When The Dead Came 2

by Torralba, Ariana

  She missed her dad. He was the nicest person she ever knew, except when he’d end up arguing with Haley of course, but overall, he was kind. So looking at the two people she’s grown used to now, she knew that if one of them speaks, there is going to be arguing. She kept silent.

  “I told you it doesn’t matter how fast we drive now,” Keith insisted, annoyed at his friend.

  “And I’ve told you before that we’ll likely wreck, now shut up.” Keith shook his head.

  “You guys need to loosen up,” he said,” it’s the apocalypse, enjoy life while you have it.”

  “You’re telling us to loosen up and let our guard down,” Holly began and he cut in.

  “All of you are acting so uptight,” he almost yelled,” you, Alex, even Avery is acting like there’s important things now when there isn’t.”

  “Yes there is, you idiot. For one, we would like to live on,” Holly argued back,” we would like to attempt to live until we’re old and help others.”

  “That’s just a fantasy Holly,” he blurted,” all of you are living in a fantasy world. What Justin said isn’t what we should be doing, because saving others is just going to get you killed or to become one of the undead. And either way, all of you are going to die soon.” Holly remained silent and looked out the window.

  “... He's right Holly,” Jenny spoke up,” we should be enjoying life while we have it.”

  “Seriously? I can't believe the two of you. You with your freaking lip gloss and you,” she gestured at Keith,” with your cigarette smoking. The rest of us are focused on survival while all you two care about is whether you have enough lip gloss to wear or enough nicotine to smoke all day long.”

  She wasn’t sure what has become of Keith. He was helpful at first, he had believed that they would make it in this world. And now he’s become harsh, hateful toward all of them. And Jenny... Well, she actually expected this of Jenny. She wasn't helpful much. The rest of the ride around the streets remained silent, Jenny staring down at the tube of glitter lip gloss in her hand before putting it away in the bag. She knew how they seen her: useless. Maybe it was time to prove something.

  She felt the car jolt as he came to a halt in a parking lot, the building they were about to check showed posters of guns on the windows. He looked at them,” Come on, pansies.” He left them behind and walked inside the store, Holly shaking her head.

  “What’s wrong with him,” Jenny asked her.

  “I don’t know,” she responded,” but if he keeps acting this way, he’s either going to end up injuring himself, getting attacked, killed, or harming one of us. We should keep an eye on him.” They sat out in the car for a minute, Jenny looking around at their surroundings.

  "There's not many undead here on the north side," Jenny said out loud, Holly responding with only a nod and began to stretch her legs and arms after a while. The sun had left them with a full moon, lighting the streets for them. Looking around for a moment, feeling the cold air hit her, Holly gestured," c'mon, let's go help Keith." The two of them walked into the gun store to help their friend. While Holly closed the door as softly as she could, she jumped when Keith began to throw empty boxes. She and Jenny looked over at him.

  "Argh," he let out in frustration, anger.

  "What's wrong?" Holly asked, holding her hands out and almost whispering, hoping he'd get the hint and quiet down. He stood in silence a moment.

  "There's nothing," he looked around," Nothing's here. It's all gone." Finalizing his outburst with one final throw of an empty bullet carton and kicking shelves. He threw more things, breaking a glass case at the counter, and he walked out of the store. Jenny looked at Holly, obviously frightened.

  "Let's do a double check," Holly said softly," he probably overlooked something." They began to rummage through the debris of boxes and broken glass, but like Keith, they found nothing.

  "Is Keith okay? He's been acting different since we left Kansas," Jenny asked while searching the floors, almost cutting her hand on the broken glass.

  "I don't know," Holly responded," but he is really starting to get on my nerves. Being hateful and withdrawn. Drinking, smoking, and I’m sure if he could find it, he’d be doing drugs too. He’s an idiot with no more sense in his head."

  "... Or maybe it's jealousy." Holly stopped searching and looked over at Jenny, wondering what she meant until it finally came to mind. Amidst everything happening, she forgot how Keith liked Avery back in school. Now that she's been hanging around Alex this whole time, she understood why he finally figured it was only Justin who got away, because deep down, he didn't want it to turn out to be Avery and Alex. He was acting like a child just because his high school crush was traveling and spending more time with Alex than with him. She shook her head, jealousy has no place in this world now. They stopped searching and they decided to go join him, Holly wanted to have a word or two with Keith anyways.

  The two of them walked out of the store, but instead of walking on to the car, they were greeted with the sounds of guns cocking around them. Four people were on one side of them, and only two on the other side. One was a woman, possibly in her early thirties, blond and wearing a pink tee, a blue jacket over the shirt with blue jeans and low heeled boots. One guy's hair was a very light brown color, possibly almost blond if he stayed out in the sun a lot to let it highlight and looked familiar. He wore a grey shirt, a navy blue jacket, and dark blue jeans with what looked to be Chuck Taylor shoes. And two guys' hair was black, while the two on one side of them had dark brown hair. Holly looked down and spotted Keith on his knees with his hands behind his head.

  "Get down, now," instructed the taller dark brown haired guy, possibly in his mid-thirties to early 40s, wearing dark clothing as well. Holly and Jenny got down on their knees," Hands on the back of your head." They followed the instructions carefully. The other dark brown haired guy, very likely in Keith, Holly, Alex, and Avery's age range-between 18 to 22 and also wearing all dark clothing- got out rope and walked up behind Keith. He jerked his hands back behind him and began to tie Keith's wrists together. After doing so, he proceeded with tying Holly's then Jenny's wrists behind their backs. The young guy went back into his position and started aiming the gun at them again. "Lucinda, Nick, Trevor," spoke the thirty-something year old guy," take them into the back of the truck. Nick, take their car and take Trevor with you."

  The three, who they now knew by their names-Lucinda the blond, Nick the black haired guy wearing a black jacket, and Trevor the young guy with dark hair-, grabbed them up by the arms and walked them to the back of a transportation vehicle, a paddy wagon. They were thrown into the back of the vehicle, only Lucinda and the chestnut haired guy jumped in the back with them, leaving Nick to close the doors.

  As the other two guys began toward the Dodge, Evan stopped," Hey," he called out to Trevor and Nick," go help Charles and Jeff with the other two." Nick and Trevor jumped into the Dodge, while the other black haired guy and the dark brown haired guy got into the front of the paddy wagon, the dark brown haired guy driving, the Dodge going elsewhere.

  After he started the vehicle, a few zombies decided to come out and run up to it. The dark brown haired guy pulled out his .45, aimed, and fired a bullet into the forehead of the closest zombie and drove away. The other brown haired guy-with high cheekbones and a tan skin tone-looked in the back of the vehicle. "What’s your names?” They remained silent before Holly spoke up first.

  “Holly,” she said,” that’s Jenny and,” Keith nudged her.

  “Don’t tell our names.” She ignored him, he isn’t in the right place of mind to do the negotiations.

  “That is Keith,” she fell silent as he shook his head.

  “I’m Will,” the guy spoke,” the driver here is Evan and that is Lucinda and Drew;” he nodded,” where are your friends?”

  Holly looked at him," Who are you talking about?"

  "We don't have any other people with us;" Keith added, finally catchi
ng on to what Holly was doing, which was to save Avery and Alex from facing this same treatment," it's always been just us three." The guy slowly smiled then laughed.

  "Don't play dumb. We know there's two others. A young guy and a dark haired girl, they looked to be around the same age as Trevor. Lying isn't gonna help you, so where are they?"

  "We don't know who you're talking about," Keith said after a second. The guy stared at him before turning away. He pulled out a gun, load the clip, and climbed into the back.

  "Hey, Evan," he said to the now identified dark brown haired guy," stop." The guy pulled the vehicle over, allowing Lucinda and the other guy to open the double doors and they jumped out. Will climbed into the back and walked up to Keith, while Holly and Jenny began watching what was about to happen. The guy, without warning, kicked Keith in the face, causing him to fall out of the vehicle and hit the pavement of the street.

  The guy then grabbed up Holly and shoved her out of the truck, no one stopping her drop to the pavement either, landing on her left side with a thud. And then finally, he proceeded to shove Jenny out, also hitting the pavement on her back and grunting in pain her eyes tearing up and trying hard not to cry. Holly glanced over at Keith, who was bleeding from his mouth and coughing. The guy jumped out of the back of the vehicle and stood in front of them.

  "You know," he began," we don't really want to do this. But, you're in the middle of a zombie plagued city, no one else will hear your screams. See," he got out his gun again," you don't tell us where they are, I will shoot each of you -just to injure- and leave you for the dead right here in the street;" he paused to allow that thought to sink in," But, if you tell us where they are, we'll let you back into the truck, bite free, bullet free." Lucinda fired her gun at a nearby zombie, dropping it instantly," We'll keep them away for now, until you give us an answer." Holly struggled with the rope around her wrists.

  Keith knew the consequences of it, he knew that for Jenny and Holly's sake, he should tell them where Avery and Alex are. But yet, he wanted to make sure that they never find them, just so his friends could be safe, and possibly get a chance to leave Ohio before they do find them. He looked at Holly, who looked to also be weighing the choices. He looked at the guy,"... No." He said. The guy gestured to Lucinda, and she began to point the gun at Jenny. "Don't," he insisted," she's a kid!"

  "Well then you better tell us or else she's gonna be a dead kid!" As if God was watching, all of a sudden, a small group of zombies began to come toward the shouts. The small group of zombies distracted their assailants, shrieking out loud and running toward the group in the street.

  Instantly thinking, Holly kicked out her left leg at Lucinda, kicking as hard as she could against the blonde's left knee cap and causing her to fall onto her back in pain. Keith managed to stand and just when Will turned and aimed his gun at him, Keith tackled him, knocking the guy down onto the ground. The other guy, Drew, was more focused on the zombies, killing them as they became closer with each shot while the driver remained in the vehicle, firing his gun from the window.

  "Run, Jenny," Holly screamed out. Jenny managed to stand and began running. Evan came out of the truck, took his other gun off safety and aimed; when he fired the gun, the bullet traveled at high speeds and lodged into Jenny's left leg in the back of her shin. She screamed out in pain and fell, struggling to get at least one arm free. "No," Holly screamed out, seeing the 15 year old girl hit the ground and she began to kick out at Evan, but received a couple kicks to her ribs.

  Jenny managed to get her left arm free and she got up as fast as she could, round the street corner and kept limping down the street, away from the crazed survivors. "C'mon," Evan shouted to Drew and the two of them left to go pursue the 15 year old girl. Jenny continued running, and noticed a chance to take shelter in a phone booth, completely spray painted on, reading in large print "THE DEAD IS HERE, THEY ARE WALKING AMONG US". She locked the booth and sat on the floor of it. Jenny looked down at her leg, seeing the blood trickle through her jean leg and she swallowed, fighting not to cry out in pain. She peeked through the spray paint, and she saw Drew and Evan looking around for her. She leaned back and closed her eyes, whispering and hoping that they'd go away and not come near the booth. She peeked out again, seeing them leave finally.

  Leaning back again, she took off her jacket and held the sleeve to her wound. Groaning in pain, she tried her best to dig in her pockets of her jeans, and found her sanitation wipes that she had found in a store back in Missouri. Doing her best to clean her right hand, she swallowed, raised her free sleeve to her mouth so she could bite down. And trying her best not to scream, she lowered her right hand down to the bullet hole, and painfully, dug her fingers into her leg, attempting to dig the bullet out. Eventually, what seemed like hours, she got the bullet to surface and drop down onto the floor. Taking deep breaths at the blinding pain, she looked out the window again, seeing only zombies walking around as she cried silently before finally fainting, no longer feeling the pain.

  "Okay, we'll tell you," Holly shouted at them through tears, feeling like her ribs were broke. The whole time after Jenny managed to escape, they were being beaten by Lucinda and Evan. Holly looked over at Keith as he was bleeding from his nose now," last we knew, they were heading south or east, to look for supplies and weapons."

  "Are you telling the truth?" The guy asked, raising his eyebrows.

  "I'm as sure as I'll ever be," she responded, wincing each time she breathed.

  "Throw them in the back," Evan said," let's get out of here." Evan got out his radio and spoke through it to Nick, telling him where the other girl and guy might be, Will grabbing Keith up by the shirt and throwing him toward the truck.

  “Get in,” he instructed while Lucinda basically threw Holly in the truck. Meanwhile, across the city, Avery and Alex stopped at a gas station, checking the pumps.

  "This one's empty too," Avery said to herself, dropping the hose on the ground while Alex came out of the building.

  "It's empty too, like the other places. Looks cleaned out, not even one small junk food snack in there." The both of them got back in the Expedition and drove away. After they left, a dark truck that had been parked in an alley across the street started, and began to follow them, picking up speed to catch up. The truck drove up behind them, and rammed the back of the Expedition. Avery and Alex jerked forward, Avery stopping herself by grabbing a hold of the dashboard. "Crap," Alex shouted," load the guns!" Avery dug in the bags, pausing, she looked at him.

  "We only have 15 bullets left," she said to him.

  "We'll need to use them then," he urged while turning a curb sharply, the truck trailing them, doing a curb check. While speeding through, Alex ran over the zombies in the street, one managing to cling onto the hood of the car, snapping its decomposed jaw at them, all his skin missing on his face. The truck hit the back of the Expedition again, making them jerk forward once more.

  Alex looked in the rearview mirror and noticed the black Dodge Charger SRT8 coming up fast now, he smiled with relief," Guess Keith and the other two are gonna help us." Avery looked back and seen the vehicle approaching fast, catching up with them and the truck.

  The truck drove up to Alex's side, coming close to them. A dark haired guy with tattoos leaned out the window and fired a shot, hitting the zombie and causing it to fall off. When it hit the street, the back tires of the Expedition crushed the body, the head becoming exposed, the damaged brain and skull open wide, leaving a blood trail along the street, slowly fading as the Dodge passed the body, careful not to drive over the dead.

  "Pull over now," ordered the dark haired guy," we can help you!" Alex glanced out at the guy, not feeling any trust in that, only doubt in the promise before going back to focusing on the street. The guy went back into the truck and the driver jerked the wheel, causing the black truck to hit the driver side of the Expedition. The force of the hit causing Alex to lose control at that point, and the vehicle began to jerk aroun
d the street, hitting random undead in the process, the bodies flying in different directions in an almost humorous moment rarely seen these days. And finally, the vehicle flipped, rolling several times. The truck stopped and the two men in the truck got out to survey the vehicle that finally land upside down. They began to jog over toward the turned over vehicle as the Dodge came to a stop.

  Avery struggled to undo her seatbelt, eager for Keith, Holly, and Jenny to help them deal with the two men; and when she got it undone, she fell, hitting her back on the roof. Alex undid his seatbelt as well and crawled out, collecting glass just like in Lubbock at Wal Mart. Avery kicked the glass of the passenger window and climbed out, shards of it catching into her hands. She stood up slowly and grimaced in pain, staring down at her bleeding hands, the glass reflecting like glitter under the moon light. Without warning, Trevor came up and hit Avery over the head, causing her to fall back down on the pavement. Lying there in pain once again and laying in the glass, she rolled over and tried to look around, things looking a bit blurry at the moment. Looking before her, she only saw a guy wearing dark clothing and dark hair. Assuming it was Keith, she squinted her eyes.

  “What the hell, Keith,” she mumbled. Trevor lifted Avery up and made their way toward the back end of the turned over vehicle, joining the others.

  Alex, hearing Avery's trip to the ground with a thump, got out his gun, still a little shaky from the wreck, and proceeded with trying to walk. He was stopped right away when one of the other guys -the man with the receding hair- grabbed the hood of his jacket, jerking him back against the turned over vehicle, causing a loud thud. "That was un expectant," the guy said to him. Alex glared at the guy, breathing hard. Alex swallowed and noticed another guy standing between the truck and Expedition, tall with black hair, stubble, and dark eyes, pointing a rifle at him. He looked left toward the back end of the turned over vehicle and saw another guy with short dark hair, tan, and also holding a gun. And by the corner of the Expedition, stood another guy, likely around his age, tall, dark hair and dark eyes as well; he noticed the guy holding Avery by the left arm; and she was taking on the appearance of looking a bit dazed and disgruntled, tired, and legs bleeding. The guy who had grabbed his jacket hood nodded at the Expedition," Grab your bags."