Outbreak of the Living Dead (Book 1)

by Guerra, Aaron

  “You are not authorized! Not authorized to speak!” the soldier shouted. Tristan pulled the strong woman off the other to give them both room to cool off.

  “That is enough! This isn’t the time for that kind of bullshit!” he said. Velski retrieved the torn paper and lit it on fire with her red Zippo lighter.

  Tristan helped Rebecca off the table before asking her some questions about it.

  “Alien? Is this an alien invasion?” he asked her. Rebecca pulled out her wallet to reveal her ID and OPC badge.

  “I was a member of the Outbreak and Prevention Center. Better known as the OPC,” she had revealed. Valerie and Crystal turned around to face her with disgusted looks.

  “So you’re a filthy pig?!” Valerie said as she aimed her gun up at her. Her slender finger rested on the trigger. Crystal slowly reached back to pull out the whip she acquired from the storage facility a day ago. Velski turned to face the blonde with the gun while Tristan and Rebecca stared at the one by the window.

  “I should’ve known you were a little piggy. You all smell like disgusting hogs. However that guy over there smells foul, just like us. But you two girls smell like little oink oinks!” Crystal said with a wicked expression on her face. She whipped her weapon of choice down to make a loud cracking sound. “I’m really going to enjoy seeing you two squirm!” she said. Crystal struck the long thin whip at Tristan’s leg, knocking him down to the floor. Rebecca quickly grabbed a chair that was beside her and threw it at her. The psycho in the police uniform was about to throw it back when the ex-military woman came to her with a powerful kick to the stomach. Valerie watched as Crystal was kicked out of the window and onto the hungry mob down below. They could hear her excruciating screams be drowned out by laughter from behind them.

  Everyone turned to face the girl in the corner with the gun. She was out right laughing so hard from what she had just witnessed.

  “What the hell are you laughing about? That was your friend!” Tristan said while clenching his fists tightly. He was glaring at the crazed girl that was in front of him. Rebecca was feeling a little sick to her stomach from seeing the girl’s reaction.

  “Friend? You thought she was my friend?!” Valerie said. She aimed the gun at them while walking slowly to the very window that the other flew out of. The girl looked out the window to see the hungry fiends tearing the body apart. “She kidnapped me from my home! Away from my mama!” she had said low enough for them to still here.

  Valerie lowered the gun and slipped a piece of gum into her mouth to chew on.

  “My mama always told me everyday that she loved me,” she said with a weak smile. Tristan slowly started to walk towards her, but the girl was quick to aim the gun back at him. He brought his hands up and took some steps back. “I came home from school one day to find her on the kitchen floor…covered in multiple stab wounds,” Valerie said. She turned to watch the monsters devour the rest of the woman before they tried to break into the building for more. “Crystal and Nicole did it while I was in school,” the girl said. Valerie turned back with tears running down her face. “They made me this way! They told me I did it! I did it to my mama cause I loved her so much!” she said in tears. Velski grabbed the map and opened the door that lead to the hallway.

  “Let’s go. Leave her here,” said Velski. Rebecca followed after the woman as Tristan stayed in the room with the girl that was in tears.

  “Hey…” he said in a calm voice. Cautiously, he walked over to her with his hands up to his sides. “Come with us then. You can start over…we can start over. This doesn‘t have to be the ending for us,” said Tristan. The image of the female officer being stabbed repeatedly appeared within his mind. His hands lowered when another image of a younger man bleeding to death came to him. Valerie looked up to him with her bright blue eyes. A small smile appeared on her face from what he said.

  “We?” she asked.

  Tristan sat down slowly beside her with some pain shooting up his body from all the beating he’s received throughout the few days.

  “Yeah,” he replied. His dark bangs were covering his eyes when she was keeping a close watch on him. The man slowly pulled out his wallet and took out a picture for her to see. “Here,” he said. She took the picture of a young boy and a teenage boy standing next to each other.

  “Who are they?” Valerie asked him. Tristan pointed down to the child first, then to himself. “This was you?” she said. He nodded slowly while relaxing by her for warmth. “Then who’s this teenager?” she had asked him. He slowly took the photo back and placed it into his wallet.

  “My brother,” he said. Valerie grabbed the wallet from his hand and pulled the picture out again to see.

  “Where is he?” she asked like a child. Tristan turned away and ignored the hungry monsters outside that called out for more.

  “Dead,” he said in a low voice. Valerie put the picture back into the leather wallet and tossed it onto his lap.

  “How did your brother die?” Valerie asked. He slowly climbed back up to stand. He looked down to her.

  “I killed him,” he said.

  He held out his hand for her to take, which she was hesitant to accept at first. She finally placed her hand in his and was helped up off the dirty floor.

  “So why did you kill him?” she asked without holding back. He looked out the window to see the reanimated version of Crystal’s head biting around in the grass.

  “He was drunk and unstable…I was defending myself from him at the bar,” Tristan said. Valerie aimed the gun down to the horrible creature that took her innocence away. She was about to pull the trigger, but seeing her in that miserable state was comforting in a way.

  “Why aren’t you in prison then?” she had asked him. Tristan was about to answer her when something outside caught his attention.

  “Look down there!” he said in a hurry! From the distance they could see a vehicle driving down the street with the car filled with people. “There are other survivors trying to escape like us! Come on!” he said to her. Tristan took her hand and pulled her out of the room and into the hallway. The only thing that was left in there was the whip that Crystal used only once before her demise. The light from outside was shinning over it.

  They ran up the stairs to the third floor where Rebecca and Velski were examining a door that was chained up.

  “Hey! There are some people driving away from here. We should leave as well,” he said. Rebecca grabbed the lock that held the chains in place.

  “I have a mission to do, and so does Velski. We have to capture that unknown creature. Isn‘t that right comrade?” Rebecca said to Velski. The blonde in the black coat turned to face her as her eyes narrowed slightly.

  “No catch. We kill it like ordered. Then you come with me,” she said. Rebecca turned to face the woman as her fists tightened up from being irritated.

  “You know, the way you talk is starting to bug me. Why can’t you adapt to the English language like me? I’m Chinese and I have no problem!” she said to the woman in anger. Velski looked away without saying anything in return.

  “Can you two cut it out? Finding it or killing it makes no difference for me. I just want to get the hell out of here,” he told them. Valerie tugged on his shirt a few times while looking at him. “I mean we want to get the hell out of here. We’re done with this chaotic bullshit nightmare that we’ve been thrown into. We want to be free from it all!” he said. Rebecca sighed before turning around to face the two.

  “Well technically you two are just civilians. You can leave whenever you want,” she said. Velski grabbed Rebecca’s sword from her waist without warning and struck the lock off from the chains. Some sparks came out from the brief swing when the lock landed on the floor.

  “No! As part of the OPC, they come. Save people, not abandon,” Velski told her. Rebecca grabbed the sword from her hands and put it back into it’s sheath.

  “Well you heard the woman, now let’s go,” said Rebecca.

  The
door opened up with a couple of the creatures coming out. Their white cold eyes were fixated only on Tristan and Valerie. Rebecca brought out the sword again and cut off two of their heads while Velski kicked one back into the hallway that it came from. Valerie was about to open fire on the three that were coming at them. The girl shot down one of them but the gun started to make that annoying clicking sound when nothing came out.

  “It’s empty!” Valerie said. One of the monsters had grabbed onto her hand while trying to take a chunk out of her arm, but Tristan stopped it before it could. The man used all of his strength to literally tear it’s head off and used it to beat down the last beast to the floor. Valerie looked at her arms to make sure that she didn’t have any bite marks anywhere. “I’m clear!” she said with relief. Tristan tossed the head down the stairs while trying to catch his breath.

  They entered the final room down the hallway that wasn’t locked. Tristan and Valerie couldn’t help but look away from the sight that was there. A couple of mother figures were with their children, sleeping next to each other. Each of them had little empty plastic cups and pills beside their pillows.

  “This is horrible,” said Rebecca. She knelt down by one of them to check their pulse, but there was no sign of life. “They’re gone,” she said. Velski walked across the room to find a pink backpack on the floor. She opened it up to reveal some supplies that were in it.

  “We can use these,” said Velski. Tristan heard some movement behind him, but when he had turned around to check, there was nothing there.

  “Am I hearing things?” he thought to himself.

  Valerie couldn’t handle being in the room that was filled with the dead. She walked down the hall while chewing her gum faster than before. Tristan looked at the many pale faces of the children that were held by their mothers.

  “Do you think they’re going to come back like the others?” he had asked. Rebecca shook her head with a tone sadness coming out.

  “No, they didn’t come in contact with the others. They took their own lives instead of that nightmarish thing that brings them back,” she said. Velski looked out the window to see a familiar sight down below.

  “Unwanted company has arrived,” said Velski.

  The woman pointed down to reveal the pale brute that was surrounded by the walking rotting bodies. Rebecca and Tristan looked down to see the monster that was lowering itself when it caught a glimpse of them in the 3rd floor window. Tristan took a step back with a scared look upon his face.

  “We have to get out of here!” he let out. The massive roar that it had made shook the very building they were in. Valerie fell over on the floor with a door near her opening up. She quickly aimed her empty gun in that direction but what she found was something unexpected.

  “Well holy shit,” she said in surprise!

  A young girl came out of the room with a bag in her hand. It looked too heavy for her, but she somehow managed to hold it up.

  “Get out of here monster!” the kid had said. She swung down at Valerie, but the woman was fast enough to dodge the attack. The little girl was going to swing again when the bag was taken away from her. Velski and Rebecca looked down at the kid with a confused look on their faces.

  “How is she alive? I thought they were all gone!” Rebecca said. Tristan came over to see the little girl standing between the three.

  “We have to take her and go. I think that bastard is trying to climb up the building!” he said to them. Valerie gave the girl her last pack of gum with a smile on her face.

  “Don’t worry, big sister will take care of you from now on,” Valerie said in a cheerful voice. The little girl wasn’t sure what to do, but she didn’t have much of a choice. Valerie picked her up over her shoulder and ran down the hallway where they first came. Tristan followed after her with the two soldiers right behind him. They could feel the building shake every couple of seconds that had passed. It felt more like the beast outside was trying to knock the building down instead of climb it.

  “What’s the plan?!” he asked them.

  Tristan stopped everyone by extending his arms out and lowering his speed when a pack of the dead were climbing up the stairway.

  “They somehow got in! We need to find another way out of here and fast,” he said. Velski turned around and kicked a door down to see nothing but more windows.

  “In here,” she said. Everyone followed her into the small room before slamming the door shut to keep the monsters out. Rebecca and Tristan knocked over a shelf and placed it in front of the door.

  “We don’t have much time until more of them come for us,” Rebecca said.

  Valerie carefully sat the girl down onto the floor in front of her.

  “What’s your name little sis?” she had asked the kid. The girl looked at everyone before answering in a scared shaky voice.

  “I’m Susan,” said the kid. Tristan’s eyes opened up as he took another glance at the little girl. For a second he saw a kid version of the girl he was with two days ago.

  “That’s a pretty name! My name is Valerie! You can just call me Val since you’re a cool kid like me,” Valerie said to her. Susan smiled while chewing some of the gum that she was given.

  “How old are you Val?” Little Susan had asked. The woman looked down to her fingers and started to count to herself.

  “I’m twenty three! How about you Susan?” Valerie asked her in return. The young girl did the same and started to count with her fingers. She slowly brought up her hands to reveal the number of fingers that equaled ten. “Wow! You’re a big girl! I remember when I was your age I would always play hide & go seek with my mama,” she said with a bright smile. Susan looked down with some tears streaming down her cheeks.

  “My mama went to sleep…with everyone,” she said sadly. Everyone turned to look at the little girl as she started to let out a soft whimper of sadness.

  The building started to shake more to where parts of the ceiling began to crack apart. The little girl was rubbing her eyes due to dust getting in them. Valerie held her close in the center of the room as Tristan and Rebecca pushed against the door with all their strength. The creatures were on the other side of it and they wanted to get inside to taste some fresh meat. Tristan turned back to see Velski staring out the window instead of helping them out.

  “Hey! Get your head out of the clouds!” he told her. Velski ignored him while examining the area down below. She forced one of the windows open with the glass shattering from how hard she did it. The woman turned around to face them as she climbed out of it.

  “Wait here,” she told them. Velski quickly dropped to the second floor window from the outside and held onto the ledge of it. The soldier in black looked down one more time before letting go of the wooden frame. She landed silently in one of the bushes before climbing out of it. Valerie and Susan were watching from the window that the woman escaped from just now.

  “Where is she going?” Susan had asked Valerie.

  Tristan felt a cold lifeless hang grab hold of his arm, but he used all of his strength to rip it right off and threw it to the floor. They were finally able to get the door to shut all the way and lock it.

  “We can’t keep this up. I’m running low on energy and I think you’re feeling it as well,” Tristan said to Rebecca. She didn’t want to admit it, but not eating for a good while was effecting her body.

  Susan ran over to the pretty lady with a bag of potato chips.

  “Here!” said Susan. The woman accepted the gift and started to eat some to regain her strength. She had passed the bag over to Tristan, but he refused it.

  “Sorry, but my appetite hasn’t been here since all this started,” he said. Valerie opened the bag they found in the other room and went through it. She undid the cap to a water bottle and started to drink from it.

  “At least have some of this.” said Valerie. He opened his hand and caught the bottle she tossed at him. His eyes were slightly closed as he started to drink a good portion of the room tempera
ture water.

  “That’s some good stuff,” said Tristan as he took another sip from it. He licked his lips and closed the bottle to make sure it didn’t spill out. His body started to shake again when the door was being pounded on for the fourth time already. “Here we go again! Valerie, I need you to help out this time!” he said to her.

  The man turned around and planted both of his hands against the surface of the wooden door. Rebecca and Valerie did the same and pushed as hard as they could to keep the room secure. The moaning and growling grew louder the more they struggled against these beasts. Suddenly the wall beside them came down with the large white beast slowly entering. Susan quickly ran under it’s legs to escape into the next room that it came from. Valerie tried to get past it, but the thing smacked her back against the wall it was facing. Her body flew to it like a rag doll from the force of it’s sheer strength.

  “Rebecca, get her out of here! I’ll distract him as long as I can,” he told her. The woman snuck past the beast and helped the other up to her feet. The two quickly exited the room through the large hole that the beast made.

  It turned around to face the woman, but Tristan got it’s attention by throwing the water bottle at it’s head.

  “Leave them alone you oversized refrigerator! Your fight is with me now!” he had challenged the beast. The thing turned to face him with it’s blood red eyes opening up to see him much better. It lowered it’s body and let out a powerful scream that made Tristan cover his ears. He moved away from the door when the horde of flesh eaters came busting through it. The man had his back facing the window as he faced the gruesome monsters. “Damn you’re ugly as hell,” he taunted. The tall monster swung his fist down onto a man’s rotting head. The brains and horrendous stench filled the room up fast which made Tristan feel a little woozy and weak. His body felt heavy, but he leaned back and fell out the window to escape the hands that tried to pull him back in.