ANGEL
My name is Angel. I'm a girl, or so I am in my head. My physical make up says otherwise. But my physical make up is wrong.
Angel is my birth name. I am very fortunate in that sense. I am also very fortunate to be small and dainty. Even so, someone found out about me and threatened to murder me, so I had to leave town. I had no time to pack or even shower. Violence against transwomen is such a scary thing. I couldn't even open the curtains at home when I wrote a goodbye note to my mom, because I thought somebody outside would see me, and come in and hurt me. So now, I'm on my way out of town, on foot.
I hadn't gotten very far when the ground started shaking. Helicopters flew overhead and car alarms and sirens started going off everywhere. Soon enough, I saw through somebody's window that the government, or some anti-government extremist, or some other nation's government had dropped chemical bombs on us - at several places in the US.
A chemical bomb had been dropped very close to my high school, and it was so close that I could still see the giant purple shimmering cloud. Tiny purple specks of something whizzed past me, attaching to my clothes and weave. I had to brush them off as fast as possible, because I had seen other people get them in their eyes and mouth, and they immediately fell over, seizing! But then! They got back up, with glowing eyes!
It was the zombie apocalypse.
I ran into the nearest phone booth and jammed the phone through the inside door handle.
MAURICE
I was at school when those pollen bombs were dropped. My high school is right down the road from the produce farm.
I don't think they meant to get so close to civilization, but it still damaged and even killed some of my teammates.
I'm on the football team, or at least I was. There isn't much of a team left anymore, unless I really want to form a spore zombie sports team, which I admit I would, if it was less dangerous.
I seem to be immune. I had spores all over me and nothing happened.
As soon as the ground stopped shaking and the fire drill stopped ringing, I jumped the fence - closed campus is stupid - and ran home. My dad was home, but the same thing that happened to my team happened to him. Ooze out the mouth, glowing eyes, rotting flesh, and powdery spore-filled smog puffing out the nose. He was coming right at me, arms up and fingernails curling from the fast-acting fungus. Besides the fact that this was my dad, my only support I ever had in life, it was not a pretty sight. I had to do the right thing.
I had to take him out. I had already been forced to take the life of a team member, so the act would be easy.
My teammates spent the majority of high school harassing me for my nervous habits, especially my high voice and refusal to change in the locker room. It wasn't satisfying, but it meant no more suffering when I put a spoke through his mouth. I had the spoke with me when my dad was attacking me. I held it out and he impaled himself on it through the chest.
I guess I was going to be forced out of town anyways, someday.
ARIZONA
I saw the grown-ups down the street really early in the morning and I ran back downstairs to wake up my big brother.
After the explosions, it first was really loud, then after all the gunshots and screaming it got dead quiet. It was scary. But! It was really cool when I finally saw people coming our way. I hadn't seen my daddy or my brother's mom in almost a week so more people really made my day.
There were three of them, and two dogs. All of our neighbors' dogs had either gotten out, starved, or were eaten in the last few days. This meant I could have a friend while the grown-ups talked.
My brother was really hard to wake up cause he's sick, but he welcomed our new guests 'cause I'm not allowed to answer the door in case of zombies or axe murderers. They were not axe murderers, though, and one of them even wanted to talk to me. We talked a lot about protecting the city. I told her about how my daddy had an armored car, and she told me about ninja stars. Eventually I decided to tell her that my daddy taught me how to hide a firearm in a hat. I showed her my gun! She was really impressed. I think we're gonna be friends. I never had a lot of friends cause daddy has a lot of people who don't like him, which means daddy had to keep me safe from them. Daddy's probably busy though right now protecting some other people from the zombies.
Good thing my big brother is an eagle scout, or else I would've died without a friend.
YURI
I'm the sick big brother. I'm taking care of my younger sister Arizona, now that my mom - her stepmom, was killed by the spores.
No, being in a zombie apocalypse without meds is not easy. I ache every day, but I can't leave Arizona all by herself, no matter how many firearms she has hidden on her person.
Just this morning, a group of people came to my house. There were two girls and a guy. All of them seemed to be older than me, which was good. Even an eagle scout needs an adult sometimes.
I decided to teach them what I knew about survival in an apocalypse. I showed them which plants were edible, which were poisonous, which were medicinal, and all that good stuff. I showed them how to start a fire without matches, though I stockpiled plenty of those. (I also stockpiled plenty of medicinal herbs thanks to Arizona's drug lord dad). - Hey, I deserve a break every now and then - I have AIDS.
Now don't think I'm sleeping around, cause that isn't true. My dad...Arizona's dad has it and I was born with it. I don't consider the man my father.
Back to survival techniques! I know how to sharpen a rock into a spear, how to build a shack, and even how to construct a zipline. This isn't my actual house. Arizona and I have been literally house jumping since my mom died. Knowing easier ways to get from roof to roof really comes in handy, especially when your little sister is scared of heights.
It seems though, that one of the to girls we let in is being really sweet to her. Arizona really needs a friend. She really does need a caretaker once the virus gets me. And I don't know how long I even have now that my meds are unavailable. I could use a friend too.
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