Outbreak of the Living Dead

by Aaron Guerra

  “Stop! You’re injured!” A familiar voice came from the soldier in black. She was wearing a helmet that prevented her face from being seen by the civilian. “You mustn’t move until your wounds are healed,” the female soldier said. Kim was forced to sit back down by the stranger, but it was her voice that made her feel calm.

  “Do I know you?” Kim asked. The soldier took a seat next to the girl before placing a hand gently on her leg.

  “Yes, you do,” she said. Kim tried to remember the familiar voice, but she just couldn’t.

  “I’m sorry, but nothing is coming to mind. Did we go to school together?” Kim asked with a confused look on her face. The woman chuckled within the helmet, but then shook her head.

  “No, I don’t think we ever went to the same school. But I was born in this town. Maybe that can help jog your memory?” the soldier said. Kim looked away for the moment to try and remember why her voice was so familiar.

  Another soldier in black came into the small room. He was holding a long rifle with a scope attached to it.

  “Man, you sure took a beating! That thing nearly tore you in half, but I saved you,” he said to Kim. The girl remembered the beast being shot by someone, guess it was him.

  “T-Thank you,” Kim said to him. The man tried to hide his shy blush as he started to inspect his rifle.

  “Me and my precious can’t stand to see pretty young girls such as yourself, get into trouble. Especially by that thing,” he told her with a smile. He took a seat beside Kim, which made her already feel a little uneasy.

  “Who are you guys? Are you with the military?” Kim asked them.

  The woman in black stood up and turned to face her.

  “I’m sorry, but that’s classified,” she said. The man got up and sighed heavily.

  “Can’t we just tell her? Something tells me that we might not make it out in one piece this time, Cindy,” he revealed the woman’s name. Kim quickly looked at the woman again after he said her name. She finally removed the helmet to reveal her face. There was a long scar that had reached down past her left eye.

  “Cindy? You’re the one…that saved me from that truck! If you hadn’t of pushed me out of the way…I would’ve been died!” Kim said when finally realizing who she was. The woman with the scar smiled because she was finally remembered.

  “That was me, and damn did that thing hurt! I was fine, but they rushed me to the hospital anyway,” Cindy said with a smile. She couldn’t help but laugh from the memories she made at the hospital. “I gave the head nurse some trouble back then. Wonder if she’s still alive,” she said. The man shook his head and turned to look at Kim.

  “From what we were told, there’s an army of those things outside that building. That means that there just might be some survivors still in the hospital,” he said. Cindy took her seat by Kim again, sighing.

  “You know we’re not here to rescue anyone. We have our orders which I broke already,” Cindy said with a frown. The man looked down at the two women and nodded.

  “Shucks, I know that already. I helped carry this little lady to safety too!” he said while making a fist. Kim smiled brightly at him.

  “Again, thank you!” she said with the bright smile. The man held out his hand for her, which she gladly accepted.

  “The name’s Freddy Nakamura! What’s yours?” he asked. Cindy stood up to stretch out her arms while answering for her.

  “She’s Kim, Kim Kohn,” said Cindy. The memory that was always in her heart, was the little girl that came to visit her in the hospital when she was recovering. “I’d never forget her,” she said. Kim felt a little bad, since she forgot about her when the woman was discharged from the hospital.

  The peaceful vibes in the room were suddenly taken away when a serious looking man came in with a shotgun in his possession.

  “I thought I told you that we were not here to rescue anyone! What is she doing here?!” the man had yelled. Freddy and Cindy both stood in Kim’s way to shelter her from his sight. The soldier’s eyes had narrowed towards her superior with her fists closing tightly by her sides.

  “Sir, she is someone very important to me. I never had any intention of leaving her to die on the street out there!” Cindy told him. Freddy nodded in agreement, but he quickly sat back down when the taller man glared at him.

  “She will be your problem then! But if she gets bitten or seems like she’s a threat…I’ll take care of her myself,” he said to her. His size was massive and his deep voice only made Kim feel uncomfortable again. Freddy and Cindy stood up straight to salute the man in the doorway.

  “Sir!” they both said at the same time. He took one step back and walked out of the room. Two other soldiers followed after him through the hallway with heavy looking rifles in their hands.

  “That is one tough son of a bitch! Glad I‘m taking orders from him, instead of being the enemy. I‘d be so dead!” Freddy said while holding his rifle close for comfort. Kim began to laugh while slowly standing up behind them.

  “He’s a pretty big man,” Kim said. Freddy felt a little offended from what Kim just said.

  “I’m a big man too, you know! It‘s just I‘m not as tall as he is,” said Freddy. Cindy softly chuckled into her hand and shook her head.

  “Seriously? You’re strong, but you look like a boney stick compared to him. The Boss would break you in half like a toothpick!” Cindy said while trying to hold back some laughter. But the three started to laugh, which was something they all needed during this time.

  Freddy ran back into the room to retrieve his cowboy hat that he had left behind. Shouting from the end of the hall, the two girls turned back to hear what he had to say. “You ladies go on ahead! I’ll catch up to you after I report to the boss!” he told them.. The woman with black long hair waved her arm as a response.

  “A Japanese man with a cowboy hat. I’ll never understand his taste in fashion. Come on Kim, we have some catching up to do!” Cindy said to her.

  They ended up in another room with a few other scary looking soldiers that were already inside. There was another female in the corner, but she was cleaning her nails with a very sharp looking blade. Cindy waved to her, but the unfamiliar woman flicked her off and turned away. “Wow, didn’t think she’d still be mad,” said Cindy. Interested in what she meant, Kim tapped her shoulder with a curious look on her face.

  “Did something happen to her?” Kim asked. They ended up at a table in the middle of the large room. It felt like the Cafeteria to the High School, which made Kim feel a little nostalgic.

  “That woman blames herself for what happened earlier,” said Cindy. A heavy sigh escaped her lips as she continued the story. “She is, rather was, Freddy’s leader a few hours ago. That thing that attacked you and that other girl we found. It wiped out her whole squad like they were nothing. Freddy was the only survivor since he was on the roof near by with his precious rifle. That woman over there,” she pointed to the woman in the corner that was holding a large knife. “She thought she saw one of our own being put in a vehicle by two female officers. Velski, the one that’s missing-in-action. Disappeared last night in the heavy rain when we got separated. I tried to call her back, but the rain must’ve drowned out my voice entirely,” she had finished. Something about the two officers she mentioned, made Kim feel a little uneasy.

  “What’s that woman’s name?” Kim asked her.

  “Her? That’s Christine. Why?” Cindy replied.

  Without hesitating, Kim ran over to the woman in the corner. Everyone in the room watched her closely with their hands resting on their personal weapons.

  “Excuse me, Christine? About what you saw earlier today,” Kim politely asked the soldier. The tough looking woman glared at the stranger with her knife being pointing to her chest.

  “What the fuck do you want?!” Christine told her. Kim wasn’t afraid of her. She slowly moved the large knife away from her chest with her eyes staring into hers.

  “When you saw the police off
icers taking your friend away…did you see anyone else with her?” she asked. The woman was surprised that she knew about that.

  “Do you know who those officers are?!” said Christine with interest showing in her expression. The younger woman clenched her fists tightly and yelled in her face.

  “I ASKED YOU! DID YOU SEE ANYONE ELSE WITH HER?!” Kim let out with such power. Christine felt her back hit against the wall when she got yelled at by someone much smaller than herself.

  “Y-Yeah! I did. It was a man in a dirty white shirt. It was only one officer that put their bodies in the car, the other one was standing by the vehicle at the passenger’s side,” she said to Kim.

  The girl slid down to the floor with her hand covering her mouth. “They found Tristan…they’re going to kill him!” she said to them. Cindy came up behind the girl that was sitting on the floor.

  “Who’s Tristan? Is he your boyfriend?” Cindy asked. Christine knelt down by the two with her blade sliding into the side of her boot.

  “Listen here little mouse! If my friend is in trouble, you have to tell me everything you know about those people that took her!” Christine said with a worried look on her face. Kim’s eyes opened partly with her words coming out slowly at first.

  “Tristan, Susan and I met up during the first night of this nightmare. Susan’s father was a police officer here, so we were going to pick up some weapons to defend ourselves at the police station,” she said to them. Cindy took a seat beside Kim while holding her hand. “We were about to leave the station when we were attacked from the shadows. When I woke up. I was tied to a chair in the break room with everyone. Two of those officers were torturing Tristan in front of me. Their leader, Crystal…is the most twisted of the three,” she said with disgust as the leader’s name left her mouth.

  Christine and Cindy were caught up in her story, even a few of the soldiers near by tried their best to listen in.

  “I broke out of the chair and attacked that bitch from behind. Somehow we escaped from them and ran into the night. But there’s only two of them left! I remember Tristan telling us that Crystal shot one of the fake officers in the head before we escaped,” Kim said. She shook her head once before standing back up in front of Christine. “Now Crystal and her crazy friend has Tristan and Velski. I’m not sure if they’re alive anymore,” the girl said sadly. Cindy patted her on the shoulders when she got up off the floor.

  “No! They’re alive. Velski is one of the best that we have!” Cindy said while showing a cheerful grin. Christine nodded in agreement, but her face looked slightly pale when Freddy came into the room.

  “I have to go. I’ll let you know if I can remember anything else from earlier,” she said. As soon as Freddy came over, Christine was gone from their sight.

  “What’d I miss?” He said with a large smile on his face. Cindy and Kim both looked at him without saying anything. “Did I do something wrong?” he asked.

  The officer of the Little Bow Police Department was sitting in front of the school with her empty handgun in her lap. Her eyes were open but nobody seemed to be home. A door to her left had opened up with Roxanne coming out of the building. Dried tears could be seen on her face when the sun light made contact with her.

  “S-Sarah…you should come inside,” said Roxanne. The officer just sat there while staring off into the distance. “Please, Sarah. Come inside before one of those demons find us out here. This isn’t what Sammie would’ve wanted!” she told her. Sarah quickly got up and placed the end of her gun to the science teachers chest.

  “Don’t you think I know that already?!” she told her. The officer turned away and started to walk towards something that was in the field. Roxanne just stood at the doorway with her fingertips digging into the frame.

  “Please! Come back!” she begged the cop. Sarah stopped in the middle of the field. There were fresh body parts of the creatures scattered all over the grass around her. But only one of the bodies interested her.

  “Why didn’t you listen to me?” Sarah said to herself. The woman got on her knees and looked down at the teenager laying in front of her. The poor thing had bite marks all over her arm and neck. “I should’ve been the one to die…not you!” she said quietly.

  The science teacher started to walk to the Officer with Luke’s pipe still in her hand. She stood behind the woman to hear her softly cry.

  “Sarah, please. We must go inside,” Roxanne said to her. The blonde woman stood up to push the teacher down to the ground.

  “WHY DIDN’T YOU TAKE HER WITH YOU?! WHY DID YOU LET HER COME BACK OUT HERE?!” Sarah said in tears. The Teacher looked up at the woman with a heavy sigh leaving her.

  “I honestly thought that she was right behind me…” the teacher said in a low whisper. Sarah fell back onto the ground beside the teacher. Both of the women looked at the remains of the young girl. “When I made it back to you she…was already on the ground,” said Roxanne. The officer placed her hand to her face to hide her fresh tears from the world.

  “I’m sorry…I know it wasn’t your fault, Roxanne. I was fighting one of those big ones off me. I didn’t see the creature that was about to attack my back. She pulled it away…but it turned into one of those Revivals,” said Sarah. Images of the beast chewing on the girl came flashing through her mind. “We-We have to escape from here. I honestly don’t know how much more I can take. What if…What if the whole world is going through this too? Where do we even go? What can we do?” she asked her as fear started to show. Roxanne placed a hand on the woman’s shoulder while leaning closer to hold her.

  “Sarah, I don’t know what we’ll do if the world is infected like our town. But we can’t give up. We can’t just let these bastards from hell win. We must survive! I didn’t go to College to learn Science for nothing! I did it to teach to others because I loved the subject. I will survive, and Science will survive with me,” said Roxanne. Sarah looked away with her eyes closing soon after.

  “I don’t have much to live for anymore. But Sammie did…” Sarah sadly said.

  The women were sitting in the grass to enjoy the sun light while they could. Though the dark ominous clouds could be seen from the distance, which meant another long dark night they had to survive in. That’s when they started to hear a cracking sound in the direction they were facing.

  “Think it’s a bug?” Sarah asked. Roxanne stood up slowly to check it out.

  “It stopped. It might’ve been a beetle crawling on a leaf or something,” she said. The woman turned to face Sarah with a bright smile on her face. “Nature, it can mess with you,” said Roxanne. Suddenly, Roxanne was knocked over to the grass with something climbing onto her. It was Sammie, who must’ve changed while they had let their guard down.

  The creature’s mouth was close to Roxanne’s neck, but it didn’t get the chance to take a bite out of her. Sarah was hesitant at first, but she got past her feelings and bashed the thing in the head with a swift kick. The beast had fell onto her back with its eyes turning blood red like the others.

  “Sarah!” Roxanne said as she got up quick. The woman started to run to the door that she came out of earlier. The Officer just stood there to watch the young girl finally stand up.

  “Sammie…” Sarah said in shock. It’s head tilted when the woman said it’s name. “Sammie? Do you…Do you understand me?!” she said with a glimmer of hope. The creature snarled and took a step back. Blood started to slide down from her eyes when it looked all around. The officer’s eyes narrowed when she watched the creature place it’s hands on it’s own head. The thing started to peel off her face to reveal the young red skull from underneath the skin. The creature continued to rip off her own flesh as Sarah took a few steps back to get some distance. “W-What’re you doing?!” she asked it. The corpse turned away to remove more, but then it stopped abruptly. The crimson stained monster turned around to face the officer. It’s mouth opened wide with blood leaking out of it. A loud scream came from it’s boney body which startled the blo
nde woman.

  “Br…” it tried to speak. Sarah’s eyes opened up when she heard it try to say something.

  “Br?” Sarah asked it. The thing fell to the ground to search through the flesh that was around her feet.

  “Bra…” it continued. Sarah took another step back when it tried to talk again.

  “What the hell are you trying to say?!” Sarah said to it with a chill running up her back. The creature glared up at the woman with it’s skeleton frame and growled with a deep nightmarish voice.

  “BRAINS!” the reanimated Sammie had screamed out.

  The officer turned around and started to run when it shouted that out. The creature got up off the ground and began to sprint after her with her bloody hands reaching for her.

  “BRAAAINS!” it called out again. The officer looked back to see where it was, but that was a bad decision. Whatever Sammie became, it was right behind her with it’s jaw biting through the air. The officer quickly dived through the building’s entrance before Roxanne had slammed the door shut with force. The creature was outside of the school with her body banging against the door violently. Roxanne locked it from the inside and helped Sarah stand back up.

  “What the hell was that thing?!” Roxanne asked her. She was terrified to see her student act like that so suddenly. The officer placed her hand on the Teacher’s shoulder before looking back at the door.

  “T-That thing out there was Sammie! She suddenly started to change into whatever that is! It even started to talk!” Sarah explained to her. They both looked at the door cause the banging suddenly stopped, which made the women feel very uneasy.

  “What exactly do you mean, it talked? The corpse of Sammie talked? That‘s ridiculous Sarah! They can‘t talk! They‘re dead!” Roxanne said with anger. Sarah knew it sounded crazy, but that was what just happened.