my hand.
Loud shouting started slowly building up. Screams and chaos bleeding together. One of the sercurity guards started shouting out orders and my mother jerked me behind her. I staggered, my shoes squeaking over the tiles as others shoved past us. We rushed to our car as echoing gunshots started breaking through the chatter and chaos of the crowd.
We got into our car, quickly pulling out of the mall. The roads were a mess; scattered cars and pedestrains rushes to and fro. I don't think anyone knows where they were going. I don't think it really mattered. We somehow made it back to the apartment block we stayed at.
I don't fully remember how the rest of the day went. Mom stayed in the living room all day, watching the news, buzzing about between phone calls but contacting anyone was hard. So, more like buzzing about trying to get phone calls. I don't think anyone answered. Lines were dead apparently. I remember watching the world outside the window. It was chaotic. People rushing about, cars speeding. Screams echoed out, gunshots and. And then. Nothing. Quiet.
I remember my mom was odd afterwards. She listed out all of our food, sadly that meant the snacks we bought last was quickly becoming our day to day. Canned goods and snacks as our leftovers dwindled to nothing. And that is without mentioning the water. The pressure slowly lessened and weakened. A soft drip, drip, drip, echoing. Through the apartment from an attempt to collect war. Buckets and pots being the one place they'd stay.
We milled about mostly. Played some bored games. Over and over again. Mom drew, or read over a magizane or just planned. I wasn't much help. As per usual. I more or less just laid about, tried to use my sound system on the softest possible volume. Blasted a lot of Evanescence. I think Mom shouted at me to turn it down. Or, no. She sat next to me. Listened along.
Either way, it was slowly becoming clear that we couldn't stay here without starving. I half regretted wanting to look thin and hot. A bit of a dumb idea. What I wouldn't give for some coke and pizza. By now we'd noticed the ocasional person limping pass the apartment, covered in blood. Mom said to stay away and usually she was right about things like this. But I would've went with. I wanted to, but it wasn't my choice. Mom, left.
Early in the morning. She thought it was cute to leave behind a note. "Hey, Kate, stay inside. I'll come back. I have a key. Don't let anyone in. Love you." written in her fancy cursive. Fancy cursive I tried to figure how to mimic. I thought it was the most girly thing about her. Wanted to pull it of too. At least she was decient enough to not leave a doodle on it. How stupid. I can't say I wasn't mad about it. At least I am now. I think than I was. Numb.
At the time I was pretty confident that she'd be back. Grinning like an idiot about having stressed me out before offering me some kind of sorry "forgive me" gift. So, I milled about the apartment. Watched tv until the power ran out. Filled bottles with water as it slowly ran out. Got so damn bored that I started sweeping to keep my attention on something. Anything but the wind and silence.
I didn't count the days. Maybe a week passed. I don't think it really matters. The water was running out. The food was already gone and this apartment was now no more than a jail.
And so, I grabbed some warm clothing for protection, a kitchen knife and my backpack. I know it wasn't close to enough. Now at least. But limited resources.
I was falsely brave. Of course. I headed out the door, down the stairs. Half the apartment was just, empty. Not much but the odd bloodstain or knocked over things. I griped the knife with white knuckles as I slowly snuck out the apartment building. It was equally messy out front. I could make out shadows in almost every building. Shifting about in the lowlight.
I wasn't stupid, not that stupid at least. I snuck about, staying low, away from shadows. I guess having taken a few classes of karate on my moms request ended up helping. I wouldn't say I was graceful, but damn if I didn't manage to duck and weave. I think I was a black belt. Or, I wanted to be one. Or mom wanted me to be one So, I had some confidence.
I slunked about for a bit, before I managed to find a small corner store. I vaguely remember this place before; everything happened. It was nice. It had had a nice older man running the counter. He ran it with his wife. It had some of the best pies. My mom and I used to grab dinner here when she was too tired to cook.
Had. Now it sat empty. Rotten food half cast about the floor and shelves. Blood stained the floor. I didn't luck out with anything more than some left over canned peaches. It was, mildly warm, barely edible. But by god, I wolfed it down. It was the closest thing to food I had in damn days. I was half convinced that this was the best meal of my life. Well until memories of burgers or moms rare cooking came back to my head.
I wanted to head back to the apartment, but I was still hungry. I slinked deeper into the apartment, finding some more cans and, my moms jacket, crumpled down onto the floor. I guess she stopped here along the way. I walked over to the door leading to the back. My shaky hand wrapping around the door before I slowly pull it open.
My blood ran cold. I sware I felt my heart in my throat. Pale, misty brown eyes glare back at me through tuffs of black stringy hair. My mom. She stumbled on her feet, uncordinated.
"M-mom?" I muttered. My voice weak and soft.
Her mouth dropped open, than closed. A jaggered bite was visible on her neck. Sharp rips digging through her now too pale skin. Her thin, boney hands, loosely gripped around a shopping bag. Likely what she found while out. My shoes squeeks as I stepped back. She, wasn't acting normal. Her movements where jerky, her hair unusually unkept, her skin oddly pale.
She took a shaky step towards me and my breath catches in my throat. "O-oh, god. I'm... I'm sorry. Y-you tried to... h-help."
She stepped closer and my feet stayed rooted to the ground. I couldn't move. I couldn't hope to move. I wanted to, but her face. It looked so wrong. Her muscles too relaxed, her flesh hanging slightly off of the bone.
I stood frozen. My grip on the knife weak, loose as she neared. I, probably should've ran. I would like to think that I could've hit her, maybe stabbed her and ran off, the ledgendary zombie killer like those dumb movies I'd watched.
That didn't happen. She staggered, almost slipped on her shaky legs. I caught her, of course. And than she bit into my shoulder. Her unkept teeth sinking into my skin and pulling a scream from me. The flesh tearing audibly. I shoved her back on reflex. She stumbled, slipped and crashed to the ground.
I suppose my brain finally kicked in. I ran. As fast as I could. Past the building that slowly had other rushing out of them. Up the stairs and into the apartment where I slamed the door and turned the key. Not fast enough. Oh, god not fast enough at all. I heard something. A lot of somethings staggering up the stairs. Pounding onto the door.
I froze as the door buckled against every blow. It wouldn't hold. It couldn't have. My feet carried me over to the fire escape. Climbed onto it before climbing up. Up and up I climbed, my shoulder seering and slowing me down.
I don't even know how I got to the roof. I don't remember if anything was following me. I did slump over against the edge of the roof. Blood dripping down onto the gravel, my cheeks were wet with tears and my lungs burnt.
I felt so, so cold. I was shivering and I couldn't really do anything but wrap my arms around myself, my teeth chattering. My eyes were drifting closed slightly. I.
I suppose I could rest. I did a lot today. Ran quite a bit. Maybe I'll just wake up? Back to normal. Having tests and school. Mom shouting about me being late. I'd say something needlessly snide, mill on it 'til I got back before weakly apologising. I just. I just need some sleep. It'll... Be fine... in the morning. Just.
Fine.