Dead, We Are

by Jimmy Bird

  He wanted to know how he could have done such a thing to his daughter. His little girl. His first born. He couldn't move, all he had the strength for was to look around the room at his other family. How did things go so wrong? Was God punishing him for his past mistakes?

  His world had stopped moving around him. No, that's not entirely true because it didn't just stop it had crumbled. He had just lost everything that he had ever cared about. He didn’t care if the noise from his gun might have attracted more zombies towards him. He didn't care if he lived or died at that exact moment. All he wanted to do was ball up into the fetal position and cry himself to sleep. He wanted nothing more then waking up from this nightmare, his own personal Hell.

  Sadly, he knew that it was no nightmare. Looking at his oldest daughter sparked enough motivation for him to crawl over to her body. He reached out and pulled her lifeless body towards him. Once she was safely in his arms he gently laid her head in his lap and closed her eyes. He looked down at her bloody face and cried. For some reason, her favorite song from her childhood popped into his head.

  He sang the song to his daughter in a hushed tone as he tried hard to control his emotions. He closed his eyes and envisioned her through the years. It seemed like she was always fighting with her siblings (a chip off the old block you could say), playing in the backyard, and even riding her bike. He wasn't sure why those thoughts popped into his head, but it made him smile despite his heartache. He opened his teared up eyes to look down at his daughter one last time whenever he noticed movement out of the corners of his eyes.

  His instincts kicked in once again causing him to freeze in place. He wasn't entirely sure why he froze because a few minutes ago he was ready to die. Maybe, he wanted too live after all.

  His first thought was that, maybe a couple of zombies had snuck into the room while he had been preoccupied with his daughter. After thinking about the situation, he quickly shot that theory down. He knew that he would have heard them enter the room because they aren't exactly stealthy when they move around. Besides, they wouldn’t have hesitated to attack him. It just meant that something else was moving around.

  Fear started to creep into his mind as he slowly looked around. He noticed for the first time that his other three daughter's and his wife's bodies were beginning to twitch. Without thinking about it, he quickly fantasized that maybe he had been wrong the whole time and that his family was still alive. He was hoping that maybe, just maybe they had been sleeping.

  Unfortunately, he knew better. His mind made sure to remind that he had seen their stomachs ripped open by his oldest daughter. His rational mind knew that there was no way that they could have survived something like that, at least not without immediate medical help.

  He sighed with a heavy heart because he knew that there was nothing he could do for them. No, that's not entirely true. There was something that he could do for them. He could do the same thing that he had done for his oldest daughter. He just had to make sure that they didn’t end up as zombies.

  He gently laid his oldest daughter's bloody head back on the ground and crawled over to his second oldest child. He could her body twitching all over. He knew that she wouldn’t stay in her sleep state for long. He silently told her that he loved her and put the barrel of the gun up to her forehead. His eyes moistened as his hand began to shake uncontrollably. He reminded himself that it was the best thing for his daughter. He couldn't watch and closed his eyes.

  Ken thought that if he closed his eyes then it would be easier, but it wasn't. All he could see was his daughter smiling back at him. Just like with his oldest daughter, his mind showed him memories of her growing up.

  He was so caught up in his emotions that when he did open his eyes to look at her again, she was already reaching up towards him. Her bloody mouth was wide open in a snarl as she reached for his closest arm, the one that he was holding the gun with.

  Ken was to shocked to move which allowed her to successfully grabbed his arm. She used his arm to pull her mouth up to his arm as she tried to bite him. To make matters worse she had that same predatory look in her eyes that her older sister's did.

  His reflexes kicked in and tried to pull his arm back. With a vice grip on his arm, he ended up pulling his daughter towards him. He managed to get his leg under him and was working on standing up whenever her momentum pulled her closer.

  Ken took the opportunity to use her momentum against her and sidestepped. He twisted his body as she tried to hold onto his arm, but ended up letting go as she lost her balance and fell. She hit the back of her head hard on the bedroom floor and didn't move.

  When she didn’t react right away, he thought that maybe he had killed her. Thinking that maybe she was dead, he cautiously leaned toward her. Before he could even get close, she opened her eyes and turned her head towards him. He fell backwards onto his bottom. From the look in her eyes, he could tell that the thing in front of him was no longer his daughter.

  She slowly rolled onto her hollowed out stomach. He watched dumbfounded as she struggled to her knees. She didn't even try to stand up as she started to slowly crawl towards him. It appeared that hitting her head on the hard floor had damaged some of her motor skills, but not enough to stop her.

  He didn't waste any time as he crab crawled backwards as fast as he could. Ken was so worried about getting away from his daughter that he didn’t even notice that he had backed himself into a corner. He hit the back of his head on the wall hard enough that it gave him a slight headache but nothing permanent.

  Trapped like a caged animal he lifted his gun up towards his daughter's head. He told her to stop, but like his oldest daughter she just kept coming. He knew that it was going to be either him or her. To make matters worse he saw even more movement out of the corner of his eyes. He reluctantly took his eyes off his daughter in order to see what else was happening. To his surprise, he noticed that his wife and other two daughters were beginning to move.

  Ken knew at that moment his time had run out. He had a difficult decision to make. Did he really want to die so he could be with his family? If the answer was yes, then all he had to do was sit there and wait for his family to come get him. But if the answer was no, then he had no other choice. He glanced back over at his daughter slowly crawling towards him and took a deep breath. He promised his daughter that he would see her again and pulled the trigger.

  The noise from the gun must have drawn his wife and other two daughter's out of their unnatural sleep because their heads turned in his direction. He could see their soulless predatory eyes searching the room for the source of the noise. Ken found it both scary and interesting as he watched their eyes scan around for him. He stated that it was as if someone had just come out of a completely dark room and tried to look around outside in the bright sun. He watched them with complete fascination until they noticed him sitting there.

  Without hesitation, they began to get up. Ken watched the horrific scene unfold in front of him. Can you imagine what it must have been like? He watched the bloody bodies of his wife and last two remaining daughters fight hard to stand up. He knew that he was at another crossroads.

  Much like how he felt with his two oldest daughters, he wanted to run over and help them up, but knew that he couldn’t. If he did, then he would become like them. He made sure that he kept an eye on his family as he slowly rose to his feet. He continued to watch them with sadness as they struggled to stand.

  His emotions were all over the place and rightfully so, not to mention that his head was still hurting. Ken began to question himself, he didn't know if he had it in him to kill the rest of his family. He decided that it was probably for the best if he just left. He kept an eye on them as he slowly limped his way towards the bedroom door.

  Once he made it towards the door he backed through it so he could still watch them. Lucky for him, they were still struggling to get to their feet. He reached out to grab the door knob when he remembered that he had destroyed it when he had kicked it i
n.

  He looked down at the gun in his hand one more time and contemplated whether or not to put his family down. He decision was cut short when he heard moaning coming from behind him in the direction of the living room. He turned just in time to see the first of many zombies slowly making their way towards him.

  He knew right away that he had made a mistake. It seemed that the shots from his gun must have drawn them there. Without hesitation he limped right back into the bedroom. Without thinking, he reached out to shut the door and realized once again that it was destroyed.

  He silently cursed his luck as he quickly looked for a hiding spot or a way out. He looked around until he found one. There, hiding in plain sight was his bedroom window. The only problem was that his wife and daughters were directly in front his salvation. It meant that his only way to escape was to kill them. The quickest and easiest way to do that also meant the loudest, which could rile up the zombies even more.

  Ken hated the idea of just shooting his wife and girls and running, but knew that it was the only way for him to survive. He looked behind him one more time to see how much time he had and almost jumped out of his skin.

  It seemed that while he had been contemplating his next move, they had already started piling into the bedroom. He had been so distracted with his family that it almost cost him his life. His time was definitely up. He would have to mourn for his family later.

  He lifted his gun up towards his youngest daughter's head and silently told her that he loved her as he pulled the trigger. He then stepped up to his last daughter and repeated the process. He could hear the moans of the zombies increase behind him as he quickly stepped towards his wife. He then pointed the pistol at his wife's head. He said his goodbye to the love of his life and pulled the trigger.

  Without waiting to see what was happening behind him, he launched himself towards the window. He hit the window with enough force that it broke from the impact. Ken was lucky that he still had his work uniform on otherwise he could have seriously cut himself. He didn't make it through unscathed though because he did have a few scratches, not to mention his hurt ankle.

  He tucked and rolled when he hit the ground until he came to his feet. Once he was up, he quickly stepped back towards the wall behind him to hide from the zombies. Luckily for him, they were too stupid to crawl out of the window after him as they crowded around it. Ken could see multiple zombie arms reach through the window trying to grab him.

  When he felt that it was safe enough to move, he slowly slid his way along the wall towards the corner of the house. He peeped around the corner to make sure that the coast was clear. He stood there hidden for a few long minutes until he felt that it was safe to leave. When he didn't see any movement around his car, he raced toward it.

  Once he was inside his car, he quickly started it and put it in drive. But he left his foot on the brake as he looked over at his house one last time. He shifted his foot from the brake to the gas and drove away from his house. He watched it become smaller and smaller in the rear view mirror. His eyes moistened once more at the thought of his wife and kids. He silently told them once again that he loved them. Out loud he made a vow that he would see them again in Heaven, but not until he made sure that his Warehouse “family” was safe first.

  He knew that his path to redemption from his past life led him to the Warehouse. To Ken, he had a debt to pay. He felt that if it wasn't for use then he would have surely reverted back to his old gang member ways. He knew that he needed us just as much as we needed him. I was glad that he figured that part out on his own. Otherwise, we would have been screwed.

  9 BRIAN

  Brian’s story started out simple enough and just like the rest of us, he rushed home, but that was where our similarities stopped. Unlike the rest of us, he got completely stuck in traffic. Before that though, he claimed that he was making good time until the outside lane came to a stop.

  He was on the inside lane and managed to get five miles from his house before the traffic had become gridlocked around him. When I say gridlocked, I didn’t mean that they were just bumper to bumper. No, I meant that they were wedged against each other as most folks tried to force their way through the traffic jam in their cars and trucks.

  Brian was the type of person who became easily agitated and being stuck in that type of traffic didn’t help his attitude any. He tried to open his door and when he couldn’t, he became furious when he was forced to crawl out of his window. He eventually stood on to the hood of his car and tried to see what the hold up was ahead. Frustrated by the lack of movement he started cursing at the other people around him. It probably didn't help that it was already hot and humid outside.

  He quickly realized that he was standing on the hood of his car and doing what every other person was doing. He noticed that people began abandoning their cars and running in his direction. He tried to stop a few people by asking what was going on but was ignored. Curious, he followed the line of people and noticed that there was a lot of movement coming his way. He made a mental note that they seemed to have been coming from the direction of his house.

  The movement increased as more and more people began running frantically past him. They quickly climb over the wedged cars. People were becoming hysterical as the pushed and hit each other while trying to outrun the movement.

  Brian described it as a frantic mob scene. You know the ones where people run around hysterically running over each other trying to get away to safety. The sad part about what he saw was that those without elderly or children could have cared less about those who actually did.

  Behind the frantic mob was a much larger group that walked in a fast pace or should I say they looked like they moved at a fast pace. They weren't exactly running, but they weren't exactly walking either. Brian did mention that the closer they got, the more of a soulless hungry look they had in their eyes. He knew right away what they were.

  Actually, he said that it wasn’t hard to guess at all because most of them had exposed flesh around different parts of their bodies. It's the places where their skin should have been, such as their faces, necks, and arms. To make them look even worse some were even missing limbs. It was a ghastly sight and if what I told you didn't freak you out then this might. It seemed that they were all covered in fresh blood, from head to toe.

  After seeing what was headed his way, Brian thought about joining the mob and running away towards his safety but couldn't. The thought of his family drove him forward. He knew that he could make the five miles home, but it was going to be a challenge. He stood on the hood of his car in defiance against all odds because he would never abandon his family. They were what kept him grounded to life.

  Without hesitation, he jumped from the hood of his car and to the next. After the last car he raced towards a house on the right side of the road. Once he arrived at the house he hid behind a bush that wrapped around the corner of the house. He had made it just in time because the horde of zombies went walking past his hiding location. A few glanced in his direction, but kept going with the group. He described their numbers to be in the hundreds as they continued to chase their prey up the street.

  After watching the massive number continue to walk past him, Brian knew that it wasn’t safe to take a normal route to his house. After thinking about it he decided that he needed to find a way that would make it difficult for them to follow him. He figured that there were plenty of abandoned cars around for him to use, but then he would be in the same boat. He would still be stuck in traffic.

  He stayed hidden as the zombie horde continued to march past him, waiting for the right time to make a run for it. While waiting for the zombies to pass he had a weird vibe come from behind him. He quickly turned around expecting trouble but found none. He wasn't sure what the feeling he had meant, but one thing was for sure it wasn't a normal feeling. Could it have been a sixth sense telling him that something was wrong?

  No, all he saw was a chain-link fence. Wait a minute, the fence was the
answer to his problem. He could jump the fences and go through people’s backyards all the way home. It was after all a straight shot to his house. It would make it hard for the zombies to follow him or anyone else for that matter.

  The fence idea did have its down side though. It meant that it would take longer to get home. It was also mid-July which meant that it was already hot and humid.

  For those that don't know what it's like in Oklahoma, but summer means that its HOT. No matter what Brian did he would eventually have to stop and rest otherwise he could collapse from dehydration, heat exhaustion, or worse. Still, it was his safest and best chance he had to get to his family.

  He turned back toward the street to make sure that it was safe. It was only when he felt it was safe, he turned and sprinted towards the fence. As quietly as he could he opened the gate while trying to keep his head on a swivel, looking out for signs of danger. The gate made one of those metal to metal rubbing sounds. It was loud enough that Brian quickly opened the gate and jumped inside the backyard. He wasn't taking any chances of a zombie hearing the noise or not.

  Once he was safely inside the backyard, he turned towards the fence wall that was in the same direction as his house. He stood there hesitant for a few seconds as he thought about what he was doing. Brian was not a sports type of guy and thinking about having to climb all those fences distracted him. He was worried that he would get tired long before he could reach his family.

  Family! The thought of his wife and two children wiped away any doubt that he might have had when it came to climbing the fences. He knew that his whole reason for living was just five miles away, that was it. You know the old saying "so close, yet so far away". That's how he felt because he knew that he needed to get to them in order to keep them safe. He couldn’t bear the thought of them being in trouble and that he wasn't there to protect them. Before he realized it, he was already climbing the first of many fences. He was determined to save his family.