Two Page Shorts by Nick Venom (story read aloud TXT) 📖

“Ivy, do you know where the code to dad’s safe is?”

“Dad’s safe?” She repeated. “I don’t know.”

Bryce nodded, searching the room. He searched through boxes, closets, drawers, and in nooks and crannies for a potential code. 

“Hey, isn’t this it?” Grant asked from Bryce’s room. 

Bryce turned and sprinted to his room. Ivy followed after him. Grant held up a small box, inspecting it, before handing it over to Bryce. “Where did you find this? I didn’t even notice it was here.” Bryce asked/

Grant led Bryce to his closet, motioning to a dent in the wall. In the wall was a false piece of wall, opening up to reveal a cubby large enough to fit the small box. “I noticed that this was off. It was being masked by this painting.” He motioned to the painting now lying on its side. The painting was of Mona Lisa. 

“Why was there a painting here, of all places?”

Bryce shrugged his shoulders. “My father said that this picture wasn’t any good and didn’t have any extra space. I never touched it because he said not to. I don’t have a lot of clothes so there’s been no reason to move it.”

“You never questioned why a painting was here?” Grant asked, staring at the painting. It resembled the Mona Lisa, but it had a few differences.

“I never did. I rarely use the closet, so it never crossed my mind to move it. If anything, my father acted strange enough about the painting that he deterred me from even touching it.”

“Huh? That’s really… weird.” Grant muttered. “Well, open the box. Let’s see what’s inside.”

Bryce opened the box and found a piece of paper---folded several times into a small square. He opened the square up and read the contents of the paper. “That’s weird, it only has four letters; 9820?”

“9820?” Ivy repeated.

“9820? What’s wrong with that?” Grant asked.

“It’s such a weird combination. It’s not a birthday or pin… wait isn’t today September 8th, 2020?” Bryce asked.

Grant and Bryce stared at each other with wide eyes. They were both speechless. The first date of the apocalypse was somehow the code to Bryce’s father’s code to his safe.

Meanwhile, Ivy didn’t understand the significance of the code, instead, heading directly to the safe to open it. She was focused on grabbing the gun, less than why the code was today’s date.

Bryce and Grant left their eye staring contest in Bryce’s room, heading to the parents’ room. There they watched Ivy pop the door open, revealing a revolver and two boxes of bullets, and a hunting knife. “Don’t touch the gun or knife!” Bryce shouted at her.

Ivy backed away from the safe, letting Grant and Bryce snatch the supplies. Grant grabbed the revolver and discovered moon clips inside ammunition boxes. He loaded the revolver with a fully-loaded moon clip before glancing at the total ammunition. He had over forty moon clips in the two boxes. He stuffed the boxes into his bag.

Bryce inspected the hunting knife---noticing that his name and Ivy’s were etched into the handle of the knife. A message was etched on the other side, reading “we love you both!” In a small font. He didn’t question why their names and a message directed to them were etched onto the knife. Everything was fuzzy to him. Instead, he held the hunting knife close to his chest, praying for a few moments, before turning to Grant. “Let’s go,”

“Are you ready?” Grant calmly asked him

“As ready as I'll ever be,” Bryce remarked.

“Let’s leave,” Ivy muttered.

Grant nodded before leading them to the fire escape. He got on the fire escape and peered down at the ground. Zombies had flooded the first two floors of the hotel. The remaining eight floors were mostly untouched by the horde. 

“The ground is swarming with them.” He remarked.

Bryce and Ivy peered down at the ground, memorized and terrified at the sight. Undead monsters brimming with nonexistent life bustled around the first two floors. Screams of tenets opening the door to reveal zombified neighbors could be heard from the ninth floor that the three lived on. 

“Where do we go?” Bryce asked Grant, looking up to his best friend for advice and his leadership abilities.

“I’m not sure,” He looked around the area, searching for an escape route. Since the hotel housed many tenets, it became a buffet for the undead. “There’s nowhere.”

“Wait, I see Amelia’s house from here. I don’t see many zombies around the house!” Ivy chimed in.

“Amelia? Amelia Sparrow? Isn’t that your friend?” Grant asked him.

“That’s her… but what if she’s de-” Bryce started. He glanced at his younger sister who was captivated by his words. “U-Uh, what if she doesn’t want to let us in?”

Grant looked down at the ground. He heard the screams of a female tenet before the sounds of her flesh being devoured filled the air. Her screams attracted the zombies’ attention and pulled them away from under them. “Let’s take the chance.” He went down the fire escape with Bryce and Ivy following after him. He sprinted down the fire escape before reaching the final flight, jumping down the ladder and hitting the ground hard. Bryce jumped down the ladder and turned around, holding his hands up. Ivy, scared, hesitated to jump. 

“Ivy, we don’t have much time left. They’re almost here.” Bryce whispered, making sure his voice didn’t attract the undead.

“B-but, I’m scared,” She whispered, her body visibly shaking. She didn’t appear as terrified as now, since she was a far distance from them. However, now, she was only feet from them. The undead was bloodied and missing parts of their bodies, limping towards them.

Grant scanned their surroundings, watching as the zombies took notice of them. He motioned for Bryce to hurry up. He nodded, turning towards Ivy. “Ivy, I understand that you’re scared, but it’s a simple jump. It won’t hurt you. Come on, let’s go find our parents.” 

“We will?”

Bryce nodded. “I promise, one day we will.” Ivy, still trembling, jumped and landed in her brother’s arms. Bryce lowered her to the ground carefully. “Are you ready?” He asked. 

She turned towards him and smiled. “As ready as I’ll ever be.” She said, trying to intimidate her brother. However, her voice remained shaky. Nevertheless, Bryce smiled and took her hand, following Grant towards Amelia’s house.

***

Bryce knocked on the wooden door. “It’s Bryce,” He whispered against the door. No response. He glanced over his shoulders, noticing his sister crouched down, holding her hands. He went to her side, embracing him. “Go and knock.” He told Grant.

Grant nodded, rattling his knuckles on the door, pounding on the chipped wooden door. “Let us in,”

Ivy looked around, startled by the groans and growls of zombies. “I’m scared,” she whined.

Bryce caressed her hair softly. “We’ll be okay.”

Grant pounded on the door harder. “Let us in! Bryce and Ivy are here.”

Bryce turned around and rattled his knuckles on the glass. He turned around and took a few steps to the corner of the house, peeking around it. The corner was void of zombies, giving them breathing room. He turned back and rattled against the window. As he paced back and forth from the door to the nearby window, he noticed the curtains swaying. An eye peered from the other side of the window and noticed Bryce. The eye vanished into the house. “Somebody’s inside,” He whispered. Grant heard him and nodded, taking a step backward from the door. From inside, they heard the sound of locks unlocking themselves. After the fifth lock, the door was yanked open. Amelia stood at the door, her bloodshot eyes swelling up with tears. 

“You guys are still alive,” She muttered. “Thank god.” She sprinted past Grant and flew into Bryce’s arms. Bryce, slightly stammering, wrapped his arms around Amelia in a “friendly” hug. Ivy watched with irritated eyes, analyzing Amelia. Amelia released him from the hug, blushing, before telling them “come inside before the monsters find us.” She grabbed Bryce’s hand and led him inside, Grant and Ivy following after them. 

“How have you been since this whole outbreak thing?” Bryce asked her in an attempt to break the weird atmosphere hanging above them. 

“It’s been… weird. Fortunately, my parents were home when the outbreak happened. They’re in the basement fixing the heater.” She turned around to face Bryce and the others. “It’s going to be winter soon, so…” Her voice trailed off as they passed by framed pictures. One of them showed a younger Amelia standing to a slightly taller---by an inch---Bryce. His sister wasn’t in the picture.

Amelia had a lighter shade of red hair---rust red. She wore a sky blue blouse with roses scattered on it. Her Adidas shoe was stained with mud, puddling under her. She had a large smile on display, linking arms with Bryce. She looked happy, a feeling that she mirrored a decade later. 

Bryce, on the other hand, was the opposite when he was younger. He had straight black hair that dangled to his forehead. His dark brown eyes were drowned out by a small glint from sunlight. His body---which didn’t remain the same a decade later---was plumped up by the excessive snacks he received from his elitist parents.  His large tee shirt couldn’t hide his body; his parents tried to deceive him by getting him skinny jeans, but they managed to barely fit him.

Both teenagers had changed drastically over the decade, adopting new styles and fashion choices. Amelia dressed herself in jean shorts and loose tee shirts. Her rust-red hair changed into cherry-colored hair. She maintained her oily skin well. 

Bryce had toned his body and purged nearly all of his fat. His intense exercise had changed his shirt size from child large to adult medium. Once his weight was controlled, he had altered his style from cotton tee-shirts to polyester and wore slim black jeans. They had changed in their own ways, but their friendship remained the same.

Amelia led them to a door, positioned in between two bedroom doors, and opened it. Her parents dashed up the stairs and ran into Amelia. “Are you okay? Why did you open the door?” They asked simultaneously. 

“It was my friends,” Amelia said, taking a step backward and motioning towards Bryce and Ivy.

“Bryce? Ivy? You’re alive?” Amelia’s mom asked.

“Where's your parents…?” Amelia’s dad asked. Bryce shrugged his shoulders. “You don’t know? They weren’t with you?”

“Mom and dad are often on trips.” Ivy chimed in.

“Oh,” Amelia’s dad muttered. 

“Anyways, we’re sorry to disrupt you, but we have nowhere to go,” Grant said, catching the parents off guard. They didn’t notice Grant standing beside Bryce.

“You are?”

“I’m Grant, one of Bryce’s friends.” He extended his hand out and shook Amelia’s parents’ hands. 

“I’m Edgar, this is my wife Maisey.” Amelia’s dad said, introducing himself and his wife to Grant. 

“How many days of food do you have?” Grant asked

“Two weeks if we ration correctly,” Edgar said.

“We brought two or three days of food with us, but this stuff won’t last.” 

Edgar nodded, walking up to the front windows. He opened the curtain ajar and peered out. In front of his house were a few zombies roaming the empty streets. The corpses of used-to-be living people laid on the floor, eviscerated and lifeless. Their bodies were scattered on the once quiet road; now the road was filled with the groans and growls of zombies, tearing their clean air in half. 

“Is there anything we could do?” Maisery asked.

“The street’s full of them. The only thing we could do is wait. Wait for an opportunity.”

“Opportunity to do what? Leave and escape to where?” Grant retorted. He stood straight, his eyes making contact with Edgar’s. 

“A safe haven? Sanctuary? Some kind of government base?” He responded. 

“Those places would be filled to the brim with people. Zombies would overwhelm them.” Grant argued.

“He’s right, those places would never be safe. I say that we make our own base instead of relying on the government.” Bryce chimed in. “For now, at least, let’s focus on ourselves.” Edgar and Grant nodded. Maisery, Amelia, and Ivy sided with Bryce. They understood the situation they were in. They were trapped in