The Lucky Ones

Genevieve walks alongside Johnnie in the deserted town, but there are other survivors. Even with the apocalypse being over there is still no unity.

Genevieve takes a deep breath to get some fresh air, but she smells corpses. And it makes her cringe and it brings a tear to her eye, thinking of her family she lost.

“Wow. The yellow leaves on the ground are the only lively things around.” Genevieve says, staring down at the ground.

Johnnie smirks, “Well Genny, perhaps we’re alive too.”

“Ha! Barely, Johnnie boy.”

Genevieve takes a good look at Johnnie’s skinny frame and dark, thick hair. She almost wonders how he made it through this unharmed.

He pulls on one of her curls that flow like a waterfall down her back.

“Stop it. You know I hate that.”

“Lighten up.”

Genevieve motions to the view in front of them, “How can I?”

There is debris everywhere, smashed cars, and abandoned homes. The only sound they hear is the thick heel of Gen’s boots splashing in the puddles. Genevieve looks up at the sun. For a moment she swears they're both asking each other for guidance. The sun looks different. It’s dim and it looks artificial.

“So what was the dream that you had?” Johnnie asks as he pokes Gen at her side.

“Quit it Johnnie,” she huffs, “But thanks for reminding me. I wasn’t able to sleep because I had a dream that there is still one zombie among us. Hidden somewhere. And if we don’t want this place to get worse we have to find it Johnnie and kill it.”

Johnnie shakes his head in disbelief, “No, no. That’s not possible. They’re all gone Genevieve. Plus it’s just a dream. That means nothing. And if you forgot, rule number two states that we are not allowed to go in any abandoned places, only the four places listed on the sheet.”

Genevieve rolls her eyes. Johnnie is a stickler for the stupid rules sheet the government gave everyone and literally mails out everyday. They have a team of people dressed in bright colors and bright smiles on bicycles to drop off everyone’s mail. Genny thinks they might be clones and Johnnie thinks she’s crazy for thinking that.

“C‘mon. I’m serious. Let’s go our separate ways and meet up at the old gas station with the missing pumps. Come back in twenty.”

Johnnie gives in with a sigh, “Fine. But remember not to go inside anywhere. Don’t get yourself killed.” Genevieve gives him a thumbs up and trots away.

Ever since she found him, they’ve been inseparable. She was fighting off a zombie that was close to biting off her arm, when out of nowhere it dropped to its fatal death. Johnnie happened to be running by the motel when he heard the commotion going on. Relentlessly, he barged the door open and shot the zombie. From that day forward they’ve been allies and practically best friends. Genevieve believes he’s God sent. Johnnie believes it was fate because they were one of the few minorities in town. Genevieve is half Black and Italian and Johnnie is also half Italian and Philippino.

Genevieve is cautiously searching behind buildings and alleyways when she ends up approaching her old home. She checks to make sure no one is around. She walks up the now cracked steps and pushes open the knobless door. It almost brings her to tears when she sees the living room in a wreck. The furniture is not nearly as shiny as it was before. There’s trash and blood everywhere. She tries so hard not to let out a cry in fear of being caught and possibly murdered by the government.

She looks down at her wrist and she knows she can’t be in here long either way. She has a black band around her wrist. The government put one on all of the survivors' wrists, that way they can keep track of them. They’re not allowed to break it off because whatever they put in it will kill them. Genevieve and Johnnie think there’s some kind of gas in it.

She steps into the warzone kitchen and tries not to lock eyes with the bloody knives. She finds a couple cans of food and is walking out of the kitchen when the back door opens, she hides behind a pillar that her parents put inside of the dining room. They wanted to make it feel like they were in Rome or Greece.

Her heart is beating outside of her chest and that’s when she hears a low growl. Relieved, she peeks her head around the pillar expecting to see a cute puppy. But this puppy is foaming out of its mouth. She screams and it picks up speed running after her. With all of her force she pushes the pillar down on the floor in front of the puppy. She runs out the house and right into Johnnie. Embarrassed, she drops one of the cans of food on the ground and the spaghetti and meatballs burst open.

She grabs Johnnie’s arm and while running she says, “Let’s just get out of here. Ask questions later.”

Once they get a good distance away from her old home, Johnnie let’s out an angry sigh. “You could've gotten us killed. Our rules specifically say to not go inside abandoned homes. What other buildings did you go in? You promised you wouldn’t do it.”

Genevieve stops in her tracks and aggressively pokes her long nail into Johnnie’s chest. “Do you blame me for missing normalcy? I just miss my parents and my life. And I never promised anything.”

“Look, this is your new life now. Me and you. Or is it you and I? Whatever. Just don’t ever do it again. I don’t want to lose you.” He brushes her hair behind her ear and she doesn’t know why she’s feeling all tingly inside.

Genevieve starts telling Johnnie about her life in her childhood home and about her ex-best friend Lucky. Johnnie gets all tense and jealous until he realizes Lucky’s a girl. Genevieve tells him how she was asked to be the Godmom of Lucky’s baby seven years ago and then found out six years ago when the baby was 1 that Lucky slept with Gen’s fiancé at the time. She broke off things with both of them.

Just as fate would have it, they see a little girl standing on a corner holding a doll. The little girl has red curls and green eyes. She looks so familiar. Genevieve gasps. She runs up to the girl who is standing by herself and asks for her name. “Serenity.” The girl shyly says.

“Whaaaaat?” Johnnie says shockingly. It’s Lucky’s daughter. Genevieve pulls her into a tight hug and all of a sudden she forgives Lucky for what she did.

“I know you don’t remember me, but I was close friends with your mommy since we were kids. You’re my Goddaughter. My name is Genevieve. Where’s your mommy? Why are you alone?”

The little girl fiddles with the heart-shaped locket around her neck. “I don’t know where mommy is. I think she may have been bitten and killed by a zombie. There was one in our house attacking her. She told me to run outside for help. I ran into these men and I told them what mommy said. They said it would be too late to try and save her. So they took me in. I don’t stay far from here. I’m just taking my dolly on a walk.”

“Well how about you come stay with me instead? I don’t feel comfortable with you staying with some strange men and you’re just a little girl. We’re practically family anyway.”

Serenity’s eyes brighten up and she shakes her head yes. They make up a plan to tell the men. They decide to say that she is Genevieve’s cousin and she has been looking for her because they’re the only family they have left. If they don’t believe her, she will tell them that she's half Black and Irish too.

It took some convincing, and reassurance from Serenity herself, but they got her.

“Okay, Johnnie. Now we have to find the zombie and try to find out if Lucky is still alive.” Genevieve says on their walk home.

“For crying out loud Genny, there are no more zombies and you heard those macho guys. It was too late. There’s nothing else we can do.”

“Okay, well maybe we can resume zombie hunting another day. But, I just won’t feel right going to sleep without at least looking for Lucky. We will have to go to their house for clues. But please just this one time. Do it for Serenity.”

He looks down at her stained and worn down dress. He thinks that maybe they can at least recover some clothes for Serenity.

They run up on the porch of Lucky’s home and they hear a jingling sound. Genevieve pops the lock with a Bobby pin she keeps on her. It’s getting dark out now and Genevieve is grateful because she doesn’t want Serenity to see her home’s aftermath. She wants her to remember it as it once was.

Genevieve asks Serenity where she last remembers seeing her mom. She just points down to the floor.

“I’m so happy that we got away with saying we we’re cousins. Now let’s go down to the basement.”

“We thought we might find you here if you were lying about being Serenity’s cousin!” Yells an angry voice from the porch. Johnnie and Genevieve quickly push a chair up under the door knob and push the couch in front of the door as well. All three of them run down into the moldy, stinky, cold basement. There’s definitely nowhere to hide down there.

Serenity opens her locket and a small key falls out. That’s where the jingling was coming from. She picks the key up and the top half is painted lavender. Genevieve rolls her eyes with a chuckle. Lucky’s favorite color and flower is Lavender. She always loved the representation of Lavender; purity and serenity. She catches a glance of the picture of Serenity and Lucky inside of the locket.

It sounds like the guys got in and Serenity tells her new family that the key unlocks the hidden room they’re standing in front of. Genevieve is feeling for the key hole in the wall when Johnnie grabs her by the arm and pulls her into a hug. “What are you doing?” She panically giggles.

“Just in case,” he whispers and then he closes his eyes and kisses Genevieve and she kisses him back.

“Wow, Johnnie. You broke rule number one. No kissing or sex because they don’t want us to repopulate the earth.”

Johnnie’s smile goes robotic and Genevieve can hear the men searching around the house. They don’t have much time to go through the hidden door. Johnnie’s eyes get dark and he opens his mouth and in a robotic tone he informs her, “Survivor 041 you have violated the rules set by your government. The authorities are on their way for you.” Johnnie’s a damn clone.

Genevieve screams and footsteps are coming her way. She hears a moan from the other side of the hidden door. She opens it anyway and locks the door. She is met with a zombie. She’s about to kill it when she sees a heart shaped locket around its neck. It’s Lucky. But Lucky is trying to kill them. She knows she has to do whatever she can to save her and Serenity. She takes her scarf from around her neck and throws it to Serenity to wrap around her face. Gen’s one hand covers her own nose. They stretch their wrists out and Lucky bites down on the bands. The bands and Lucky fall down. Lucky is dying quickly.

The zombie groans. The girls quietly cry in each other's arms. “I’m so sorry.” Genevieve cries.