A burnt shell of a car sat in the middle of the road. A zombie head was mounted on the front, like a hood ornament. It’s swollen, greenish tongue hung limply from its mouth.
“This is what the outside world is like?” Lia asked. Her ashen skin blanched further, and she gaped at the mess around her.
While the rest of the world had been falling apart, she had been hiding in a basement. This was her first time seeing exactly what had become of everything
“This is worse than anywhere I’ve seen. ” Lazlo’s expression mirrored hers. Like Lia, he had been spared from most of this, but to me, it looked about par for the course.
Ripley made guttural sounds and moved in closer to us, but we’d all moved closer together, walking in a slow moving lump.
The town had been disassembled. Siding had been ripped from houses. Blood and dismembered bodies littered the streets. A pile had been set on fire on a front lawn. It had been burning too long for me to tell what it was, but it smelled of hair and tires. A dog gnawed on a carcass too disfigured to be recognizable, but it took off when it saw Ripley.
I pulled my gun out, and Blue did the same. When Harlow saw us draw our weapons, she made a frightened whimper.
I didn’t like that she didn’t have a gun or anyway to defend herself, that none of us did except for Blue and me, but we didn’t have enough weapons. I would’ve given Harlow or Lazlo mine, but I could do more good with a gun than they could.
“Just stay together,” I said.
Lia and Harlow held hands, huddled together, and Harlow reached out to take Vega’s hand, including her in their circle. Lazlo stayed close to them, and he picked up a metal rod, giving himself a makeshift weapon.
Over the past few months, I had learned how to fight against manic raging monsters. Pvt. Beck spent hours teaching me how to shoot, how to fight, but all his lessons were designed with zombies in mind. They were the enemy. So the one thing I was unequipped for was something logical and intelligent.
When a bullet whizzed past my head, so close I could feel the breeze on my temple, and blasted through the window on a house across the street, I knew we were in trouble.
Lia screamed, and she and Harlow ran away from the shattering window, assuming that was where the shot came from. But they were actually running towards the shooter.
I yelled to stop them, but I realized too late that we were already surrounded.
– 11 –
A red Toyota riddled with bullet holes sat on the side of the road, and I rushed at Harlow, Lia, and Vega, pushing them into the side of the car. Ripley disappeared, hiding in the chaos. Blue and Lazlo stayed on the other side of the street and jumped behind a bloody sofa that had been left on the curb.
The air was rattled with the sound of gunfire, none of it coming from Blue or me.
Nobody had closed in on us yet, but I saw them running across the street or repositioning themselves amongst the garbage they used as barriers. I couldn’t be sure how many there were, but I had seen at least three, not counting the mystery shooter who’d nearly blown my head off. He was the one doing all of the shooting so far.
Our assailants appeared to be mostly men. They weren’t army, but they had on military based outfits, with a hobo twist. Some kind of army surplus black and gray camouflage with dirty, ragged black civilian clothes layered with it.
They came from the north side, so we could either retreat back the way we came or go over to the side where Blue and Lazlo were hiding.
Bullets peppered the car, making a horrible tin sound as they bounced off. Harlow covered her hands over her head and screamed. I crouched next to her, aiming my gun at the street in front of us.
When one of the men ran across the road, I fired, hitting him in the leg. He pulled the trigger on his gun, shooting emptily into the air.
“Go!” I shouted, waving my arm for the girls to run across the street to the couch where Blue and Lazlo hid.
Harlow was too curled up to notice me, but Lia was paying attention, so she grabbed Harlow and darted over, with Vega close by them.
As soon as they started running, I stood up and looked over the Toyota, searching for the guy who had been shooting us. After I shot one of his friends, he stopped shooting. I didn’t know where he was hiding, except the bullets were coming from higher, so I just started shooting out all the windows in the second story of the houses.
I took a step back, walking backwards to the couch. The guy I had shot earlier sat in the middle of the road, nursing his leg wound. Nobody came out to help him, but in the bushes nearby, somebody started shooting at me.
Blue shot at him. I’m not sure if he hit him or not, but I ran backwards, still pointing my gun at the houses, and nearly fell over the couch.
“Why are they shooting at us?” Lia asked, her arm wrapped tightly around Harlow.
I was catching my breath, so I just shook my head. I didn’t have an answer anyway, but Blue exchanged a look with me. If these people had anything to do with the Helter Skelter we saw earlier, they were probably doing it just because they could.
Other than the injured guy moaning, the street had fallen silent, and I didn’t trust it.
“What are we gonna do?” Lazlo asked in a hushed voice.
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“Shoot and run,” I said.
I went through my bag, pulling out the two clips I’d taken from the dead soldier at the quarantine. I didn’t know how many bullets were left in the gun, but I had a feeling that I’d be out by the end of the day. Assuming I was even still alive at the end of the day.
“Run? Where?” Lia’s eyes widened.
“That way,” I nodded towards the house in front of us. “Don’t go inside. Just run past it, and keep running. ” I shoved the clips in my back pocket for easier access, and I turned to Blue. “When I start shooting, they run. You go with and cover them. ”
“You’re coming with us, right?” Lazlo knelt on the ground right next to me, and his dark eyes met mine.
“I’ll be right behind you. ” I didn’t know if that was true or not, so I looked away from him. I had to get them running, and I’d hold off the assholes as long as I could.
“When should we run?” Vega asked. She looked at me evenly, her voice and posture cool and calm. My heart raced so hard, I thought it might explode, but she looked the same as she always did.
Somebody fired, and a bullet burst through the back of the couch, right between Lazlo and my head. Stuffing exploded out around us, and I decided that now was as good a time as any.
“Now!” I commanded and jumped up.
I kept most of my body hidden behind the couch, although I’m not sure how well it worked as a shield, and rested my gun on the back of it.
When I aimed my gun, I heard everyone behind me start running, with Harlow screaming again. A few feet in front of me, one of the men in ratty camouflage walked towards the couch, pointing a gun right at my head.
Without even thinking, I fired off three rounds into his chest, emptying my chamber. Blood darkened his shirt. He collapsed back on the road, and I ducked back behind the couch.
My hands trembled when I switched out the clips, so it took longer than it should have. I had just killed a man, and I had never done that before. Not a real person, just zombies.
But they were still shooting at me, so I swallowed it back.
Blue and the others had already disappeared around the house. I just had to keep these bastards back, and then I could catch up to them. I took a deep breath and took my post back over the couch.
A glimmer of light from the roof three houses down alerted me to the sniper. I shot twice at him, and then he slipped, falling off the roof and onto the ground. I couldn’t see any of the other men, and everything fell silent again.
Nobody else made a move, and I wasn’t even certain there was anybody else to make a move. I waited a beat to see if anybody came out, and I had to take my c
hance and run. I got up and took off around the house.
I didn’t really know where they went so I had to think like Lia and Lazlo, since they were probably leading the way. Knowing them, they would take the easiest, quickest way, thinking the faster and farther they could get away would be best. That was probably true, so I took the paths of least resistance.
After traversing a few dilapidated yards and junk filled alleys, my side screamed in pain and my lungs burned for oxygen. I kept trying to push my legs, but I couldn’t anymore. I stopped, gasping for breath, when I made it to a deserted street.
Based on the older brick buildings lining the street, I guessed this was the Main Street. Quaint, with lampposts and destroyed flowerpots lining the streets.
At one time, there had been banners, proclaiming this “The Best Little Town in the West,” but they were torn and stained with thick, greenish blood. Windows were broken out, all the stores had been looted, and the occasional limb or body part lay discarded about. A crow cawed, flapping its wings as it settled more comfortably on the back of a wooden bench.
I walked slowly, a hand pressed to the stitch in my side as I tried to catch my breath.
“Remy!” Harlow shouted, her small voice echoing off the buildings downtown.
She clamored out of a broken store window down the street, waving her arms to get my attention. The sign above the door had once advertised a barbecue place with a folksy name, but someone had written “kill all the piggies” in goopy red letters. The same writing Blue and I had seen in the house outside of town.
“Remy!” Harlow hurried towards me. “Are you okay?”
“Harlow, go back inside,” I said.
Just because nobody had tried to kill us yet didn’t mean they weren’t around, and I would feel better with her safely waiting inside a building. I should have sped up to chase in her inside, but my legs felt like rubber.
“Harlow, stay here!” Lia leaned her head out the window.
They were all yelling when they should be quiet. When Harlow kept coming towards me, refusing to listen to either of us, Lia climbed out of the window to get her. Maybe she sensed that there was still something dangerous in the air.
The crow flapped its wings again, and I looked over at it. I heard a clicking, sounding oddly loud thanks to the buildings, and some part of me knew what it was but couldn’t place it.
Suddenly, the crow exploded in a burst of black feathers. I never heard the gun go off, but the sniper had thought to use a silencer.
From the corner of my eye, I saw the light glinting off the top of the building on the corner. Harlow jumped back, startled by the bird, but she didn’t move. Then I heard the clicking sound again.
“Run!” I shouted and sprang into action.
I ran towards Harlow as fast as I could, the adrenaline reviving my legs. She stared at me in blank terror, too confused by the exploding crow to understand what happened.
I threw an arm around her waist, dragging her around the corner. I dove around the side of the building, slamming her down onto the sidewalk, with me on top of her to shield her.
We were out of the range of fire, hidden beside the building. I sat up and looked behind me to where Lia stood in the intersection.
“Something happened…” Lia was saying, her voice barely audible, and she turned to look at me. She had her hand on her stomach, but I could already see the blood seeping around it.
“Lia!” Harlow yelled.
I kept my arms around Harlow to stop her from rushing out into the street. Lia stood in the middle of it, completely exposed to another shot, but they weren’t shooting her again.
I had a feeling that was their plan. When I ran, Lia stayed frozen, so they took the easy shot. They left her wounded, like bait to lure us back out into the open.
Lia held out her hand, staring at the blood in total confusion. It was as if she couldn’t understand what it was or how it got there. Then she looked up at me, her eyes swimming with frightened tears.
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“Lia, come here. ” I held my hand out to her, but I couldn’t walk out to her. I had to stay where I was, holding Harlow back.
“I’m sorry. ” Lia just stared at me.
She tried to step forward, but her knees buckled, and she fell back on the road. Her open eyes stared blankly up at the sky above her. Harlow sobbed, bucking at my arms, but I refused to let go.
“Remy!” Lazlo shouted. “Harlow!”
He peered around the corner of the building behind us. It was behind the barbecue restaurant that Harlow and Lia had come from, so I suspected that he’d snuck out the backdoor into the alley.
Harlow stopped fighting and cried limply against me. I put my hands on her shoulders, holding her away from me so I could look her in the eye.
“Go. Hurry,” I said, and thankfully, she nodded once and ran back to Lazlo.
Lia lay dead only a few feet in front of me, but I couldn’t get her. I didn’t want to leave her there like that, just a discarded body amongst so many other bodies, but I didn’t want to risk my life to move her.
I stood alone in the middle of the empty street, and I couldn’t move. I just couldn’t think of a single reason to keep going.
All I ever did was think about surviving. Getting from one moment to the next without letting myself dwell on anything that came before it. But suddenly, I couldn’t see the point in surviving.
This is what it was like to survive. To kill people, to kill infected humans, to watch innocent people die for no reason. This is the world I was fighting to stay in.
“Remy!” Lazlo hissed and grabbed my arm roughly.
I didn’t want to move. I didn’t want to leave Lia alone, and I didn’t see any reason to go. But he was pulling me, literally dragging me away, and somewhere along the way, my feet started moving again too.
When we rounded the corner, Harlow stood there crying, and Blue had his arm around her. Vega looked completely unruffled, standing next to another guy. He wore a dirty flannel shirt, his hair was cropped close, and he was armed to the teeth. He wasn’t wearing camouflage, so I assumed we considered him an ally.
“Where’s Lia?” Vega asked. Apparently, they hadn’t seen what happened.
“She’s not coming with,” Lazlo replied, brushing past it. He had to have seen her body when he grabbed me, and we didn’t have time for more meltdowns. Everyone was quiet for a moment, letting it sink in.
“What’s going on?” I asked. My mouth felt dry and stiff, and I had to force it to speak. I felt completely disconnected from my body, as if my movements were something I did from remote.
“I’m Sam, and I can help you,” the new guy informed me tersely. His eyes darted around, and he looked scruffy and dirty in a way that Lazlo somehow managed to avoid. “We have a compound nearby. ”
“A compound?” I tensed up and took a step back. Compound made it sound like something military, like those gunmen in their faux uniforms.
“No. We’re not with them,” Sam motioned to where Lia had been shot. “We’re fighting them. Come with me. ”
It wasn’t a question, and he turned without waiting for a response.
Sam jogged down the alley, and Vega and Blue followed right behind, although Blue had the courtesy to look back to see if we were coming. Harlow moved slowly, but Lazlo took her hand and pulled her along, and that got her going.
As we darted around the trashcans and garbage that filled the alley, I kept running and jumping and dodging. If I just kept moving, I could keep the numbness back. The faster I ran, the more the adrenaline surged through my body, and that somehow kept me here.
Sam ran at a dizzying pace, and we almost lost him a few times as we maneuvered around the obstacles. I’m sure this was done on purpose, so we would elude anyone who might be watching us, and I wouldn’t have minded so much if I’d been up to my usual standards.
Since I was be
hind them, I could see the zombie jump out from behind a garage, but I couldn’t do anything except yell at Vega to watch out. She turned her head just as the zombie rushed at her, knocking her to the ground.
Sam went to pull his gun out, but it caught on his ammunition clip. I bolted forward and slammed into the zombie on top of Vega, tackling it before it bit into her. It tried to roll over to face me, clawing desperately at the gravel in the alley.
I grabbed an old car battery that happened to be sitting by us and lifted it over my head, preparing to use it crush the zombie’s head. Before I did, a gun went off, and the zombie’s head exploded on me.
“That’s better,” Sam said, his gun still pointed at the zombie. “Sorry it took me so long to get it out. ”
“Thanks, but I could’ve gotten that myself. ” I set the battery down and got up off the zombie corpse. “You didn’t need to waste a bullet. ”
“We have plenty of bullets. ” Sam turned, already walking away. “We should hurry. The zombies travel in packs now. ”
“Are you okay?” I asked Vega as I wiped zombie brains off my shirt.
“Yeah, I’m great,” Vega replied in a clipped tone.
“It didn’t bite you?” I asked.
“No, it just knocked the wind out of me,” Vega shook her head.
“We don’t have time for this. ” Sam glanced around, looking for hidden marauders. “We’ll check for bites at the compound. ”
Since Sam wouldn’t slow down, I sped up and followed her, keeping my pace to match Lazlo and Harlow in case another zombie jumped out at us.
We rounded a large white building with pillars in front. It reminded me of the White House, but on a much smaller scale. Sam ran around the back, pushing away some carefully placed shrubbery, to reveal a set of heavy wooden cellar doors. He flipped them open, then gestured down the darkened hole with his gun.
“You want us to go down there?” Harlow asked peered down at the pitch black cement stairs.
“Yes. Hurry,” Sam said shortly.
Vega plummeted into the dark without batting an eye. Blue took a breath and followed her. I didn’t see that we had much of a choice, so I went too. When I started walking down, I felt Harlow’s hand squeeze mine, her slender fingers latching onto me.
When we finally reached the bottom, I realized it wasn’t completely dark. A dim yellow light glowed ahead of us, and then Sam slammed the cellar doors shut when he came down, submerging us
“This way. ” Sam pushed past us.
He led us down a narrow hall, lit by a single kerosene lantern. At the end was a massive steel door, and he pounded on it. I tried to pull my hand from Harlow’s, but she refused to let go.
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“Who is it?” a voice said from the other side of the door.
“Sam. Open up!” Sam shouted.
A moment of silence, followed by bolts clicking unlocked. The door opened, bathing the hall in bright light. Sam walked in, and we all followed.