Staying Alive: New Addition

by Edwards, John;

  Someone tapped my shoulder gently, I spun around, a katana halfway out of its sheath.

  “It’s just us”. Elise whispered behind me. She nodded behind her, Nika was inspecting the shattered hole.

  “Situation”? I turned my head towards the bathrooms, and Elise nodded with understanding.

  “Found blood tracks, it ain’t human...too dark, it lead...” I traced the marks ahead of us straight into the woman’s bath- room. “Right in there”. She nodded again and took out two long kitchen knives. I grinned at the knives sharpness and looked at Elise.

  “German steal, very light but cuts through almost everything... great choice”. She looked down at the twins and looked up, she nudged my shoulder.

  “Only you would know”. Once she said that, her face automatically turned to stone, straight, very much poker faced. A woman on a mission.

  I trailed behind her, as she walked silently on her toes. We crept closer to the bathroom door. The light above us momentarily flickered, giving off an eerie vibe. My breathing slowed, with each step, I unsheathed the katana on my left and held it secured to my side. I gripped the red twine that wrapped around the handle, my thumb caressing the tough mahogany leather.

  Elise paused, and pointed a thumb at the door. It was slightly ajar. The ground below the door was covered in blood. Darkest blood color I’ve ever seen,

  We waited there, waited for something to happen. I don’t know what it was we were looking for, I’m not a patient woman, just standing here without doing anything is making me nervous.

  It then occurred to me that, Elise was probably waiting for my permission to proceed. Oh, was I put in charge without my knowledge again?

  “On my go”. I breathed in through my nose and out through my mouth, just like my instructor showed me. I saw a lone bead of sweat dribble down Elise’s neck line. Nika paced behind me, I knew that she was getting excited. But it could only be one of them. I sighed,

  “Go”. We charged in, as quietly as our heavy combat boots could let us, door swung soundlessly on its hinges. I nodded for Nika to bare the door open, in case we need to run out, Elise was positioned to my right her back against the few faucets in the room, a dirt speckled mirror reflecting us, and the thing in the fi stall. I swallowed the lump that made its way into my throat. Relax, just breath.

  Elise looked at me for confirmation. I couldn’t take my eyes off the only door that separated us from the undead carcass on the other side. I nodded once, and Elise kicked open the door, it slammed inwardly, the sound echoed against the blue tiled walls.

  “Holy...” Nika squeaked from the doorway.

  I wanted to look away, but my eyes stayed glued to the thing in front of me. She was covered in blood. From head to toe, I could hardly make out the dirty blond streaks that used to be her hair, I mean...all I saw was black blood. In some places it dried and crusted around the tips of her hair and her face. She was crying, but normally tears would be clear liquid right?

  Not thick bloody streaks streaming down her reddened cheeks. Her eyes were blood shot, her pupils were dilated so much that you couldn’t tell the iris from the pupil. I stared at her, and she stared back. Empty...black eyes

  She made no move for me other or the others. I just held onto the katana tightly. I wasn’t aware that I was trembling as much as she was, when I heard the sword rattle in my hands. That’s when she looked at the sword, her eyes widened in horror. I flinched when she put up her hands, to cover her face, she crouched low on the ground.

  “P-p-please...don-don’t”. It stuttered. And I found it hard to breath, the air suddenly became too heavy for me. She...it spoke.

  “What”. When I finally found my voice, it didn’t really come out as a question.

  “D-don’t...p-please, help-”. She coughed, and just doing that little task made her whole body tremble. Even the wall of the stall against her back shook. Blood splattered in front of her, spraying the wall in front and the floor around her. I instinctively took a step back, while Elise and Nika stood still as statues.

  “He-help”. She croaked, her voice barely a whisper. I waited for her to talk more but, her attitude changed, she stilled for a moment, and her breathing sped up.

  “Are you...” Her head snapped up, and I knew then that...she was gone for good. She stood up, and growled in my direction. She started out slow, but then lunged from the stall, towards me. Everything went into motion.

  I jumped out of the way before she could claim me. Her body smashed into the mirror, shards fell to the ground and some stuck to her face. My skin shivered from the sight. She lost her footing but regained it back by trying to swipe at my head with her claw like hands. I ducked out of reach. I motioned for Elise to standby. Just this little one I could handle by myself.

  “Get out”. I said to her sternly. She complied by nodding jerkily and rushed out the door, with Nika right behind her.

  Chapter 11

  I was getting another headache.

  “Now it’s just you and me”. It cocked its head to the side, as if trying to understand me. It snarled and lunged for me again, only this time I reacted. I blocked her hands with the dull edge of the sword, I moved out of the way, switching to the sharp edge I hit the top of her head with the butt of the handle. She stumbled forward, landing on her knees. If it was me in that situation, I would have cried out from the pain. Before she could get up again, I whipped the blade across the air, slicing her head right clean off its shoulders. Blood sprayed from the open cavity. Raining down black blood. After the thing stopped bleeding I stood there in silence. The entire room was covered in blood. You get the day off Mr. Janitor

  I was the only one not covered in blood, only specks had made its way onto my shirt but that didn’t seem like a problem. Good thing I wasn’t in clear range or I would have been caked in blood, I’d hate to change clothes again. I wiped the remaining blood using a disposable paper towel off the blade. There was blood on both my hands, I turned around and rinsed them in the sink, rinsing them until the water ran clear. I looked back at the body, she lay in a large puddle of blood. Her head must be...

  “Oh, there you are”. Her head was in the far corner of the room. Her eyes wide open, and blank. I calmed myself down before walking out the door. Elise and Nika were leaning against the wall.

  “All done”. My voice was clipped, and husky. No idea why it was husky.

  “That fast”? Nika skipped up to me. Orange speckled green eyes staring into mine.

  “Yes”. I answered her.

  “That’s wha-”. I turned to Elise sharply.

  “Don’t even start with that gibberish”. I pointed a finger at her, jamming the katana back into the sheath.

  “Okay, calm down”. She put her hands up as if to surrender.

  “Why so grumpy”? Nika poked my arm, which by the way still stung like heck from the sun.

  “I’m not”. Yet again...whys my voice so blasted husky? “Yes...you so are”. She said again.

  “Maybe you just need to eat”. Elise said, she kicked off the wall and walked over to us.

  “Maybe...” Or maybe I just witnessed a person change before my very eyes, then had to decapitate the poor girl.

  “I’ll go get ya some chocolate...I managed to save some”. She winked at me and strode off.

  Nika was still poking my arm. I don’t know why people like doing that to me. They just don’t care about how I feel. She stopped and looked over my shoulder,

  “Can I see”? She asked.

  “See what”? I glanced in the direction she was staring at. I saw the bathroom door and shook my head.

  “No”. Flat, straight, no-nonsense tone. “No”. “Huh? Why not, it’s not like I’ll be freaked out by it. I’ve had my fair share of killings”. It still doesn’t make it right for you to see, besides I doubt she’s ever seen something like that scene in there. Right out of a slasher flick.

  “When I mean no...I mean NO”. I’ll lock the blasted door if I have to.

>   “Fine”! She shouted in my face and stomped away. I might have to lock and brace the door later, I know she’ll try to sneak by without me noticing.

  We got together duck tape and cardboard to patch the hole in the door. It’ll have to do for now, we’ve nothing thicker than the cardboard so, in case things go wrong at least it’ll keep them out long enough for us to escape.

  I think we’ve been staying here for two weeks now, the lights would blink on and off some days but, Nika’s assured us we’d have a week left of power. We tried the radio stations, looking out for an emergency alerts, anything information about the military. So far we’ve had nothing. I mentioned that maybe, they gave up on us.

  A report was made about the rest of the country, having the same problem as us. With the population higher in some countries, the bite rates increased. I’d get glances from Nika and Elise when a new alert sounded from the radio, we slept less every day. I was always telling them that they should rest, that I’ll keep watch.

  “You can’t keep watch all the time”. Elise bellowed from the men’s bathroom. We had to use the alternative since the woman’s was quarantined.

  “Yeah, I can’t really sleep well at night when I hear you stalking the place. It’s kinda freaky you know”? Nika was cutting up a white t-shirt to use for make- shift gauzes.

  “Well, one: I go by a different sleep pattern, and two: I can stay awake as long as I need to, so stop arguing about it”. I dropped the notepad I was drawing on. This subject keeps getting brought up, eventually they give up and let me guard them.

  In the three weeks we’ve sheltered here, the power finally turned off. And we’ve started to ration our food supply.

  “You think we should move on, then”? I asked during lunch. We lit lanterns around the main areas of the store, since the surveillance cameras are down we’ve tightened our lock downs and changed our shifts. I’d usually, make rounds three times around the store, checking the front and back doors, checking the few medicines we’ve dug up in the pharmacy. Elise would double take on the food supply, and I’ve warned her not to sneak snacks between meals. Too many times to count.

  Nika would always try the radios, the ones that were on batteries. So far, nothing important came up. It’s been quiet. And it worries me.

  “Yeah, I think we should. We’ve already stayed here longer than we should have”. Elise was chewing on a jerky stick.

  “What does the plan say”? Nika was stretching beside me, I could faintly hear the pops and cracks of her stressed out bones. She’s started this exercise up again, saying that she became lazy during our temporary stay.

  “Well, we were supposed to go into the city, or down town. But, I don’t think that’d be a good idea. The Bodies numbers might be more than we can handle in those parts”. I said. Messaging my knee caps.

  “We haven’t heard any news about the city, but I’d guess it might be the best place to look for answers or help”. Elise said. “Heck! We might even be able to jackpot an S.W.A.T truck”.

  Nika jumped up and down. All the excitement was started to affect her. It’s a possibility that the

  S.W.A.T stopped over in the city to evacuate people, any survivors left over from the evacuation; I doubt they’d take the time to rescue. That’s the kind of place this world is.

  “That’s very unlikely”. Elise crumpled the jerky bag and tossed it to the side.

  “Don’t be negative, I’m sure we’d find a few in the city. There are always S.W.A.T teams during apocalyptic situations...and or situations that need their involvement”. Nika settled down next to me and leaned her head on my shoulder.

  “More than the S.W.A.T, maybe they left some goodies lying around. If we’re gonna fight these things, we’re gonna need proper equipment”. She nudged my shoulder, her hair tickled my skin; it made me flinch but I did my best not to move. What’s more deadly than my fists are my brick like shoulder blades? Trust me they ain’t as comfortable as they look

  “Yes, knives aren’t gonna last long where we’re going. It would be nice to stumble upon a gun case. I’d like a sniper rifle”. Elise has this thing about sniper rifles. Ever since her exciting introduction to the first person shooter “Call of Duty” she’s been hooked on guns. Now, maybe it might have been a bad idea to allow her access to these kinds of things, but I couldn’t help it. I thought that she would like it, I didn’t think I’d turn her into a shooting beast. And okay, real life shooting doesn’t compare to videogames but I know for sure that she’d be perfect for the sniper position. I mean, ever since I took her to that shooting range in C-

  You know what that’s not really important right now.

  “I’ve always wanted twin pistols, like double wielding. That’d be pretty awesome”. Her voice was in a whisper, and I felt her head grow heavy on my shoulder. I patted her head and told her to take a nap. She whined at first but, I managed to persuade her. She moved around behind me and plopped down on the make-shift bed, that we made from a king sized comforter and a couple pillows.

  I looked back and she was already snoring lightly.

  Out like a light

  “She’s sleeping more lately, should I be worried”? I turned back to Elise. She looked behind me at Nika then looked back at me.

  “No, she’s just exhausted. And she’s gonna need all the sleep she can get”. I remember Nika used to sleep constantly, even when I would come over their house to hang out she’d be asleep. And her reasons would be; either she’s had a long day, or she isn’t feeling well.

  “Okay, what about you”? To be honest Elise looked paler than usual, and the bags under her eyes have begun to turn a light shade of purple. I’m not gonna tell her that though, then she’d try to argue about how she doesn’t need sleep, that she’s perfectly fine and capable of staying alert. I just won’t say anything at all

  “I’m fine”. See?

  “Alright”. And we ended the conversation there. Afterwards, Elise got up and took her shift to patrol the store, Nika was still sleeping, and I sharpened the blades on the katana’s. (Fortunate enough to find a lead block for sharpening)

  We continued this cycle for a good three days, then finally after our last meeting, we all decided to head for the city. Elise and Nika still wanted to get in touch with their folks, while I worried about mine. I didn’t like the topic when it came up but we had to think about worst case scenarios. If we managed to find their folks we could all escape out of state and search for a safe haven. I mentioned that the worst thing that could happen, was if my mom didn’t make it. She’s a strong woman yes but, this is reality and I know that it maybe already too late.

  Elise and Nika tried to cheer me up, I didn’t cry... no I’d never cry in front of them. For now, I need to clear my head and think about what’s happening for us.

  The next day, we rolled up a few blankets and packed it into the truck. Taking more snacks along for each of us, we hopped into the truck and crossed our fingers. When we had our opening, Elise stomped on the accelerator and the car lurched forward, my head pressed hard against the seat. It felt like my brain shook loose and tossed itself inside my head. I had to roll my window up, zombie brains and white tank top do not mix well you know?

  She took a sharp turn left towards the parking lot’s exit. And I gotta say, she is good. There were so many of those things out here. The tires screeched to a halt ,and I looked in the rearview mirror. “I’ve only ever seen this many bodies in zombie movies”. Nika screamed from behind me. She was up on the seat with her back against us, her feet extended out on top of the armrest between me and Elise. Excited, aren’t we?

  I turned to Elise, she gave me one of those looks. I didn’t like where this was going, I shook my head and she gestured to the back. I looked again at the re- view mirror and a couple of Bodies limped towards the truck. They were perfectly positioned near the rear bumper. I heard Elise slap her hands together and jerked the truck into reverse. I braced my hands in front of me before my body slammed into the
dashboard. I felt my left pinky bend unnaturally, and the pain shot up my wrist. I squeezed my eyes shut telling myself to relax, that the pain will go away.

  The truck hopped up and down, and shook all around us. “What the heck Elise”! Nika screeched, I found her on the floor her neck was at an odd angle, her left leg on the seat and her right kicked upwards.

  I turned to Elise and gave her the stank eye.

  She peeked from under her lashed and gave a slight nod, put- ting the truck back in drive. It sprung up one last time making my head bump against the window, and it continued its course on the deserted street. When things calmed down, I took a look at my pinky and winced. It looked even worse than it felt. The tip bent backwards, I swear if I could it would have touch the knuckle. The nail was split and blood leaked from the broken skin.

  “Ugh, oh god...that is...that’s just-”. I felt Nika examining my pinky, just like me; couldn’t finish her sentence. The whole thing left me speechless.

  “Is it broken”? Elise asked her eyes never leaving the road. “Well, No Elise it’s not broken...it just likes to bend that way sometimes for good fun”! My voiced cracked. She smirked at me and told Nika to fetch the first-aid kit.

  “You don’t have to be mean about it”. She said.

  “I can if I wanna be, know why? Because of your little stunt my pinky is now bent beyond recognition, the bone would have torn through the skin! I’d look just like those things”. I pointed at the bloodied carcasses that roamed the streets around us. They looked even worse than before, the morning sun rose high in the sky, and baked the ground. For a minute I swore I could have sniffed barbecued rotted skin.

  “You can just line the bone back in place and wrap it, you’ll be fine”. She sighed. I eyed her again and snarled. She shot me a confused glance.

  “Want me to break all of your fingers? And I’ll tell ya to just wrap em’ and ignore the pain...don’t test me Elise”. I cracked my knuckles (the available ones) and started for her hand. She flinched.