Chapter 3: Up On The Roof

Up On The Roof.

 

So there we stood, staring at our collected arsenal. I’ll be honest, the most experience I’ve ever had with firearms consists of what I use in video games. This is a lot worse than even the lamest game–Yes, even worse then Duke Nukem Forever.

 

“Ok, I can’t shoot.” I stated as bluntly as I possibly could.

 

“I can,” T  one-upped me, “I will teach you.”  

 

I still stood staring at the small arsenal. We could divide the bundle, but we would have to lose what little bit of food we actually had on us. 

 

“I don’t think we can bring it all,” I resolved.

 

T came back with, “I know but I figured we could each grab a handgun. And the shotguns and shove the ammo in yours and my bag.”

 

All I could come up with was, “Cool.”

 

I noticed T looking over the edge of the building. He was actually looking pretty nervous.

 

“I don’t know if you guys noticed this but we’re at the begining of a pretty bad horror movie.” T mused.

 

“No shit man, Zombies are here.” I replied with.

 

“No, I mean look.” he pointed.

 

The city had become overrun with Zeds. I’m not going to lie–as I went to go towards the edge I saw more of them then I had ever wanted to. The sounds they made on their own were enough to make pins and needles go up my spine. Never mind being combined with the sounds of people screaming for help and the munching of their flesh. I wish I could have gone down and helped all of them. To have been a super hero with the guns we collected like you would imagine Rambo being if he ever had to try to vanquish the undead.

 

Instead, I was me. A geek with a Macbook, a baseball bat, and a lot of pressure to make sure we all survived. I think the title of leader was still up in the air, but I seemed to be the one plotting. I mean, hell, I was the one who left the house when the reports told us not to.  This is too much pressure. 

 

“So guys, what should we do?” I blurted out.

 

I was met with a round of shrugs. That’s not what anyone really wants in this sort of situation. As I looked back over, it seemed like the boogies knew we were on the roof. They seemed to be meeting around the building and smacking at the walls.  T picked up a rock and dropped it on one of their heads to catch his attention. The zombie seemed to get angry at this insult. I felt a laugh rise up in my throat, but I was too hesitant to let it loose. K looked over at us and chuckled. She was holding one of the handguns out in front of her like an imaginary target had popped out in front of her.  She then tucked it into her bag and started scooping ammo up.

 

“You guys better grab what you want.” she stated. 

 

I moved towards the small pile and started inspecting the weapons. I picked up one of the guns that didn’t look like it could kill a bear.  I held it out, similar to how K had. She giggled again, “A little nervous about this?” she asked me almost sweetly.

 

“You have no idea.” I blankly phrased.

 

“C’mon to the edge, I’ll show you how to shoot.” 

 

I hesitated.

 

“Trust me, we will all need to know–even you. And I’m sure we have some holsters here somewhere.”

 

“So like a real cowboy?” I queried.

 

“Or Arizona native? Take your pick.” she came back with.

 

I slowly followed her to the edge as she loaded the clip into her handgun and proceeded to shoot one of the zombies clawing at the wall. It dropped with a sickening thud likes I had never heard before. The part that made me even more nervous was the fact she didn’t seem to flinch.

 

She handed the firearm to me and pointed at the next Zed. I held the trigger and I swear I must have shot the wall instead. She laughed.

 

“Okay well that was your first shot. At least you know how to hit the wall now.”

 

I smiled and shot a couple more times. I never knew my body would feel the entire shot. I guess I spent too much time playing video games and less time than I should have outside with other people. It desensitized me, but didn’t prepare me to really shoot anything.

 

“Yo.” T said interrupting us.

 

“Huh?” I asked

 

“It’s gone quiet.” he said

 

We both listened and the screams had ceased. That was creepy enough, but that mixed with the zombie moans really made me shiver again. All three of us started to look around. On a few neighboring roofs we saw some other people. Some seemed to scared to do anything but look as well. 

 

Suddenly on the roof diagonal to ours, I saw a frantic wave. To my surprise, It was the guard (P) we had met when we first pulled up. His fatigues were obviously  damaged, but he was alive and waving to us.  I think he wanted, or needed, to get in touch with us quickly.  We all waved nervously back towards him. He stopped suddenly.  He pointed to himself then to us. All I could do was shrug at him.  Then he pointed down and it seemed like the zombies heard our “lesson” and had come to find a living buffet on the roof. Lucky them. I looked over to K and T who seemed to be looking around as well. 

 

T grabbed a gun and a shotgun. K took her handgun and the ammo she had already stuffed in her purse and shoved one more gun into her bag. It may be heavy, but I assumes it was for insurance. She loaded my backpack with the rest of the ammo and told me to strap the other shotgun to my back.

 

“Why?” I asked, knowing I couldn’t even shoot it yet.

 

“You are stronger than me, idiot.” she came back with. 

 

I couldn’t argue with that at all. I picked up my bat and looked around, pointing the the next building. It didn’t seem to really be that far away. I mean, T and I had made a bigger jump just the other day. I looked at him and the other building in sequence.

 

“You think?” he said, smiling.

 

“White men can jump!” I yelled.

 

K just looked at us like we were insane (her usual look).  I grabbed her hand and she looked up at me and all I could do was smile.

 

“C’mon, K, you think I would let anything happen to you?” I asked her.

 

“No.” 

 

“Then let’s fly.”

 

I take the time now to say I have no idea how I had the courage to do some things like this. I would jump and leap without a second though; I think the expression goes I leap before I look. Yet the idea of guns make me nervous. I guess that is a different disorder that would need to be properly analyzed by a professional if any happen to still be around. 

 

I heard T laughing up a storm as I pulled K with me. He was right next to us as always.

 

“Jump on the edge and don’t look down, K.” I whispered.

 

When we reached the edge, I jumped and I felt her jump too. I held my breath for the take off and I felt something squeeze my hand. Being airborne was something different–a sensation that would last only a few seconds, but felt like life or death, most likely because if we fell, we would hit the ground and be eaten by a bunch of canabalistic, virus-ridden former humans. 

 

We landed and I felt K squeeze my hand just one more time and let go. I looked behind me and saw the former door of our rooftop shelter being destroyed by a small group. I quickly looked down and it seemed like the Zeds had been distracted and had become focused on entering the building. I signaled to P to meet us in the woods in the distance. He nodded and took off. I look over to K and all she said was, “Run.”

 

I ran over to the edge and saw no Zeds in our way in that direction (luckily) and yelled to T and K, “Fire escape, hurry!” 

 

T and K both bustled their ways towards me and we all proceeded to make a racket as we ran down the fire escape.  I heard the moans coming by the time we reached the ground and had my bat ready, but K grabbed my arm and we ran. As a smoker, running has never been my greatest quality, but between that or being a dead man, I chose running.  We made a lot of noise and I heard us being followed for a long time. 

 

After what honestly felt like us going forever, we stopped. I had to catch my breath, but I felt like K and T could have kept going for a while.  While my hands were resting on my knees, T kept looking behind us, telling us both, “I don’t hear them. I think it’s safe for now.”

 

“How have we not met other people?” I asked between breaths.

 

“Maybe we’re just lucky.” K added.

 

I looked at her like madness had set in and she finally had become a complete hermit like I always joked she would eventually become. You know, with the beard and mountain cave and all.

 

“What? More people means bigger risk. Or did you not notice us being invaded like we had been a double Whopper sale at Burger King?” she quipped.

 

“Yeah, true, but we ARE supposed to meet up with P.” I said.

 

T sat on the floor and rested for a moment, “I’m sure the army man will find us if we wait for a couple minutes.” 

 

So we all stood there, K and I a little on edge. We heard some rustling from a distance, but no moaning. I swore it had to be P. Maybe he knew where we could go, or maybe he even had some access to a vehicle, seeing as ours was gone.  

 

K wasn’t as hopeful–the minute she heard the noises, she pulled her gun out of her bag and had it aimed in the direction of the sounds. She was ready. T stood and seemed to be alert. He was slowly reaching towards his shotgun. I am not to sure if he was going to bludgeon something with it or shoot it, but his hand was ready.

 

“Don’t shoot.” a familiar voice stated. 

 

P slowly emerged and had his hands raised up like he was submitting.  T lowered his guard, but K didn’t at all.

 

“Have you been bit?” she had her gun pointed right at his head.

 

“What?” was all he could stammer out.

 

“You heard me, have you been bit?” she repeated.

 

“Not that I know of.”

 

“Keep your hands up.” she said as she approached him wearily.

 

She seemed to circle around him like lion circling its prey.  Her eyes kept darting all over him. It was kind of unnerving. 

 

“K..” I started to say to her.

 

“B, trust me I am–was–in the medical field. If he is infected, we are so fucked.”

 

T and I both let her continue what she was doing with no further protest. P seemed to be taking it in complete stride. I am sure he expected something similar but maybe not as extensive.  When K was finally satisfied with her one look over, she lowered her gun.

 

“He seems to be fine.” she concluded.

 

“Thanks, I guess.” P said, no longer having beads of sweat. 

 

He walked closer to us with K slowly behind him. 

 

“Now guys, I know you are nervous and have all rights to be, but good job surviving that and getting your hands on some weopons.” P said matter-of-factly.

 

“Thanks.” I said.

 

“…But we have some problems we put some distance between us and them, but I really think we all need to team up for now.” he continued.

 

“It’s not a terrible idea.” K said.

 

“Four isn’t such a terrible number.” T added 

 

“Now I know you guys have your own ideas and I promise I won’t take anything over. It’s just… we need to watch each others’ backs. What’s your plan?” P asked coarsely.

 

“Heading north.” I told him

 

“Like Canada?” 

 

“No, not like Canada…just Canada.” I snarkily responded

 

“Why?” he asked

 

“Its cold. Rougher climate, harder for them to survive we figure. Then we can cross over to Alaska if we need to.” I told him.

 

“Not too bad, guys. Not bad at all.” he said as he sat down.

 

We all seemed to relax at the fact this could have been made a lot easier for all of us. 

 

I slowly reached into my pocket and handed K and T each a cigarette and we lit up and sat on the ground. 

 

“Now I know we don’t have a lot of time to sit here before we really need to get going again, but does P know of anything that could help us? Access to a car, or even our bus?” I asked.

 

“Sorry B, it’s well out of hands now. Flagstaff is gone.” P shook his head.

 

“I figured as much. So I say after this we make our way out and try to make as much distance from us and them as we can before we crash.”  I elaborated. 

 

“Do we sleep in shifts?” T asked.

 

“I know we didn’t last night but it’s a good idea.” K added.

 

“Okay so P and I first then K and T?”  I asked.

 

“You want first?” K questioned.

 

“Why not?” I said as I took a long drag.

 

I used the bat to help me back up and held out my hand to K. She took it and then pulled herself up.

 

“Everybody up to go?” K asked.

 

“One sec.” P said as he stood up.

 

I saw him stretch and pull a handgun from his pocket and reload it.

 

“I want to be prepared just in case.” he stated.

 

“Good idea. P, I know we don’t know you very well, but betray us and we will kill you.” I warned him.

 

I couldn’t believe I had said those words so easily. We had barely begun this chaos, but I had just warned another living man that I would be ready to kill him if I needed to.

 

“B, you have nothing to worry about with that.” he waved his hands at me.

 

“I hope I don’t, but know if I need to, I will.” I reinforced.

 

He grinned at me and I grinned back. I think he knew I meant business and he extended his hand to me in some sort of peace. I took his hand and shook.

 

“I won’t betray you guys. I have no reason to” he added.

 

“Then welcome to the family, P.” I told him 

 

T and K both exchanged looks of curiosity. 

 

“We are a family?” T joked.

 

“We always have been.” K blurted out.

 

“Damn right.” I added.

 

Bonus Short

Hi Everybody

I know I am slowly working on Chapter 3 and due to your patience in waiting I have a short bonus. Either way enjoy it everybody! And thanks again and keep reading!

Neighbors Perspective
Zombie Menace

We all saw the news reports warning us not to go outside. I looked out my window and saw my careless noisy weirdo of a neighbor named B running outside with a baseball bat and his backpack. Didn’t he watch the news? I was tempted to yell and warn him to get back inside. But I hesitated to much and he was to far gone for me to even reach him. I hope he is okay.

I made sure the front door was locked and then moved a chair under the doorknob. Then I sat down on my recliner and started to stare at the tv. This couldn’t be happening its just to terrible. Like a bad B-Flick coming to life. A massive virus or an infection they keep rotating those terms back and forth. I had to rest my head in my hands this had to just be a terrible nightmare.

When I finally closed my eyes wishing for a moment of clarity I heard static coming from the TV. Looking up all I saw was snow. The station must have just gone down. That had to be it. Stupid local news. I tried to change the channel and got the same results multiple times. Finally I got a picture again. It was that nutty news channel. You know the one that keeps trying to get people scared.

“Don’t leave your house. Do not try to contact anybody. It seems to be spreading faster then we thought.”

I keep getting ansy thinking of those words. I heard noises coming from outside. They seemed to keep getting louder and louder. I was afraid to look out the window again. Maybe B was right, maybe he had the right idea. I hope he is okay…I hope I am okay.

Chapter 2: Pilgrimage

We kept silent as we drove down the road. The sight of all those things swarming the gas station got to all of us. We just kept driving. The static on the radio was a small comfort. The white noise just made everything seem to be closer together. I guess those things are everywhere. I thought there was a chance it was over hyped like swine flu. But we are far out of a city and they are romping through the woods. Today is just turning out to be lovely.

“So.” I asked out loud to no one in particular.

“That was a little too close,” K said, point blank. “We need to be more careful.”

Both T and I nodded. It was lovely to know we were all on the same page. Who didn’t want to survive? We continued to drive in silence all with our eyes straight ahead. That’s when the static cut out again. I tried to keep my eyes on the road but all of our eyes focused right on the radio itself. Would static turn off if all radio signals died?

“Can anyone hear us?” a small voice whispered.

I stopped the car. It seemed like all 3 of us learned forward expecting to hear something of amazing value. The only two possibilities were either we’re fighting back and winning or we had already lost.

“Drive towards Flagstaff. Resistance movement starting there. Train will transport out of town,” then the whisper cut out. We were all silent again.

“I guess we’re going to Flagstaff huh?” I asked out loud.

My two companions both nodded.

“We better hurry before it gets to dark. We already have a 2 hour drive,” K added.

I nodded and we kept going on our way. I wanted to try to avoid highways for a very good reason but I thought it would be impossible. The drive to Flagstaff was a lot like driving to nowhere. We hadn’t seen another car on the road which was not only illogical but just plain wrong.

When we finally had to go back onto a main road is when we saw things change drastically. There were cars everywhere, most of them blocking the lanes but some pulled politely over to the side of the road. Some were still on fire, flames quietly licking at the skeletal, hollowed out remains of cars. I cringed, dropping my foot heavily on the gas. Things could be hiding in the cars, just waiting for someone stop. Time to drive it like I stole it.

We avoided having to go on the highways for quite a long ways previous but we knew it would kill all our gas, and pretty much any chance of using this car afterwards but who really cared right now? We had to get to whatever this resistance was. It would take over 4 hours with trying to avoid the highways.

The problem with this whole ordeal is that we are not the only people alive. Since we arrived back here we keep hearing gunfire and seeing random flashes of people we keep pressing ahead. I think it makes life easier right now to ignore that others may need our help right now. K’s words still ring in my head from earlier with the radio station. We need to really worry about us right now.

Eventually we had to pull over to refill the gas tank. We pulled over at a small group of cars. I got out of the car and started to peer into the windows, T following behind me.

“So you know how to do this right?” I asked him

“How else do you think I’ve survived for so long.” He made the effort to roll his eyes.

We approached a very old mini-van. T opened the door and I froze. I didn’t think about alarms or anything but thankfully nothing went off. He started rooting through the back of their car and found an old hose.

“How much gas do they have?” he asked

“About half a tank.” I responded.

“Well now we will have about a half a tank.” He said laughing.

He began to siphon out the gas out of the van and into ours.  I kept looking around me, with these cars around where did the people go? This was not right. The boogies, zombies or zeds whatever you wanted to call them would be showing up any minute now and we’d be fucked. But there’s no way to rush this.  

I really hoped that the people who owned this car found where they we’re going or at least died fast. I would hate to have them come back from peeing in the bushes to find their gas tank empty.

I was getting antsy, I’ll admit it. I looked over again and I literally could of shit bricks. Maybe 20 feet behind T there was a family. Or what used to be. Now they were just pieces of themselves.

“T,” was all I could manage.

He turned and stopped dead in his tracks. For a person who never seems to stop moving I think that threw me off more then one could really imagine.  K popped her head out of the window. 

“Oh fuck this shit. Both of you in the car! I am driving” she positioned herself back into the driver’s seat, I ran for shotgun and T for the back seat. I looked behind us as K adjusted herself. It was a family. I saw the things that used to be their children. The car shot off much faster than I would have been comfortable with. I just looked behind us as the family began to shrink into nothingness.  I leaned my head back and lit a cigarette. 

“You boys would’ve got yourselves killed if I wasn’t here,” K began ranting. “I don’t know how you could have thought that standing around in the open during the apocalypse was a good plan. You both are completely irresponsible.

“ K, in our defense, we got the gas,” I smiled at her.

“Shut up,” was all she would say.

T started laughing again. I was amazed at his ability to laugh during such horrible situations. But I suppose that we’re the lost generation: The ones who lost it all but kept somehow surviving. 

“Since I’m hyped up on adrenaline and driving like a fiend, why don’t you boys just crash out. It’ll be a while before we get another opportunity when we find the resistance.”

“You sure?” I asked.

“Go.” was all she said.

“Okay thanks!” T sprawled out on the back seat.

“Thanks K.” I closed my eyes.

I was never the biggest dreamer growing up. I daydreamed a lot but I can’t remember a night where I woke up excited (or disappointed) to be back in reality. That night I dreamed of us surrounded by a never ending hoard.  I couldn’t run but I had a fifty caliber semi-automatic and ammo. I shot at anything that moved but I never even made a dent. I woke up to K poking me in the forehead.

“Wake up jackass, we’re here.” Waking up to her smiling brought a smile right to my face

Looking over I saw a sign that was partly in half but looked like soldiers waving us through.  Best thing I’ve seen since I woke up to this whole mess.  We slowly pulled up towards them. One man gave us a quick solute. 

“Hi there! Glad to see more survivors,” he said with a genuine smile.

“Yeah hi.” was all I could really mutter out.

“We will be commandeering this vehicle for the present time. Sorry but you will need to walk to town. I will be there to make sure you make it properly.” he added

“What about our stuff?” K asked

“Carry what you can. We will bring the rest.”

We got out of our car and proceeded to grab whatever we could. What was left of our food and drinks, our cigs, weapons, and our bags. I looked at the soldier and smiled. 

“Whats you name?” I asked him

“Just call me P.” he said.

Chapter 2: New Day ahead

The walk didn’t seem nearly as long as it should of. We followed P for about 10 minutes, casually chatting. I noticed the makeshift barriers and walls.  Seemed like enough for now.

“So the army is here?” T asked

“Not really, just some of us happened to be here when everything went down. We have been securing the area to the best of our ability though.” he responded

“Well then, what about the radio signal?”  K asked

“It’s not much, but we’re better equipped than civilians so we thought we’d help anyone who made it here. How far away were you?”

“A little outside of Phoenix.” I told him

“I guess the signal got far then. Good” he said

I was a little disappointed to find out that the entire area wasn’t secured by armed forced but it was nice to see people. We all seemed to be refugees right now. He left us in the center of town.

“Ok guys, some rules. Be careful, watch your stuff and be sure to tell someone in a cop or army uniform if something seems out of place okay? I will be back in a few hours.” He said before turning to leave. 

We sat down and all seemed to light up simultaneously. I kept looking around just seeing people around. It was strange after the last couple days to see everyone just around and doing things. 

I noticed what looked like a little diner. The lights where even on and I looked over to K.

“Anyone wanna see if they are actually serving?” I asked 

Both nodded and we walked towards the diner. A guy dressed like a cook greeted us. He waved. The place was small and seemed busy.

“Don’t worry about the crowd.” He said and walked over to us

“We don’t have a lot of money.” I told him right away

“No one does, we are trading for food right now. What do you have?”

“How is this?” I said as I handed him a full pack of cigarettes.

“Wow.” he said

“Is that good?” K asked him

“3 sandwiches and drinks.” he said and walked away.

“I guess that is good then.” I laughed 

We sat in a booth and seemed to avoid other people. Our food arrived and it was perfect for right then and there.  I had to admit the idea of eating meat after looking like I was about to be a sandwich myself made my stomach kind of queasy. Either way I scarfed it down and K and T did as well. Bidding out goodbye to our “host” we walked back outside.

It was cold. Not going to lie, being in the desert has its complete benefits. But I am not used to the cold at all anymore. I thought I heard gunfire.  For right now I ignored it.

We wandered around town a little bit more.  I wondered when we would receive the rest of our things. Oh well, it was just so nice to see everything. 

“This place is weird,” K just blurted out.

“What?” I asked

“They don’t seem prepared.” She added, pouting slightly

“How could they be?” T added

“No, look around guys. They don’t seem to notice what’s happening.”

“Let them be a little delusional for now. They probably need a break,” I smiled.

“Humph” was all she would respond with, but added a small smile.

I plopped my ass down on the curb and lit up a cigarette. My two companions sat on each of my sides and each took one as well. People watching was a weird hobby we all enjoyed. It seemed like it was a dying fad though. Literally.

Staring out, people seemed to smile or nod as they passed.

“People seem friendlier since the end of the world.” K laughed

“I guess the dead showing up can do that to you.” I added. 

We stood up and walked some more and I passed by a RadioHut store, back in the day they used to sell all sorts of gizmo’s. I looked at K.

“Go in, I’m waiting out here.” She said

“T?”

“Naw dude, go be a nerd.” He said laughing

I walking into the store and while it was ravaged a bit it was still in standing position. A guy behind the counter looked at me.

“What?” he said

“Umm, just looking?” was all I could think.

“Don’t steal. Steal and I shoot. We are open to trading though.” He added

To prove his point he showed his pistol on his hip. So much for a friendlier sort of people.  I looked around and saw random nicknacks that would be nice to have if I still had a place to live… but then I saw a small handcrank or battery operated radio. 

“What can I do to get you to part with this?”

“What you got?” he stated

“I got a pack of smokes.” I replied

“Menthol?”

“Um sure.”

“Deal”

I reached into my backpack and pulled out a pack of Newports (yuck) and handed it to the man. Greedily he snatched them from my hand. 

“Batteries included?”

“Take ‘em and get out.”

I grabbed a set of batteries (and when his back turned a second) and walked outside. K and T seemed to be talking about something or another but stopped the minute I walked outside.

“What?” I asked

“What did you get?” K eyed me suspiciously.

“This.” I said and showed her the radio.

“Why do we need a radio?” T asked

“Well without the car at our disposal how else will we know what’s happening?” I said blankly

“I guess. Does it work?” He added

I stood blinking for a couple minutes it seemed. I didn’t think to ask or check that out and nervously pulled it out of its package. Winding the handle slowly static came on the air.

“Thank Merlin. Or else I would have been out of a pack of Newports.”

“You gave him a menthol?” K asked

“Why not, this is more important. How else will we know when the army comes.” 

“If they come.” She said

“They have to eventually. And we will ride it out until we need to.” I added

“You two fight to much.” T decided to come back to the conversation

“Shut up.” K and I said to him

It got quite. A little bit to quite for any of our likings. All of a sudden we heard another shot.

“Dude, hear that?” T asked shakily. 

“Uh” was my only response looking straight ahead.

I saw P running towards us

“They’re coming! They’re coming” he kept screaming.

“What the fuck are you talking about.” K said grabbing his shoulders.

“They are breaking down the walls we need all enabled bodies here ready to fight.” he looked straight at T and I.

“ I’m in. I never shot a gun before though.” I told him being as honest as I could

“Sure, why the hell not? And I’ve shot a shit ton of guns.” T added

“Someone has to keep you two alive.” K added

“Umm sorry K they aren’t asking for females.” P said a little nervously 

“Wherever they go, I go.” She said matter of fact, stubbornly setting her jaw against any argument.

“Really? Alright follow me.” P waved us on.

We followed him until we reached what was at some point a railway station. The idea of an “army” being built there was not looking to good. A handful of misfits, some bikers, and stoners. I guess we had to look good compared to the stoners right?

“Okay, now we all have weapons, the guns stay back if you don’t own one, we will not be supplying you one.” One man stated

I looked over to T and he looked disappointed.  I just shrugged.

“The others will be in charge of offensive attack. Try not to die, we need you alive. Any females in the crowd: we know you want to fight but on ground attack we will not allow it. If you have a gun, stand back and shoot. Get prepared we head out soon.”

I was really expecting more of a speech to rival that of the amazing movies I have seen. Like the one in Independence Day.  Instead all I got was try not to die.  I clenched my bat with my hand and looked behind me at K and she was staring at me. No matter how long I have known her I will never exactly know what happens in that head of hers. 

T and I walked over to her and I could see the gun in her hand. Smiling at her I just had to ask her a favor.

“Hey K, just stay as far back as you can?” 

“What does that mean?”

 “I think B is saying don’t get eaten. I will watch his back,” T said proudly.

“Who will watch yours?” she asked so suspiciously.

“Just don’t get hurt.” was all I could ask.

She just nodded but I still have no idea if she legitimately meant it or not. I wouldn’t argue.

“So we go down fighting?” I asked

“We always do, Asshat,” K added

“Ha! Yeah, Asshat.” T snickered.

“Fuck you.” I smiled and looked at them.

I turned around and looked ahead to see people where on the move. I sighed again. This is a depressing idea to think this is the last time you will see the ones you love.

“T, got my back?”

“Always. You got mine?”

“You know it.”

We started to walk off and I could head K say from behind us

“Please be careful.”

Chapter 2: War

Going to war is an odd expression when you really think of it. We imagine tanks, missals, guys in camo running around with helmets. We had none of those things (well maybe a few misfits in jackets). As we walked, I turned my head and saw K still standing there and I gave her a small wave. She pointed to her right and tried to mouth some words at me.

“She will be fine. We’ll find her when it’s all over,” T stated.

“I know.” I replied.

We heard a crash sound and people screaming. This is not good. The “troops” seemed to stop dead in their tracks. Fuck this was going to be a massacre.

Right ahead of us was a wall of corpses. They definitely saw us as well and charged us like nothing I had ever seen. We are not military, we aren’t police, and the closest I had ever been to this sort of situation was playing a video game. And Contra without the extra life code was easier than this.

As bad as it’ll sound, the people in front were dead before most of us could move to defend. From there T and I broke away from the group as we were being swarmed. We went side to side and began swinging like lunatics. Fear and unusual exertion making me pant and sweat like an obese man on a tread mill.

“Old man,” T said but I could tell he was scared too.

I looked ahead of me and more kept coming and I heard more and more screaming.

“Run, fucker!” Was all I could say, panting like I was.

T seemed to get the hint as did a few other people because what was left of our group soon began to turn and run as well. We had to find K this “fortress” was done.
I had never been the most responsible person. I wish I had paid attention to which way was the way back towards the trains. I know they wouldn’t run but it would have been easier. While running I couldn’t help but turn my head to see what was happening. The sounds of gunfire, screaming and moaning got loud then just deafining . It was almost heartbreaking.

“Where are we going?” T asked.

“Find K.”

“Right but were?” he asked

“Gotta find the train station.” I added

“Easy.”

T grabbed my shoulder and we high tailed it down a side street and I saw the station. But behind us the reanimated had been following us.

“What now?” T said with a tinge of nervousness.

“This way” I pointed in the direction K had pointed.

K and I had always had a way of knowing what the other had meant. Many times words were not needed. We just always knew. She would give me a sign when we were close.
We continued to run past the station into what was a group of shops. I saw one seemly abandoned pawn shop and stopped T. The LED open sign was still turned on.

“Here.”

Looking around I tried to open the door but it was barricaded pretty well. Tried to force it open but still nothing.

“Fuck fuck fuck” I said looking around.

The zombies didn’t look like they had caught up yet but I knew they would. They never seemed to get tired and they’re faster than in the movies. T was looking around and looked down a side street.

“Door door door!” I cried, pointing towards one a bit further down.

We ran down and tried to open the door and to my surprise I head a click noise, thank god. We walked in and saw no lights. I felt along the walls for a light and finally found one and when I clicked it on, I turned.

“Took you two long enough,” K stood there smiling.

“Missed you to,” I told her back.

Chapter 2: Mission Abort

“Turn off the light and follow me” K said and held out her hand.

We turned out the lights and both grabbed her arms as she led us through a dark maze. Walking through the dark while hearing nothing but gunfire and zombies everywhere is not the way I envisioned our week going. I really just wanted to be back in my apartment arguing with K online. Didn’t look like that was going to happen at all.

“Now be careful, we’re going up the stairs.” She said and started to count the stairs out loud.

We followed her voice up until we got to 10 and she stopped. A door opened and light and screaming became more obvious.

“The roof?” T asked.

“Safer then on the street!” K responded haughtily.

“True.” I wandered towards the edge and looked out.

This “safe” fortress had been overturned easily. The zombies had taken over already and I didn’t know if anyone had survived. The “war” had lasted 30 minutes before we had been wiped out. We had been pathetic. I plopped down to rest.

“So K, how did you end up here?”

“The door was open and no one was inside so I just took it,” She sat down next to me.

T took to laying down. This has been a very rough for all of us and I think we were exhausted. I offered K a cigarette and I lit one up myself. So tired.

“Good news though.” She said.

“How can we have any good news? We are going to be surrounded eventually and seems like we will be eaten.” I asked laughing.

She pointed to the corner and I saw she had managed to collect guns. What looks like 3 shotguns, and a dozen handguns.

“How?” T asked, shooting up off the ground.

“Borrowed them. And we have ammo.” She answered, smirking.

Chapter 2: Dawn

When I woke up it felt like it had all been a distant dream. Who would have ever imagined that the end of the world was happening? I never imagined that anything like this would happen in my lifetime. I mean, we’re talking about Zombies! Flesh-eating, decaying, straight-out-of-a-Romero-movie, undead. The very idea of them makes me shudder in terror.

As I lay there, looking up at the old ceiling in the gas station, I kept hearing what sounded like a dog. It sounded really close and I slowly opened my eyes and glanced around. Standing outside the locked glass door was a large canine, slavering and growling as though we were a feast. I stood quickly and the dog ran off with one last hungry glance. I couldn’t help but wonder if animals were susceptible to this terrible infection.

I started to stretch out my limbs, looking over K and T where they were still asleep. Looking around the store I noticed this place must have been badly raided before we got here. No gas cans, or pretty much anything for automobiles. I guess we are out of luck there. Behind the counter, I saw something that made me so happy. Cigarettes, rows and rows of cigarettes. As I hopped over the counter, I saw an old messenger style backpack hanging from a rack on the door to the back room. Picking it up, I emptied out the contents onto the floor. It was all mostly junk, but I noticed a mostly unused notebook. I picked it back up and put it back into the bag, because it could certainly come in handy later. I then started to fill the bag up with the tobacco-y goodness I love so much.

It’s funny to think that as a teenager, I was always told that cigarettes would kill me. Never did anyone tell me that it was possible for corpses to reanimate and come after the still-beating heart in my chest. I was never the child worried about crossing the street, or walking home late at night in a bad neighborhood. I was worried about monsters, and aliens coming down to our world to destroy everything in sight. Now that is what I KNEW would get human kind eventually. But to have zombies show up was unthinkable to me. Zombies belonged in bad, late night movies and not in reality.

Slowly, my salvaging (or outright stealing depending on who you were asking) stirred up K and T.

“Looting the cigs?” T said sleepily, getting up to a sitting position.

“I feel nasty. Is there a shower by any chance? I’ll even settle for one of those chemical emergency showers,” K asked hopefully, squinting into the morning light.

I just looked at her. I hadn’t thought of that at all. Looking around, this really looked like an establishment where the owners very well could have lived here. She got up thinking the same idea, but I was not thinking it would be a good idea to explore the back. She obviously was.

Nothing sounded like it was moving back there, but my Spidey sense was tingling. K looked at me with her green eyes. They always shined when she wanted me to do something and I have to admit that I do it each time. I put my bag on the counter and grabbed my bat. I noticed it had red stains on it now.

T just stared at me like I was insane. I just shrugged and slowly reached towards the door handle. My hand was shaking like I never imagined. I was scared. Taking a deep breath I finally started to open the door and as it slowly opened, I saw that it was an office. Opening it more I felt the vomit rise in my throat.

A young woman slumped over a desk with a gun in her hand. She couldn’t have been much older than 18, and I couldn’t stop staring at the unnatural angle of her neck. She had obviously shot herself, more than likely the result of the mangled wound on her forearm. The splatter on the wall behind her was mixed with chunky bits of something that I really didn’t want to examine further. But, I did want to get a look at that gun in her hand.

I knew what I wanted to do and I hated myself for it. Walking over to her, I pried the handgun from her hand. T and K slowly came into the room and saw me with the gun in my hand. K just looked at me, mouth tightened into a thin line and face impassive. T just shook his head.

“It was in her hand. I hate to say it, but she didn’t need it anymore.”

K just nodded and walked into the room. She walked over to the desk and opened some of the drawers. She threw papers around. She looked like she was obsessed with the idea of some item. Which was a weird idea to me seeing as we had never been here before.

“Bingo.” She said and help up a box of ammo.

I would have never thought about grabbing that. I grinned. That girl was always thinking. She handed me the ammo.

“Any bathroom?” she asked.

“I really didn’t get past her.” I pointed at the woman slumped down.

“I’ll check the other door.” T said walking into the room and went to the door on the other side of the room.

He pressed his ear up to the door first (wish I thought of that instead of just wandering in like a moron). Nodding, he opened the door and grinned ear to ear.

“We have a bathroom!” pointing at it like he found the holy grail.

Well, at least we would be able to clean up a bit. I had no intention of staying here for more than an hour. I vocalized my concern to my friends and they both agreed that we need to get out of here soon. K took the bathroom first as T and I went back out front.

He kept looking at the car.

“Can’t believe you stole the oldest car ever.”

“Meh,” was my ever witty response.

“And we find the one gas station without gas,” he continued, laughing.

“No gas?” I asked.

“Empty as keg at dawn, bro. At least we have some food and smokes. Besides it’s not like this can last forever…with us surviving it anyway.”

“Scary idea huh?” I nodded along.

“Could be worse. Could be alone in that city like I was.”

“What were you doing there anyway? We hadn’t seen you in months, man.”

“Long story B. Just know I was finally heading someplace. But, when the end of the world happens you want your family by your side.”

“When did you grow up on me?” I asked, laughing.

“When the end of the world happened?” he laughed.

“What about A… I know your brother lived with you.” I asked him.

I had to ask since I knew that those two were very close (depending on the time of the year.) I saw his face fall. This was not a good sign and I knew I was about to feel pretty bad.

“Sorry to say I doubt he will be joining us. He was with me till a couple blocks before I saw you. We were running and suddenly I didn’t hear him talking anymore. I tried to look for him…” T just stopped talking.

“I get it” I said.

“Yeah, I dunno. I’m just glad that I got to you two. And since I want to keep you, we’d better get out of here before anything unfriendly shows up.”

“I have an idea about that.” I added

“What is it?”

“I think we need to head north. Like far north.”

“Seems as good as any, but why?”

“If these things are really zombies then I doubt cold will be good to them.”

“We don’t have a lot of gas.”

“We have enough to get out of the desert. Well maybe. But enough to get out of the we-are-fucked-if-we-get-stuck part.” I smiled.

“I’ve never been north.” T said smiling his usual smile

“I have. And it’s nice. “

“Well, let’s go!” he yelled

“Go where?” K asked, emerging at last from the bathroom.

“We’re going North!” T and I exclaimed.

“I guess we have to go somewhere.” she said smiling

It was nice to know that we had agreed in which direction to go. I had an idea, and now it seemed we had a loose idea of what was going to happen. We would head to the colder territory and see what happens from there.

Something T had said seemed to be stuck in my head as we packed the last of our plunder into the bus. At least if the worst happened, we very well would die together. And as close as we always were, it seemed we were truly becoming the family we each needed.

“Ready to go guys?” I asked as I heard the motor turn over.

“Ready, “ K said smiling at me.

“Ready B,” T said from the backseat.

We pulled out of the gas station as I heard rustling coming out of the bushes and had never been so relieved. It seemed the boogies were emerging. I stopped for a moment just to see how many. At least 10 had come out but I heard more rustling. If we waited even 5 more minutes we would have been fucked. If I ever see that dog again, I’ll have to thank him for waking me up this morning.

Finally…

Hi all B4TD fans.

Long time no hear. I know second chapter is way behind. Due to outside issues but luckily I can say on this Friday Chapter 2 of Before The Dead shall begin. Be ready for it everyone!

-B&K

Day 1: The Long, Silent Night.

“Hello? Is anyone out there?”

Frozen. Still. The only movement was the creeping shadows gliding towards us with the rising of the moon. We were fixed, completely stagnant. The air was wheezing out of our open mouths like buzzing insects. It grated my already raw nerves.

“We are stranded inside an abandoned radio tower just outside Prescott. There are twelve of us, some are children, some are sick. We need help. Please, if you can hear this, we need a doctor. There’s a fever passing through the survivors like wild fire. Please, help us.”

B was starting to fidget with the nick knacks in his pockets and T was fingering the strap of his messenger mag. I felt sick. They were infected, I could just feel it. They were infected and in just a few hours the entire group of survivors would be dead, taking god knows how many would-be-rescuers with them.

“Should we go?” T asked, looking pale in the washed out light of the moon. Maybe he was going into shock.

B was opening his mouth to reply but I beat him to it. “No. They’re infected. It’d be suicide.”

“But they said people are sick. Kids could be sick. We can’t just leave them,” B exclaimed, looking a bit green.

“Yes, we can. We have no idea how many people got to safety before things really started to go to shit. I’m sure someone else heard the transmission and is headed out there as we speak. I don’t want to risk it,” I growl. I was sure that I was going to hell. I mean, what sort of person would just leave sick children to be infected? ‘A smart person’ a little voice tells me. I can’t help but agree with it.

“Kitty’s right. We can’t take the chance. We need to get somewhere safe for the night and stick together,” T mutters sadly, pleading with his eyes for B to understand.

B is silent for several moments, squeezing his eyes shut and swallowing thickly. “OK,” he whispers finally.

“Good,” I state firmly, rubbing his forearm. “For all we know, they could have already turned into Zombies.”

“God, don’t fucking say that!” B hissed with a grimace.

“What?” I ask incredulously.

“That! The ‘Z’ word!”

“Whatever. That’s what they are,” I sigh, rolling my eyes.

“Doesn’t mean we have to fucking talk about it,” B said, throwing his hands up in the air.

“Can we please stop bickering and get back in the car?! I’ll feel better with two tons of metal rage under my hands,” T interjects.

“Good idea,” I soothe, grabbing B’s arm and walking him back to the van. “How’s our gas situation? I can probably find somewhere for us to camp for the night, but I need to know how far we can go.”

T looked are the tank gauge, pulling his lips into his mouth. “We have a little over a half tank.”

“That’s good, right?” B asked.

“Yeah. We can probably make it to the reservation. There won’t be people for miles up there,” I say, smiling a bit. My first since I turned on the news this morning.

We all pile in the van and take off. The radio is back to just white noise, but it’s something to listen to besides our own breaths so we leave it on. Silence seems to be stalking us, riding in the van with us and making us all uneasy. I can only hope that we can hold on to ourselves through all this. It would be so easy for one or all of us to break under the pressure.

The exit for the reservation was about forty miles from where we stopped the van, so the half-hour ride was made quickly with T breaking every major traffic law he knew. Not that it mattered right now anyway. When we turned off the highway, we drove for about twenty minutes looking for somewhere to park for the night. We were all pretty exhausted and the sooner we all got some sleep, the better.

“How about here?” T asked, pointing to an abandoned gas station. It was an old building; family owned and bound to have some food and supplies inside. I nodded in agreement and braced myself for first contact.

Parking, we spilled out of the van and attached the gas pump to the van for tomorrow morning. To my great surprise, the gas flowed freely into the tank and in no time, we were set for the morning. It was one of the old pumps. You know, the kind that pumps the gas and you pay for it later, inside. We really lucked out.

Timidly, I started to walk inside the store. I gripped my sword in front of me, trying to stop my heart from racing and my breath from whooshing from my nostrils. The store was dark and musty with dust curling in the light from the streetlight on the road. It was silent again and I could distantly hear B and T calling for me but my attention was riveted to the far right corner. There, propped against the cooler, was the disemboweled body of a young man.

Blood was everywhere, spread by struggling legs and grasping hands that had long since stilled. Feeling foolish, I checked for a pulse and found none. I moved the arm and found Rigor Mortis had already passed, which meant the body had been there at least a day. I gulped.

It was dead, but I had no way of knowing how long it would stay that way or even if it would reanimate at all. But, my mother always told me to be prepared… so with a mighty swing, I lodged my sword deep into it’s neck, successfully severing the spinal chord and the brain stem.

Hopefully the news was right about that part. Hopefully the thing wouldn’t ‘wake up’ in the middle of the night and eat us all.

T and B almost break the door down as they rushed in. “Are you alright?!” “Jesus, is that thing dead?!” “Are you bitten?” “What happened?”

“I’m fine! It was down when I got in here and I just made sure it wouldn’t get back up,” I shout, waving my sword around.

“Thank god,” B gushed, rushing forward and hugging the breath from me. T soon joined the embrace and for the first time since all of this happened, I felt like we might just be alright.

Breaking away from the doggie pile, I smile at them both. “Lets load some shit in the van before we crash for the night… just in case the shit hits the fan and we need to shit ‘n get.”

“Cool,” T agrees.

We all grab armfuls of food and drinks and stuff it in the back of the van. We would probably have enough food for a couple days and enough liquid to keep us from dehydrating.

Wearily, we trudge in the store and pile a few travel blankets on the floor in the back. With the door locked and secured as much as possible, the van prepped for the morning and all three of us safely tucked into the makeshift bed, I allowed myself to close my eyes and pray we make it to daylight.

Day 1: Going Anywhere – Nowhere

We sat in silence. Well, almost silence. You could hear each of us taking drags off those Marlboro’s like they held the answer to the world’s oldest questions. I kept looking around, expecting to see boogies, wait…I mean zombies, all around us. I could see smoke in the distance behind us. I still have no idea why we didn’t see anyone else trying to get out of the city.

I looked towards the sky. Normally you would be hearing or seeing planes flying overhead. The noise was so obnoxious. I kept listening hoping that we could -would hear it soon. No answer came to me.

“So,” T started.

K and I both looked towards him.

“I don’t got a thing,” he said and slumped his shoulders

I smirked I knew that one was coming. I look at K and she doesn’t seem to be all there yet.

“K. What did the news say?” I ask

“Huh?”

“Did they mention anything? For safety? You mentioned bases,” I didn’t want to sound desperate. I doubt I succeeded.

“They said some city’s have them but I really don’t think it’s wise to barely escape one city and then just run right to another one.” she sounded pretty pissed.

“Nevermind! It’s not like it matters.” I lay down in the back seat

I didn’t want to deal with well…anything. I had to steal the car without a DVD player didn’t I? I turn to my side and see T just zoning out like he always did. He finally took off his hat again. Its still so weird seeing him without hair. I looked over at K and she was sifting threw my backpack.

“Yes?” I asked

“Cigarettes.” she stated blankly

“Here.” I handed her the rest of my pack

Suddenly we hear noise. T has turned on the radio. We heard nothing but static. He kept tuning into other stations. K and I where silent and still. Staring at the ratio just hoping upon hope we would hear a voice, some message telling us what to do.

“Nothing! FUCK.” he yelled hitting the steering wheel.

I think we were all just a little heartbroken at the idea that nothing was out there.

“Try A.M.” I added

He looked back at me.

“Sure why not.”

He started to check through all the AM stations and we got nothing once again.

“Damn.” I said flatly.

“There’s never anything on, anyway,” K said, biting her lower lip and keeping her eyes on her own lap.

I think I knew in the back of my mind that nothing would be there. It was worth a shot but still. I doubted anything would materialize, still disappointing. I heard a stomach growl (mine included).

“I guess we are all hungry huh?” I asked

Both of my friends nodded at me. I reached into my bag and grabbed some of the pop tarts and threw them at my friends. T pulled the car over and we all began to feast on them like they where a Thanksgiving Day turkey. Suddenly, K looked up at me and she squinted at me fiercely.

“You left your apartment and the only food you thought to bring where pop tarts?” She tried her best to look angry at me.

At that moment I knew exactly that she would be okay. She was starting to become the K that I knew. I looked out the window and I saw the sun was beginning to set. The road ahead of us looked like it literally would go on forever. Combine that with the static on the ratio. I opened the car door slowly.

“What are you doing?” K asked

“Going outside.” I said as calm as possible

“Why?”

“I need to see something.”

I made my way outside and smelt the air. It was the first time since I walked outside this morning I felt the ability the breath calmly. Something I guess we as an entire species take for granted. I leaned up against the back of the car looking at the city. The smoke is still filling the skies. It’s getting darker out so it was harder to make out some of the objects in the far distance. I felt something grab my shoulder. I think I jumped 12 feet in the air.

“Jumpy much, pussy?” K had leaned on the car next to me as she cackled.

“Heh. I guess it’s natural right now.”

“Yeah I guess so” she said.

We stood there in silence and T had left the car too. We just stood there for a moment and K handed me another cigarette. T already had one hanging out of his mouth and we stood in complete silence watching as our former city seemed to fade to black like in those classic movie moments while hearing static come through the speakers.

It was almost sad to see city kind of disappear into darkness and smoke. While taking a long drag off my cigarette. This was a horrible and beautiful moment for all of us. All of a sudden we all heard something that made all 3 of us jump.

A voice, loud and filled with static came barrelling out of the car speakers.

“Hello? Is anyone out there?”

Day 1: The Escape Part 2

We where sprinting down the stairs as carefully as possible. We had risked it all, and it would have been a horrible time to break our necks.

T was in the lead, K in the middle, and me at the end. This would be the beginning of our formation. It’s a trend that would last for as long as we ran together.

We were making a lot of noise as we tore ass down the fire escape, but that was to be completely expected. When you really think about it, those fire escapes are made of metal. The sound of us sprinting down them had to alert things that we were on our way. Finally we were almost to the ground and I felt freedom. We were close. Only 4 blocks to the car.

We could make it, I am sure of it. Soon we will be there and be out of the city. We could camp out, and soon this problem would be over with… right? The government knew this was happening. They wouldn’t let this continue.

We made it to the ground and right as I turned around I saw a swarm. A Big one.

“Fuck.” I yelled.

T turned and I saw his eyes widen. We each grabbed one of K’s arms and ran. The alleyways weren’t the biggest but enough for us to know if we go down the wrong way we would be lucky if one of us survived.

We were breathing so hard while sprinting and taking lessons out of the 80’s slasher classics and knocking down everything and pushing empty dumpsters. It may make more noise but, Jesus, it may have helped our chances.

Finally we saw daylight ahead of us. Keep going… common legs, we need to keep going. We got this far. One of those things were right ahead of us. Please god. I dropped K’s arm and started to sprint ahead. T knew what I was going to do and just held onto K. I grabbed my bat and I swung like I thought I was Babe Ruth and smashed that thing in the head. I wasn’t hesitant anymore. I still don’t know if that was a good thing.

As it crumbled to the ground, I stopped for a split second and looked at T and K. She looked a little shocked. T was just smiling.

“Dad, home run,” he smirked

I laughed a little (how weird is to laugh at that type of comment?). I grabbed K’s arm again and we ran again. I saw the car just a few feet ahead.

Reaching in my pockets I pull out the keys. I threw T the keys. He caught them without a second though and sprinted off ahead of us and right to the driver’s side.

K and I were not far behind him. When he had the car started K was in shotgun and I was in the back seat. We had made it. Pulling down the street we saw a swarm of them materializing behind and a hundred feet in front of us.

“Well, I hope these things are made as good as they said they where.” T laughed again.

He gunned it as fast as he could (70 mph at the best). He broke a hole in the middle of the swarm and we were on our way. But to where?

We had a small benefit of where we lived. We lived in a desert state and honestly it had the lovelyness of when we got out of the city, hundreds of miles of absolute nothingness. It gave us the advantage as well as seeing them and no real hiding places. That could also be seen as a major weakness for us as well.

We stopped the car at the side of the rode. We were about 40 miles out of the city and into the wild stretch of nothing between one city and another. After moments of no one saying a thing I started laughing and I couldn’t stop. K was looking at me like I was completely insane.

“B, what’s so funny?” she shrieked at me

“K, we went to bed last night, you most likely watching some stupid ass tv show, me playing a video game, and T most likely smoking a bowl. We all woke up and now we’re all fucked!” I said between laughing.

K just stared at me. T just nodded.

“It was a blunt” he added.

He got the death stare as well. I finally could stop laughing and I reached into my bag and pulled out my cigarettes and lit one up. The drag tasted like heaven had reached my lungs completely. All that existed at the time was that beautiful cancer stick and me. And I can say I didn’t even care. I closed my eyes and rested my head.

Everyone was quite. It was the strangest thing. Since the day all three of us had become friends almost none of us had ever had a moment around each other where not one of us was saying a joke or having fun. This was not something any of us where used to.

“So where should we go?” T asked almost innocently.

“I don’t know.” I said

“The news said they are making some bases.” K stated matter of frankly

“News?” T and I both asked.

My head shot up. I had forgotten her TV was on when we had finally gotten there.

“Yeah, I was watching it while I was waiting for you.” she added.

“Well, what the hell is going on! What are those things?” I spouted out a mile a minute.

K sighed at us. She, like all of us, had a very long day. As a nurse, she was used to seeing horrors up close and personal. I heard so many stories from her about what she had seen, enough blood to cause nightmares. She was never skittish nor was she ever prone to be quite in the slightest. I had never seen her like this.

“Zombies.” was all she said

“Oh.”

“Somehow, some way, we have fucking zombies. They think that it might have come from a terrorist attack of some kind, but nobody knows for sure. Everything just went to shit overnight and now this thing is everywhere. There is nowhere safe… nowhere at all.”

“Damn, aint that the fuckin’ shit?” T said as he pulled out a cigarette from his jacket.

I handed K over a smoke as well and lit myself up another. It didn’t seem like we needed to worry about cancer right now considering that we had a much bigger problem. Where do we go now?

Day 1: Great Escape

It felt like we where super heroes. Jumping from rooftop to rooftop. It took longer then we thought but man all those impact landings REALLY hurt after a while. No wonder super heroes don’t live to be old. When we got to her roof we ran through the door and as quick as we could down the stairs.

That alone could of hurt us. She was on the 20th of 25 floors. The stair cases didn’t connect. The 25th floor seemed to have a few stragglers. I had my bat, T his hockey stick. We both just stood there for a second.

“You know how to use that thing?” I said

“Do you?” he retorted with.

We charged toward the few there and swung our respective weapons. The boogies fell but didn’t stop moving. We heard one coming from behind us and I swung at the head and it cracked like and egg and dropped to the ground. T looked at me as I stood there staring as it stopped moving.

“We didn’t learn this in school, huh?” he smirked like always.

We charged back down the hall way to the next stair case. I saw K’s old neighbour and she charged me and I pushed her towards the wall out of our way.

“Just go ahead, man. I’ll take care of her. Go get mom.” T said so I charged back down the stairs and up to her door. We had made it. Like officially, I pounded on the door for just a few moments. At least I did in my head. I very well could have sounded like a nutcase drunk. From the look K gave me when the door was finally open that’s the look she gave me as well. I smiled the minute I saw her, she smiled to.

“Your late.” she said.

“Fuck you.” I said laughing

I turned my head and saw T making his way up the stairs. I waved to him and he smiled and started walking over. His hockey stick was bloody. I think he dropped the neighbour. When we came barging our way up the stairs she heard and charged I pushed her off and he told me to head up here he would follow. Took him a while. Maybe too long, if this was 24 hours ago.

We both made our way into her apartment and her jaw dropped.

“T!” she grabbed him into a hug

“Hi Mom” hugging her back and smiled

We’d all be friends for years. T just always had a habit of disappearing then showing back up on our doorsteps eventually and we would always pick back up wherever we left off. He seemed to see us as his wayward parents. Leave and come back and he always had a home with either one of us.

“T” I said and nodded towards the door

“Check.”

He had closed the door and I walked into the kitchen and started pulling on the fridge. T came over and quickly helped as we started to drag the giant metal coffin towards the door and dropped it in front of the doorway.

“Wait! What the fuck are you doing?!” K shrieked at us, hands planted firmly on her hips

“You didn’t see what we did” I stated firmly

“Mom, its bad.”

“How bad?”

“We came from the roof.” I laughed a bit as I said that.

T laughed as well. It was a fun ride. She just glared at us.

“Well, how do you think we’ll get out?! You blocked the door!”

We pointed at the window and she looked at us.

“Well, that could work.” she laughed a little

“Got a weapon K?” I ask concerned

“Umm I should,” she went to her closet, puttering about for a bit.

“It has to be strong, headshots work wonders,” T added

I go to her closet, she is tearing it apart and I figure she has nothing, me and T could surround her till we get to the car. Then she pulled out her first of so many surprises. She pulled out a sword. Not one of those cheap novelties you can find in the mall but a real fucking samurai sword!

“I bought it years ago. Wanted to learn how, but after a few lessons, I got bored.” She shrugged and put the strap over her shoulder.

T just stared for a moment and shook his head muttering about how she has a sword as I handed her backpack on the floor. She smiled at us I could tell she was happy and surprised we both got there. And I knew she would never say thank you either but it was just understood. She was looking around her apartment.

“Ready to go, K?” I ask

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” she responded.

T had opened up the window and had a cigarette in his mouth already while sitting on the fire escape.

“Hurry up before we get eaten!” he said

“Coming” K and I both said.

We walked towards the window and I held her bag while she crawled through. I looked at her door and heard noises coming from the other end. Seems like her other neighbors may have heard us and well may have learned how to use the door now.

“T, we’re coming down, be careful!” I look at him.

“Got it, lets go!”

I crawled out the window, ready to bolt down the escape. This adventure is getting a lot bigger then I thought it would.

Day 1: Pesky Neighbors Redux

I couldn’t fucking believe my eyes when I turned on the news this morning. There was Brenda Artwin (the plaster-faced anchor on channel 5 every day since dinosaurs roamed the earth), looking desperately confused as she read poorly from the teleprompter as though she couldn’t believe what she was being asked to say. I couldn’t either.

Despite numerous essays turned in during nursing school regarding the wide-spread possibilities of a vector born illness (infections caused by transmission with other infected’s bodily fluids – like the way mosquitoes spread West Nile Virus), I never thought I would live to see the day when fucking zombies were crawling all over the major cities in the world. I didn’t even think before I grabbed the phone and called my best friend.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew that B was impulsive and prone to self-sacrifice, but for him to be wandering around the city while fucking zombies ate everyone in sight made me vaguely uncomfortable… so I did the only thing I could think of. I texted him constantly, hoping each time I hit send that I would get a response just one more time.

Rationally, I knew that I should get in my car and drive to get him instead of making him walk all the way here, I just couldn’t bring myself to face the famished hoard that could strip the flesh from my bones faster than you can say ‘fuck’. Rationally, I knew that I should probably be doing something other than packing a bag and waiting impatiently by the door for the knock that would mean my best friend in the whole world was still alive. But, at this juncture, I really wasn’t too rational.

So, an hour after getting off the phone with B, when someone banged loudly on the door, I rushed to look through the peep hole as fast as I could get my legs to move. It wasn’t B.

It was my elderly neighbour, Mrs. Clark, looking uncommonly harried and… bloodstained. I nearly fell over trying to get away from the door, scrambling towards the hiding place behind the couch without even having to tell my body to do so. It was the most frightening experience I have ever lived through until that point. She just kept knocking herself against my door as though she could smell me on the other side and just couldn’t understand why the door wouldn’t magically disappear and allow her entrance. I couldn’t feel my body, but somehow during the trip behind the couch, I had grabbed a meat cleaver and was clutching it so tightly that my knuckles turned white. Atleast I might take a piece of poor Mrs. Clark with me when she finally succeeds in banging down my door.

And that’s when it stopped. The noise, my breath, my heart, the growling I could faintly hear through the tiny crack under my front door. Everything just stopped. And I knew that if I didn’t get out from behind my couch and find out with the fucking hell was going on, that I could never live with myself. So I got up, moved almost silently to the door and looked out the peep hole.

Mrs. Clark was ambling down the stairs and out into the parking lot, her bloody hands leaving a gory trail behind her. I shuddered.

Clang Smash Thud Scrape BANG BANG BANG

Someone had just vaulted up the stairs at an alarming speed and was knocking furiously at my door. I sighed in relief… B was finally here.