Urban Decay

by Paxton Matthews

  "Damn Silvie, what the hell took you so freakin long!" The burly guy asked.

  "Not right now Jack. Lisa's hurt," Silvie replied. She crouched near the entrance and helped another woman into the CVS. This woman was tall blonde and skinny wearing a denim jean jacket and blue jeans. The right sleeve had been lifted up and she was clutching at her arm. Theo could see the blood seeping through her fingers.

  The last of their group was a lanky guy with light brown hair. He was wearing a light gray jacket and black pants. He grabbed Lisa and carried her over to the pharmacy area and laid her down on top of the counter.

  "Shit, what the hell happened out there?" Jack asked the rest of them.

  "One of the rotters, it grabbed Lisa and bit her on the arm," Silvia replied.

  Theo watched from the shadows as the tall lanky guy searched for some bandages. "It's okay honey, you're going to be alright. I'll patch you up," the man said.

  "Help her out Marty!" Jack yelled.

  Theo looked down at the duffel bag and at the sutures and bandages he had taken. Maybe he could help out Lisa, and in turn, these people could help out Macey? "Just sneak out of here Theo. You have to get back to Macey right away," He thought.

  Silvia and Marty pulled Lisa's jacket off and examined the wound on her arm. "Oh man, that rotter got her good," Silvia said.

  "Shut up!" Jack screamed at her.

  "Jack please, she's just trying to help," Marty pleaded.

  "It's her damn fault this happened!" Jack shouted at Silvia.

  "No, it's not!" Marty screamed back. "We all agreed to head out and try and find some food."

  That was Theo's cue. He emerged from out behind the shelves with his hands in the air, trying to appear as un-threatening as possible. "Maybe I can help?"

  Silvia, Jack, and Marty all trained their weapons on Theo. "Who the hell are you?" Jack demanded to know.

  "Relax, I just needed some medical supplies for my friend, she's hurt badly. I needed stitches and some band-"

  "That's ours! Give it back!" Jack shouted.

  Silvia lowered her pistol and gave Jack an irritated look. "Seriously? The guy doesn't mean any harm. Just let him go."

  "Yeah Jack," Marty added.

  Jack cocked his shotgun and aimed it at Theo's chest, "Spill that bag on the floor right now, that's our stuff!"

  "No," Theo answered. "I'm getting this stuff to my friend. Look, I can tell Mr. Personality over here is going to be a problem, so maybe if you two could talk some sense into him or something, that would be great. But I'm leaving with this stuff, and I am getting back to my friend."

  Jack started to move towards Theo with his shotgun aimed squarely at Theo's chest. "Empty that damn bag. I'm not telling you again. Empty that bag and then you can leave. That's our stuff. I'm not gonna tell you again."

  Before Theo could make a decision, Lisa screamed out in pain. The group ran over to her. Theo thought about taking off out of the store, but he'd never crawl out in time.

  "What happened to her?" Theo asked.

  "One of the dead people bit her arm," Silvia replied.

  Theo shook his head. "Damn."

  "What?" Jack asked.

  "Who knows what kind of virus these things carry."

  Jack shoved Theo to the ground. "Hey asshole, that's my sister!"

  Marty helped Theo up from the floor. "And that's my wife, Jack. And he does have a point."

  Lisa began to convulse on the pharmacy counter and then stopped moving; she was gone.

  Marty began to weep uncontrollably. He knelt down beside the counter and hugged his now deceased wife. Jack stared vacantly at the ground while Silvie could only shake her head. Theo knew better than to say any empty platitudes to the group. That wouldn't bring much comfort to begin with. He tried to back out slowly and slip out of there. Macey was running out of time.

  "Where the fuck do you think you're going?" Jack asked Theo. "I told you asshole, empty that bag."

  "And I told you no. My friend needs these things. I'm leaving, and I can guarantee you that you'll never see my bony ass again," Theo answered.

  "Jack, just let him go," Marty said.

  "Yeah, Jack. He's not bothering anyone. There's more than enough bandages and medicine here," Silvia said.

  "Shut up, bitch," Jack barked at Silvia.

  Theo considered cracking Jack upside the head with his crowbar, but Jack was too far away. It appeared as if Theo would have no choice but to empty the duffel bag and leave. He was screwed either way, as would be Macey. Theo took the bag from around his shoulder and prepared to empty the contents on the floor.

  Lisa sat up and looked around the room. Theo noticed her eyes immediately; the beige, murky, vacant stare greeted everyone in the room.

  "Oh shit," Theo muttered.

  "L-Lisa?" Marty asked his wife.

  "Get away from her!" Theo said.

  "What?"

  "She's one of the corpses. Get away."

  "Screw you!" Jack screamed. "That's my sister!" Jack pointed his shotgun at Theo and prepared to fire.

  Theo ducked just as Jack squeezed the trigger. The shotgun pellets hit some of the shopping carts at the front of the CVS.

  Theo pulled the pistol out from the back of his pants, flicked the safety off and fired three rounds into Jack's midsection. Jack clutched at his abdomen and dropped to the floor across from Theo, he spit up some blood, let out a low gurgling sound and died.

  Marty, distracted by what just transpired forgot about his now undead wife. She rose up from the counter and grabbed her husband from behind and bit down into the right side of Marty's neck. Marty spun away from his wife and produced a small revolver from his coat pocket and aimed it at Lisa's head. But he didn't fire.

  "Marty, shoot her," Silvia pleaded.

  "I can't, that's my wife," Marty answered. Blood was oozing from the wound in his neck. He pressed his hand up to the wound in a futile attempt to stop the bleeding. Lisa swallowed the piece of flesh that she had bitten from her husband and jumped off of the counter and rushed towards Marty. Silvia brought her pistol up and prepared to fire.

  Theo, realizing all of the gunfire was bound to attract more of the undead to them, tried to stop her, "No don't!" But it was too late, Silvia fired twice, hitting Lisa in the shoulder with both shots.

  Lisa leaped up onto Marty, biting into his face. Marty stumbled backward falling to the ground with Lisa on top of him tearing away pieces Marty's flesh with her teeth.

  Silvia ran to try and help, but Theo grabbed her. "It's pointless. Let's get out of her while we still can." He knew they had to get going, he could hear the undead outside beginning to converge on the store.

  "You'd take me with you?" Silvia asked Theo.

  Theo nodded. "Yeah. If you want to that is. I've got to get going, like right now."

  "Okay."

  "Grab whatever it is you need. Is there a different way out of here besides the front?"

  Silvia pointed to the back of the pharmacy, "Right there. Emergency exit."

  "Good. Get what you need and let's go. The dead things will be here any minute."

  Silvia and Theo jumped over the counter and Theo kept an eye on the entrance of the store while Silvia grabbed her things. She didn't need to take much, only a small cinch bag and a machete that she kept in her sleeping bag.

  As the two of them started for the exit door, the stacks of shopping carts came crashing down; the undead were inside. Then there was a deep growling sound. Jack sat up and locked eyes with Theo.

  "Oh you cannot be serious!" Theo said.

  Jack got to his feet and rushed towards the pharmacy along with several other corpses that were filing into the CVS.

  Silvia took Theo by the hand and began to pull him towards the back door. "I thought we had to get going?"

  Theo would have liked nothing more than to level Jack in the face a few times with the crowbar, but Silvia was right. As Jack and the other rotters made it to the counter, Theo and Silvia were
out of the emergency exit and running away from the building.

  "Where the hell are we going?" Silvia asked.

  Theo pointed to the alleyway, "This way, follow me."

  Silvia and Theo ran as fast as they could until they were a few blocks away from the CVS. They didn't care if there were any undead nearby, they just kept running, wanting to get as far away from the store as they could. Finally, Theo stopped to get a breath.

  He leaned up against the back wall of one of the buildings and extended his right hand towards Silvia. "I'm Theo by the way," He said in between deep breaths. "Theo Kinkaid."

  Silvia shook Theo's hand, "Silvia. Silvia Weaver. You can call me Silvie if you'd like."

  "Okay, Silvie."

  "So, where exactly are we going?"

  "Well, if I'm not mistaken, we're close to my place. It's a house in the middle of the block. My two friends are there, one of them is hurt pretty bad."

  "Yeah, you mentioned something back at the pharmacy. What's up?"

  "She got a real bad cut from when one of the dead pricks attacked her. She's bleeding pretty badly."

  "That's a good one, 'dead pricks' I like that."

  "Thanks. What were you guys calling them again?"

  "Rotters."

  "That's a good one too."

  "I thought of that one myself. You know since they're dead and all that."

  Theo nodded in agreement. "Yeah, and they really don't smell the greatest do they?"

  "Ha. No, they do not."

  Theo managed to get his wind back, and his legs stopped throbbing, it was time to get moving again.

  "Here's the part that's gonna suck major ass," Theo told Silvie.

  "What?"

  "We're going to have to cross the avenue."

  "Oh wonderful," Silvia said sarcastically. "Have you seen how awful it is?"

  "Yeah, but we don't have much of a choice, and my friend's running out of time. Let's go, we have to see how bad the road is."

  Theo led Silvie out of the alley and around the building. The two of them peered up and down the avenue as they hid behind some debris on the sidewalk. There were too many rotters in the street for them to bypass and sneak around. It looked like there were twenty to thirty corpses mulling around that section of the avenue. Fearing that they would be spotted, Theo and Silvie retreated back into the alleyway.

  "Okay, so we need a plan," Silvia told Theo.

  "Yeah, and I'm fresh out of ideas and damn near out of time," Theo answered.

  "I dunno if you noticed, but these things aren't that smart."

  "Yeah, they're like me, easily distracted."

  "So we just distract them somehow."

  "Got anything shiny? That usually works on me."

  "Nope, sorry, fresh out of shiny objects."

  "I've done it before, with this pistol here. I had to fire off a few rounds to lure them out of my place."

  "I don't think we should do that Theo. I don't have much ammo left."

  Theo spotted a large rock in the middle of the alley, around the size of a softball. "How good's your throwing arm?"

  Silvia found a large chunk of concrete, her and Theo snuck back to the avenue. "What are we doing?" Silvie whispered.

  Theo pointed to a small storefront across the street from them, "See that store? Chuck these rocks through the front windows. I'm hoping that the glass breaking will get the rotters' attention. If they take the bait, we run like hell to that street over there," Theo replied, pointing to the road that ran perpendicular to the avenue. "Then we duck in between some of the houses."

  "Theo, I'm kind of confused."

  "Screw it, just stay close to me," With that, Theo got up, and hurled the stone across Michigan Avenue at the building directly opposite him and Silvie. Silvie let rip as well. The two stones hurtled through the sky, crashing through the large pane of glass, shattering it into a thousand pieces. The noise from the glass breaking was enough to alert the nearby corpses. The rotters charged towards the store.

  "Now," Theo whispered to Silvie.

  The two of them bolted down the sidewalk towards the road named Central. Theo and Silvia made a quick left down the street, almost crashing right into a corpse that was stumbling around. The rotter reached out towards the two of them, but it was beaten back by Theo with a well-placed crowbar swing to the jaw. Before it could get back to its feet, Silvie stomped on the rotter's forehead, caving in its skull.

  Theo and Silvia ran in between two houses and jumped into the backyard of one of the homes for a quick breather.

  Theo motioned to the alley behind the garage, "This alley will take us all the way to my place."

  "Good. I'm getting awfully sick of running."

  "Yeah me too."

  After checking to see if the alley was clear of the undead, Theo and Silvia made their way down towards the house. Theo tried to jog the rest of the way but his legs would have none of it, they were just too sore.

  "My friend Erica, she's in here taking care of our pal Macey," Theo said to Silvie.

  "Erica and Macey, okay. I got it," Silvia answered.

  They hopped into the backyard and up to the back door. Erica had moved the fridge back in place to keep any corpses out.

  Theo tapped on the back door with the crowbar. "Erica, it's me." He stood there, waiting, hoping Erica and Macey were okay.

  Theo heard the fridge being pushed aside, Erica opened the back door. Theo saw Erica's formerly white t-shirt now saturated with Macey's dried blood.

  "Macey?" Theo asked Erica.

  "I managed to stop the bleeding. She still needs the stitches," Erica answered.

  Theo handed Erica the duffel bag with the sutures and bandages. Theo motioned for Silvie to come in the house. Theo ran over to Macey who was at this point, beyond pale. Macey was breathing, although very quiet.

  "She's lost a lot of blood," Erica whispered. "If you didn't notice."

  Theo didn't answer, he just looked at Erica and then to Silvie. He was about to introduce the two of them, but he couldn't muster the words. Suddenly, everything went black. The last thing Theo remembered was falling backward.

  Chapter 10

  "Theo? You still with us?" A disjointed voice asked him. Theo couldn't tell whose it was at first. "Theo?" Then he felt a few light slaps on both of his cheeks.

  Theo opened his eyes and was greeted by the living room ceiling.

  "There you are. Damn, you sure passed the hell out," Erica said to him.

  "How's Macey?" Theo managed to spit out.

  Erica nodded. "Doing fine. Your new friend helped me stitch her up. Macey's resting on the couch."

  Theo sat up and saw Silvie sitting next to a stretched out Macey who was wrapped in a blanket with a washcloth on her forehead.

  Erica patted Theo on the back, "You did good, Theo. Fantastic."

  "Erica, I shot a guy. I killed him."

  "I know, Silvie told me everything that went down at the pharmacy. You had to do it."

  "It wasn't like taking out one of the corpses. This felt different."

  "Theo, Jack was about to kill you. You had no choice," Silvie reminded him. "Believe me, Theo, he won't be missed."

  Theo didn't want to laugh at that, but he couldn't help himself. "I knew I was gonna like you," He said to Silvia.

  "Down boy," Erica joked.

  Theo got up from the floor and went and sat down at the kitchen table. "How did you even meet that guy, Silvia?"

  "Lisa and Marty. They were my neighbors. When all of this garbage began, we had been holed up in their basement. A few days later, Jack showed up with a few of his buddies. Buncha assholes. Anyway, Jack kinda took command of the group and convinced us all to hit the road, try to get to some kind of military aid station that may or may not have existed. Thanks to Jack's wonderful 'leadership' it was down to just us four from the original nine in our group."

  "Whoa," Erica muttered.

  "Exactly. I was about to try and convince Lisa and Marty to ditch J
ack. Leave him there in the pharmacy and strike out on our own. We were rooting through a nearby coney island when one of the rotters bit Lisa on the arm. That's when we ran into Theo."

  Theo began to wonder about what had happened to both Lisa and Jack. "I think this shit is caused by bites."

  "What?" Erica asked.

  "Well Lisa was bitten, right? She turned into one of the rotters. I've seen it happen to my buddy Mel when all of this began too. A lot of those things have bite marks all over them now that I think about it."

  "What about Jack?" Silvie asked. "He wasn't bitten. As far as I know."

  "Yeah, that's right."

  "Maybe it's caused by both?" Erica suggested.

  "Not that it matters," Silvie told Theo and Erica. "It's starting to make my head spin."

  Theo remembered another unfortunate item that they would have to deal with. "Okay, what about the dead fuck that's in the bedroom down the hall? I'm assuming you guys didn't take care of that while I had my impromptu nap?"

  "We were kinda busy, Theo," Erica answered, pointing to Macey.

  "What are you talking about, Theo?" Silvie asked.

  "Come on, I'll show you," Theo replied.

  Theo led Silvia down the hallway and opened the bedroom door. The stench of death and rot hit them immediately, Silvia covered her mouth in order not to vomit.

  "Real cutie pie, isn't he?" Theo said.

  Silvia looked at the rotting monstrosity laying in a pool of coagulated blood on the bedroom floor. "Damn, he's a big un, huh?"

  "Yeah, and we have to get him out of here right away and seal off this window."

  "Theo just had to go on and spoil the lovely afternoon we were having," Erica said.

  "Yeah, I tend to do that."

  "I really don't wanna go anywhere near this thing," Silvia told Theo and Erica.

  "Too bad, you gotta help," Erica replied.

  "Since I risked life and limb to get Macey the sutures, and discovered the lovely Silvia, I'm not going anywhere near that dude's head. I'll grab a leg," Theo told the ladies.

  "Yay, we're gonna get rotter goop all over us," Silvia told Erica.