My heart raced, and my blood felt cold. My bicycle moved as fast as I could make it. The world seemed to be going in slow-mo. I had to get to them, I had to find my family. I had to get back to them. I rode up hills and rode down others. My lungs felt as if the air was being pushed out like a whoopie cushion. I couldn’t breathe but the noises behind me made my adrenaline kick more into my already pushed system. My body was moving on its own and all I knew was that I needed to survive with nothing, being 20 minutes on a normal bike ride home. I was just outside the city, coming onto the river that separated the two, land and city.

Earlier today, I went to see my grandmother. I know she is doing okay, she may be older but that woman has the fighting spirit of a sixteen-year-old rebel. Once we saw the news; the fires, people running, the screaming. I knew I had to go to my family, leaving my grandmother outside the city alone with my grandfather. Now, I was trying to get away from the noises that crept closer, causing my skin to rush in disgust and fear. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. I was scared I was gonna die, or that my family was already dead. Getting back onto my bike and riding across the bridge covered in bloodied-up cars, I had a mission and I was going to see them once again.
As I rode into the city, I stood beside my bicycle. My heart felt like it was outside of my chest, I needed to find them, I needed my mom and dad. I looked around as I slowly walked onto the road between burning buildings. Helicopters traveled through the air. Dropping things of what seemed to be the reason the bottom of the road seemed to be cloudy and the buildings were lit up in flames. I grabbed a baseball bat from the ground, it was just there, a little bloody but it was gonna be fine until I got home. I got onto my bike once again, my hood fell down from my head, my blonde hair that I was supposed to dye the other day being released from its sudden cage. I bestrided through the city and continuously felt like I was being followed.

Ten minutes, six minutes, two minutes. My brain continued to count down as I got closer to my childhood home. As I pulled into the driveway, my home was part of a small suburban area that was scattered across the city. I ran up to the door, busting through it without a care in the world. My breath was heavy, my heart pounding as I shouted, “Momma! Daddy! Sis! Bubba!” My heart continued to sink as I never got a response until the floorboard started to pop up, I stepped back with the bat and swung it back to make a direct hit. “Baby?” A female voice rang out, my heart softened and quit hurting as much, “Mom.” The floorboards fully popped open and there she was, my mother. Her hair went to her shoulder blade, and the light freckles that scattered her face that I never inherited from her genes. My mom, “Momma!” I started sobbing as I ran to her, tackling her with the largest hug I had ever given anyone. My heart felt better, “Oh baby, it’s okay. Your dad was working on a shelter underneath the house for this specific reason, we just need to hide out here until the gas lifts up and we can go through the city and make it to your Enas home” My mother explained to me as I looked into the hole, the hole made me anxious, but my siblings were down there as well and it seemed okay.

As I sat in the actually large hole underneath our home, my heart healed as I saw my dad asleep like he usually was, my little sibling and my little brother laying together also asleep. My mom had been on her phone using her mobile data to get info about what had happened. “Momma, what is going on? What were the scary noises that I heard when riding back home?” My voice wavered as my mother looked at me, she seemed scared. “Those were zombies, Yeah I know the idea of zombies actually being real was wild to us when we heard it on the news but you know your father, he was prepared and ready for something. Then moments after we got into the bunker, the helicopters started dropping this gas and bombs around the place to kill the zombies. How many did you see out there?” She spoke with a soft voice, I could tell she was just as scared as I was. “No, I didn’t see anything. But Daddy has always told us that if we feel like we are being followed, find something as a weapon and don’t look back. That’s what I did so they were properly behind me because I heard noise behind me the whole time. “

My dad stirred in his sleep, which caught me and my mother off guard so we quickly looked at him before relaxing once again. “You should sleep too.” My mother said to me as she took me and laid my head onto her lap, messing with my hair. My body calmed itself down and the adrenaline rush finally ended, making my body crash almost instantly. Hours, I had assumed, there was a thump beside my head. I opened my tired eyes and looked up. Everyone besides my mom was awake. I quickly got up and hugged the three now awake people. “I missed you so much,” I said quietly before my dad kissed the top of my head and covered my mother in a blanket once he pulled away.
“The government said we can’t or shouldn’t leave our bunker..the gas is still out there and everyone is zombies.” My little sister’s voice wavered as she spoke, I held her close and kissed her forehead before sighing, “Then we will ration, and survive…”