by Weeks, TJ
Bryan looked out the one window in the bedroom and it was still dark outside.
“Yes sir. Let me get up and shower and I will be there as soon as I can.” He stated before hanging up.
Bryan rose from his bed and stepped in the shower before turning on the water. He showered to help wake himself up. Once out, he
realized he had not even looked at the time. He dressed in his uniform and grabbed his phone seeing that it was four in the morning.
Bryan made his way out and down to the bus stop then into the hospital. He took his place at the front desk and tried to wake up a bit more. He watched the buzz around him and felt a little lazy today so didn’t move around as much as he normally had. He listened for any issues over his walkie and watched the screens.
Noon rolled around and Bryan was feeling drained. “Bryan, we got someone coming in at twelve thirty. I appreciate you coming in.” He told him.
Bryan nodded and thanked him for his appreciation. A little before twelve thirty a man showed up Bryan had not seen before.
“I’m Todd, I am the other one they like to call in when no one shows up. Bryan right?” He put his hand out.
Bryan stood and shook the man’s hand. He was a tall man with dark hair and looked to be about twenty five or so.
“I am glad there is so meone to relieve me, thanks for showing up.” Bryan told him.
Bryan gathered his things and headed out of the hospital. The next week was a blur of double shifts at the hospital. He had also been given a few extra responsibilities. He replaced lights that had blown out, doors that had been broken, hospital beds that needed fixing and many other things. He had gained a bit of respect around the hospital and was the ‘go-to’ guy when anything was wrong or broken. He had taken down many people that were unruly and fixed many things that the hospital needed fixed. He had even been commended by the super.
Bryan had gotten his second wind at five o’clock Friday afternoon. It was time to go see his girl. He got home as fast as the bus would take him, packed a bag for the weekend, took the bus to the airport and bought his ticket to Texas.
He waited impatiently for them to call to board. Once loaded, he sat and willed the plane to take off, which seemed like it was taking forever. Finally, the plane took off down the runway and into the air. Just a couple of hours and he would be seeing the love of his life.
The plane landed and Bryan made his way to the front to grab one of the few taxis that waited outside the Tyler airport.
“16 Hatcher Street please.” He told the driver. The driver pulled away from the curb and took a left out the drive of the airport. Twenty minutes later, the taxi pulled into the driveway of the familiar house. He was excited to see Kelsey.
He walked up the sidewalk to the small blue and gray house her parents had left her and opened the door to an empty living room. He turned and looked back outside to the driveway to make sure he did see her car there. Her Ford Focus sat in the drive. He closed the door softly, hoping she was taking a shower or changing so he could surprise her in all of her naked beauty.
He wandered down the hall to the open door on the right of the first bedroom. The curtains blew in the Texas breeze, but was empty. He walked across the hall to the only bathroom in the house and it was quiet and empty as well. A bang sounded from the back bedroom that made Bryan jump. He turned towards the door and slowly crept down the hall. As he got to the door he heard Kelsey groan like she was in pain. Bryan flung open the door. Kelsey sat naked on top of a man. She turned to Bryan and her eyes got wide. The man peered around Kelsey’s thick hips that rested on top of him and blocked his view of the door.
“Forget I was coming?” He asked Kelsey. “Really, one of my own buddies?”
Bryan turned to walk out of the house.
“BRYAN, WAIT!” Kelsey yelled. “Hey bro, hold up!” The man stated. Bryan kept walking; again
disappointed by the effort he put forth in this situation. He believed that she was the one. He slammed the door open against the wall and headed out of the house not bothering to close it. Kelsey appeared on the porch covered only by the blue silk sheets that he had bought her when he had stayed with her before. They had made love many times on those sheets and now one of his buddies was doing the same with her.
“Bryan, please wait!” She hollered over her front yard. Bryan held up his middle finger and kept walking. He didn’t even want to turn and look at the bitch.
Before he could make it out of sight, a man attacked him from behind. Bryan assumed that it was his old friend attacking him for being disrespectful. Bryan grabbed the man’s arm and flipped him over his pudgy body to the ground. Bryan turned to walk away from the man when he felt him again grab onto his shirt. He turned, drew back his fist as the man came at him with his mouth open. He latched onto Bryan’s shirt shaking his head back and forth tearing a hole in his shirt. Bryan removed himself from arm’s reach of the man and saw it was not the man that was with Kelsey. He was a man covered in blood, he reached for Bryan with one arm while his teeth clattered as he reached for him with his face trying to bite him. Bryan kicked the man in the knee and
watched him fold over and drop to the ground. The man’s sunken in face stared at him as he laid there with his mangled knee. He rolled over and pulled himself toward Bryan
chomping his jaws while Bryan stepped back watching him.
“A zombie?” He questioned. Bryan backed up towards the house he was just at, not running it through his mind that the bitch he just caught cheating on him was at the only place he was able to go.
“Get the hell in the house!” He hollered climbing the steps backwards that he just angrily went down.
Kelsey backed into the house as Bryan followed and closed the door. He peered out of the window that covered the front door at the man lying on the ground.
“It’s zombies!” He told the two people that he didn’t want to be around.
“Zombies? I don’t think so.” His ex-friend responded buttoning his pants.
Bryan reached down and dead bolted the door. “Yes, zombies stupid ass. Did you not see what just
attacked me?”
Bryan ran to the window in the living room and pulled the curtains closed. He ran to a second window in the same room, then throughout the house and closed all the curtains. Bryan ran back to the living room and pulled the curtain from the first window back just a bit to allow him to see the front yard. Two women were staggering across the yard with three children following them. All five were bloody with body parts held in of each of their hands. The first woman he caught a glimpse of had a dismembered hand interlaced with hers. The second had a handful of bloody innards of someone clasped in one hand and brought them to her mouth periodically. The three children all had what looked to be intestines wrapped around their small hands trailing behind them.
“We have to find weapons and gather some food. Make sure all the doors are locked. Kelsey get the two guns that I left here and all of the ammo.” Bryan instructed.
Kelsey and the cheating friend stood in the living room watching Bryan run back and forth in the house.
“Are you kidding?” Kelsey asked. Bryan stopped mid-step and stared at her. He looked back and forth at both of them. “Go out there if you wish. I am staying in here and gonna kill off these assholes.”
“Ummm…this is my house. You can take your things and go!” Kelsey told him calmly.
Bryan looked at her with surprise. “Are you serious?” Kelsey shook her head yes. Bryan turned and walked to the back of the house and into the room that they shared before he left and gathered his guns and any other things that were his that he might be able to use as a weapon. He grabbed the duffel bag he had left that Kelsey said she liked and put the three knives and pistol into it. He loaded the twenty two rifle, then put all of the ammo he had for the pistol and the twenty two into the bag. He slowly walked back to the living room, glared at the man that had taken his girlfriend and his now ex
gir
lfriend.
“Thanks, ya’ll are some classy Americans.” Bryan said to them before heading to the door.
He placed two fingers on the deadbolt and then thought better. He pushed the small curtain over with his face to scan the yard before turning the lock. The man that had attacked him earlier appeared to be gone. The women and children had also moved on. He decided to play it safe,
shouldered the rifle, reached around to the duffel bag, pulled the zipper, withdrew the filet knife from the bag and zipped it back. He looked back at them and nodded his head.
“Fuck you both, I hope you both get eaten.” Bryan admitted and popped the deadbolt.
He pulled the door open slowly and placed one foot out on the porch, he pulled the door the rest of the way open and stepped out before closing it behind him. He took one step at a time and paused after each one as he looked all around for what was going to be his first kill. He stepped down off of the last step with one foot and quickly put it back onto the last step as he watched a man run down the street and a man chasing him as fast as he could, which wasn’t fast at all. He limped a bit and reached for the man even though he was far behind him. As Bryan lifted his foot, he had not realized he had barely escaped a hand reaching for his foot from the side of the porch. As the undead fast walking man disappeared, Bryan stepped back off of the step with both feet. He stood for a moment looking in all directions again before he felt a hand on his ankle. Bryan jolted like a scared girl and winced in the same manner. He looked down to see a crawling zombie making his way towards him. He bent down and slid the filet knife into the skull of the low growling man that apparently he had not heard with the commotion of the screaming running man. He pulled his knife out and wiped it on the man’s shirt. He looked back at the door and saw both of their faces pressed against the window watching his misfortune of being outside in the apocalypse.
Bryan’s mind went wild at that very moment. He turned and raced back up the steps, luckily they had not locked the door back yet. He flung it open and fumbled his gun pointing it at them.
“Get the fuck outside! If I go, you go.” Bryan informed them both. Kelsey in only a sheet and his buddy in nothing but jeans. “All I have to do is outrun you two and I am good.” Bryan pushed the barrel of the gun into Kelsey’s bare backside.
The three made it down the steps and into the street. Bryan looked both ways and pushed them to the right.
“You wanted to throw me out here. Now we can all be out here together. Keep walking.” He told them.
Bryan watched behind him to make sure he wasn’t going to be surprised by one of the cannibals. As for the front of him, he was okay with them being eaten which would give him the chance to get away and run the other way.
Bryan pushed them slowly down the street, finally making their way to the nearest corner store. He pushed them inside and followed behind them. A growl came from the back of the store. Bryan turned them both to stand in front of him to block himself. A man appeared around a corner of an aisle. He was well dressed in a tie and button down shirt. His face was tight skinned and if it wasn’t for his
growling and outward appearance, Bryan would have thought he was alive. Bryan began backing up while his two hostages stood still and in place. The man approached them and Kelsey raised her hands over her face. The man punched the zombie in the face and watched him stumble
backwards. Bryan watched both of them begin to cry with fear of the man that could easily eat them both if they did not defend themselves, but Bryan had given them no way to do so. He finally decided to step forward as the man came back at them both with chomping jaws and took a stab with his knife to the man’s head. Bryan watched him drop to the ground, he turned and glared at his two helpless hostages.
“Gather some food and find a something to carry it in. You are going to need it.” He told them.
Bryan began raking things off of the shelves into his bag he had grabbed from the counter. He made his way to the coolers that weren’t cold by any means and grabbed a variety of drinks and loaded up. He made his way back to the entry way to see Kelsey and her new man with a small plastic bag full of drinks and things.
“You’re gonna need more than that.” Bryan laughed.
“We’re going to share.” The man shot back.
“Good luck.” He stated back. He pushed them out of the store and back into the dangers of the outside.
“Where are you taking us?” Kelsey asked.
“As far as they will let me take you before they eat you.” He told her. He pushed them on down the road walking behind them. Both of them stopped and began to back up.
“No, don’t stop.” He told them. “Bryan, please don’t do this.” Kelsey begged. He stepped from behind them to see at least fifty of them walking slowly across the street. None of them had noticed them walking towards them.
“Be quiet.” Bryan whispered and began backing up. “Back up.” The three began slowly backing up and they all three turned around to head back to the store. The parking lot had become inundated with them. Kelsey whined loudly and drew the attention of both groups.
“Shut the hell up bitch.” Her new boyfriend told her. Both groups of zombies started towards them. Bryan’s head shot back and forth watching both groups. The ones from the parking lot were herding together and were close. Bryan pushed both of the cheating humans forward with the barrel of his gun, turned and began shooting the zombies that were the furthest away and running towards them. He kept shooting until he made a small path for him to make it through. He made it through and listened to them turning while he passed by as they growled loudly. He turned back and saw Kelsey surrounded and her new beau running off without her away from the herd. Bryan stopped and dropped his chin to his chest. He knew he wasn’t going to leave her to be eaten. Bryan ran back through the herd he had just made it through, grabbing his filet knife from his boot. He stabbed three of them that were hanging on to Kelsey. He pulled her by her arm to him and began swinging the filet knife while pushing Kelsey behind him and backing away from the rest that were headed toward them.
“Kelsey, run!” Bryan shouted behind him. He heard her bare feet hitting the pavement, turned and followed her. The herd behind them had gotten confused and split when Bryan ran through them and then back. The two ran down the road, off the side and into the woods.
“Bryan wait!” Kelsey hollered as he passed her. Bryan stopped and turned
remembering that she was only in a sheet and no shoes. He scanned the wooded area and ran back to her.
“Kelsey you have to get up and get away from these things. Come on.” He took off his jacket he had worn on the plane and wrapped around her. Kelsey slid her arms in the jacket that was oversized on her.
“Thank you Bryan. I’m sorry.” She told him as she started to walk on through the woods.
“No time to deal with that now. Let’s go.” He told her. The two walked slowly while they caught their breath. Bryan put his knife back in his boot and grasped his rifle from behind his back. He
shouldered it and peered around the woods down the barrel. Kelsey
followed close and watched behind them while hanging onto Bryan’s shirt.
A growling sound came from the side, Bryan swerved his gun toward the noise and waited for the growler to make his appearance. He squatted down, hoping that it was only one. Kelsey squatted down behind him still keeping watch behind them. A tall man made himself known from behind a tall mesquite bush and growled again. He stopped and stuck his nose in the air and bobbed his head from one side to the other sniffing the air. Bryan took aim and took the shot. He hit him in the side of the head and he dropped to the
ground. Bryan stood and started to walk, Kelsey stood back before she started walking to follow. She began to cry and dropped to her knees. Bryan stopped when he heard her sobs.
“Kelsey get up, we ain’t got time for this shit.” Bryan voiced over his shoulder without turning around.
Kelsey sobbed again and then
sucked in a deep breath and stood up. She wiped her face and began to walk on. They made their way through the thick woods with cautious steps. They came upon another road and slowly approached an opened area. Bryan bent down and began walking while stooped over. Kelsey followed his lead. A few of the undead were walking slowly down the road around abandoned cars. Bryan turned putting his finger to his lips at Kelsey. He squatted down and watched as they passed. The two straightened up and walked onto the road. The asphalt was hot on Kelsey’s feet and the wind was whipping up into the jacket she had wrapped around her. Bryan kept an eye on her as well as the secluded highway and abandoned vehicles.
Four more of these growling eaters rounded a truck and came directly at them. Bryan did not have time to grab for his gun or knife. He pushed the first one to knock it into the others. That gave him time to grab his knife. He gouged the knife through the first one’s eye and pulled it out. He thrust it again into the skull of the second one and withdrew it, making sure that he kept a good grip. The third and fourth staggered towards them while Kelsey grabbed the rifle off of
Bryan’s shoulder and slid it down his arm quickly. Before Bryan was able to grab the gun, Kelsey had it
shouldered and aimed at him. Bryan turned to look at her. She had it pointed at him. He looked at her, then back at the other two zombies headed for him and back at her again.
“So are you going to shoot them or me?” He asked. The first of the two grabbed on to his shoulder and Bryan slid his knife into its temple and back out pushing him to the side and then went for the other one. He stabbed it underneath the chin and pulled his knife out before he fell.
He turned to Kelsey. “Gun!” He requested holding out his hand. Kelsey shook her head no at him and kept it glued to her shoulder. “I’m going to keep it with me.” She told him.
Bryan didn’t argue since it was pointed at him.
“I see a big shopping center up ahead, let’s go.” Kelsey instructed. Bryan tuned and walked toward the large sign. After an hour or so, they reached the parking lot of a mall. They continued walking from the road into the large parking lot toward the Sears sign that covered a side of the building.