As I sit there on a rusted metal chair, in some abandoned house that we came to running away from the horde, I hear them closing in. Knowing what's to come, and the possibilities of what could happen, I check the chamber, and the other gun of mine making sure I'm loaded. The others around me scurrying about the place checking all the doors and windows, making sure we are secure. I don't think I've ever been this exhausted in my life, not tired, just exhausted and sick of it all. One of the guys across the room from me is sitting on the floor checking his map, and talking to himself. Hopefully he's not going crazy like Luke did. Luke was a great person, but he lost it one night and thought everyone was turning into one of the ghouls, so we had no choice but to dispatch him. This new world can really get to you if you don't keep a cool head.
"Clear out the rest of the rooms upstairs and come back when you're done people" I yell as I walk about the house checking on everyone.
"Got some here!" Shots ringing from the upstairs as they take care of the stragglers.
"Guys, keep it quiet, it won't be long until they realize we are here and the last thing we need is you announcing it with fucking gunfire! Use your blades."
Looking out the window, I check the surrounding area seeing if any large groups are near by. Bodies every where, laying on the ground, in the cars left in the street, and the single ghouls staggering about looking for nothing but more victims. Locking the windows and closing the shades, I check the front door again making sure the pieces of wood are secure and not loose like Jacob will do sometimes.
Coming upstairs and passing the open rooms, I see the dead bodies piled up and cover my face with the bandanna around my neck so I don't smell their rot. At first it was bad, then it only got worse as time passed by let them ferment even further. I check their head for holes making sure they were disposed of properly and not ticking time bombs for more problems ahead of us.
Suddenly a loud bang on the window from downstairs comes out of no where. I immediately run downstairs, gun ready and pointed as I work my way through the hall way towards the living room. Seeing the shadow of a slow, but persistent body stand there and move their arms around, I wait, seeing if it happens again, and again, but nothing. Just another stupid one trying to figure out why it cannot get in.
Letting my aim down, I back away and keep quiet, waiting for it to go away and find someone else. But it doesn't, it just stands there, as if he's playing the waiting game, to see who makes the next move first. I stand there aiming again, praying that no one makes a loud noise or says anything out loud, and give our presence away.
It's moments like these that I hate the most, when we just wait and see what happens. I prefer staying on the move, and have a goal, knowing that we are not just doing nothing, waiting for nothing.
Becoming fed up, I walk towards the window and push a small part of the shade aside with the tip of my rifle and peek. There he is, just standing there with a blank stare into nothing but black. Sure, I could shoot, kill him and that would be it. But I'd rather not have a busted window, and alert the rest of them. So I walk over to the other window and knock on it, luring him over and running back to the other window, where he was before, and open it, climbing out and coming up behind him, kicking the back of his legs, dropping him to his knees and snapping his neck. Putting an end to that bullshit.
Immediately running back in, hoping none of them saw me, I shut the window quietly, locking it and closing the shades. Jacob stand there with his gun pointing at me, I brush my self off, and tell him:
"Easy there, I'm not the enemy, just taking care of some domestic problems."
He smirks, and looks at me closely, checking to see if I was bit.
I stretch out my arms and show him my neck...
"How do I look?"
"Like shit" with a laugh.
"Haha, thanks, you too sweetheart"
Putting my arms back down, I bring his gun with them and hand him a cigarette.
"How's upstairs looking?"
"Not too bad. There's an attic full of nothing, and a balcony with a dead guy who shot himself with a note in his hand..."
Jacob handing me the note, he gives me a face that clearly expresses that it's one of those farewell notes telling that he tried his best and just couldn't do it anymore.
The note read:
"Dear Janet, I'm so sorry. I let you down, and now, our son is dead. It's all my fault. If I could fix it, I would, but I knew he was bit. There was only one thing I could do to save us. I hope you find this note before they find you. I refuse to live in this world anymore. I don't why it happened, or how for that matter, but I'm done. I love you, and always will no matter what. For ever and ever babe."
Sincerely,
Christopher Allen McDonnell.
I folded up the note, and gave it back, not wanting to hold it anymore. I rubbed the back of my neck, letting out a sigh, thinking about when it all first happened. I can't, never mind.
"You alright Matt?"
"Yeah I'm fine, just make sure we are secure and don't start a fire with that smoke"
I walk up stairs to the balcony, sliding open the glass door, and seeing the body sit there in the chair, limp, and full of sorrow. Jacob must have taken the gun he had, his hand was still in the shape of the handle, and his finger was stretched out. Standing against the guard rail, I stretched my arms and look up into the sky, coming soon to a complete sunrise. It was a relief knowing that it's daytime out, it's easier to spot them, and not as hard to run into one. Turning around and looking down the street of the suburbia, I see the ghouls stumble around, some eating their breakfast, and others just standing there, nothing else, just "lifeless".
Suddenly, I hear a scream from the inside, it was Jen's. I run back in, trying to find where it came from, yelling for them. In the bathroom, Jen is struggling with one of them in the dark, as they bounce back and fourth.
Turning the light on, I grab her and push her away as I pick up her bat, and kick the undead body against the mirror, giving it one hard blow to the side of the head, and continuing after he goes down, making sure that it won't get up again. After a few more hits, I turn around, and hand her the bat.
"Were you bit?"
"I don't think so..."
Taking her by the arm, I check her body for anything that could resemble a bit, or a simple scratch for that matter.
"You look clean, you're lucky. What the fuck happened?"
"I was just checking to see if they had any aspirin in the medicine cabinet and suddenly he came out of the corner and grabbed me!"
"Ever heard of turning on a light when you walk into a room?"
"I thought there was no power in the house, so I just used my flashlight"
"And you didn't even check the room? What's that all about?"
"I thought it was clear! It's just a bathroom, why would one be in here!?"
"Well one was, and you were nearly killed. Next time, check every fucking corner before entering a room! How many times do I have to repeat myself?"
"I'm sorry"
"It's fine...just...be careful next time. I don't need another one of you guys killed"
Grabbing the pills out of the medicine cabinet, I turn around and hand them to her.
"Keep these, and see if there's anything else we can use, maybe some sleeping stuff, I could use a good nap sometime"
"I'll check, and let you know if I find anything"
Walking back into the hallway, I look at the sliding door for the balcony, and take a deep breath. Hoping that they didn't hear us, I walk outside and block the sun with my hand. Cursing under my breath, I see them march towards the house, knowing we are here now because of the noise. Taking a step back and calling Jen quietly.
"Hey we got a problem. Tell everyone it's about to get bad, and to meet me up here, asap"
Running down the hall, she starts calling for them. I take another deep breath, and think to myself: "Well, here it goes again. Let's hope this time, nothing too bad happens" Looking down at the front yard, they begin to pound and bang on the windows and door. Praying that none of them get in anytime soon, I hear someone walk up behind me and suddenly point my gun.
Letting it down, I see them all looking at me. Bringing them out, I point down to the yard and let them see the same old bullshit. There's only 5 of us, Myself, Jen, Jacob, Micheal, and Rob. All of them found by my brother and I as we tried to escape our own hell when it all first happened. Jacob turning around and asking:
"What do we do now?"
I look at him with a cocked eyebrow and say
"Well, either we get the fuck out of here now, through the back door, or make it fun, and start popping heads like a high school kid with bad acne"
Hearing a gun cock, I look at Mike and see him ready to go, as always, he never passes up an opportunity to shoot a few rounds into the faces of those zombie bastards that killed our family.
"Looks like option number two is the majority vote guys" I say as I bring up my rifle over my shoulder, and putting my bandanna around my face again. "Safety first kids"
"So does this mean we are not leaving out the back door?"
"Jacob, if you want to leave, then go ahead, but I'd rather not have you run off and die. So yeah, we are going to fucking stick around and kill some of these bastards. We have enough ammo to supply a small army, so why not use some of it, to make sure it works?"
"You know it's all good ammunition..."
"And you know I love using it"
"God dammit"
"How about the rest of you? Ready?"
Everyone looks at each other, checking and nodding. Pulling out their guns and bandannas.
"You guys see that truck?" Mike points out with his gun.
Looking over the guard rail a little more, I see it. But immediately wonder.
"Okay, we go to the garage, check for fuel, and grab it if there is. After wards, we head out and load into the truck. We gotta get to the city for the evac"
Mike looks at me with a disappointing look wondering why I'm so eager to leave.
"Relax, we are killing some undead fucks before we do so of course. So you just calm down there."
A smile comes back to his face, and we head down to the front door. Pulling off the wood with a crowbar, Jacob asks me again:
"You sure about this Matt? What if something happens, what if there's no fuel?"
"Then we find another car, or keep moving. It's easy to lose these guys, did you forget that they move as slow as old people fucking?"
"I'm just saying"
"I know, just have a little faith in me? We did save you from that gas station remember?"
When we found Jacob, he was locked in an abandoned gas station 5 minutes outside of town. The place was surrounded with the undead, and boy did we show up at the right time. They started to get in and he didn't have many bullets in that gun of his. Screaming, and running around, firing off rounds into nothing, he was like a chicken with his head cutoff, but worse. Because he had a gun. A bullet went stray and hit the nozzle of the pump catching it on fire, and he didn't notice because he was too busy acting like a fucking idiot. Mike and I ran in and grabbed him, pushing the zombies away and shooting some in our way, trying to get out before the entire station caught on fire, he wasn't making it easy. So mike hit him on the head and knocked him out.
He woke up 20 minutes later in our van freaking out thinking he was dead and asking who we were. Three weeks later, he we are, in a house, about to go out into the apocalypse and he's asking me if I am sure about this. Some nerve huh?
"Alright, if you say so Matt"
As the last board came off, I opened the door to three ghouls falling in and trying to get us immediately. Jacob jumping back, I pop off a few shots , putting them out and mike runs out the door, towards the drive way yelling and taunting the crowed around the house.
Following him out there, I yell:
"Find the keys, the gas and open the garage door!"
Round after round, bodies drop all around us. I pull out my bat, and start swinging. The garage door opens slowly, Jen, Jacob and Rob running out towards the truck loading in the gas cans and getting in the truck.
Pulling out my pistol, I shoot the kneecaps of one zombie, dropping him down to his no longer remaining knees, and swing my bat to his temple.
"WHOO! That's one for the humans you zombie assholes!"
Finishing him off with a .45 round to his skull, I holster my gun and continue hitting home runs as I run around the front yard. Mike yelling telling me to come back, he's got quite a crowed around him.
I begin making my way towards him as one grabs me and pulls me down, dropping my bat, and out of my reach, I struggle to break his grip, pulling out my knife and cutting his hand off with a swift motion of my blade, getting back up grabbing my bat again.
Mike, now almost surrounded by the undead army, out of ammo, and swinging with his machete, I sprint as fast as I can across the yard, yelling.
"I'M COMING MIKE!"
Breaking through the crowed surrounding him, and almost getting sliced from him, I swing for the legs of them, and yell for him to get going to the truck. I remembered that I left my rifle in front of the window in the living room. I am not forgetting that gun. As I run back to the front door, more of the ghouls are stumbling about the place inside, I quickly dash for the living room looking frantically for my gun, and spot it propped up against the wall right next to the window.
I pull out my pistols, and start unloading rounds, one after another into the heads in my way. Putting the handguns of fun away, I grab my AK-47 and cock it. Look at the front door entrance, it's now flooded with the zombies, I bust open the window and jump out into the yard. Getting up and running for the truck, now in the street, ready to go. I hop in the tailgate, and pull out a nice parting gift from my vest. Pulling the pin with my teeth, and spitting it out into my front pocket, I say my parting words:
"Here's looking at you kid! Had fun playing ball!"
Throwing the grenade in the garage, and rolling under the car, I smile and give them the one finger salute as we drive away.
A loud explosion booms from the house and fire erupts sending bodies into the street. I cheer and throw my fist into the air. Sitting down in the bed, and my back up against the cab, the window opens, and my brothers face shows:
"Next time...it's my turn to do that. Where did you get the grenade?"
"Remember that one war vets home? Well I found these in a foot locker in the basement, didn't think they worked up until now" Laughing as I light another cigarette.
"Can I have one?"
"No, you would waste it on something stupid"
"What if I blow up a house?"
"No that's dangerous"
"Fuck you Matt" as he laughs too
"Love you too little brother"
"So where to Matt?"
Pushing Mike back into the truck, and sticking my head in the cab I tell Rob:
"Go to the city, we need more fuel and supplies before we find that evac station"
"Sounds good" Rob replies as he turns the radio dials, trying to find something.
I sit back down and check my self for bites, or other wounds. Nothing. I look at my clip, and it's empty. Pulling back the slide on my rifle, there was one round left. I let out a big sigh once again, and started laughing as I put the rifle down and took another drag.
Looking at my watch, it read 8:34am. Knowing that our day is only beginning, but thankful that it is, knowing that we are about to go to the worst part of this undead infested place.
"We better find what we are looking for Matt" Mike yells from the back window again, as he pops off a few more rounds into the zombies we pass by.
"Yeah...me too" I quietly say to myself, looking at the neighborhood we are leaving in such a hurry.
This is sweet!
ReplyDelete