Emily's Diary
Date: November 20, 2026
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The time has finally come!
I've waited a long time for this anniversary.
Ever since I saw a classmate carrying out the celebration with great style and grace, I've been dying to do the same.
I've been wanting to host this anniversary.
I hope I perform well.
I don't think the men who work with my father will ruin the party, do they?
I trust my father just told them to stay away from the school.
If they were to embarrass me, I'd ask my father to fire them.
Well... It's not their fault; it would be better to ask my father to buy me something as a form of compensation.
Once all this fuss about illness, the army, and paranoia is over, I'll ask him for something luxurious.
It'll just be a false alarm, won't it?
In the morning.
"Emily is your bag ready?" my mother asked me as I ran around my room looking for things I would wear on the anniversary.
"I think so," I replied hesitantly as I checked everything in my bag again.
"Your makeup kit is on your vanity," she told me, looking at me affectionately.
"Thanks, Mom," I said, taking the kit and putting it in my bag.
"Is your dress ready?"
"Yes, it's already stored in its garment bag," I replied, pointing at it.
"Looks like you have everything ready," my mother commented as she gently stroked my hair, trying not to ruin my hairstyle.
"Yes, thanks for your help, Mom," I said gratefully.
"Emily. I need you to listen to your father and go to the new house right after the anniversary," she said seriously, looking at me intently.
"I will, Mother," I said without hesitation.
An hour later.
"Emily, I'm so glad you came," Amy said happily when I entered high school.
"Of course I came. Why did you think I wouldn't?" I asked her as we both headed to the classroom.
"Well… I thought your dad wouldn't let you come because of the marches yesterday," Amy replied.
"He let me come, but…" I said, leaning closer to her so no one else could hear. "He sent people to watch over me," I said, sounding slightly embarrassed.
"Hahaha… Do you have a bodyguard now…?" she asked, but I stopped her at the last minute.
"Shut up! I don't want the others to find out," I said, angrily, covering her mouth. I looked around, making sure no one had heard.
"Hahaha… It's okay, I won't tell anyone you're a superstar now," Amy said, almost without stopping laughing.
"Emily, are you a superstar?" Yuki, who was just passing by when Amy spoke up, asked me confused.
"It's not that, it's just that my father sent some acquaintances to protect me in case the protests get dangerous," I explained, blushing and looking away a few times.
"After all this is over, Amy will also be on my list of people I need to get revenge on," I thought angrily, while Yuki remained confused and Amy tried to hold back her laughter.
"Oh! I see," she said, seeming to understand.
"Did you see the protests, Yuki?" Amy asked excitedly, taking Yuki's hands.
"Uh… Yes, I saw them. Only on TV, though," she replied, looking uncomfortable with Amy's excessive proximity.
"I wanted to go, but George convinced me it would be dangerous… And it's a good thing he did, or else I would have gotten into a lot of trouble," Amy commented, relieved. "I saw that even the military intervened in the city center," I commented, recalling the news I'd seen the day before while waiting for my father to arrive.
"George told me the military took many wounded people. There are rumors that…" He paused to look around and pulled Yuki closer to us. "The military is killing people," she said, her jaw quivering.
Yuki seemed confused at first. The language barrier had probably made her assume she had misunderstood what she'd heard, but after reviewing Amy's words, she realized the seriousness of the matter. Her complexion turned pale, and she put her hands over her mouth in shock.
In my case, I was waiting for Amy to burst out with her usual mocking laughter; I thought what she was saying was a joke. However, the laughter never came, and while she didn't seem completely terrified, her hesitation and the way she looked suspiciously around made me re-examine the situation. "You don't believe that, do you?" I asked, dismayed.
Amy wasn't the type to be affected by things like this; in fact, she took an interest in them. Even if I were my normal self, I would have suggested visiting the military camp to investigate, like it was a spy game.
"Well… do you remember the video from the foreign streamer who recorded the monster attack?"
"Yes."
"The thing is… George found many more videos like that. From all over the world… He even found videos from locations in the country, including the city," Amy explained, the air around us suddenly feeling thick.
"So why hasn't the news shown anything?" I asked, raising a suspicious eyebrow, though something inside me was already piecing together the threads of what was going on.
"They're probably in cahoots with the government… Besides, we haven't seen the videos because every time they upload one to social media, they're immediately blocked," Amy replied, annoyed. The fact that I didn't believe her, even though I was her best friend, angered her.
"I don't distrust what you're saying, Amy... It's just a little hard to believe," I explained, while seeing Yuki still in shock over our conversation.
"Killing people… Monsters… What are you talking about?" Yuki asked, biting her lower lip hard.
"Let me explain…" she was saying when someone quickly approached us.
"What's up, girls? Why the long faces?" George asked amiably.
"We were just talking about what's happening with the military and the videos you showed me," Amy replied in a subdued tone.
"Is that it? Don't worry, it's just a marketing promotion," he commented calmly.
"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.
"Well… We discovered that on some forums, someone has been posting about a pandemic, gathering resources, and preparations for over a week… Then they started uploading very well-produced videos about zombie attacks since Monday… Everything seems to indicate that it's a promotion for a movie or series about zombies… Hahaha," George replied as he took out his phone and showed us some screenshots of posts on forums, social media, and excerpts from the videos that show it could be edited.
"Really?" Amy asked, relieved.
"Sure."
"How nice!" Amy exclaimed, jumping up and hugging George, who looked surprised and blushed involuntarily. "And I was worrying about things that weren't important," he added, letting go of George as if nothing was special.
"Fuuu…" Yuki sighed, her face beginning to regain color.
"Hahaha… Were you really worried about that?" he asked after laughing.
"You're not kidding! I practically didn't come today because I was anxious," Amy replied, gently punching George in the arm.
"You should be more attentive to the anniversary. Are you all ready?" he inquired, wiping a tear from his face.
"It's true!" Amy and I looked at each other in astonishment, and Yuki jumped slightly, surprised by our reaction.
We'd been talking about these supposed problems for so long, forgetting about the anniversary preparations and the final events we had to organize.
Amy ran off with her backpacks to her classroom. George was trying to calm Yuki, who always seemed to avoid male company.
We all continued talking about the activities we still had to complete that day.
Suddenly, I stopped looking at my phone screen. There was a picture of my parents hugging me during a trip to Disney.
"I hope you're wrong, Dad," I muttered, looking at his smiling expression in the photo.
George's explanation hadn't entirely convinced me.
Now everything my father feared seemed real, and my hope was that it wasn't as serious as he thought.
Several hours later.
"One more song! Encore, encore! Encore!" shouted the students and other guests in front of the stage after the Queen tribute band played "Bohemian Rhapsody" for the third time.
"Give the band a round of applause for an amazing performance!" I shouted, holding the microphone in the center of the stage.
"We want another one! Emily, you look great! Marry me!" cried several voices.
I recognized that last exclamation and looked over to where Amy was screaming and jumping with excitement. Beside her, Yuki looked somewhat embarrassed. Behind Amy was George, who was leading other men away from them.
"I hope you enjoyed the show, but this isn't over yet!"
"Now we'll move on to the parade of queens from each grade and crown a champion!"
"Then we'll award prizes to the competition champions!"
"Yes! We want to see the queens! One more song! Emily, marry me!" the audience continued shouting.
"I'm going to kill her," I thought as I walked away from the stage, trying to maintain the warmest smile possible.
After making the announcement, my job was practically done.
Although the official schedule expected me to remain on stage until the end, I decided to change it since the men my father had sent to protect me reported that the protests had started again and traffic in the city was backed up.
Committed to keeping the promise I had made to my mother, I suggested to the anniversary organizers that the crowned queen introduce the winners, thus giving more attention to the winner.
Anyway, now I would change my dress and get ready to leave high school as soon as possible.
"Amy! Amy! You did amazing!" Amy exclaimed, a smile lighting her face.
"Thank you," I replied as I hugged her tightly. "However, we'll have to take care of some unfinished business later," I added, pretending to be annoyed by her yelling earlier.
"Hahaha… It was just the heat of the moment, don't get mad," she replied, winking at me.
"By the way, why don't you stay on as host until the end?" she asked as she followed me to the locker room.
"Well… because of the protests," I hesitated. I wanted to explain that it was because of what we had discussed earlier, but I didn't want to ruin her joy.
"Is that it? I don't understand why you're so upset. The police always come to clear the streets for us. Remember, the police captain's son is in a lower grade," she told me casually.
"It's just… I promised my mom I'd come back early if things got complicated. Also, I remind you that I have bodyguards now," I said mockingly.
"Hahaha… That's true," Amy said, laughing out loud.
"What happened to Yuki?" I asked, changing the subject.
"She went outside to get some fresh air; she doesn't seem to like crowds," she replied.
"So, why did you bring her right to the front of the stage?" I questioned Amy. "Well… I wanted her to have fun," she replied remorsefully, realizing she had accidentally forced herself on Yuki. "George is watching her now," she added with a sigh of relief, as if that freed her from guilt.
Ring, ring… Ring, ring, ring.
"What's going on?" I asked seriously, realizing it was one of the men working for my father.
"Miss Emily, we need to leave soon; things are getting chaotic near the high school," he said, sounding concerned.
"Okay, I'll be out in a few minutes," I replied, quickly hanging up the call.
"What's going on?" Amy asked, worried.
"We should go," I replied seriously, staring at her. "Call George to meet us at the entrance," I added, making it clear I wasn't expecting a "no" answer.
"Okay," Amy said, dialing and putting the call on speakerphone.
"Amy, what's going on? Why haven't you come back yet? Did you find Emily?" George asked as he answered the call.
"Yes, I saw her… George, we need to leave," Amy said, her voice trembling.
"What's going on? Is everything okay?" she asked, now with concern in her tone.
"George, the protests are getting worse. I think we should get out of here as quickly as possible," I replied to this time.
"Emily… Don't worry, the police are here," he said with a nonchalant air.
"What?" I asked, surprised.
"Yes, they're at the main entrance," he replied as a siren sounded in the background.
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[A/N: CHAPTER COMPLETED
Hello everyone.
A new one about our capricious protagonist, but it seems everything will change from this chapter on.
Many things will change from this point on, and we'll see more important details in the next chapter.
Will we see zombies soon?
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Read my other novels
#The Walking Dead: Vision of the Future.
#Vinland Kingdom: Race Against Time.
You can find them on my profile.]