Chantal Boudreau

by First Time Dead 01

  “Well, Angela, it looks like we’re going to have to watch out for each other. Are you from around here?” Jake sat next to her.

  “Yeah, I was a real estate agent when all of this happened.”

  “I was an office manager. I guess none of that matters now. We’re all just trying to survive.”

  Angela sat there for a while, thinking. If she ever wanted to talk about what she had been through, Jake would just have to wait until she was ready.

  Jake went inside the cabin and scrounged up some breakfast. He had found bottled water and juice the last time he had ventured deeper inland. That was about a week ago. He had spotted a grocery store and taken the chance. There was no other choice; he’d been running out of food. There’d only been a few of those creatures around, so it had been a little easier than he expected. Jake made it back to the boat without incident, with the water, juice, and even managed to get granola bars, as well as other snack items.

  “What’s wrong?” Angela asked as Jake came out of the cabin and gave her some granola bars and orange juice.

  “I was just looking over my supplies,” Jake said. “It looks like I may have to go inland again. I’m running low on food and drink. We’re good for another day or two, but pretty soon I’m not going to have a choice.”

  “I can go with you. I’m sure a second pair of hands couldn’t hurt.” Angela sounded a lot calmer now.

  “Are you sure? I mean, I can handle it. It’ll just take a while, being on foot.”

  “On foot? Why don’t you just hotwire a car? It would be a lot faster, not to mention safer I would think.”

  “Actually,” Jake looked over the ocean, “I don’t know how to hotwire a car.”

  “What?” Angela laughed. “That’s right, you were an office manager. I guess there’s not much need for that is there?”

  “Not really, no. What about you, do you know how?”

  “I do. I grew up with three brothers in a neighborhood where that kind of thing was pretty common. Unfortunately, my brothers were the ones that taught me.”

  Angela and Jake talked about how they were going to go about this plan. They mapped it out for about an hour or so. Then, Jake took the boat a little closer inland to a secluded area and handed her a gun. She wasn’t experienced with a gun, so Jake helped her do target practice using a sign that was a few yards in on the shore. After a few hours, she was more comfortable with the gun and how it felt. Her aim was pretty good, too.

  Jake had been storing four guns on the boat just in case he ever lost one or one jammed at the worst time. It had been easy to get the guns and the ammo for them. When everyone began dying and turning into those creatures, Jake found that once you killed the brain, the body follows. So, when Jake found a gun shop with the windows shattered, he’d taken what he wanted which included enough ammo to fit in a large duffel bag. He still had a lot. It was food that was harder to come by. All four guns were Glock 17s. Having all the same guns, meant using the same ammo.

  The day had been spent planning and target practicing until both Jake and Angela were confident that they could pull this off. Jake took the boat out away from the land again and sailed towards the next city. They would get a good night’s rest and head inland in the morning. Through the day, they sailed away from Miami and were now a few miles outside of Fort Lauderdale.

  In the morning, they would try to locate a car not too far inland and hotwire it. Jake and Angela would have a better chance at finding a grocery store and would have more room to store as much as they could. It was perfect—smash and grab.

  For now, it was time to have some dinner. Jake and Angela sat on the deck and ate peanut butter sandwiches with bottled water. After dinner, Jake went into the cabin and came up with a bottle of vodka that had already been started. They shared some of it for a while as they talked about their lives from before. They both went into the cabin and were asleep in minutes.

  Day 95, 5:45 am

  It was still dark outside when Jake woke up. All he could see in the cabin was the alarm clock on the night table just over the still form of Angela as she lay next to him. This was going to be an interesting day to say the least.

  He went out onto the deck and watched inland. There weren’t any of those creatures in sight, but when the waves eased you could just barely hear their groans. When one stopped to consider the whole situation, it felt as if you were going to go insane. Thinking about it was one thing, seeing one of those creatures was another.

  Some were recently dead and didn’t look all that bad. Others were in various forms of decay, rotting in all sorts of places. Parts hanging or falling off, their greyish skin pulled so tight and so dry that it gave the image of a walking skeleton. Jake had seen some creatures completely immobilized—with no legs or lower body—that still lived. It was only when the brain was destroyed that the dead stayed dead.

  Jake had seen people suffer at the hands of these creatures. Even those that got away with only being bitten once suffered an agonizing death and were soon turned into one of those things.

  By the time 6:30 rolled around, Angela had gotten out of bed and joined Jake up on the deck. They talked about how this was now or never and ate what they had left for breakfast. Gathering supplies, Jake made sure that the guns were loaded and ready. They were each packing two handguns, as much ammunition as they could carry, and a large empty duffle bag. Angela had what few tools she would need for hotwiring a car. In a small duffle bag, she had gotten a hammer, a couple of screwdrivers, and some electrical tape. She told Jake that that was all she needed. Jake figured she was right; after all she was the one that knew how to do it.

  Steering the boat towards land, both Jake and Angela remained silent as they headed towards the nearest marina. They quietly docked the boat as they listened and looked around for the creatures. There didn’t seem to be any in sight.

  With guns drawn, Jake led Angela through the silent marina towards a parking lot just on the other side. The far side of the parking lot opened up onto a main road; so far, so good.

  It was a large parking lot with seven cars still parked in it. Some had flat tires, and others didn’t look drivable.

  “Over there, look, it’s perfect!” Angela said.

  Jake looked to the far corner of the parking lot where she pointed. It was an old Dodge van. It was from the late eighties by the looks of it. It looked like it was in decent condition, too. Hopefully, there was still gas in it.

  Angela took the lead and cautiously approached the van from behind. Taking up the rear, Jake looked in each direction several times to make sure that they were safe. The creatures may be slow, but they could sneak up on you in a hurry. All was silent, save for the groans of the creatures in the distance somewhere and the breathing of the only living people in the area.

  Angela reached the driver’s door and pulled on the handle, smiling at Jake when it opened without any problem. With her gun pointing into the van’s interior, she quickly found it to be empty. She hopped into the van and began to do her thing. At one time, the van had been someone’s travelling van. There were the two seats in the front, but the back was completely empty. Only someone’s old sleeping bag remained along with a dog-eared copy of some old spy novel.

  Using the hammer, Angela drove one of her screwdrivers into the ignition. Once it was in, she turned the screwdriver like a key, turning on the dash lights. The gas gauge reacted, going up to a half a tank.

  “Well,” Jake asked. “Can you do it?”

  “Yeah,” Angela said. “The gas is still at half! And this older model of Dodge is easier to hotwire than most.”

  “Perfect.” Jake continued to walk around the van while he waited for Angela to get the van started.

  “Dammit!” Angela said sharply.

  “What is it?” Jake ran around the van.

  “Sorry, I cut myself.” Angela looked rather embarrassed as she showed Jake her finger.

  “Oh, are you alright?” Jake smiled.

&nb
sp; “Yeah,” Angela went right back to work, positioning herself under the steering column to get the wires together.

  As she did so, Jake found himself staring at her. The world had gone down the toilet and every day was a lesson in survival, but Jake knew a nice ass when he saw one.

  Two hands gripping his shoulders caused Jake to yelp. When he turned around, he was face to face with one of those creatures.

  “Jake!” Angela yelled in surprise.

  “Keep at it!” Jake said sharply.

  The creature opened its rotten mouth and pushed Jake against the side of the van, angling for a bite of his neck. With his left arm, Jake pushed his elbow under the creature’s chin. Holding the thing’s head up with all of his strength, Jake brought up the gun with his right hand. He placed the barrel of the gun against the creature’s forehead and pulled the trigger. It went limp and fell to the ground, dark liquid oozing out of the back of its head.

  As Jake looked up from the creature, he froze. Coming across the parking lot were about twenty more of the damned things.

  “Angela, I don’t mean to rush you, but I don’t think we have much time left!”

  “What?” Angela looked up to see what Jake was seeing. “Oh, shit!” She went back to work cursing under her breath.

  “C’mon,” Jake said to himself with clenched teeth. The creatures slowly advanced towards the van. Pretty soon they would be surrounded. One of them seemed to be getting closer a little faster than the others. This one seemed to have been a cook when he became one of the walking dead. It still wore chequered pants and a chef’s jacket. It had blood dripping from its mouth down to its chest where someone had plunged a large chef’s knife almost to the hilt. Someone had put up a fight, but obviously hadn’t won.

  The van’s engine roared to life. “Get in, Jake, hurry!”

  Pointing his gun at the dead cook, Jake shot him in the head and then made his way to the passenger side of the van. He had his hand on the door handle as the dead cook hit the ground for the last time. Jumping in, Angela put the van into drive and hit the gas, closing both doors with the force. Circling the parking lot, Angela straightened out the van and raced towards the main roads. On the way out, one of the creatures got too close and its head hit the passenger side mirror. Blood splattered all over the door’s window and the passenger side of the windshield. Jake looked back to see the creature collapse as more of them began to shuffle uselessly after the speeding van.

  Once they were on the main road, Angela slowed down to a comfortable speed and turned on the wipers. The blood smeared, leaving streaks across the windshield. Jake and Angela began to breathe normally again, not realising that they had been holding their breaths.

  “Some lookout you turned out to be,” Angela said with a chuckle. “How did they sneak up on you like that?”

  Jake felt embarrassed. He had been checking her out and had almost gotten the both of them killed. “I’m sorry, Angela. I don’t know what happened back there. I guess I was asleep at the switch.” Jake looked out the window, mentally punishing himself.

  “Hey,” Angela looked over at him. “I was just playing with you, trying to lighten the mood. God knows we could use a little humour right about now.

  “Okay,” Jake smiled a little.

  “At least tell me you were looking at my ass or something. That would make me feel better.” Angela cautiously turned the van around a corner.

  “I was,” Jake said with a bigger smile. They both laughed at that. Laughing was something that neither one of them could remember doing for a long time.

  “Yeah, okay.” She wasn’t sure whether or not to believe him.

  As they drove through the streets, they saw creatures everywhere. Some wandered in groups, some alone, and some chewed on long dead victims. It was the latter that was the most disturbing. Knowing that if they weren’t smart and quick enough, Jake and Angela could end up as one of those things’ meals was just too much to think about.

  Making their way through the city, Angela pulled the van into what appeared to be the downtown area. Garbage and debris blew through the streets like everywhere else they had been. There were a few creatures around, but they seemed to be spread out, which was good for Jake and Angela. Those things had strength in numbers, and if they could hide the van they may be able to pick up supplies on foot.

  As if she was reading his mind, Angela steered the van into a parking garage. Aside from the few cars on each level, the four-level parking garage was all but deserted. There didn’t seem to be any creatures in sight, but they still had to be careful, though. Those damned things could come out of nowhere if you weren’t careful.

  They parked the van, made sure that all the guns were loaded, and got out. Angela had rigged the van so that they could start it in a hurry if they needed to.

  Cautiously, Angela and Jake walked over to the staircase door. Opening it slowly, they found it deserted. Jake led the way down the stairway to the next floor and stopped at the door. Opening the door a little, Jake looked in and found that they had stumbled onto the back of a shopping mall. He smiled for moment until he saw a few creatures wandering around.

  “What is it, Jake?”

  “It’s a shopping mall, and there are a few of those creatures around, but not many.” Jake shut the door and faced her.

  “Should we risk it, or do you want to try somewhere else?” Angela said.

  “I don’t know that we’re going to find anywhere better than this. There are only a few of those things, and I think that we can get in and out before they can sneak up on us in large numbers. Are you okay with trying this?” Jake had taken her by the shoulders gently without thinking about it.

  “Only on one condition,” Angela smiled.

  “What’s that?” Jake smiled back.

  “Were you really looking at my ass?”

  “Yeah, I was.” Jake didn’t feel the need to lie. They were, as far as he knew, the last two living people around.

  “Well, when we get back to the boat, maybe we can have some fun.” With that, Angela opened the door and slowly walked through.

  Jake held the door and stood there in shock.

  “Are you coming?” Angela laughed. “I may need some help here.”

  “Yeah, sorry, I’m coming.” Jake came through and walked side by side with Angela.

  “A woman does have needs you know.” They were on the highest level of the shopping mall and saw only three creatures on this level.

  “It’s a deal,” Jake agreed.

  They easily avoided the three creatures as they looked into the various stores. For about an hour, Jake and Angela filled the duffle bag that Jake had been shouldering since they left the van. They found a sports bar where they raided the canned foods, and a clothing store where they took a sweater each to keep warm at night on the boat.

  Having filled the duffle bag with enough supplies to hold them for about a week, Jake and Angela made their way back towards the staircase door. Angela stopped halfway and looked around, puzzled.

  “Angela, what is it?” Jake looked around.

  “It’s the creatures.”

  “What about them?” Jake asked.

  “I only see two. Where’s the other one?” Angela continued to look around the mall as the two they saw began to shuffle towards them. Until now, the creatures hadn’t really paid much attention to Angela and Jake. “We should’ve killed them when we had the chance!”

  “Let’s get out of here,” Jake said.

  Jake followed Angela to the staircase door as the two creatures came towards them. Jake stopped and pulled out his gun. Warning Angela first, Jake shot both creatures dead with three shots. One had hit the first creature in the arm and then Jake had found his aim.

  Angela opened the door to the stairs and went through, pulling Jake with her by the arm. Before the door shut completely, a rotted hand appeared, holding it open. Jake tried to push the door shut with his weight, but the creature’s hand prevented that. Jake sw
atted at it, trying to get it out of the way. Suddenly, the rotted hand grasped Jake’s tightly and pulled it to the other side. Jake screamed and pulled.

  Angela drew her gun and aimed through the opening of the door. Jake screamed even louder as he pulled with all of his might to free his hand. Angela pulled the trigger, killing the third creature and releasing Jake who tumbled to the floor clutching his hand.

  For a moment, Angela stood over Jake while he lay there cradling his left hand. Crouching down, she heard him breathing quickly and muttering three words.

  “Cut it off.”

  Jake rolled over in pain and that’s when she saw his hand. His third and fourth fingers were gone, blood and ragged flesh left behind. Angela quickly took the sweater she had taken and wrapped it around his hand.

  “Cut it off...please!” Jake moaned.

  “What, your hand?!” Angela stared at him in disbelief.

  “Please,” Jake begged, “the infection will spread quickly, and then I’ll be one those...things.”

  “Alright, I’ll do it.” She wasn’t really sure that she could do this, but then again, this life could make you do things that you didn’t think you were capable of before. “I’m going to need to find a pharmacy or something in the mall. Can you walk with me?”

  “Yeah.” Angela helped Jake to his feet. “We just need good pain killers and something to cut my hand off with.”

  Jake sat on a bench outside of a Walgreens while Angela got what they needed; Jake had also asked her to get a razor and some shaving cream. A few minutes later, they made it to the van in the parking garage. A couple of creatures were shuffling around the area, but couldn’t catch up with Jake and Angela.

  Within minutes, they were driving back towards the marina. There seemed to be a lot more creatures around now than there were in the morning. Jake was having a hard time staying awake in the passenger seat as Angela dodged the creatures that wandered into the middle of the streets.

  “C’mon, Jake, stay with me. I need you to stay with me. We’re almost there and then I’ll fix you up. You’ll be as good as new, I promise.”