Low on Time/Issue 14

This is issue fourteen of Low on Time, entitled: About Time.

Issue 14; About Time
''A recently turned 15 year-old Kelly was sitting with Dylan and a group of his friends in a school cafeteria. She was wearing all black; even her shoes were a dark black. Dylan was wearing a red shirt and green shorts, something he was in the habit of; even though it was winter. Kelly was the only girl at the table, the rest being guys. The group of seven were playing cards, there being not much else they could do.''

''"Bullshit!" exclaimed Kelly, smiling, as she gave one of the guys $10.''

''"Come on, Kel. It's a flush." he replied, smiling.''

"Yeah, yeah... I know."

''"So, you two finally dating?" asked one of the other guys, looking at Dylan and Kelly. Dylan's face turned red, and he gave the death stare to his friend. Kelly put her arm around Dylan, and nodded her head, jokingly.''

''"Kelly, I'm just saying. Dylan talks about you all of the time." he said.''

''"I'm gonna kick your ass in about five seconds, Billy." Dylan said.''

''"Come on, man." Billy said, smirking. "I'm just giving you a reason to make the move."''

''Kelly smiled, looking at the two discuss this topic. She looked over at one of her other friends, Chad, who was watching this too. She tapped his arm and he looked at her. "Does he talk about me?" she mouthed to him. Chad nodded, quickly, smiling while he did it. The two both turned their attention back at Dylan and Billy. Kelly poked Dylan in the back of the neck, and he turned to her.''

''"Yeah?" he asked.''

''"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked, smirking.''

''"About damn time they had this talk." Billy said, under his breath, causing the rest of their friends to laugh a bit.''

''Dylan looked back at them, which was their cue to shut up. Dylan looked back at Kelly, and smiled.''

''"Well, nerves mostly-- I guess." Dylan said.''

''"Well-- you're lucky Billy brought this up, Dylan." Kelly said, smiling. "Cause I've noticed it for a while, was just waiting on you to tell me."''

"Well--" Dylan started to say.

''"Just get it over with." Kelly said, kissing him.''

Kelly and Jake had a beer pong setup on the table in the dorm they were in. They were standing at opposite ends of the table, and shooting the golf balls, trying to get them into the opposite cups. Kelly shot a small pink golf ball, getting it into one of the cups. Jake took the cup, and drank the beer that was in it, setting it aside.

"Nice shot." he said, getting ready to shoot next.

Kelly took a bow, smiling. "Thank you." she said, slurring her words already. Jake noticed this, and smiled.

"You're such a lightweight." he said.

"Fuck off. I barely drink." she said.

"Yeah, but you had like, four beers!"

"Shut up, Jakey." she said, smiling.

The door opened, and Olivia walked in.

"Hey, guys." she said, a little too happy for Kelly.

"Hey, you feeling better?" asked Jake.

"A little bit." she said, walking towards them, and seeing what they were doing. "What the hell are you guys doing?"

"Playing some beer pong. You wanna join?" asked Kelly.

"Beer pong? It's the goddamn end of the fucking world! You guys should be worrying about how to fucking survive."

Jake looked over at Kelly, who was already looking back at him.

"Lighten up. You look like could use something to drink." Jake said, looking back at Olivia, passing her a bottle of beer.

She looked down at it, and looked back at Kelly and Jake who were looking at her. "Why not?" she asked to herself, opening the bottle, and starting to chug it. Kelly smiled, looking over at Jake.

"She's on your team." Jake said.

"What, why?" asked Kelly.

"You gotta share your drinks with someone else, Kel. You're already gone. Imagine you when I kick your ass at this game? You'd be done for."

Kelly looked down, knowing he was probably right. "Okay. Olivia you're on my team.' she said.

''Kelly and Dylan walked down the road; walking home from school. Dylan had his arm around Kelly, as she pulled out a pack of cigarettes. She took one out, and put it in her mouth, then taking out a lighter. Dylan watched as she lit the cigarette, and put the lighter away. The smoking made Dylan feel uncomfortable as he looked away.''

''"Anything wrong?" asked Kelly, taking the cigarette out of her mouth.''

''"You know I don't like smoking." he said. "It's bad for you; and I have a bad family history of lung problems... death runs in the family when it comes to smoking."''

''Kelly smiled, kissing his cheek. "I'm not in your family though." she said.''

"I know, but I don't want anything bad happening to you. And I would be giving Billy or Tyler the same exact speech if I saw them smoking."

''"I appreciate your concern... but it helps a lot... with stress and everything." Kelly said.''

''"There are better ways, though." he said.''

"Like, what?"

''"Come hit the gym with me and Chad tomorrow. I know I feel better after working out." Dylan said.''

''"Or we could just have sex. I heard that eases stress." Kelly said.''

''Dylan looked at her, surprised. "I'm just fucking with you." Kelly said, smiling. "I will go to the gym though. If I feel any better; I'll think about quitting smoking."''

''"As long as you try... I fucking hate those things." Dylan said, as Kelly threw the cigarette to the ground.''

Kira held the walkie-talkie in her hand, and she was sitting next to Jeremy and Violet. Jeremy still looked nervous, and Violet was trying to comfort him.

"Should I see if I can raise him?" asked Kira.

"Yes, please, do it." Jeremy said, almost as if he was begging Kira.

"What if he's cornered, and needs to be quiet? We'd bring them down on top of him." Violet said.

"So... what do we do? Wait another hour?" asked Kira.

"I don't know. I wanna know when Tyler gets back... maybe he's with them." Violet said.

"But-- maybe he needs our help! We can't just-just wait." Jeremy proclaimed.

Kira looks over at Violet, who finally nods.

"Ok, I'll see if I can raise him." Kira said.

Allen pulled over at an abandoned house. It was secluded, away from the town or any civilization. Allen and Langston both carried Trent into the house, leaving Valerie in the car. She hears a crackling sound, and she looks under the seat, seeing a walkie-talkie. She picks it up, and looks at it.

"Trent? Trent, are you there?" says a female voice that booms through the walkie.

Valerie is a little drawn back by it; but presses down on the button to speak. "No, there is no Trent here." she said.

There is a long pause though the radio chatter, until the voice finally comes through. "Who is this? How'd you get on this frequency then?" she asked, her voice clearly quieter.

"I'm Valerie Wilson... I don't know; I guess it was under the seat, or this guy dropped it." Valerie said, putting her feet up on the seat.

"Guy? What guy?" the voice said, quickly.

"We hit some kid on the highway. Jumped right in front of our car like a deer. He could've dropped it." Valerie said, as she started to get out of the car. She saw Langston coming out of the house and she motioned for him to come to her. Langston jogged over to her, and she pointed to it.

"Was he Asian?" the voice asked. Valerie looked to Langston, who nodded his head.

"Yeah, he was." Valerie said.

"Is-is he okay?"

Langston took the walkie from Valerie, and pressed on the button. "He's fine. His leg is gone; may not be able to walk for a while my friend said though." Langston said.

"Gone? What do you mean gone?"

"Sorry, not the word I should've used. It's totally broken."

"Is there anyway you can get him back to us?" asked the voice.

"Of course we can. Just let us try and fix him up the best we can first." Langston said.

"Thank you... thank you so much."

"Don't worry about it. It's the least we can do. I'll have the walkie near me at all times if you try and contact us again."

Langston put the walkie into his pocket, and walked over to the car with Valerie. Valerie picked up a shotgun; and Langston got one too.

"Go check on Allen; I'll keep watch." Langston said, as Valerie ran into the house.

Ike, Paul, and Tyler were walking along the highway, ready to get back to camp. Tyler was carrying the bags of medicine and food; while carrying the cases of water. Ike and Paul had their guns out; ready to shoot of they're attacked by anyone or anything. There was a couple cars driving past them. They looked on the road, and saw a familiar bag lying in the middle of the street. Paul jogged over to it, and looked at it. He picked it up, and looked over it. He immediately recognized it as the bag Jeremy and Trent had in their room.

"What is it?" Ike asked, walking over to him with Tyler.

"It's-- nothing. Just looked familiar." Paul said, standing up.

Paul walked over to Tyler, and started going through one of the medicine bags, picking up the medicine he asked Tyler for. He popped open the cap, and took a couple of pills out.

"What the hell are those?" asked Ike.

"It's for my disorder." Paul said, taking them, and putting the cap back on.

"You have a disorder?" Tyler asked. "Come on, I don't believe that for one second."

"Bipolar disorder." Paul said. "I started having these moments and they put me on this shit." Paul looked over at Ike who was looking at him. "What? No smartass comment?"

Ike crossed his arms. "Nope. My dad had the same thing; except you are actually doing something about it. I have nothing to say." he said.

Paul nodded, and looked over at Tyler. "Let's keep going. They're probably getting worried." Tyler said.

Owen sat with Amanda and Isiss, all sitting at a dinner table, with eggs in front of them. The three were holding each other's hands, and there eyes were closed.

"Dear lord," Isiss started. "We'd like to thank you for our food, our friends, and for not being dead. We know there is a reason why you spared us; and not the others, and we hope to prove to you that you made the right decision. Grant that our hands be swift, our feet fast, and our bodies strong for what we are about to endure." Isiss finished.

"Amen." the three said in unison.

Isiss looked up at Owen, smiling. "So, what was the situation with Violet today?" she asked.

"You heard about that too?" he asked, in a whiny voice.

"Yup."

"Well, she kissed me; and as much as I do like her... it got me thinking." he said, looking from Isiss to Amanda. "I've spent my entire life, over-preparing to be the perfect straight-A student. I never had many friendships, or even a girlfriend for that matter, but now it's the end of the world; and my grades don't mean fucking shit. I wasted my entire childhood trying to be perfect, and now it means nothing. When Violet kissed me; I didn't know what to do 'cause I was never in that situation before."

Isiss smiled, and took a sip of the tap water. "See, let me tell you something about Violet, Owen. She may like you, but you don't have to be worried. Just go with it, and you'll do fine. I--"

Isiss is cut off from frantic screaming coming from down the hall. Owen hops up, grabs the kitchen knife, and sprints out of the room followed by Isiss. He sees a group of five zombies crowding over someone. He runs over to the zombies, and stabs the first one, making it fall. Isiss gets to him with Ike's pocket-knife, and shoves it through the back of another one's head. Kira, Sean, Jeremy, and Violet make their way out of their room towards them. Owen stabs another one, and can finally see the poor bastard, but he couldn't tell who it was, the person was so deformed. Isiss stabs the last one, and the six look over the person. They couldn't see who it was, but they could see bite marks in their neck, shoulder, stomach, leg. The person was coughing up blood, and the others couldn't do anything but watch.

"Who is that?" Isiss asked, memorized by the person's injury.

"I'm not sure." Owen said.

Amanda made her way slowly towards them, taking a look for herself. Kelly, Jake, and Olivia ran towards them, trying to see the commotion. You could smell the alochol coming off of the trio.

"Who the fuck is that?" Jake asked, staring in disbelief.

"It can't be Ike, Paul, or Tyler. Trent's a no too... the rest of us are here besides... Dylan." Amanda said, probably the first thing she said to the entire group.

Kelly feels up with tears and runs to what was left of Dylan. His eyes were open, and he couldn't do anything but lie there, choking on his own blood. She started crying, and collapsed onto his body, and tried to do anything to bring him back. His eyes slowly shut, and Kelly wouldn't leave his side. Jake pulled a broken Kelly back, who tried to fight her way back to Dylan. He held her, and he brought her into a big hug so she couldn't look at him. Olivia started crying, and joined in the hug, as the rest of the group just stared blankly at Dylan's body.

"Get them out of here." Violet said, and Jake brought Olivia and Kelly into their dorm. Jeremy, Amanda, Kira, and Sean couldn't stand looking at the mutilated body, and they dispersed, leaving Violet, Isiss, and Owen. Owen walked over to Dylan's dead body, and lifted his foot, smashing his foot into Dylan's face repeatedly, until you could barely recognize it was a face anymore. Isiss and Violet both looked at Owen, who was standing over Dylan's body, looking at it.

Credits

 * Kelly Gay
 * Olivia Bell
 * Jake Munoz
 * Dylan Adams
 * Kira Fulton
 * Sean Solo
 * Tyler Blake
 * Paul Alexander
 * Ike Dennis
 * Jeremy Flynn
 * Trent Jones
 * Isiss Rivera
 * Violet Middleton
 * Owen Horne
 * Amanda Dixon
 * Langston Otto
 * Allen
 * Valerie Wilson

Deaths

 * Dylan Adams