Not Human

Luna

Chapter 31
Lies Flutter Like Butterflies



They said that they could help me. They said that they could fix me. They said they could get the "zombie me" out. They said I would survive. Well, they were sure as heck wrong about that.

10 minutes before
"Happy birthday Luna!" Everyone shouted to me holding a cupcake. Lucky rested in my lap on the bed.
"Uh, thanks guys..."
"Don't worry, Penny didn't make it." Heather said glaring at Penny.
"Yea, I don't know why you guys left me in charge of cooking last year." Penny growled.
"Look on the bright side," Mia said, "You're 14!"
"And and and," Ellie was getting excited, "Dr. Kahiye said she found out how to fix you!"
"She seems kinda sketchy to me..." Ashley mumbled.
Trouble barked and little baby Neptune rested next to Venus. I still couldn't get over the fact of how cute she was. Lucky barked more like she was talking, and Trouble started back.
"Are they having a conversation?" Loku asked.
"Yea. Obviously my dogs are smarter than you." Sasha said.
"Oh, Dr. Kahiye has a surprise in the top room, that's when she'll get the rest of the zombie out of you Luna!" Megan cheered.
"She said to be there by 12 right?" Ziira asked.
"Yea." Sasha said.
"And it's 12:30 by the way. I hope you know that?" Came a voice in the doorway. We turned and saw Dr. Kahyie's secretary, Angalina.
"Oh, whoops. If only I knew." I said then we all walked out, except me, Angalina pushed me on my rolling bed.
"Wait...will we get to watch Dr. Kahiye and the other doctors or scientists help cure Luna?" Ashley asked.
"Through the window, yes." Angalina responded.
To be honest right now, when I was alone in a room without anything to do, I did some snooping. Yes, I know that's rude, you're not supposed to go through important scientific papers, but I did. And guess what I found? Angalina's doctor file. Turns out she's Dr. Kahiye's little sister by three years. They don't look alike, Dr. Kahiye has long blond hair and hazel eyes, Angalina has long red hair and blue eyes. I was about to read this part about Angalina and her daughter but a scientist walked in at that moment.
That's my story of snooping.
"So, what exactly is Dr. Kahiye doing?" Ellie asked.
"Well...um...a surprise." Angalina said quietly.
"Oh, cool!"
I saw Angalina look at Ellie weird. Like she was a child in need, a child living on the streets that needed food. She whispered something under her breath as she sped walked through the hallways. I could almost hear the faint mumble of her voice saying, "Elanore..."
I didn't know, but we soon came upon a door. Angalina stopped and pulled out a key, her hands trembling as she put it in the small keyhole.
"G-go in." She tried to smile but I could sense fright in her voice. Something wasn't right.
Before I could turn to Loku -who was the closest person to whisper to- Sasha pushed me in. All of us walked into a room that had complete stone walls and a big window that took up one wall. There was no equipment anywhere, no doctors, no scientists, just an empty room, we were the only ones in. We quickly turned to Angalina who was CRYING.
"I'm sorry..." Then she slammed the giant metal door, and we heard a key lock.
"Um...what's going on?" Heather asked worried.
Someone came onto a speaker, Dr. Kahiye, "Hello girls. I know you thought we were going to help Luna, but we can't, sorry. She is turning into a full zombie and there is no possible way to help her," Her voice was cruel and sharp, "The only way to get rid of her so the virus doesn't spread more, is to kill her. And get rid of you guys while we're at it because we don't need some snobby teenagers to do our work for us!" There was a little pause, "How will we get rid of you? You guys have one minute to say your goodbyes, then the building will blow, bye-bye!" Then the speaker turned off.
"What..." Zach said. Sasha clutched his hand.
"We're gonna...die?" Mia asked.
Everyone started flipping out at that moment. The dogs howled and I didn't know what to do. That's when I felt it, when the zombie was coming out. They said that they could help me. They said that they could fix me. They said they could get the "zombie me" out. They said I would survive. Well, they were sure as heck wrong about that. My skin began to turn yellow and green and I couldn't move, all I did was fall off the bed.
"Luna!" Everyone called. Their voices began to blank out and I couldn't hear anything. My ears were ringing, and we suddenly heard a big BOOM! Below us.
"They blew up the floor below us!" Someone screamed.
Fire began to spread everywhere. I guess I would die on my birthday. My birthday of all days. Why my birthday? Everyone was saying I would have the best birthday, I guess not. I slowly and painfully was turning into a zombie, what would we do?
I looked through the window at the city below us, how high up were we? We couldn't hop out. I had to get them out. I couldn't let anyone else die, NO ONE. We've all been through too much.
As I crawled around the room, it was almost like I could see them. My family. Mom, Dad, Ameal, Lease, Sila, Misty, Nico, Gem, Joana, the three dogs I had to give away when I was really little, and even Firefly. It was like they were always there, following me, and bringing me up. Up so I could be with them, up up up, in this high building. Up to where they were. Then I remembered from the very beginning, my coach's words were chains of lead that echoed in my mind.
I stared at the machine thing that was outside the window that janitors would use to clean the outside of a window in a skyscraper. I stared at the down button. That was it.
"Everyone!" I shouted as high as I possibly could. Half of it turned into a growl. I grabbed out my purple knife which I had no questions to how I got it back but I stabbed it into the window and it made a crack and then I kicked it so it shattered into pieces.
"We can't climb out! We're too high!" Sasha screamed.
"We're not climbing out." Then I pushed all of them onto the window cleaning thing.
"What are we doing!" Megan yelled confused.
For some reason the only way to make the thing move was the lever that was inside the room. Okay, maybe it wasn't a window cleaning thing but something else, maybe something to escort science things to a lower level because this science lab had 50 floors. It was taller than it sounds. I slid down to the floor that was covered in glass in pain and grabbed the lever to move the thing down.
"Wait Luna! What about you! No!" Ziira shouted crying.
"Someone has to stay behind to push the button, someone has to go down with the ship. It's my turn guys, not Gem's, not Joana's, mine." There was a silence of all of them just staring at me. Tears rolled down all of their cheeks, the dogs whined, and I just looked at each of them. They were my family, and I was going to my other one. All of them, I missed them. I smiled, then before I pulled the lever down, said, "Live longer than me." Then they went zooming down screaming my name.
I closed my eyes, flames everywhere, and I prepared to see them waiting for me with open arms, but instead, I felt someone licking my face. I opened my eyes. Lucky. Lucky licking my half-zombie face. I moaned like a zombie, it was too painful to talk normally.
"I'm...dreaming..."
Lucky whined, then licked my face more. She stayed behind with me, her own life risked, to stay with me. Who said they were a man's best friend? Lucky had something in her mouth, a purple bandana with my family on it, and everything I loved...it...it was my birthday present. No. I couldn't believe it...she made me a birthday present...with...I broke out crying and she wrapped it around my neck. She rested her head on my head as I sobbed, and before I turned into a full zombie, the building went boom.
"Lucky..."

Sasha

Luna was gone and so was Lucky. She tried to save Luna but got blown up in the process. She always was loyal and tried to always help anyone in need.
Luna was the best friend anyone could ever ask for. She was caring, funny, loyal, and the best of all crazy. I wish I could've helped or even said goodbye before she was gone but it was too late we were all too worried on getting ourselves out we didn't realize Luna couldn't.
I missed her already. My heart was broken. It wasn't all about Lucky even though she was my dog it was mainly about Luna. Yeah, I still cared about her but my best friend since forever was gone just like that. I would never see her again.
I could remember the whines Luck used to make when we left her alone for just a few seconds as a puppy. They were so harmless and cute. There was nothing that could replace those sounds.
I could've sworn I heard Luna calling out but maybe it was just the memories of her flashing through my head as she leaves to a better place...or maybe she was really calling out.

THE LOST SCENE

There were marks in the woods, like someone crashed. And at the end, the person lay burnt, clutching the knife.

TO BE CONTINUED....
IN BOOK 2...

About The Authors
Mae Lunerr: Mae Lunerr (Also known as Purple from many of her close friends) was born in Oahu, Hawaii, and then grew up in Gardnerville, Nevada her whole life. When she turned 8 she grew a strong courage to start writing, so she began to write short, funny stories about...weird stuff. Then lost it. Instead of writing, she became very passionate for art and space. Drawing all the time, reading space books, wanting to be an astronaut, wanting to be the first person on Mars, she somehow got her writing spirit back. How? It all started with a creative mind. When she was only 12, she started writing her first-ever real chapter book. Then she wrote all the time. "Writing writing writing writing writing. That's what she did all day." Her little sister would always say to people. Then, Lunerr and her friend, Nalani Wallace, began to write their first book. Then another, then another, THEN they came up with the fact of a zombie apocalypse book. Each character was based off someone in real life and the girls are just as weird and corky as the ones in the book. Mae Lunerr did not grow up rich or poor, she grew up in the middle class. With her family of 6 including her. Her parents, older sister, younger brother, and other younger sister. Only three bedrooms in their crowded house, including 2 Rhodesian ridgeback dogs. Lunerr is a dancer as well as a swimmer and loves to do sports, NOT HUMAN is Nalani's and Lunerr's first novel that they have published together and have been writing it since 7th grade of 2021. (Wrote all the odd chapters)

Nalani Wallace: Even though many people think Nalani was born in Hawaii just like Lunerr, she was actually born in Chesapeake, Virginia. She moved to Gardnerville, Nevada because her dad was stationed there by working in the Navy. Nalani has many nicknames but only one is really said often and that is by her dad. She has always been called Pig or Piglet from her dad even when she was younger. Her dad never stopped calling her that and that was Nalani's favorite thing about him. Nalani went through some hard times in her life but always stuck through them even if they were really difficult. Once her parents got divorced she barely saw her dad and she became very sad because of that. She was an emotional person and having her dad she barely saw in the first place leave was very hard on her. Nalani met Lunerr in 3rd grade and that is when they started talking. Their friendship never really was a thing until 5th grade when they found out that Nalani knew Lunerr's older sister. They immediately bonded and didn't stop talking. Lunerr always helped Nalani overcome hard times in her life which was very important. Nalani never liked reading or really doing anything but when Lunerr brought up the topic of writing books that is when it started, the journey to becoming an author. They started writing books non-stop making new ones every day until NOT HUMAN came about. (Wrote all the even chapters)