Chapter Text
While Jasmine had only been in Alberta for about a month, but already, she had established a few routines. There was a cute little coffee shop she liked to go to after school on Fridays to complete her homework, and a pizza place that she and her host family would order from some weekends. Her favorite routine, though, was her occasional trips to the nearby gas station on the way to or from school. She would often take her little sister to her local convenience store back home, so stopping by when she was feeling a little down or homesick always lifted her mood.
That was where she ended up on a thick Tuesday morning before school. She picked up a mint Clif bar and headed to the back of the store to the slushie machines, where she grabbed a cup and picked her flavor. Coke was always a safe bet, but she was in the mood for something else. Her eyes caught on the Orange Crush flavor. That sounded good. She was in the middle of filling her cup when she heard a small commotion to her left and glanced over.
A guy around her age was clamoring to pick up the cans that he had apparently dropped on the floor. Jasmine’s eyes widened slightly when he saw that they were all energy drinks and iced coffees. The guy gathered his things and stood up again, and Jasmine got a good look at him. He was pretty cute, if a little disheveled. Jasmine felt a sudden cool sensation, and realized that she had gotten so distracted that she had overfilled the cup, and slushie was dripping onto her hand. She grabbed some napkins to clean off and snapped a lid on the drink. By the time she looked back in the boy’s direction, he had disappeared in the store again.
Jasmine grabbed a Clif bar on her way to the checkout, and when she emerged from the shelves to get in line, she found herself directly behind the guy from before. He happened to be piling his ungodly amount of caffeinated drinks onto the counter in front of the extremely tired looking clerk. Jasmine spotted a pack of beef jerky, a few Clif bars, and some sour patch kids among the drinks and cracked a smile.
“You prepping for the end times?” She asked as the cashier was going through the process of scanning the items. The boy startled slightly and turned to face her.
“Absolutely. Gotta have the proper fuel when the zombies come. You never know how long you’re going to have to keep guard,” He said, before shrugging. “Plus, I ran out of sour patch kids.”
Jasmine let out a small laugh. He was kind of cute, in a dorky way. “Amen to that. I don’t have much experience with zombies, but I’ve had my fair share of nasty experiences with wild animals. If I hadn’t been so alert in the past, I wouldn’t have noticed them in time to get away.”
The guy raised an eyebrow. “You’re a wilderness expert then? Those are good skills to have in case of a zombie apocalypse. I’ve read a few guides on flora and fauna, and I watch survival youtube videos all the time, but you’ve probably got way more hands on skill than I do.”
This guy was funny. Jasmine kind of liked it, actually. This was one of the most interesting conversations she’d had in a while. Most people, especially since she’d arrived in Canada, were intimidated by her at first, but this guy seemed unfazed by her height. It was refreshing. “If you want, maybe I could teach you a few things?” She offered. The guy paused for a moment, considering this.
“I tend to keep my distance from strangers… you never know who’ll slip up, or who’s hiding a bite. But you seem more than capable, and I bet I could learn a lot of useful skills from you. So… sure.”
Jasmine grinned. “Great! Do you want my phone number?” The guy nodded, before pulling a flip phone out of his vest. A flip phone. Of course this guy had a flip phone. They exchanged phones, and she added herself as a contact before handing it back. When the guy handed her phone back, she glanced down at the contact.
“Shawn, huh? I’m Jasmine,” She grinned. Shawn smiled back.
“Nice to meet you, Jasmine. I hope you don’t get eaten by the undead before we see each other again,” He said. Jasmine giggled. Yeah, he was pretty cute.
The cashier coughed behind them. “Um, excuse me? I’ve been done scanning your items for like… five minutes, and there’s a line, so if you’re finished…?” He trailed off. Jasmine felt her face heat up in embarrassment, as Shawn gave a quick apology and gathered his bags. He gave one last wave to Jasmine before heading out the door. As the cashier was checking out her items, she found herself smiling again. It had been a good start to her day.
Shawn had had a long day. Part of that may have been attributed to his lack of sleep, but also, school just sucked. He didn’t feel comfortable in large groups of people (they make it easy for a zombie to go unnoticed in a crowd, and once you do notice, well, it’s because half the crowd’s already been turned), and school was exactly that. His classes were boring for the most part, and his social life was pretty much nonexistent. Very few people humored his fear of the undead, and those who did, he kept at arms length.
He had liked the girl he met that morning, though. Jasmine. She seemed plenty capable, not to mention, she was really pretty. Shawn felt his mind wandering toward thoughts of Jasmine throughout the day. It was a bit concerning, since seventy three point six percent of all men who die in zombie movies die because the girl they love becomes a zombie, and when it comes time to cut her head off, they get all sentimental about it and they hesitate. That’s just common knowledge. And whatever this crush was, Shawn was going to have to shake it. He liked Jasmine well enough, but they were only hanging out to exchange survival tips. No romance involved.
Of course, the universe has an odd way of flipping your expectations on their head.
Shawn was heading home after his excruciatingly boring and stressful day at school, when he heard a commotion in a back alley. Immediately, the hairs on his neck stood on end and he ducked back behind the wall. Sure, it could be a couple of raccoons digging around in a dumpster, but it could also be the living dead, and Shawn didn’t want to take any chances. He glanced around and took note that he was on a pretty empty stretch of road. Just as he made the decision to cross the street and avoid the alley completely, he felt something lunge at him from behind.
He stumbled back, spinning around with a wild look in his eye. He’d made a rookie mistake, and forgotten to look over his shoulder. Sure enough, behind him was an honest to god zombie. Shawn was thrown off-guard for a moment, but he’d prepared for this. He glanced around and noticed a wooden plank leaned up against a dumpster in the alley. He grabbed it, brandishing it above his head.
“Eat this, zombie scum!” He said, before whacking the oncoming zombie over the head. It stumbled back slightly, but continued to amble forward. A second zombie rose up from the alley and joined the other. Shawn had been right to be cautious about that, at least. He took a few steps back to prepare himself, before a third zombie blindsided him. He barely managed to push that one off and stumble back into the alley.
He was being sloppy. He took a deep breath and reoriented himself. He’d gotten backed into a corner, which was never good, but he could work with this. He glanced at the wall behind him. No ladder, but if he pulled the dumpster over somehow, he could climb up from there. He glanced back to see that the zombies had nearly reached the dumpster, but he still had a little time. He ran forward and started to drag the dumpster back with him, using it as a barrier between himself and the zombies. Shawn moved as quickly as he could, adrenaline pumping through his veins as he went, finally bringing it close enough to get on top of.
He wasted no time in clambering on top and getting a good grip on the wall. Shawn had just started to climb when he felt a tug on his ankle. One of the zombies had grabbed onto it and was not letting go. He shook his foot around, but the zombie was stronger than he would have thought from all of the movies he’s researched. Shawn figured it was probably because this one was clearly fresh, and hadn’t decayed as much.
“So not the time…” He mumbled to himself as he twisted his foot to avoid getting bitten. He felt himself getting pulled down, and continued kicking out in desperation, when a sharp whistle from the other end of the alley got the zombie’s attention.
“Hey, uglies! Over here!” Came a voice Shawn recognized immediately.
“Jasmine,” He muttered under his breath as the zombies changed course. He got his leg free and scrambled up to the rooftop, before glancing back at the girl in question. She was holding a large stick, and seemed to be repeatedly whacking the zombies with it. She was doing well at fending them off, but she wasn’t exclusively aiming for the head, and Shawn was pretty sure her stick was going to break. Shawn paused for a moment. Helping her would be going against at least four of his cardinal rules, but to be fair, she did save him first. If he didn’t save her, and then came across her four years into the apocalypse with a missing arm or something, she’d probably take her revenge on him for leaving her behind. Shawn had to help her in that case.
It wasn’t because he liked her, or anything. Definitely not that.
He jumped down from the dumpster with all the agility of a teenage boy who practices jumping onto and off of dumpsters. He grit his teeth and charged at the zombie on the left, slamming it over the head with his wooden board. It crumpled to the ground, and thankfully, it didn’t look like it was getting back up. As he turned to face the second zombie, Jasmine took his cue and went for the one on the far right.
“You came back!” She said, repeatedly hitting the zombie over the head with her stick. Shawn grunted as he pushed his own zombie toward the wall.
“Figured it was only fair. Don’t want to be owing any favors in the apocalypse,” He said. Jasmine made a noise of acknowledgement, spinning around so that her zombie was facing the street, before kicking at its’ legs and knocking it to the ground.
“Of course. Y’know, I didn’t think you were entirely serious about the whole zombie thing, but I guess you really were onto something,” She said.
Shawn backed his zombie against the wall, and swung the board one last time. There was an audible crunch, and it crumpled to the ground. Shawn turned to see that Jasmine had thrust her stick straight through her own zombie’s eye, and was now breathing heavily. Shawn let out a dry laugh. “Yeah, guess I was. That’ll show my calc teacher, huh?”
Jasmine laughed. “Guess so.”
After taking a moment to catch his breath, Shawn straightened up. “So, I guess we should be getting going. You never want to stay out in the open for too long. Which direction are you headed?” Jasmine pointed down the street in the direction Shawn had been going.
“That way, I guess. I should probably check in with my host family, just to make sure they’re alright.”
Shawn nodded. “Yeah, well, be careful. You don’t want to get too attached in the apocalypse. I’ve watched a lot of zombie movies, and one of the most common causes of death in a zombie apocalypse, other than not securing doors and windows, or not checking a room you enter properly, is related to attachment to loved ones.”
Jasmine raised an eyebrow. “That so?” She said drily. Shawn swallowed.
“I mean, yeah?” He paused, before going against his better judgement for the second time in the past five minutes. “But, uh, that being said, I’m already going that direction, so if you wanted to head over together to make sure they’re okay…?” He trailed off. Jasmine looked him over, seemingly looking for something. Shawn couldn’t be sure what. After a moment, though, she sighed.
“There is safety in numbers after all, and you can handle yourself well. Yeah, you can tag along,” She said. Although Shawn was trying his best to convince himself that he was purely sticking with Jasmine from a survival standpoint, he knew that it was more than that. He’d only known her for a day, but she’d already humored his zombie rambling, and then, saved him from actual zombies. She truly knew the fastest way to a guy’s heart, that was for sure.
Shawn followed Jasmine out of the alley.
Sammy’s day had been terrible. Not that a terrible day was anything particularly out of the ordinary when she lived with Amy, but this one really took the cake. Up until about three pm, it had been the typical brand of horrible, with Amy belittling her, pushing her around, making her carry all of her books, and “accidentally” spilling her orange juice on Sammy’s shirt. But at three, in the middle of cheer practice, things had taken a turn for the outright gruesome.
Amy had been berating Sammy on her shaky arms, when there was a banging on the gym doors. At first, Amy had barely paused in chewing Sammy out, but the banging was persistent. Amy rolled her eyes, stomping over to the doors. She pulled them open with a loud groan.
“We have the gym, booked, so whatever it is you need, you’d better-“ Before Amy could finish her sentence, the person at the door lunged forward. Barely thinking, Sammy, dashed over and pulled Amy out of the way. In doing so, she got a full view of the small crowd of people outside of the gym doors. They all ambled forward, their expressions blank. Sammy stumbled back, still clutching Amy’s arm.
“What- what are you doing?” Sammy asked. She got no response from the crowd, only dazed groans as they pushed through the open doors. Sammy pulled Amy away from the crowd and back toward the rest of the squad, where Amy shook her sister’s hand off of her arm.
“What are we gonna do?” Asked Mikaela, one of the freshman. Amy stood up straighter, and put on her most commanding voice.
“Those people are clearly unwell, so here’s what we do. Whatever they have might be contagious, and they’re blocking the door, so we’re gonna have to climb out through the windows,” She said. The rest of the squad hung onto her every word.
“We could get up there from the bleachers?” Sammy suggested. Amy gave her look of annoyance.
“Right. We could use the bleachers. I was about to say that, Samey.”
Sammy held her gaze for a moment, but finally looked away away.
“There’s still a bit of a climb from there. We could boost each other up,” Offered Taylor. Amy smiled at her.
“Good idea, Taylor. Then, we’ll lift up whoever’s last.”
One of the juniors, Riley, glanced at the small horde who were still approaching. “Well, we’d better get moving, they’re almost here.”
Amy nodded, and the squad dashed over to the nearest row of bleachers. Sammy reached the top first, with Amy coming a moment after. She turned to Sammy and grinned.
“Boost me up!” She said, not waiting for a response before practically climbing on top of her sister. Amy quickly clambered up to the ledge and unlatched the window. “Alright, Samey, you boost the rest of the girls up. I’ll make sure everyone gets over and out safely. And Samey? For god’s sake, keep your legs steady this time.”
Before Sammy had a chance to argue, the rest of the girls were taking Amy’s lead and using Sammy as a ladder. She helped them up, and once the last one was safely out the window, only Sammy and Amy remained in the building. Sammy glanced behind her at the horde that was slowly clambering up the bleachers, before turning back to her sister and reaching her hand up. Amy grabbed on and started to pull her up, before pausing and fixing Sammy a cold smile.
“Amy…” Sammy pleaded, the horde getting closer. Amy leaned down so that her face was just a few inches away from Sammy’s.
“Sorry Samey. You have always been quite the butterfingers. Whoops,” She said, before letting go of her sister’s hand and jumping out the window without looking back.
Sammy scrambled to her feet, tears stinging her eyes. Amy had left her in the gym with all these… sick people. If Sammy didn’t know any better, she’d say they were zombies, but that was ridiculous, of course. Zombies weren’t real. Still, she figured as she took in the approaching horde, it was the only explanation that made any sort of sense. She glanced around. She needed to get somewhere that the zombies couldn’t reach her.
Her eyes caught on a thick rope that was suspended from the ceiling. She figured it was one of those climbing ropes, judging by the little bike horn taped near the top, but it likely hadn’t been used in a while. It was looped through itself so that it wasn’t hanging down. Sammy glanced around, looking for any other option, but saw nothing. Great. There was a slim chance she could make the jump and grab on, and even if she did, there was only so long that she could keep her grip up. Still, it wasn’t like she had much of a choice. It was that, or the ever-approaching crowd of… zombie-like people.
Sammy took a deep breath. She was an athlete. She could do this. Taking a running start from the top row of the bleachers, she leapt forward and reached out for the rope, desperately grabbing once she hit it. As soon as she got a grip, she wrapped her legs around it. The rope swung back and forth. Sammy felt absolutely terrified. There was no way she could keep this up for long, and the horde showed no signs of leaving. With nothing else to do, she resorted to her last hope, and began to shout for help.
Jasmine and Shawn were about two blocks out from her host family’s house when they passed the high school. It wasn’t the one Jasmine went to, since she’d gotten a scholarship for a private school a ways into the city. She assumed it wasn’t Shawn’s, either, since he’d been coming from the other direction. However, she paused when she heard shouting coming from inside. Shawn glanced at her when she stopped.
“Something wrong, Jasmine?” He asked. Jasmine nodded.
“Yeah, you hear that? Sounds like someone’s in trouble,” She said, already determined to help out whoever it was. Shawn rubbed the back of his neck nervously.
“We should- we should probably keep going. Whoever it is might already be bitten, anyway,” He said, but Jasmine could tell that his heart wasn’t really in it. She fixed him with a firm look.
“Come on, Shawn. They’re a living person. We have to help them,” She said. Shawn glanced away, shifting nervously from side to side, before nodding.
“You’re right. As much as my survival instincts are telling me to run… I can’t,” He said. Jasmine shot him a grin.
“I knew you were a good guy! Now, come on. We shouldn’t waste time,” She said, running up to the school with Shawn right behind her. She paused, listening for the source of the noise, before seeing an open window a ways off the ground leading to what looked like a gym.
“Over there,” Shawn said, almost as soon as she saw it. Jasmine nodded.
“Right. Do you need a boost, or can you make it up there on your own?” She asked.
“It’ll be faster if you boost me,” Shawn replied, and Jasmine obliged, lifting the shorter boy up over her shoulders. When she looked back up at him once he’d safely scrambled onto the ledge, his face was a little flushed, but Jasmine attributed it to the adrenaline.
“What’s it look like in there?” She asked. He turned to survey the room.
“Zombies on the bleachers below me, and they’re headed towards… hold on a second. That’s a girl. Hey, girl!” He shouted, presumably getting the attention of both the girl and the zombies, if the loud shuffling of feet that Jasmine could hear was any indication. Shawn glanced back over his shoulder at Jasmine.
“Okay, this is a gym, so I’m gonna run down to the supply closet for weapons. That should also draw the zombies to me. You get in her, get under the girl, and catch her, okay? Then come to me,” He said quickly. Jasmine nodded.
“Got it.”
As soon as she acknowledged the plan, Shawn jumped down to the other side. Jasmine climbed up to the window, which was relatively easy since the bricks protruded enough that there were solid hand and footholds. She hoisted herself over the ledge and took in her surroundings. Sure enough, Shawn had lead the zombies to the other side of the room, and there was a tiny blonde girl gripping a dangling rope as if her life depended on it. Which, well. It probably did.
Jasmine didn’t waste any time in getting off the bleachers and standing under the girl.
“Let go, I’ll catch you!” Jasmine called up. The girl gave her a frightened look, although that might have just been because of her general situation, before it turned to one of determination. She nodded, and Jasmine stretched out her arms and widened her stance as she prepared to catch the girl. “Don’t worry, I’ve done this before!” That was a lie, but it would hopefully make the girl feel more comfortable. Apparently it did the trick, as a moment later, the girl let go of the rope. Jasmine moved slightly to the left and caught the girl perfectly in her arms. Instinctually, Jasmine pulled her closer toward herself in an attempt to comfort the girl.
“You alright to stand on your own?” Jasmine asked after a moment. The girl nodded.
“I think so,” She said, and Jasmine helped her back to her feet, holding onto her arm as the girl got her bearings, before turning back to Shawn.
He was currently warding off the zombies with a large hockey stick, and seemed to have worked his way through about half of the small horde. Still, Jasmine figured he wouldn’t mind an assist.
“I’m gonna go help out Shawn, alright? You can stay here,” She said to the girl. The girl frowned.
“Are they… are they really zombies?” She asked. Jasmine nodded.
“Seems like it. They certainly seemed like they wanted to take a bite out of you,” Jasmine joked, but it didn’t get a laugh. The girl merely nodded.
“Alright.”
Jasmine moved towards Shawn, and to her surprise, the girl followed. Jasmine looked at her in disbelief. “You don’t have to come with,” She said. The girl merely shrugged.
“You guys saved my life. I’m pretty sure I’m running on pure adrenaline right now, so I can hold off on collapsing until after I give you guys a hand,” She replied. Jasmine would’ve tried to talk the girl out of it, but they didn’t exactly have an abundance of time, and on top of that, she recognized the girl’s determined expression.
“Alright,” Jasmine said as they reached the pile of sports equipment Shawn had pulled out of the supply closet. “Let’s smash some heads.”
She picked up the first thing she saw, which happened to be a lacrosse stick, and started going at the now significantly smaller crowd of zombies. A glance to her left saw that the girl had picked up a wooden baseball bat, and Jasmine was impressed with the ferocity at which she was going for the zombies. A short ways away, Shawn hadn’t slowed down a bit, brandishing his hockey stick fiercely. The three of them made quick work of the remaining zombies, although their clothes certainly weren’t spared. When Jasmine finally got a good look at her companions, they were both splattered with blood and weird bits that she didn’t even want to think about. A quick glance at own clothes showed that she wasn’t faring any better.
“Well then,” Jasmine said, straightening up and reaching out a hand to the girl. “I’m Jasmine.”
The girl took it. “Same- I mean, Sammy. My name’s Sammy”
Shawn stepped closer to the pair. “Shawn. And, uh, we should really get going.”
Sammy let out a breathy laugh. “Shawn… you’ve got red on you.”
Shawn’s eyes widened. “You’ve seen Shaun of the Dead?” He shook his head as if to clear his thoughts. “No, wait, we really do have to go. You’ve got good taste in movies, though.”
Jasmine was pretty lost.
“Where are you guys headed?” Sammy asked, picking her bat up off the ground. She wiped a bit of the gore off onto her skirt, and instantly made a face of regret.
“Shawn’s taking me to check on the family I’m staying with. What about you?” Jasmine asked. Sammy’s face dropped.
“I, um… I’m not sure,” She said, and Jasmine could tell that she had accidentally hit a nerve somehow.
“Hey, why don’t you come with us, then?” She offered. Shawn made no objections, surprisingly. Or, well, not so surprisingly. Jasmine had figured out pretty quickly that he was a lot more willing to trust people than he let on.
Sammy immediately brightened. “Really? You’d let me?”
Jasmine laughed. “The way you handled yourself back there? Of course!”
The other girl beamed. “Thank you so much, I won’t let you down!” She said, running forward and pulling Jasmine into a hug. Somewhat surprised, but not unpleasantly so, Jasmine wrapped her arms around the smaller girl. Sammy was a strong hugger.
After a few seconds, Shawn cleared his throat. “I, uh, really wasn’t kidding. We should go, now.”
“Right, sorry!” Sammy pulled away sheepishly.
“Which way out?” Jasmine asked. Shawn frowned.
“It’s probably best to head back out the window, since we don’t know what’s down that hallway, and I don’t feel like fighting off any more of the undead right now.”
Jasmine nodded. “Yeah, I’m pretty beat. Window it is, then.”
The three of them climbed the bleachers at a good pace, although Jasmine could tell that all three of them were starting to feel the effects of the afternoon. Once they reached the top, Jasmine spoke up.
“We ought to throw our weapons over first, and then I’ll boost you both, sound good?” She said. The other two nodded, and they proceeded to toss their improvised weapons out the window. Jasmine turned to Sammy.
“You first, alright?” She said. The shorter girl’s eyes widened slightly before she nodded, and Jasmine wasted no time in boosting her up to the ledge. Once Sammy had jumped over, she turned to Shawn. “Your turn.”
In no time, Shawn was up and over, and then it was Jasmine’s own turn. She jumped up and grabbed onto the ledge, grunting as she pulled herself up, before swinging her legs over and landing on the ground next to her companions. And, unfortunately, directly on top of her lacrosse stick, which broke with an audible crunch. The other two gave her a look.
“Whoops!” Jasmine said, picking up one half of the lacrosse stick. Shawn sighed.
“We’ll have to get you another weapon, but that’ll do for now. Let’s get moving.”
By the time they made it to Jasmine’s host family’s house, the trio were feeling their soreness in full force. Sammy especially was a little wobbly on her feet. Shawn didn’t blame her, honestly. He didn’t know how long she’d been hanging on that rope, and she’d jumped right into helping them take down the undead horde. Not to mention, from the looks of it, she’d just finished with cheer practice. He’d be a little unsteady too.
Once they reached the house, Shawn took note of the houses around them. They looked mostly undisturbed, as did the rest of the street, but Shawn was well aware that looks could be deceiving. He relayed as much to his companions. “Make sure you keep quiet, alright? You never know how many zombies are lurking.”
Jasmine nodded as she turned her key on the lock, making sure to open the front door as carefully and quietly as possible. She stepped inside slowly, with Shawn and Sammy following after her, weapons at the ready. The house seemed empty, Shawn noted, as he gently nudged the front door shut behind him. He glanced around, mentally noting the locations of all of the windows, just in case.
“Hello? Sandra?” Jasmine called into the house, although not too loudly. “Bill? Georgia? Anyone home?”
There was no response. Shawn listened carefully for any sign of the dead, but he couldn’t hear that, either. The trio crept into the kitchen. This, too, was empty, but as he was glancing around, Shawn’s eye caught on a note on the fridge.
“Jasmine,” He said, pointing at the note. The girl in question looked over, before grabbing the note to read it. Shawn and Sammy shared a glance as Jasmine took it in.
“What’s it say?” Sammy asked, her voice sympathetic. Jasmine frowned, putting down the note.
“It says… that once they heard what was going on, they immediately packed up and headed for some uncle’s cabin in the mountains. They left an address, but the cabin’s miles from here, and I don’t have a car or anything. Not to mention… Once I got there, what would I do? Stay with them forever? Bill and Sandra are nice, and Georgia’s a sweet kid, but… I have my own family. I should find out if they’re okay.”
Sammy frowned. “Have you tried calling them?”
Jasmine shook her head. “Haven’t really had a breather since this all started, no. Plus, they were probably asleep up until now. I’ll try and give them a call now,” She said, pulling out her phone. Shawn and Sammy waited as Jasmine pulled up the contact and attempted to call her family. After a few seconds, Jasmine sighed in frustration.
“It’s not going through,” She said. “Damn it. I need to know they’re alright… They can hold their own, I know they can, but…” She slumped against the counter, and immediately Shawn was moving forward to comfort her.
“Hey, it’s alright. Listen, you’re kind of a survival expert, right?” Jasmine nodded. “Does your family have some sort of… I don’t know, emergency radio? I’ve watched a lot of survival videos, and that was kind of a must-have.”
Jasmine nodded again. “Yeah, my dad keeps one in his car.”
Shawn bit his lip thoughtfully. “I’ve got a radio with a much stronger signal at my place. We might be able to get through to them. And if it doesn’t work, I know I’ll be able to fix it so it can reach your family. Why don’t we head over there and get things figured out? Not to mention, I’ve got plenty of supplies, and it’s adequately fortified… I mean, you saw me picking up supplies this morning,” Shawn said, which got a laugh out of Jasmine.
“Well, we’ll definitely be set in the caffeine department,” Jasmine joked in spite of the tears welling in her eyes.
Sammy moved to her other side. “We’ll get you in touch with your family, Jasmine. Don’t worry. Plus, if they’re anything like you, they’re going to be more than okay. I’m sure of it,” She said. Jasmine nodded.
“Yeah, you’re both right,” She said, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. “Alright, then. Shawn, how far are we from your place?”
“Just another couple of blocks. Do you want to take anything with you from here?” He asked. Jasmine considered this for a moment, before nodding.
“One thing, yeah. Hold on just a sec, I’ll be quick,” She said, before heading for the stairs. Shawn nodded.
“Right, Sammy and I’ll just raid the cupboards,” He called up, and proceeded to do just that. A few moments later, Jasmine reappeared on the stairs, now sporting a bright orange and green friendship bracelet on her wrist.
“My sister made it for me,” She offered, and Shawn nodded.
“Right. Well, we should get going. It’s going to get dark soon, and you don’t want to be out in the dark when the undead are walking around.”
Jasmine laughed again, which made Shawn smile. “I’ll take your word for it.”
The trio set off for Shawn’s house.