"Today has been a slow day, huh? Not that many customers had came in today." I spoke up to my manager Brian as I leaned on the front counter. Today was yet another ordinary day for me at my job. I work at a pizza place and of course it isn't the best job nor is it my dream job, but it helps pay for bills, food and the clothes on my back. Plus anything extra. Right now I'm trying to save up to go to college so I can pursue what I really want to do for a career. Thankfully I do have support from my parents.
When I first came out to them, boy were they in shock, which I expected. It took months, almost to a year before my dad finally came around. As for my mom, it took her some time too, but not as long as my dad. They both needed to 'mourn' over the lost of their beloved child, but once they got over the mourning stages, they accepted me and continued to love me. That was the hugest obstacle I had to overcome, but it was worth it. The next obstacles were trying to fit comfortably in my skin while also needing to come out to everybody else I knew. Don't worry. I also told my manager and let's just say he kinda already knew.
"Yep! I wonder what's goin' on. It's not like today is Sunday. It's Friday for Pete's sake! Most people order pizza on a Friday night, but today has been our slowest day out of the entire week!" Brian exclaimed.
I sighed and nodded. "Well, let's not complain too much about the slowness. It's a good thing every other employee didn't come in today or else we'll all be complaining non-stop." I joked.
Brian chuckled. "Yer right about that! I think we're running a bit low on ingredients. Let's go to the back and bring out some more." He suggested.
I nodded and hurriedly followed Brian to the back room where we keep our extra supplies and ingredients. As we were bringing stuff out to the front, I heard some shuffling at the front of the store.
"Hey, it sounds like someone is here." I pointed out.
Brian looked over. "Oh yeah? Great! I'll go greet them. Make sure you get the pizzas ready."
I nodded and started working on making the pizzas while Brian talked to a new customers.
"Welcome to Joe's Pizza! What would you like?" I heard Brian say to the customer.
There were some silence, but I didn't think much about until I heard Brian's confusion.
"H-hey....you alright there?" He asked.
Now I was curious. I stepped out from behind the counter to see what's going on when I heard Brian shout.
"Fuck!"
My eyes widen and I ran over to Brian to see him fighting off a stranger.
"Brian!" I shouted.
"Stay back!" He shouted as he punched the stranger then he grabbed a baseball bat and hit them in the end then they fell down to the ground, dead. My heart started racing as I slowly approached the stranger to see if they were okay and that's when I saw the blood and rotting flesh.
The person's skin was green and yellow, its eyes were white, its body was twisted and it had a yucky amount of blood and guts in its mouth and teeth. I could almost feel myself being sick in my stomach so I quickly backed away and turned around.
"U-uhnn...that smell..."
Brian scrunched up his nose and frowned. "It's horrible." He said then he looked at me. "You okay there, kiddo?"
I took a few deep breaths to gather myself then I nodded. "Fine. Fine. Just...can we get rid of it?"
"Leave it to me. Just relax." He told me then he grabbed the body by the legs and started pulling it out of the store. I stepped behind the counter and wrapped my arms around my body, plopping down on my butt. I couldn't get that imagine out of my head. The image of that dead person. Or...was it a zombie? No. It couldn't be. Zombies don't exist. They're just entertainment you see on tv and movies!
After Brian got rid of the body, he stepped behind the counter and looked down at me. "You okay?"
I slowly looked up at Brian and stared at him. "Brian, that...it couldn't have been a zombie right?" I just couldn't help asking the obvious. I was hoping Brian would say no.
Brian scratched the back of his head. "I'm not certain. That...thing. Whatever it was...it...it didn't look human at all. It already looked like it was dead before I got to it and yet it was up, walking around. I'm sorry, kiddo. I don't have a straight answer for you."
I sighed and looked away, feeling anxious all of a sudden. I no longer felt safe inside the restaurant, but I sure as hell felt a lot more safer inside than inside. I didn't want to see what was outside.
After waiting a couple more hours for customers to come, I noticed that something was going on with Brian. He started acting more sluggish and quiet when usually he's chipper and moving from place to place. I decided to go see what was up.
I walked over to Brian who was sitting down in a chair, hunched over and I placed my hand on his shoulder. "Brian, are you okay?"
Brian quickly straighten up and pulled away. "I-I'm fine!"
I raised an eyebrow at him then I looked down at his arms and my eyes widen. Brian had a huge unusual bite on his left arm. It was bleeding and looked like someone had taken a huge chunk of flesh out of it. I placed my hand over my mouth and slowly took a step back.
"B-brian....you're....you have..."
"It's fine! It's no biggie! I just need to wrap it up is all." Brian quickly protested.
I dropped my hand from my mouth then I grabbed Brian's right arm and tugged on it, trying to get him to stand up. "You need to see a doctor right now!"
"Jace, I'm fine! Just...just leave me alone." Brian said as he yanked his arm from me.
I reached out and lightly touched his forehead with the back of my hand. I frowned. "You're burning up."
Brian scoffed. "Tell me something I don't know, kid."
If zombie movies taught me anything, it was that signs of a fever after getting bit meant that the person was slowly turning. I didn't know what to say to Brian anymore. Was I on the road of losing him? I quickly went to the back and grabbed a first aid kit then I went back over to Brian and knelt down on my knees, tending to his arm.
"Leave it, kid. Yer wasting yer time." Though, his words didn't stop me until I cleaned up the bite as best as I could then I covered it with bandages. I didn't know why I was doing this. I knew what was gonna happen and yet...I couldn't help, but want to take care of Brian and hope that he gets better.
After tending to Brian, I grabbed the first aid kit and stood up. I decided to leave him alone since he didn't want to rely on me at all. I stayed behind the counter and sat down on the floor, closing my eyes.
I hadn't realized I fell asleep until I opened up my eyes and looked around, wondering what time it was. It felt like I had been out forever.
"Brian?" I stood up and slowly walked over to him, wondering if he's okay.
"Brian?" I called out softly. I saw that he was sitting still in the chair, his head all drooped over. I slowly reached out and shook his shoulder. His body felt lifeless and that's when fear started to kick in.
"Bri-"
"RAHGAAAAAAAA!"
"AHHHHHHHH!"
I stumbled back as soon as I saw Brian reach out to me and I quickly tried to scoot away from him.
"Brian?"
This person no longer looked like Brian, though. He looked exactly like how that dead person looked earlier and this scared me. Brian stood up and started moving towards me, arms outstretched and moans coming out of his decaying mouth. At first I thought this was the end of me until I felt the baseball bat that Brian used before under me. I grabbed it and stood up then I started swinging at Brian, knocking him this way and that way until he fell down to the ground then I smashed him over and over in the head until he was no longer moving and blood started seeping out of his body.
I stopped and stared as I panted, tears welling up in my eyes. Why? Why did it have to be him? Why did it have to be Brian? He wasn't just a boss to me, but he was like a friend. An older brother. He accepted me when I came out to him and let me rely on him when things got tough and now he was gone. Not only that, but I was alone now. Nobody else came in today to work because they either were sick or had an emergency so it's been just Brian and I. And now it's just I.
I gripped the baseball bat in my hand then I walked behind the counter and grabbed my backpack. I couldn't stay here anymore. This store was out in the open. It was too vulnerable. It had no defenses whatsoever. Not only that, but I needed to go see my parents asap and make sure they're okay.
That's when I remembered I had my phone on me! I quickly pulled it out of my pocket and called my mom's phone, but the call immediately dropped.
"Shit!"
I then called my dad and the same thing happened. I sighed.
"No service. Of course."
I slipped my phone back into my pocket and continued to pack up my things. That's when I decided to take some things from the back room like the first aid kit, some bottles of water, bags of snack foods and anything else that would be useful. My bag was fairly heavy by the time I was done packing up, but having all these resources would be worth the weight.
I slipped my bag over my shoulder and grabbed the baseball bat then I stepped out of the building and into the late afternoon. Part of me still didn't want to believe that zombies are roaming about, but after what I saw, there's no reason for me to deny it. 534Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC3Eeuqmaw4
This isn't a movie. It's real life.
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