An Adventure Across Space

“What are we doing here?!” I yell over the roar of the boiling ocean.

“Having fun!” She yells back.

“You call this fun?” I ask.

“Yes, yes I do.” I roll my eyes while trying not to fall into the water. We’re hanging from a rope bridge over boiling hot water only thirty feet beneath us. I can feel the heat rising from beneath us and it’s making my hands sweaty. I speed up so that I can make it to the other side of the land before my hands slip and I fall.

Ellery is behind me and seems to be having the time of her life. She had mentioned going to the ocean before, not the boiling seas of Armazor. She’s always persuading me into these situations without really explaining anything. I’m still not exactly sure how she convinced me that this was all real.

It started when I was going to pick up groceries and a beautiful girl walked up to me in the streets. She stopped in front of me and smiled. I was about to start talking to her when she punched me, in the jaw, hard.

That girl was Ellery.

* * *

“What was that for?!” I asked dropping the bags I was holding and rubbing my jaw.

“You’ll know soon enough, goodbye Aksel.” Her mouth had changed from a smile to a frown and she walked off. I quickly picked up my bags and was about to run after her only to find that she had disappeared. I looked around the crowd for any sign of her but decided to just shake it off and return back to my house.

When I reached my apartment on the fourth floor, of one of the cities many apartment complex’s, I still couldn’t get that girl off my mind. Her curly brunette hair and her bright blue eyes made her hard to forget. And then there’s also that little part where she punched me.

I set my things on the counter and started putting the food away. It was only my second week in the apartment and it was still empty. There were boxes stacked against the far wall waiting to be unpacked. The only thing I had unpacked was my small tv, a bean bag chair, and a bunch of paper plates and plastic utensils. The carpet was an ugly brown and green pattern and the walls were a pale cream. I sighed at my surroundings before reaching for the paper plates, only to discover that they were gone, which meant another trip to the store.

I grabbed my keys from the hook by the door and walked out of my room and down the four flights of stairs. The convenience store was only three blocks from the complex so it wasn’t a long walk. The hard part was trying to cross the busy city streets which were always jampacked with cars. When I managed to escape the hustle and bustle with my life still intact, I felt it was an accomplishment.

I made it across the street by dodging in between cars, bikes, and people, only being honked at twice. The convenience store was the fifth building on my right and was built with dull red bricks. The inside was always cold because they always left the door open, even in the winter. The isles were always packed with kids buying candy and soda and it was always the loud. Because of all the tourists that come to New York City all the prices were jacked up which means everything was about double the price that it was back home.

I entered the store and headed to one of the back isles where they kept the plates. I decided to buy two sets because I went through them fast. When I turned around I ran into a beautiful girl who looked familiar. I helped her pick up her things after apologizing several times. When we stood up I instantly knew who she was. Her hair was blonde but she had the same bright blue eyes. It was the girl that punched me earlier in the streets.

“Do I know you?” I asked.

“I don’t think so. Why?” She responded.

“About an hour ago you randomly came up to me and punched me, I was just wondering if you had a reason for doing that?”

The girls eyes became wide and she smiled. “What?” I asked a little concerned.

“No, I didn’t punch you, well I did, but in the future. Hi,” she sticks out her hand for me to shake it. “I’m Ellery.”

I wearily take her hand and shake it. “Aksel.” I said. “What do you mean you punched me in the future. It was an hour ago.”

Her smile became wider. “For you it was, but for me it was in the future, and if I punched you it means you come with me.” She grabs my hand and pulls me out of the store, making me drop the plates I was holding.

“Wait, what? Where are you taking me?” I asked as she pulled me down the street and into a side alley. She didn’t answer until we stopped by a door and she let go of me.

“My name is Ellery Osbourne and I’m a time traveler.” She said it like it wasn’t the stupidest thing in the world.

“You’re a what?” I asked making sure that I had heard her right.

“A time traveler. I know it’s hard to believe but it’s true. And you come and travel with me!”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because I punched you. But I didn’t punch you, future me did, and I only punch those that travel with me.”

“Do you do a lot of punching?”

“Surprisingly yes.” She smiled and opened the door, showing me what was inside. In the middle of the room was a car. A black ‘67 Chevy Impala to be exact.

“You travel through time in a car?” I asked walking up to it and running my fingers along the smooth surface.

“It’s not a car. It’s a time machine.” Ellery had come up behind me without making a sound. I jumped when she spoke. She laughed and I glared at her. Her laugh was soft and sweet, like the laugh of a child.

“It sure looks like a car to me.” She pulled out a remote of some sort and pressed a button causing the car door to open. Except it didn’t open outward like you’d expect on this kind of car, it opened up, like on a Delorean. Ellery walked in, just barely bending her head to fit through. I followed her into the car and stood shocked.

Inside was a room, bigger than the one we had just come from. “Told ya it’s not a car.” I slowly walked in, running my hands against the cool and rough surface of the walls.

“It’s huge.” Is all I was able to say.

“Yep. I love it in here!” Ellery put her hands up and started twirling.When she stopped she looked at me. “So where do you wanna go?”

“What?”

“For your first trip, where do you wanna go?”

“How do you know I’m going to go with you? Because you punched me? You could’ve just punched me because I didn’t go with you.”

“Nope. If people don’t want to go I don’t make them. But if you come with me, then you’re going to get punched.”

“Where can this thing go?” She perked up at the question and ran around the console type thing in the center of the room.

“Anywhere, anytime.”

“Anywhere on Earth?”

“Anywhere in the universe.” She smiled, showing her pearly white teeth.

“Okay,” I nodded slowly and bit the inside of my cheek. “I’m coming.” Her smile became wider as she ran to the open door and pulled it down.

“Where would you like to go, Aksel?”

“A different planet. Not in our solar system. Somewhere far.” A smile was starting to spread across my face. I was starting to get excited, despite my skepticism.

“You got it!” She started running around the console and messing around with levers, and buttons, and whatever else she had on the thing. The machine jerked and she laughed, holding onto the console. Not expecting the sudden jerk, I stumbled backwards and ran into a railing that circled the console.

Within minutes, everything stopped and Ellery ran to the door. “Where are we?” I asked walking up behind her.

“Not sure, put it on random.” She looked at me and smiled. “Wanna find out?”

“Of course.” I helped her push the doors open and we stepped out simultaneously.

“Oh I love this planet!” She said starting to run around.

Surrounding us were a bunch of strange multicolored plants. The dirt, at least I thought it was dirt, beneath us was a bright vivid purple and the rocks were either striped or plaid. I looked back at the machine to see that it was replaced by a giant orange tree. The only one around.

“Where’d it go?” I asked. Ellery looked up to see what I was talking about and looked back down to continue inspecting the plant she was looking at.

“It’s still there, just changed. It’s called a Chameleon Circuit. It allows the machine to disguise itself into something from the surroundings so it can’t be found. Have you seen these flowers?!”

I walked over to see what she was looking at. “Yeah, fascinating. Where are we?”

She stood up and looked around. “From the looks and taste of it, I’d say we’re on the twin planet of Armazor.”

“Which is?” I asked waiting.

“Claborats.”

“Oh of course.” I said sarcastically. “What are we doing here?”

“You asked for a planet not in our solar system. Here ya go!” She stuck her arms out, gesturing to everything around us.

“Okay, but what’s so special about this place?”

“Nothing much. Other than the life and the colors. This place has colors unknown on Earth.” She points beneath us. “This purple color, it’s called quashnot.”

“What about the life?”

“Oh wonderful people! Great cooks. Love new people! And they’re fun!” She took off in a random direction and I followed her without hesitation.

"Where are we going?!" I yelled at her.

"To get food!" I didn't respond but kept running after her. In a matter of minutes we reached a small town. At the entrance we were greeted by a woman that towered over both of us. Ellery looked up at her and smiled.I looked up at her in awe

“Aksel, it’s not nice to stare.” Ellery said smiling at me.

I shake my head and smile at the tall woman. “H-hello.” I managed to say.

“Hello humans.” Her voice was high and squeaky and it made me cringe a little. 

“How may I help you?”

“We would like to get something to eat please. Can you show us to your closest restaurant?” Ellery said, not even reacting to the voice.

The woman turned and started walking. Ellery smiled at me and ran after her and I followed both of them down a street and around a corner where we were seated in an outdoor restaurant . The woman stops at our table and pulls out a notepad and pen. “What would you like to eat?” She asked.

“We don’t have menus. What is there to eat?”

Ellery leaned across the table to me. “You just order whatever you want, they can make anything and it will taste better than anything you’ve ever eaten before.”

I thought for a minute about what I wanted and finally came up with the most cliche food for a guy. “I’d like a cheeseburger and fries please.” She looked at Ellery.

“And I would like strawberry and banana crepes please.” The woman nodded and walked away.

“What’s so great about the food here?” I asked once we were alone.

“I told you, it tastes better than anything you’ve eaten before. Just wait.” I sat in silence waiting for our food as Ellery walked around and talked to all the people.

When the food finally came, I called Ellery back over and she ran with a smile to her seat. She set her elbows on the table and rested her head in her hands, staring at me.

"What?" I asked a little uneasy.

"I just want to see what you think. Go ahead, eat." I cautiously raised the hamburger to my mouth and took a bite. I nearly drooled at the taste in my mouth. The different flavors and of the hamburger blended together perfectly, enough so that I didn’t want it to be end. I opened my eyes and smiled at Ellery.

“This. This is awesome.” She smiled back at me before digging in to her crepes. We ate in silence as we enjoyed our food. When we finished, I ran after her back to her machine and watched as she ran through the trunk of the tree. I slowly walked up to it and put my hand on the bark. It went through. I pulled it out before pushing the rest of my body through, feeling the tree bend around me.

“Where to now?” I asked when I reached the inside.

“How ‘bout an alien ocean?” She smiled as she leaned against the console.

“Why not!” I was really starting to enjoy being and traveling with her. Her bubbly personality made it almost impossible not to.

Ellery smiled and started typing into a keyboard. Strange symbols appeared on the screen above her. “What are those?” I asked, pointing at the screen.

“Letters. They’re from my home planet.” She said this like there was nothing wrong with it.

I looked at her shocked. “You’re an alien?”

“Yeah. I didn’t mention that?”

“No. No you did not. That would’ve been good to know.”

She looked at me. “Would it have changed your decision to come with me?”

“I don’t know cause you didn’t tell me! But… probably not…” She smiled.

“We’re landing on Armazor. The ocean here is a blast!”

I leaned against the railing that encircles the console and waited for her to announce our landing. It only took a few minutes. She didn’t actually announce it though, I knew we had landed when she took off to the door and ran out. I followed her with a smile on my face. When I ran out, I turned back to look at what the machine had changed into and found a giant rock. This time it wasn’t the only one so I thought it might be harder to find.

I turned around, putting the machine to the back of my mind, and ran after Ellery to find her standing on the edge of a cliff looking down at a river. “Why’s it boiling?” I asked.

“These are the boiling seas of Armazor.” She looked up and smiled at me. “And we want to get over there to get to the ocean.” She pointed across the chasm to another piece of land.

“How are we supposed to do that?” She points at a rope a few yards.

“We climb.”

“No. No way. I am not climbing across that over that.”

“Yes you are, and you’re going first.” She laughed as she pushed me towards it. 

“Come on Aksel, it’s fun!” I slowly grabbed onto the rope and started swinging myself across, Ellery followed shortly after.

And that’s how we ended up how we are now, with my hands sweating. I’m only a few yards away when one of my hands slips and I’m dangling on by my fingers. I can feel Ellery speed up, causing the rope to shake. When she reaches me, she lets go with one hand and holds it out to me. I grab it and she helps me pull my hand back to the rope and secure my other hand.

“Isn’t this fun?!” She yells over the rushing water beneath us.

"No! And yes. But mostly no!" She laughs and I smirk as I continue.

"You're almost there Aksel!"

"How am I supposed to get up?"

"Swing your legs up and over!" When I reach the land, I swing my legs until I'm holding onto the rope with my hands and the land with my legs. Ellery comes up behind me and helps push me up with her legs. I then helped pull her up until we were both standing on the land.

I follow her down a path and through a bunch of trees. I start looking around at our surroundings. We're walking through a forest full of life, both wild andplant. I run my fingers across the smooth silky petal of a bright purple flower. The trees around us are as white as snow and the giant leaves above are as big as my torso. I turn around to look at the scene that we're leaving behind and run into Ellery when she stops. I turn around and see that we are now standing on a beach facing a bright blue ocean filled with waves.

 I smile and reach over to take Ellery's hand. She looks up at me and smiles as I pull her away towards the water. Her wavy brown hair flows behind her as she runs. I kick off my shoes so that I run on the soft sand beneath us. We're both laughing by the time we reach the water and run in fully clothed.

-Ashley Wilson

Prompt: The Mirror Never Lies. Or Does It?

This is the first short story I've written in a long time so what do you guys think? It turned into something that I was not expecting it to be. I'm not the best at putting words together but I'm going to write many short stories to help me with this. I'll be posting them all on this blog, so this is the first of many! I'd love to hear your thoughts. 

 PRONUNCIATIONS 
Koay: Koi-yay 
Ania: An-I-a 
Yas: Yaz 
Speculum Suscéptors: I don't know how to pronounce this but it means Mirror Protectors in Latin (I know, creative huh? :)

My name is Aspen Barton and I used to live in a world where everyone would consult the mirrors for all their big problems because mirrors didn't lie, right? Wrong. I discovered this fact a few years ago and it has changed my whole world. The mirrors here used to be able to talk. They were enchanted by the witch Magdalena thousands of years ago and, until now, we believed everything they would tell us whether it was about our appearance, a life choice, or even what opinion to have. Because of this, everyone looked the exact same and everyone lived in the exact same way. I guess being enchanted by a witch, we should've figured out that something was wrong sooner, but it was all that we knew so nobody questioned it, until I came around.

 I'm the one who discovered the truth about these mirrors, well, along with my friend Kory, although he was unwilling to accept it at first. It started when I moved to the village of Koay. I was wearing my normal dark brown baggy pants and shirt that every man, woman, and child wore from the day they were born. My hair, just like everyone else's, was cut short and choppy above my ears. I walked down the street past identical small cobblestone shacks where everyone lived until I came to my family's new shack. My family consisted of my parents, five brothers and four sisters, just like every other family. We filed into the small room and set our stuff down. It was nearly time for al fresco, which means 'in the open air', when all the kids would go to the village square while the parents stayed inside and tidied up, specifically cleaning the family mirror.

 Seeing as this was our first day in Koay, I was a little nervous for al fresco. The Mirror told us to talk to people and I couldn't disobey the mirror, so when the clock tower hit the nine, I watched as dozens of children filed out of there homes, youngest to oldest. I was the oldest in my family so, naturally, I was the last one to leave. As I exited the door, I looked on either side of me to see who the oldest of my neighbors were. On my right was a young blonde girl, probably no more then seven. On my left was a tall, dark haired, boy. He looked to be more my age, maybe a little older. The boy was preceded by his nine siblings, the youngest, a small toddler boy. My youngest sibling was Ania, who was only two. I guided Ania to the toddler area, without taking my eyes off the tall boy, and then went to my designated area of young adults. There were only two other girls near my age and nearly twenty boys. This was a big village to have that many yas.

 I looked around for the tall boy because, of what I've seen, he seemed to be the nicest even though everyone was supposed to be nice. I found him sitting on the edge of the fountain by himself and worked myself over to him through the mass of yas. A few of the boys gave me a glare and I just smiled back. That's what we were told to do. Smile. When I finally made my way through the crowd, I sat down next to him and stayed silent. Girls are never supposed to talk first so I waited. Waited for him to say something to me. I took a few quick glances at him but he didn't even seem to notice that I was there the first few times. The seventh time I looked at him, I found him staring at me. He had a shy smile and soft blue eyes that had a sort of sparkle to them.

 "Hi." He finally said.

 "Hi." I said back. We sat for a few minutes in silence just staring at each other. Saying nothing.

 He looked away for a second before turning back to me. "I haven't seen you around. You new here?" I nodded. "Names Kory Abnerths, yours?"

 "Aspen Barton." I replied with a smile.

 "What village did you come from Aspen Barton?" He was still staring at me with his soft eyes and shy smile.

 "Uh... Mickners. It's way down south from here, a long walk." He did a kind of chuckle and stuck out his hand. I took it calmly and shook.

 "Nice to meet you Aspen. I love your hair." I quickly shot a hand up to my raggedy hair and looked around.

 "It's just like everyone else's, even yours."

 "No, it's... different. You seem different." I looked down at my lap and felt my cheeks get hot. I've never had this feeling before but I liked it. I looked up and smiled. His smile hadn't dropped for a second and he was still staring at me.

 "Thanks? I guess." I said. I was starting to calm down a little and felt more comfortable. "So, Kory Abnerths," I said. "What do you want to do for the rest of al fresco?" He shrugged and we spent the rest of the hour and a half just talking. Talking about him, about me, about my old village, about everything. This continued every day for the next few weeks. Every day that I talked to him, I felt something changing. I started scrubbing my clothes on cleaning day instead of just dipping them in the water like I normally did. I started trying to manage my hair in the mornings before I saw him for morning al fresco. I stopped listening to the mirror telling me not to do these things and did them anyway.

 My parents started getting worried about me but I kept up this routine. I wanted to look nice for Kory Abnerths. I liked being 'different' as he had mentioned the first time we met. When it came to hair day, I refused to let my mother trim my growing hair and instead, neatened it out myself. My hair began to get longer and longer until it eventually came to be the length of my jaw. Over the next few months, I changed my appearance until I looked nothing like everyone else. I stopped listening to the mirror altogether and I dealt with the strange looks I would get from everybody. Everyday, Kory would tell me I looked beautiful and I liked it. He didnt seem to be changing at all though, which led to a conversation we had during an evening al fresco.

 "Kory?" I asked.

 "Yeah." He looked over at me. We were sitting in our normal spot at the edge of the fountain.

 "Why won't you be different?" He looked at me in surprise. "Everyday you tell me that you love it that I'm different and yet, you won't be. Why is that?"

 "I can't disobey the mirrors. I mean aren't you scared you're going to get in trouble?" I shook my head. "Well, the mirrors have always told us what to do. I can't just stop listening to them. I do, however, like seeing someone who has the courage to do what I can't." I looked away while thinking of how to respond.

 When I figured it out, I looked back at him. "You know, over these past few months, I've discovered the mirrors aren't always right. I think... I think they tell us these things so no one will be different and, now, I think that's wrong. I mean there's no way to change someones whole personality no matter how hard you try. Looking around, do you think everyone is exactly the same. No. Everyone in this village is fake. Everyone in my old village was fake. Everyone is fake." I stopped for a breath but was interrupted by Kory before I could continue.

 "Even me? Am I fake?" He asked a little hurt.

 "Not to be mean or anything but, yes. Sort of. I mean, you're different too. I know the real you and that's much more than anyone can say about anyone else. You don't pretend to act like a slave that listens to everything that stupid mirror says, or at least, not around me." I didn't notice the horrified glances I was getting from everyone in the square, even the little toddlers, until I had stopped talking. It was then that I knew I was in trouble. The Mirrors were basically our Gods and no one insulted them. I gulped when I saw my right-side neighbor, whose name I learned to be Maggie, running towards the village penalty building. I looked at Kory in horror. I knew the Speculum Suscéptors were now on their way for me. I couldn't move a muscle and no one could do anything to help me. I had insulted the Mirrors and now I was going to pay.

 The crowd parted in front of me to reveal the Speculum Suscéptors standing at the end with Maggie close behind. They started inching forward one step at a time. It seemed like ages before they finally reached me. Ages filled with torture. I felt a tear fall down my cheek and went to scoot closer to Kory, only to find that he had stood up and integrated into the crowd so that I could no longer see him. "Please." I whispered. "Please, I didn't mean it!" I said a little louder. Each of the Suscéptors grabbed me by the shoulders and stood me up. Tears were now pouring down my cheeks. They dragged me down the parted sea of people while he tried to resist. After a few minutes of me being stubborn, they ended up picking my feet up off the ground and, to stop me from kicking, two more Suscéptors grabbed my ankles.

 I was carried like this all the way to the penalty building. Each cell was filled with someone who had insulted the Mirrors, or should I say, each cell was completely empty. No one ever insulted the Mirrors. I was thrown into the cell farthest from the entrance where I was to spend the rest of my life. I had committed a serious crime, something that was even worse then murder in our world. I wasn't to be given a trial even though I was only seventeen. Everyone had heard me say it. Every single person in this village now knows what I did. Even if I was let out, I'd be cast into the world outside of all villages, never to be allowed back in any. I crawled into the corner and let the tears flow. Days past and no one came into the cell block except to give me my food. I was alone with my thoughts and it was starting to drive me crazy.

After what I guessed was a week, Kory came and visited me. I was so excited to see him that I threw myself against the door. He kissed me through the skinny slots in between each bar in the small window. I couldn't see him that great but I could tell something was different about him.

 "I'm going to get you out Aspen, just a few more days. Don't worry." He said before one of the guards came to take him away. I collapsed back into my corner disappointed. I was so excited that I had forgotten that he had abandoned me when I was first taken away. How did I know I could trust him about getting me out. And even if he did, where would I go? I'd be an outcast.

 I lost track of the days soon after that. I slept nearly all day and only woke up when they brought me food. One day while I was eating, I heard a ruckus coming from outside. Not too long after, I heard feet stampeding down the hall and through the cell block door. I ran to look out the small window and saw what seemed to be a small mob with Kory at the head. They were pushing one of the guards towards my cell and forced him to unlock the door.

I stood back and watched Kory push his way through to stand in front of me. He was beaming and he was different. Everyone in this small mob was different. Kory now had very short black hair, cut nearly all the way down to his scalp. His long baggy brown pants had been cut into shorts and were now nearly black. He had fixed up the tears in his shirt and cleaned it. I stepped forward in shock and hugged him. He hugged me tighter and we just stood like that for a few minutes.

 I hadn't spoken a word since I was put in the penalty and I didn't know if I could still talk at all. "What's going on?" I murmured. My voice came out all raspy and I was forced to cough.

 "I told you I'd get you out." He smiled. I looked around at everyone else. All the girls had washed their hair and some of the boys had flattened theirs or styled it with the water. Everybody's clothes were clean and everyone looked different. There were a few smaller girls who were now wearing dresses and someone had made bows to put in their short hair.

 "How?" I asked turning back to Kory.

 "Well, when I realized you were going to be taken to penalty, I went straight home and changed. I decided that you were right. It was better if everyone was different. Like you, we're all a lot happier not having to listen to those stupid mirrors." He smiled and I looked at him horrified at what he had said. He just kept talking. "I got everyone to listen to me and told them that we shouldn't have to listen to a stupid mirror to know who we are. We needed to be ourselves and not listen to someone else's opinion on who we should be. A lot of people confessed that they had been hurting at what the mirror had said to them sometimes but they weren't allowed to say anything so they changed to fit was expected of them. Now everyone has changed to be who they really are. No one's fake anymore! Come outside, I want to show you something." I followed him down the cell block hall and out the door.

 When we reached the outside, I stood in amazement. Everything was different. There was broken glass scattered around the ground where the people had smashed their mirrors. The giant statue of Magdalena that used to stand at the center of the fountain was no more. People had planted flowers or decorated their shacks. It was beautiful. "We're all different now." Kory said leaning over next to me.

 "Wow." Was all that I could say.

 "A few people went out to other villages to spread the word. Aspen, we're changing the world, and it's all because of you." He smiled a big toothy smile.

 "No Kory," I turned to face him and stood on my tiptoes to look up into his eyes. "It's all because of you. I wouldn't have changed if it wasn't for you." I pulled his head down until our lips met and I kissed him. I didn't let go of him and I still haven't. Kory and I are now married with four children. We don't live in a shack but in a house. New material has been invented and no one wears those baggy brown clothes anymore. The mirrors don't talk anymore and everyone is different. Just like it's supposed to be. The world is better without everyone listening to other peoples, or things, opinions. Everyone is who they want to be and not what someone is making them be.

Zombie Apocalypse

This is a story me and my friend are working on together, it is not edited yet so I'm just writing it as we go along. Here we go! Tell me what you think, it's going to come in small sections, this is the very beginning. PART 1: I woke up to the sound of the doorbell ringing excessively. Sitting up, I looked at my clock and slammed my head back on my pillow. It was 5:30 in the morning. Tiredly I threw my covers off me and stood up. I walked to my window and peaked out. It was still dark. I sighed and started for my door when I got a glimpse of my mirror on my night stand. I picked it up and looked at my reflection. I groaned. My usually flat brown hair was not tied in a bunch of frizzy knots. Trying to smooth it out, I opened my door and walked down the stairs to the front door. I looked out the peephole to see Emma staring right back at me. I jumped ten feet before I unlocked the door and let her in. As soon as the door was cracked, she pushed it open, sat on my couch, and turned the television on to the five o'clock news. "Come in." I requested sarcastically. I couldn't help but notice that she was dressed with her makeup on and her blonde hair straightened. She looked back and gestured to me to sit down. I felt like a zombie walking over to her. "Have you heard about this?" She asked, staring at the screen. "I'm guessing no, because unlike you, I like to sleep till at least eight on a Saturday." I replied. She glared at me. "We'll, I was watching the news like I do every morning and this came on." She pointed at the screen where a live breaking news story was on. "Thanks Dave. Well yes there is something going on down here in Times Square. As you can see a man has gone crazy. The police are doing all they can to stop him from biting people. Three men are dead. Eaten alive. We're not sure was caused this outbreak but the police assure us that it will be found and stopped. Back to you Dave." I looked at Emma and she turned off the tv. The only think I could say was, "what the?" Emma had a wild look in her eyes. I sighed. "Emma, it's not-" "It's zombies!" She interrupted happily. I was starting to get annoyed. "Emma, every time something even sort of like this happens, you say it's zombies." I grabbed her shoulders and started to shake her. "Emma, zombies do not exist!" I let go. "Yes, they do! All those other times might not have been zombies, but these are!" She looked at the black screen and continued. "If you were watching, you would've seen the dead bodies moving as if they were still alive. What are you doing?" She looked down at my hands which were holding my phone. "Texting Jayce." I said plainly. "Why?" "He needs to help me talk some sense into you." "At 5:30 am? He's even less of a morning person then you are. And that's saying something..." She shrugged. "If I text him enough, he'll come eventually. I'm going to go get dressed and if he doesn't come in half an hour, we going over there." I left her to go to my room. "What about his parents?" She yelled.

There were only ten miles left to Canada. Charles stopped he was out of breath. I stopped too we started walking.

I heard footsteps behind us again, it was the same person as it was before. I pulled Charles behind a tree. The man stopped at the tree we were hiding behind. I held my breath and put my hand over Charles mouth to quiet him. He pushed my hand away and ran out into full view of the man.

I started running after him, I was scared. We didn't know who the man was and I didn't want to take any chances. Charles had disappeared. I started screaming his name when I felt a hard hand on my back.

"What's your name kid?" He said with a rough voice. I didn't answer. "I said what's your name." The dog started sniffing me. I still didn't answer. There were footsteps behind the man and the man tumbled forward. I turned around to see what it was. It was Charles.

"Let go of my brother!!" He yelled. I had never heard Charles be so loud. I pulled my shoulder out from the mans tight grip, grabbed Charles and we started running again.

Charles started up a tree, I went up after him, right on his heel. The man had gathered his balance and was running after us. When he got to the tree he stopped. So had Charles. I started to panic. The man grabbed my ankle and pulled me down. Then he tried to reach Charles, but he was to high. I yelled to Charles to keep climbing but he had gone into shock. I grabbed a stick off the ground and threw it up at him. He jumped and looked down at me. I repeated what I had said before, and he climbed three feet higher.

The dog jumped up on the the tree and was barking furiously. "You did wrong not to answer me, now what's your name?" I still didn't answer. Charles yelled down from the tree. "His name is Billy, now leave him alone!"I had forgotten to tell him never to tell anyone our names.

"Brave kid, now what's your name?" I was hoping Charles could hear my thoughts. "Charles, and I said leave him alone!" I looked up at the sky in annoyance.

"You are the two I've been looking for." He smiled an evil smile. The man pulled something out of his belt and started poking Charles feet with it. Charles slipped, he fell to the ground with a thud, a huge scrape on his cheek from it running against the trunk on his way down.

The man grabbed Charles and marched us both down the trail. Eventually we came to an old gray car. He pushed us into the back seat. It was a whipping for both of us when we got back.

Charles had seen a half open window behind us. He was trying to squeeze through. I started pushing him through. As soon as he had gotten out, I had started squeezing through. It was harder for me because I was bigger. Charles was trying to pull me out without falling off the car.

Once I had gotten out we both jumped. The car hadn't gotten far, in fact it got us closer to the border.

The Run


I could feel the wind on my face, my bare feet cold against the rocks beneath me. I was home free, not very far left. Someone fell behind. I stopped and looked back to see my six-year-old brother on the ground, his bare feet scarred from running so far.

He ripped a piece of his sleeve and gave it to me. I started to wrap his feet up, but he shook his head and pointed at me. He wanted me to wrap my feet up.

I had to bite my lips to stop from crying.

“Charles, hop on my back.” I said to him because I new he couldn't run any longer. He climbed up my back, witch made the pain in my side start throbbing. I grabbed onto him tightly and started running

It was almost dawn and we were almost to the border of Canada. We would be free in a couple of hours.

When we stopped at a river to drink I heard someone coming up behind us. From the sound of his footsteps I could tell I was a husky man with a dog padding beside him. I pulled Charles into the river and under a log.

The river was frozen because it was in the middle of winter. I was praying for him to pass by quickly so I could get Charles out of there. Luckily He did.

When we got out I gave Charles my thin jacket to warm him up. Charles stopped drying himself and looked at a tree. I went to stand next to him and I couldn't believe my eyes. Charles had found what we had been looking for. The peg leg next to an arrow. I turned my head to see an old rusty house.

Charles started running towards it while I kept an eye on every fifth tree to make sure we were going to the right place. When we reached the house, an old man answered. He looked like a pirate to, with his eye patch and peg leg.

We gave the signal and he did it back and then hurried us inside. He gave us a drink and a piece of bread. He picked up a floor board and told us to go under. We were to be quiet until he came to get us again.

We had been with our mother and father and their friends before, but in a little while we had been separated from them. And now it was just us Charles and I. Two young boys finding their own way to freedom.

After a time that seamed like forever, the old man came to get us. He hurried us outside and pointed us in the right direction again. Before we left he gave us a last drink and a piece of bread each. We were on our way again.