by Aaron Guerra
Sarah ended up saying, “It’s hell on earth, that’s what this is. We can try to sugar coat what’s happening in our town, but the truth is that this is just going to get worse down the road. Half of me wants to just give up and die on the road. But the other half wants to learn what‘s behind all of this crazy shit.” Jen didn’t like the way Sarah explained her feelings on the subject. She just turned away to look out the window, but the houses that she could make out in the dark looked abandoned already.
Sarah decided to look out the window as well, but she couldn’t see any activity within the neighborhood. It was quiet, and that dreadful smell wasn’t anywhere near them. She had moved her hand into her back pocket to see if her house keys were still there, but they weren’t.
“Darn it! I must’ve dropped my keys this morning when Erik was chasing me down the long road. The keys to my truck were with them,” she said with a dissatisfied look. Jen looked at Sarah and shook her head in disbelief.
“You mean that Erik became one of those monsters? But How?” Jen had asked. The officer in the passenger’s seat looked up while remembering the events that happened earlier in the day.
“Harvey and George were out in the field when they were attacked by the first ones,” Sarah had said quietly to her friend. “They looked like they were injured from the wreckage that we found out there.” Jen scooted a little closer, since the story she was hearing caught her interest. “They attacked and killed the two, then one of them came after me when Erik left me behind. I tell you, I always knew he was a chicken shit asshole,” Sarah had said while looking down to her tired legs. The image of Erik chasing her down the long road caused her body to shake out of no where. The sound of him growling and biting behind her made the hairs on her neck stand up. “I killed him. I stabbed Erik in the head with Billy Joe’s hunting knife,” said Sarah. Jen couldn’t help but place a hand over her own mouth when she heard what happened to the others. She slowly moved closer to Sarah and placed her head on her arm to get comfortable again.
“We’re going to die, aren’t we?” Jen had asked. Sarah’s eyes widened from the words that Jen had just said to her. The little girl she met earlier that day said the same thing. She placed her hand over Jen’s and held it tightly, which helped calm herself down.
“No, we’re going to survive this. We’re all going to survive,” said Sarah.
Inside the two story house, James was searching all around to find his mother. But all he could find was blood stains that were all over the walls. He couldn’t detect the smell that the other’s made earlier. It was no where to be found in any of the rooms. James soon fell to his knee’s when he found a portrait of his mother on the floor. It was his mother and him back when he was just a little boy. The picture had the two holding each other while James’s father took the photo. It was the last family trip they took together before his father was shot on duty that year. The officers told James that his father was a hero, that’s when he knew he wanted to be just like him.
After having a few moments to himself, he decided to go back outside to return to the women in the car. But he ended up standing at the doorway for another moment. It was clear to him that he was too late. Those devilish monsters had taken her away already. Somewhere, she was out there, attacking others. When he got to the vehicle, he found the two sleeping inside. They awoke quickly when they heard a tap on the window. Jen had got up off the driver’s seat and sat back down beside Sarah. The officer opened the door and got in. Sarah looked at her partner, then to his hands when he placed them on the steering wheel. They had fresh blood on them.
“James, were you bit?!” Sarah had asked him. He glanced at her before looking back at his hands.
“No, this isn’t mine,” he said. “I believe…it’s my mother’s blood.” Jen had placed her hand on his shoulder after he let that out.
“Did you find her in there?” she asked him. All he did was shake his head without looking at either of them.
“She’s gone,” he said with a weak voice. Jen couldn’t help but feel miserable from all the death that was happening today. James started the car and drove back out of the driveway. They were headed back into downtown’s direction through another neighborhood.
Sarah caught that gruesome rotting smell again as they passed a few houses in a long dark neighborhood. They’re probably the only police officers left alive in Little Bow Texas, as far as they knew it. Suddenly James had hit the breaks when he noticed a young woman running for her life. The woman was being chased by a couple of those monsters that was terrorizing the town.
Tired from the constant running, she was close to giving up when she noticed an officer’s vehicle parked down the street.
“Come on Kim! You’re going to make it!” she said as she waved her arms in the air to show them that she was in desperate need of help. The officers in the vehicle watched as she ran to them with the others chasing her. She quickly climbed on top of the police car with her black bag being used as a weapon to knock their hands away from her. Jen grabbed James’s arm and shook it as she heard the girl on top of the vehicle fight for her very life.
“We have to help her James!” Jen had yelled out. The attackers had surrounded the car, trying to grab the girl’s leg to pull her down. James started to drive slowly at first so that the girl on top of the car wouldn’t slip off. Kim quickly slid down in front of the windshield before reaching the hood of the car. They continued to drive down the street some more to get some distance from the creatures that followed after them. She stared at the officers through the cracked glass before sticking her head up to see the people down the road behind them.
“Those guys tried to bite me! I don’t like to be touched!” she had said while shaking her fist in the air.
James had stopped the car so that he could get out to help her now. Sarah opened the door and stepped out as well with a shotgun in her hands. Officer Jen quickly followed Sarah out of the car and snapped her fingers at the unfamiliar girl. She slammed the front door shut and walked over to the one in the back.
“Let’s get inside before those things get here!” Jen had said to her. Kim had hopped off the car and landed beside the brunette with her bag in her hands.
“They’ve been chasing me for awhile now. I thought that I was a goner!” said Kim. Jen had opened the backdoor for the girl to go inside.
“Everything’s going to be okay. Just get in,” Jen said. The girl sighed and climbed into the backseat with Jen following right after her. The officer slowly closed the door shut so that they could be safe from the attackers if they were able to get closer.
Six of the flesh hungry people came sprinting towards the two officers from the darkness. James brought his leg up again to kick one back with his pistol already aiming at another one coming from behind it. He had pulled the trigger only once which caused the thing’s head to crack open from the one bullet that pierced it. The thing fell onto it’s knee’s before landing on it’s side, laying there motionless. Sarah had cocked her shotgun once before firing at two of them near their exposed rotting chests. Parts of their pale faces had been blown off, but they kept moving towards her. The male officer had collided his fist in one of the staggering fiend’s head, knocking it back onto the street. James started to walk back to the one he kicked before. He quickly aimed his pistol down at it’s face before pulling the trigger twice, causing the two bullets to pierce through it’s skull to destroy the brain. The one that he punch got back up just to get a bullet in it’s eye socket where the brain was located. It’s body started to twitch abit before it fell onto the other creature that was already dealt with.
Sarah scooted back while shooting at the two again with her heavy weapon. Finally both of them fell over, but she remembered seeing six of them. James had turned to face her when the sixth one came running out from the shadows. It tackled Sarah down before it climbed onto her back. Her shotgun had flew out of her hands as it slid across the road where the car was parked. The creature op
ened it’s hanging mouth with blood seeping down onto her neck. She was kicking and screaming as it held onto her tightly. James ran over to them and connected a strong kick against it’s face before it could take a bite out of Sarah. It’s loose jaw had flew into the air and smacked against the police car’s back window where the girls were at.
The thing quickly climbed off of Sarah with it’s full attention now on the one that kicked him in the head. It started to walk towards him with his hands reaching out for the male officer. James just aimed his pistol up at the thing’s head and pulled the trigger. Sarah watched as the large beast fell over next to it’s jaw. She tried her best to wipe off the smelly blood from her neck with her hands, but it wasn‘t really helping
“This is so disgusting!” Sarah had said. She quickly stood up and started to undo the buttons to the top of her uniform. James went back to the car to make sure that Jen and the civilian were alright. Sarah threw the uniform down near the bodies and stood there in her white shirt and black pants. “Great, just great. You bastards are all going to pay for that,” Sarah said as her temper finally decided to come out. She tried to wipe the disgusting blood off her hands with her pants, but it wouldn’t really come off. “This is just disgusting.” Sarah went to the car, but she realized that she almost forgot her weapon. She walked past the bodies to find it laying there on the road. The street lamp above her flickered on when she picked up the shotgun. “Wish that light came on earlier. Then that nasty thing wouldn’t have snuck up on me like that.” she had said to herself.
Sarah had got into the passenger side once again while James was already sitting in the driver’s seat. The young woman had looked at the three officers with a big smile growing on her face.
“I guess not all cops are jerks, Sorry.” said Kim. James made a face before giving her a welcoming smile.
“So what’s your name? When did you run into those guys?” he had asked.
“My name is Kim Kohn. I was on my way home from work when I ran into a mean police officer jerk-face. After he left, these crazy drunk men started to chase me from the shadows. What was wrong with them? Their eyes looked strange…like a dead person or something similar.” she said to him.
“Honey, we’ll drop you off at your house. But you must lock yourself indoors until this problem blows over, okay?” Jen had said to her.
“Thank you very much! A safe ride home is something I need very badly right now.” Kim had said to Jen with a warm smile on her face.
Sarah shook her head as she stared out the window to no longer see any suspicious activity in the neighborhood. The brunette officer Jen, had turned to face Kim with a warm comforting smile on her face. James turned back to face the road again before starting the car up. The vehicle slowly drove down the road past the bodies that were scattered. Kim looked out the window to see more strange men coming out from the darkness. Their white eyes sent shivers down her body when they made contact with each other.
“Wicked.” Kim had said to herself.
Bruce was driving down the old route 45 where all this first started. Officers Terrance and Paul were driving right behind him with their sirens going off. They drove past a few of those smelly decomposing things on the road the further they got from their town. The three vehicles sped down the lonesome road in the dark when they noticed that more of those decaying bodies were walking slowly towards Little Bow. Terrance had reached over for his radio when his stomach started to feel queasy from the thoughts that were running in his head. He pressed the button down hard on his device while his other hand was firmly on the steering wheel.
“Hey Paul!” said Terrance. “Are you seeing this shit? What the hell is going on out here?!” The officer on the other end was hesitant to respond. He wanted to keep his focus on driving since a great number of them were on the road. Paul had finally grabbed his tiny device and moved it close to his mouth to speak through.
“I don’t know Terrance, but this has to be a fucking nightmare. We’re going to have to call the military in on this. We can‘t handle all of this shit on our own!” said Paul as he continued to drive as carefully as possible.
Terrance shook his head a few times in disagreement with his partner.
“Man, haven’t you seen those old horror movies from the eighties? The military always goes overboard on these types of situations. I say we just get the hell out of here while we still can!” said the frightened Terrance. Paul bit his lip as he squeezed the device in his hand tightly.
“This isn’t a fucking movie!” Paul said before continuing on through the little device. “Can’t you see that the Military is our only hope?! As soon as we get to where the Sheriff is taking us, I’m calling someone with more authority to take over!”
Bruce was listening in on their little chit chat from his end, but he decided not to get himself involved. They did have a right to just leave, even he knew that now. Whatever was going on in their town, and possibly the whole world is enough to make a grown man piss himself and cry for his mama. But Bruce was too busy running over those fuckers that were in his way on the road to give into fear. Most of the body parts had sprayed onto Paul’s windshield when the large truck went over them like road kill. The blood would splatter on Paul’s police car when a body would get under one of the truck’s heavy wheels. The officer driving behind Bruce had grabbed his radio device and brought it closer to him to speak through once more.
“Listen, the Sheriff is losing it Terrance.” said Paul. “I’m not sure if-” The truck in front of him had spewed out a large amount body parts from under the tires this time. It smashed against Paul’s windshield which caused the vehicle to turn over on the side. The car went on for a good while before it stopped in the middle of at least thirty of them by the side of the road. Terrance could hear Paul screaming for help through the radio as the hungry flesh eaters started to tear into him after they forced their way into his vehicle.
Terrance accelerated the police car some more to catch up to the Sheriff’s truck up ahead. The terrified officer tried his best to dodge as many people on the road as he could, but it was inevitable. His car every now and then would hit a body which would end up flying over the rooftop. One of them was able to tear the lights completely off when it tried to hold onto something.
“Sir! We have to go back to help him!” Terrance had said through the radio. “Paul is still alive! I just know he is!” Finally Bruce responded, but it wasn’t what Terrance expected to hear.
“Son, we don’t have time to screw around anymore. So forget about going back there to help him, cause you know as well as I do that he’s being ripped apart like a piece of meat right now. He‘s gone,” Bruce had said. Terrance threw the little device down to the floor with both hands now on the steering wheel. He gripped it tightly with a tear sliding down his cheek when he heard Paul’s last gasp through the radio.
“Goodbye brother. I’ll probably see you soon,” said Terrance. The officer noticed the large neighboring town up ahead. It was way bigger than Little Bow, for that he was certain about. “Why the hell did we come here for?! We need to get back and protect our own town! Paul was right…the Sheriff is losing his freaking mind.” he said to himself.
Susan was sitting on her father’s bed as she stared down at the green carpet below. Even from inside the house, she could still smell the lingering haunting stench of death. The teenager noticed that the sounds from them clawing outside the front door was finally dying down. She guessed that they were getting tired of trying to get in, or maybe they found someone else to terrorize. The sixteen year old girl had got up from the large bed and started to walk over to her father’s closet in the corner of the room. Her slender hand had reached over for the doorknob in front of her. The knob was slowly turned which allowed her to open the door. All the other times she tried to get in, it was locked. Susan could see her father’s police uniforms hanging neatly in front of her.
“He keeps a spare gun around here somewhere,” she thought to hersel
f. “I remember because Jake found it a month ago. Dummy almost shot his toe off when he dropped the gun.” Susan grew tired from searching for what seemed like a century already. She was about to give up the search when she finally found the blue box that had contained the weapon inside. The girl looked around the room at first, always getting the feeling that her dad was going to walk in on her snooping through his stuff. Something she missed dearly already.
The blue box was opened quickly to reveal a handgun that was placed neatly inside. It was a 9mm, with two fully loaded clips placed under the gun. She slid one clip into the weapon to hear the clicking sound before making sure the safety was on. Susan then stood up and placed the extra clip in her back pocket before heading over to the front door. The smell that was coming from outside was leaking through the cracks they made when trying to get in. She turned on the front lights before unlocking the door. Susan walked out to see her reanimated brother laying flat in the grass. Only his head was intact while his arms and legs were missing. Her father was standing in the yard with possibly Jake‘s arm in his hand..
Tears were coming down her face when she brought the handgun upward. The two monsters finally turned over to see the fresh meat standing in front of the doorway. They started to scream as loud as they could before their morbid bodies started to move to her. Susan attempted to pull the trigger but nothing happened. She noticed that the safety was still on which was her mistake. After switching it off, the girl fired two rounds down at her brother but he had kept biting the air. The two bullets went through in his neck but that didn’t put him down like she had thought. Mark viciously growled with most of his intestines spilling out from the front of his large body. Both of his large hands had grabbed her arms tightly. He tried to bring her into his biting range but she resisted the best she could. Susan continued to struggle with the gun in her hand still as she felt as though her strength was being sapped away from the emotional damage she was receiving. The pressure she felt from her father’s grip caused her finger to pull the trigger. The gun was aiming up which surprisingly had pierced through his neck and up into her father’s head.