Day One (Book 3): Alone

by Michael McDonald

  Morris looked my way and I could see the empty handgun in his hand. The pack zeroed in on him, now fully aware that there was more than one victim. I motioned for him to come to me, speaking as I gestured. “Get your ass over here!”

  He was stunned by my words, frozen at the sight of me being able to shoot him, yet I was trying to help him instead.

  I pointed toward the fast approaching foes. He looked to see them for the first time and his eyes went wide with fear. They were sprinting at him with murder burning wildly in their eyes and looked like a pack of wild dogs.

  “Run!” I shouted to him and went back to picking them off one at a time. They caught on and quickly began spreading out, making it harder for me to hit them. They were smart, or they were learning somehow. I’m not sure which was the case, but whatever way it was going, they were changing the outcome at will.

  They dodged behind a few cars and hid, waiting for me to either reload or make a break for it. I did my best to shoot at only the ones I could hit and after dropping one more that fell off completely. They were dug in close by and watched with great anticipation as Morris made his way drunkenly across the street toward me. I could see the excitement in their eyes, see them licking their lips as if he were a piece of fresh grilled steak just lying there waiting for them.

  “Hurry!” I barked to him, as he crossed the front of the cruiser and fell to the pavement beside me. I didn’t give him a chance to say anything, because no matter what he said I didn’t care. He was as much a murderer as Smith had been and the only reason I was doing this was to ensure that he paid for those deeds. Justice would be served, one way or another.

  “When I tell you to move, you get your ass up and get to that parked car over there in the driveway,” I told him and pointed. “Don’t look back, don’t dick around, you run like your life depended upon it, because if those things catch you… you’re done!”

  He took a good hard look at me, watching me shoulder the rifle and wait for any of those things to emerge. “Why are you doing this?” He asked me in a winded voice. “Why are you trying to save me when I was trying to kill you?”

  I ignored his words. “Get ready to move,” I told him, taking up a better position to defend the both of us if the runners found some courage and charged us. I could see his faint shadow looming over me with a whisper of the sun peeking through the darkening clouds and I began to worry that he would shoot me in the back, even though I was trying to help him. Just because I was allowing some small sliver of my humanity to shine through, in no way did that mean those around me would offer the same courtesy. I half expected him to try something, which would have given me the justification I needed to turn my rifle on him and end his life.

  Maybe deep down that’s why I had really chosen to save him? It wasn’t because I wanted to be the only one to administer any punishment for what he’d done, but simply because I knew that he would be unwilling to show any form of humanity and I’d be forced to use violence. When the time came, he would do something stupid and that would be all there was.

  “I can’t run real fast,” he stated. “I’m still bleeding quite a bit.”

  “I’m not dying on this street for you or anyone else, so I suggest you use your shirt to wipe that blood away,” I responded quickly. “Those things are getting restless and they won’t hide there for much longer, so either get your shit together or you’ll find out the hard way that they can’t be reasoned with. What’s it going to be?”

  “Okay, okay… just give me a second,” Morris said and wiped the blood from his forehead on his shirt, freeing his right eye where he could see much better. “That car, right there, in the driveway?” He asked and pointed. I looked quickly, saw what he was pointing towards and nodded my head.

  “Yes,” I said and watched one of the runners slip out from behind a car. I fired and hit it square in the chest. It fell to the road and I zapped it with several rounds until it stopped moving. “Go!”

  As before, I expected one thing and got the complete opposite. Morris took off running and the runners behind the car gave chase. They were more and more like wild dogs than the humans they had once been. Two of them took headshots and dropped instantly, but the rest kept coming. “Holy shit,” I uttered and tried to kill the last three, although they scattered in different directions, they were still converging on my current location. I had to pull back or I’d fall victim to an ambush in just seconds… if that long.

  Moving backward I stole a glance over my shoulder to see Morris reach the said vehicle and motion for me to approach. Suddenly though, he pointed and I spun just in time to see one of the runners leap the front of the cruiser. I dropped and emptied my magazine into it. I lie on the ground reaching for a fresh mag looking almost eye to eye with the now dead runner. A side from the obvious smell, which consisted mostly of body odor and sweat, so there was no real difference between the two of us and for some strange reason I found that utterly amazing. It was the foul words of Morris that pulled me from my wonder.

  The world snapped back, filling the spaces all around me with the surreal complexities I had unwittingly become accustomed to, like it or not. I slammed the mag into the weapon and went into a low crouch, waiting and watching for the next attack, all the while using my ears to listen for the slightest noise I knew to be danger, to which I would swiftly react with sheer unadulterated violence.

  Rachel moved out from in front of the vehicle Morris was hiding beside. She had her Glock trained on him and was ready to shoot if he lurched at her, even though he was faced the opposite direction, she was going to give him absolutely no chance to turn the tables.

  Her foot picked up and rock and flung it forward. Morris, thinking he was about to be blindsided by one of the runners, spun and lifted his empty pistol out of habit to see Rachel staring back at him. “Holy shit, Rachel. You scared the shit out of me,” he stated. “I thought you were one of those running things about to get me.” Morris refocused his attention to me, wondering why I was still in the same location even after being charged. His thoughts quickly changed and he held a hand out to her. “Give me your gun.”

  “No,” she replied.

  “That’s an order, now give me your gun so I can deal with this asshole once and for all,” Morris stated and turned to see the pistol pointed at his face and a very determined look residing on Rachel’s face. It took him only a few seconds to realize what was going on. “You’re with him?” He asked. “The same guy that killed several of your friends. Are you serious?”

  “None of those people were my friends,” she responded. “You included. All you knew how to do was bark orders and send good people to die. You don’t give a shit about any of us and we are only there to serve whatever it is you need done!” her eyes were cold and held and obvious hate for him. “You enjoy hurting people, where he treats me with respect and only wants to get his son back, but you couldn’t leave him alone could you? You just had to push and push until someone finally pushed back!”

  There was more than enough distance between them that if he tried anything, she’d be able to shoot him multiple times. He wasn’t in a position to demand anything, nor was he in a position that allowed him any level of advantage. To his left was a military packing guy that was persistent as well as dangerous, and to his right was an unstable female that would pull the trigger if her life depended upon it. His manipulation of others was swiftly coming to an end and he wasn’t very fond of the new world unfolding before him.

  Continuing to linger in the same spot was stupid. I needed to get moving and lessen the chance of the runners boxing me in and surrounding me, although they’d had the chance once before and didn’t act upon it, so maybe my wound somehow told them that I was a part of them. Or maybe I had been so easily captured that I was insignificant to them? They were hunters after all and expected me to fight or attempt to flee, yet I had done neither, they simply lost interest and moved on. I, however, still retained a great deal of my humanity, it was only
a matter of time before they figured that out and when it happened I’d only get one of them while the remaining runner got me. I surveyed the situation and quickly pulled back, covering the distance to the driveway in a few brief seconds to find Rachel holding Morris at gunpoint. Out in the open I didn’t feel he would try anything stupid, as if he did he’d be dead moments later. It was what he would do in the safety of the nearby house that worried me. And I wasn’t about to take any chances.

  “If he moves the wrong way, shoot him in the leg and let those things decide his fate,” I told her and she happily nodded, as he looked from her to me, and then to her again. I checked the vehicle in the driveway but found no keys in the ignition.

  “We really need to keep moving,” Morris said aloud.

  “Don’t you mean you need to keep moving?” I asked snidely, cutting my eyes to the last know position of the runner.

  “Excuse me?” He said as if offended by my comment.

  “Don’t act all offended, jerkoff. If you had the chance you’d take off running like the true coward you are in a heartbeat,” I said and everyone, including him, knew it was the truth. I grabbed the door handle, fearing it to be locked. Surprisingly enough though, I found the door unlocked, but as I opened it slowly the alarm instantly began honking. I froze and both Rachel and Morris looked at me.

  “Time to go!” I shouted.

  The runners on the street seemed to become agitated at the noise and broke from cover.

  “Go, go, go!” I shouted and began firing at the remaining threats while Rachel pushed Morris along the side of the house and into the backyard. I fell in behind them and at the corner of the house I stopped and covered them further. A single runner rounded the side of the house and I put three bullets into its chest, neck and head. We were only dealing with one now; however, with the car alarm still blaring it wouldn’t be long before the undead shuffled up to see what was going on and added to the ranks of rotting flesh.

  In the backyard, Rachel stopped at the privacy fence and glanced around for another way out, although there was none.

  “Listening to him is going to get you killed,” Morris told her. “We need to head out on our own. The school isn’t far from here.”

  She shoved the barrel of the Glock into the side of his head hard enough to cause pain to swell within him. He cringed as she forced the weapon forward a few extra inches. “You mean he’s going to get you killed? Isn’t that what you mean, you sorry piece of shit?” She said angrily. “That’s all you care about after all, isn’t it? Whether or not you get out of here alive… screw the rest of us. Screw the guy that put his life on the line to save your sorry ass.” Her voice was increasing. “You took from him what wasn’t yours to begin with, toyed with him about it, and then blame him for acting like any real father would have. If I was him, I would have let those fuckers tear you apart just out of spite… or simply killed every one of your guards in that school! I bet you wouldn’t last two days by yourself… if that long.”

  I moved up to them in time to hear her words die away. My eyes caught Morris’ and I could see the doubt as perfectly as I could make out his eye color. “I’d do what she says,” I offered him and squeezed past toward the fence. Once there I was able to pull myself up and have a glance over at the yard on the other side. It was empty of anything that would kill us the second we climbed over, so I dropped and spoke directly to Rachel. “The next yard over is clear. We can hop the fence and keep moving that direction,” I told her.

  “Eventually we’ll either outrun them, losing them altogether or we’ll find a place to hide in for a few hours. Whichever way you look at it, they won’t know where we went and maybe they’ll give up looking.”

  She nodded to me. “What about this asshole?”

  I locked my eyes on him and smiled. “He stays with us.”

  “I say we leave him here for those things and use the time to get away,” she countered. “They’ll be so focused on him that they’ll forget about us.”

  “No!” I said quickly, looking sharply at her and shaking my head. “I risked my life to save this guy a few minutes ago, so I’ll be damned if I’m just going to let those things have him now. He stays with us.” I wasn’t going to argue any further with her and I think she could either see that in my look or hear it in my voice.

  I shifted my gaze to Morris. “Start climbing.”

  Rachel cut in. “And what if he runs once he reaches the other side?”

  I pointed the barrel of the SBR skyward. “I’ll shoot him in both legs, and then we’ll drag him wherever it is we are going,” I happily replied. “I wonder how painful that would be? I’m pretty sure he would last at least a few days before he bled to death.” My morbid question had everyone looking at me and I could see the fear growing in Morris’ eyes.

  “I’m pretty damn sure that would hurt like hell,” she said, adding to the moment.

  “You don’t even know where the hell we’re going,” Morris said, possibly to cover that growing fear he was sinking into.

  I pointed toward the fence. “That way,” I said and motioned for him to start climbing.

  Morris shook his head for a moment and mumbled something I didn’t hear under his breath. He mounted the fence and glanced over to see an empty yard, and then looked at me. “And what do I do if I get over there and one of those running things comes out of nowhere?”

  “Then I’d suggest you scurry your ass back over here pretty quick,” I responded. “Now get moving.”

  All three of us made our way over the fence one at a time, that way if anything ran up on us from behind or in front, there would be someone there to defend the others. The thought of being attacked during the climb never crossed my mind. It was the thought of Morris trying something after he and Rachel made it over that bothered me. If that happened I was not much help to her and at the same time would be an easy target for Morris after he shot Rachel. The thought was like an annoying bug flying around my head. No matter how many times I swatted the pest away, it came right back, even more persistent and annoying than before.

  Apparently that same idea had been roaming around in Rachel’s head and she forced him to move away from the fence as she climbed over. Once on the other side, she kept her distance from him, putting him near the fence in order to watch me cross and him at the same time. If he tried anything, she’d have him and if anything happened to me she could back me up. What a smart girl she was turning out to be, but deep down I still didn’t trust her. That would take time. This was the same woman Morris sent to get my son in order to stall when she knew he wasn’t there and probably hadn’t been for some time. Until she proved herself to me, she was just as expendable and dangerous as he was.

  “Now where?” Morris asked mockingly.

  I pointed in the direction of a nearby house. “That way. We’ll check that house out and go from there.”

  “I think we really need a better plan. Perhaps one that doesn’t require us aimlessly roaming around or entering houses that could be infested with dozens of those things,” Morris said as we moved across the backyard toward the next house.

  I kept my eyes moving as we walked looking for trouble while Rachel watched Morris.

  “Well, no one asked you, so shut up!” I told him. To say the least, I was already tired of his complaining and snide remarks. There was a part of me that wished I would have left him for the runners to nibble on. Hell, the remaining part of me just wanted to shoot him now and get it over with. Why drag it out any longer?

  The rain was beginning to fall harder than before and with all the noise it made, locating anything that wanted to kill us by sound alone became next to impossible. We would have to physically see the threat in order to deal with it and if we were attacked from the rear, they’d be on top of us before we even knew it, and then it would be too late. We needed to find a place to lay low for a while and allow the storm to pass by before heading out again. The only problem, I saw anyway, was we hadn’t gone very
far enough yet to simply stop, as there were still Guards at the grove, or at least that’s where I hoped they still were. They wouldn’t give up the search for Morris and they could be coming up to the fence this very moment, so I spun and laid that thought to rest when I saw no one.

  “We do need to get out of this rain, that’s for sure,” Rachel said.

  I followed them, putting myself in the rear to keep Morris from trying anything stupid. If he did, I’d have a better chance at stopping him before things got too far out of hand. “Rachel,” I said aloud.

  She looked at me.

  “You think that place is as good as any?” I asked her, pointing at the house in front of us. She shook her head, apparently feeling that we haven’t traveled far enough to hide yet either. I agreed with her by nodding my head and let hear lead the way.

  Morris had to offer his abrupt two cents. “Now you’re going to let her decide where we die?

  I ignored his question.

  Thunder rumbled overhead as we rounded the side of the house, made our way along the narrow yard, stopped to check that the street was clear, and then crossed quickly, while I covered them, and then disappeared into another backyard.

  Thirty minutes later and after a very thorough inspection, we entered a darkened house several blocks from where the first contact with Morris and his goons had played out; Rachel shoved Morris onto a comfortable couch, covering him from across the room as I quietly did a quick sweep of the house.

  “I can’t believe you,” Morris said to Rachel. “I took you in, clothed you, fed you, gave you safety and this is how you repay me. By taking his side and bullying me around.”

  “Oh, you mean like you do to everyone you think is below you?” She shot back. “You treat us all like a bunch of redheaded step-children that you cannot stand. You belittle us, make us do all of the work while you sit on your ass going through our supplies like it’s a buffet, but when the rolls are reversed you want to whine like some sissy little bitch!”