How To (Kinda) Survive The Rise Of The Undead

*Vic Perry's Point of View*
"So, let me get this straight, " Ty started after we had watched the television repeat its message for the fifteen billionth time, "The dead are rising all over the world?"
"So it would seem..." I said barely above a whisper. The thought of it all scared me to death. I suppose that wasn't the best term to use at this moment in time, but it was the only one I could think of.
"Bull," Ty scoffed.
"Do you think this is some kind of game?" Mike asked her, sounding very shocked.
"Knowing my siblings, it wouldn't surprise me," she rolled her eyes. She got up and left the room to go heaven knows where.
"She'll understand the reality of it all soon enough," Tony said as he patted his friend on the shoulder.
"Well," said a voice from behind us, startling us all, "I think that if the dead are rising then we have a crisis ahead of us and we better all prepare." It was Mom.
"How?" Vic asked.
"Well, first we should perhaps stock up on some food. Most of us brought cars out here, so we take those and stock up. Except for you," she said, pointing at Kellin, "You stay here with your little girl. Best not to risk it. I don't think Tyler will be one to come, so she'll be staying too. She'll probably stay out of your hair. Vic, you and Liza will take your car."
"Me Vic? Or him Vic?" I asked.
"Well obviously you're the only one who brought your car, not including his bus, but I suppose you also have room to take him, so do. David, you can take Tony and Jaime. And I'll take Mike and Chris. Sound good?" Mom had this certain authority that nobody dared to ever undermine, even Ty knew better than to ever try.
"One question. How do we plan to pay for all this food?" I asked.
"I have a credit card I can certainly use. We probably still have time before all of those go completely out of service," Vic offered. Everyone pulled out their wallets, and together we decided we had plenty of cash between our credit cards and about seven hundred fifty dollars in cash. Kellin had even threw in his own twenty bucks he had in his pocket, then the PTV boys ran to the bus and each came back with their own stash of cash and what they had found of the crew's money that they promised they'd repay. 'If they ever get the chance' I thought silently to myself. We split up the cash, everyone taking their own cards, and got into the car and headed for the town a few miles over. I drove, Liza called shotgun, as Vic was forced into the backseat. Halfway to town, Mom caked Liza's phone. After a few moments of exchange, Liza hung up.
"You two are on a team. You're supposed to get medicine and feminine hygiene stuff," she said.
"Feminine hygiene? Why do we have to get the feminine hygiene?" Vic complained.
"Oh, toughen up. It's not like they've been used," I grinned as I glanced back at him in the rearview mirror, giving him a grin.
A few minutes later, we pulled into the parking lot of the grocery store of the small town closest to the property. The parking lot was full of cars, overflowing, actually. I suppose the end of the world made everyone want to stalk up and be prepared. Good thing Mom split us up into teams. We all stepped out of the car, and without a word, Vic and I headed for the shopping carts.
"So," Vic asked, "Where do we get the supplies?"
"Follow me," I said, as if he hadn't been already.
"Should we like split up to get the things?" he asked.
"Can't rid yourself of feminine hygiene and me that easily, Fuentes. Plus I think that defeats the whole purpose of us going in teams," I joked as I made my way past the adult diapers and stopped in front of the pads and tampons. I squatted down, grabbing armfuls of boxes before standing to empty them in the cart. Someone ran past, a few water jugs in his arms, shoving my shopping cart out of the way and knocking me to the ground.
"Watch it!" Vic called to the estranged shopper as he swooped down to make sure I was okay.
"I'm fine," I shrugged it off before he could even question me. We filled my cart to the top with basically anything any women might possibly need on her period, minus painkillers which we were grabbing next. We made our way to the next aisle over and started emptying medicine into our cart. A mother with her son came by, looking for some medicine of their own. When she saw that most of the children's medicine was gone, she turned and headed away, slightly disappointed.
"Wait!" I called after her, motioning her to come closer. I began rifling through our basket, giving the woman half of the children's medicine we had already gathered for Copeland.
"Thank you so much!" she said, looking rather excited.
"No problem. The world won't get anywhere unless we help each other out," Vic smiled as he handed her the only box of some fancy meds. She graciously accepted it and made her way to the checkout.
A few minutes later, Vic and I followed suit. As we neared the checkout line, there was a sign that read, “ALL CARTS $150, REGARDLESS OF CONTENTS NO CREDIT”
“We need more,” I said as I began to turn the cart around. We wheeled back in front of the products and began to load armfuls into the cart. Once the cart was full, with a few objects cautiously balanced on top, we made our way to the front again, throwing random items that we wanted on the bottom of the cart. We quickly got through the line, threw up our money and made our way for the car. I opened the trunk and we began to pile boxes and containers into the trunk, trying to make room for Chris and Liza’s stuff just in case.
Just as we were loading up the last of the boxes, Chris was pushing Liza as she stood on one of the bars of a cart, and despite all that was going on in the world, she wore the biggest grin. Behind them Mike and Jaime were dragging a cart loaded down with cans, with some bags of food stacked above it. Jaime was pushing the cart as Mike guided it from the other end. We were loading the cars up when David and Tony came out. We quickly loaded it all up and were waiting for Mom to come out.
"Where is she?" I asked worriedly to nobody in particular.
"I'm sure she'll be out soon," Vic said right next to me. Everyone else was waiting in the car.
"I'm gonna call her," I announced. I pulled out my phone and quickly pressed her contact. It rang and rang before it went to voicemail. I didn't leave a voicemail before hanging up. I called again, and this time, someone answered. "Mom?" I answered quickly before she could get in a word.
"Um, no. I uh, found this phone next to someone."
"Someone dead?" I asked barely above a whisper. Not already. No.
"Yeah. A woman, maybe like mid fifties." "What happened?" I choked out. "I don't know. It happened in one of the back aisles. Near the water. I think someone shot her in the head. I'm sorry."
"Thanks," I barely managed to say that last word before I hung up the phone.
"Is she..." Vic asked, but he didn't need to finish as I collapsed to the concrete. He helped me stand and sat me in the passenger seat of the car. He quickly explained to everyone what had happened and drove my car back to the property. On the way back I pulled myself together. It wasn't like there was anything I could do now but look forward. Once we were back at the property, we all gathered into the living room.
"Where's Ty?" Tony asked Kellin who had been playing with Copeland on the carpet.
"I haven't seen her since before you guys left," he said.
"Ty!" Tony yelled.
"What?!" she yelled as she came storming down the stairs.
"Sit. We need to talk," I demanded as we all took a seat around the room.
"What happened? Where's Mom?" Ty was the first to speak.
"She's dead," I said bluntly.Why sugarcoat it? It's what happened. Ty didn't say anything as she leaned backwards, so I continued on. I think she finally accepted the reality of what was happening.
"We need a plan. Are we going to stay here forever? Are we going to go out and find people? What's the plan?"
"I called Katelynne," Kellin started, "and she said she'd stay home with the boys as long as she needed. I told her to go grab a whole lot of food and wait in the house."
"Should we go and get them?" Jaime posed the question.
"It can't be safe for us to all to go get them, but we can't leave them there," Chris mentioned.
"What if some of us went to go get them?" Mike suggested.
"And what about everyone else?" Liza asked.
"Do we stay here or do we all go together?" Ty asked.
"I don't know. What if we sent one person to go get them?" Chris suggested.
"A group of two might be better," I suggested, "I mean, then they can look out for each other and then we have a chance of knowing what happens."
"Fair enough. But who?" Vic asked.
"Obviously me," Kellin stated from where he sat with Copeland on the ground.
"No. You have to stay here with Copeland," I said, and he seemed to easily understand as he continued to keep her entertained.
"I'll go," Chris offered.
"I'm going with you," Liza said, leaving no room for negotiation.
That didn't mean Chris wouldn't fight it, "No way in hell."
"You don't get to decide that. And it is not just for you. I need to, so shush." Chris glared before he leaned back and glared straight forward.
"I guess it's settled then..." I trailed off.

Notes

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