by Gouge, W. B.
Each large concrete block either smashed an entire head wide open or dealt a debilitating blow to one of the limbs of the creatures. Owen had broken one of the thing’s thighs causing it to try to crawl up the mound with no success, while another piece David launched smashed open the face of an older woman. She had crashed to the ground and spasmed around as the others hurdled her and continued their charge.
It was going well until the concrete supply ran out, all that was left was small piece not big enough to do any real damage and there were several infected left. David stood with his makeshift rebar club next to Owen at the point where the infected would reach the top and waited. They were coming up in a sort of line formation all desperately trying to find their footing in the rough terrain. David looked at Owen, “They have to come up headfirst, aim for the brain and don’t hold back!”
Owen nodded, “Switch hit?”
David nodded back, then the first came up. Owen brought his weapon straight down onto its head splitting it completely in two, then he pulled his rebar club out of the sticky mess as David brought his weapon down on the next one busting its forehead open and spilling brain and fluid onto its legs and chest. One of the bodies fell backwards knocking two other infected back to the bottom while the other fell straight down providing an obstacle for the next wave. The boys stood there swinging their weapons and smashing the infected to death one after another until only a few injured remained that were unable to climb the mound.
David couldn’t believe it, they had faced nearly two dozen infected and beat them. Until then they had only faced a few at a time and had only limited success, but now they had won. The two boys cheered and surveyed the carnage, the nasty, sticky messes of broken limbs and heads all covered in dark red and black slime littered the base of the mound. David and Owen carefully slid down and finished off the remaining infected before heading back to the garage.
David and Owen reached the front door of the shop and knocked on the glass. Roy appeared and let them in, “Holy shit! Did you guys kill all them things?” Roy asked.
David and Owen both ignored the question and instead David asked where Liz was. Roy pointed toward a door behind the counter of the small store and they all three hurried over to it. Halfway up the stairs Roy yelled to someone that they were coming up. David reached the top first and opened the wooden door. Inside was a small apartment, off to his right was a kitchen area with a small fridge, a sink and counter, and a small stove. On the left was a living area with a couch and television with a small coffee table between them. Liz was laying on the couch, David and Owen rushed over to her. She was still burning up, her skin was pale and sweaty and she was shivering. David pulled a blanket off the back of the couch and covered her up. Then he heard a somewhat familiar voice behind him, “Was she bitten?”
David turned to find his uncle Roy, his other uncle J.R. and J.R.’s wife Nancy. David shook his head, “No, she just got sick suddenly, we don’t know how she got it.”
“The T.V. said anyone who gets sick turns into one of those things out there.” J.R. said pointing to the window.
David nodded, “We’ve seen it happen, to my grandma…” David’s voice cracked as he spoke.
Roy and J.R. both became very uneasy. Roy asked first, “IS she ok?”
David looked at the floor, Edna, his grandmother was their mother. He couldn’t bring himself to tell them so he just shook his head to Roy’s question. Roy and J.R. looked upset, Roy just got quiet while J.R. wore an expression of sadness and anger. There was a long silence amongst the group as the television was the only sound in the small room. That’s when the news anchor appeared with a breaking report.
They all listened in, ‘We have disturbing news. I would like to apologize for adding this to the horrific recent events buts the situation have taken a turn for the worse. Russia, in an attempt to stop the flood of refugees into their lands has threaten to use their nuclear arsenal if necessary…” there was a long pause while the anchor read a piece paper in his hand, a grim look on his face.
Then he sighed and delivered the news, “Russia has launched several missiles, the U.S. government believes the missiles have enough range to reach the U.S. mainland and they also believe they are carrying nuclear payloads. We are heading to our fallout shelter now. Good luck and God bless you all…”
The screen changed to the emergency broadcast system. The group exchanged looks of worry and confusion. David couldn’t even imagine, after all that had happened, after everything they had survived that it would end like this.