Outbreak of the Living Dead

by Aaron Guerra

  “I think they’re all going to be coughing up some nasty business!” he said. Tristan cocked the shotgun to get the next shell ready in the chamber. Scott continued to fire at the monster’s heads, but within the gaping holes from the throat, the long spider legs came out faster to enter the new world. Velski made a loud whistling sound to catch their attention.

  “To helicopter!” she told them.

  Scott ran past Tristan to fire at the ugly overgrown alien that was blocking their way. It roared with blood leaking out of it’s large mouth. Tristan joined in on the action as he continued to fire at it with the shotgun up close. Velski turned around to grab the open box of grenades from the floor. She undid the pins to all of them and threw them over to the rotting fiends. The woman then ran over to the window to the left to jump through it. Tristan turned back to see the pins scattered on the floor behind him.

  “GO! GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!” he shouted. The two that were left inside began to run to the same window that she had jumped through, but Scott wasn’t so lucky in that moment. The alien creature had wrapped one of it’s long tentacle’s around his leg to stop him from escaping. Tristan landed beside the brick wall with Velski covering him to the ground with her body. The explosives inside the building finally went off which shook everything around them.

  He watched as the long black tentacles that came out of the window started to shrivel up. It’s final scream echoed throughout the area before retracting it’s long ugly looking things back into the burning building. They stood up to see some of the creatures outside acting the same way like the ones inside did.

  “This isn’t good. What if all the reanimated people can produce a little alien creature too?” he asked her. Velski brought her gun up to fire at one of the black spider’s that was crawling on the side of the building.

  “Scott is gone? Where is he?” Velski asked. Tristan looked into the building to see a fresh burnt corpse near the burning carcass of the alien inside.

  “Yeah, he didn’t make it,” he said. Velski shook her head while looking down to the ground.

  “Pilot…that’s what he was,” she said to him.

  He couldn’t help but place a hand to his face while resting against the brick wall.

  “You’re going to tell me that HE was the fucking HELICOPTER PILOT?!” Tristan let out. She nodded once to confirm his little outburst. Tristan quickly moved her over to the side while blasting the new little threat away from her. It’s legs twitched all around before curling up like a dead bug. “A helicopter with no pilot. What do we do now? Didn’t they tell you anything about a rescue team?” he asked. She searched through her pockets to find a little piece of paper. He took it away from her to read for himself. “A third support team should be here to help your group out. They should be arriving…yesterday,” he had read aloud. The paper flew out of his hand as he lowered his arms to his sides. The man turned around to punch the wall as hard as he could from the frustrating feeling that was bottled inside. “We’re never going to make it out of here!” Tristan told her.

  Velski placed a hand on his shoulder to comfort the man, but he shoved her back. The woman wasn’t use to this kind of treatment. She couldn’t help but kick him in the back to send him into the brick wall. He was going to turn around to face her but the crumbling sound of something inside his pants had caught his attention.

  “I nearly forgot!” he said. She had her fists up ready to fight when some normal flesh eaters came out from the corner.

  “Forgot what, dumb boy?” she had asked him. He quickly grabbed the crumbled up paper with a large grin on his face.

  “I found this before discovering Scott within that crate inside!” he said to he face. He tried to read it, but she grabbed his arm to pull him away from the danger that was coming.

  “Read later, run now!” she told him in a hurry. Without looking at the enemy, he brought the shotgun up to use as a melee weapon. The first rotting man that came to him had it’s head forced into to the wall. The second one was kicked to the ground to give him a few seconds to read the paper.

  “The rescue team was postponed to arrive today! They should be here in a few hours!” he said to her excitedly.

  Velski grabbed the paper from his hand to show him the little horde of both flesh eaters and alien life forms heading their way.

  “Rescue no good if we’re dead!” said Velski. She hit him in the back of the head lightly before running off to the helicopter. Tristan brought the shotgun up to defend himself from one of the black creatures that jumped at him. Using all of his strength, he was able to shove it off before putting the last two shells inside it’s body. He didn’t stick around to watch it shrivel up and die. The man ran over to the helicopter that Velski was already inside.

  “Can you fly this thing?” Tristan asked.

  He watched as she fiddled with the radio that was there.

  “This is Velski from Team-A of the OPC! I need confirmation on that rescue status! Now!” she said in a crystal clear voice. Nothing but could be heard until a man’s deep voice came through the machine.

  “This is Christian Blake. The rescue team should arrive at the public park in the center of the town. Open field is perfect for our air support to come in and pick you up. I repeat, the rescue team will arrive at the public park in three hours. Where is your squad leader?” Blake asked. Velski remembered the man that was missing the eye inside the factory.

  “Dead. All dead. I have confirmed that Rebecca Lee is here. We were separated when the scientist appeared earlier,” she told him. Tristan couldn’t tell if he was glad that a glimmer of hope was finally here, or to be pissed that she was speaking better with this guy than she had with him.

  Blake came through the machine once more, but this time the news he had to share wasn’t something Tristan wanted to hear.

  “We’re sorry to inform you that if you fail to reach the extraction location, you will be left behind when the final resolve takes place,” he said. Tristan grabbed the device out of her hand before clearing his throat to speak.

  “My name is Tristan and I’m a survivor from this town! Now what exactly is this final resolve you just mentioned?” he asked him. There was silence for a few seconds before he came back.

  “You are not authorized to ask that, but since there’s a chance you might not make it, I’ll tell you. The government has officially declared that this outbreak has entered the final stage. We have been ordered to launch a couple of missiles at the town of Little Bow to wipe out the threat completely. I’m sorry, but if you don’t make it out with the rescue team…it’ll be too late for you,” said Blake. Velski watched as his hands became shaky after receiving the grim information.

  “We’ll be there! Everyone will be there!” she said.

  The soldier back at HQ gave a hopeful smirk as he put out his thirteenth cigarette.

  “If you and the other survivor make it back here, I will personally see to it that he is recruited to the Outbreak & Prevention Center. Clearly you have what it takes to survive something like this. What do you say kid?” Blake had asked Tristan through the device. Velski climbed out of the helicopter while Tristan stared at the radio.

  “If we survive this…I’ll think about it,” Tristan had replied.

  The only officer left alive in the town of Little Bow was sitting in a car near the grocery store. The woman had looked down to see that the cut on her arm stopped bleeding.

  “Good, now I just need to keep it from getting infected,” she said to herself. Sarah looked around the stranger’s car to find nothing of use. A torn up body that was outside had started to twitch when it heard movement coming from the car. It tried to stand up, but the thing’s legs were pinned under a turned over truck. “As long as he stays there, I don’t have to get my hands dirty,” she said. Sarah slowly leaned back into the chair to finally relax her tired out body. The reflection of herself from the rearview mirror above had caught her attention. The woman with the long blonde hair and
peaceful smile was gone. She died the same day all of this started to happen. “Is there really a point to continue?” she asked herself. The officer turned away to look at the creature that was trapped under the large truck. “Should I just sit here and wait until it’s my time?” she had thought. Sarah had carefully moved the armrest between the seats up so that she could lay down. It was starting to get cold, and the wounds on her body were reacting to it. “Luke, James, Jen…I miss you guys so damn much,” said Sarah. The woman couldn’t help but tear up when the thought of her mother and father as those monsters crept into her mind. “No!” she said with tears forming. Sarah ended up crying herself to sleep when her strength to stay awake finally gave out.

  The sudden sound of footsteps woke the officer up from her brief nap. She sat up to see three people and a child walking by the car. Two of them were OPC soldiers like Cindy. The man quickly turned around with his rifle aiming at the car that they just passed.

  “Step out of the vehicle slowly if you’re human!” he said. The other soldier brought her machine gun up while slowly walking over to the other side of the vehicle. The woman and child hid behind a police car that was a few feet away.

  “Don’t shoot! I’m coming out!” Sarah said with caution. The door opened as she exited the vehicle with her hands up. “My name is Sarah Parson, and I’m with the Little Bow Police. Possibly the only officer left in this town,” she told them. The male soldier lowered his firearm first before his companion did.

  “Glad to see you’re still alive officer. We can actually use your help, since none of us is originally from here, except for the little girl,” said the man. He turned around to wave at the police car near by. “It’s alright! She’s a cop!” he said.

  The female OPC soldier went to the officer while holding out her special ID and badge.

  “The name is Christine, and I’m with the Outbreak & Prevention Center. We’re here to-” she said before getting cut off.

  “I know exactly who you people are! I’ve been with Cindy for awhile until we were separated a little while ago,” she said with a smile. The man quickly turned around with a concerned look on his face.

  “Cindy is still alive?! Did she have a girl named Kim with her?” he asked her. Sarah smiled somewhat when she heard the familiar name.

  “Yes, she was with us as well. I met Kim the first night this stuff started to happen. I’m sure they’re just fine since I took out some large monster with a car earlier,” Sarah said to them. Christine came over to her with a crumbled up picture in her hand.

  “Did it look like this?” she asked her.

  The officer looked down to see the evil creature that had exploded with the vehicle earlier.

  “Yes, this is the one I pinned with a car. Last I saw the thing, it was falling apart from the intense heat of the flames,” she had said. The man had shot his fist up into the air when showing his happiness from the good news she had revealed.

  “Hi cop lady!” said a little girl. She came over to the dirty officer to give her a strong hug around the waist. Sarah knelt down to place her hands on her shoulders while looking into her eyes.

  “Well hello there little girl. Are you ready to leave this scary place?” Sarah asked her. Christine smiled while pointing down to the girl.

  “Her name is Susan, and the woman we found with her is Valerie,” she said. The woman with pigtails came over to the officer with a strange aura coming form her. Sarah felt as though she had met or seen this person before.

  “Excuse me, but have we already met? You look awfully familiar to me,” Sarah had asked her. Valerie shook her head while extending her arms out like a playful child.

  “Sorry officer! Can’t say that we have!” Valerie told her. Susan caught Valerie’s hand to hold as the male soldier came up them.

  “My name is Freddy. We’re actually running out of time here. Do you know where the public park is?” he had asked the officer. Sarah couldn’t help but show a smile on her face when he asked that simple question.

  “You planning on going down the slide?” she said playfully.

  Christine started to laugh until he cut her off.

  “Listen! We don’t really have that much time left. I say we have about two more hours before the rescue team arrives. They’re our only way out of here!” he had said to Sarah. She looked over to the street sign to see that they were on Baker’s Street.

  “I believe that if we keep going down this road, we’ll make it there with plenty of time to spare. But the park is in the center of town, and I’m not sure if it’s safe to go there on foot. Some of those flesh eaters could be there,” Sarah had said. Christine smiled before looking over to the creature that was pinned under the truck.

  “You defeated the culprit that caused the destruction of this town. That makes this a walk in the park for us,” she said with a smile. Christine noticed the clothing that the officer was wearing. “You say you’re a police officer, but your raggedy clothing doesn’t quite fit the picture. If you don’t mind wearing a uniform like ours, I can probably get you one that we passed recently,” she said. Sarah looked at the black OPC uniform that Christine was wearing before shaking her head slowly.

  “Thanks, but I’m a cop. I’m not a special forces member,” Sarah said as she respectfully declined their offer.

  Freddy placed a hand on the officer’s shoulder while smiling down to her.

  “You survived through this hellish ordeal. That makes you more than qualified to wear this uniform,” he said to her. Sarah placed a hand on his which caused his face to turn bright red.

  “Hey! Get your head out of the clouds soldier! Go back there and get her a uniform so we can leave!” Christine had ordered as she kicked him in the ass to get him moving.

  The women laughed at the guy that ran off while stroking his rear.

  “He isn’t much to look at, but he was worth risking my life to save,” Christine had said. Sarah pointed to the one in front of her, then to the man down the road.

  “Are you two a couple or something?” she asked. Christine shook her head before looking away.

  “No, I use to be the group leader to the squad we were in. But I ended up causing them to die when we faced the scientist. The one you apparently killed with the exploding vehicle. That thing wiped our group out as if we were nothing but insects to it,” Christine sadly explained. Valerie turned around to look at the two women talking when Susan tugged on her shirt to catch her attention.

  “Val! What’s that?” Susan had asked.

  Valerie had looked over to where the little girl was pointing to see nothing there. But the shadow figure near the police car started to move to the bushes that was next to the vehicle.

  “Guys, there’s something here,” she said to warn them. Sarah went back to retrieve the shotgun from the car she slept in while Christine stood in front of the little girl to protect her.

  “What exactly was it that you saw?” Christine asked. Valerie couldn’t help but make a face of disgust when Sarah stood beside her.

  “Could you please move? You’re making me nervous,” she told the officer. Sarah narrowed her eyes at the woman before walking to the shadow that twitched somewhat.

  “What the hell is that thing?” Sarah asked. They watched as a large black creature that resembled a spider, climb onto the hood of the police car. “This is new to me!” she had said. Sarah pumped the shotgun once before firing at it. The thing fell over to the side with green liquid escaping from the large holes that she made. It’s long legs scratched the air as the thing started to shrivel up like a dead insect. “What the hell is that thing? I didn‘t know we had a serious bug problem!” Sarah said from surprise.

  Christine went over to examine the new thing, but more of them came out from the bushes.

  “Move!” she had ordered the others. Sarah and Christine started to fire at the new threat which caused the loud sounds to attract the rotting monsters. They slowly started to walk over to see some fresh meat stand
ing in the road. Valerie watched them lurk in the shadows when before they came closer.

  “We’re going to be surrounded if we stay here! C’mon Susan!” Valerie said to the little girl. She held onto Susan’s hand as the they ran down the road together.

  Sarah smacked one of the large spider’s away with the shotgun since she ran out of shells for it. Christine continued to fire at them until a ghoulish monster surprised her from the side. It grabbed onto her arm tightly while trying to bite down, but Sarah swung the shotgun at it’s head to keep it away. It’s body fell over to the road because of the powerful blow it received from the officer.

  “Thanks! I owe you one!” Christine said to her. Sarah patted her on the shoulder as she ran past a few of the slow flesh eaters.

  “Buy me a beer when we make it out of here!” said Sarah.

  Valerie was standing in the middle of the road as Susan held her hand tightly. Sarah quickly stopped in her tracks to see what the two were facing.

  “Oh no,” Sarah quietly said to herself. Christine finally made it to where the others were to see numerous walking corpses blocking their way.

  “How many of those things are there?!” Christine said from the amount she was seeing. Susan wrapped herself around Valerie’s leg to feel safe, but the sounds of the creatures groaning and moaning in the area made it hard to feel anything but despair.

  “We need to find a safe way to get through them,” said Valerie.

  Christine looked at Sarah before turning around to see Freddy running to them with fresh scratches on his face.

  “You guys aren’t going to believe what I just ran into!” he said with a concerned look. Valerie turned around with a joyful sarcastic expression across her face.