Dead, We Are

by Jimmy Bird

  With a new resolve to protect my last remaining child, I slowly pushed her away. I looked into her innocent eyes and asked if she was ready to leave. She responded by shaking her head up and down, indicating that she was. I told her that we needed to hurry up and finish packing our things.

  By the time we were done packing, we had two backpacks and a carry on type of bag ready to go. My daughter had her precious doll in her left hand and took my hand with the other. She looked up at me and with as much confidence as she could muster, she told me that she was ready. I turned my head and looked around our room one more time. I whispered "Goodbye."

  We began walking back toward the clinic when Danny came running towards us. He stated that we needed to hurry because a few of the zombies were coming. Confused, I replied that they were supposed to have been drawn away by the siren outside. He shrugged and sarcastically replied "Apparently not all of them got the memo."

  I looked down at my daughter and told her that we needed to hurry. Our pace increased to a jog (my six year old daughter's legs were not as long as mine) as we rushed down the hall. All I kept thinking was, why did I leave my spear in the clinic.

  We arrived to an eerily quiet room. The hallway door that connected the clinic to the shop was luckily closed. We could see movement through the small foot by foot square glass located near the top of the door.

  I knew right away that Danny had been wrong when he told us that the zombies were coming because they were already here. My sister saw us coming down the hall and motioned for us to hurry into the clinic. Once inside, she quietly demanded to know where we had been. Confused, I asked her in an equally hushed tone what she meant by that.

  I looked around at everyone before asking weren't we all supposed to go get our stuff. My sister's voice had a hint of anger and worry in it as she told me that was well over two hours ago. Surprised, I spoke out loud as I asked "What?" Everyone shushed me in unison. I took turns looking into everyone's expressionless faces and they were all nodding that it was true.

  I had no explanation for the lapse of time. To me, it felt more like thirty minutes. Maybe seeing my family caused it, but I wasn't sure. I thought about telling them what I had seen, but thought better of it. Would they even understand if I told them?

  I took a chance and looked around at everyone's face. I told them that I was just saying my final goodbyes. I didn't give any other explanation and wasn't sure that anyone expected one.

  I changed the subject by asking what was going on. My sister blurted out that we were trapped because I took too long coming back. I looked at her crazy and asked how was it my fault. She told me that almost everyone refused to leave without me and JoJo. If felt good to be that wanted.

  Wait, hold on. Did you say almost everyone? She looked at me and confirmed that she did.

  I had to know. Who was willing to leave without us? I waited for someone to say something, anything but got no answer. I went even so far as to look into each of their eyes, but still got nothing. After a few silent minutes, my sister finally confessed that it was her and quickly apologized. Before I could respond, she stated that she had a good reason. She wasn't willing to loose anyone else, just for us two.

  She lowered her head in shame as she stated that since we didn't immediately return to the clinic, she thought that we had left them to die. I grabbed my sister by the shoulder to get her attention. I informed her that I would never abandon family. I looked over at Ruff and Danny as I illustrated the word "Never!"

  To change the subject I asked how many zombies were in the shop, but no one knew. I was curious on how that was that even possible. The siren was supposed to sound out a high pitch sound across that street, a sound that only dogs and zombies could hear. I looked over at Seth and Austin for an answer, but only received shrugs. In the end, all they had were theories.

  Seth suggested that the cable for the siren somehow got damaged during the battle. It was a reasonable theory, especially since the siren really hadn't been used. Austin theorized that maybe someone cut the wire from outside the Warehouse. That theory could also be true. These questions remained: Who would do such a thing? Why? Unfortunately, we didn't have the time or resources to figure it out because we needed all those resources to survive.

  Without having any idea how many zombies were in the shop, we needed to figure out a way to find out. Luckily, the clinic had a bathroom with a mirror on the wall. I quietly got to my feet and tip-toed towards the bathroom. As quietly as I could, I removed the mirror from the wall and made my way back towards the door. Once I reached the door, I lifted the mirror in front of the glass. I angled it so I could see through the glass in the door and what I saw scared the "hell" out of me.

  Hundreds! It looked like hundreds of zombies. I'm not sure if it was actually that many on the other side of the door, but it looked like it. The sirens weren't working. There was really no other way to say it. Man, we were screwed.

  I slowly lowered the mirror. I must have made some kind of facial expression because Ruff asked me what did I see. I looked over at him and smiled sadistically. I told him that it was a good thing that we loved a challenge otherwise we were screwed.

  I looked over at my sister and told her that she should have left when she had the chance. Bobby asked how many zombies were out there. I shrugged as I told him that it looked like hundreds of them to me.

  Danny frowned and reached out for the mirror. Without resisting, I easily handed it over. He did the same thing I did and slowly raised the mirror so he could see through the door glass. His eyes told us what he saw. His eyes had a distant look in them as he slowly lowered the mirror. It was as if he was just going through the motion.

  He waited until the mirror was on the ground next to him before speaking. His eyes remained focused on something down the hall that we couldn't see when he confirmed the mess we were in. Let's just face it, we were screwed.

  My sister screamed out in fear and accidentally hit her head on the door causing it to rattle. The moans on the other side of the door increased. Bobby reached out to quiet my sister. The rest of us turned around to comfort the kids. We needed everyone to stay calm and quiet.

  With everyone quieted down, the noise outside the door finally subsided. I motioned for everyone to quietly move back down the hall, at least far enough so the zombies couldn't hear us. We needed a safe place to talk and plan our next move, someplace where we could keep an eye on the door.

  There were literally a half dozen exits out of the office area, but only two that were closer to the shipping department then the clinic. The shipping department or "shipping" was where our stuff was stored before we went to go look for Mia. Out of those two doors, only one of those would take us to the edge of the shipping department.

  The first exit was only about thirty feet from the clinic exit. If that distance wasn't scary enough, the exit connected to another office area that was encased in glass. That's right no walls to hide behind. So we would all have to pray that they didn't see us while we ran towards shipping. Yeah, I didn't like the idea either.

  The second exit was closer to shipping, but that was the only advantage it had. To even get to the door we had to travel outside through a small gated parking lot first. It's a small fenced in parking lot where the office personnel parked so they didn't have to walk through the shop. It was the old management's idea of safety.

  The second route seemed like the most logical choice, but it was also the most questionable one. You see we hadn't used that parking lot since, well, before the battle. It was the one open area where all the children were allowed to play. It had a reinforced steel gate which we blocked off. The fence was made of the same steel material, not like the chain linked fence around the rest of the Warehouse. Truth be told, we hadn't really ventured outside since the battle. So, we weren't sure if the fence had been damaged or what kind of condition it was even in.

  We knew that we had to make the decision as a group. We figured that if we were going to die th
en we might as well die together. In the light of the situation, we decided to go for the second route. It was, after all our best bet to make it out of the Warehouse.

  With our weapons in hand, we slowly made our way towards the exit that led from the office to the small parking lot. I was to go first with Danny. The children were to stay in the middle, the two oldest to take care of my daughter. Bringing up the rear was Ruff, Bobby, and my sister.

  Once we were at the door, I began reaching out to open it whenever we heard something that sounded like glass breaking. I wasn't sure, but it sounded like the glass from the offices around the first exit. If that was the case then we were lucky that we decided not to go that route. It also meant that we were running out of time.

  I pushed on the release knob and easily began to open the door to the outside. It seemed that we all had completely forgotten that the door was unlocked. I couldn't believe it, it had remained unlocked since the battle. I guess we were lucky that no one had tried to come in.

  With my spear in my right hand I pushed open the door with my left. I tried to prepare myself for the worst possible scenario. Lucky for us, nothing was in the parking lot. As we filed out of the doorway, I noticed that the fence directly to my left, right off of twenty-ninth street was bent in a little. That wasn't a good sign. It meant that if a whole bunch of zombies accumulated at that spot, the fence would most likely give. We couldn't let that happen.

  Wait! What? Why do I care? We're trying to escape. By the time I got that thought out of my head, a couple of zombies started pushing on the fence. The fence started squeaking as it began to lean inward. I was wrong the fence wasn't bent, it looked like the welding on the far corner was actually broken. It looked like the fence would give way under the right amount of weight and I could see more zombies coming our way. Time it seemed, was not on our side.

  As I said before, Ruff was bringing up the rear on our line when we heard screaming. I looked around and noticed that Ruff had forcibly pushed my sister and Bobby out of the door.

  Before anyone could question what was going on, Ruff had hurried out of the doorway and slammed the door behind him. He placed his feet firmly on the ground and leaned against the door. Straining a little bit, he told us that we needed to hurry.

  We stood there dumbfounded as we watched him. Questions began popping into my head while I watched him. Questions like: Why was he leaning on the door? The answer came in a flash as the door bumped outwards. What was that? The door started to slowly open. You could see a couple of long damaged fingers slip in between the door-frame and door.

  I had to give Ruff credit, he was using all of his strength and weight to hold the door closed. Unfortunately, you could tell that it wasn't going to be enough. To top it all off, a few more zombies pressed against the fence causing it to cave in a few more inches. This was not good.

  I turned and yelled for everyone to run to the door. I grabbed my daughter's hand and basically dragged her while trying to run. We made it to the door just as the fence gave way. I opened the unlocked door and ushered everyone inside.

  Once his son was safely inside, Danny turned to go help Ruff. By that time, Ruff was already surrounded. He kept his body pressed up against the door to keep it from opening while swinging his spear with his one good hand to keep the zombies at bay. You could hear him struggling over the zombie moans.

  I quickly poked my head inside and looked down the walkway toward the office area and clinic. Surprisingly, nothing was there. It meant that all of them must have taken off down the hallway where we had just exited from. I told Bobby and my sister to take the kids to the safety of our escape vehicles. I reminded them to grab our packed stuff. I would go help Danny and Ruff.

  I took a step back outside and heard a scream. I looked over and Danny was attacking a large number of zombies that had surrounded Ruff. Sadly, I could no longer see Ruff on the other side of the crowd.

  I ran as fast as I could toward the melee. Once I was within striking distance, I swung my spear hard as I could. I caught one of the female zombies behind the left ear as she started to turn towards me. I stabbed and caught another just under the chin. I pulled the spear out and caught another in the side of its temple. This continued for a few long minutes.

  Without realizing it, we had wiped out twenty or so zombies that had made their way into the parking lot from twenty-ninth street. I bent over to catch my breath and noticed that Danny was doing the same. I heard more moaning coming from the direction of twenty-ninth street. I looked up and saw another ten zombies or so crossing the street with another pack behind them. I looked over and saw that Ruff was still holding the door closed.

  I yelled at Danny to let Ruff know that it was time to go. Danny was still trying to catch his breath while Ruff was still pushing on the door. Danny's predicament was understandable. He was an ex-smoker who was forced to quit when the world fell apart. I told Ruff to let the door go so we could make a run for it. He refused. What? Why not?

  Ruff looked over at us with tears in his eyes. He didn't say a word as he lifted his right arm, blood was seeping from an open wound near his forearm. I didn't understand. Where was the blood coming from? Did he get cut or something?

  I began walking toward him, but he held up his hand to stop me. Danny had recovered by that time and walked up next to me. He looked over at Ruff before grabbing my arm. With tension in his voice, he told me that we needed to leave. I pulled my arm away as I told him that we couldn't leave without Ruff.

  I ignored Danny as I began walking toward Ruff again. Ruff tried to tell me to turn around and leave, but I ignored him too. All I remember thinking was that if he would just let go of the door, we could all make a run for it. So, why wasn't he letting the door go?

  I got within a few feet when he lifted his spear up in a threatening way towards me. I asked him what was going on. His only response was to look at me with one of those "Are you that stupid?" facial expressions. I frowned as I looked back at him.

  It was only when I got close enough did I realize what was going on causing me to feel stupid for not seeing it sooner. His skin was already turning a grayish ghoulish color while taking on that sickly look. It looked like he was aging fast.

  My eyes wondered over his body, looking at all the change until they found the source. His arm was still bleeding bad and the spot where the blood was coming from wasn't from a cut mark like I first assumed. It was more oval shape with gash marks around the edges, they were teeth marks. Ruff was infected again and this time there was nothing I could do to save him. Was there?

  I told him that if we hurried, I could cut off his arm to stop the infection from spreading again. Ruff smiled gently as he told me that it was too late to save him, but wasn't too late to save ourselves. He motioned with his head toward the fence and told us to go.

  I followed Ruff's eyes toward the fence and saw another wave of zombies climbing over the downed fence. Crap! We had run out of time. I turned my head to plead with him one more time, but he cut me off. He told me that he was getting tired and wasn't sure how much longer he could hold the door.

  I turned to get Danny to help me with Ruff, but he was already staring wide eyed at the new problem that was making its way towards us. Ruff yelled out Danny's name to get his attention. Danny turned his head just enough towards Ruff so he could see him and keep the zombies in his peripheral vision. Ruff pleaded with Danny to make me leave.

  I shook my head "no" in attempt to rebel. I refused to leave a friend, excuse me, my family behind to face their fate alone. I turned to face the zombie pack that was making their way towards me when I was grabbed from behind. Whoever it was had grabbed me in such a way that I couldn't move, no matter how hard I tried to resist.

  I couldn't even move my head, but I could move my eyes. Before long, I realized that I was being dragged backwards by two people. I could hear a frustrated scream coming from somewhere and looked over at Ruff. I noticed that he wasn't the one screaming.

  I
heard the screaming again followed quickly by someone telling me to be quiet. Why would that person tell me to be quiet? I wasn't the one screaming. Was I? My mind raced back to the few minutes before and realized that I was the one who was screaming.

  I hollered for them to let me go as I looked back towards Ruff, who lifted his bleeding arm in an attempt to wave goodbye. I fought and struggled against my captives with everything I had, but my resistance was futile. They had a great hold on me.

  Ruff said goodbye as he told us to run. I yelled out Ruff's name one more time while I was being dragged inside the Warehouse. I could hear him defiantly scream outside as he tried to turn the zombies' attention away from us. The last thing we heard was what sounded like a death scream that ended with a gurgling sound.

  We feared the worst. I stopped fighting and went limp. They loosened their grip, but would not let me go. It didn't matter because it was enough for me to turn my body. I saw who was dragging me away, who had pulled me away before I could save my friend.

  I lifted my hands in a surrender gesture to show Danny and Bobby that I would not fight them. When they finally let me go, I demanded to know why. Why would they not let me save him? Bobby had a sad look on his face as he told me that no matter what I had tried to do, I would not have been able to save him and would have died too.

  No, I refused to believe that. I know that I could have saved him. Couldn't I? I thought hard on the question. I tried to recall every detail that I could. I know that I saw the changing color of his skin and how sickly he began to look. I remember the blood that flowed from an open oval wound that had gash marks that looked similar to teeth marks. I remember how fast he had aged.

  After thinking about it, I realized that Bobby had been correct. I couldn't have saved him, no one could. The infection had spread too far. Besides, we no longer had anyone with any kind of medical background. Even if I had somehow cut off the arm, he would have bleed out and died anyway. At least this way, he went out on his terms.