Happy Love Poem!

I was supposed to stir the gumballs around in a glass bowl, so that they wouldn't stick together while heating.  Whatever that means.  The Arzes were coming over, and we were preparing, even though this wasn't our house...  And I'm not quite sure why we were serving gum balls.
Stirring the gumballs, I went to plug in the heater.  Then Mom asked me to prepare some coconut dish, too.  I did so, slightly perplexed at the situation, and when I got back to the gumballs, they were a pink, sugary glob.  I sighed in defeat and told Mom.  Dad laughed, and Mom said she might be able to fix it.  The Arzes would be there soon.  But I never saw your face.
I'm not sure what happened.  Things changed, I guess, and soon enough I was with a group of people I didn't know in the slightest.  We were outdoors, in a desolate, bleeding city.  We were just trying to survive.  From who?
Well, zombies.
I didn't think of this as the apocalypse at the time.  But I mean, there were morbid-looking dead people limping around biting everyone alive, only to infect them as well, so I guess apocalypse didn't sound far from it...  Hair torn out, teeth missing, limbs hanging, guts spilling.  Blood everywhere.  You know, the usual zombie.  Except for one thing:  they are in no way as easy to slaughter as everyone pretends they are when they're right in front of you.
This was hardly a strategy-based apocalypse.  It was more of a, "run for your life, they're everywhere and everyone is dead."  Luckily for me, I had no attachments around.  That fact also happened to eat at me more than the zombies might have, since because I was nowhere near my loved ones, I couldn't save them if they needed saving.  I didn't have too much time to think about that, though, I was busy not dying.
The sun was low in the sky; I remember running.  There were live people in front of me, some behind me, and rows of white warehouses on my left.  We were on the edge of the city, running towards the middle.  Ish.  I was unarmed, and so were most of the people around me, so we continued sprinting away from the zombies.  Some fell behind.
Eventually, we seemed to have enough distance between us and them, so we stopped to catch our breath.  Which was probably toxic.  We kept an eye out, though.  The dead people didn't only travel in groups.  They were anywhere and everywhere, and impossible to get away from entirely.
Darkness filled the sky, filling our hearts with dread, and filling the group with nervous murmurs.  Shadows cast up against the warehouses still on our left.  The air cooled down, and I was almost becoming numb to the lovely smell of blood and rotting things.
My fingers ran through my hair, keeping my bangs out of my eyes.  I found myself more towards the edge of the band of survivors.  There were probably about thirty to forty people besides me.  I'm not sure why I stood there, maybe it was just my sucky instinct of freaking self-sacrifice.
A scream burst from the opposite side of the group.  The rest of us watched in terror as one man was dragged behind one of the warehouses.  If the fact that I was standing at the edge of the group because of self-sacrifice, that was irrelevant when it was time to run.  I took off.  About ten other undead oddities appeared from behind the warehouses, but I didn't stop to shake hands.  Some of the men laughed about how there were only ten and we shouldn't run.
Right.  And it takes only one of them to end your life.
Some of the armed people stood their ground, but most headed in my direction.  We weren't a team.  We just had a common goal.
 Somehow some of the zombies were gaining on us.  Seeing one of my neighbors experience an unfriendly bite, I veered to the left and leaped onto a large trash bin.  Someone was on my tail, and judging by the vomiting sounds, it was my good buddy Cannibal.  Trying not to panic, I climbed onto the roof of the warehouse before me, pulling my legs up after me like nothing else.  There were people already on the roof.  I heard the dying noises right behind me and dove forward, ignoring the people in my way.  There was a sudden whack and a splattering sound.  I whirled around to witness the zombie fall off the roof, and one dude back away with a bloody hockey stick, or something.  I jumped to my feet and met a gun pointed at my head.
Great.  Because what we really need in a zombie apocalypse is survivors turning on each other.
This is one of the only complete thoughts I had during this time.
Behind the trigger was a boy probably a bit older than me, with two other boys at his side, and a girl in front of them.  All probably around the same age.  They muttered something to the girl.
"Alright," said one yahoo, staring at me.  "You're coming with us."
If looks could kill, he'd be dead, but I didn't vocally object.  I was probably safer with this team than I was alone, anyway.  At least, until they fed me to the undeads.
Things were a blur for a while.  We stayed atop the warehouses until there weren't anymore.  The city around us became enormous.  The number of threats increased.  More fighting happened, more violence.  Over the course of this time, I actually grew rather close to the leader of the team that had kidnapped me.  When you cling to someone in order to survive, I guess you can't help but get to know them a bit.  She was better than most people.  She kept herself together.  She was brave.  She reminded me some of Maya H.  Her structure, the whole awesome hair thing going on, except she was a blonde.  I didn't know her name, but I'll call her Jane.  I think she trusted me.  She knew what she was doing, even when the rest of her team was lost in the gore...  I couldn't tell if she had been emotionally attached to them.  Running for your life didn't give you too much time to think about that kind of thing, so I'll never know.
We ended up in a skyscraper.  The level was high off the ground, and Jane and I found ourselves in one of the only safe spots: a public restroom.  Many other people were gathered inside, each one ready to take off again at the slightest disturbance.  The tension echoed off the white walls.  Everyone avoided the stalls.
She and I remained there a bit.  After a minute or two, I saw Crystal standing a few feet away, and rushed to embrace her.  I inquired whether she'd like to stick with us, to which she eagerly accepted.
A few more minutes of waiting passed.  I turned my head to watch the haunting scene of a tall, heavyset guy staggering into the bathroom, looking like he was going to hurl.  It hit me seconds before Jane shouted.
"He's infected!"
Everyone frenetically scrambled out of the restroom, as though a bomb was about to go off.  Jane, Crystal, and I were some of the first to get out.  I heard a sickening noise behind us as we escaped, and knew we had to move faster; the people experiencing the effects of the vomit wouldn't be normal much longer.
People scattered throughout the building's levels, and the three of us dashed up several sets of staircases, being chased only some of the time.  I kept checking to make sure Crystal was following.  The zombies that trailed us all ended up distracted with other groups of humans after some time.  We were agile.  My memory of the next half-hour or so is blurred, but I recall Crystal finding another group to stay with.  I stuck to Jane.  She stuck to me.
At last, we found a level of the skyscraper that hadn't been discovered by oddities yet.  We ascended the stairs.  Upon entering, I ran into my favorite band of girl scouts: Curran, Luke, Connor, and Ford.
"Well," I say, "look who it is."  I tried to smile.
I passed them.  I guess I always knew they'd find each other if this whole apocalypse thing ever happened.  Maybe I was just surprised they were still alive.
Lots of people were on this level.  They huddled together, some fell asleep.  I must have, too, for a while, but I doubt Jane did.  I woke up.  We waited.  To hold onto my sanity, I decided to move around some.  I saw Charlton sitting against a railing, but besides him and the other four clowns, I saw no one familiar.  I wanted you, but... maybe not.  I couldn't bear to get in your way.  I refused to even think of losing you.  Besides, you were probably with Nick and Ethan figuring out how to save everyone.  Maybe.
There was a scream.  A more distant, unearthly sound followed.
No.  No.  No.
Not happening.
I tore back to where I had left Jane.  People moved out of my way.
Move back.  Move back to your spots, people.  I'm not here.  Why are you moving for me?
They had seen me with Jane.  They knew I was her friend.  I blocked this from my mind.
They had seen me with--
She was still standing.  No relief.  People backed away from her.  I saw a giant, red gash in her stomach.  My heart pounded into my skull.  A horrid noise came from downstairs, and people started pushing Jane away.  They pushed her to an empty hallway that went down and down.  That's when a girl about my age scurried up the stairs, screaming, "I didn't mean to!"
I couldn't process whether she was talking about giving up our location or hurting someone, but there were horrible sounds coming from below.  I frantically went after Jane, shoving off the people who still insisted on pushing her.  They let me guide her.  I couldn't process it.  We kept walking down the hall.  Her will power alone was good enough to keep her moving, though her mind was clouded.  She was barely holding on, and I kept her upright the whole time.  She was slipping in and out of clarity.  I hoped she knew I was there.
She stared straight ahead, now bleeding from her ears, too.  I couldn't.  I couldn't do this.  She was seconds from death, or losing her mind.  I didn't know if she'd been infected.
I was losing her.
Still walking, I wiped the blood from her face with my hands.
"Jane?" my voice cracked.  "Jane?  You know I love you, right?  You know that?"
My mind was racing.  I was just talking.  I was just trying.  I'm not sure why I used those words.  Maybe I was trying to save her.
It's your own fault, Emily.
I had to leave.  Her symptoms were showing she'd probably been infected.  My face was wet, and the tears dripped to my neck.
You got attached.
She was wheezing.  I couldn't save her.

Ever so gently, I kissed her temple, and let her go.

You got attached.
The words bounced back and forth in my head as I moved back towards the room where everyone was freaking out, and probably attempting evacuation.
You said you wouldn't do that.
Everyone was running.  I was half expecting to be infected by Jane's blood on my hands or something, but nothing happened.
There were zombies trudging up the stairs, and a few people were fighting them off.  They kept coming.  There must have been dozens.
They were getting through.
We ran up another flight of stairs, and then another, assisting each other and defending ourselves from the undead.  I searched and searched, but I knew there wasn't a way out of this.  Zombies kept pouring forth, and when the survivors were bitten, their numbers were increased.  The virus spread and spread, and soon enough, we couldn't go up any farther in the building, and they had us trapped.  We were gone.

Maybe you would save the world.











My one way out prevailed, and I found myself... in bed.  I was in bed, clutching my pillow.  It took me a second.
It was a dream.
Oh.
It was a dream.  It was a dream.
...
Thank heavens.