World of Dead | Vol. 1 | Issue 5

by Johnson, Broderick

  Issue 5

  Kyra had envisioned the sunrise, on that specific morning, to be a symbol of the darkness ending. After everything that she had been through it only made sense that she would drive her family to safety through the darkness of night and then they would be greeted by the sanctuary and the sunrise of a new morning. Unfortunately, Kyra’s story had a different path.

  There she stood, in front of yet another stranger who had just saved her life. The only thought in her head circulated around being a liability for others. No matter how much Kyra felt like she tried to be responsible and brave she found that the world kept throwing too much at her.

  The man that had just saved Kyra, instructed her to get into the sedan that she had driven to Albany from her lake house. It still sat parked, with the doors open, where Kyra had left it when she fled with the two baby girls that she was now solely responsible for. As Kyra placed her baby sister Kassidy back into the car seat and then took her place in the passenger seat with Jason’s baby Sara in her arms, she could only think about the sight of her mother blowing her that last kiss goodbye.

  The mysterious man, who saved Kyra, walked down the hill off the side of the highway in the direction of the group of monsters that were still eating Kyra’s mother. He then began to unload on the group, using his military grade machine gun, until there were no survivors left. One by one they began to collapse under their own dead weight until finally all that was left was the man. But Kyra noticed something else.

  Sitting in the passenger seat of a car that had slid off of the highway, was a young girl that had been turned into one of the monsters. Kyra had seen her, face to face, just moments before Kyra’s mother had sacrificed herself to save Kyra and the babies. The girl was still gnawing in the direction of the window, like she had been when she was staring at Kyra, except now she was doing it towards the man with the machine gun.

  Kyra watched as he approached the vehicle, pulled out a pistol from the back of his pants, and shot the girl through the glass. It was as if he saw past the tragedy of her fall. Kyra realized that to this man, these monsters were nothing but exactly that: monsters. Young, old, male, or female, he was going to treat them all the same. She wasn’t sure whether that was a good thing or not, but she wasn’t really in a position to judge.

  The man then turned and approached the sedan. He leaned in through the open driver side door and said to Kyra, in his firm tone, “I’m going to grab my bag that I left with my bike. Don’t open the doors for any reason, okay? I’ll be right back.”

  He shut the door and headed towards the other side of the freeway where he had parked his motorcycle. Something about his demanding voice set Kyra off. It was as if he looked at her as weak and in need of protection. Then again, Kyra had just given herself up to the monsters and was ready to die when he had found and saved her.

  Soon, the man returned carrying a duffle bag over his shoulder. He opened the back door of the sedan and set the bag next to Kassidy’s carseat before sitting in the driver seat. After shutting the driver side door and starting the vehicle, the man paused. Kyra analyzed his face, noticing the little bits of facial hair that were beginning to grow on his upper lip and chin, but other than that he had a babyface.

  “Listen,” the man said, turning his head to meet Kyra’s eyes, “I don’t know where you’re headed, but I’m on my way to Montreal right now. I can help you find some supplies and some gasoline and you can go your own way or you're more than welcome to come with me.”

  Kyra was silent for a moment. She felt like she had forgotten how to speak with everything that was going through her mind. Somehow, though, she pulled herself together to find the words to say, “New York City.”

  The man raised his eyebrows and asked, “You were headed to New York City?”

  Kyra nodded and explained further, “There’s a sanctuary in New York City.”

  Slowly his eyebrows returned to their natural form as the man seemed disappointed in what Kyra had said. He then shook his head and argued, “I’m sorry to be the one to break it to you, but the only thing you were going to find in New York City is millions of those undead machines ready to overwhelm you and eat the three of you for breakfast.”

  “Four of us,” Kyra replied. She had said it so quickly that she didn’t allow herself to think about what was coming out of her mouth. Obviously, there were no longer four of them because her mother sacrificed herself, but Kyra was still in shock about that.

  The man narrowed his eyes at Kyra and then he looked out the windshield of the vehicle in the direction of the group of monsters that he had just slaughtered and his complexion changed. His head dropped before his eyes returned to meet Kyra’s as he said, “I’m so sorry for your loss.”

  Kyra had nothing to say. She just shrugged her shoulders and did her best to keep the tears back, but to no avail. They began to leak and drip down her cheeks.

  “The sanctuary that you heard about is where I’m headed,” the man then explained, “It’s in Montreal.”

  She was stunned. The tears stopped flowing, but that was only because Kyra had been shocked by what he had to say. She had been leading her family in the wrong direction the entire time? Kyra couldn't believe it. Why would Jason tell her that the sanctuary was in the city? Unless the city he was talking about was Montreal? Why though? Everybody in New York refers to New York City when they say The City.

  The conversation had ended there. The man put the car in reverse and began to navigate it out of the traffic that Kyra had gotten her family stuck in the middle of. As he drove, Kyra stared out the window at the group that lay lifeless on the side of the road. Somewhere in the middle of the blood and decay was her mother’s body. Kyra could only think about how her mother could’ve avoided death if Kyra had taken them to the right place. They weren’t even close.

  They drove a few miles back north until the man was able to navigate the car off of the highway and into the parking lot of a small shopping center. He put the car in park close to a grocery outlet and then turned the vehicle off, but he stayed still as he thought about what to do next. Kyra wasn't sure what to do or say so she found herself just staring at the man.

  Without looking in her direction, the man softly said, "My name is Wesley.”

  Kyra stared at Wesley and without thinking about it, she responded, “I’m Kyra.”

  Wesley looked at Kyra and then the baby in her arms before looking into the back seat at the baby sitting in the carseat. Kyra looked down at Sara, as she slept in her arms, and then also looked back at Kassidy who had fallen asleep in her carseat.

  “That’s Kassidy,” Kyra explained, “And this is Sara.”

  Wesley nodded and didn't ask any further questions. Instead he directed his attention to his duffle bag, where he reached, unzipped, and pulled out two magazines for his machine gun. Wesley slid the magazines into a pocket that was located on the inside of his leather jacket and then he opened the driver side door.

  Before exiting though, Wesley turned back to look at Kyra and asked, “Do you want to come in or would you like to wait here?”

  Kyra thought about it for a moment and opted on staying with the man who was carrying a machine gun for protection. Otherwise, she’d be stuck inside a car with two infants to protect and no weapons to protect them.

  As they entered the store, Kyra carried the two babies cautiously in her arms. It was quite the difficult task for the small teenage girl; Kassidy weighed around nineteen pounds and Sara was not far behind, though she was three months younger. Overall, Kyra was carrying roughly forty pounds in her arms and it was beginning to wear her out.

  Wesley was the first to enter the store through a broken window
in the from of sliding doors that were otherwise locked. He swung his gun around, checking around corners, and looking down aisles before signaling to Kyra that it was safe enough to come inside. Kyra placed the two babies into an empty shopping cart and immediately felt her back and shoulder muscles release their stress.

  “Is there anything that you’re going to need while we’re in here?” Wesley asked, “Baby food? Adult food?”

  Kyra shook her head and replied, “We have food and gasoline in the trunk of the car.”

  Wesley raised his eyebrows and said, "You didn't think about sharing that with me before we came into a high risk grocery store?”

  She looked at the ground. Kyra knew that she had been really quiet since meeting Wesley, but considering everything going on she felt as though she deserved that. She remained silent as he stared at her.

  “Well,” Wesley said, moving on from his judgmental statement, “I might as well find myself some chips before we take off.”

  He turned to start his search but was immediately stopped in his tracks by the sight of one of the undead. The monster, this time an older gentleman with a very bloody face and clothing, was alone as it hobbled towards Wesley and Kyra. It groaned and dragged its feet towards them one by one with every intention of tearing them to shreds.

  From Kyra’s perspective, it didn’t seem like Wesley had begun to panic at all. In fact, he was almost too calm and for a moment Kyra wondered about how many other scenarios he had been in like this. Wesley pulled the machine gun up and aimed it at the monster with ease, but Kyra had a thought.

  “Stop!” Kyra shouted, distracting Wesley. He turned and looked at her momentarily, allowing Kyra to explain, “If you shoot, the sound will attract others.”

  “Okay?” Wesley said sarcastically, “I’ll just shoot them as well.”

  “There’s probably tens of thousands of those things walking around the streets of Albany. The last thing we want is to direct their attention in our direction,” Kyra argued. Wesley stared at her for a moment, frustrated by her attitude, but then he grinned in appreciation. Kyra, noticing his thin smile, made one last suggestion saying, “Plus, you might want to save your ammo. You never know when you’ll really need it.”

  Wesley opened up his leather jacket to show the magazines that he had brought from his bag. He then looked back at the monster, which had slowly moved closer during the conversation, and said, “You know more than I thought you would’ve. Do you have anymore suggestions?”

  Kyra stared at him and at the monster as it came closer. She didn’t have anymore ideas, if she was being honest with herself. The only reason that she mentioned saving the ammunition was because she had seen how Jason’s gun had drawn so many of the monsters that it made it difficult to travel up and down the road. There was no doubt in her mind that there were ten times as many potential monsters roaming a city like Albany.

  She just shook her head. Kyra had lost too much and she wasn’t prepared to share anymore of her ideas just to get another person killed. She looked down at the two girls that were sitting in the shopping cart. In that moment, Kyra watched them play with each other and it reminded her of simpler times.

  And then there was a gun shot. The sound startled Kyra and when she looked up to see what had happened she found Wesley standing with his arm extending the machine gun so that the barrel would’ve been touching the forehead of the monster that was approaching. Smoke was still leaving the barrel when Wesley turned and met Kyra’s eyes.

  “Sorry,” he said, “It was getting too close and I don’t have any other weapons on me.”

  Kyra rolled her eyes. The babies were startled by the shot as well. They both began to cry as soon as Wesley pulled the trigger. Kyra leaned down to check on them and give them some comfort before looking back up at Wesley to say, “That is really irresponsible. You could have put…”

  There was a sound. Kyra wasn’t quite sure what it was, but it was growing and it did not sound good. Wesley hear it too as he turned back around to look into the darkness of the store. Slowly, another monster appeared around the corner of one of the aisles down at the far end of the store.

  And then another appeared.

  And another.

  Within minutes, dozens of monsters were pouring out of the aisles at the end of the store and making their way towards Kyra and Wesley. It was as if they had all backed themselves into a corner and stayed there until they heard Kyra and Wesley enter the store and shoot the gun. The sound of them groaning was now so loud that Kyra and Wesley could barely communicate.

  “Go!” Wesley shouted as he pointed his finger to direct Kyra out of the store. He turned and began to fire his machine gun in the direction of the herd that was headed towards them. Kyra pulled the two girls from the shopping cart and began to move quickly towards the door, but then she thought about Wesley.

  She stopped at the door and looked back at Wesley. Something inside of her didn’t want her to leave without him. He had saved Kyra and now she felt responsible for him, but everything was different this time around. Kyra was holding, not one, but two infants in her arms and she knew what the best decision was.

  Kyra carefully squeezed through the broken glass that they had entered through and began to make her way to the car. She could hear Wesley firing the gun as the sound echoed out of the store, but Kyra tried not to look back. She was beginning to get that feeling inside of her gut. The same feeling that she had when she was in a state of paralysis as she watched Jason save her life in the market by their lake house.

  Only a few feet away from the car, Kyra began to feel the panic slowing her down. She wasn’t sure about what she was going to do. Should she leave the kids in the car and go back for Wesley? She thought, maybe she should just wait in the car for him to come out. What if he never came out? Every thought in Kyra’s head was so blinding that she didn’t even realize another vehicle pull up.

  From behind, Kyra felt a touch on her should and she hysterically turned in shock. Expecting one of the monsters to be there, Kyra backed into the sedan that her and Wesley had parked, but the man she looked at was very much alive. Behind the man was a van that had a logo on it that read, South Colonie Central School District. The man himself was older, probably in his forties or fifties, and had a bald head with a black and grey beard that was medium in volume.

  “Hi,” the man said in a gentle voice. He put his hands up to indicate that he meant no harm as he explained, “Listen, I’m not hear to cause any trouble. I saw that you were in danger and that you had two babies with you and I wanted to help.”

  Kyra, overwhelmed with everything that was going on, could only muster the words, “There’s a man in there…”

  “I know,” the mysterious man interrupted. Kyra was beginning to explain how Wesley was in trouble, but she didn’t quite know how to say it. The man sounded like he was a step ahead of her as he said, “I understand what’s going on and if you want to keep your babies safe you need to come with me. I live in a little community that is a block away from here and we have the security to keep them safe, but we need to go now.”

  She was being rushed and she wasn’t sure why. Kyra was only able to think for a moment, but she thought about her mother and her father. The first thing that comes to mind is to wait and help Wesley because that’s what her father would’ve done, but then she failed her father. Then her mother comes to mind as Kyra remembered her mother telling her to keep the babies safe and that it was her responsibility to do that now. Despite it feeling wrong, Kyra knew that she had no choice. When the man opened the door for her, Kyra took a seat in it and allowed him to close the door.

  They pulled off, out of the parking lot, and began to head down a road. Kyra’s heart was racing and her gut felt like it had been punched. This time, however, it wasn’t because she had lost someone; it was because she had abandoned someone.

  “I saw what he was doing,” the man said to Kyra as they drove down the road. He took a left turn onto a sm
aller road than the main road that they were just on and Kyra watched as they drove by these small houses on the left. The man continued, “I knew that I had to get the three of you out of there. I don’t have any weapons on me and I can’t take him alone when he has that assault rifle.”

  Kyra was confused by what the man was saying, “I don’t understand,” she said.

  The man quickly glanced at her and then back at the road, “Well I saw him taking you into the store and I knew that he was probably taking you back to his friends after that. They’re really dangerous, you know?”

  “What?” Kyra asked. She was trying to read the man’s face to see if she could find any signs of lying or joking, but the man seemed genuine. Kyra asked him, “You think that he was taking me back to his friends? Who are his friends?”

  “I honestly don’t know much about them,” the man admitted, “All I know is that they come around our community once every week and demand a woman to be given to them. Not food, not supplies, but a woman.”

  Kyra was speechless. Could it have been true? Was Wesley one of these men that were being described? Why though? He seemed so honest and genuine. Then, however, Kyra began to think about all of the comments that he would make and how reckless he was in the store despite her argument towards not firing his gun. Maybe in her emotional state, Kyra was a bad judge of character.

  “I’m just glad that I was able to get that door open so that the herd could get in there to distract him,” the man then said, “Otherwise, I don’t know how I would’ve gotten you outta there without him.”

  Kyra, quite honestly, couldn’t believe what she was hearing. This man, single-handedly put himself in danger to save Kyra from Wesley. Suddenly, Kyra had gained a lot of trust for this man. He had no idea who Kyra or the babies were, but he knew that he had to get them out of danger.

  “What’s your name?” Kyra asked him.

  “Tom,” the man replied. He turned the vehicle into a parking lot and slowly pulled past a two story building. In the upper lefthand corner of the building Kyra read, Colonie Central High School, in yellow paint. She wasn’t sure where she was, but she was just glad that she was no where near the real monster as described by Tom.