MID SEASON PREMIERE
Survivors of the Z’s- Cal Moore, 29/07/2016, Ashford City, California
What was this place?
Where had we ended up?
It was like an empire that was heavenly in a world that was collapsing. People were laughing and having normal conversations as we passed by. I looked at my mom and she was nodding at people as we walked by.
Like she knew them
I looked forward and other kids my age were nodding at me like they knew me.
“Who are they mom?” I asked
“Just people who are finally safe, like we’re”
A strange feeling was in my gut. I felt like I had been there for a long time. Even though it wasn’t possible that I had. It was the first day there and it already felt like I could talk to anybody.
“Hey Cal,” a girl who looked my age said, maybe she was, maybe she wasn’t, she was dressed in a flowery top and baggy trousers, her hair was brown and in a bun
She knew my name
Maybe I had been there for longer?
How long was I out for?
“Hey, err…”
She rolled her eyes, “Frances”
“Hey Frances”
I was stuck. Stuck in a place with faces I didn’t know. But, I didn’t care. I wasn’t afraid. I wasn’t looking over my shoulder every damn second.
I was alive
I was showing hope of a smile
No disasters
No vicious monstors chasing me and threatening to eat me alive
Just…
Just nice people saying hello and finding it funny that I got their names wrong.
It was lovely
It was…
A dream to feel this way again. We walked down many stairs leading to different floors. Each floor had gentle people on them with smiles. Each person looked content and safe and happy.
Nothing more
Nothing less
“This way, Cal,” mom said
We had hit the ground floor and the doors opened to a beautiful world. The streets were paved with people walking everywhere
Yes…
I said streets
Not the streets that were destroyed by the monsters
It was like before.
Before the virus killed most of our world and turned it into shit
It felt like it was back to normal. Like they had found a cure and we had just found out about it
“Mom,” I said, “Where’re we?”
“Does it matter?” She answered, “Just call it home”
People rode on bikes
People walked around freely
People acted like nothing had ever happened
People were just…
People
“Where is everybody?” I asked
Dad
Mason
Hannah
Her brother
It felt weird not having them beside me.
“They’re around, don’t worry, they’re safe”
Surely it was only a matter of time until a catastrophe happened. Where aload of infected would come out of nowhere and ruin the dream.
Destroy everything around us.
But
They didn’t
Nothing came out to do anything. Just the same giggles and smiling faces that I loved to see.
“This way?” She said
The place was enormous. We were surrounded by buildings like coffee shops and fashion stores and not so far away was a shopping mall. The road was a road that wasn’t crammed with infected and broken cars. They were replaced by people on bicycles. Buildings had people pressed up against them. Young couples hand in hand. Hugging each other with no cares in the world. No watching each others backs with grazed knees from falling over trying to escape a nightmare.
Trendy clothes
Jeans
T shirts with images on them
They must’ve got them from the stores here because the world was obviously a lot smaller now.
“How long have we been here for mom?”
“What are you talking about?” She said, looking confused, “We’ve always been here”
We passed eateries that had outside tables with waiters coming outside to give the customers their orders. For some reason. I felt like I had to look over to see what they were eating. I kept my eyes on them and saw their orders revealed. They were hands
BUT…
But not just any hands. Hands that weren’t just laying there waiting to be eaten like food should be. They were still moving. My face scrunched up. I was going to vomit. Puke on to the ground that didn’t feel real.
“Why’re they eating that, mom?”
Because that’s what we do, Cal. We eat the living.
“What?”
I looked at my own hands and they were missing. Blood gushed out of the spaces where they once were.
Then…
Then I realised where they were.
In the mouths of the people I was looking at before. They were eating my hands and I could feel every crunch they made on to them.
I squealed and it wasn’t long before I awakened from the dream.
“What the hell?” I said, sweat dripped from my forehead and in between my eyes then down my nose, “that was horrible”
I looked around. I was in a living room that was a ruin. It was large and I could tell a wealthy family once lived there before the outbreak. The door opened and my Mom walked in. She looked tired. Like she hadn’t slept at all. I still remembered last night and I was surprised I slept.
“Hey, you ok? I heard you scream”
“Just a nightmare,” I explained, “it was weird”
“Weirder than this?”
“If I said yes, would you believe me?”
“No,” she told
“I thought so”
I got up and walked to the window and observed the surroundings. The garden was large.
Green
Vast
Trees in a few places with few soldiers walking around on the grass. A long drive way stretched to the big gate at the end of it. I looked some more and saw my friend Mason. He was slouched beside a tree. Staring at the ground then a flashback appeared. He was never going to be the same again after what had happened.
“I’m going to talk to him,” I told
