****
A man arrived at the entrance of Andreas Road. He stopped for a second, staring down the road. He couldn't believe it, he made it, he saw the house he was looking for at the end of the cul-de-sac. The white house with green shutters. He started walking down the street.
The man looked like crap. He had choppy stubble, there was dirt on his face, clothes, and hands. He had cuts on his cheek and hands, ripped clothes, blood splatters on his shirt. And messy, unwashed hair. He almost looked like he could be a zombie. But the way he carried himself, it was clear he wasn’t. He had a limp, a pistol, a knife, and a backpack.
The man got to the white house, sighed, smiled, and knocked. Nobody answered, he knocked harder, still nothing. Then he heard a faint hint of a voice in the backyard, he made his way around the corner of the house, and saw the backs of a group of six people. A pretty brunette girl was fighting through tears while reading a letter. He stood on the back deck, unnoticed, and listened.
“... For everything you’ve done for me, for always being there for me. When I needed a shoulder to cry on, when I needed a best friend, when I needed your love, and when I needed your bravery because I was too scared. You always came through. For all of that, and more, I-” her voice cracked, she sobbed for a moment before continuing, “ I will always love you, Bobby.”
“That was BEAUTIFUL!” Bobby said from the deck.
Chapter 37
The gang started at him, dumbfounded. A few gasps were heard, but other than that they were silent. Bobby and his smug face knew this would be their reaction. He began walking toward them.
“I mean WOW!” Bobby continued, “I’m tearing up, that could be a movie monologue or something. Really beautiful stuff babe. I love you too.” Jordyn started to charge after him.
“WAIT! Wait.” He yelled, taking off his camouflage fleece, “zombie blood on this.” He threw it in the hole they made, covering the letters and notes about his death as if they were meaningless pieces of paper, which they were, now. Jordyn jumped into his chest and buried her face on his shoulder.
“Your Nomar card is in there.” Tommy said.
“Son of a BITCH!”
“H-... How? How did you?...” Tommy stammered.
Bobby shrugged off Jordyn for a second, pulled the backpack around and took out an unopened bottle of whiskey.
“We have some catching up to do.”
Chapter 38
Day 1
“Can I shower first? It’s been days and I’m covered in dirt and blood.”
“No.” Tommy said flatly.
“Fine. Is that a dog?”
“Yes his name’s Bobby, tell the story.”
“Oh… Weird ‘cause I’m alive and all. So, I took off down the road, ready to do it, you know? I didn’t want to turn into a zombie because I would’ve kicked all of your asses. Anyways, I thought about how great my life was, I was ready to go. And then as I pulled the pin of the grenade... I don’t know, I guess I chickened out. I tossed it and the flare about five yards away and took off into the woods. And that’s how I learned how grenades work. I never really thought about the logistics I just thought they were tiny explosions, and I have heard of the term shrapnel before, but I never put two and two together I guess?
A piece of shrapnel ripped into the back of my shoulder. I’m surprised you didn't hear my scream, it hurt like hell. But I knew the grenade didn’t kill all of the zombies, so I kept going. But the pain, and imminent chasing zombies, and the pitch black woods really threw me off my course. Before I knew it I had lost all sense of direction, there were just woods in every direction. I had no idea if I had turned and how sharply, etc. But I was gassing out, and there were still a few zombies on my tail.
I didn’t want to shoot for a couple reasons. We learned the hard way guns are very loud, I didn’t want to bring the zombie calvary back towards me. Also, I know this may sound cheesy, but if you guys heard my gunshots, I was worried you would come looking for me instead of focusing on getting home. We really should have gotten silencers, huh? But I couldn’t put you guys at that risk. Great freaking job getting home by the way. I’m damn proud.
So I don’t know if you noticed, but after killing that zombie that bit me, that bastard, I put the knife in my sheath. I don’t know if it was just instinct that put it there or what but I felt it there while I was running. At a certain point I glanced around, and only three were following me. It had gone on long enough, there was nothing else I could do but fight. I stopped running, turned and lunged toward them, I stabbed the closest one in the forehead with an overhead swing, took the knife out, slashed to the right and got the second in the temple. The third was really short, I took the knife out again and did like an uppercut motion with the knife, and it went through his neck and out the back of his head. That’s how I have all this blood on me. I wiped off the blood from the knife on some leaves and-”
“Wait, stop.” Tracey interrupted, “How are you not a zombie at this point?”
“Oh, good point I forgot that part. To be honest, I have no idea. I’m not a zombie infection expert or doctor or anything. Maybe it didn’t get me enough. Maybe some people are just immune? I have no idea, but at that point I realized I wasn’t infected so it pushed me even harder to keep going.
But like I said before, at this point I have no idea where the hell I am, it’s all just dark and woods. No sense of direction. And the last zombie I killed, he let out like a loud wail, and I heard other zombies somewhere in the area. So I climbed a tree. I know I know, seemed stupid even as I was doing it, if they see me or smell me or something I’m just a sitting duck. But I climbed really high up there, I couldn’t even see the ground. I heard a couple zombies come by but no groans or anything that would indicate they knew I was up there. So I just sat on this thick branch and leaned against the trunk. I stayed up there all night.”
Day 2
“I was up for most of the night, just sitting on my branch, having a blast. But at some point I drifted off and slept. Totally on accident, have no idea how long it was for. But I didn’t have rope or anything to tie me down, so I woke up as I was falling off the branch. I was barreling down, hitting branches, that’s how I have all of these scrapes and rips in my clothes. Luckily, I was able to grab onto a branch before hitting the ground so I didn’t, ya know, die?
Again I don’t know how long I was awake or asleep but at this point it was morning and I could see again. Which was awesome, unfortunately I only saw woods, just woods everywhere. It was cloudy, so I didn’t know which direction the sun was rising. It was also freezing, oh my god it was so cold the whole time. I picked a direction and started walking, and I found nothing. I walked and walked and it was all just woods. It was… hours, a lot of hours. Maybe I was walking in circles? I felt like I was walking straight but I know that’s a thing with getting lost in the woods. I don’t know, but I hate the woods, I’m never going back to woods, ever. I only saw one zombie the whole day, killed him too. He was massive too, write that down.
I knew it had to be almost night by this point, and I finally found a road. It wasn’t Devon Hill, I could just tell, too neat. So I still didn’t know where I was. I started walking along it, knowing something would turn up eventually. And I found a house, maybe more a cabin than house, it was pretty small, dark, isolated. I didn’t want to sleep in a tree again so I went up and knocked, and it was NOMAR GARCIAPARRA! No just kidding, it was empty. It was just one room, a cot in one corner, a kitchen in another, a toilet sectioned off with a curtain, and a rocking chair, which was next to a shelf with books. No running water, the toilet was a real toilet except inside was just a giant hole to nowhere. So I made myself at home.
And by made myself at home, I mean taking out a piece of shrapnel out of my shoulder. I had probably left it in for too long already, I’m lucky I didn’t get an infection or something. So I looked around the house for some alcohol. For the wound, to disinfect it, and for my mouth.”
“Was it ble
eding too?” Nick asked. People shot him a look for interrupting.
“No, for drinking, I knew it was going to hurt like hell. I found a treasure trove of an alcohol stash in one of the cabinets. Like this nice whiskey, I told myself it would be a special treat for finally getting home to you guys. I used vodka for my shoulder, and tequila for myself.
I poured some vodka on the wound, and reached around. It was tough to even reach the spot on my shoulder where it entered. I had to like throw my left arm behind my shoulder, my arm was kind’ve choking me the whole time. But, wait Melanie close your ears I know you’re squeamish… I dug my fingers into my own damn body, found the piece of metal and ripped it back out. And it hurt… a lot. I felt more blood running down my back, and I started to feel light-headed. I poured more vodka down my shoulder, and found a towel that I wrapped around my shoulder, under my armpit, and tied really tight. So yeah if you could look at that later Jordyn and make sure it’s not a total mess that’d be great.
I had a couple more swigs of tequila for pain-killing purposes, and raided the fridge. It wasn’t running, so nothing in there was cold and there were some rotten smells. There were a couple gallon jugs of water, which I hadn’t had all day. I probably should’ve drank that before the tequila. I found some granola bars, ate eleven of them, and then did some inventory.
I lost my assault rifle at some point. Maybe way back when the zombie bit me I’m not sure. But I still had my pistol, 4 magazines for it, the knife, another grenade, another flare, and the backpack full of groceries. I know I had more important things to worry about but for some reason I didn’t ditch the backpack. Felt like it didn’t hold me back too much. Also why was I carrying two flares for this mission? Flares? What good are flares?
I lay down on the cot with the pistol next to me, and drifted off. I was out for a while, at least it felt like it. But at some point I heard something outside, leaves crunching or something I don’t know, but I woke up. I grabbed the gun and went to the one window by the front door. It was hard to see because it was so dark, but a large group of zombies were moving directly toward the cabin. There was no way they could’ve known I was there. I was dead silent. But they kept moving towards it. Maybe other people have set up shop there before me? So now they just always check there?
I didn’t want to shoot because they were still pretty calm, and I didn’t want to bring any more zombies to the area. But there were too many to stab ‘em all, and they were definitely coming to the cabin. Wait is Melanie still covering her ears?
Tommy pulled her ears down, “Am I ok now?” She asked.
“That was like minutes ago.” Bobby said.
“Nobody told me to put them back down.”
“Ok, quick catch-up, I’m in the cabin still, zombies are approaching the cabin. I don’t think they knew I was there, so I was thinking I could start off hot and take a couple out before they realize what’s happening. Ambush them. I waited for them to get about 10 feet from the cabin, and opened fire. I got four in the head before they came to. I didn’t count but I think there were about seven left. I kept shooting out the window, took two more out, but they were swarming now, and already at the door. Then I saw even more coming from across the street. I don’t know how many, but a bunch. Two came up to the window, and I shot them, but it was only a matter of time before they got through the door. I reloaded and backed up against the back wall.
That’s when I saw a second window, behind the toilet curtain. I hadn’t noticed it before. But no zombies were coming towards it. I grabbed my backpack, tossed it through the window, and climbed through it. It was a tight fit but I slipped out. I wanted to stay with the road, so I was NOT about to run back into the woods. I’d rather get eaten by the zombies than get lost in the woods again. I’m serious. I crept around the house and peaked around the corner. And there was a dogpile trying to get through the door. Like 20 of them all pushing the one in front of them. The one actually at the door might be squished to death at this point. But it was perfect, they were all together, and didn’t notice me. So I took the other grenade, pulled the pin, and tossed it around the corner. This time I hid behind the house so I wouldn’t get hit by my own damn grenade. The explosion went off, and I bolted down the road. I didn’t hear any chasing me, and after a half mile or so I turned around and didn’t see any following me. This night probably sounds pretty bad, but oh god wait until I get to the next night.
Day 3
I ran along the road for a while, and about an hour or so later it started to get brighter and brighter out. Still no sun, still freezing cold. After a while the road started to have more going on. I started to see houses, and developments, and even a few small plazas. But I still didn’t recognize any of it. Then I finally saw something I knew, Smithson East High School, home of the goddamn Raiders. Man I hated them, they thought they were so freaking cool. Ugh. But I’ve played there many times, and I kind’ve remembered my way home from there. But I also remember it being about a twenty minute drive, over 10 miles.
I started jogging towards home, and the things I passed all looked vaguely familiar, although I remember them being less ravaged by zombies. But I was on the right track home. My body was in shambles. I was so sore in so many places that they almost canceled out. Like my neck was sore but I didn’t feel it because of my elbow, but I didn’t feel my elbow because my ankle was in so much pain, but I didn’t feel that cause of my shoulder. It all just blended into one fatiguing ball of pain, and I started to be numb to all of it.
Maybe worse than all the pain and soreness was the cold. It had to be in the negatives with wind chills. That camo shirt is long sleeve, thick, and fleece on the inside, but it is definitely not a jacket. Every time the wind blew it stopped my breathing in its tracks. It was miserable. I knew I would have to find shelter overnight. There were enough houses on the way that I wasn’t too worried about it. But I wanted to cover as much ground as possible throughout the day.
I alternated between jogging and walking. The jogging helped warm me up a little, and obviously I covered more ground that way. But my overall fatigue and injuries, especially the ankle, wouldn’t let me run nonstop. Traveling throughout the day let me cover most of the distance though, and roads started to look more and more familiar.
After another long, freezing day of limping my way home, it was starting to get dark, and I knew I was going to have to break into one of these houses soon. But that decision got a lot easier when I heard a whistle to my left. I looked over to see a woman peering out of a barely cracked open door. She stuck her arm out of the crack and waved me over.
I was a little creeped out, but I figured if these people had been living in there, like we have at home, that they would know what they were doing by now. Hopefully they’d have some food, heat, etc. I walked up the steps to the front door of the house. She let me through and quickly closed the door behind me.
There were two more inside, a middle aged man, presumably her husband, and a gargantuan sized kid. The man was bald and wrinkly, maybe a smoker. The kid looked about twenty, twenty years old and twenty people inside of him. He had to be 6’5’’ 350 pounds.
‘You must be freezing,’ the woman said, ‘go ahead and sit by the fire, I’ll make you some hot cocoa.’
‘I’m surprised I didn’t smell the fire from outside.’ I said.
‘We get that a lot, I guess the chimney is too tall, the zombies don’t smell it either.” the husband said.
We get that a lot should have been a red flag. I’m an idiot, I assumed they meant from their friends or family, pre-zombie apocalypse. But I was just so excited to warm up by a fire and drink something warm. I sat right up against the fireplace, my hands felt like melting ice cubes. It was amazing.
The woman came back and sat a pot of water into the actual fire. She set it down next to the logs. We sat there in silence for a bit, before she took it out, poured in the cocoa mix, and stirred it for me.
‘Here you go, dear.’ She said, handing
the mug to me. It was delicious. It was almost burning hot but it felt like it was warming my whole body. I finished the drink in only a minute.
“Sleep tight.” The fat kid chuckled.
“W-What?” I stammered, and fainted....
I woke up hours later, my hands duct taped to the back of a kitchen chair. My back was to the fireplace, which may have been meant to be intimidating, but I loved it. After 3 days in the freezing cold, if I’m going to be duct taped to a chair, at least have it be next to a fire, ya know?
There wasn’t anybody in the room, but I guess they heard me stir, because moments later the three of them came in.
‘What the hell are you doing?’
‘We’re sorry, dear,’ the woman said, ‘we feel just awful whenever we have to do this.’
‘Have to do what?’ I said, the fat kid stared at me with this creepy smile.
‘Well,’ the husband started, ‘the zombies have been so kind as to not eat us, and we think it’s because we help them out from time to time.’
‘I could do without the ambiguity.’
‘Funny,’ the husband said with a chuckle, ‘You’re funny. Whenever we get a chance... we sacrifice someone to the zombies.’
‘Are you kidding me? You are a dumbass, a DUMBASS’ I yelled, ‘You don’t need to sacrifice people you sick dumbass, just stay in your damn house and be quiet and they won’t even know you’re here! That’s what we do.’
‘I’m sure you do, people say anything when they’re tied to that chair.’
‘Yeah no shit, you’re about to kill them.’
‘If we appease them, they leave us alone, it’s as simple as that.’
‘Then give them your fatass son, that’ll keep them fed for a couple years’ The kid’s creepy smile dropped. The dad came over and punched me in the the jaw.
‘You’re going to pay for that.’ I said.
The Fortress Page 17