Dead, We Are

by Jimmy Bird

  Once inside the backyard, he slowly walked along the house towards the back porch whenever he saw a shadowy figure looking out of a bedroom window in front of him. Not sure who or what it was, Ken froze dead in his tracks. He slightly turned his head so that only his eyes moved. He dared not to make a sound as he looked for whoever was standing at the window, but no one was there. He started second guessing himself and thought that maybe it was his nerves and from his fear messing with him. That was until he saw a male's head, someone he didn't recognize move by the window. He waited until the head passed from sight before he hurried up towards the backside of the house.

  Ken knew that it was going to take perfect timing to get to the porch without being seen. The porch sat directly behind the dining room table located next to the kitchen. It was separated by a glass sliding door. He could see the handle and realized how lucky he was that the broom was off to the side of the door closest to him.

  When he arrived at the porch he leaned against the wall trying to be as thin as possible while he reached out to grab the broom handle. He didn’t get his fingers securely around it and ended up knocking it to the ground. He froze once again as he heard the sound of moaning getting closer to the sliding door.

  He had a dilemma. Did he stay hidden, no matter how long it took to get the weapon or did he escape and look for something else to use? Decisions, decisions. If he chose the latter, he risk not only being noticed, but he would be in real danger. He stood there frozen in complete silence as he contemplated his next move. Lucky for him, he didn’t have to wait very long before an opportunity presented itself.

  He heard a woman scream for help a few blocks away and immediately hoped that it wasn’t his wife. He knew that it most likely wasn't her because of how she felt about family. She would never abandon their children, no matter what. The more he thought about it, the more he was sure that it wasn’t his wife. Besides they had a contingency plan just in case something like that was to ever happen.

  She was to stay home with their kids and wait for him to come home to get them. It was the only way that they could think of that would keep them all safe. If she tried to meet him somewhere then she risked not only their children’s lives, but her life as well. Ken felt that there was no guarantee that anywhere else would have been safer than home except for maybe the Warehouse.

  He decided to stand there waiting for his opportunity to move whenever he finally heard the moaning moving away from him. He allowed his body to relax just a little which caused it to start shaking uncontrollably. He didn't didn't even realize that he had tensed up so much that his muscles became stiff. It was a new feeling for him. He had never been so terrified in his life that he stayed still in the same position for so long that his muscles had actually cramped up.

  He tried as hard as he could to continue staying still, just in case the zombies were still hanging around the back door but failed miserably. His body was shaking so badly that when he tried to rotate his body, he almost fell. He felt that rotating his body was the best way to peek around the sliding door frame without being seen. Fortunately, he saw nothing or should I say that nothing saw him.

  Not taking any chances, he reached out as quickly as his shaking body would allow and grabbed the fallen broom handle. Once his fingers were wrapped around the handle, he quickly sat up and leaned against the wall. He stayed there, not daring to move as he waited for any indication that he might have been seen.

  When he was satisfied that it was safe to move he slowly got up and began making his way back around to the side of the house. He made it safely to the chain-linked fence when he saw something that caused him to stop dead in his tracks.

  Leaving from the front of his house was the horde of zombies that had just occupied it. He quickly deducted that they must have been attracted to the scream that he had just heard. He waited until they were down the street before he opened the gate and slowly moved out of the back yard.

  He crept along the wall towards the front of the house. He made sure that he held on to the broom handle tightly with both hands just in case he needed to swing it quickly. He didn’t take the handle off the brush part for fear of it making noise that would attract the zombies back to the house. He stopped once he made it to the front door and slowly peeked inside.

  The house reeked with the nauseating stench of death. He held his breath as he leaned inside the doorway to glance around the living room as much as he could without exposing himself. From his vantage point he couldn't locate the source of the smell, but didn’t see any dead bodies. He took it as a good sign that his family wasn't dead yet. The thought of his family still safely hiding in the house somewhere gave him hope.

  Ken glanced around, one last time to see if there was any danger behind him. When he was satisfied that it was safe to proceed, he slowly made his through in the doorway. Once he was inside, he wanted to make sure that no one could sneak up behind him and tried to shut the front door.

  As I said, he "tried" to shut the door, but it wouldn't even budge. Confused on why the door wouldn't move, he bent down for a closer look and knew right away why the door wouldn't move. The door hinges were bent. Actually the hinges weren't just bent, they looked mangled. Ken figured that the door must of had an excessive amount of weight pressed up against it to cause that kind of damage.

  It was all starting become clear on how the zombies got into his house. The only thing that Ken didn't know was why they had been in there. Since he couldn't close the door, he took the opportunity to glance outside once again. He knew that he wasn't safe in his own house, but still didn't want to take any chances.

  His eyes scanned the neighborhood looking for any new sign of danger whenever he came across the car wreckage. He had completely forgotten about the massive pileup even though it was kind of hard to miss. He had been that focused on finding his family, on his wife and kids that he forgot. Wait! His wife! At the thought of his wife, his eyes automatically focused on the center car. It was the one that belonged to his wife.

  Seeing the condition of the cars, most importantly his wife's car, caused images and theories to pop into Ken's head. His most favorable theory had holes in it, but that didn't mean that it couldn't be true. He figured that for some unknown reason, his wife must have decided to flee the safety of their house. The question was why. Why did she try to flee? She knew the plan was for them to wait for him to come and get them. What was the dark colored stain on the window?

  Without even realizing it, he began to slowly walk towards her damaged car. His eyes remained focused on the window stain. He walked right up to the opened passenger door and for the first time he noticed the bloodstains and they were all over the place. The blood was mostly located on the backseat, mostly on the passenger side.

  Ken bent down to get a closer look at the blood and made a startling discovery. For the first time he realized that there was blood on the grass. It looked like two different blood trails that lead towards the house. He followed the blood trails as a new theory began to form in his head. He didn’t like where the new theory was going, but knew that it would explain why his wife had tried to leave the house. From the two different blood trails it looked like at least two of their children must have been hurt. If she couldn't get a hold of 911 then it would force his wife to try to get them to the hospital. From the amount of blood visible, it didn't look like they made it to the hospital. In his heart he hoped and prayed that he was wrong. He silently prayed to God that everyone was safe somewhere inside the house.

  He followed the trails inside the house and realized that he missed them the first time. What I mean is that the first time he entered the house, he wasn't looking for blood on the ground so he didn't notice it on the floor. He silently reprimanded himself for not noticing the blood the first time.

  His fears began to rise as he followed the blood trail towards his bedroom door. When he reached his door he was relieved to find it locked. Forgetting about being cautious he reach out and softly kn
ocked on the door. He wanted to let his family know that he was there. Unfortunately, the only response he received was a gurgling sound. Ken couldn't control his fears any longer.

  Suddenly paranoid, he quickly looked behind him to make sure that nothing was there. When he was sure that he was alone, he lifted his right leg and kicked the door as hard as he could. It was the cheap hollowed style door that most homes use. It easily splintered as his foot went partially through it. Ken's foot got a little stuck as the door opened, pulling him with it. With his attention focused on his foot and the door, he shamefully admitted that he didn't even look in the room.

  When he tried to pull his foot out of the door, he ended up pulling the door shut again. It was the only way for him to get enough leverage to pull his foot free. He claimed that he felt a sharp pain around the inside of his ankle, but dismissed it while he worked on pulling his leg free.

  When he finally succeeded in getting his foot out of the door, he put his foot down on the ground and felt a sharp pain. He looked down and noticed that the bottom part of his right side pants leg was turning a reddish color. Curious on what he had done to his ankle he pulled his pants leg up and inspected his injury. Unfortunately, he ended up tearing part of his ankle up. He stated that it looked like some muscle tissue located on the inside of his ankle was torn.

  He told us that it didn't hurt right away (I was just curious if the reason was because of his adrenaline or the fact that he was worried about his family). Regardless, he had a slight limp when he opened the door a second time. What he witnessed next was like a scene from a horror movie.

  His oldest daughter was bent over her mother’s bloody body. She was slightly rocking back and forth as if she was praying. His other three daughters were lying near their mother, it looked like their stomachs had been ripped open. Spots of blood and what looked like guts were all over the room.

  Ken stood there dumbfounded as he looked at the horror around the room. His eyes took in every detail as they went from the left wall to the right until they came across his rocking daughter. He stood there speechless.

  His daughter stopped rocking when she realized that someone was standing behind her. She slowly turned her head towards her father. Ken said that when she turned to face him, you could see fresh blood oozing down her face and onto her clothing. He described her eyes as the most disturbing part.

  Her eyes had the distinct look of a starved predator searching for its next meal. She kept sniffing the air as if trying to find a scent. His eyes moistened as he choked up. She didn't recognize him or show any sign of humanity. Ken lowered his head and prayed for her soul.

  It took her a few seconds to find him in the room but when she did, she turned her body in an unnatural way. He watched in horror as she struggled to her feet. It was as if half of her leg muscles stopped working at the same time.

  He was torn. The father in him wanted to help his baby girl to her feet, but the conscious side of him wanted to run away to safety. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to do either of them because he was frozen in place. He couldn't explain why he couldn't move, but he did say that the only thing that he wanted to do was drop to his knees and cry.

  His feelings changed when he saw what his daughter had in her hands. It looked like she had her mother’s intestines in her hands and they were still attached to the inside of her mom's body. He fought the urge to throw-up as he stared wide eyed at his daughter.

  Before he knew it, he was trying to plead with her as if she was just a mental person or something. He tried to remain calm while asking her "Why?"

  Her only response was to continue standing up. He stood there watching his daughter, too shocked to move. He said that it was like the old saying "be like a deer in headlights."

  Like I stated before, he wanted to run up and embrace his daughter. He wanted to help her stand up and figure out what was wrong with her so he could fix it. Sadly, he couldn't because his mind refused to allow his body to move.

  As he watched his daughter struggle to stand, he noticed for the first time a huge chunk of skin was missing from her right arm. Ken knew right away what was wrong with his daughter and knew that no matter what he tried to do he could not help her.

  His rational mind tried to work out what could have happened to his little girl. In the end, he figured that she must have gotten bitten by a zombie somehow and his wife tried to take her to the hospital. They probably didn't even make it out of the cul-de-sac and were forced to turn around. Maybe it was because of the car crash or maybe it was because of something else. Regardless, upon their return to the house was probably when his daughter had turned and attacked her mother and siblings.

  Tears started sliding down his cheek at the reality of it all. His daughter began walking towards him, but his thoughts were solely on his family. He wanted to be with his family. He wanted to die and the closer his daughter got to him, the more of a reality it became.

  She bared her teeth and moaned with each step. He wanted to reach out and hug her. She could bite him and it would all be over. Wouldn't it? Wouldn't he be with his family? What about his daughter? Wouldn't she still be a zombie? He could kill her after she bit him. But wouldn't that make him a zombie? He would still be in the same boat though, he wouldn't be with his family. Man, he still didn't know what to do.

  He was still frozen in place from the horror of it all. Lucky for him he could still use his arms. I think that his need to survive outweighed his need to be with his family. He began looking around the room for something to help him with his daughter. He continued to search until his eyes fell on his wife and other three daughters.

  Seeing them dead must have snapped something in his heart because he remembered the gun he had put in the back of his belt. He knew what he needed to do as he slowly reached behind him and pulled out his pistol. With unsteady hands he aimed it at his daughter.

  He didn't shoot her right away. The father in him refused to believe that she was gone, that she was no longer his daughter and therefore he tried to reason with her. He began by telling her to back off, but she just kept coming. He repeatedly tried to tell her to back

  When she got within a few feet, she surprised him by reaching out with lightning fast reflexes and grabbed his arm. It wasn't a friendly type of grab either. Her hands were like claws while her lips drawn back in a snarl that revealed her bloody teeth

  Forgetting all about his frozen state, Ken stepped backwards a few paces and was able to yank his arm free from his daughter's grip. Lucky for him, his reflexes had been finely tuned from all of our training exercises.

  She took another step and reached out towards him again. He was expecting her to do something like that and jumped just out of her reach. He was so quick that whenever she reached out to grab him, he was able to use his gun to swat her hands away. A normal person's hands would have been hurt from getting hit by a metal object, but it didn't seem to have phased her. Seeing his momentary advantage, he pushed her away.

  Ken pushed her hard enough that she stumbled backwards a few steps. She remained upright on unsteady feet but just barely. She seemed unfazed by her dad pushing her.

  Once she had fully regained her balance she started walking towards him again. He once again pointed his gun at her as he tried to once again reason with her. Ken admitted that he had hoped that his daughter was still inside the monster before him.

  When she got within a few feet, she once again reached out towards his midsection. Ken tried to intercept her hands by blocking his midsection, but she fooled him. Instead she reached for his shoulders.

  She managed to grab his right shoulder with her left hand in what he described as a superman type of grip. He tried to push her back from him, but this time it was no use. Though he did manage to keep her right hand from grabbing his left shoulder.

  She started to pull his right side towards her as she opened her mouth, once again revealing her bloody teeth. There was no more denying it, he could see that the predator in her had taken
over. He raised his gun and pointed it at her.

  Ken told her that he loved her and pulled the trigger. He intentionally shot her in the left shoulder in hopes that it would force her to let him go. It worked as she let go of his shoulder and staggered backwards. He noted that she didn’t go down. Hell, she didn't even scream out in pain. She seemed unaffected from getting shot. He watched in horror as she quickly regained her balance and started to come towards him again.

  Horrified by what he was seeing, he pulled the trigger again. The bullet hit her in the center of her chest, blood splattered behind her as the bullet exited through her back. Just like before, she staggered backwards, but didn't go down. Wide eyed, Ken's fear took over as he pulled the trigger a couple more times. Amazingly, she still didn’t go down.

  His mind raced around looking for answers. I mean his mind literally went through every training session, movie, and book to find an answer for the question. What would he have to do in order to put his daughter down?

  The answer may seem simple, but to some people it's never an easy answer whenever it deals with family, especially your own children. He knew the answer just as soon as he asked the question. From all the research, he had learned that he was going to have to destroy the brain. For those who don't know, he was going to have to shoot her in the head.

  He aimed the gun in his unsteady hand at the center of her forehead. He stood there amazed that she just kept coming. Sadly, he knew that she would just keep coming unless he did something about it. He struggled to tell her goodbye as he choked on his words. He closed his eyes as he pulled the trigger one more time.

  He opened his eyes in time to see the bullet strike her in the head. The momentum from the bullet pulled her backwards. She fell backwards as brain matter exited the back of her head and all over the wall behind her.

  No! What did he do? He dropped the gun as he fell to his knees. He couldn't help, but automatically second guess himself. After all, any father would!