Low on Time/Issue 20

This is issue twenty of Low on Time, entitled: Mind.

Issue 20; Mind
''A 17 year-old Kelly sat down with Dylan, Shea, and Frank Adams. They sat outside, by a fire that they had set up. Kelly was holding three envelopes, Dylan holding five. Shea had her camera out, wanting to "savor the moment" of this big event in Kelly and Dylan's lives, and Frank was just sitting there happily. Dylan went through his, and picked up one.''

''"University of Michigan." he said, opening the envelope. His eyes rushed down the paper, until he sighed, and threw it into the fire.''

''His dad patted him on the back, and Dylan opened the next one. He threw that one into the fire too. Kelly just sat there, smirking. Dylan looked at her, and smiled.''

''"Why don't you open one?" he asked, smiling.''

''Kelly opened one of the envelope, pulling out the paper. "UPENN, accepted!" she said, smiling.''

Shea took a picture of Kelly, as she was reading the letter.

''"Congrats." Dylan said, already opening his. "UPENN, accepted too!" he said, smiling.''

''Kelly looked up at Dylan, smiling. The two looked at the rest of their envelopes, and simultaneously, threw them in the fire; keeping the ones from the University of Pennsylvania. Kelly got up, and hugged Dylan, smiling. Shea was so happy, she started crying. Frank just walked over to her, hugging her from behind.''

''"UPENN, class of 2014!" Kelly said, happily.''

''"And we're doing it together." Dylan said, smiling.''

Shea just stood there taking endless pictures, as Dylan and Kelly talked happily.

Kelly walked through the hallway, alone. She was holding a kitchen knife, just in case she encountered any zombies, but she knew that was highly unlikely. Her fingers ran through her hair, as she attempted to calm herself. She walked over into the main lobby, where the zombies were still banging on the door. She sighed, and walked over to the window they use to get in and out. She poked her head out, knowing that was probably the only fresh air she could get. She had her eyes closed, enjoying it, when suddenly she was pulled back. She screeched, and looked up, seeing Langston standing over her, his hand on her shoulder. She looked ahead to the window, and saw a zombie reaching it's hand in; and she didn't even know it was there.

"What were you thinking?" Langston asked, sitting down next to her.

"I just wanted fresh air." she said, sighing.

"You were almost lunch. Do you know how lucky you are that I was here?"

"Pretty damn lucky, I guess." she said, getting annoyed, and standing up.

"Oh, no." he said standing up right after her. "Please don't tell me you were coming out here to... take yourself out." Langston said, you could tell it was an uncomfortable subject just from his voice.

"What if I was?" she asked.

"I'd tell you that you are crazy." he said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "I know I'm a stranger, but If you need anything, I'm here to help."

"Thanks, but no thanks." Kelly said, pushing his hand off, and walking away.

"Let me tell you something, Mrs. Suicide." Langston started, getting her to stop and turn back. "When a poor soul jumps off the bridge, to kill themselves, most of them die... but the ones who don't... you ever watch those interviews?" Kelly just shook her head. "The ones who survive, always say the same thing... that they regretted it as soon as they jumped. That means, every poor kid who kicks away that chair, every person who jumps, every person who slits themselves... they all think they same thing, 'why did I do that'? If you were to let that zombie bite you; you would've most certainly regretted it, and you know it." as he finished, Kelly looked like she was on the brink of tears when...

The front door flew open. Kelly and Langston both turned to look, and the zombies started piling into the building.

"Run." Langston said, quietly.

Kelly turned, and her and Langston flew down the hallway. Jake, Tyler, Owen, Violet, and Valerie were in the hallway talking when Kelly and Langston got to them. The sight of them instantly made the rest nervous.

"What happened?" asked Violet, nervously.

"They're in." Kelly said, breathing heavily.

''Kelly sat in the driver's seat of a black Hyundai, Dylan sitting next to her. The back of the truck was full of supplies, books, and even an original Xbox. Shea and Frank stood at the car window, Shea crying tears of joy, and Frank was smiling.''

''"Good luck, son." Frank said, shaking Dylan's hand.''

''"I'm going to miss you so much." Shea cried, hugging him through the window.''

''"I'll keep him out of trouble, Mr. and Mrs. Adams." Kelly said, smirking.''

''"I'll count on that." Frank said.''

Kelly hopped out of the driver's seat, and ran around the car for a quick hug from Frank, and a longer one from Shea.

''"Thank you so much, for everything." Kelly said, looking at the two. "Thank you for taking me in, feeding me, everything."''

''"Don't mention it, Kelly." Frank said, patting her on the back.''

''Kelly smiled, and ran back into the driver's seat. Dylan looked at Kelly, who was already looking at him, and smiled. After a bunch of goodbye's, Kelly put her car into drive, and they drove off. As they drove, Dylan kissed her on the cheek, meeting a smiled from Kelly.''

''"Stop, I'm trying to drive." Kelly complained, although she couldn't stop from giggling.''

"Come on, babe. I hope you're ready for the big leagues. We have such a long drive ahead of us, that I think I might just make a game about how much I can annoy you before you yell."

''"And I won't hesitate to drive into a tree to make you stop." Kelly said.''

Dylan kissed her cheek again, and she pushed him back, not taking her eyes off of the road, although she couldn't hold back her smile.

''"You see! You love it!" Dylan said, happily. "Don't act like it annoys you."''

''Kelly smirked, and, she couldn't help this would be the start of a big, beautiful relationship... but clearly, she was wrong.''

Kelly, Jake, Valerie, Violet, Tyler, Langston, and Owen were taking out zombies in the hallway of the dorm. Kelly, holding a kitchen knife, stabbed a zombie right in the brain, although she appeared disgusted.

"Where are they all coming from?!?" screamed Jake, hitting a zombie with a baseball bat.

"I don't know; just keep fighting!" Tyler yelled back, holding a wrench.

"I-I'm getting exhausted." Owen complained, standing in between Violet and Langston.

"Get Allen and Paul!" Jake said.

Owen nodded, and ran. Kelly stabbed another zombie, and the bodies were starting to pile now. Tyler hit another zombie with his wrench, putting a huge dent in the head of the zombie, and it fell. Allen ran over, holding a mop. Paul came soon afterwards, holding a small knife.

"How'd they get in?!?" screamed Allen, whacking a zombie in the head.

"They finally busted down the door." Kelly said.

As the zombies kept coming, Kelly and the rest kept fighting. A zombie which Violet couldn't see in time, pounced on her, and started struggling with her. As it wrestled with Violet, Paul stabbed it in the head, and dragged Violet over an intersecting hallway. Kelly followed, defending Paul and Violet while they had their hands full. Kelly turned back around to make sure the two were ok, which, they thankfully were. She turned back around though... and there was no one there anymore. Just a sea of zombies. Kelly looked at it, wide-eyed, Paul and Violet too. A zombie saw them, and ran down their hallway instead of going with the rest of the pack, but Kelly stabbed it. Paul walked towards the zombies.

"Paul, Kelly, we have to go." Violet said, getting up.

"I gotta get Amanda." Paul said.

"What about Jake or the rest?" Kelly asked, staring too.

Violet turned around, seeing a door that said "Exit". Violet opened it, and sighed.

"We have to leave them. I'm sure we'll see them again." she said.

Kelly and Paul both nodded, and turned to leave with Violet, when they heard a fatal scream, and gunshots.

"Come on!" ushered Violet, and the two reluctantly went through the door.

Langston, and Valerie were putting furniture in front of the door to the dorm they were in, not wanting any zombies to get in. Olivia, Amanda, Trent, and Jeremy were watching them, all speechless.

"What's happening out there?" asked Olivia, worried.

"The zombies got through... they fucking got Tyler." Langston said, his eyes watering.

"No... no you're joking." Jeremy said, not wanting to believe it.

"I wish. Now come on, we have to find a way out of here." Langston said, taking a deep breath.

"What about Jake or Kelly?" Olivia asked, her voice trembling at this point.

"Jake went to warn Isiss and Ike." Valerie said. "Kelly got separated from us."

"And Paul?" asked Amanda.

"Paul was with Kelly and Violet when they got separated."

Olivia started to cry, and was soon comforted by Jeremy, who hugged her. Valerie and Langston looked at the group of four they were stuck with, and realized they got stuck with the weak and the useless.

Sean picked up a small Nike bag, and shoved his radio contraption into it, along with some canned foods and medicine. Kira picked up two kitchen knives, passing one to Sean. Allen and Owen had their shotguns aimed at the door, in case any broke through.

"You ready?" asked Allen.

"I think so." Sean said, weakly.

"Kira, get the window open, see if there's a clear shot onto the roof." Allen said, and Kira did as he said.

Kira looked out the window, and saw that the roof was about five feet from the window.

"We're jumping." Kira said, busting the glass.

"Well hurry up then." Allen said, ready to shoot if anything busted through the door.

Kira got on the windowsill, and jumped, landing on the roof with ease. Sean went next, landing with ease too. Owen broke away from Allen, and tossed his shotgun to Sean, who caught it. Owen got on the windowsill, and was about to jump when... the door busted open, and some of the zombies got in. As Owen jumped, Allen shot a bullet at the first zombie. The shot was enough to scare Owen and it fucked up his jump. He fell full force on his leg, and started to roll off the roof. Sean dropped the shotgun, and immediately grabbed onto his hand, Kira doing the same. The both stopped him from rolling any further, and helped him back up. Kira turned back to the window, for Allen, but he was gone. No sign of him anywhere, but the room was full of zombies. It was pretty clear, there was no escaping for Allen. The three looked around, Sean picking up the shotgun, and they had no idea what to do or where to go.

Kelly, Paul, and Violet ran down the stairs, Paul leading the three. They got to the bottom floor, and went out the emergency exit. The three were outside, and looked around, seeing if anyone else was around or if anyone else made it. Paul jogged over to a car, checking for the keys, but coming up empty-handed.

"This is so fucked." Kelly said, sitting down next to the building.

"If they can get outside, they've got a shot." Paul said, looking at the main entrance. "There's no more outside, we just have to make them know we made it, and we can get the hell out of here."

"How do we do that?" asked Violet, out of breath.

"We get a car."

Violet looked over at Kelly, who nodded. Kelly stood up, and Paul knew exactly where to get one.

Jake carried Ike over his shoulder, as he ran through the hall, Isiss close behind him. Isiss had one of the pistols from the dead cop, but she wasn't shooting, she was only hitting the zombies if they got too close. They didn't run, but they didn't run out of stamina either. Jake busted through one of the doors, which led outside. Isiss and Jake both smiled, but knew it wasn't over yet. They kept running. A zombie got too close to them, and Isiss was going to hit it in the side of the head, when an arrow flew through it's head. Isiss looked up, seeing two people standing on the roof, it was two girls holding crossbows. One had black hair, and the other was a brunette. There was a van next to the building, and Jake knew that was their way up. Jake and Isiss ran over to them, and the two hopped up onto the hood of the van, narrowly avoiding the zombies. Jake put Ike on the top of the van, and helped Isiss up, before going up himself. Isiss hopped onto the roof with the two people, and Jake tossed Ike like a ragdoll onto it with them, before hopping onto the roof himself.

"Was he bit?" asked the brunette.

"No-- he was stabbed-- we were overrun." Isiss said, out of breath.

"We can see that." the other one said.

"Listen, have you seen anyone else? We were with a large group-- I don't know if anyone else made it." Jake said.

"We saw a group of three, going towards the parking lot. Other than that, no."

The brunette, got down on her knees, looking at Ike. "He doesn't look to good." she said.

"We know. We-- God; we should just get the fuck out of here." Isiss said.

"What, and leave Olivia and everyone else?" Jake asked in disbelief.

"I'm sorry but they're probably dead. We have to make sure not everybody dies today!"

"She's got a point." the black haired girl said.

"And what are your names?" asked Jake.

"I'm Emily." the black haired girl said.

"And I'm Jessica." the brunette said.

"Ok, Emily, Jessica, I didn't fucking ask you." Jake said, angrily.

"Jake, you're being a dick. We have to go, and you know it." Isiss said, trying to keep calm.

Jake took a deep breath, and sat down on the rood. "I just need some time to think." he said, putting his head in his arms.

Valerie and Langston paced around the room, trying to think of something. Olivia, Amanda, Jeremy, and Trent just watched as the pair became more and more stressed and panicked.

"Why don't we just try and sneak out? We don't know if there are many left anyways." Jeremy said.

"Because there were a lot of them! We can't do that, it's suicide." Valerie said, still pacing.

"Then what's staying in here called?"

"I'm just trying to think." she snapped back.

Jeremy stood up from the stool he was sitting on, and he walked over to the door.

"I got a better idea." Trent said, weakly.

"What is it one-leg?" Valerie asked.

"What if-- what if we tried disguising ourselves as them?"

"How would we do that?" asked Langston.

"Would we have to wear limbs and guts?" Valerie laughed. "Not happening."

Outside now, Valerie, Langston, Amanda, Olivia, Jeremy, and Trent walked, covered in zombie blood and guts. Langston helped Trent as he walked, and the five had a clear shot to Allen's pickup. They got to it, and Valerie hopped in the driver's seat, Olivia in passenger. Amanda got in passenger, and Langston helped Trent in. Valerie turned the car on, and the engine attracted every zombie within hearing distance, and they were all making their way towards the car. Langston stabbed one that got close, and hopped in the car. Jeremy went to go in next, but he was pulled back out by a zombie who took Jeremy to the ground.

"JEREMY!" screamed Trent in fear, as more zombies came around them.

As the first zombie took a bite out of Jeremy's neck, Jeremy led out a loud painful scream. Langston froze, looking at Jeremy, and Valerie stepped on the gas, leaving Jeremy for dead. All the group could hear was the loud screaming of Jeremy. Langston closed his door, so they didn't have to hear them anymore. A crying Trent looked behind him, hoping that maybe Jeremy got away, but he couldn't see anything. Trent just put his head down, and silently cried to himself.

"We just left him..." Olivia said, quietly.

"There was nothing we could do." Valerie said, keeping her cool.

"No... I could've done something." Langston muttered to himself, but no one heard him.

Paul looked around the parking lot to the café, which was empty besides Violet, Kelly, Paul, and a bunch of cars. Paul walked over to a red Humvee, taking a peek in, and seeing that the keys were luckily still in. Paul opened the door, and turned to the keys, it turning on. Kelly and Violet rushed over to him.

"It works?" asked Kelly.

"Praise the Lord!" Paul said, happily.

"Let's go see if we can pick anyone else up." Kelly said, smiling.

Paul hopped in the driver's seat, Violet getting in the passenger seat, and Kelly in the back. Paul started driving back the way they came, and up ahead, they saw a pickup truck coming towards them.

"Who the hell is that?" asked Violet, silently hoping it was Owen.

The two cars stopped next to each other, and Valerie rolled her window down, as did Paul.

"Glad to see you guys are okay." Valerie said.

"Who else is with you?" Paul asked, getting straight to the point.

"I got Olivia, Trent, and Amanda."

Paul breathes a sigh of relief after hearing Amanda; but then remembers she tried to kill Ike. Paul was in conflict about Amanda, but he keeps thinking, 'What would Haley want?'. He obviously knows the answer to that; and that is to make sure no one tries to hurt Amanda. So he can't tell anyone.

Kelly rolled her window down, and smiled, seeing Olivia. Olivia also smiled, holding up the peace sign.

"We're going back, to see if anyone needs to be picked up." Paul said.

"We're going to then." Valerie said.

Paul nodded, and Valerie turned the pickup truck around. The two cars drove up, back to the dorm, and they all stayed in the car, looking around for anyone.

"Over here!" they hear someone yell.

Valerie turns, seeing Jake and Isiss on the roof with a couple of other people she doesn't recognize. She drives over to the roof, and parks the pickup below them. Isiss jumped first into the back, followed by Emily, and then Jessica. Jake picks up Ike, and jumps into the back with the others. Zombies started to attack the pickup now, and Valerie started to speed off, back to Paul's car.

Sean, Kira, and Owen travel the rooftops, trying to find a way down. Owen struggled behind, limping as went along. Kira looked down on the road, and saw the two cars driving around. Sean and Owen joined her, looking down.

"Fuck, how do we get down there?" Sean asked.

"Test out your fucking device, Sean." Kira said.

Sean took his bag off, and took out his radio. He fucked around with it, before speaking into it.

"If you can here me, this is Sean. I'm with Kira and Owen on the rooftops; so, can you kindly find a way to help us?" he asked.

"Ok, now let's continue on, we gotta get down." Owen said.

In Paul's car, the three looked at the radio, not believing what they heard.

"Sean's device actually worked?!?" Paul said, happily.

Violet was smiling to herself, hearing that Owen was safe.

"How do we get to them?" asked Kelly, from the back.

"I don't know. They should fucking--" he paused, when he saw something coming his way.

Kelly and Violet looked to, seeing that Valerie was driving toward them, Kira, Sean, and Owen in the back with Jake and the others. Valerie nodded, as they passed him.

"How the fuck did they--" Paul started.

"Who cares, just follow them." Kelly said, and that's what Paul did. He turned the car around, and followed them.

As they drove down the highway, Paul decided to turn on the radio. "Die Young" by Ke$ha was ironically playing, but Paul left on it. Valerie drove in front of them, and they could see everyone in deep thought, rather than conversation. Everyone had someone on their mind, as they are leaving the campus for good. Paul can't stop thinking about Haley. Kelly can't stop thinking about Dylan. A crying Trent still can't stop thinking about Jeremy, as Amanda hugged him. Valerie couldn't stop thinking about Allen, and Langston couldn't stop thinking about Tyler.

Olivia sat next to Valerie, breathing heavily. Valerie looked over at her, and put her hand on her shoulder.

"We'll be ok." she said. "The way I see it, is that nothing but good things can happen now. We faced our hardships early on."

Valerie knew she was lying to Olivia, but she didn't care. She just wanted to make her feel better. She knew that from there on out, everything would get worse... much worse.

Credits

 * Kelly Gay
 * Olivia Bell
 * Jake Munoz
 * 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
 * Emily
 * Jessica

Deaths

 * Tyler Blake
 * Allen
 * Jeremy Flynn