by Morris, SJ
I woke up with a rush of breath like I’d been punched in the stomach. I looked around frantically and realized I was still on the roof. The sun was reaching high into the sky, so it must have been about noon. It also didn’t take me long to notice that I was alone on the roof.
Alone.
This left me with a sick feeling that my dream was real, and I had fallen asleep while the infected came and went, taking my friends with them. I vomited almost immediately.
Just then, Dana burst through the door, fully intact, running right for me.
It was just a dream.
“Thank you,” I whispered into the sky.
“Abby, you have to come help, quick! Some men are trying to get into the building. Kamil told me to get you. You have to come now!”
“Slow down and be quiet! If they’re trying to get in, they should be right over there,” I whispered, pointing towards the back end of the roof.
I grabbed my gun from my pack, which was now covered in vomit, and headed to the back of the roof to see who and how many were people now threatening our safety. I peered over the ledge, and three men were reaching through the already broken glass on the windows, trying to push the shelving, blocking them from entering.
Kamil and Dana did a pretty good job securing the windows, though. Even after hundreds of infected stomped by, these three huge guys were cursing up a storm, trying to get in.
Two more showed up from around the corner, yelling that the other entrances were blocked off too. I was paying so much attention to the assholes below, I didn’t hear Chuck come up to the roof.
“Who the hell are you jack-offs, and why are you trying to break into my store?” yelled Chuck with his Colt 45 trained on the biggest guy in the group.
Chuck silently motioned with his other hand for Dana and me to stay hidden behind the roof ledge, which we did.
“Good morning, Sir! We thought the old place was abandoned, and we might be able to find somewhere to hang out for the day. We’re sorry for barging in like this, but there are walkers all over the place, so there isn’t much time for formalities. How about you let us in? You by yourself, old timer?”
“They ain’t walkers, they crazies and most of ‘em just walked on past late last night, so I reckon there ain’t too many more of ‘em out there at the moment. You and your men ain’t looking for a place to hang out for the day. You’re looking to steal anything you can get your hands on, aren’t cha?”
“Come on now, old-timer. You’ve been alone too long, haven’t you? You are alone, right?” He asked again, searching for information.
“I’m just an old man in my old feed store. Who would want to spend time with me?” Chuck said, trying to cover for us, not very well, it appeared.
“Sure thing, Pops. You’re just safe, secure, and alone. You look like you aren’t hurting for food either, so why would anyone want to hang out with you during the end of the world, right? You have a good place to stay, no walkers can get inside, and I bet you have lots of water too. But who would want to stay with you?” The grimy male said sarcastically.
Just as I was about to crawl to the other end of the roof, to see if I could climb down and maybe flank these assholes, or get Dana to hide in the woods, at least until they left, I heard a ‘click.’
I almost shit my pants as I turned around and was facing a greasy, middle-aged man, with black blood caked all over him, thinning, dirty hair, and a grin on his grimy face with a gun pointed in mine.
The man with the gun yelled, “Hey, Samson! I found two pretty girls up here with the old dude, and Joey found a cute black guy inside. I’d say we hit the jackpot!”
The man looked down at me, making kissy noises and then smiled, showing his yellow and brown stained teeth. Chuck turned around quickly, but the gun the guy was holding to my face was now pointed at Chuck. This poor excuse for a man then in one fluid motion, pulled me up to use my body as a shield against Chuck’s possible assault.
All I could feel was the overwhelming sense of defeat. We had just survived last night, with thousands of infected, walking right past us, only to die slowly at the hands of these filthy criminals.
I couldn’t pinpoint what caused it exactly, but something inside me snapped. It could have been the dream of my family and friends being infected or dead. Or, it could’ve been that I was always running from one shitty situation to the next without a break in-between, but one minute I was locked in this disgusting man’s arms, breathing in his awful body odor and the next, I was stamping my foot down on his instep, slamming my elbow into his ribs and breaking free from his grasp to then turn and punch him in the throat.
I watched as he fell to the gravel rooftop, clutching his neck and gasping for air. I quickly grabbed Dana and pushed her towards Chuck before grabbing my pack. I pulled out my gun and pointed it at the asshole, flailing on the ground. There was yelling all around me, but my mind was so clouded with fury, I couldn’t tell who it was coming from.
I walked up to our would-be captor and put a bullet in his left kneecap. I ran past a stunned Chuck, to the edge of the roof, to find that the other men had disappeared. I guessed that their friend’s screams made them run for cover. I just hoped cover wasn’t inside the store since that would be the easiest place for us to defend ourselves against these scumbags.
I bolted for the roof access door and opened it slowly, thinking I was going to get downstairs and surprise our new guests, but instead, I was greeted by the butt-end of a shotgun to the forehead, and all went black... yet again.
Chapter 24
I woke up to a cold rain hitting my back as I lay face down in the dirt, with my hands tied behind me and my feet tied to a pipe. My face hurt severely, and it was hard to open my right eye, but I could see I wasn’t alone outside in the rain.
The jerk-off I shot on the roof was sitting in a metal chair, about ten feet from where I was tied. He had his leg bandaged up in a dirty, ripped t-shirt, a bottle of something in his lap, and he was snoring.
Awesome...
Now that I knew the man was unconscious, it was likely going to get me into more trouble. This opportunity gave me no choice but to try and get away.
I flipped over to lie on my back and scooted as close to the pipe where my feet were tied as I could. I was able to reach the rope my feet were bound with and started untying myself as my captor snored in, what I assumed, was a drunken stupor.
They had tied each foot separately and then tied them together, so it seemed to take forever, but I eventually got the knots undone. Just as I started scooting in the mud towards the sleeping idiot, I heard a commotion from inside and had to roll back over to pretend I was still unconscious.
The remaining four men came out of the store dragging Kamil and Dana behind them. Kamil was badly beaten. I couldn’t tell if he was conscious or not as they dragged him out into the rain. Dana had a red handprint across her cheek, and her clothes were torn some, but other than that, she seemed like she was unharmed.
“Get this whipping boy tied to that tree over there and drop his pants for me. I want him posted up good and proper for me. Let the rain wash off his cute, dirty, black ass!” Yelled the big guy Chuck had initially been talking to when we were on the roof.
Chuck, oh no. I didn’t see Chuck at all, and all five of the men that attacked us were accounted for outside. I did everything I could to refrain from crying at the possible loss of the sweet old man we’d just met, who was kind enough to open his place of refuge to us. They had to have killed him.
The man in the chair next to me woke up enough to speak, “Come on, Sampson, I’m trying to sleep over here, and you’re yelling. Can’t you do that quietly?”
“Why don’t you get off your ass and bring that pretty little trigger-happy bitch over here, Scotty. We’ll tie her up next to my new toy, and you can let the rain wash her down too,” responded Sampson.
“I would if my damn knee wasn’t blown to shit1 Jessup, get over here and take this one’s clothes of
f! Lettin’ the rain wash her off ain’t too bad of an idea, while she’s still out. It’ll save me the trouble of having to wash her down later before I fuck her up good and right!” Scotty said as he took another big swig from the bottle in his hand and rubbed his wounded leg.
“Come on, Scotty. If I do that for you, what are you gonna give me? Sampson already claimed the big black guy and said the other girl is off-limits. Can’t I have at least the second go-round with this one if I help you?” responded Jessup.
He was a skinny, white kid who couldn’t have been more than nineteen. Just listening to their banter made my skin crawl. They talked about raping us like they were talking about the weather.
“I’ll help ya, Scotty! Just getting her undressed is good enough for me. I know I’ll get my turn later,” said another skinny, white kid, who was also in his teens, as he ran over to where I laid in the mud.
“No way, Carl! Get the fuck away from her! Scotty asked me!”
“Boys, boys. Let’s not get too uppity about this. You will all get your turn when I’ve had my fill, and ya’ll know that. You want to fight about it, and I’m gonna have to fuck you two first before you can have her. Now, you don’t want that again, do you, boys?” Said Scotty with a massive grin on his face as he rubbed his crotch through his pants.
Sampson yelled, breaking up the fight, “You two shit heads get over here and help me first. Scotty has too much of a whiskey dick to do anything. I, on the other hand, can’t wait to get started with these two. Danny, you get over here and help them too.”
It took everything I had to stay face down and unmoving as they argued over us like we were animals. The two boys were pushing at one another as they walked over to where Kamil was and began cutting and ripping the clothes from his limp body.
Poor Dana, having to watch quietly while all of this happened. She, unfortunately, was very conscious. Sampson brought out two chairs, one for himself and one for Dana. He made her sit next to him and watch as the other three men tore Kamil’s clothes off and tied him to a large tree. His arms were outstretched around the huge tree trunk, his face pushed into the bark, and his legs pulled apart behind him. He appeared to be unconscious, or at least I hoped he was.
I wanted to jump up and beat the life out of each one of these assholes. I wanted to kill them for what they had already done and what they were planning to do to us. I also wanted them dead for what they’d do to the next group of innocent people they found if I didn’t stop them. I knew I had to do something. I couldn’t just lie here, pretending to be out cold, while my friends were tortured.
Jessup started walking over to me, pulling a long kitchen knife from his belt, and I hatched my plan. He kneeled next to me, rolling me over, face up. He grabbed at the bottom of my t-shirt and started cutting it off with the knife. Just as he was about halfway, I threw my knees up and caught him in the head.
Instantly, he dropped the knife and grabbed for his face, screaming. I grabbed the knife and ran as quickly as possible. I cut the ropes from my hands as I sprinted away. Looking back, I saw the other two kids, who also only had kitchen knives as weapons, thank goodness, were chasing me.
I turned the corner and hid behind some garbage cans that had been tossed around the night before. I tried to catch my breath and be quiet, but the adrenaline running through me was making it hard to keep still.
The boys came around the corner, and when they didn’t see me anymore, they both stopped and looked around. They had their backs to me and were only about ten feet away. They started whispering to each other, planning for one to go this way and the other to go that way.
As soon as one walked away, I jumped up and grabbed the one closest to me in a headlock and slit his throat before he even had a chance to make a sound. The other boy was still slowly walking away as I laid the other down in the mud and slowly crept up behind him.
I did the same with him too, slicing his neck open, quietly. The only sound was the gurgling of air breaking free through the blood, pooling in their throats. I stood over the bodies of the two young boys I had just killed. The old me would have cried, but the new me watched their final movements coldly, to be sure they weren’t going to get back up.
When I was satisfied that enough of their lifeblood was pumped from their bodies, and I knew they were dead, I grabbed each of their knives and checked their pockets for anything that might be of use to me.
One had a bottle opener key chain from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and the other had a pack of mint gum. I dropped the bottle opener and put a piece of gum in my mouth. These two were almost no help to me at all, but I tucked the other knives into my pants and continued around the building as quietly as possible.
When I was able to see the front of the building where the others were before, the only thing left out there now was Kamil, still tied to the tree and the two metal chairs. I wanted to go to him and to cut him free, but I knew that’s what they were hoping for.
So, instead, I backtracked to the side of the building with the bucket loader we’d used the day before to block the door from the infected. I climbed the arm and made it back up to the roof. My pack was no longer up there, and my gun was gone too, but I had the knives.
I knew I was going to be okay.
Besides, they wouldn’t be expecting me to come down from the roof at them. Not again, at least. They expected the two shit-stains they sent after me to get me and bring me back. Little did they know that they had pissed off the wrong woman.
I opened the roof door slowly and climbed down the steps as silently as I could. I made it down and just sat on the floor, with my eyes closed, listening, like Chris had done in the woods with the infected.
I soon heard muffled voices coming from the front of the store.
Just as I expected, I learned they were all up at the windows with rifles, trained on the tree outside, the one Kamil was tied to. They were waiting for me to try and save him so they could shoot me, what assholes.
Dana was sitting on the floor next to Sampson’s feet with a blank stare. I was sure she was so traumatized she barely knew what was going on anymore. Good for her but bad for me at the moment.
I crawled closer to where they were and peeked my head out, looking right at her. Amazingly, she popped her head up and looked right back at me with a smirk. I guess she wasn’t traumatized, just a good actress. She looked up slowly at Sampson, who was still searching outside in the rain for any trace of his boys, or me.
Dana slowly crawled away without him noticing and slid in next to me, behind some shelving.
“What’s the plan? I heard them say they’re almost out of ammo. I think Sampson has five rounds, Scotty has three and Danny’s out,” Dana whispered to me.
“That’s great. If we can get them to empty their guns without getting shot in the process, I’m sure we can take them,” I said as I cut Dana’s hands free and gave her one of my three knives.
Dana whispered a suggestion, “Let’s get to the back of the store and start throwing things at them. Maybe get them to fire where we make noise instead of at us.”
I had no other ideas, so we grabbed a few things that were on the shelves around us and got as close to the roof stairs as possible, just in case things went wrong and we needed to make a quick getaway.
I tossed what looked to be a small can of paint to the front right corner of the building. Sampson turned quickly and shot one round blindly, where the can had landed.
“No one move, I heard something inside,” Sampson said quietly to Scotty and Danny, as they also turned towards the can.
“Maybe the old man woke up, and he’s trying to get out of the closet,” whispered Danny, pointing at a door across the room from where Dana and I were hiding.
“Chuck’s alive,” I whispered to Dana.
“I knew he was; I just didn’t know where they put him.”
“Well, now that we do know, we probably shouldn’t throw anything over there, so they don’t accidentally shoot him.”
Sampson and the other two goons were still facing the back corner of the store when I saw an infected, slowly shuffling in front of the windows toward Kamil’s limp body.
In an instant, our situation went from shitty to fucked.
I put my finger in front of my lips showing Dana to be quiet and pushed out my chin in the direction of the windows. Dana’s eyes made contact with the badly decomposed creature, slowly making its way towards one of her only friends left in the world, and her eyes filled with tears. She covered her mouth with her hands, so she didn’t cry out, but I could see it in her face that she wanted to run past the psychos with guns to save him.
I shook my head slowly to reinforce that she couldn’t do what she wanted without getting killed. She put her head down and wept quietly.
“Hey Sampson, look out front. We got a walker heading for your boy outside,” said Danny.
“Damn it! Ain’t no walker gonna get a hold of my shit before I do,” Sampson said as he stomped away, to one of the side doors and out to where the infected was getting ready to attack Kamil.
Kamil just lay there, unconscious in the mud and drizzling rain.
Sampson walked up, just behind the infected, and as it turned towards him, reaching its mangled arms for him, he pulled the trigger on his rifle. I was expecting a loud bang but heard nothing. I only watched as Sampson fumbled with the bolt lever on his gun, and the infected managed a painful sounding groan. Sampson finally realized he wasn’t going to get a shot off and ran back for the door. He threw himself inside and grabbed for whatever he could to put in front of the door and secure it.
I guess he was just as afraid of the undead as everyone else, at least when he didn’t have his rifle loaded anyway.
“Scotty, give me your gun!” Sampson yelled when there were no more items around to stack in front of the door.