WORLD OVERRIDDEN

Trouble Begins With A Z

We walked across the grass onto the pavement. Tiptoeing as quietly as we could towards the car with our arms heavy with bags. I unlocked the car which resulted in a beep in response. We looked around and saw only a few Zs in view, who were not aware of the fresh meat just a few yards away. We pushed the bags into the back seat and got in, Cavin climbing in the back and Miranda in the driver's seat, leaving me to go around the car to the passenger side.

"Crap!" Miranda whispers out loud to herself.

"What?" I whisper back.

"I forgot my jacket."

"IT'S A JACKET. IT'S NOT IMPORTANT JUST LIKE YOU SO WE WILL LEAVE YOU BEHIND IF YOU DON'T START THE DANG CAR." Cavin whisper-yelled at her.

"Oh my god, calm down. It will only take a few seconds, god. Just calm down and wait a few. And you can't leave cause you weaklings wouldn't survive a week without me." She said while walking out of the car. She turned and jogged back into the house before I could protest. I looked at Cavin in disbelief and he only shrugged his shoulders, turning to look out the window. What was his problem?

It was only a few minutes before Miranda ran out of the house with a fumbling Z trailing after her. She opened the door, slammed the door shut and jammed the keys in the ignition, alerting all nearby Z's of our location. "GO!" Cavin screamed impatiently as the first Z slammed into his window. Miranda slammed the car into reverse, us going backwards out of control. She knocked a few Zs out of the way while driving, and when she switched the ignition to drive, she slammed on the gas. We went flying past the mailboxes, knocking them down a couple times, and I looked over at her. Her face was a stormy calm, her eyes dazed.

"Stop the car right now." I shouted, pressing back into the window. She just ignored my existence, accelerating.

I started to get a panicked feeling, getting a hint in my brain that we were going to die any second. Once we got to the intersection, she stopped the car with a jerk. I turned around towards Cavin to see if he was ok.

"Are you ok?" I asked, watching Miranda in my peripheral.

"NO!! We were literally going twenty miles over the limit!" He leaned forward and got in Miranda's face. "The freaking Z's are bad enough, but death by car crash? Not on my bucket list!"

My attention switched over to Miranda. "Are you hurt? Did it attack you?" I asked, thinking of how fast she sprinted from the house.

She looked undecided in answering me. "It... it just came out of nowhere."

"Did you get bit?" I say more specifically, assessing her carefully. Her left leg was tucked behind her right awkwardly.

"...No course not. But I may have gotten hurt a little bit. From when I was getting away." Her face was pale, and a thin veil of sweat shined on her forehead.

"Where," I asked suddenly, recognizing the warning sign. If she was lying...

She looked at me and then trailed her eyes to Cavin, who was watching our conversation and every movement through the mirror showing our frightened faces.

"Miranda and I are going to go outside." I told Cavin straightforward.

"Why can't I come?" He whined like the five year old he is, his face falling.

"Cause we are talking about girl stuff and you're a boy." I started to raise my voice, irritated.

"What kind of girl stuff? I can talk about girl stuff."

"So you want to talk about what time of the month it is?" I question.

It takes him a few seconds to comprehend what I was talking about but his face suddenly went grim and he looked at me like I stole his precious cookie from kindergarten again.

"Get out." He says, unlocking the doors, without even looking our way. I tried to hide the grin stretching across my face. All you need to do is mention the time of the month and all the guys back off like you have Ebola.

Me and Miranda pushed our doors open and went toward the middle of the road where there was an abandoned car to cover our figures. I look around to see no Z's lurking around surprisingly.

"What happened? Where does it hurt?" I ask again. She didn't answer me with words but with her movements. She turned toward me and pulled her torn, pant leg up. On her right lower calf was the ugliest thing I have ever seen in my life, black and blue bruising surrounding a gnarled mess of torn skin and mangled flesh, almost unrecognizable save from the distinct teeth marks. A Z's bite.

DANGGGGG. Sorry if its gory to some readers and sorry if its not gory enough for some other readers. That bite has got to be painful for Miranda, -A