Dead, We Are

by Jimmy Bird

  I had managed to get within a few feet of my children when my son screamed out in pain. I noticed that the zombie had pulled Jimmy up by his right arm and was biting down on his forearm. He had twisted his arm in such a way that it looked like he had almost pulled Jimmy right off the ground.

  I was so worried that if I attacked the zombie that I would end up hurting my son even more. I decided to use a distraction method as I screamed and waved my arms around.

  The distraction worked, sort of. He had a Pitt Bull like locked jaw grip on my son's arm. He lifted his head as he kept his mouth clinch down. He must have released his grip on my son's arm because the rest of his body began to fall towards the ground. You could see the skin being pulled away from Jimmy’s arm.

  Jimmy’s scream intensified from a cry of pain to that of a death howl as blood began to spray from his open wound. The zombie looked up at me. Surprisingly, the zombie still had a hold of JoJo's hair and Jimmy's arm. I knew at that exact moment that I had been wrong because he hadn't let go of my son. Instead, it was my son was hopelessly trying to fight back. My heart sank as I noticed that a puddle of blood was starting to gather at Jimmy's feet.

  I couldn’t tell where all the blood was coming from, but I guess it didn't really matter because seeing my son in so much pain was more than I could bare. I took a step forward and swung my fist as hard as I could.

  My right fist connected solidly with the left side of the zombie’s face. I felt a brief surge of pain in that hand just as soon as my fist touched his face, but I ignored it. I stood there and watched the zombie stagger backwards a few steps until he tripped on something that I couldn't see behind him. Luckily, he released my children before he actually fell backwards onto his back. I was a little confused, but it looked like he was actually trying to use his hands and arms to catch himself.

  My mistake was that I stood there dumbfounded as I watched him. Without even realizing it my rational mind was trying to make sense of what I was seeing. It looked like the thing had released my children so he could try to catch himself as he fell. That must mean that he’s still thinking of his own survival. Right? That would mean that all the books and movies that contained zombies about not having any sense of "self-preservation" must have had it wrong.

  Shamefully, I stood there shocked for a few long seconds. Even now I’m not sure why I wasn’t able to move, to react like I should have. It was like being trapped in a nightmarish haze that I couldn’t wake up from. It wasn’t until I heard a scream “Daddy, help us!” that I came out of my daze and was able to move. It was my wake up call.

  I looked over at my daughter and knew right away that she was alright but when I looked at my son, I knew right away that he was going to die. He was laying on the ground screaming in pain and holding his right arm. I hesitated! I could see blood spraying up from Jimmy's arm. I had to give my son credit. He tried to use his little left hand to cover his wound and contain the bleeding. He was trying to get up and as a parent I wanted to reach down and help him up, but something in the back of my mind stopped me.

  My mind raced with questions on what I should do. Maybe it was because of all the zombie movies that I had seen. Somehow I just knew that it was a matter of time before he turned. Did I risk running back inside the house to get a towel to help stop the bleeding? Could I use something like peroxide to clean the wound? Did I risk taking him to the hospital? Was he infected? What was I going to do?

  My indecisiveness faded quickly whenever the two zombies from earlier emerged from the garage doorway behind my kids. With only one thought in my mind I reached down to gather up my two kids. With my adrenaline pumping I picked up both kids with ease (they were at the age and size that I could barely pick one of them up at a time).

  With a kid in each arm I ran as fast as I could toward the back of the SUV. Without thinking I quickly tossed them into the back seat. Without hesitation I took off my shirt and tossed it to my wife. I told her to get in the back with them and shut the door. I wanted her to clean and inspect their injuries while I turned to face the new threat. My shirt was the only thing handy that I could possibly think of to possibly stop Jimmy's arm from bleeding.

  As the first of the two zombies reached out its two arms towards me I noticed that the zombie that I had just punched in the face was trying to get back up. That was when I saw what the zombie had tripped on, another zombie and she was missing its legs. That made a total of four zombies coming towards us!

  Without hesitation I kicked the closest zombie on the inside of the right knee forcing it to snap sideways. Like anything else with momentum and without stability in its legs he fell sideways. I noticed that it was still trying to reach out for me instead of trying to stop its fall. I guess that the other zombie’s reaction to his own self preservation was a fluke.

  Without waiting to find out the end results I reached out for the Ford Expedition's front passenger door handle and stopped. I could hear my wife and kids going frantic behind me. I looked over to see my wife wide-eyed and pointing at something behind me.

  Fearing for my life I quickly turned my head to see what they had been pointing at. The second zombie had gotten within a few feet of me. He had somehow made his way over the three bodies that was crawling or rolling around on the ground.

  With my adrenaline still pumping I quickly pulled the door handle. I opened the door just wide enough to hide behind it and grabbed it by the edge. My plan was to use the door as a kind of battering ram.

  I waited until the zombie got a little closer and forced the door open as hard as I could. I slammed the door directly into the zombie's chest with so much force that it caused him to stumble backwards. It tripped over the three zombies already on the ground. He fell right into the zombie that I had punched in the face.

  I felt something touch my ankle causing me to react by jumping into the passenger seat of the SUV. I quickly pulled the door shut behind me. I crawled as fast as I could over the center console towards the driver's seat. Let me tell you that it wasn't easy for me, especially being just a little over six feet tall.

  After successfully working my way into the seat I instinctively reached out to turn the car on. To my horror I realized that the keys weren't in the ignition. I didn't know where they were. I started to freak out whenever the zombie that I had hit with the passenger door started to bang on the window. My mind raced as I tried to remember what I had done with the keys.

  I knew I used them to unlock the SUV but after that, it was a blur. The zombie started hitting the window harder and harder causing my kids to scream out in fear even louder then they had been. I believe that my kid's screams caused the zombie to hit the window even harder.

  My wife was doing her best to doctor Jimmy up and calm the other kids down. You could tell by her tone that she was also trying her best to keep calm. She repeatedly told me in that certain tone of hers "That anytime would be a great time to get us out of there." Anyone who’s married or ever been married knows the tone I’m talking about. For those who don’t know, it’s almost sarcastic with a hint of seriousness behind it.

  In a calm manner I told her that I didn't remember where I had put the keys. She gave me one of those "Are you serious?" looks of hers. She asked if I had checked my front right pants pocket. I reached out and felt the shape of a keychain in my pocket. I leaned backwards so I could straighten my legs. That way I could work my right hand into my front pants pocket. Without looking behind me I asked her “How did she know?” She annoyingly replied that “I always put my keys in that pocket!”

  Oh my God! Did I Really do that? How could I have forgotten that? I fiddled with my keychain searching for the right key. Luckily for us it didn’t take too long.

  Once I found the correct key I put it in the ignition switch and tried to turn it. Nothing happened! Why wouldn't it start? It wouldn’t even properly turn. It was as if the ignition switch had locked itself somehow. I silently looked upward towards the Heavens and silently prayed to God to "Please
start the car so we could escape to safety."

  The only answer I received was more banging on the door window. I looked over and saw that two of the four zombies were now banging on the window with a third zombie with the messed up knee trying to stand up in front of the car. It looked like we were going to be trapped with no way out.

  No! I refused to believe that as I shook my head defiantly. I looked in the rearview mirror behind me at my screaming children, with the look of fear in their eyes. I looked over at my worried wife as she tried to remain calm and in control in front of our children. I would gladly sacrifice my life in order to save my family.

  That’s it, that's what I'll do. I had made up my mind. I was going to sacrifice myself by fighting off the zombies so my wife and children could run to safety.

  I started to turn towards my wife to tell her the new plan when I noticed something was off about the keychain. I reached out and pulled the key out of the ignition. I examined it and immediately knew that I had made a mistake.

  In my rush to start the car I had accidentally grabbed the wrong key. I had grabbed my wife's company car key which had been a similar make and model. Without saying anything to make myself look stupider then I already felt, I hurried up and grabbed the correct key. I put it in the ignition and turned it.

  The SUV fired right up. Surprised, my wife asked me what I did to get it started. I kind of ignored her question as I shifted it into reverse and told everyone to hold on as I pushed on the gas.

  It’s hard to describe what happened in the moments that followed, but I’m sure that you could guess. All my kids were screaming in fear and in Jimmy’s case fear and pain. My wife frantically tried to stop the bleeding on his arm while trying to stay upright as I dodged cars, people, and zombies.

  By the time we made it to the edge of our neighborhood and the nearest main street (which was only about two to three blocks from our house) my son’s health had already started to decline. The first thing that I noticed was that his screaming had stopped. I'm not sure how long it had been since he stopped screaming. I couldn't believe that I didn't notice it before.

  In the rearview mirror I noticed that his skin had turned an unhealthy looking grayish white, like the decomposing color of someone who had recently died. My wife noticed that he was fighting to breath. She described his breathing as extremely shallow. It was as if he had just all of a sudden become extremely asthmatic. His eyelids were almost closed with the occasional flutter or spasm. It was as if he was fighting with everything he had trying to keep them open.

  Expecting the worse (like I stated we had watched a lot of zombie movies) my wife put a seat-belt on him while she moved the other three to the third row of the SUV and buckled them in. My wife quickly checked over our daughter to make sure that she was okay. JoJo complained that her head was hurting from where her hair had been pulled, but she had no visible bite or scratch marks on her.

  By the time my wife made it back to check on Jimmy, his body had beads of sweat all over. She slowly reached out and touched his forehead. I glance in the rearview mirror and looked into my wife's worrisome eyes as she commented that he was burning up with a fever. I knew that I couldn’t afford to pull the car over to check on him myself so I had my wife describe everything that was happening to me.

  With all that was going on I forced myself to just concentrate on driving back to the Warehouse. I somehow knew that the Warehouse was our best bet for surviving whatever was going on.

  I didn't know exactly how long we would have cell phone usage and decided to check on as many of the Council members as I could. I called and talked to Ruff. He informed me that he had successfully gotten his wife and grandson out of danger, but he had lost his daughter. They were already on their way to the Warehouse.

  My sister called to inform me that she was pulling up to the Warehouse gate. She paused for a second before becoming kind of frantic. She was trying to talk calmly, but ended up speaking hysterically. If it wasn't for being such a crazy time it could almost be described as gibberish. Anyway, let's just say that she was hard to understand. It was hard to make out, but it sounded like she said that she was surrounded by zombies. That was impossible. Wasn't it? How could she already be surrounded by zombies? I told her to stay put because we were on our way.

  Next I called Brian. He answered the phone, but he didn't sound like his usual friendly self. He quickly informed me that he was alright, but he had something important that he had to go do. He wanted me to let the Council know that he would be late getting back to the Warehouse. He sounded distraught over the phone. I was about to ask him what was going on until I remembered the circumstance with Jimmy and decided not to push the subject. Instead, I told him that he needed to hurry because my sister was already there and that it sounded like there was some kind of problem.

  I hadn't even been off the phone for a minute with Brian whenever Cleo called. He said that he would be on his way as soon as he found his dad. His voice took on a more serious tone as he informed me that he also couldn't find his fiance. I felt his pain as I told him that my oldest was bitten while trying to save his sister.

  James called next. He informed me that he had managed to get to his daughter and her newborn baby out safely, but he was unable to save his son or his daughter 's fiance. Baby? I knew his daughter was pregnant, but I didn't realize that she had been that far along. My head was reeling with questions. I didn't even know where to begin. I started to ask him a question, but he cut me off. He told me that they would meet us at the Warehouse and tell me everything then. I told him to be safe and hung up the phone. Still to this day I can't even remember the questions that I wanted to ask him.

  Soon after my cousin John called me excited. Apparently, he had successfully met up with his wife and two kids at their designated meeting spot. He wanted to let me know that they were on their way and that they would be at the Warehouse in about thirty minutes. I quickly did the calculations in my head and figured that thirty minutes away could easily mean a few hours away, especially on that day. I didn't argue as I told him to hurry.

  Danny called and said that he was on his way, but he had run into a problem. It seemed that his wife had been bitten while trying to defend their children. After hearing about his loss I forced myself to remain calm, even with all the frantic screaming behind me. I told him that we were almost to the Warehouse and that he needed to hurry.

  Artie then called me. He had successfully got his son and daughter out of harm’s way, but he had lost his wife. I told him that I was sorry for his loss. Trying not to sound insensitive, I told him that he needed to hurry to the Warehouse because we had a situation.

  Ken then called and sadly claimed he was on his way. He informed me that he had lost everyone in his family, which included his wife and daughters. My heart dropped as I tried to comfort him, but he responded with a coldness in his voice that I had never heard before. He told me that he was on his way back and left it at that. I silently knew that he was hurting and let it go.

  I tried to call Kevin and Bruce but got no answer. Worried, I then tried to call some of the others to ask them if any of them had heard from Kevin or Bruce, but all I got were busy signals. I was immediately confused. It was as if the phone lines were all tied up at the same time. Before I could dwell on the matter any further, my children's screams snapped me back to the horror of our current situation.

  By the time I got close to a mile from the Warehouse little Jimmy had stopped breathing. Let me tell you my emotions were running wild and to be honest with you, I can't really remember half of them. Especially, since they just kept changing.

  One emotion that I do remember feeling though, one that will haunt me forever. One that would stick with me for the rest of my life. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings here, but it's a feeling that only a parent who has ever experienced the loss of a child would understand. If you have never experienced that type of loss, then you have truly been one of the lucky ones.

 
; Let me try to described that feeling for you just in case you haven't figured it out yet. It's the ultimate feeling of loss you could ever feel. It literally feels like a part of your heart has been ripped out of you and there is nothing that you could do to stop it. Almost like part of your soul is gone forever. No parent should ever out live their child!

  That was just one of the emotions that I'll remember for the rest of my life. Like I said before, my emotions were running wild. Another such emotion was denial. I couldn't accept the fact that he was possibly dead. I remember that I kept telling myself that he couldn't be dead, that he was probably just resting his eyes. Then there was the constant hollow feeling in pit of my stomach at the thought of loosing him.

  I remember thinking over and over that no parent should ever out live their own child, especially one so young. With my mind preoccupied with keeping the rest of my family safe I don't think that I fully accepted his death until later on, if I ever did.

  I tried to keep from breaking down while I was driving by focusing on the task at hand. I kept telling myself that I would have time to mourn for him later. Since my wife was back there with him when he died, she understandably couldn’t control her emotions any longer as she broke down. Seeing her break down made it really difficult for me not to loose my mind.

  I will say that we were lucky that Nichole had strapped Jimmy even in a seat-belt though. As she broke down she had reached out and hugged him. With her head on his little shoulder she began to cry uncontrollably. I knew that she too felt that a part of her heart had been ripped out of her.

  I had to give her credit because she didn't even start crying right away. I'm not sure that if our roles had been reversed and I had been back there with Jimmy that I could have controlled myself. I think that seeing our oldest boy, who had never gotten a chance to experience life, was too much for her. She all of a sudden start weeping uncontrollably. Her body shook as she cried from his death. No, he didn't just die. He was taken from us in the most violent way.