Existing Dead

by Lyle Perez-Tinics

  “Looks like they’re starting to exterminate them,” Kyle said softly.

  He tried to look toward where he’d parked his truck. It was too dark for him to see it clearly. He prayed that it remained untouched, but he wasn’t holding his breath. With the amount of devastation on the streets, the jet must have dropped thousands of rounds. Kyle turned and went back down the ladder.

  “What’s the damage?” Susie asked, startling Kyle. He hadn’t seen her standing at the doorway.

  “It’s a mess. There are bodies everywhere on the streets. Some are missing their entire lower body, but they’re still crawling,” Kyle said, quickly.

  “Yeah I’ve seen a bunch do that. It’s like they don’t feel pain.”

  “I know,” Kyle said, cutting Susie off. “I’ve done a lot worse to one of them, yet it still exists. The only way to put one down is to destroy the brain.”

  “Yeah I figured that one out when one of them made its way in here,” Susie said, looking at the ground.

  Kyle pushed his way into the house. He stopped for a second and said, “What do you mean one of them got in here? I thought you said it was safe?”

  “It is, but the day before Franklin left one of them got in. We did everything possible to put it down. It wasn’t until I shot it through the head that it collapsed on the ground.”

  “Is that all that happened?” Kyle asked suspiciously. He started putting the pieces together in his head. She had lied about one of them getting in, Angel was dead in her room, and Franklin left the following day without taking Susie or Angel. Kyle didn’t know how, but he knew that Victor was thinking the same thing.

  Victor stood from his corner and walked to Kyle.

  “Yeah, that’s all that happened,” she said finally.

  “Okay,” Kyle replied.

  Susie looked at her watch. “It’s getting very late. If we’re planning on leaving tomorrow we’ll need our rest. I’ll make sure me and Angel are ready to leave first thing in the morning.”

  Victor nudged Kyle. Kyle knew Victor must be terrified of Susie’s inability to let go. Angel was dead and she kept talking as if she were alive.

  “Can I meet Angel?” Kyle asked.

  “You’ll see her tomorrow when we leave,” Susie replied quickly.

  “What’s wrong with right now?” Victor chipped in.

  “She’s asleep.”

  “Are you sure she’s really asleep?” Victor continued.

  Kyle put his hand over Victor’s mouth. “Don’t listen to this kid,” Kyle said. “Just go ahead and get some sleep. We’ll meet Angel tomorrow and leave bright and early. If it’s okay, we’ll sleep on the couch.”

  Susie nodded. “There are some extra blankets and pillows in the cabinet,” she said, pointing.

  “Thanks, Susie,” Kyle said, still holding Victor’s mouth shut.

  Susie walked into Angel’s room and quietly shut the door.

  Kyle let go of Victor’s mouth. “I can’t believe she can take that smell,” Victor said.

  “Yeah, I know. I can smell it from here.”

  “What are we going to do?” Victor whispered.

  “A part of me wants us to leave right now, and take our chances with the dead outsi-.”

  “How many are left out there? If it’s not many then we can outrun them,” Victor interrupted.

  “There’s quite a few left. We’ll be running all the way to my truck. And that’s if it hasn’t got all shot up. You heard that jet. But like I said, the other part of me wants us to stay and see what she does in the morning. We are supposed to take Angel with us. I wanna know what she’s planning on doing.”

  Victor laughed. “I kinda wanna see that too, but she’s creeping me out.”

  “She’s not stable. I don’t think it’ll be smart for us to wait ’til morning. I think we need to get a few hours of sleep and leave in the middle of the night. We’ll have to take our chances with the Existing Dead. Did you happen to catch where that safe zone she was talking about was?”

  “I don’t know,” Victor said, shrugging. “I might have been knocked out.”

  “I’m going to go ask her. I’ll tell her that I’m planning our route,” Kyle said as he looked up the hall. “Grab some blankets and get some sleep.” Victor nodded and opened the cabinet. “Hey,” Kyle called out, “make sure you take the small couch. And sleep with one eye open,” Kyle teased.

  Victor whispered, “Shut up,” as he grabbed a few blankets, enough for both of them. He took them back to the couch and walked into the kitchen. The table had been cleared. Susie must have cleaned up his leftovers. Victor sighed and grabbed a large knife then headed back to the couch. He hid the weapon and nestled himself into the couch.

  Kyle walked up the hallway and softly pressed his ear up against the door. He heard Susie singing a nursery rhyme. It gave him the chills. He backed away and knocked on the door. “Susie?” he said.

  “Yes,” he heard her call out.

  “I’m planning our route for tomorrow. Do you know where that safe zone is? I figure I’ll drop you and Angel off first, take Victor home and then head to California for Jasmine.”

  The door to the room swung open. A disgusting odor leaked out, causing Kyle to take a step back. Susie stepped out of the room. She made no acknowledgment of the horrible smell.

  “Why does the room smell that way?” Kyle asked. “Aren’t you bothered by it?”

  “I’m a nurse, I’ve smelled worse. There was an accident and my daughter defecated everywhere. I’m sorry about the smell,” she replied.

  “That’s okay,” he said, “Shouldn’t you take Angel out of there because of the smell?”

  “She’s fine,” Susie snapped back, throwing her arms in a defensive mode.

  “Okay, sorry. I didn’t mean to pry. So where is this safe zone? The one that Franklin went to for help.”

  “Las Vegas,” she said.

  “Vegas? That’s about an hour and a half away. Well, if the streets are clear that is. I’m going to plan our route right now. Just make sure you and Angel are ready in the morning.”

  “Kyle,” Susie said touching Kyle on the arm. “Where’s Victor?”

  “He’s probably passed out on the couch.”

  “I’m going to be straight with you.”

  Here we go, Kyle thought. She was finally going to come clean about Angel.

  “What are you doing taking Victor home? You know his family is most likely dead, and to be giving him false hope like that is probably going to hurt him more. He’s just a kid, Kyle.”

  That came out of left field. Kyle wasn’t thinking clearly about Victor. In his mind they were friends, best buds even, and he was giving Victor a ride home. There was no telling what they would find there. He wasn’t sure that Victor put much thought into it either.

  “Who knows,” he stated. “His mom or family might have survived, just like you and me.”

  Before Susie could respond, Kyle was already walking down the hall and back into the living room. Victor was passed out on one of the couches. Kyle sat down on the other couch and began to think. A million thoughts ran through his head and before he knew it, he was asleep.

  *

  “Kyle? Kyle?” he heard someone say through his sleep. “Kyle, wake up!”

  Kyle’s eyes shot open. He instantly went for the gun on his holster. Victor stood in front of him, shaking him violently.

  “Kyle, get up. We need to leave now!” Victor yelled.

  “What’s going on? What time is it?”

  “We need to go, get your stuff.”

  “Why?” Kyle said still feeling the effects of a deep sleep.

  “The dead, they’re inside the house!”

  Chapter Eight

  The Existing Dead broke through the garage door. Many bodies began to rush in through the small opening in the corner. Kyle fully woke up as soon as Victor explained what was going on.

  “They’re in the garage. We need to find another way out,” Vict
or cried, flashing a gore-covered knife in his hands.

  “Just wait a second. How do you know the dead are in? And what’s that shit on the knife?”

  Victor looked at the large knife and began wiping it on the couch.

  “What did you do?” Kyle said, expecting the worst: that Victor had killed Susie and tried to leave without him.

  “I went looking for my gun. You said it was in the driveway. I opened the garage door just a little bit to try and get it, but when I reached for it, one of them pushed through the bottom of the door. It got in then I tried closing the door. It warped the edge so the door wouldn’t fully close. I stabbed the one that got in with the knife a few times in the head until it went down. After that, more started coming through the opening. I ran back in here. We gotta go, now! Maybe we can deal with the ones in the garage and get up on the roof.”

  Kyle sprang into action. He got to his feet and looked around the area. Where’s my shotgun? he thought, then instantly remembered that he left it on the roof. “Where’s Susie?” he asked.

  “I don’t know, I think she’s still in her room,” Victor answered.

  “Go get her. I’m going to see if I can hold them back so we can get to the roof. Hurry!”

  Victor didn’t argue. He didn’t like being alone with Susie, but he had messed up this time by letting the dead get inside. If they were to die today it would be his fault, and he knew it.

  Kyle slowly opened the door to the garage. Dawn had broken, but the garage was still pitch black. He drew his Glock and searched for something to shoot. Out of the darkness, a face appeared. It was gray and void of life, its mouth open exposing bright blood red tongue and gums. He fired. The bullet went through its mouth, making a hole that extended to its throat. Another one appeared to his right. It had the same look of death as the first. He fired, hitting it on the forehead. More creatures began to emerge from the darkness; he shot as he saw them.

  “Victor!” he yelled.

  Victor and Susie appeared behind him. Victor still held that knife in his hand. Kyle continued firing. “Get to the ladder,” he said.

  Victor ducked under him and made his way to the ladder. An Existing Dead materialized out of the darkness behind him. Kyle fired twice, shooting it in the head. The boom echoed in the room as the shots came from all directions. The Existing Dead collapsed to the ground. Victor began to climb up the ladder. “Now you go, Victor,” Kyle said as he fired another round at the one he had already shot in the mouth. This time he caught it right between the eyes. The gun kicked back. He quickly ejected the magazine and took another one out of his pocket. He slapped it in and fired at another creature. They just kept popping out of the darkness like ghosts.

  Susie ran past Kyle. She held something in both hands wrapped in a blanket. The smell of death followed her. It didn’t smell the same as the dead that were in the garage. This one was different.

  Susie began to climb up the ladder with one hand. She held the blanket tightly with the other. Kyle stared at her for a second, then quickly shot at an Existing Dead that was a few feet in front of him. There was a pile of bodies on the floor. Kyle stepped over them as he made his way to the ladder. He felt a hand grab hold of his leg. He kicked it off and pointed the gun down into the darkness. He couldn’t see the body, but he knew it had let go of him. He stepped onto the ladder and climbed up. He felt hands trying to grasp for him, but kept going. Kyle reached the top, and standing there were Victor and Susie. Victor had Kyle’s shotgun in his hands, and had it pointed at Susie. The blanket was bundled on the ground. Sticking out of the top were long strands of hair. Susie had her hands in the air.

  “Victor, what the fuck are you doing?” Kyle said as he pulled himself onto the roof.

  “She’s fucking crazy. Look at her! She’s bringing a fucking dead body and acting like it’s all okay!”

  “She’s not dead!” Susie screamed.

  “Get on your knees!” Victor ordered. Susie began to cry and slowly lowered to her knees. There was a malevolent look on Victor’s face. There was another odor in the air. It wasn’t the dead, and it wasn’t the body on the ground. Kyle inhaled, not believing that he was actually smelling the scent of evil.

  “Victor!” Kyle yelled. “Put that gun down now. Killing something who’s already dead is one thing, but killing a living person is another. You don’t want to know what that’s like.”

  Victor didn’t respond. Kyle walked and stood between them. He calmly reached for the shotgun barrel. Victor pulled away.

  “Come on, Victor. This isn’t going to change anything. Susie is not all there. She needs help. She doesn’t deserve to die this way.”

  Victor sighed. Kyle reached for the barrel again and grabbed onto it. Kyle yanked the gun away as Victor fell to his knees with tears running down his face.

  “It’s okay, buddy,” Kyle said. He turned to look at the rear of the house. They needed a better way to get down to the ground. The driveway was still littered with Existing Dead. When Kyle turned back to face Victor and Susie, Victor was still on his knees and Susie was on her feet. She had an arm outstretched toward Victor, and in her hand was a handgun. She had it pointed toward Victor’s head. The world slowed to a crawl again. Kyle stared at the familiar scene for what seemed like an eternity. The images of his son’s murder flashed through his head.

  “Mary don’t!” he yelled as he raised his shotgun and fired. The blast boomed. Victor’s eyes squinted as he flinched at the noise. The sound echoed in Kyle’s head as he saw the slug blast into Susie’s chest, leaving a large hole in the center. Blood exploded through the exit wound and showered the dead below. She let go of the gun as she fell. Her body rolled on the roof toward the edge. Finally she fell off and landed with a thud. The dead instantly began to huddle around Susie, tearing into her flesh with their clawed hands and sharp teeth.

  “Eddie,” Kyle cried, “are you all right?”

  Victor stood to his feet and nodded, tears still falling freely from his face. Kyle’s heart raced as he snapped out of his daydream. He didn’t feel any emotion. He had been forced to kill Susie before she took Victor away from him.

  “Did you just call me Eddie?” Victor asked.

  “Yeah, sorry. I …” Kyle said looking into Victor’s face. “That’s how I lost Eddie. A bullet in the back of the head. I couldn’t let you die that way, too.”

  “Thanks,” Victor said, “I don’t want to die that way either.” He wiped tears away with his sleeve.

  “Let’s get the hell out of here while they’re busy eating Susie. Grab her gun. She dropped it when she fell back.”

  “But we don’t have any bull … rounds for it,” Victor protested.

  “Well, we’re not going to get your gun. We’ll find ammo on the way to your house. Just go,” Kyle said impatiently.

  Victor ran for the gun. He picked it up and looked at it. “This gun is different than my Snubby.”

  “I’ll show you how it works later. For now, just pull the trigger if you need to fire.”

  Victor peered toward the driveway below. The Existing Dead were still tearing Susie’s body apart. Blood and other tissue littered the ground around her. The dead scooped up any piece of flesh they could and shoved it into their mouths. One of them had forced its head into the bullet hole in her chest. Victor began to vomit off the roof and almost lost balance in the process.

  “Stop looking at it!” Kyle said as he thought of a plan to make it to his truck and also a plan B if it wasn’t drivable.

  Victor was still vomiting when suddenly every noise in the area stopped. A little girl’s voice interrupted the sudden silence and cried out, “Mommy? Is it okay if I come out now?”

  Victor stopped vomiting and staggered toward Kyle. He groaned, whooshing saliva in his mouth and spitting it out.

  “Shhh,” Kyle said. “Did you hear that?”

  Victor tilted his head and stuck his ear out to listen.

  “Mommy? Can I come out now?” the voice said a
gain.

  Kyle stared at the rolled up blanket with Angel’s body in it.

  “Mommy, please answer,” it said again.

  The voice was coming from the blanket. Kyle couldn’t believe it. Could Angel have been alive all this time? Had Susie been telling the truth? He walked toward the blanket and slowly unwrapped it. Staring back at him was the face of an alive four-year-old girl. Victor turned away in fright. She was beautiful, just like Susie once was. Her hair was a golden blond and her cheeks were rosy red. She stared up at Kyle with her big blue eyes.

  “Where’s my Mommy?” Angel asked.

  “I …” Kyle said, not able to process how this girl was still alive. He never had seen her dead body; only Victor had. Had Victor lied? “I …” he said again. “I’m sorry,” he finally stuttered as he pointed the barrel of the Winchester at the smiling girl’s face and fired.

  Chapter Nine

  The sun was just rising. The streets reeked of death and were littered with many fallen dead. Most were no longer moving, but some crawled mindlessly like military soldiers after an air raid. The earth was calm. The only noise came from birds that chirped and crowed from the above power lines, as if mocking the dead below. Interrupting the calm was the sound of a gun discharging. Victor jumped in the air as the blast shocked him. He turned back quickly, only to see Kyle kicking the corpse off the roof. The shotgun round completely obliterated the little girl’s head, leaving nothing but a stump and a mangled mess. Kyle looked down as the body landed on the ground, hitting one of the Existing Dead as it fell.

  “Why did you do that? She was already dead,” Victor said, not understanding why Kyle had shot a dead and decomposing corpse.