Short Story 1

Chapter 1

Normal

A woman is jogging down the street with a black lab. You smile pleasantly at her and continue down the road. The woman stops jogging and shouts a warning to you. You can’t hear that well because of the traffic. You ask her to repeat it, and after listening again, you realize that it’s not warning in her voice, but condolence. It’s still hard to discern, but you hear enough to gather: “You’re that kid from the news! I’m so sorry for what happened!”
Apparently our local news station actually is watched. You keep walking -not wanting to be noticed- pulling up your hoodie over your short dark hair. You don’t want attention, you just want to move on with your life. Although, you were certain it wouldn’t be the last time you would be stopped on the road. When you were in a diner earlier, and they played the story on TV, you had to hurriedly pay and run out before anyone could notice. You were the local ‘hero’, when there was a fire at your school, you carried a little girl out of the flames. You were one of the few who made it, excluding your parents.
Since the accident, you’ve been living with your aunt, carrying around a sense of guilt. You feel like it was your fault, somehow, that there’s something you could have done to stop it from happening. You noticed that the smoke detectors weren’t flashing as they ordinarily did, but said nothing. That’s why you don’t want attention, you don’t want to be reminded. You reach the bus stop, and take a deep breath, closing your eyes. All you want is for things to go back to the way that it was, you want your parents back. People bustle around, but they ignore you, thankfully, the disguise has worked.
“Excuse me?” You hear a soft voice behind you and turn around. It’s a little boy, no older than five, looking at you and holding your sleeve in his hand. “Are you Riley?” He asks tentatively, and you nod, taking your hood off. “Yeah...?”
He walks closer and wraps his arms around your waist. “You saved my sister.”
You looked down surprised at the top of his blonde head. “I only did what any other person would do.”
“But they didn’t.” He said, stepping back with a smile. “Other people escaped, but they didn’t look for people in trouble.”
The bus pulls up, and you look down towards him. “Look, the bus is here, you probably have to get back to your parents-” “My parents didn’t get out in time...” Said the boy, and you’re taken aback.  “Neither did mine.”  You say, feeling water in the corner of your eyes and trying to force it back.
“Joshua!” You hear someone call. Standing a few paces away was what must be his grandma, and the little girl from the fire. He knew the same pain you’re going through, if not worse. “If it wasn’t for you, I’d have lost my whole family.” He said, and you see he’s also on the verge of tears. You bend down, and look him in the eyes. “Listen kid, if you ever need anything, anyone to talk to, come find me, okay?”
“Okay!” He says, smiling. “Take care, Joshua, and take care of your family.”
He runs back to his grandma and clambers on the bus. There are tons of people waiting, so you decide to just take the next one. You sit down on the bench, pulling out your phone for some music. Now you can start to get back to a normal life... Maybe Joshua and you can work together, back towards a normal.
Wait, what’s that crowd of people coming up the street? Are those...Zombies? Oh, crap.