This Dying World: The End Begins

by Dean James

  Chris lined up a shot as a cluster of three women appeared. Even for walking corpses, their gait was off. It took a second glance before I realized the women were cuffed together at the wrists. The woman the middle of the unholy chain gang had lost a leg and was being dragged along by the other two. One of them growled at Chris as his shotgun spoke. The pellets sheared through the side of her skull before imbedding themselves in the ear canal of the legless one. The two lifeless females went down, taking the third to the earth with them.

  I gazed at the third woman writhing on the ground. Her companions lay dead in pools of their own fluids. Yet, the hunger had consumed any part of her that would have mourned her friends. She climbed over them and towards us without an inkling of remorse, gnashing her teeth as she tried to pull the other two with her.

  I felt nothing towards it as I had with Gus that morning. I no longer cared what it had once been, or who had cared about it. It was a thing, and it was costing me valuable time.

  It was in my way.

  I marched past Chris and into his firing line. I was within inches of the thing’s grasp when I fired. The bullet punched through its forehead, exiting through the back of its neck. It fell atop its former companions, twitching as its brain dissolved.

  “What the hell are you doing!?” Chris angrily shouted.

  “One!” I said under my breath.

  My gun raised when the next zed appeared from around the corner. “Two!” I growled as my Glock cracked. An explosion of blood and brain followed, and the sack of dead flesh fell at my feet

  “Dude!” Matt yelled. “Get out of the way!”

  “Damn it! Move!” Mark admonished. “You’re blocking my shot!”

  There were at least seven sets of white eyes meeting me with terrible hunger when I finally stepped around the back of the building. I grabbed the rotting wet shirt of the next closest creature, the fabric tearing as I pulled the zombie close. It angled its head downward for a bite, but its teeth clamped down on my pistol instead.

  “Three!” I screamed until my head pounded.

  At point blank range the bullet decimated the top of the zombie’s skull. Gray chunks of brain splattered against the barn’s red wall, sizzling as they broke down into green sludge. My Glock was holstered before the creature hit the ground.

  One bullet left, and it was spoken for.

  Zombies bunched up, their attention drawn completely to me. I leapt over the corpse with the newly aerated skull, my hammer held high over my head until I brought it down on my next kill. A skull smashed open like a brittle egg shell. Whatever fluid that makes up these walking meat sacks shot from every hole in its face. Eyes popped from their sockets, dangling on its now malformed face.

  I didn’t wait for it to fall before moving on. What happened next I can only remember only in pieces. My hammer was alive, screaming through the air towards anything with a face. Orange blurs swung from one rotten corpse to the next as I danced around their ever reaching claws.

  My arms burned from exertion, but the hammer wanted more. I wanted more. Any mercy I had left had died with Abby, and death would be dealt with indiscriminate fury. Her image burned in my mind with each creature that fell. There was not an inch of my body that was not covered in their gore. Yet, I wanted more. I wanted to kill them all.

  A shot went off next to my head. I felt cold splatter on the side of my face, but it didn’t register to me. I wasn’t finished. There was one more in front of me. I gripped the handle with both hands, taking a batter’s stance. I screamed a primal scream as I swung, imbedding the hammer deep within its skull.

  Something grabbed my shoulder. I spun with my fist cocked back. Someone else grabbed my wrist before my fist flew. I kicked out towards anything that looked human. I was thrown against the barn, shoulders pinned back to the wall. A bright flash appeared before my eyes as Chris’ backhand caught me across my face. He brought his forearm to my throat, and pressed his weight against me until I was completely immobile. He was out of breath, face red and breathing heavily through clenched jaws.

  “Are you fucking crazy!?” he exploded.

  “Let me go,” I spat through my own clenched jaws.

  “Not a chance!” His arm dug deeper into my throat. I felt light headed as my air supply was suddenly cut in half. “Not until you get your head wired back together!”

  “I’m going to kill them all!” I pushed back, but only succeeded in choking myself against his unyielding forearm. Darkness ringed my vision as unconsciousness crept across my brain.

  “You’re going to kill yourself!” he screamed. Chris will deny it to this day, but I saw a tear trickled down his mud caked cheek. “Then what good are you? To me? To Katie? What about to all the people you brought here who fought every damned day to keep you alive? You want to spit in their faces too!? Do you think Abby would want this?!”

  “Abby’s dead!” As soon as the words escaped, they came back and punched me in the gut. “Abby’s dead,” I whispered. Chris pulled away, my two lifelong friends releasing their restraining grips. Soul crushing grief pushed me down the wall until I sat on the viscera covered snow.

  “Abby’s…dead,” I whispered again before finally succumbing to the grief that had been building since Chris led me out of the ambulance. I sobbed deeply, my tears flowing like rivers down my face. I didn’t think they would ever stop, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted them to.

  “I know bro. I know,” Chris hunched in front of me. He put his hand on my shoulder, and waited. Matt sat beside me, his face twisted in disgust when something under him squished.

  “Dude, Adam’s going to pay for this,” Matt said.

  “Fuckin A right he will,” Mark added.

  “Everyone here loved Abby like she was family,” Chris said. “I can’t even begin to imagine what you are going through, but no one here’s going to let you kill yourself.”

  “Damn right. Dude, I’ll shoot you myself before I would lose Abby and you on the same day,” Matt said.

  “That doesn’t make a bit of fucking sense whatsoever.” I looked at Matt with an eyebrow raised. He simply shrugged his shoulders and cracked a smile. In spite of myself, I laughed. Before I knew it, we were all laughing. It was an uncomfortable laugh, but it was laughing all the same.

  “He doesn’t have to make sense,” Mark laughed as he helped me up. “He’s Mattmann.”

  As Chris reached down to help Matt to his feet, a thundering gunshot echoed across the fields. We looked back and forth at each other, our laughter coming to an abrupt halt.

  “Joe’s gun?” I asked.

  “No,” Chris replied. “That was a shotgun.”

  We were running before Chris finished his answer. We skimmed along the back wall, Chris in front, me shortly behind with the other two behind me. We got to the corner, and Chris waved for us to stop. He put his finger to his lips for us to be silent, and brought his weapon to his shoulder. Ducking his head, he crept around the corner, and stopped.

  “Not another step!” Adam shouted.

  “He shot Joe!” It was Rosa’s teary voice.

  “Yes I did,” Adam laughed. A cold anger swept over me at the sound of his voice.

  “You’re a dead man,” Chris’ voice was steel.

  “Right again Captain America!” Adam laughed again. “But not before I blow this bitch’s brains all over the ground if the rest of you don’t come out.”

  I looked back at my friends, and nodded. I walked around the corner with only my hammer in hand. Adam stood in the middle of the driveway. He had Abby’s shotgun pressed against the back of Rosa’s head. Her coat was missing, standing in only jeans and a light blue button up blouse. She cried openly, her arms wrapping around her shivering body.

  Adam was sweating, his face glistening in the dreary gray afternoon light. A gash on his forehead oozed dark blood. Dark lines stretched from the wound and across his pale skin. His teeth chattered behind blue lips. One look at him, and I knew.

  “He’s infe
cted,” I said.

  “And it’s your fault, asshole!” he spat.

  “How is it my fault?!” I demanded. “How is any of this my fault?!”

  “You come rolling in here like you own the fucking place. Everyone starts treating you like top dog, and you didn’t do shit around here but lay around. You turned everyone against me! I worked my ass off here, this was my crib, and you forced me to leave!”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Chris responded. “This is my house! My property! You fucked up and got yourself thrown out!”

  “Shut the fuck up army man, I wasn’t talking to you!” Adam pushed the shotgun barrel into the back of Rosa’s head. “Put your guns on the ground, or she’s dead.”

  “Fuck that!” Mark said under his breath.

  “Fuck that? No, fuck you. Say bye Rosa.” Adam sighted down the barrel.

  “Stop!” Chris shouted. “All right, we’ll put them down. Don’t shoot her. There’s been enough blood today.” He looked back at all of us, and we reluctantly set our guns on the ground. I dropped the hammer too. It wouldn’t do me any good against a shotgun anyway.

  “That’s why this is my crib. ‘Cause I can take it from you. It’s mine, because I’d kill you for it,” he smiled. “I’m the top dog now, and you’re all my bitches!”

  “Are you kidding me?” I said. I stared into Adam’s reddening eyes. “You mean to tell me, my wife, Katie’s mom is dead, because you were on some kind of imaginary power trip, and I hurt your feelings?”

  “No smart guy. Your ole lady’s dead because I wanted to hurt you. I’m going to kill everyone you love, to hurt you. So dawg, does it hurt?” he taunted.

  “You’re a coward.” I stared slowly walking towards him. “You’re a weak, pathetic little wanna be hood rat. The only reason you stayed here is because you’re too chicken shit to do it on your own. The only reason you’ve got the balls to be here now is because you’re infected and it doesn’t matter anymore.”

  “Who you calling a coward!? I’ll kill you right now!” he raised Abby’s shotgun, and leveled it at my chest.

  “Good! Shoot me!” I ordered with outstretched arms. “Man the fuck up and shoot me! Go ahead, you want to hurt me? Do it! I’m right here! Stop being a pansy ass punk and face me man to man!” I stopped a couple feet short of Abby’s shotgun.

  “Fine. I don’t want to hear your crazy ass bullshit anymore anyway,” Adam laughed, frothy spittle dribbling down his chin. The black tendrils under his skin were stretching across his head and down his neck. He didn’t have much time before the infection took him completely.

  “But you’re still a coward,” I smiled at him. “And worse yet, you’re a coward who can’t count.”

  “Man, what the fuck is that supposed to mean?” he shook his head smiling.

  I narrowed my eyes, and focused all my rage and hatred into his.

  “We’re…not…all…here!” I shouted my throat raw.

  A shot rang out from above. The tactical shotgun sparked as it flew from Adam’s hands. I heard the rifle bolt draw back and slam home. Another shot, and Adam’s ankle exploded. Lexi, my guardian angel, had saved my life again.

  Adam reached behind his back and pulled out Joe’s Desert Eagle. Before he had the chance to point it at me, Joe’s massive hand engulfed Adam’s. He pulled the pistol away before snapping Adam’s wrist backwards so hard I actually heard the bone break. Adam wailed as he stared at his deformed arm. Joe took a step back, and fired into Adam’s leg, tearing away a huge chunk of meat from his thigh. All Adam could do was lay on the ground and scream.

  “How do you like it, asshole!?” he asked, pushing his glasses back up with his middle finger. He walked over to a sobbing Rosa. She stared in disbelief until he took her in his arms and held her tight. His arm was bleeding, and he was favoring his side, but he looked like he was okay.

  “Can you watch him for a second?” I said to anyone in earshot. I wouldn’t take my eyes off the squirming mass of douchebag at my feet until he was being watched.

  “He’s not going anywhere,” Joe replied. “Do what you gotta do.”

  I picked up Abby’s Remington where it lay. The barrel was cracked where Lexi’s round had hit its mark. A sharp pain stabbed at my heart when I slipped my finger under the trigger guard. It seemed so long ago that we had pulled it from the wrecked police car. She had never really fired a gun before, and yet I couldn’t imagine her without it anymore.

  “This stays with her.” I handed the weapon to Chris.

  “Rodger that,” he nodded with sadness in his words. “There’s no turning back from this.”

  “There was no turning back the second I put a bullet through Abby’s brain.” I turned my back on him, waiting for an argument from the group that never came. Adam’s painful wails were the only audible human sounds.

  I holstered my Glock and hefted Chris’ Saiga before walking back to Adam. I put my hand on Joe’s shoulder, and nodded towards the house. He took the hint, and walked Rosa back inside. She was a nurse dedicated to saving lives, not watching one get taken. I waited until I heard the door shut before turning my attention to Adam.

  “You broke her knee.” I fired the shotgun through each of Adam’s knees in succession. He shrieked as each joint was reduced to pulp.

  “It bit her throat. She couldn’t even say goodbye.” The shotgun roared again, tearing holes through both biceps, first the right, then the left.

  “I shot her in the head.” I turned the gun around and brought the butt down on his forehead, enough to hurt without the relief of unconsciousness.

  “I’m sorry! Please don’t!” he begged, snot running from his nose and down to the stream of foamy saliva flowing across his cheek.

  “She didn’t beg.” I planted several swift kicks to his side until his ribs broke and blood spewed from his mouth.

  I kneeled beside his head. His breath was foul, the pungent reek of ammonia filling the air with every labored breath he took. I set the Saiga aside, and drew my Glock. He took one look at the pistol and turned his head away from me. I brought the weapon across his face, knocking his head back towards me.

  “You don’t get to look away,” I said, pushing the barrel against his temple. “So we’re back to where we were this morning. Same gun, same magazine, same bullets. There’s only one bullet left in this gun, and it’s for you. I’ve saved it special for you. The only bullet that you will die from today is in this gun.”

  I raised the Glock into the air and fired my last round.

  “You don’t get off that easy,” I said. “Chris has an experiment he is running in the slaughter room. I have one of my own I want to try.”

  I grabbed his jacket collar and stood. With a rough jerk, his body snapped around. He cried out as his torn body dragged across the icy cold gravel. I pulled him past the questioning eyes of my friends, and the cold stare from my brother. Adam squirmed to get away, but his arms and legs were useless to fight against me. My own injuries thundered, but those would wait.

  I jerked his body over the last few feet of rock and dirt until we were through the damaged barn door. Inside I heard the excited growls of the dead that had become trapped inside during Adam’s attack. The room was still dark, but I could see the shambling figures silhouetted against the florescent glow of the bus interior. Feet dragged on the concrete floor when the monsters saw us enter. I released Adam’s collar, his head bouncing off the concrete floor.

  “I was wondering if these creatures would attack someone if they were already infected. Let’s find out together.” I turned, walking away from the man I had condemned. Adam protested, screaming obscenities at me as I walked towards the door.

  “You can’t do this!” he shouted as I took one step out the door.

  “Watch me,” I said over my shoulder. “Does it hurt?” I added before leaving him to his fate.

  I walked towards the house to the serenade of Adam’s painful screams. The snarling growls of the feeding dead along w
ith Adam’s cries echoed from all directions in the dead wintery silence. My companions met me halfway to the house, stopping me with more questioning looks.

  “I guess the dead will eat a living infected person. Add that to your list of discoveries, professor,” I said to Chris before walking into the house.

  No one dared to follow me.

  Lexi met me in the living room as I closed the door, her face wet with tears. She still carried her rifle, gripping it in one hand at her side. She stood in the middle of the room, weeping.

  “I wasn’t fast enough!” she wept. I went to her and swallowed her up in an embrace. Her body shook as she cried.

  “No one was,” I said. “Don’t put this on yourself. The person responsible is paying the price. Keep an eye on that barn. Eventually those things will come out. Just make sure no one shoots Adam.” She nodded and walked outside.

  I climbed the stairs, back to the second floor. Shards of shattered glass crunched under my boots at the top of the stairs. Slowly I made my way over to the bedroom where Anna had gathered the kids together. I poked my head in and saw Katie and Jane coloring on the wall. There was a rainbow in the bright blue sky. Grass was growing, and an impressive array of flowers dotted their crayon fields.

  Anna looked over and saw me. Tears that were held back for the kids were finally freed, rolling off her cheeks in fat droplets.

  “Jane, honey,” she said. “Let’s go downstairs. There’s something I want to show you. You too, Faith” She gathered Jane in her arms, and all three left me and Katie alone. But not before Anna mouthed ‘I’m sorry’ on the way out the door.

  I sat on the bed, watching Katie put the finishing touches on the birds she drew flying over the rainbow. She stood back, admiring her work before looking over at me. She smiled and ran to the door, looking out in the hall before walking slowly over to me. Her eyes widened and wet, her bottom lip quivering.

  “Daddy. Where’s mommy?”