World of Dead | Vol. 1 | Issue 3

by Johnson, Broderick

  Issue 3

  The light from the fire danced off of Kyra’s eyes as she watched the flames slowly consume their lake house. Her mother couldn’t keep the tears back even with baby Kassidy in her arms. Karen let out whimpers of sadness, but did her best to keep her crying to a minimum. They had all wept enough and it was time to let go.

  Kyra knew that, though. She was the one that had to talk some sense into her mother about that very topic. It was no longer safe at the lake house and, more importantly than that, it was now only a reminder of the pain of losing her father. Two nights prior, Kyra was attacked by some of the infected and her father came to her rescue, but was fatally injured in the process. Kyra knew that she would never forget what it felt like to watch him die on their couch.

  She also knew that she would never forget Jason, either. He was the man that saved Kyra from another attack by the infected out on the road during Kyra’s journey for more baby formula and supplies. Jason had sacrificed his own life to make sure that Kyra could return safely with baby formula for her little sister and Jason’s baby daughter.

  Upon her return home, Kyra wept in her mother’s arms for the first time since Kyra’s father and Jason had died. She was so shocked by what had happened that she hadn’t been able to let her emotions truly show. After allowing herself to mourn their losses, Kyra explained to her mother why she had left the lake house that day and how she had gotten more baby formula for Kassidy. She also explained Jason’s story and how he has a wife and baby that needs some formula as well.

  Together, they created a plan to honor Kyra’s father and Jason one last time before heading out onto the road to find Jason’s wife and take her and their baby to New York City. Jason had known of a place where they were taking people in to protect them from the infected and Kyra had promised to find it. Karen was hesitant to leave the lake house behind, but she had come to realize that they had no other option.

  As Kyra stood there, with the sun setting behind her, she watched the flames burn down the lake house knowing that her father’s body was still inside. Kyra found herself remembering that morning, however, when she had gone down to the lake to share some final words with her father.

  Keeping her footsteps quiet, just in case any of the infected were nearby, Kyra made her way down to the dock and sat at the edge. She glanced down at her reflection in the still morning water. What stared back at her was not the same sixteen-year-old girl that she was used to seeing in the mirror. In fact, she hardly recognized herself at all.

  Her hair was tied up into a ponytail, as it usually was, and her eyes were much like her father’s with their light brown color, but Kyra only saw pain behind the obsidian pupils. The mourning had passed for not only her father, but for Jason as well. Only the ashes of the pain of those moments remained, but that was enough for Kyra to show. She felt like she had aged years in a matter of hours.

  “Dad,” Kyra said softly as she glanced up to see the pink glow of the sunrise begin to show over the treetops, “I’m not sure if you can hear this. I’m not sure of anything anymore, to be honest. I wanted to say one last goodbye to you before we celebrate your life today. I don’t think I’ll be able to tell you this with mom and Kassidy around, so I’m doing it in privacy right now.

  “I have taken you for granted most of my life,” Kyra admitted, “Of course, it’s easy to say that I shouldn’t have, but it’s a lot harder to admit that it’s the truth. This new world that we live in has begun to teach me a lot. These past few days have been truly terrifying and that’s what bothers me the most.

  “I made you a promise. I said that I would protect mom and Kassidy and that I would do whatever it takes to make this a life worth living. I was lying to you at the moment, though, because I didn’t believe that I could do any of that. I know that it’s what you needed to hear and so I said it.”

  Kyra closed her eyes and allowed herself to take a few deep breaths. She opened them and looked back down at her reflection. The person that stared back was no longer a person in pain. It was no longer a person who had regrets. Kyra now stared into her own eyes and saw a person who was ready to take control of the situation. She was ready to lead her family to safety.

  “I am making you a new promise now, dad,” Kyra continued speaking to her father, “Your daughters will grow up in this living hell and we will learn to make it our world. Your wife will grow old as that happens and she will learn to appreciate the life that we have been given. A life given to us because of your sacrifice. I promise you that I will do whatever it takes to lead us in the right direction. We no longer need your protection. If you’re holding on to any of us now, I’m telling you, it’s okay to let go. You deserve peace.”

  Kyra was just about finished when she heard the footsteps coming from the trees. She turned her head and narrowed her eyes on one of the infected as it began to target her as prey. Unlike the times before, however, Kyra was no longer afraid. In fact, she smiled as the undead figure stumbled towards the dock.

  She wrapped her fingers around the head of the hatchet that she was keeping in her belt. Gripping it tightly, she pulled the weapon from its place and took a strong grip of the handle. Kyra rose to her feet and approached the monster. It snarled as it slowly walked towards her, allowing its teeth to show.

  What used to be an older man was now a dead, infected being with no intent other than to eat anything in its path. The man before was gone and had no brain control of its actions any longer. What remained had no place on this Earth and Kyra was about to make sure that was a fact.

  Once she was within a few feet of the monster, Kyra took a strong stride and rose her weapon as she did so. Using the momentum from her legs, she swung the hatchet as hard as she could and landed a blow to the head of the dead. The hatchet dug itself through the forehead of the old man and Kyra watched as its already dead eyes rolled backwards. Its arms fell limp and as the body began to crumble, Kyra pulled the hatchet back out.

  She glared into the dead eyes of the monster before saying softly, “We’re going to be okay, dad. I promise.”

  “It’s time,” Kyra said to her mother as they watched the fire continue to burn. Kyra grabbed her backpack and threw it into the back of the Jeep. Her mother and her had already loaded the supplies they believed they would need on their trip. Snacks, the remaining water bottles, and of course all of the formula from Jason’s electric truck.

  Originally, Kyra wanted to stick with driving Jason’s truck, but her mother talked her out of it. Although there weren’t many gas vehicles on the roads anymore, Karen knew that it was possible to syphon gas from other vehicles and that makes a gas powered engine more useful. Once the battery had died on the electric truck, they’d be forced to find a new vehicle entirely.

  Karen carried young Kassidy to her carseat in the back of the Jeep before settling into the driver seat. Kyra had told her mother about her drive home and, despite being concerned about her daughter driving alone on the road, Karen had a sense of pride in Kyra’s ability to adapt.

  Kyra gave her mother the directions necessary to find Jason’s home; get back to the main road and then drive, approximately, twenty miles deeper into upstate New York. The opposite direction of the market where Jason had died. Look for a white mailbox with a faded bird on the side and that would be his home.

  Karen had grown confidence in her daughter’s judgement and knew how important it was to find this man’s home. Although Karen hadn’t met Jason, she was appreciative of how he saved her daughter’s life and figured that she owed it to him to find his wife and daughter and take them with her own family.

  As they made their way down to the main road, the sun began to set deep into the h
orizon allowing the darkness of the night to set in. The orange aura of the lake house burning behind them began to glow brighter and brighter. The family was leaving behind everything they knew once and for all.

  The main road was as empty as it was when Kyra made her journey on it the day prior. Karen was having little trouble driving along. She hadn’t realized how quiet the world must’ve gotten since the outbreak. This was Karen’s first look at the road since they locked themselves up in the lake house.

  “Your father and I used to dream of roads like this,” Karen said to her daughter. Kyra grinned as she imagined the busy roads of the city. It was easy to remember the journeys through the city. Most of the time, the family took the subway when traveling due to all of the traffic. Karen continued, “I never realized how terrifying it would actually be to have such silence.”

  “It’s almost like you’re expecting to see something around every corner, right?” Kyra agreed. Karen giggled a little bit and looked over at her daughter to admire the moment. Kyra met her mother’s eyes with her own and smiled. She looked back at the road, however, and the smile quickly faded. Kyra shouted, “Mom, look out!”

  Karen, shocked, quickly looked back to see a man in the road. She turned the wheel of the Jeep, barely avoiding the man, and slammed on the brakes. Both Karen and Kyra looked out the window as soon as the vehicle came to a complete stop, but they quickly realized that the man was one of the infected.

  Suddenly, another one of the infected, a woman this time, smacked the driver side window. Karen let out a scream as she felt the panic building in her body. Kyra grabbed her mother by the arm as she tried to calm her down.

  “Don’t think about them,” Kyra said, “Just drive. We’re almost there.”

  Karen nodded and hit the gas. The Jeep took back off down the road, but it wasn’t long before Karen and Kyra began to notice more and more of the infected either on the road or walking along the side of it. Karen swerved in and out of little pockets of the dead as they walked along, however, she knew that they wouldn’t be able to maintain the route.

  Eventually, Karen had to slow the vehicle down as she continued to avoid running into the infected. She maintained a slow pace for as long as she could, but after making one last turn around a sharp corner Karen had to hit the brakes. The headlights of the Jeep settled in on a truly terrifying sight.

  Hundreds, if not thousands, of heads and bodies moving along in the road. They were headed towards the Jeep already, but as soon as the lights hit their eyes, the infected became focused. Almost in unison, the front of the pack extended their arms and began to reach for the hood of the Jeep. They wrapped around the side and began to grab at the windows, just trying to find something to gnaw at.

  “There’s thousands of them,” Karen said, weakly. She not only was panicking, but she was truly afraid and had no idea what to do, “Kyra, we can’t keep going. We have to turn around.

  Kyra felt calmer than she probably should’ve been. There was no doubt that she had fear pumping through her veins, but she had it under control which was a different feeling than what she was used to. However, even Kyra had to understand the situation. This wasn’t just a few of them, but rather hundreds that were coming towards their vehicle.

  Karen put the vehicle in reverse and turned to look out the rear window, but Kyra placed her hand on her mother’s arm. Kyra said, “Wait. How long have we been driving for?”

  “I’m not sure,” Karen answered quickly, “maybe thirty minutes? Kyra, we have to go back.”

  “We’re close,” Kyra responded. Karen looked at her daughter, in shock of what she was hearing.

  “We can’t move forward anymore,” Karen explained, “We have to start moving back if we want to make it out of this!”

  Kyra looked over at her mom and it became clear to Karen how serious her daughter was, “Mom, listen to me, I made a promise to Jason that I would find his wife and daughter. Even if we turn around, eventually we are going to run into more of these monsters going the other way. If we can’t drive around them, then we drive through them.”

  Karen shook her head, “I’m sorry, but we’re not going to make it through all of that. I want to make it to his wife and daughter just as badly as you do, but…”

  Kyra was impatient and she knew that the herd of the infected was surrounding them quickly. She looked out the windshield and watched as the eyes of the infected stared directly into the beams of light coming from the Jeep. It was as if a light bulb had gone off in her mind.

  “I need a t-shirt,” Kyra said, cutting her mother off. Karen’s mouth was still open from being mid-sentence in her argument when her daughter began reaching into the backseat to grab her backpack.

  Kyra pulled one of her t-shirts out from her pack and began to tie it into a ball. Karen wanted to argue with what her daughter was doing, but she didn’t even know what that was. She found herself staring as Kyra reached into the pack and pulled some lighter fluid out.

  “What are you doing?” Karen argued.

  “They’re attracted to light,” Kyra said. It was hard to ignore the slapping and banging on the windows from the infected, but Kyra knew that they couldn’t climb onto the hood of the car. She poured some lighter fluid into the ball of cotton that was her t-shirt and then proceeded to reach for the button that would open the sunroof of the Jeep.

  Karen grabbed her daughter’s hand and pleaded, “You’re not going to open that.”

  “I need you to trust me on this,” Kyra replied as she stared into her mother’s eyes, “Turn the car off.”

  “No,” Karen argued.

  “Mom, turn the car off,” she stated as she pulled away from her mother’s grip and pressed the button. The sunroof began to slide open as Kyra reached for the lighter from her bag. Karen looked around at the terrifying faces of the dead that were scratching and clawing at the glass. The urge to vomit began to rise in her stomach.

  Karen put the vehicle in park and pressed the ignition button to turn the car off. The headlights immediately followed suit, shutting off and leaving the previously lit group of infected in darkness. Kyra, in one fluid motion, unbuckled her seatbelt and popped herself halfway out of the sunroof. She quickly lit the t-shirt on fire and threw it as far as she could.

  Her mother grabbed her by the hips and pulled her back down into the cab of the Jeep before pressing the button to close the sunroof. Kyra, on the other hand, kept her eyes on the ball. It landed twenty or thirty feet from the Jeep, off of the side of the road near the trees.

  Almost as soon as it hit, the flames began to spread. The small ball of fire turned into a small bushfire that immediately drew the attention of the dead. Karen watched as the heads of the dead began to turn towards the rising fire. Slowly, they began to move towards it as they almost forgot about the Jeep entirely. A few of the infected that were closest to the windows kept their eyes on Karen and Kyra, but within minutes the hundreds of infected that were in front of them had move off of the road.

  Karen reached for the start button, but Kyra stopped her once again. “As soon as you turn those keys, you hit the gas and don’t stop for anything, okay?” Kyra said. Her mother was unsure of this plan, but they had made it this far so she chose to trust her daughter. She nodded in agreement.

  Pressing the button, the Jeep roared as it started. Every head that was focused of the fire turned to see the headlights of the Jeep ignite the road once again. Karen didn’t wait, though, as she put the Jeep in drive and hit the pedal. There were still dozens of the dead on the road, but that didn’t stop her.

  The sound of the bodies bouncing off of the front of the vehicle was enough to make somebody sick, but the shaking of the cab as Karen continued to run them over did it. Both Karen and Kyra could feel themselves wanting to yack, but they powered through. They didn’t have a choice.

  For what felt like an eternity, Karen kept her foot on the gas and did her best to navigate through the crowd. Kyra kept her eyes on the side of the road,
looking for the white mailbox described by Jason. Finally, she found it.

  “There it is!” Kyra shouted and her mother reacted. She turned the wheel, guiding the Jeep off of the main road and onto a dirt driveway. The crowd of the infected slowly began to follow them, however, and Kyra took notice. She knew that they wouldn’t have long to get Jason’s wife and daughter into the car.

  Karen quickly drove the vehicle up the dirt road until they found the house waiting for them at the end. Kyra reacted quickly, opening her door and moving towards the front door of the house. Her mother, as quickly as she could, pulled Kassidy from her carseat before beginning to follow Kyra.

  Arriving at the front door, Kyra reached for the door knob but found it locked and quickly began to pound of the front door of the home. She shouted, “Hey! Open the door!”

  “We don’t have long,” Karen said as she joined her daughter at the front door. She too began to bang on the door.

  Kyra began to worry. Maybe they were too late. She couldn’t see any light coming from within the home and there was no response to the pounding at the door. Kyra wasn’t sure if she should try to break the door down to get in, but she knew that if she did, it would leave them unprotected once inside.

  “Kyra,” her mother said, grabbing her attention, “we really need to hurry.”

  Kyra looked back and saw what her mother was talking about. The group of infected that had followed them down the driveway was closing in quickly. Kyra began to think about how to get Jason’s wife to respond. Once again, she pounded on the door.

  “I know Jason!” Kyra screamed, “I was sent here by Jason!”

  Almost instantly, Kyra could hear footsteps from a person running to the door. Seconds later, the door opened and Kyra found herself staring at a familiar face. It was a face that she had only seen in a picture, but Kyra felt as though she knew the woman.

  “Where is Jason?” the woman said. Her face showed immense stress, and rightfully so, as she had been waiting for her husband for more than a day.