WHEN THE DEAD CAME 2
By: Ariana Torralba
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(c) 2014 Ariana Torralba, All Rights Reserved
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Rain drops fell down,Alex looked around the corner of a brick building, trying to catch his breath as he kept watch for any zombies. Avery stood behind him, watching the way they had come from. “ Come on,” Alex said to her and they ran down a street, ducking down when necessary. They crouched on the right side of a vehicle, feeling the cold rain drops on them. Alex wanted to try and conserve all ammo by trying their best to sneak pass the undead roaming the streets. He looked around before gesturing to Avery to follow him again, making their way down the street together.
They could hear screams through the city, making Avery feel uneasy suddenly. Her companion sat with his back against the wall of the post office, trying to contemplate the next move for the both of them. What would Justin do, he asked himself repeatedly. Looking around the corner, seeing the zombies running toward the screaming just down the next street. He watched the middle aged woman with short cut hair, earrings, tattoos, and wearing black jeans with a red shirt become dinner for the horde, her screams only becoming louder.
Once he noticed most of the zombies surrounding the woman, he waved at Avery to follow him and they ran down the street, passing the group now feasting on the woman. They ran around a street corner, the both of them almost running into a zombified man wearing a business suit. He outreached his bloodied hands at them, Avery backed up into the street while Alex raised his machete. Grunting, he swung out and lodged the blade into the zombie's head, taking him down and he jerked the weapon out of the dead man's head. “ We need to find a place to rest,” Alex said to Avery and she nodded. They continued down the street, in search of a place to stay for the night.
“Hey,” the stranger yelled out to his leader,” I think I have some interesting news for you.”
“What is it?”
“I think there might still be survivors here.” His leader stared at him for a long time.
“... I know, we hear them screaming every night.”
“No, some new ones,” he said,” while out on our search earlier, we noticed some brief movement some blocks away near the middle of the city and noticed it was two people, sneaking through. Looked like a girl and a guy.” The leader stared off a moment, leaning back in his seat near the table holding their supply of alcohol and drugs.
“You think they'll be a threat to us?”
“I don't know,” the guy shrugged,” just thought you'd want to know something new.”
“Guess we need to start searching the whole city then, we don't need some outsiders trying to take over our city,” he told him. After the guy left to help the others unload new supplies, the leader sat there, thinking it through, trying to figure out what they should do.
“Help me,” he heard someone crying. Turning to look, he saw Will and Jeff bringing in a woman with pink hair while Nick brought in a guy with piercings, then one more person wearing a hat and looked to be around Jeff's age.
“Alright,” the leader spoke,” what's this?”
“You said to bring all survivors here, we've been doing that so I figured you'd know what this is,” Will responded. The leader made a face at Will before looking at the survivors.
“Can you three fight?”
“We just wanted help,” the last guy snapped,” if we knew this is what kind of treatment we'd be getting then we never would've approached your people.”
“Look,” the leader began,” this is just how we do things, no need to get upset.”
“Screw you,” the second guy yelled then spit in the leader's face, causing him to shut his eyes. Lucinda walked up and gave him a rag. After wiping his face off, he threw a right fist, knocking the guy down after hitting him in the jaw.
“Take them outside,” the leader snapped,” line them up too!” He grabbed his gun up and joined the others outside.
“Are you okay Charles,” Lucinda asked him.
“I will be after this,” he responded. The three people stood there, facing the group before them,” you like spitting on people?” Before the guy could speak, Charles raised his gun and shot the second guy in the hip, hearing the bullet crack the bone and the guy cried out, constantly screaming. Charles fired again and shot his other hip side.
The woman turned to run when Jeff stopped her and shoved the woman back to where she was standing,” because of your two friends,” Charles began saying to her,” the three of you get to die at the hands of my group. Consider yourselves lucky;” he turned and looked at his group,” Drew, Evan, Trevor, kill them.” The woman began crying, holding her hands over her eyes. The three men raised their guns, Trevor hesitating a moment then raised it at the middle guy. Evan fired his shot, instantly killing the last guy with a headshot. Drew fired, killing the crying woman. Trevor hesitated a moment before firing too, dropping the crying man in one hit too. “ Get rid of them.” The others of the group grabbed up the three dead bodies underneat their arms and dragged them away from the area and near a river, dumping the dead bodies into the flowing water to meet the other dead bodies ahead of them.
“I don't think we're going to find them,” Jenny whispered to Holly, glancing over at Keith as he sat there, trying to start a fire for warmth. He looked up at the sky.
“Looks like some more bad weather coming in,” he said to them, not caring if they were listening or not. Holly looked up and then back at him. “We should probably just stay in the car tonight.
“We stay in the car then someone is gonna end up requesting repeatedly to turn the heater on and that'll kill the car battery,” Holly told him. Keith looked over at her and she shrugged.
“Better than sleeping out on the ground in the opening,” he responded, his tone strained with anger. He slumped his back against a nearby tree, staring at the small flames he got started with his lighter he picked up. After they left Kansas, they had continued driving until they needed to stop for gas. And after that long search that took a couple days, they raided stores. While standing at the counter, he had stood there, looking around at the place they were in. It was just him, Holly, and Jenny, both useless in a fight against the undead. He noticed back at the hotel, Holly kept getting her hair pulled and she had to swing multiple times and kept missing her shots, then Jenny hadn't really fought, she was hiding underneath a car when they found her. Crying. At least with the others, they had a chance. Now it seemed distant. He felt like he was stuck as a babysitter.
He had looked over at the two girls and instead of looking for weapons of any kind, he caught them looking at makeup and hair styling products. Jenny had scooped up all kinds of this glittery lip gloss and mascara with eye shadow while Holly had gathered different kinds of brushes, combs, rubber bands, barrets, and some stuff in a can. At that moment, he began to feel strained with stress, thinking of Avery, his lost friend; and that's when he noticed the cigarettes behind the counter. All kinds in still sealed boxes. He had climbed over and looked through them. Instead of choosing one brand, he grabbed them all and they had left. Not long after that, he had noticed a liquor store and stopped there, bagging up all kinds of alcohol before continuing their trip.
And now here they are, under a tree at night, a fire going, and out in the opening. He looked over at the girls again, remembering the useless stuff they had snatched up and he stood. “Where are you going?” Holly asked him, looking up. He put his hands in his pockets, looking around.
“I'm just gonna go smok
e a cigarette,” he responded,” let me know if you hear something.” He walked back toward the car and opened the back passenger door on the left side and dug through his bag, finding the carton from earlier. He picked it up and realized how light it felt, he opened the top and noticed it was empty, throwing it out of the vehicle and he grabbed up a new one and hit it against his left hand a few times, tearing off the plastic sealing vigorously and opening the cover, almost tearing it in the process but bending it and pulled a cigarette out. He shut the door and leaned against the window, lighting it and enjoying the new found addiction in his life.
He looked up at the sky, the moon hardly visible through the clouds in the sky and began thinking of possible places that she could've gone to, if she is even alive. Standing there, he recalled the scientist, Pherson, mentioning Ohio. Something about someone he knows is in Ohio. Could that have been where they went? Or where she went, to be exact. He wasn't sure about Justin and Alex, to be honest. Justin always getting mad and telling them what to do and what not to do when they were all old enough to make their own choices in this world. Then there's Alex. Just a follower, Keith thought that of him, he's just a follower. Thinking he can do all this himself.
All that Keith wanted was to just be with his friends again, Holly and Avery. That was all he wanted. Even if they find the other three, Jenny could remain with Justin and Alex. Keith planned on just traveling on with his two friends, no one else. He stopped smoking when he heard a twig snap and he instantly looked over toward the small hill behind the car. Grabbing his gun from the back of his jeans, he took it off safety and walked over, hearing foot steps. Stopping, he noticed it was woman wearing a black dress at knee length with no shoes. Her hair was dark and long and she had blood all over herself, on her legs, arms, face, neck, and tears on her dress. She looked up at him just as she climbed up the hill and he noticed she wasn't dead.
“Help me,” she said, her dark eyes blood shot and puffy. Looking at the woman, he felt stunned because she looked like Avery. The woman was even around her height. “ I need help,” she insisted, her voice shaky,” you don't know what I've been through.” The woman winced a little, the pain radiating from her back and the back of her head. She continued forward, trying to reach out to him.
Snapping back, Keith began backing up, he felt like he was having a nightmare. She seemed to be slowly changing in front of him, becoming paler. Becoming Avery. “ Please, please help me.” She raised her voice, arms outward and moving faster toward him. Holly, still seated by the fire, heard the voice and she looked over. She seen Keith backing up from the Dodge and she seen a woman coming toward him.
“Wait here,” Holly said to the 15 year old girl and she stood up, making her way toward the two.
“Help me, please!” The woman shouted, now trying to run at him. Keith backed up more and fell back on the ground, tripping over a hole. He watched as the woman came closer. Just then, Holly ran up and yanked the gun from his hand, noticing he looked hypnotized by the stranger. She checked the safety, aimed and fired a shot. Keith jumped, seeing the woman's head snap to the left, her face losing its pained expression as a hole formed on the side of her head and she fell dramatically on the ground in front of him. He caught his breath, sitting up and staring at the dead body before him.
Holly lowered the gun and put it back on safety then looked at him,” why didn't you shoot?” He looked up at her and the accusing expression she made.
“Why did you shoot? That was Avery!”
“No it wasn't,” she shook her head,” that's some stranger, that's not Avery. Avery's not dead.”
“Either way,” he argued, standing up,” she wanted our help.”
“Why didn't you help then,” she asked, crossing her arms,” besides, she was changing.”
“No she wasn't.” After his statement, Holly gestured down at the dead body.
“Look then, genius, and tell me again that she was in the process of changing.” Keith glared at her then walked up toward the dead body, he checked her arms and legs, then noticed her back. All the skin and some of her flesh was gone, her skin looked to have been torn off judging by the ragged edges. And the back of her head was also torn open, bits of her brains visible. He backed up and Holly shoved the gun at him,” told you.” She walked back toward the fire and told Jenny what happened.
While lying out in the grass late that night, the fire out now, Jenny awakened suddenly to the familiar sound of a helicopter flying by. “Wake up,” she urged the other two.
“What,” Keith asked her then he looked up, Holly doing so too and they seen a helicopter flying over them, flashing blue and red lights as it headed east. They began waving, noticing it wasn't stopping or even noticed them. Jenny slumped back down on the ground, watching the plane distancing itself from them like they were diseased.
“We're never going to get help,” she whined. Holly looked at her and felt the same too, fearing they wouldn't be able to make it alone like this much longer.
Alex rushed Avery inside the building, shutting the damaged door instantly. They stood there, taking a moment for breathing when Alex gestured at her,” we need to block this door.”
“Block it with furniture,” she asked, looking at him. He looked at her then up at the stairs.
“Alright, that'll have to do,” he began to search the first floor but didn't find much at all, the Emergency Exit was already barricaded. The two survivors made their way up stairs and searched each room, bringing down odds and ends of furniture. They teamworked with a large couch, Alex almost losing his footing when coming down stairs.
Next they searched the third floor, each room not really having much. They came to the room at the end of the hall and began searching there. While looking around, Avery stepped on something that squeaked and she looked down, seeing a rubber duck. She knelt down and picked it up, looking at the friendly duck with the dark, dead eyes. Staring at the duck, she suddenly heard a child screaming. Standing up, she rushed down the short hall and checked the first room, but didn't see anyone, just a queen sized bed, dresser, and a small tv on a wooden crate. Sheheard a baby begin crying and checked the room at the end of the hall, rushing in, she stopped. The room was empty too. Kids toys and baby toys everywhere. Avery looked at the bed with pink and white striped sheets and pillows, no one there. She noticed a blood stained raggedy Anne doll next to the pillows.
She made her way over toward the bright pink crib and looked in, also empty. She looked down at the wooden beams and noticed blood splotches all over it, instantly saddening her. Avery looked at the walls, also colored a bright tone, not pink but yellow. Along the walls were little paintings a young child had done, likely around the age of 4 or possibly 5. Small handprints on colorful construction paper, taped or tacked up. She noticed the baby clothes scattered on the floor in front of the closet door. Her eyes began watering, images coming to mind of what could possibly have happened to this family. She took down a painting of a crooked kitten, looking at it.
“Avery,” she jumped and looked back at the door, Alex standing there. He began looking around too before looking at her again,” c'mon, help me with this kitchen table, then we should be done.” She nodded and instead of putting the painting down, she folded it and tucked the child's painting in her back pocket, leaving the depressing room behind.
Joining Alex in the kitchen, he worked on moving the four dining chairs aside as she looked around, seeing a family photo up on the refridgerator. A blonde woman with bright blue eyes, likely in her early 30s, smiling along with a man as old as the woman, light brown hair and green eyes. And there were the two kids, a little blonde girl with green eyes, smiling a toothless grin and the little baby, blue eyes and blonde too, wearing a little purple onesie dress with butterfly patterns. She took the photo down and walked back toward the table.
“Avery,” Alex repeated, then looked up at her, seeing her holding a photo,” what are you doing?”
“Nothing,�
� she helped him with lifting the table, still holding the photo as they made their way out of the apartment, down the hall, and down the flight of stairs to the first floor, blocking the doorway with one final furniture piece.
They remained in a second floor room together, Alex often looking out the window in case of any hordes traveling through or possible survivors. He looked over at Avery and noticed she was looking at the same photo again. Frowning, he finally spoke up,” what are you doing? Why are you always looking at that now?” She looked over at him from where she sat.
“It's a family's photo I found on the fridge in that last room,” she looked down at it,” I've never really had any family pictures to keep. After my parents divorced, my dad left to Aspen while my mom drank all night and burned all of our family photos. I wish I had one to carry around with me, maybe it would help relieve all the worrying and stress of things these days;” she laid down,” family photos seem to be important to me, doesn't matter who they are, just that someone notices them and never forgets the families that used to live in this world, including their kids and pets.”
“So I take it you're going to start collecting family photos?”
“I don't know,” she answered, putting the photo in her bag,” it's just wishful thinking that I still had a family.” The room became silent.
“Maybe you'll have a family of your own then one day, or a group to call family then.” Alex went back to looking out the window after talking to her, thinking the only family he had was Justin. Just like Avery, he no longer has anyone to call brother. No one to call sister, cousin, nephew, niece, mom, dad, grandma, grandpa. And definitely no one to call his own. Resting his head against the wall, he shut his eyes and fell asleep.
10 DAYS LATER
The sun was barely showing through the grey clouds, and the air was warm, almost humid. No cars could be heard driving along the highway anymore. No sounds of planes, voices or anything. And yet the only thing that could be seen right now is an undead, feasting on a dead body's thigh. The zombie's left eye hung out of its socket, the jeans and grey shirt it wore were covered in stains, and its cheekbones were hollowed out. From a short distance, a gun shot echoes and the head explodes with bits of rotted brains flying out, the body dropping to the hard ground. "I got it!" Holly shouted out happily. Holly, Jenny, and Keith walked over toward where the now completely dead zombie is laid out. Ever since they left Kansas, they've been staying in the car, trying their best to remain safe, especially after the episode with Keith and the dead woman. At first they thought the others were dead just like Joel and Zackary, but when they noticed the SUV was gone, they got in the Dodge Charger SRT8 as fast as they could and left to look for the others, after that, they spent 10 days on the road.
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