Very Few of Us Are What We Seem

Valentine’s Day

Kyle Youmans

Valentine’s Day

By Kyle Youmans

“Very few of us are what we seem”

~Agatha Christie

Prologue:

Dear Kris,

It has been 17 days since the beginning of the zombie apocalypse. We all are taking shelter in an abandoned Flor-Mart, so we have tons of food and water to drink. We also are stocked well with guns and ammo. You know, just in case. If I never see you again, hopefully you might see…

“What’re you doing, Sarah?” said Geoff.

Sarah, who was always very quiet, was Geoff’s secretary and daughter. She jumped slightly and stopped writing.

“Nothing much. Just writing a letter to my boyfriend. We separated after the zombies invaded the town,” Sarah said, tearing up.

“That’s sad,” said Geoff, “But I’m sure you’ll meet again.”

Maybe, Sarah thought. Someday.

Everyone ended up here when Dr. Fredrick van Schiller created a drug to stop cancer, but it had a dose of lunaphallanine, which mutates the brain into a cannibalistic being. Thus, the zombie invasion began.

In the small town of Burdett, NY, they were told to evacuate to a small Flor-Mart where everyone would stock up and live until the invasion was nearer to an end.

Only 8 made it.

Chapter 1: The Voice

“Get off me!!” a voice screamed.

“Abi and Elizabeth fighting again?” asked Jason, a short man from the Bronx.

The four boys sat in the back near the televisions. You would never think that infomercials could be so entertaining when you are yards away from instant death.

“Better go separate them,” said Geoff, the mayor of the town of Burdett, a very shy man.

Geoff walked towards the girls, who were in the pharmacy section of the store.

“Why did I ever have to meet you? You are the stupidest person I’ve ever seen in my life you…”

“Girls, Girls stop it,” said Geoff

“She stole my food and won’t admit. I know she did, too,” exclaimed Elizabeth, a very obnoxious and loud woman from Queens.

“I didn’t take anything you devil,” exclaimed Abigail, who was on vacation from her home in Alabama when the zombie invasion happened.

Geoff stood there, trying to keep the girls from hurting each other, when they heard a mysterious voice.

“Clean-up in aisle eight,” said the disembodied voice.

“What the heck was that?” said Elizabeth.

“I don’t know, but I’m scared,” said Abigail.

“We should go find the others,” said Geoff.

The 3 went to investigate. They met up with the others, who all seemed horrified, except for Trent, a tall, skinny man, who had a blank expression. He wasn’t easily scared.

“You heard it too?” said Sarah.

“Yeah, I wonder what it was?” said Abigail.

“Clean-up in aisle eight,” said the voice again.

“Oh my gosh, it sounds so weird,” said Abigail.

They stood, waiting silently for a while, until they realized that there were only seven of them.

“Wait, where’s Avery?” asked Elizabeth

“Well, let’s go search aisle eight. Might be something there,” proposed Jason.

They walked slowly to aisle eight, which was the home appliance aisle. Washers, dryers, and anything else you would need.

The first thing they saw was a dryer with blood dripping out.

Richard opened the door.

“Oh my god, it-it-it’s Avery!”

Chapter 2: Who Done It?

“Holy Crap!!” said Jason.

Everybody stared, until Sarah began sobbing.

“She was my best friend!” She cried some more.

It was silent except for occasional weeps from Sarah. This went on for what seemed like hours, but only lasted about 2 minutes, until the mysterious voice played over the intercom.

“You have all made it here alive. Sadly, your lives won’t last much longer. You will all meet your untimely demise. Your friend here, what was her name? Avery Franklin, was the first to go. Who will it be next? Why are you doing this? All your questions will be answered. Adios. Good bye. Ta ta.”

Everybody was speechless. Richard broke the silence.

“Who the heck was that, and why did he just kill an innocent girl like that.”

“She was only 15!!” screamed Sarah, and then she began sobbing again.

“Why does that voice sound so familiar?” questioned Geoff.

“We need to find whoever killed my best friend. He. Must. DIE!!!” Sarah screamed.

“Calm down, Sarah. We can’t go crazy,” said Jason soothingly

“Shut up!” Sarah said, and then slapped him.

As he rubbed his aching cheek, he couldn’t help muttering, “I hope you go next.”

“Let’s split up, maybe we can find a clue,” suggested Geoff.

“Agreed, let’s go,” said Elizabeth.

Everybody must have been so caught up in the murder, because no one had noticed that Abigail had fainted behind them.

“Are you alright?” asked Jason as he helped her up.

“Of course, just a little fright. I’m good,” she said.

Chapter 3: Answers Will Come

They split up to find the killer. Geoff and Elizabeth took the pharmacy. Richard and Abigail went through the aisles, Trent and Sarah took the registers and Jason went alone through the back storage.

Richard and Abigail split up, Abi took aisles 1-4 and Richard took aisles 5-8.

******************************************************

Geoff was looking at a jar of sleeping pills.

“Maybe we should give Sarah one of these and tell her that it’s candy,” he said.

He and Elizabeth laughed because they knew she would fall for it if they did. Sarah wasn’t the smartest person.

******************************************************

“Are you sure you’re alright?” asked Trent.

“I’m fine, just a little scared,” said Sarah.

They looked everywhere for a clue.

In the register at checkout number 7 was a knife and some nitroglycerin pills. Sarah took them and put them in her bag.

“We can show these to the guys later,” she said.

******************************************************

Jason stared into the belly of the beast. He felt around for a light switch and turned it on.

As the lights illuminated the storage room, he saw two glowing eyes, two large hands and a knife stabbing through his heart.

“Good night. Forever,” he heard before the world went blank.

******************************************************

“Clean-up in aisle seven.”

They all immediately knew what was going on.

“Jason,” said Sarah.

They started off towards the back of the store near the storage room. They walked down Aisle 7. Six people stood in a half-circle staring at the blood-soaked body of Jason Lewis.

Chapter 4: 6 – 1 = 5

“We should have known sending Jason in alone was a bad idea,” said Richard.

“I didn’t like him anyway,” said Sarah.

“Just because you don’t like someone doesn’t mean you should be happy when they’re dead,” said Abigail.

“I bet you murdered him, didn’t you?” asked Geoff.

“Oh no. I-I wouldn’t m-m-murder anybody,” said Sarah.

“Why are you so defensive?” said Richard.

“I’m not!” she screamed.

“Guys, I think I know what’s going on. Avery died in Aisle 8, Jason in 7. The killer is counting down the aisles, and the stuff in the aisle always ends up in the murder somehow,” said Geoff.

“So, what’s in aisle 6, because that’s next?” said Abi.

They traveled to the next aisle, filled with electronics. Cell phones, calculators, video games.

“So how is a murderer going to use this stuff in a murder?” said Sarah.

They searched the area.

“Can’t find anything,” said Geoff.

“Me either,” said Abi.

Then it happened. Trent saw something written on a cell phone screen. As he grabbed the phone, he was paralyzed. He dropped the phone and collapsed to the ground.

“TRENT!!” screamed Richard.

He checked his pulse. Nothing, and written on the phone were two sentences.

It said 6 – 1 = 5. Another one goes down.

******************************************************

“You people think you’re soooooo smart don’t you?” asked the mysterious voice, “You’ve also found out my plan. Yet, even though you knew what was going on, you still couldn’t save poor Trent could you? Aisle five is filled with cookware. Who should die next, and how should it happen? Hmmmm, have to think about this one. Bye for now.”

Chapter 5: Culinary Genius

The 5 of them sat in a circle, staring. Who would die next? They decided not to move from that spot.

“But I have to pee!” screamed Sarah.

“Do you want to die?” questioned Geoff.

“I could use a bathroom break, too,” said Elizabeth.

“Suit yourselves, but don’t split up when you go, you will die if you do. No doubt about it. That killer has a crazy mind,” Richard exclaimed.

******************************************************

Sarah and Elizabeth walked side by side, watching every direction. Completely forgetting the killer’s sequence, they began walking down Aisle 5. Sarah stopped. She looked ahead.

“I think I just saw someone,” she said.

“Probably just a zombie. Haha,” said Elizabeth

“That is not funny. My family died because of those beasts,” said Sarah

“Sarah, calm down, I didn’t mean it.”

Elizabeth grabbed Sarah’s shoulder to calm her. Sarah swung around and slapped Elizabeth right in the face. Elizabeth winced and recoiled.

This gave Sarah just enough time to grab a large, cast-iron frying pan and hit Elizabeth with it, crushing her skull.

“Four down, three to go,” said Sarah.

******************************************************

“Guys, Elizabeth is dead!” said Sarah.

“I told you not to split up,” said Richard.

“How did it happen?” asked Abi.

“I don’t know. She just did,” said Sarah.

They walked down aisle five, and found Elizabeth, head chopped of and served on a plate of lettuce, with an apple in her mouth.

Chapter 6: Six Feet Under

January 22, 2025

There were eight, and now there are four. Me, Richard, Abi and Sarah. I don’t know what to do. I miss my family and my friends. I have a feeling that Abi is the killer. She is very mysterious. GEOFF

January 24, 2025

It’s been three days since someone died. Not sure what’s gonna happen next. I hope I can survive. Whoever this mysterious killer is has to die. ABIGAIL

January 28, 2025

How long do we have to wait before we can finally get out of here? There have been 3 zombie attacks since the last murder. Sarah was injured last night, however it seems that she wasn’t bitten. Whoever the killer is must be planning something big. Real big. RICHARD

January 31, 2025

They suspect nothing. They will all be dead within a week. 3 more aisles. 3 more people. 3 more bodies to feed to the zombies. 2 more weeks. I only have 2 more weeks. I love you Kris. Will always love you. SARAH

Chapter 7: Valentine’s Day

“Morning everybody,” said Richard.

He looked around to find nobody at all. He decided it would be good to eat some food. He made a can of creamed corn with some bread. He read more out of his book. Still couldn’t find anybody.

“Where did they all disappear to?” he asked.

He decided to be nosey. He looked and read everything in Geoff and Abi’s notebooks. Next, he found Jason’s and read it.

Then he read Sarah’s.

******************************************************

“Why did you bring us here?” asked Geoff.

“And without Richard?” said Abi.

Sarah explained to them that she knew that Richard was the murderer. Geoff gasped in non-belief. Abi didn’t say a word.

“You all know the plan, Right? We don’t let Richard know that we know this, but we need to find a way to get rid of him before he kills us,” said Sarah.

In that moment, Richard came running into Aisle 4, shouting that Sarah was the killer and waving her journal in the air. It took only seconds for Sarah to pull out a gun and kill Richard.

Chapter 8: Final Hurrah!

“Well, so much for being subtle,” said Geoff.

“You killed him. We’re safe!” shouted Abi.

“Not quite,” Sarah said.

Geoff could tell immediately that her voice didn’t sound right. He jerked around to see Sarah, pointing a pistol right at his heart.

“Sarah! What are you doing?” he asked.

“I knew you two wouldn’t understand,” said Sarah, “You don’t get it do you. I’m the killer. Well, partially.”

“And so am I!”

The same mysterious voice that had scared them all before sent chills through Abi’s body.

“And yet, you let it go. You never tried to stop it, you just accepted the fact that five people that you just met are dead,” said Sarah.

Abi dove at Sarah, possibly able to get the gun. She tackled her to the ground. Her gun flew down the aisle. Geoff gasped as Kris Ryan walked up and shot Abi.

Nobody had realized that Geoff had pulled out a pistol. He closed his eyes and pulled the trigger. However, he didn’t know who he was aiming at. Then he heard Sarah scream.

Kris stood over Sarah as she gasped for breath. Geoff reloaded and shot Kris is the back of the head.

The two dead bodies laid on top of each other. Geoff thought to himself. Now they are together again, however, not in a very wonderful place.

Epilogue

Geoff went back to read Sarah’s journal, still in the dead hands of Richard.

It read this:

Dear Kris,

Sincerely,

Sarah

Avery was an easy target. She was very quiet. She hadn’t noticed me following her through the store. I grabbed a strip of duct tape out of the crafting aisle, put it over her mouth and shoved her inside the dryer. I stabbed her in the back of the neck. I don’t know how the dryer had a power source, but I was able to turn it on. I hid the knife in a cash register. Next Target: Jason. I love you Kris.

I’m not exactly sure where the voice is coming from, and how Jason died before I could get to him. But he did, and it works for me. Next Target: Trent. Kris, you are mine for sure.

With my extensive knowledge of circuits and wires, I was able to put a short in the cell phone to make it shock anybody who touches it. I couldn’t let Trent survive because he was the only one who knew I had the knife. I knew Trent would be stupid enough to grab it, very curious about what it said on it. It sent 80 volts of electricity through him. Next Target: Elizabeth. Valentine’s Day. Must be dead by then.

Elizabeth, she took a pan to the head, not much to it. Next Target: Geoff. Kris. Kris. Kris…

Geoff found one small note at the bottom of the final page. It said: