Starter Scrolls: by Nick Venom (best ereader for graphic novels txt) 📖

“Thank you again for helping me, Justin. Your family is blessed to have a son like you; brave, strong, and handsome. If only I was a century younger, I would’ve fallen in love with you.”

Justin looked at her strangely, doing the calculations in his head. “Miss, you would’ve been negative sixteen years old. You wouldn’t have been born yet.”

She glanced at him before shaking her head. “The education system was worse than how it is now. That’s my only excuse.”

Justin chuckled as he reached the attic, noticing Linda’s son, Andy. The young fifteen-year-old was dressed in a brown tee-shirt and black jeans. He had on expensive-looking sneakers with the logo of a man jumping into the air. However, Justin knew the shoes were knock-offs based on their name; Mordons. One letter off of Jordans.

Linda left the two boys to repair the small dimly-lit attic. There was only one window, but it was smaller than the other windows in the house and was broken, shattered by a piece of debris. Even so, neither cared about the light. They were focused on repairing the holes and the window. Andy focused on repairing a basketball-shaped hole on the adjacent wall to the window. Justin mainly focused on the window, filling it in with cardboard, enough for the time being. 

After an hour of repairs, they were nearing completion. Most of the large holes were filled in or covered over. With their goal so close to being fulfilled, Andy turned to Justin. “Can I be like you?”

The question caught Justin off-guard. He didn’t expect Andy to ask him anything. “What do you mean?”

“Your strength, bravery, handsomeness.” Andy clarified. It was now evident that he heard his grandmother’s remarks, embarrassed of himself.

Justin sucked in a deep breath of air before pushing it out. “You want to make your grandmother proud?”

Andy nodded, his eyes widened in anticipation of Justin’s answer.

“Stay how you are. Your grandmother is exaggerating. She truly cares about you and wishes you the world. She’s only trying to joke around.”

“She… doesn’t hate me?”

Justin shook his head. “If she did, then she would tell you. She kept you in this house because she wants to watch you grow. She loves you how you are, Andy, so changing would make her sad. Remain the same and show her your true self and she’ll reveal her true feelings to you. Change yourself and she’ll never reveal those feelings. It would be like saying you love a stranger.”

Andy looked at him, tilting his head. “If I change, I become a stranger?” He questioned.

“No,” Justin started, “change is good but it depends on what you change. If you change your true self for a fake self, then you become a stranger. If you change yourself to embrace an aspect of what makes you… you, then it’s a good change and you don’t become a stranger. It’s all based on how you change.”

“Oh, thank you, Justin,” Andy told him.

“You’re welcome,” Justin looked out of the window. He wished somebody told him that during his school years. He could’ve saved his relationship with his girlfriend if he stayed to his true self, not mutated into a fake persona. He lost her because he wasn’t true to himself and her. He wasn’t going to make that mistake again.

Everything went peacefully as nobody complained or cried for too long. Everybody wanted their normal days back, rebuilding their homes and community to achieve that hope.

However, the concept of ‘normal’ would begin to shift as the sixth day arrived.

***

Day six arrived and the world turned on itself. Creatures---made from the corpses of humans consumed by the rift---sprouted and attacked the recovering survivors. They tore in their flesh, resembling mindless zombies with their deteriorating greenish-black skin and exposed brains. They roamed around the surviving neighborhoods, tearing into the inhabitants. Many fled and tried to escape but the roads weren’t working, they had no cars, or their safe havens---their houses---were destroyed by the day known as ‘Calamity’. Calamity saw meteors, earthquakes, and a tsunami attack Chicago within a half-hour, ruining the city.

The mindless zombies---called Roamers for their lack of intelligence by the survivors--lingered around the neighborhoods. Justin, fortunately, grabbed his family and hurled them into their house--which was barely scratched by Calamity. They escaped the initial chaos that killed ninety percent of survivors and brought Chicago closer to its original days of no technology and survivors trying to build a home.

“Why are they back? I saw Ms. Johnson there. Her eyes were gouged out and her eyes were dead. What’s wrong with her?” Lucie asked. “Has Calamity come back to claim the rest?”

“Shush mother, you’ll make Marie and Luke afraid. We’ll be fine with our resources now. If anything,” Justin brandished a knife “I’ll fight if I have to. I’m not letting another person---dead or not---wound my family again.”

“Now you calm down. There’s no need to fight these monsters. They haven’t invaded our home yet, so put that knife away.” Tom demanded. Justin nodded, discarding the knife. He carefully walked to the kitchen and housed the knife into a block of wood fitted for several knives. 

“So what? There are too many windows, they can see into our place and barge in.” Justin said, pointing at the several windows in the house. One window was at their back, exposing them to the neighbor’s house. 

“Help me get blankets and we’ll cover the windows. That way, we won’t be scared to move around.” Tom ordered, moving towards his bedroom to grab a wool blanket. Justin and Lucie followed Tom’s example and grabbed blankets to drape against the windows. Using duct tape to hold up the blankets, they covered the windows and closed off their house from the Roamers outside.

They now had the freedom to walk around the house without worrying about Roamers seeing them. For the moment, at least, they were safe.

Justin left his parents for a moment, stepping into Luke’s room. Luke was sprawled atop his bedsheets, his wounds being addressed by Harry. Marie was on the other side, holding onto his hands. 

Harry glanced at him, standing from his position next to Luke. . “Luke’s alright. The bleeding stopped a long time ago. He needs time to heal.”

Justin nodded, moving aside to let Harry pass him. He then crouched down to meet with his younger sibling. “2020 is around the corner. What do you want next year?”

Luke stared at him, his eyes broken. “What’s the point? There are zombies outside. They’re going to kill us!” He shrieked, frightening his sister. Justin placed his hand on Luke’s shoulder, calming him down.

“They won’t. I’ll tell you why.” He smiled a toothy grin. “Because we’re all here together, right? You still have pops, mom, Uncle Harry, Marie, and myself. We’re all by your side through thick and thin.” 

Luke nodded, looking up at his brother. “Yeah, we’ll be alright.” He said, a mix of convincing Justin and himself. Whether or not it worked was a different story.

“Okay, get some sleep. Marie, let him sleep peacefully.” Justin demanded. Marie shook her head, squeezing Luke’s hand harder.

“I want to stay with him!” She shouted. Justin shushed her, pointing at the window. 

“Remember, you need to whisper, don’t shout. As for you staying with him, I’ll accept it.” Justin went to the light switch, flicking it. “Good night, you two.”

“Good night, brother.” Mari and Luke whispered simultaneously.

***

“How are the kids?” Tom asked.

“They should be sleeping, I’ll check on them in a half-hour or so.”

Tom nodded. “Good, let them sleep. Now, let’s get to business.” He motioned to the circular glass table contained in their dining room. Tom, Lucie, Harry, and Justin sat down at the table, all facing each other.

Tom started off the conversation, intertwining his fingers on the table. “I was counting our supplies and we have enough for three days if anything.”

“Didn’t we have nine?” Harry questioned, staring at his brother as if he sprouted a second head. “Where did those supplies go?”

“Gone, given away to neighbors,” Lucie remarked. “The other families had little supplies, so I decided it was fine to give them out. I thought we could get more soon.”

“You gave out the supplies!” Harry shouted. “We needed them!”

“Keep your damn voice down.” Tom whisper-shouted. “What was done is done. Let’s focus on procuring more days of supplies. We have a small vegetable garden in the backyard.”

“The fence has a few holes that I hadn’t fixed. We need to fix it before we can use the backyard.” Justin chimed in. “I need an hour to fix them, but the problem is the Roamers outside. We need a distraction that lasts an hour.”

“An hour?” Harry questioned. “What if we all go out and help you? Cut down the time?”

Justin nodded. “A half-hour, maybe. Even so, we still need a diversion to give us the time. The Roamers have flooded the neighborhoods.”

“How about using the Clancy’s truck to distract the Roamers. Break the windows and ignite the alarms. It’ll attract the attention of the nearby Roamers and give us time.”

“Why the Clancy’s truck? They were always helpful to us?” Lucie exclaimed. “Shouldn’t we use the Howzer’s truck or somebody else’s?”

“The Clancy’s truck is on the opposite end of the block. If we activate its alarm, it moves all of the Roamers to that end and grants us time.” Justin explained. “Makes more sense than using Howzer’s truck since it’s only a few houses down.”

Lucie nodded, staring off into space. She didn’t like that they were going to sacrifice the property of another person for their selfish need; rebuild a single fence.

“Who will go? We need Justin here to help with the rebuilding process.”

Justin shook his head. “Harry knows what to do. You and Harry fix the fence, I’ll get to the car.” 

Tom jumped up from his chair, shaking his head violently. “There’s no way I’m going to let my son go out and risk his life. So help me God, I’ll-”

“Dad, I’ll be fine. Harry’s leg isn’t in the same condition it used to be years ago. As for you, you’re good with your hands. Focus on fixing the fence. I’m the youngest one here---ignoring the kids---and I have good stamina. It’ll be a quick job. In-and-out, so nothing can go wrong.”

Tom shook his head, motioning for Harry to follow him. “Don’t jinx yourself.”

Justin smiled, heading to the door. His mother wished him good luck and prayed for him. His father shot him a small smile, mouthing, “godspeed.” 

He smiled back, mouthing, “let the heavens oversee my safety.”

Then he was off, leaving through the front door, ducking behind their front lawn’s large bushes. He ducked and swerved around the vegetation to escape the eyes of the Roamers. All he had to do was get to the other side of his block and bang on the car loud enough to set off the alarm. Easy, right? 

Wrong.

***

Justin made his way towards the other side of the block, ducking and jumping into bushes and other vegetation to escape the Roamers’ sight. Even without his intense camouflage, the Roamers didn’t bat a single eyelid at him. 

“Strange,” He muttered out loud. His voice was quiet, his words coming out as a small whisper, Even so, it attracted a nearby Roamer. The Roamer turned his head to Justin. He noticed that the Roamer, which resembled a stereotypical zombie, had its eyes gouged out. It couldn’t see him, but its hearing ability remained the same; maybe, even increased.

Justin decided to act on his theory, stepping into the fleeting daylight as ten Roamers surrounded him. The Roamers took notice of the grass being chomped on by Justin’s sneakers but never of him. They ignored him, continuing as if nothing was out of the ordinary. As if Roamers knew what ordinary was.

With his theory confirmed, he quietly made his way off the lawn and towards the Clancy family’s car; a beaten-up red pick-up. The truck was old and deteriorating but still had its fighting spirit. Unfortunately, Justin was on the way to damage the remnants of its spirit. 

He brandished his knife and