Dead Life (Book 4)

by Schleicher, D Harrison

  “When we made love the other day in the bank Edgar it was wonderful. You were so forceful that day. The way you took care of that zombie and that bitch Lisa. Ever since then I've wondered if what we were doing was right. If you would have got here before Colleen I would have left with you. I promise.”

  “You think I'm gonna fall for that?”

  “Those two suitcases by the door are full of crystal meth. My brothers are going to be here any minute. I wasn't lying about that. Let's me and you take the drugs and get out of here before they get here.”

  “I don't need those drugs.”

  “Think about it Edgar. The world is over. We can use the meth to trade for whatever we need.”

  “I've got money.”

  “Money? All that's good for anymore is wiping your ass.”

  “You little bitch,” Colleen said. “What about us?”

  “I just didn't want to be here alone while Roy and Vern were out getting the boys together.”

  “Me and you have been together from the start.”

  “She was just part of their plan Edgar. I told you. I'm not a lesbian.”

  Edgar's resolve in killing both of the women had lessened and the gun was no longer pressed to Paula's head. He still held it but had dropped his hand to the bed. Colleen pushed him away and jumped on Paula. Her hands replaced Edgar's as she sat on Paula's chest, choking the life from her. Edgar backed away from the bed.

  “Get off of her Colleen,” he shouted.

  Colleen didn't stop. “Die you fucking bitch,” she shouted.

  Edgar raised his gun and shot her in the middle of her back. Colleen fell forward across Paula and rolled to the side ending up on her back. Blood oozed from the hole the bullet had made exiting her body between her breasts. She tried to say something but blood bubbled up from her mouth and she stopped moving. Edgar turned his back on the scene and went for the door. Reaching for the knob he heard Paula scream from behind him and ducked down. Something hit him hard in the shoulder and he fell to the ground. She stood over him with a baseball bat.

  She brought the bat up over her head. “You pathetic piece of shit,” she screamed, and brought it down.

  Edgar rolled to the side and the bat came down hard on the floor beside him. Rolling back into the bat he was able to get one arm around it and stripped it from her grasp. Paula fell on him with her fists; pummeling him with blows to the head, neck, and shoulders. Edgar used the bat and wedged it between them pushing her off with the handle.

  Paula lay on the ground crying. “You stupid fucker. You didn't have to kill her.”

  Blood sprayed the walls of the bedroom. Edgar beat her with the bat until his arms ached. Dropping the bat to the ground Edgar picked his pistol back up from where it fell from his grasp when Paula first hit him with the bat. Edgar went into the front room, got the two suitcases from by the door, and brought them back into the bedroom. Roy and Vern were supposed to be here any minute and he sure wanted to have a talk with them.

  Edgar woke up bathed in sweat. He looked beside him. Colleen's dead eyes stared back at him. Jumping off the bed he went to the window and pulled the curtain back. The mid-day sun greeted him. He looked at his watch and was shocked to see that he had slept through the night and most of the next day. Paula's dead body lay at his feet. His stomach churned when he saw by the light of day just how badly he'd beaten her. She must have brought her arms up in an attempt to shield her head because they both jutted out at unnatural angles. Her head was pretty much gone; having been smashed flat by the repeated blows he had rained down on her.

  One thought possessed him. He had to get back to Jenny and the girls. He still had a life with them. All he needed was a good story to tell Jenny. The nursing home was overrun when he got there. Ever since then he's been trying to stay one step ahead of the zombie horde that's been chasing him. Edgar grabbed the suitcases and ran from the room. Now that he had a plan he was ready to get out of here. To hell with Roy and Vern. They were probably dead already and if not, let them try to figure out what had happened here. He was going home.

  He took the suitcases full of drugs and threw them in the trunk of his car. Something else for Roy and Vern to figure out. He drove to the entrance of the apartment complex but had to stop. Thousands of zombies made their way down the street in front of him. He backed away from the road barely avoiding being trapped by the hundreds of the undead that came after him. There was a back entrance. He would have to try going that way. If they were out there too he would try to make it back to Paula's apartment and wait it out there. Hopefully zombies couldn't do steps. If they could he was screwed.

  The back exit was clear for the most part. There were a few strays in the road but he drove around them or over them; whichever was easiest. Edgar was relieved to see the roads weren't as bad as yesterday. Most of the zombies in town were probably traveling with that horde Edgar had seen earlier. There were still lots of cars blocking the streets and he found himself backtracking quite a lot. A trip that would normally have taken fifteen minutes turned into a two hour ordeal.

  He finally came to his street but was unable to get down it. The horde was making it's way toward his house. Edgar tried every side street he could to get to his house. Every street he tried was blocked. He even got to where he could see his house from the road but couldn't get there because it was on the other side of the street. He was relieved to see the house was safe so far. The horde hadn't made it's way down the long driveway. After watching for an hour or so it started getting dark and exhaustion took over as he fell asleep.

  In the middle of the night he awoke to the sound of someone knocking at the door. Who would be out at this time of night he wondered? As he drifted in and out of sleep the knocking got more insistent. Finally deciding to get up and answer the door he pried his eyes open. He looked to his left and saw a horribly disfigured face staring in the window at him. The creature pounded on the window trying to get at him. Edgar came fully awake in a flash and remembered where he was. Starting the car he drove away. His street was still blocked by the horde so he decided to get further away from his house and try again in the morning.

  The next morning Edgar woke up early. He was about two miles from his house sitting at the end of a dead end street. Worried that the horde had got to his family in the night Edgar drove as fast as he could trying to get there. His street was finally clear. The zombies were gone and so were the cars that had been abandoned along the street. He was wondering where all the cars had gone, not thinking about the road, when a zombie stepped out in front of him. He was going over fifty miles an hour when he hit it. Black zombie blood exploded everywhere coating his windshield. The car careened out of control and Edgar crashed headlong into a tree.

  When he finally came to the horn was blaring. Edgar pushed his door open and fell out of the car. Laying on the ground trying to regain his senses Edgar heard footsteps. Then he heard the moaning. Dozens of zombies were converging on him. Getting to his feet he got his pistol out and aimed at the closest boy. When he pulled the trigger nothing happened. The gun was empty. Throwing the useless weapon at the zombie Edgar started to run. His entire body ached from the combination of sleeping in his car and the wreck he'd just had. Thank god the zombies were slow. All he had to do was keep moving and he would be able to out distance them.

  He wasn't moving very fast but felt confident he would be fine. Looking over his shoulder he could see he'd already been able to put a little distance between him and the undead. Then he heard the distinct sound of running behind him. He risked a glance back. Three zombies had broken away from the pack and were running after him. Picking up the pace he was able to stay in front of them. There was only a quarter mile to go. He had to push harder. All those years sitting behind a desk were working against Edgar. His lungs felt like they would explode and his calf muscles felt like they were on fire. He wasn't going to make it and if he did all he would be doing is bringing the horde to his house.

  Edgar th
ought about just stopping and letting them take him when he saw his house. There were two men and a woman coming out of it. They were looking at him as he ran. The woman went back in the house and the two men ran at him. “Head for the car,” one shouted, and they attacked the runners.

  Hidden

  A Dead Life Short Story

  We had been on the run for a few days when I came to a side road leading off of the highway. The roads had been crowded with abandoned vehicles and wrecks everywhere. Lisa, my wife and Vanessa, our baby girl were exhausted and hungry so we decided to take the side road. The undead hadn't been much of a problem as long as we kept moving. Hopefully we would be able to find a place to stay the night. I was just as tired as the girls and needed a good nights rest. The car we were using had been over heating for the past twenty miles or so. I would have to try and locate some new wheels for us if we were going to make it much further. Before the radio had gone dead, Lisa had heard a broadcast promising safe haven just on the other side of Rolla, Missouri. We didn't have far to go but the Honda Civic we had been using for the past two days was shot. Running down zombies had finally taken it's toll on the little car.

  We hadn't gone far down the road when the radiator blew and the engine on the small car seized up. We would be walking from here.

  “Honey, gather up as much as you think we can carry. Do we have any food left?” I knew the answer to that was no. I had to ask anyway. Lisa had been unresponsive since we had started out this morning and I was trying my best to draw her out.

  “We have two bottles of water and five jellybeans,” she said as she shoved what little we had left into our backpacks.

  The jellybeans were Vanessa's. She loved the damn things and never went anywhere without having her pockets jammed full. I call her my baby but in reality she's twenty-five years old. Vanessa was our special child. When Vanessa was born the doctors told us she would always be “a little slow.” At first we were heart broken but as time went on Lisa and I realized it didn't matter. Vanessa was a sweet and loving child and always would be. It didn't matter that she would never “grow up.” Maybe it was a little selfish for us to feel this way but we would always have our sweet little five year old daughter.

  We each took a backpack. Vanessa carried her Dora the Explorer bag and started down the road. Soon it became obvious that we were headed down a road that would eventually lead to a farmhouse. The fields were full of crops that would never be harvested. From the looks of things we would definitely have something to eat tonight. I wondered to myself how long could we survive on a diet of soybeans and corn. We walked for about a half hour when a landing strip for small aircraft came into sight.

  “Maybe we can fly out of here. Wouldn't that be fun Vanessa?”

  “My daddy is going to take me for a plane ride. Mommy, do you like flying on airplanes?”

  “Your father is teasing you. He can't fly a plane sweetie.”

  “Yes he can. My daddy can do anything.”

  “Your mommy's right honey. I don't know how to fly a plane. Let's see if we can catch a free ride though.”

  “Ed you need to stop getting her hopes up like that. Vanessa, let's just wait and see what happens, okay?

  Vanessa frowned at her mother and skipped down the road singing over and over, “I'm leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again.”

  “Look across that airfield baby,” I said pointing to the group of about twenty zombies crossing the landing strip headed in our direction. “I can see the roof of a house over the next rise. We need to make a run for it.”

  We ran to catch up with Vanessa. She was oblivious to the situation. We had been able to shield her from the worst of it so far. When the virus first hit our town we were able to escape before it became necessary to fight our way out. Thankfully we had been able to avoid any direct confrontations. Unfortunately it looked like that was about to change soon. She understood that there were bad people out there trying to hurt mommy and daddy but the true implications of what was happening eluded her. At first she was horrified to see me run down the zombies in our car. After a while though it became a game to her. Each time I hit one now she would squeal with delight and clap her hands. She even kept score, daddy umpteen bad guys zero.

  “Honey we need to run. More of the bad guys are coming,” I took Vanessa by the hand and started to run beside her. “There's a house up ahead. We're going there.”

  “I hope they let us fly in their plane!” she shouted with joy while running beside me.

  As we got closer to the house I could see that the zombies were coming at it from all sides. It would be close but if we hurried we could make it. Just then the door opened and a woman came out onto the front porch and pointed a rifle in our direction.

  “Hurry, you've got sprinters right behind you.” The words were barely out of her mouth when she opened fire.

  I chanced a look over my shoulder. I didn't know they could run like that but one was right behind Vanessa. He reached for her and the top of his head blew off. He went down hard and the creature behind him tripped over his corpse and went down in a flurry of arms and legs. It looked like we were going to make it when Vanessa stopped running and stood at the bottom of the steps leading up to the porch.

  “Can I go for a ride in your plane?”

  “This door closes in five seconds.”

  Lisa grabbed Vanessa by the hand and drug her up the steps. The lady on the porch continued firing into the approaching undead and I got behind Vanessa and pushed her up. We all made it inside before the zombie horde made it up the steps.

  The door slammed shut and she turned to face us. “My name is Marla. Will you help me barricade this door?”

  There was a large hutch in the living room beside the door. Lisa and I grabbed it and started dragging it over. I was already past the door and Lisa was right in front of it when it burst open. The hutch blocked the zombies from swarming in but did not prevent them from pulling Lisa and dragging her over the hutch and out the door. I was able to grab Lisa by her legs to try and pull her back but there were too many pulling the other way. As they yanked her through, the door slammed shut. I will never forget the sound of the screams coming from the other side of the door as they ripped my wife to pieces.

  “I'm so sorry. I have to get upstairs. My daughters up there,” Marla said quietly as she made her way up the steps.

  “Daddy, where did mommy go?”

  I collapsed to my knees, sobbing uncontrollably. My wife was gone. My life was over. How could I go on without her? I felt a hand touch the top of my head.

  “Don't worry daddy I'll get mommy back.”

  In my sorrow I didn't understand what Vanessa was about to do. She went to the hutch, pushed it aside and opened the door.

  When I wake up I'm sitting on a toilet in a strange bathroom. I have no idea where the hell I am or how I got here. Lisa and Vanessa are both gone. Why do I have to still be alive? The anguish I feel is unbearable. The two things that matter most in my life are gone. Outside the door I hear the moans coming from the creatures that took them from me. I want to rush out there and kill them all. But here I sit rooted to the spot too terrified to move. Self preservation is a strong motivator. I hate myself for being the weakling I am. If I wasn't such a coward I'd rush out there and take out as many of them as I could before they ripped me to pieces.

  I hear gunshots coming from outside. Lots of gunshots. They'll take care of those bastards for me. God I'm hungry. As soon as I'm free from this hell hole I'll eat until I burst. I hear voices in the house.

  “Steve, clear the ground floor. Les, you come with me. We're going up.”

  I sit quietly. They'll find me soon enough. Then I can finally eat.

  I hear another gunshot. A few seconds later the door to the bathroom opens. I slowly turn my head to look at my savior. A low moan starts in my throat and escapes my lips. GOD I'M HUNGRY.

  “I'm sorry,” he says. “I didn't know this bathroom was occupied
.”

  Before I can rise from the toilet he points his handgun at me and I see a bright red flash. Darkness soon follows.

  “Next time, don't just walk away. Let me know when you're done clearing a room,” Al said. “Did you shoot that poor zombie while he was taking a shit?”

  That does it. I hope you enjoyed Book 4. The short stories were something I thought I'd try out. I had time while the wife was proofreading the book so I thought I'd give her something else to do.

  I'm on Facebook and twitter. I don't know anything about twitter so that really doesn't count. But I'm on it! If you'd like to, follow me on twitter and I'll follow you right back. I don't know where that leads exactly but I'm still searching. Maybe we'll find the end together.

  Search David H Schleicher on Facebook and send me a friend request. I also have a page for Dead Life on Facebook so look for it too. You can also email me at davidhschleicher@gmail.com if you'd like.

  Now turn one more page and write that review! Come on you can do it. Turn the page. Did you turn the page? It won't hurt, I promise.

  D Harrison Schleicher