Stories in a Lost World: Kristy (4 page)

June 17
th

We’re trying to get more organized. We’re trying to get better about our survival, if that makes sense. Today we all sat down and drew this huge map of the area. We marked all the houses we know about and what we found and what we left.  (For example, the house with the dead old zombie woman. We marked she was decaying there.)

We figure that the map will help us know which houses we’ve searched and which ones are worth going back to in the future. If there are items we noticed but didn’t need right away, for example, we marked those. I noticed sheet music in one house, so I marked that. The guys rolled their eyes, but what if we get bored and want to learn to play music? We’ll be glad for the sheet music. Okay, so maybe that was stupid.

We’ve canvassed most of the area within a 5-mile radius, but there’s always more to do. A lot of the houses have outbuildings and stuff that we haven’t finished searching. This week, the guys want to focus on getting more tools. We’ve now acquired a couple of guns and a few boxes of ammo, but we still tend to use bats. They’re quieter. Plus, we don’t want to waste bullets. We don’t know how to make more, though I’m sure at least one of these farmers must have bullet-making supplies.

They
must
.

Bridget is bored, so she asked the guys to keep an eye out for yarn and other craft supplies when they search. She’s right. We all need hobbies. We’re alive, but we’re still not really
living
. We have plenty of time until winter, if we even make it that long, but we’re all so nervous about starving when it snows that it’s hard to focus on anything else.

June 19
th

Keith went out with Bridget today. I didn’t mind. It gave me a good chance to hang out with Paul and get to know him a little better. He talked about his time in the military and I talked about my favorite classes in college. We had a good time getting to know each other better.

For a little while, I almost felt like a normal girl again.

I realize that I’m not normal, that nothing in my world is normal, but it was so nice to just forget all that.

When we were done talking, Paul went outside to garden and I went upstairs and took a nap. Yes, a real nap. I’m tired all the time. Paul said it’s because my nutrition is awful. He said I need to drink more water and he said we need to focus on growing more vegetables, or at least on finding them. He said tomorrow we’ll go scavenging. Surely there are berries or a garden or something nearby. There has to be something.

Most of my bruises are fading to a deep yellow. I still look gross, but I’m holding onto the hope that soon I’ll be pretty. Even if I never look “good” again, at least Keith seems to like me.

June 22nd

We found an apple tree. WE FOUND AN APPLE TREE. The apples are not ripe, but that didn’t stop us from trying to eat one. We marked the location on the map so come August, we can go pick all the apples.

Part of me can't believe it. I'm sure once we're able to eat the apples, we'll all get sick of them. After all, who really wants to sit around and eat apples for a week straight? At the same time, it's been months since any of us had fresh fruit, so maybe it'll be fantastic.

Keith and I were out exploring when we stumbled across the tree. We went on foot and were just walking around the fields and forests that surround our house. We've stocked up on a
lot
of food and a lot of supplies, so we didn't feel like we needed to go looking through houses today. No, today was all about having fun and relaxing.

The house we live in is partially surrounded by trees and it backs up to this forest. I'm not really sure if you could call it a forest, honestly, or just a "wooded area," but there are a lot of trees and only two of us, so we decided to go check it out.

I was expecting to find a deer stand or maybe even a hunting cabin, but we didn't see any of that. We walked for a long time, going up and down little hills and exploring little clearings. We found a couple of bushes that had berries on them. Neither one of us is sure whether or not they're safe to eat. Luckily, we have enough food at home now that we're not starving, so we didn't have to risk trying to eat them.

Keith grabbed a branch from one of the berry bushes and put it in his backpack to show Paul. He said maybe Paul can identify the leaves or something. It's worth a try. If they turn out to be "good" berries, we can come back and eat them. Stuff like that makes me wish I had paid more attention in school as a kid, but what can you do? Maybe I should use all this free time to learn engineering. Then I can create a time machine. Ha.

We walked until our legs hurt, then we stopped and ate lunch. Neither one of us expects to get lost, but Keith brought a compass just in case. We also brought a little extra food and water in our bags, just in case we got stuck away from the house. You never know what could happen.

It was while we were eating that we saw the tree. At first, I just thought it was like any other tree, but then I noticed the little green globes hanging on it.

"Holy shit," I muttered, and Keith jumped up and grabbed his bat. He thought I saw a zombie or another survivor, maybe even an animal, but I didn't. I saw the tree. Then he saw it, too, and he dropped the bat.

"You've got to be kidding me," he said, and we both rushed over.

It's amazing what things make you smile when you don't have much left to live for. Finding a random apple tree in the middle of nowhere is definitely one of those things.

June 23rd

Sometimes it's hard for me to believe it's been months since the infection began. It all started so simply. Just one little mistake from one little scientist and the entire world disappeared. Isn't that how things always go?

When I was little, I thought that if you made a mistake, you could fix it. No problem. Just say you're sorry and try your best and soon everything will be okay. That's not the way things work anymore, though.

I'm finding out that mistakes, no matter how small, are forever.

The vaccine was supposed to save humanity, but it didn't. It tore down civilization and reverted us back to our caveman days. Now we have to rely on instincts and brains and weapons. We can't depend on social norms or niceties to keep us safe. Those days are gone.

Before the infection, if someone wronged you, you would apologize. You would be polite. You would do what was expected of you and things would be fine after that. Now if someone wrongs you, you can't just apologize. Now you have to kill or be killed. Now you have to learn to be wild. Now you have to learn to depend only on yourself and on the others in your group.

No one else.

There can't be anyone else.

The end of the world came quickly at first.

Then the end just sort of stopped, leaving us all in a sort of eternal limbo.

Now everything is a slow, cool burn that takes its time eating us alive. We might still be here walking around, but we're no better than the dead.

We're zombies, just like them.

Stories in a Lost World: Kristy
is the final story in my series, Stories in a Lost World. My next book, Lost in the Apocalypse, will be released in the next few weeks. Make sure to check my author page for details!

L.C. Mortimer loves zombies almost as much as she loves coffee. When she's not on a caffeine-induced writing spree, she can be found stocking up on canned goods for the apocalypse. Mortimer loves reading, playing zombie video games (7 Days to Die is currently her favorite), and spending time with her partner-in-crime: her husband of 10 years.