by Dallin Smith
Jane shook her head and laughed some more, pointing at Tudson.
“Shut her up!” Frank hissed.
Jason grabbed her by the face and pulled her close. “Listen you’re going to get us killed, if that thing hears us-“
Jane pulled away from his grasp and just began to laugh with her eyes closed and saliva pooling in the corners of her mouth.
“Look I’m not against hitting you!” Jason warned, he didn’t want to knock her out but if her hysteria got any worse he would have to take action.
“I don’t think you’re calming her down like that,” Sarah said.
“Probably, haha,” Tudson said, wiping the sweat from his forehead, “probably not a good idea to threaten the chucklehead.”
“Calm down I think it hears us!” Frank said as he craned his neck. “Oh for God’s sakes, you’ve got to be kidding me.”
The creature trumpeted a hideous sounding roar and began barreling towards the hummer. Frank revved the engine up. “Hang on all you surly bastards, we’re going to do this!”
Jane continued to laugh hysterically as the car took off.
“Calm down, why are you acting so crazy?” Jason shouted in exasperation.
“She is traumatized!” Sarah said, “cut her some slack!”
“Alright, I think if we get to the road ahead we should be able to ditch it!” Frank shouted as the elephant creature bounded after them, smashing its way through dozens of cars with ease.
“Hahahahahah!” Jane cried gleefully as she shifted in her seat.
“Alright, the road ahead is clear I think we can-“
Before Frank could finish his sentence, Tudson lunged forward and sank his teeth right into Frank’s neck.
“Arrrrghhh!” Frank screamed as he let go of the wheel, causing the car to buckle and weave.
“Get him off!” Sarah said as she grabbed the biker and tried to wrestle him off Frank.
“Oh hell, he was bit! Tudson was bit!” Jason said as he realized that Tudson’s wound was fresh and open. “That’s why she was laughing she was trying to warn us.”
“ughhhhh!” Tudson moaned as he continued to writhe and chew on Frank.
Jason pulled out his pistol and pulled the trigger, shooting the former biker in the head, killing him immediately
“Thank g-“ before Sarah could finish her words the car veered hard off the road and downhill hard. It flipped and the next thing Jason knew, he was flying through the air, he was no longer in the car. He had been thrown through a window and landed on the ground. He felt a sharp pain run through his back and he cried out in agony.
He realized that he was on the side of the hill and the hummer had driven off the road above him. The hideous zombified elephant was bleating as it stamped around the hillside. Jason saw Sarah lying on the ground as well, unconscious. He crawled to her and managed to pull her body into a thicket. She opened her eyes with a start and he grabbed Sarah’s mouth and held it tightly as they rested in the thicket, their bodies pressed against one another. He could feel the love of his life’s heartbeat racing a thousand miles per hour as the large zombie surveyed the area. Neither of them made a sound and after a crippling moment of fear, the creature turned around and made its way back up the hill.
“That was too close,” Jason said.
“Yeah it was,” Sarah replied. Their bodies were both pressed close to one another and neither was in a rush to move.
“I’m sorry,” he mumbled. “for being so stupid. Now that everything’s gone to hell, I realize that you were the best thing that ever happened to me. I’m so sorry.”
“I forgive you,” she whispered as she gently kissed him. “but we need to worry about more than our relationship right now.”
“Do you think we’re going to make it?” Jason asked as he sat up and examined his body for trauma of any kind. Fortunately, nothing was broken but his right leg was killing him.
“We’ve got to try, don’t we?” Sarah replied as she stood up.
“Frank and Tudson are dead, damn it. And who knows where that girl went.”
“I think we should just keep moving,” Sarah said. “It’s the only way we can be safe at this point.”
“I don’t know about that. I mean if we had barricaded somewhere we would be safer than all of this nonsense.”
“For how long? What if this was an attack by some kind of entity? Terrorists or maybe a war? Look, what if the zombies only appeared here and they decide to nuke us? I’d much rather take my chances out in some ski lodge than here.”
“Good point, well let’s figure out where we are and then look for Jane,” Jason said as he glanced at the flipped hummer. It was on fire from sparks hitting the fumes of the gas that had leaked out through the hole Frank put in the tank earlier. He could see Frank’s writhing body trying to get out its seat belt in vain. He shivered deeply and turned away.
“Hey wait! I know where we are!” Sarah said with girlish enthusiasm. “We’re in Memory Grove!”
“That’s the park where you wanted us to have the wedding,” Jason mused. “Figures.”
“There’s a building here for weddings, remember? I’ll bet it’s safe enough to hole up in for a few hours while we get some rest,” Sarah said. Jason smiled at that. He was too tired to think at this point and was very glad that Sarah was contributing so much to the plan making.
“Yeah, yeah it is,” Jason replied as he surveyed the park. It was spacious enough but he could see several zombies littering the landscape. He felt a nervousness in the pit of his stomach at that. Near a large statue was a familiar looking woman; it was Jane.
“Hey! She’s okay! Over here!” Sarah said, rushing up to her ally. Jane turned to face them both as they approached her. She seemed perfectly fine, unscratched from the vehicle flipping.
“Oh man am I glad to see you’re okay,” Jason said as he patted her on the shoulder. “We’ve got a plan to hide in the Memorial House, come on!”
Jane looked at them both blankly for a moment, but then a big, warm smile came across her face. “It’s perfect,” she mumbled, “I can bury them here.” And with that she took out her pistol, placed it to the side of her head and blew her brains out right in front of them. The gunshot seemed to echo forever.
“Oh my God, why…why…. did she do that?” Sarah cried as she stumbled back in abject horror. Her face was covered in Jane’s blood.
“Dear Lord….” Jason said, reeling from what he had just seen. Jane had been a weirdo but this was too much for him to bear.
“Arrrrrgh” said a voice from behind. Jason spun around to see several dozen zombies emerging from the nearby monument. The gunshot was like a dinner bell to them. He could see the red eyes of the undead and he felt his adrenaline get pumping.
“We gotta move!” Jason said.
“Where?” Sarah asked as she scrambled to get the pistol lying on the ground. Her trembling fingers checked the revolver, it only had three bullets left. “they’re everywhere.”
More undead had shown up and were beginning to clump together in a rather large swarm. The runners were moving fast and without any weapons and the many hard knocks they had both sustained, the two were not in shape to be fighting against these creatures.
“Just get to the Memorial House!” Jason said as he grabbed his lover by the hand and ran toward the large building. It was shaped similar to a church. The windows were boarded up and the glass doors were covered with what looked like welded steel.
“It’s locked!” Sarah exclaimed as she pulled on the doors. With the windows boarded up there was no getting in. “Hello? Is anyone in there?” she cried as she knocked hard on the door.
“Aw man, there’s too many of them,” Jason said as he looked at the swarm coming towards them. There were nearly a hundred and they all had followed the pair.
“Is this the end?” Sarah asked as she clung tightly to Jason.
“Not for you!” Jason said as he knelt down. “Get on my shoulders, now!” he co
mmanded. She complied and stood on his shoulders. He hoisted her up hard and she was able to grab hold of the roof and pull herself up.
“Come on, I’ll pull you up!” Sarah said.
“Gah!” Jason said as he tried to step forward, his left leg collapsed beneath him and he fell down, clutching it. “I think I strained it too hard lifting you.”
“Was that a comment on my weight?” she asked. He didn’t laugh. She glanced down and grimaced. “Come on, stand up. Just grab my arms.”
“You aren’t strong enough to pull me up. Oh God, I can’t walk,” Jason gasped.
“Please, Jason, you have to get up.” Sarah was crying now, her eyes pleading with him.
“Please, I can’t let you die. Not like this.” Her voice was urgent and loving. The expression on her face told him that she would do everything that she could to help him.
“If it’s any consolation, I don’t want to die like this either,” he said as he tried in vain to stand. The horde was getting closer by the second and he knew it was a matter of time before they got to him.
“Wait! I have an idea!” she said as she ran to the edge of the roof and scrambled down to him.
“Hey what are you doing?”
“Look, there’s furniture in the back patio, we can climb up it. Come on, let me carry you.”
“You’re going to get us both killed,” Jason protested as he leaned his weight on her.
“If you risked everything to come back then I’m going to risk everything to get us out of here!” she replied as they walked in tandem toward the back.
The back of the Memorial House was all decked out for a wedding. There was a banner, flowers, spoiled food and several dozen corpses on the ground. Jason staggered over to a chair and dragged it to a table. “Come on, come on!” he said as he stacked the chair atop the table. Several zombies were starting to make their way around to the back and Sarah fired off a round to kill one.
“Hurry up woman!” Jason cried as he climbed atop the wobbling furniture and made his way onto the roof. He reached his hand down to grab hers but too many zombies were getting close to her.
“I’ve got to keep moving!” she cried as a runner jumped at her and seized hold of her arm. She shoved her gun into its mouth and pulled the trigger, blowing half it's head off killing it where it fell.
“Just climb up!” Jason said. He grimaced to see that she was getting overwhelmed and she began to run out into the reception area of the outdoor wedding. The zombies were following her.
“Damn!” Jason shouted, looking at his sole weapon in hand, it was the machete that Tommy had given him. There were nearly forty zombies pouring into the courtyard but they were in such a frenzy they were tripping over each other.
Sarah was quick enough to get to the single tree resting in the center of the courtyard and she quickly scrambled up it. “I’m okay!” she called out.
“Did you get bit?”
“No!”
“Great!” Jason said, letting out a deep sigh of relief. “but how do we get out of this?”
“WE just wait it out, I’m sure they’ll leave eventually,” Sarah replied as she looked down at the horde that had surrounded the tree.
“You have any bullets left?”
“One.”
Well this was just great. Jason was in a place of absolute frustration at the situation and had no idea what else to do. He was exhausted, out of useful weapons and his leg felt like it was about to fall off. There was no way he would be able to fix this problem.
“Wait! I’ve got an idea. The house was barricaded right? Maybe you should see if there’s anyone in there. They might be able to help.”
“Good thinking,” Jason said as he crawled across the roof to the one of the windows on the second level. It wasn’t barricaded but there was someone there, waiting with a gun. It was a young dark skinned woman with fear in her eyes. She aimed the rifle at him and he weakly put up his hands.
“Go away,” she hissed.
“Look, my wife’s in trouble, I don’t want to hurt anyone in there or bother them, but if you could help me out I would be in your debt,” Jason said.
“Help? You want to save her? Go jump off the other side of the building and break your leg, let your cries for agony pull them away from her,” the woman spit between clenched teeth. She narrowed her eyes and glared at Jason.
“Yeah that doesn’t sound great,” Jason said. He could tell the woman looked tense and afraid. Her hands were trembling as she held the rifle.
“Look I don’t know what you’ve been through or what all has happened to you but I can tell you this much, this world is changing. The dead are eating us, for crying out loud. You need every friend you can get here. Now you can block us out and refuse to help and let us die, but at the end of the day if we don’t work together here, you’ll die eventually too. I know you’re scared that we’re going to hurt you but listen here, if we can’t work together as fellow human beings against this greater threat then we will never triumph.”
“Triumph? What you think we can survive this all? The world is ending,”
“Not ending, changing. As long as there are good people, people who believe in change and humanity, the world won’t end.”
This seemed to catch the woman’s interest for a moment and she tilted her head in consideration of his words. “If I help you, you can’t come on the helicopter.”
“The helicopter?” Jason repeated.
“It’s coming in a few hours. Not enough room for you two,” she said.
“Yeah fine, whatever. Please, just help me and my fiancee. Please.” Jason's voice was high pitched and windy like he had been running and was out of breath.
“I thought you said she was your wife,” the woman said as she slowly lowered her rifle.
“It’s the same thing,” Jason replied as he stepped back, allowing her to open the window. She emerged with her rifle and began to shoot into the crowd of the undead, killing enough of them to thin out the herd.
Sarah was quick about getting out of the tree and up onto the roof.
“There,’’ the rifle woman said. “you’re safe. Do not come inside but I will leave the window unlocked for when we evacuate this place.”
“Evacuate?” Sarah asked.
“Chopper’s coming in, but we’re not going with it,” Jason said. “There’s not enough room.”
The woman paused at that and glanced at the ground. “My name is Amanda,” she said.
“I’m Jason, and this is Sarah,” Jason said.
“The men I am with…. they aren’t the best,” Amanda admitted. “But I’m afraid. They’ve killed innocent people before and one of them…one of them won’t stop looking at me. I am growing afraid more and more by the hour.”
“Why are you telling us this?” Sarah asked.
Amanda shrugged. “You had a gun, if you had wanted to kill me I would be dead by now. Perhaps we can make an arrangement. The helicopter is coming soon because the man who called for it is paying a lot of money for it to come in from some private air strip in Park City I think he said. He is a very vile but a very wealthy man. If we bar the doors from the outside and make a dead run for the chopper, we can ensure that we’ll get out of here.”
Jason pondered that. It wasn’t the worst idea he ever heard. He glanced at Sarah who nodded. His fiancée always had a good sense about people and Amanda had already earned his trust. “Alright, let’s do it. Quickly too.”
With that the three of them cautiously made their way to the other side of the Memorial House and slid down to the ground without much of a fuss. Amanda had a fire ax with her and any zombie that got close was cut down quickly. Sarah and Jason focused on finding supplies to bar the doors shut and pretty soon they were fairly confident that the doors were jammed and blocked.
After half an hour of work, a whuppa whuppa whuppa noise greeted Jason and Sarah. They looked up to see a little helicopter fly overhead and land in a clear patch of grass.
“Move! Move!” Amanda hissed as she ran forward. The three rushed through the field and made their way to the helicopter fast enough. They could hear the frenzied slamming of the barred doors behind them.
“We’re going to make it!” Sarah said, “We’re actually going to make it!”
Amanda rushed up to the chopper and jumped into the back of it.
“Hey where’s Jackson?” the pilot asked.
“He’s dead, let’s get moving,” Amanda said, pulling out her pistol and aiming it at Jason and Sarah.
“Whoa hey!” Jason said, “what gives?”
“Sorry, but there’s something I didn’t tell you. There’s not enough room for four people in this thing. My boss was planning on leaving me behind, but this will show him! Look I’m not a bad person, okay? But I’m not letting you guys overpower me. Now if you want, you can figure out who goes and who stays, but I know for a fact that I’m leaving in this helicopter.”
Jason glanced at Sarah, “Look you need to go with her,”
“No!”Sarah was frightened. She reached for Jason and shook her head.
“You don’t have a choice.” Jason said taking her hands in his. He lowered his head and told her,
“Go with her, get somewhere safe and then send people to find me.”
“Please, Jason, don’t make me go!” Sarah cried.
“Look, I know it’s going to be tough but you have to do it?” With that he let go of her hands and with one of his own he stroked her cheek.
“This thing is making a ton of noise,” the pilot said, “we gotta go.”
“Fine,” Sarah said as tears rolled down her cheek. “I’ll go. Please, please be safe.” With that she grabbed Jason and hugged him tightly. He felt her hands fiddle around in between his legs and he was confused until he realized she was pulling her pistol free. He took a deep breath and fell to the left as Sarah dodged to the right and pulled the trigger, shooting Amanda right in the arm.
“OW damn it!” Amanda shouted as she dropped her own gun. Jason was in the chopper like lighting and he grabbed the gun and shoved it against Amanda.