I grip the steering wheels with my clammy hands. I can't let go of the wheel so I lean in closer, pressing my chest into it as I angle my face to smell the orange air freshener mingled with the still lingering smell of chocolate pancakes.'That was freaking awesome,' I could still feel my veins thrumming in my hands, my heart is just beginning to slow down even after a day.I continually glance into the rearview mirror to see if any of the zombies have followed us. After we barely managed to escape the baseball pitch because the unhinged door of the cage circling the field had gotten itself stuck in the rearview mirror. Even after barely escaping that, we crashed into so many more cars attracting more of the gnarly things. Missing jaws, hands, legs. Goshie we could boom in a lost but found business with how many body parts wasn't a part of the body.I had to park the car in the only secluded area, waiting for the zombies to stop all the fuss but they were all hyper-aware, as Zylith would like to call it. We then spent the night in the quiet SUV with zombies right out our window. When Zylith started the SUV in the crack of dawn some of them hitched the highways getting so close to catching up to us. Thank gosh, the car had enough gas.We had gotten up so early and were already driving up hills just to lose the last one not about 5 minutes ago. They could have caught up with us. I sigh as the orange air freshener fills my nostrils and take yet another deep breath."You can write in the diary you know?" I shrug and take a glance at Zylith who's been inspecting my diary like it's some ancient treasure.She nods and takes out the pen stuck in between the pages to start doodling on the opposite side of the book."I'll need to document the behaviour of the zombies at the baseball pitch" That sounded was boringgg, at least to me. I won't be surprised if Zylith enjoyed reading school text works."Hey don't write a report to the president in the diary.""An apocalyptic diary?" She scoffs and I immediately show my frown."A bucket list, I'll get a diary soon enough" I smirk at the thought of writing down my everyday adventure. The past 2 months living at home had messed up my head. Was this what a pandemic was? Not really a pandemic since we were probably the one living people in the entire streets. A self-imposed pandemic. Every day was a repeat."You do you I guess""I could get you one, ah! That one's that have an invisible perfume to hide the letters." I glance at what she's doodling into the pages like some cryptic language."Most diaries already have that feature. A book diary is never safe and it's unnecessary""Yeah but you might need one for your reports, you know it's not completely unnecessary to write how you feel down plus you can always go back to days and realize you missed some things" I eye my diary in her hands and quickly swipe it off her. "Tsk tsk, look at you writing it like it's a college entry, don't use mine, we'll get you one by tomorrow" I throw it on the carpeted headboard.Zylith shoves my bucket list not diary, there's a difference, into my bag. I don't think we even need the bags since we've got ourselves an SUV. Her previously black hair is wearing out and she'll need a re-dye mostly at the roots. She had said how red-haired would stand out in the streets, so we both dyed our heads just a few weeks back. I dyed mine mostly to give it some extra color since it has been always black.Zylith sighs against the chairs, her curls coming out of the ponytail she's trapped her hair in, her clothes are tattered and she looks like she's been barely getting any sleep. I feel bad for her but what can I do when the person I care for insists they don't want my care? Shaking all the thoughts from my head, I look out the window to look at the strange clouds. Blue.Blue clouds fill the sky and the weather has been fluctuating like crazy because all the measures the government has put in place to get the earth to melt from climate change have all gone down. The people who take care of the plants are probably not people anymore. It's just a matter of time before the whole city, no country... the whole world, turns into a desert island, like a scorch...or reverts to an ice age. Either way, I know the zombies would be dead by then."What..." I take a deep breath to prepare myself. "What do you think caused the zombies to rise?" I ask the question I don't want to. I grip the steering wheel because asking a question means I'm acknowledging their presence. It's also worse because Zylith always has an answer for everything."Do you think it's a bacteria?" I suggest a theory. I mean maybe a scientist used a sanitizer but one of them managed to escape and that 1% was the cause of this mayhem. It's always the 1% I TELL YOU!"Don't tell me you're thinking it's a sanitizer issue" Huh? How did she know...Was I thinking too loud, I placed my left-hand fingers above my lips while keeping the right one on the steering wheel. I don't think I was talking out loud."Okay what about a virus, it's always the viruses fault in movies""It could be a virus" She gives me an approving nod. "Or fungi It causes some behavioural changes which mean something more neurological" She rubs her chin like she's onto something. But I'm just thinking Fungi and I can't help but voice out the obvious."Fungi? Like Mushrooms?" Mushrooms were the cause of a possible global case of rabid infectious people. Huge plot twist there."No, I mean things like the fungi that turn insects into zombies" She explains it to me in a soft tone but I still don't understand where she's going. I keep my eyes on the road and a bridge begins to slowly rise from the horizon I don't spot any cars or people on it so I get back to our conversation."Explain" I demand, I need to understand this even if if this is a theory. I do have the habit of not caring about what is the problem, I'd rather ignore it and fall into trouble than know it, fall into trouble and still fail. Mother calls me stupid. I'm not stupid."The schistosomiasis is a debilitating disease caused by a parasitic worm. It takes over a freshwater snail and then infects people. Another one, the Leucochloridium paradoxum; invades a snail host and then causes the snail to get out of hiding only to be eaten by a bird, its final host, a few years back a man was discovered with a fungi infection. The doctors thought he had a tumour but the fungus was feeding off him"Huh?"All these are day-to-day instances of parasites that take over the body but this one is more...It's...suicidal to the point they would run around the whole earth if they could to have just a drop of a non-infected person's blood, they don't only want to infect you, they want to kill you, to the point, they'd wait out your door...no they'd probably wait out the door"I hold my breath at this influx of information on flesh-eating monsters."They'd go in, they don't attack, they destroy themselves, others around them and finally you" Zylith's shoulders let up in my peripheral vision as if she was happy to finally let out this burden. I keep my sight trained on the road.I wish I were ignorant of the truth now. See, it never does anyone good to know the truth."But, yeah, it's probably a virus, no problem" No problem? No problem with the fact fungi were taking over people.I lick my lips and ask the next question that would flip the earth. "Wait, if these fungi are taking over like the snail and the man's case, doesn't that mean all these zombies are humans moving against their will.""Yes, that could be true but the reason these zombies as you like to call them aren't caused by fungi is because the infection time's too small and these zombies aren't against their will, they aren't humans anymore" I don't want to know anymore, I want to be stupid, stop talking."It's most likely a virus, something that infects the brain, and causes not only behavioural changes but also physical altercations like that zombie from our last basement." Stop talking, please."It's only a theory, Bliss, you don't have to worry..." I don't hear what she's saying, it's like my ears are being covered, I feel my previous heart rate speed up, I train my eyes on the clear road, just a few more minutes, and we'll be in the comfort of home. I grip the steering wheel until it's straighter than an arrow, I press my legs on the accelerator.Almost home.My stupid hair clings to my neck and I feel water drop down to my nose, I look up to see my bangs are slick with water, milky white water, who's pouring the water?"We're mostly likely going to die from a zombie bite than getting bit by an insect"I feel the pressure around my ears increases. 'Stop talking' I shout in my head but in my peripheral sight, I see her keep talking to the air. Stop talking. I hear zombie growls coming from all over. They're almost reaching me.I look down to see the dark-skinned Taiwan figure bob her oversized head to Zylith's words with a big smile. She rocks back andforthd in a nod in her sitting position. Stop agreeing with her. I hear words filter and numbers come next and I know Zylith listing all the ways we could die compared to a mosquito bite.Why is it hot? What is this? My hands tremble and my heart beats in my ears. I spot a zombie right in front of usSWERVE.I swerve a hard left almost hitting the metal of the bridge but a hand comes over mine just in time. The car halts to a jolting screech and I fly back into my seat."Shit, what was that for?" Zylith looks into my eyes in worry, her brows are arched perfectly and I see her crystal blue eyes, all emotions are draining from me and I wish for the previous blue ocean eyes. She doesn't realize her eyes change colour according to her emotions. A blue beach when she's happy, so blue it's blinding but you get lost, you don't drown just lost. And when she's angry it turns a dark blue, when she's bored it turns a light blue, but now it's crystal blue, so transparent it's almost gray. That's new."Oh sorry" I realize I've stared for too long and avert my gaze to the car. Huh? What happened? Why's the hood of the car almost smashed into the bridge?"Take a rest, I'll be driving us back home" We exchange seats which is not hard in this spacious car and I buckle in while I let my mind fly with possible reasons for what just happened. Did I do that? What was I feeling that caused me to do that? Was it my panic attack?I needed to go shopping. Going on a shopping spree always fixed my mood and I just wanted to be out of this car."Can we go shopping?" Zylith gives me a disgruntled look. "Please? We're almost running out of stuff" I plead and she sighs like she's tired of me. Was I a burden?"Fine, just the necessary" The necessary? Makeup and bird food was necessary, for a girl my status. Can you guess my status? Yeah, alive unlike most of the population. Hopefully, everyone was just in hiding.I turn around and pass by the kitchen, then past the closed secured door to part the curtains as I step into the bedroom. My bed sheets are still rumpled while Zylith has made hers, I doubt she even slept on it at all. I climb onto the soft bed sheets and slowly take an inhale and next an exhale. I inhale the scent of the air freshener to calm myself but my mind is instantly pulled back to the incident that just happened.Why did I do that? I felt the urge to swerve but I had no control of my hands. Sure Zylith's words scared the Taco Bell out of me but I don't think I would be so suicidal. I try thinking of what I had seen but my mind flies to random places.I wasn't suicidal. I was just...under pressure. I sigh and sit up on the bed. Mom. Mommy would know exactly what to do. She would tell me to take a deep breath for 4 seconds, how I should hold it for 7 seconds and let it go slowly in 8 seconds. Coupled with her natural smell of orange. Nature natural distractor. I wish she was here with me. I sense an arm going over my neck and it brings warmth, care and love with it. I lean into the person behind me. If I just let go and forget everything, this person won't go.I feel my crippling anxiety begin to flood away, my chest is light and I snake my hands and touch the arm still hanging around my neck.Don't think, just feel. Don't think, just feel"Mom""Bliss""I missed you""I'm here now"Her voice sounds soft, so light yet strong."Don't go""Okay," She smiles against my hair. She doesn't smell of oranges. Weird."I do" She smells of oranges. Nature's natural distractor.