by Aaron Guerra
“Bingo!” the soldier said. The trigger was pulled which followed with a loud bang that echoed throughout the area. The large beast had roared when it’s chest had exploded open. Lots of blood and muscle tissue started to spill out in liquid black chunks. It fell to one knee with it’s body twitching like the other red-eyed creatures would when they‘d take some damage. From the roof, the man had pressed down on his device that would send his voice over to his comrades down below. “TARGET IS DOWN! FINISH THE JOB BEFORE IT CAN GET BACK UP AGAIN!” he shouted.
The two men that were standing in front of the monster had began to open fire with confidence. Each of their bullets were directly hitting his head and chest where the large hole was made. Kim tried her best not to look back at the tree that Susan‘s mangled crushed body was last seen.
“Tristan…James…Sarah…Please, save me!” Kim said to herself. The woman had stood up again in pain as she started to walk away with a limp. Her eyes were half open due to the cuts and scrapes all over her body. It hurt like hell to even take one step, but she wasn’t going to stay any longer and let that thing finish the job. But she abruptly stopped after a few seconds of walking when she heard the men in the background screaming in agony. She slowly turned to see both of the soldiers getting tackled down from behind by the normal rotting monsters that she saw laying on the streets during her escape. They must’ve forgot about the reanimated bodies that had followed the big one to the open area.
When they were being devoured, the large creature stood up again with the hole in it’s chest slowly closing. It had roared again which caused all the white-eyed creatures that were eating the soldiers to stop what they were doing. They stood up slowly with blood dripping from their rotting teeth. Some of them started to twitch with their eyes turning blood red while only a few stayed the same. After their transformation was complete, they simply jumped right back down onto the fresh bodies below. She watched as the creatures continued to devour them like savage animals.
Kim walked past a few trees into another neighborhood near the chaos. There was not a living soul that she could see in the area. Not even one of the walking monstrosities that had plagued her home town could be seen here.
“Tristan…” she said. She knew that he was still alive. Her body felt heavy when she took another step onto the quiet lonely street. The girl couldn’t help but fall forward onto the cold wet road, feeling exhausted from everything that had happened. “I guess this is it. I don‘t think I can continue doing this alone. Not anymore,” Kim said, defeated. The woman had finally passed out from the lack of energy she had.
From the distance a few people in black had came up to her body with guns in their hands. A female soldier had knelt down beside Kim to turn her over.
“She’s still alive, but just barely. Orders, Captain?” she said. A man with a deep voice stepped up towards the woman with a shotgun in his possession.
“We’re ordered to kill off any survivors. We can‘t afford to let anyone survive anymore. It‘s a high possibility that they‘re all infected already. Now finish her off so that we can move on,” the captain said. The woman in black had stood up and aimed her gun down at the unconscious girl.
“Sir, she looks just like someone I use to know,” she said. The man had cocked the shotgun once with a shell flying out of it.
“We have our orders. I want you to end her suffering and make it quick,” the man in charge had ordered. He walked off with the group that had up to seven members from their organization. The woman knelt down beside the girl once again to brush her fingers against her cheek.
“Kim…is that you?” she asked the unconscious girl. The woman had removed her helmet to reveal her long black hair. There was a scar that went down her left eye. She smiled down at the girl as her hand gently trailed the wounded female‘s cheek. “It’s me…” she said with a smile.
Sarah, Sammie and Roxanne were resting inside the locker room where Luke had first brought the officer. The three girls were asleep near the benches as the door was locked up with some heavy chains. The sunlight was leaking through the windows which woke the youngest of the group first. The student sat up to rub her eyes before putting her glasses back on. She had looked around to see the two older women still asleep on the floor beside her. Sarah must’ve cried herself to sleep again, since her eyes looked swollen and puffy. The student quietly stood up to walk over to one of the windows nearby. It was clear now. The storm was gone and there was no sign of any of the zombies wandering around the football field.
“It might just be a good day,” said Sammie.
Roxanne opened her eyes to feel the sun‘s light on her face. She slowly sat up to see the teenager standing by the window in front of her.
“Sammie?” Roxanne said in a low voice. The girl had turned around to see her teacher finally awake. “What time is it?” she added. The woman stretched out her arms and yawned peacefully. She then started to pop her back due to the uncomfortable sleep she had on the floor.
“I think it’s…” Sammie said before she stopped herself. The young girl looked over at the large clock that was attached to the wall. It clearly said that it was 11:24am. “It’s thirty minutes until lunch time,” she had told her teacher. Roxanne stood up as her white long coat was being removed. She had a red top with a long skirt to match it.
“How does it look outside? Have the infected people left the school grounds?” Roxanne asked. Sammie smiled as she waved her hand around with a happy expression.
“No sign of them outside, and the storm is long gone too!” Sammie said with a bright smile. The teacher smiled when she placed her glasses down with her coat on a bench.
“Already sounds like a perfect day to me. Except we don‘t have any food to snack on right now,” said Roxanne. The woman had sat down next to her stuff on the bench while smiling down to the one that was still asleep on the floor.
“Only met her a few hours ago, and I feel as though I can trust her with my life. I can‘t really explain why I feel that way,” Roxanne tried to explain. The student walked over to her teacher to sit down on the same bench.
“Yes, she saved me when she opened the door to the classroom. I was too scared to move when the zombies broke through the classroom windows. Daniel tried to protect me but…they pulled him into the group and just…ate him in front of me,” Sammie explained, while shaking. She tried to forget the scene in her head, but it was just too difficult. “Sarah opened the door and I ran into the hallway,” she said. The young girl put her hands together as she smiled down at the police officer. “I’ve grown quite a crush on her,” she said with a smile. Roxanne tied her long wavy hair back up into a ponytail when her student said that.
“Sammie, that isn’t a healthy feeling for a woman to have. I know you’ll understand eventually, but having feelings for another woman is just plain wrong,” Roxanne had said. The student had turned away to hide her playful smirk.
“I was just kidding! You don‘t have to take things so seriously, Teach,” the teen said playfully. The two started to laugh which woke up the exhausted officer.
“…Luke?” Sarah quietly called out.
Roxanne remembered what had happened early in the morning. The image of Luke covered in many bites as his skin was pale like the lonesome moon.
“No, Sarah. He isn’t with us anymore,” she said with a frown. The officer smiled somewhat as she wished that he was there beside her. Sammie got up from the bench that she was sitting on to fix her hair.
“So, what’s our plan for today?” the teenager asked. The two women had looked at the girl that was playing with her hair, then to the windows where the sun was shining through. Sarah finally stood up to pop her back. She stretched her body in different ways to complete that simple task.
“We need to return to the cafeteria for the other students. Then we can make a plan to escape the School and head out to find a safer place for them,” Sarah said. Roxanne agreed with the officer’s plan since her colleague Ch
ris Reeve was still there with the principal.
“Yes, I’m sure Principal White would be more than willing to leave this place during the day. We can see our surroundings much better than during the night,” Roxanne had said.
Sammie had clapped her hands with her eyes closing.
“Alright then! Let’s go round up the others and get the heck out of here!” she said.
Sarah Parson placed her hand on the teenager’s head softly while smiling down to her.
“Yes ma’am,” Sarah said with a weak smile. Roxanne had walked over to a window to see the outside with her own eyes. The field that she could see was empty. Yet when she had looked towards the tall buildings, she could see that another storm was heading their way. She brought her hand up to her face to cover her mouth as she yawned.
“I don’t think we’ll be having a sunny day after all,” said Roxanne. The two females had walked over to where Roxanne was to see the darkness within the distance. The officer punched the wall with little effort when she watched the storm clouds grow little by little.
“We just can’t catch a break, can we? What’s with these random storms? I don‘t remember seeing anything about the rain on the last weather forecast,” Sarah said in anger.
The chains began to rattle at the entrance of the locker room. The girls had turned around to see the doors break down with a large number of the infected falling through. Each of them started to crawl towards them with blood oozing out of their bite wounds.
“IS THERE ANOTHER WAY OUT OF HERE?!” Sarah shouted. Roxanne grabbed Sammie by the arm to pull her away when the rotted meat bags came closer.
“Over in the back! Let’s go! There‘s a door that leads outside!” Roxanne said as she ran with the young girl to the other side of the locker room. Sarah quickly ran to the large lockers that were standing up in the middle of the room. The woman used her strength to push against the locker, but it didn’t budge at first.
“C’MON!” she said as she struggled to push it still. She could see one of their rotting hands reaching over to her leg from the corner of the locker.
The woman instantly kicked it back before attempting to push the lockers again. A loud crashing sound stopped Roxanne and Sammie in their tracks. The science teacher turned back to see Sarah running towards them at full speed. “GO GO! GO!” Sarah said in a hurry. Some of the lockers had been pushed over by the officer. The creatures that were on the ground were crushed from the heavy metal object that landed on top of them. That wasn’t what made Sarah run, it was the sight of the large infected football players that had came rushing through the hallway. These athletic creatures were probably away from the area when the others chased Luke and Sarah last night.
Once they entered the Locker Room, they started to scream their heads off with black blood leaking from their rotting mouths. Roxanne placed her hand on the doorknob to learn that it wouldn’t turn.
“IT’S LOCKED!” Roxanne screamed.
Sammie had rolled her eyes around like a typical teenager when she turned the small lock to the side to unlock the door. She kicked the door wide open with the sun‘s light beaming down on them. Roxanne’s face was embarrassingly red when she had ran outside with the two following after her. The three girls ran to the middle of the field where the football team would practice everyday after school. The doorway was dark from where they had just came from. Soon the creatures became visible when they started to come out one by one. The heavily built bodies started to limp slowly in the light while their blood red eyes glared up at the sun.
“I don’t have any bullets left for my gun. I left my bag of ammo in the cafeteria. There might be one more clip for my gun in it, but it’s on the other side of the school,” Sarah said. She looked around to see that there was nothing there that they could use as a weapon.
“Sarah, let me distract them while you two go meet up with Chris and the Principal!” Roxanne said to her. The officer shook her head before placing her hand firmly on the woman’s shoulder.
“No! I can’t lose anyone else! Not anymore! I‘ll distract these bastards while you two make a run for it,” said Sarah. The teenager had taken a few steps back when she started to remember her classmates getting torn apart.
“They’re different from the normal ones. They have red eyes, but they’re larger then the others that we‘ve seen! What kind of zombies are they now?!” the girl said in fear. Sarah carefully took a few steps forward with her short blonde hair moving gently along with the wind.
“Does it really matter? They’re nothing but monsters…and I have to put a stop to them or else they’ll continue to spread throughout the US,” Sarah said to the girl.
Roxanne had placed her hand around Sammie’s to comfort the girl. The officer continued to walk towards the enemy with Luke‘s pipe in her hand.
“Sarah please! You can’t take them on by yourself! We need to escape together!” Roxanne had said to her. The officer ignored the woman as she took a few more steps towards the creatures. There was four of the large ones and at least seven of the normal ones behind them.
“You two, GET going! That’s an order from the Little Bow Police! Now move it!” Sarah had ordered in a strong demanding voice.
The hospital wasn’t as silent like the rest of the town was during the day. Most of the infected somehow found their way here to feast on the survivors. They had tried to hide from the gruesome beasts when their town was under attack. Two of the remaining Survivors in the hospital slowly unlocked their door. They were already well aware of what was going on in the building.
“Marilyn, remember to smash their heads in. This is just like last time, so be careful,” Matthew said to her. The woman was standing behind her lover, the most loyal and trusting man she could depend on. Both of them were wearing the hospital gowns that were given to them two days ago. The girl opened the door to see flames down the hallway near the exit.
Matthew noticed all the bodies moving in the darkness where the flames light couldn’t reach.
“I see about seven of them. Stay here, Marilyn. I’m going to clear the hall for you my love,” he said. Marilyn had placed her hands together in front of her chest when he said that. She smiled at the man that she loved as he carefully made his way down the hall. A few of the reanimated bodies stood up before they started to limp towards him. Their stench didn’t seem to affect him like it did with the other people in Little Bow. The man grabbed one of the monster’s by the neck and forced it’s head to go through the wall. Blood had spilled out of the large hole with it’s body still twitching in his grip. Matthew used the strength in his legs to bash his shoulder against it‘s chest which decapitated it instantly. The thing’s body fell flat onto the white floor when he finally released it from his hold.
The man had glanced down to his hand that was already covered in blood once again. Images of him and Marilyn escaping the other city had flashed through his mind. His fist had pierced through the wall to snap out of it.
“I’m just getting started,” he said under his breath.
Marilyn entered the hallway to see her lover punch the wall again. She immediately jumped to the side when a door came down to her right. It caused a loud crashing sound to echo throughout the entire floor. Flames escaped the room that she was near when a body started to walk out of it. It was all burnt up with it’s jaw falling off in front of her. The woman had brought her palm back before bringing it to it’s head with great force. It’s entire body had fell back into the flames where it was consumed in the heat.
“Nobody can bite me except for Matthew!” she said in anger. Marilyn screamed out in surprise when a larger one came crashing through the wall beside her.
Matthew was busy killing the fifth one with his bare hands when he heard the loud crashing sound behind him.
“MARILYN!” he shouted. The beast stood tall with it’s head nearly reaching the ceiling. He tried to grab the girl but she was quick to slip past his pale hands. All she could do was dodge him when he
tried to grab her.
“I’ll keep him busy! Kill the last two before you take this one out!” she told him. The male swiftly turned back to jump up high in the air. He used his knee to shatter one of the creature’s teeth right out of it’s mouth. He then used his shoulder again to bash into the other one behind it. The force was enough to knock them into the flames where they started to fall apart from the intense heat. Matthew jumped away from one of the creatures that was on the floor beside him. A small smirk had appeared on his face when he moved over to it’s body.
The man lifted the body up by it’s clothing and tossed it into the fire with the other two. But to his surprise it came back out while covered with flames. He had looked around to find a gurney against one of the closed doors. Quickly he ran behind it and pushed it towards the flamed beast. It’s body fell onto the stretcher as he kicked the creature back into the area where it could be devoured by the intense heat. Marilyn felt the strong cold hand from the beast around her arm finally. She tried to break free from it, but it was stronger than the ones that she was use too. “LET GO! LET GO OF ME!” she cried out.
That’s when she heard him. Her savior, her knight that instantly came in with a powerful fist that had easily pierced through the creature’s head. It’s body had stumbled around after letting the girl go. She jumped up off the floor to dropkick it’s chest so that it would fall back into the burning room where it escaped from.
“MATTHEW!” she said with relief. The woman had wrapped her arms around his body as he did the same to her. “I can’t believe it’s happening again…we just escaped this nightmare together. Why are we in this hell again?” she asked him. The man kissed her head softly while stroking the back of her long black hair to calm her down. She always felt safe in his arms, even before all this started to happen.