by I. J. Smith
She stood with her back against the wall, the fear in her eyes shined like a star. Holding the gun in her shaking hands, “What the fuck am I meant to do,” she uttered to herself.
She was lost, trying hard to think of how to attract the dead, she knew she could shoot at them, but that would not guarantee them all coming towards her. She slapped herself on the side on the head repeatedly, “Think, think,” she repeated to herself.
Suddenly she smiled wider, “Of course, just have to be crazy like Jack,” she uttered thinking of the fight a couple of nights ago.
She jumped on the bonnet of a nearby car, climbing to the roof, she shouted out, “HEY, OVER HERE,” While waving her arms in the air. At that moment, she started singing, “Hakuna Matata! it means no worries for the rest of your day,” she sang out. While still waving her arms in the air.
“Can you hear that?” Elle asked Bray.
They both remained silent, listening to a female voice singing. “Is that a song from The Lion King?” he asked.
Elle laughed, “Great she is as crazy as Jack,” she joked.
They watched as many of the zombie started to roam towards Zoe, “OK! you ready?” Bray asked.
Simply with a smile she kicked the door open and run out to face the swarm.
The groaning and smell of rotting flesh hit them; with guns raised, they wasted no time getting into the fight. Bray fired a shot, the head of a zombie exploded. They kept firing, but there were too many of them. Soon they were being pushed back; they could no longer use their gun and turned to their knives to stay in the fight.
“RYAN, RYAN, GET OUT NOW!” Bray shouted.
Elle slashed her knife against the throat of a zombie; she kicked the corpse back into the swarm.
“RYAN GET THE FUCK OUT!” Bray shouted again.
Elle used her gun again, shooting out. Blood, bone and brain matter sprayed out in the air, a gunshot sounded out from the back of the swarm. Zoe had joined the fight; her ammo was low and knew they would not last much longer. She suddenly screamed out, “RYAN MOVE IT.”
Ryan was still sitting in the driver’s seat, his head rested on the steering wheel. He could hear people screaming his name; he looked towards the shouting, gunshots fired out. His name was screamed out again, he looked to the door it was still overrun with zombies. He kept thinking to himself, ‘what can I do,’ he lost himself in thought. He jumped to his feet, “Fear is a weapon,” he uttered to himself. He looked around the bus, a metal pole was connected along the roof as a handle, he grabbed it and pulled hard. He gave out a scream as he forced it from the roof. He fell backwards against some seats when the bar broke off, holding it in his hands he stood up. He moved to the doors, “Fuck it,” he murmured.
Opening the door, he screamed out, “FUCK IT,” again. He swung the metal bar smashing several zombies, but not killing any. They tried to grab at him. He decided to try and rush past them, as he did one grabbed him. It was an old man, his skin sagging, his eyes dead. As it tried to bite Ryan, Bray pulled it back ramming his knife into its brain. As the corpse dropped, Bray grabbed Ryan and pulled him back towards the door. The swarm moved on them, Zoe was cut off, she looked around. “Just go,” she told the others.
Elle continued to fight, refusing to let anyone else die, the swarm grew in number and they all feared it was over.
Bray thrust his knife into every brain that came near him, but gave out a wince in pain. Blood started to drip from his shoulder injury his wound had reopened. The pain began to become unbearable, he looked to Elle who indicated she was now out of ammo. She continued to fight with her knife. Bray glanced at Zoe, who simply shook her head, knowing they were not going to make it. All of them were now soaked in the blood of the dead they fought.
All was lost; they were now cut off from the door. They were beginning to tire and now it was only a matter of moments before they became overrun by the dead.
Ryan watched as these people were about to die, he felt so guilty. The way he acted, the way he showed how scared he was. The shame of trying to pull children from a helicopter to save himself, he knew he never deserved to survive and only wished these amazing people he watched fighting to save him, he could have called friends. Instead, they were about to die protecting a coward and for this he felt ashamed.
Two bright round lights suddenly appeared almost blinding them; Ell held a hand up covering her face trying to make out what it was. Zoe ran out of the way of the approaching light, a loud horn started beeping. Elle could make out a gray truck, “Jack,” she whispered. The truck rushed into the dead, splattering over the truck window, the buildup of bodies caused the truck to flip and land on its side. It slid across the ground, slamming into the wall hard, the zombies behind it popped like balloons when crushed. Blood and body parts covered the ground, only a few zombies remained. Zoe and Elle quickly rushed them, knives in hand and putting them down for good.
Bray and Ryan moved to the truck, Elle and Zoe quickly joined them. Noticing a picture of excitement on Elle’s face, Zoe placed her arm around her. A young bald man started to climb out of the truck, the look on Elle’s face changed to sadness. Ryan helped the boy down, he was down syndrome and simple spoke, “We helped, didn’t we,” he said while smiling.
“Thank you,” Ryan replied in a shocked voice.
Another noise came from the truck, Zoe and Elle rushed to help as a middle aged woman tried to climb out of the truck. They helped her down and was shocked by her first words, “Elle.”
Looking shocked Elle looked confused at her, “Who are you and how do you know my name?” she quickly asked, hoping for the answer she wanted.
“I am Rosita and this is Eddie,” pointing to the young man. “A man, Jack saved us and sent us here,” she continued to tell them everything.
Back in the store, Paige still lay on the floor away from Mark.
Curled up in the corner, Mark began to move, a low groaning noise came from him, Paige quickly stood up and ran to hide behind a desk, this was a noise she was very familiar with.
Mark started to rise, he slumped, his body was limp. Raising his head, the eyes were dead, his skin pale and covered in veins. He groaned again, hearing the talking coming from outside, he started to drag his feet towards the voices. Paige looked, lowering her head and backing up behind the table further.
Outside, Rosita had told them about Jack heading towards the enemy with Alice.
“We need to help him,” Elle spoke up.
“Agreed,” Zoe, added.
Bray was the voice of reason, “I am sure Jack has it in hand, if he wanted our help he would have come and got us,” he spoke.
Elle looked angry, “So you stay here and we will go,” she snapped.
“With what,” Bray instantly replied.
“We have no ammo left, and by the time we got there I doubt we will even find him in time,” he continued to tell her.
The anger in her face grew, shaking her head in anger.
“Rosita, we have some food and water inside,” Bray told her, attempting to ease the tension.
Suddenly a loud noise like thunder echoed above them, looking up they all looked. “What the hell is that?” Zoe asked.
An explosion lit up the night sky, “What the fuck,” Bray uttered while moving closer to Elle and Zoe.
With everyone looking up, a scream made them turn. They looked to see Mark biting into Rosita neck from behind. Eddie panicked and crouched against the wall. As Mark tore the flesh from her neck, blood sprayed out. Tears ran down Rosita’s face, Mark carried on chewing her neck as if he was eating a burger. Bray, Elle and Zoe were about to attack when they were stopped in shock.
Ryan grabbed Mark and threw him to the ground, he hit him in the head with the metal pole he had in hand. Mark still groaned, he dropped the pole and began stamping on Marks head. “DIE! YOU FUCK! DIE! DIE! DIE!” he kept shouting out as emotion took over. The head crumbled all over the ground, even with Mark dead, he continued to stamp on him shouting.
Elle grabbed Ryan by the arm, she noticed the sad emotion on his face, his eyes were filled with tears. He looked into Elle’s eyes, “I’m sorry,” he uttered. She put her arms around him, knowing the pain of his own guilt; he was feeling was killing him.
Bray looked at Ryan’s shoes, covered in blood and brain matter, “You might want to clean them off,” He joked.
Rosita lay on the ground, struggling to breath, as blood poured out. Zoe tended to her, knowing there was nothing she could do, she pulled her knife and pushed it into her brain, killing her.
Eddie still crouched crying on the ground; Bray helped him up, “It’s OK, you’re safe now. We will look after you,” he tried to comfort him.
Instead, Eddie pushed him away, Paige appeared from the door, she walked over to Eddie and licked his face, as if she knew he needed it. Eddie smiled and stroked the dog.
That was the moment she knew Bray was right, they could not help Jack. All they could do was wait, and get the bus ready for when they get back.
They all went back inside of the store.
CHAPTER TWELVE
BURN
The street was spilt by zombies reaching up at the hanging victims; the flesh was being torn from victims. A hanging body had most of its head eaten, the skull was clearly visible as the zombie below munched on a chunk of flesh still covered in blood soaked blond hair. The group of zombies turned their attention to a noise rumbling past them, they groaned and began to move towards the noise.
A white truck covered in pictures of ice cream and lollypops drove along the street, attracting the attention of the dead on both sides.
“So this is the brilliant plan,” Alice observed, while Jack sat in the back getting things ready.
Hearing her question, he simply laughed, “OK, now let’s get this moving,” he spoke to himself.
Moving to the front, he switched on the music that was once used to attract the kids, and now it was being used to attract the decaying corpses of the walking dead to follow them. The music was like a bad recording of ringing bells, the crackling from the speakers on any normal occasion would be embarrassing, but for this, it was perfect. The jingle echoed through the packed zombie streets, Alive drove slowly resisting the urge to put her foot down and drive away from them.
The color from her face drained as she looked into the side mirror and seeing they were now being followed. Looking ahead, she could see the entrance of the Multi Story car park, the burning oil barrels lit it up. Taking a big gulp, she spoke out, “This is either Brilliant or insane.”
“Amazing how often they go hand in hand,” Jack simply replied.
“Keep the headlights off, and stay slow until I tell you,” he also told her.
The fear in her face was now apparent, looking at her, he knew he needed to calm her down, “So your husband, what is his name?” he asked.
She gave him a puzzled glance, “What, you really think this is the time,” she snapped.
“Why not,” he joked in reply.
Before she could respond shouting could be heard ahead of them, the men guarding the entrance had noticed the truck and the zombies following them.
“OK, NOW!” Jack shouted, indicating for her to put her foot down and speed through the entrance, stopping for nothing. Hitting a burning barrel on the way through, it was sent flying through the air, gunshot suddenly could be heard. Several pierced the windscreen, Jack pulled Alice down to the floor. They were not inside and placed his hand on the accelerator, while with his spare arm covering Alice. Speeding through the ground level car park, they crashed hard into parked vehicles. Jack smashed his head against the dashboard, reopening the cut on his head; Alice looked to him as blood dripped down the side of his face.
Quickly moving to the back of the truck, “Stay in here until I say otherwise, OK,” he told her.
He took out the matches from his pocket and set light to two of the glass bottles filled with the fuel; he kicked the back doors open and jumped out. Shouting surrounded him, Zombies started to roam in from the outside, a large man with a long sharpened blade ran for him. Jack stepped forward throwing the glass bottle at the man, hitting him in the chest flames engulfed the man. His screams were a harrowing noise; Jack pulled his rifle around from his back and wasted no time. Dropping to a knee, he started shooting at the approaching people.
With his ammo, low Jack always knew this would end up being a fight by hand, with the ammo clip emptying. As shots were fired in his direction, he rolled to the ground, making him a hard target to hit, several men ran at him. Jack got to his feet, turning his gun and using it as a bat, hitting the man with a long beard directly it the jaw so hard, several broken teeth hit the ground.
A baseball bat swung at him, Jack allowed it to hit his thigh, locking his arm over it, he kicked out at the enemy, gaining control of the bat, Jack smashed against the man’s knee, a cracking noise could be heard followed by a scream. Someone grabbed him from behind, a female voice spoke as she held a knife to his neck, “Time to die fucker,” she told him. Jack launched his head back, grabbed her hand that gripped the knife. He turned and shoved the blade into her throat, he watched as the fat woman choked on her own blood and fell to her knees. Jack wiped away the blood that sprayed him.
Alice still lay on the floor of the truck covering her head. Jack looked around and most of the people were now concentrating on the swarm of zombies entering. “Alice, come on,” Jack shouted to her.
Nervous to move, she froze until Jack grabbed her hand, “We have to move,” he told her again.
Getting out of the truck, they were confronted by the dead, “Round there, go,” Jack pointed to the side of the truck. Alice rushed past, as Jack pulled his machete and started swinging; looking back Alice watched Jack fight the dead.
She could not help but be impressed by him, he was like a machine. She knew he was exhausted, hungry and hurt, but he just kept going. She watched as he took the head of a zombie with one swing, Alice could not believe his strength. He wasted no time in taking down the dead, he rushed to Alice, “OK, where are your husband and the others being kept?” he asked in a rush. She hesitated for a moment, while she looked around. “They are in large trucks, but no here, they must be on the next level,” She told him.
“Shit,” Jack uttered as he looked around the dead were now overpowering and many of them now obstructed their path. He looked towards the entrance of the stairs, getting passed the zombies were one thing, but how many more living enemies were up there. He sighed, “OK, no matter what you stay with me, I move you move,” he instructed her. Not giving her chance to respond, Jack rushed towards the door. Weaving in and out of the zombies, he tried to resist getting involved in a fight that would slow him down. Suddenly a man appeared in front of him, Alice gave out a shocked scream, as she looked at his half eaten face. He was still alive, it would have been easy for Jack to end his suffering, but the evil these people had committed he refused to give it. He punched the man in the chest, making him fall back into the path of the dead who quickly sank their teeth into him, tearing the flesh from his still living body.
Showing no emotion, Jack gripped her hand and carried on rushing for the closed door. A zombie grabbed at Alice, pulling her back, with the knife Jack gave her; she quickly launched the blade up through the zombie’s jaw and pushed hard into its brain. The Zombie fell back.
She quickly rushed to Jack’s side again and they made it to the door. It was locked, “Shit,” Alice spoke out. Jack simply kicked the door through, the hinges snapped off the wall. As they walked in, they were met by repeated gunfire down the stair towards them. They stood against the elevator doors, as it was the only place of cover from the flying bullets.
Bullets smashed into the concrete wall, sending small bits of stone flying around, a small bit of debris hit Alice in the face. A small cut appeared, wiping her face; she asked Jack, “What now?”
“Stay here,” he told her.
She looked in shock as
Jack pulled his sidearm and dashed for the stairs, quickly shooting and hitting a man in the neck, he fell forward towards Jack. Grabbing him, he used him as a shield against the other shooter, as bullets tore into the man’s back, Jack threw the body against the shooter. The man fell back hitting his head against the stars, before he could move Jack appeared and instead of wasting a bullet stamped on the man’s neck, snapping his head from his body like a piece of wood being broken.
Keeping his gun held high, he called out to Alice, “Come on, quickly.”
She stepped carefully to join him, the bodies of the two men lay on the ground, Jack was grabbing their guns, but threw them down when he realized there was barely a few bullets left. Jack slowly walked to the next level, the door was shut, the groaning of the zombie below echoed throughout the car park. He knew they would be making their way up, “Do you know where the prisoners are being held?” he asked her.
Nodding her head, “On this level,” she quickly replied.
“Stay behind me,” he told her as he opened the door.
Moving slowly, he was surprised by how quiet it was, the burning oil drums made the only noise of wood cracking in the heat. The place was deserted; he could hear gunfire coming from the driveway, which led down below. He knew everyone down there would be too busy fighting the dead, this gave time to find the prisoners. Alice started to tap Jack on the shoulder in a panic, he turned to see a big tattooed woman standing there, she held a long blade in her hands. Jack pushed Alice behind him to protect her, nothing was said, the woman tapped the blade against her hand trying to intimidate him. Jack gave out a sarcastic laugh; he held his gun up and shook it at her. Her expression changed, her eyes looked side to side and without warning, she dropped the blade and ran away.