New Beginnings

by A. H. Frederick

  "Think faster!" I yelled. The door Sestra and I were holding started to get hit harder on from the other side as more zombies focused on our door, pushing us back a couple of inches. We tried to push it back as hard as we could, but they managed to get two arms inside as they continue to push it open. They started to claw the wall beside us.

  "Puuuuush!" I yelled and together we pushed on the door with enough force to crush their arms till they fell off beside us as the door closes. Suddenly a loud screech came from the other side of the door. Could it be from the same zombies that lost their arms, or from the spider zombie?

  "Thank god there’s only three doors!" I joked, but only Sestra gave a meaningless smile to humor me.

  "They got in! Help us!" Someone from the back door yelled. I grabbed my pistol as the screams of the members filled the room and some fled to us, only to let us watch as they were caught in the zombie’s grasp and bitten into. The other three that were standing ready to open fire, stood up and faced the horde and opened fire. I tried to aim my pistol and hold the door at the same time, managing to take out a few that I could before I had to reload.

  "If we could get to the second floor, maybe we can block the door to the stairs and hold up there to buy some time." I thought out loud. I then looked at Lisa.

  "We can sneak by, but what of the others?" She questioned. I looked to Sestra and she nodded. “What does that mean?” Lisa questioned, but she soon realized that we have to abandon them.

  "Well, it's now or never. Hold this until I get back." I said, then went to the barrels that were across the room and managed to roll one over to them by pushing it with my foot, but the zombie horde noticed me and looked up at me from one of the members I didn’t know. That’s when I realized the gun shots were only coming from where John and the white coats were.

  “Alex duck!” Lisa yelled and when I did, she shot a zombie that was sneaking up on me. I looked behind to find it laying there and the other zombies took notice.

  “I time to go! You two go to the second floor! I need to find John!” I yelled. The zombies tried to break through the door, but the barrel was too heavy for them. I watched as the barrel was shaking back and forth, meaning it won’t hold there for long. Sestra then grabbed my arm, looking up at me with tears in her eyes. I looked down at her, grabbing her hand and giving it to Lisa.

  “Come on Sestra! He’s going to be ok!” Lisa yelled and they both ran to the roof, Sestra looking back at me. I looked back at her, then I had to get to John as quick as I could.

  "John!" I yelled as Sestra and Lisa rushed past the zombies and went up the stairs as I ran to John through a path through the zombie group they created.

  "Alex, why aren't you holding the front door?" He yelled over the gun fire while the door he held started to slowly become open. I looked around and saw a two by four and placed it against the door and John found nails and a hammer while I leaned against the door while he nailed the wood to the wall.

  "We lost most of the base, as you can see. If we can get to the second floor door. We can block that narrow path there and buy us some time to plan our next action!" I suggest. He took a moment to decide as he gets pushed back and forth from the door and the scientist that had to step back from the undead slowly coming closer to us. "John! Time is of the essence here!" I yelled after I reloaded my pistol.

  "Ok, ok! Let's do it!" He yelled, then I looked at the scientists and noticed that two had fallen and the others still fighting agreed. John then opened the door beside us and ran through. I followed him, making sure the others did as well, but one of the scientists got grabbed and dragged into the horde. His screams were muffled when I slammed the door behind the only white coat left.

  “David, no.” The white coat said softly.

  “We have to move!” I yelled, pushing him towards the hallway to snap him back into the situation we were in. He ran in front of me, holding his rifle in his hands as we raced down the dark hallway until we caught up to John and we took a left. We ended up back to the living room and it was empty, besides the half eaten corpses. It was a grim site, but we ran past them. We then found the door to the stairs and rushed up them to find that a few of the undead had followed the girls.

  "Duck!" Someone told me from behind. When John and I did so and the white coat behind me unleashed a full clip into them. I looked at him with shock because he could have easily gotten us in that bullet spray and we were lucky he didn’t. We then walked to the door and John pounded on it with his fist.

  "No, you don't know that's the-" Lisa's voice came from behind the door. Sestra then opened it and was shocked to see us because she had her rifle pointed at us and was about to fire. Lisa looked at me dumb founded and I glared at her as we walked in. When John closed the door behind us I turned to him, leaning against an empty desk by the window.

  "So, now what?" Lisa asked with her arms crossed.

  "I'm thinking." John and I said in sync, we looked at each other and I smiled, but he just looked around the room and in the hall until I looked out the window and saw that we could climb down to the ground and I figured it was the only way out. I opened it and looked down to see that the undead are still focused on getting in and not on the open door behind the building. I then looked over to Sestra who stood beside me.

  "Looks like we can sneak past them if we get to the backside of the building."

  "Can you see the others?" John asked as he had overheard our plan. I looked out to the storage area and there were many corpses of our fallen members. I continued to look around, hoping to find someone, but I didn't see any signs of life.

  "Sorry, it doesn't look like it." I said, hiding the sorrow of seeing dead people and being eaten. John sighed and brushed his hand through his hair as he paced back and forth. I then climbed out of the window and stood on the shingled roof where our kitchen would be. Sestra followed me, but Lisa and the white coat hesitated, looking at John. John looked back at them and came to the conclusion to follow my lead, but looked broken inside, but Lisa grabs John's hand as they walked down the roof top to the back end of the building. I looked down to make sure that it was clear, then we jumped down to the cement. I looked around and saw that it was still clear, but we could hear the hollow breathing from inside the base. I lead the way to the gate door that had collapsed from the explosion of the grenades. We then heard the snapping of wood and looked behind us to find that the zombies had finally broken through the boarded windows, letting in even more of the undead inside the now life empty building we once called home. I sighed, then looked over to my unit and saw that I could enter it since it was clear and I left the metal door open. I then remembered that I had an emergency bag inside with a week’s worth of food and water. I quickly rushed to it, keeping my attention on the base. I didn’t draw any attention to myself and so I searched my room quickly, finding my bag and a few clips of ammo for my sniper and rifle that I was still carrying, I then felt the sword sheathe to make sure that the sword was still inside and I was relieved that it was. I then sneaked bag, holding the knapsack in my hand and returned to them. “We must leave before our luck runs out.” I said softly, then carefully ran down the hill with Sestra beside me. Once we reached the bottom of the hill, I stopped, breathing heavily from the run and looked behind us to find that everyone had followed my lead, but John looked upset towards me. At this point it didn’t matter, but I wished he would have said he appreciated me taking lead when he couldn’t. Once everyone got their breath back, John took the lead.

  “We have to keep moving now.” He said directly to me.

  "Great, more walking." The white coat complained.

  "Did we tell you to speak?" John snapped.

  "Well, excuse me!" The white coat sassed.

  "It's your fault my people, my friends, died back there and at what cost? So some white coat can complain!" John yelled.

  "John! Your voice, we don't want another run in with a horde and their cost was to get us out alive, which is what happened." I
said.

  "Since when did I take orders from a kid!" He yelled without looking at me. I got mad and turn him to face me.

  "Since you failed to protect us!" I yelled. He looked at me with rage and hatred. "It's no one's fault, but your own, you were in control of the people, our forces. Yet you still didn’t prepare an exit route, or even emergency plans to get at least more than half of our people out of there. Look at us! Only five people made it out of there!" I continued to yell, then walked past him, slamming my shoulder against his and Sestra walked past to keep up with me.

  "I don't have to take that from you!" He yelled, making me stop and look back at him.

  "Then leave!" I yelled back, then walked away from him. A moment went by and I could see the gears working in his head before he spoke again.

  "I always wondered what really happened to Trevor." John spoke that made me stop in my tracks. "I always found it fishy that the first ever mission he goes on, he gets killed. I mean, he was capable of surviving on his own, even with you for years, then he comes into our group and teaches everyone else how to survive, then he goes on his first mission and gets killed." I looked up at him as he stands in front of me, looking to find a reaction to me. He wanted me to be hurt, but I didn’t let him get to me. I continued to walk, hoping Sestra won’t punch or kick him.

  "Was it a promise, Alex?" He continued. I tried my hardest to focus walking and looking out for the undead.

  "Was it!" John yelled. I couldn’t hold it in and abruptly turned to him and gripped his throat into my grasp, digging my nails inside his neck.

  "You should be careful in the wild, a predator may kill you. In this world, anything can kill you." I said through gritted teeth, trying to take back control from my anger. Fear flooded into his eyes and when I let go, he stood in shock at me and I left him there. I looked back to see if he was following, but he had started walking in a different direction and Lisa soon ran to his side. The white coat decided to stay with us and caught up to our pace.

  "So, where are we going?" he said. I sighed, annoyed by the question.

  "We're going to the police station to get some ammo and a place to stay for the day."

  "Wouldn't that place be emptied out by now?" he asked. The station comes into view because of the curve of the smaller hill we were on. Suddenly the pain from my injuries came rushing back, but I still tried to keep my pace, but with each step I could feel myself getting slower as the pain grew. Sestra being her concern self-beside me, she signed what’s wrong?

  "My plan is to stay there for a few days actually to scout around and find a better place." I said through the pain to put my foot in front of the other, but I began to slow my pace until my legs began to scream in pain, making me breathe heavily. We were only a block away from the police station now and I had to put my arm around Sestra’s shoulders to continue our journey. Suddenly a zombie comes out of the forest beside us and charged the white coat and he was quick enough to block it with his gun pressed up against its chin, so it couldn’t bite down. Sestra brought out her pistol and lined up the shot, but she couldn’t take it because it would then kill the white coat. I sighed and struggled to stand up. I then drew my sword and placed the very tip to its neck to make sure I won’t slice the white coat. I then took a big swing and sliced through the zombie’s neck, decapitating it. The zombie froze, then its head slowly slid off as its body collapsed, releasing blood, spraying all of us with it. I sheathed my sword to grab the cape of my cloak and found a clean spot to wipe my face off and did the same for Sestra and the white coat. When I sheathed my sword, the adrenaline soon wore off once again and Sestra was there to partially drag me the rest of the way to the police station. Sestra sat me down beside the door and tried to open the door, but it was locked. I looked at the sword and found that there was barrels that were the same as a 40 mm grenade that belongs to a grenade launcher. I was fascinated by it and wondered how it work. I pointed it down the road and saw the aiming white dots were there. I then tried to find the button to reload, but I didn’t find it and so I assumed I would have to I would have to just put it in manually. Sestra got the door opened by picking it and went in first while the scientist helped me to stand. When we got inside, Sestra was aiming at a man who was in the door way of the kitchen and he has his sights on Sestra.

  "Who are you?" He said in a minor Irish accent. I got out of the white coat's grip and could barely stand beside Sestra and placed my hand on the wall to keep my balance.

  Chapter 4:

  New beginning, new people.

  "We just need a place to stay! Please!" I yelled. I read his expression and saw he was considering whether to help or kill. He kept looking at me.

  "Ok, let’s just put our guns down and we can just hang here together." I suggested, placing my hand on Sestra's rifle to make her lower it. At this time I was hunched over and you could see the concern in the man’s face and so he begins to lower his own until a bang came from zombies slamming into the door, making him shoot my foot and Sestra shot in between the man's feet.

  "It came from the door!" I yelled quickly, standing in between them before I fell against the wall, feeling my chest until I saw my blood staining my boot. I quickly took my combat boot off and saw a hole in my sock and in between my big toe and the one next to it. My foot was bleeding like a fountain. I then carefully took my sock off as the white coat pushes against the door to keep the zombies out. I sat against the wall with my foot bare and bleeding out as the man stood there looking down at it, then gets into his bag and kneels in front of me.

  "Since I shot you, I should fix it as much as I can." He said, still searching in his bag.

  "Thanks." I said sarcastically, cautious about what he might do. Sestra aim down at the man and as I watched him, he dug out a bite guard from his bag.

  "Here, bite down on this." The man said, placing it in between my teeth. He then brings out peroxide and hesitates on pouring it on my foot, then looks up at me. “You have to trust me.” He said, looking up at me. I nodded and he sighed, pouring it over the wound, making it sting with more pain than my whole body was. Biting the guard hard, gripping my pant leg until the pain slowly soothes away, but making a sound the whole time. "You’re a tough one. How old are you?" The man asks.

  "Eighteen." I answered through the guard. The banging gets louder and Sestra went to help the white coat by placing a police stick through the handles.

  "So young to be wondering around in such a small group.” He took a small pause before speaking again. “Come on, there’s bunk beds on the second floor." He said, wrapping my arm around his neck and I hopped beside him up the stairs until we got to the bunk beds.

  A week went by, the man was still around, but only at small times to only check on me, then ventures off. He went back to his hideout to resupply from the scavenging missions him and the others go on.

  "How you feeling?" He said one night as I just woke up from a nap.

  "I'm good, my foot is throbbing. Other than that, I'm good." I said, looking at my foot that has be resting on two pillows stacked on each other. The man holds out his hand to me.

  "My name's Trevor." He introduced as I shook his hand.

  "Alex." I said. Trevor moves his chair close to my foot with his bag lying beside it and starts unwrapping my bandages. When he got closer to the flesh, I started to feel the pressure to be released and a large amount of pain settled inside of it. "So, where are Sestra and the white coat?" I asked to distract me from my foot.

  "Sestra is in the armory taking inventory. Apparently the police held the station off for quite some time." He said, getting the peroxide ready. I ready myself by grabbing the blankets as he begins to pour it above my wound. I squeeze the bedding even when he had stop pouring and the red bubbles disappear. I stared at my foot and saw just a little thumb sized bullet hole in my foot and around it looks purple and swollen.

  "Hey Trevor, why is my foot purple." I asked as he was putting things back in his bag. He looks up from diggi
ng into his bag to me, then looks at my foot.

  "I'm sorry to say, your foot is infected. If I had any to fight it off besides peroxide, I would give it to you, but I don't." He said sadly. You may have a few fragments inside and that`s why it's so infected. Can you wiggle your toes?" I looked at my toes and started to wiggle them one by one until I found out I couldn't feel my pinky toe at all.

  "I can't move that one." I confessed, looking up at him.

  "You may have lost feeling in that part of your foot. You’re a lucky man." He said. He then begins to wrap my foot and when he finished, he gives me some pain killers, then left the room. I sat up on the bed and made my way to the swat room by going past two holding cells. I looked through a small slit of a window and it looked empty, until a zombie pops up from the door and scared the hell out of me. I chuckle to myself as I felt the cold glass with my hand, then held the wall with my hand as I walked on my heel of my numb foot to the swat room. When I opened the door, it was completely empty with only desks, dead computers, and scattered sheets of paper across the floor and desks. An hour later I had the papers half picked up in the room and Sestra walked in as I sat at in the desk chairs in the middle of the room, looking at a packet of papers, reading it over and over in disbelief until I looked up at her.

  "Hey." I said, placing the packet on the desk. She grabbed a chair and sat in front of me. She then signed if I was ok. "Yeah, I'm ok little one. Trevor said the bullet went through and only left a few scraps and I can't move my pinky toe. Did the white coat say anything to you?" I asked. She began to sign he has said his name a Jason, but that was all. I look back at the papers on the desk. She looked at all the other large stacks around me and wonders why I only looked at that stack beside me, so she poked my shoulder to get my attention, then signed what’s wrong? I remained silent for a moment as I carefully held the packet. Trevor and Jason found us and Jason knocked on the door.