Hayhay has finally gotten the bus into working order, but I had something to do first. The feeling of guilt for his family not knowing about his death was ripping my heart into pieces. Jade told me that she was going to tell Ethan's Parents about his death. And I was going to tell Dawn's family about his. This wasn't the best to lay down the information about someone's death as we were planning to move. It made me wonder how policemen would do this on a daily basis.
But I remember the times I spent with Dawn. He wasn't that bad back then, but he told me about wanting to be popular. I didn't mind it a bit with wanting something, but at the time I felt weird about it. So I played it off with a smile and continued with life. But one thing I remembered was our relationship as friends came to an end. He didn't need someone like me in his life anymore and took his chance to end it.
"Lize I need to talk to you." he said with a half smile.
"What is it, Dawn?" I asked him with a smile. At the time I felt so broken and alone as my depression gotten worst. He was the one person that I could talk about my problems at the time. Jade was with Ethan and I didn't want to ruin her happiness. So to me Dawn was all I had.
"I think we shouldn't be friends anymore." he said slowly.
"What!" I cried out, "Why?"
"We are just so different and you're always upset and gloomy. I just don't think it'll look good on my end to be friends with you." he replied and started to walk away. Acting like my life didn't matter to him anymore, that I was dust in the wind.
"So all of those times of being friends was a mistake to you...." I cried as tears pricked my eyes.
"Its not that easy to say what is a mistake or not," he sighed, "but I think ours was a mistake in the making."
"Okay..." I said while tears ran down my face. "But don't come back running to me."
It was an awful end as friends, but I never wished him harm. So I avoid him like any other person would, but some of my friends turned to his side. Thinking that I was just a depressed freak in their eyes. I almost took my life as Ace stopped me with good news. It was about his girlfriend having a baby and I decided to hold on a little more for their sake. But today was the day I had to tell his family about his death. I wanted to go alone, but Aron thought it would be better to have someone there. He worried about how I'm feeling and ask who Dawn was. All I said was that he was someone in the group that died. He knew that I told the truth, but had more to tell about what we were.
Agreeing was all I could do as he filled up his jeep. We made sure to have ammo, food, and water for the trip. It wasn't very far, but it wasn't easy to get to. So the trip should take at least about twenty minutes or less. But I didn't want to go, knowing that the blame was going to be placed on me. But it was the right thing to do, so there was no backing down.
"Squeaks you want to come with!" I called for my squirrel, but it didn't take him long to be on top of my head. He was just happy about leaving and the bag of onion chips in the chair. So his motivator was the food in the jeep as he stared at it. Hoping to get his favorite treat.
"So why do you have a squirrel?" Aron asked.
"I and my brother save him after falling from a tree. He ended up missing part of his tail and hurt his leg. So my brother caught him in a cage, but it didn't last long. While I was the one who took him out to make sure that his wounds weren't too bad. I was hoping that he would be able to leave to the wild again, but became a pet instead. He would come back every time we tried to release him. So I kept him." I replied and held Squeaks in my arms. He was snuggled up near my chest, sleeping like he wasn't in danger.
"So it was a fate that brought you two together." Aron smiled as he started the jeep.
"You can call it that, but it's more like he saved me. I smiled and held Squeaks closer to my chest. I left my cloak and decided to just wear normal hoodie. Knowing he'll curl up in the hood and sleep on the way there. But I was still worried about Dawn's family. So we headed to highway 76 to reach his dirt road. I only saw his home a couple of times, but each was to play video games or just chat.
But when we gotten to the cabin like house and that they had traps covered in it. I knew that his younger brother Jack was working with technology, so most of this was his work. I wonder if they waited for their son to come home, but all it ended was a gun shot. Lucky that it hit me lightly as no bullet was inside.
"Who the hell are you!" I heard Dawn's father screamed. Knowing that Dawn's younger brothers were crying after the shot was fired. I knew that feeling of fear of loud noises but had to calm them down.
"Its me Lize!" I called out and hoped that they would stop shooting.
"Dawn's friend?" he screamed back.
"You can say that!" I replied and gotten up with my hands in the air.
"All be damn," he said with a smile, "I thought all of you kids died at the dance. Jack! Let them in so we can talk!"
"Okay, Dad!" I heard Jack replied as I hear the fence turned off. See that his Brother was still the same. Short with Blonde hair like his brother, but Dawn was taller than him. He didn't like that I didn't have his brother with me, and I knew that he known that his brother was dead. But we walked up to the house as he turned the power on again. I didn't know what would happen, but I seen that his parents were happy to see that I was fine. They were nice and loving but were more on the religious side.
"So what are you kids doing out here?" Dawn's Father asked.
"I think we should sit down." I replied as Squeaks ran into my hood. But as soon as we sat down and seen that the mood has changed. "It's about Dawn."
"We had a feeling that it was about that dear." Dawn's Mother spoke.
"He didn't make it and I couldn't save him." I said as I looked at the floor. Knowing that Aron stayed close to me, making sure that I was okay.
"How did he die?" Jack asked and I tensed a bit.
"We were heading home when it happened. We decided to stopped by a few stores to change into some better clothing. My ankle was sprained and when we realized that a hoard of zombies were head our way. So we ran for the bus, but he froze on spot. I tried to go back, but my ankle gave out on me." I spoke," He was ripped apart by them."
They didn't say anything as I saw tears in their eyes. I didn't know what to say without making it worse. But his Father finally broke the silence.
"At least t he's in heaven." he sniffed, "How many of you kids makes it out?"
"There were eleven of us at first then we lose Dawn and Ethan. But Aron here joined us before Ethan died." I replied.
"So eleven of you kids are still surviving without any help."
"Yes sir, but we help each other as well as we can. We are about to move to West Plains for a larger supply route." I replied without a thought.
"You should be careful about these creatures out there. They seemed to be changing very quickly these last couple of months." he replied, knowing that we were about to leave.
"We will." I replied, getting up from my seat. I know that we still had to pack our stuff. So We said our goodbyes and headed back for the school. I was tired from worrying about how they would react to Dawn's death. But we ended on a good note. They wanted us to come back to chat again, but we wouldn't have the time to do that for a while. I closed my eyes and slept on the way back. I wonder how Jade did with Ethan's parents?