I made my way through the first floor of the sprawling ranch home, clearing each room with the aid of the tactical light mounted on my AR. As I worked my way towards the basement, I hoped that the batteries would hold out just a little bit longer. I had lost track of the last time I had changed them.
I worked my way slowly down the stairs, as the glass block basement windows let in just enough light to cast eerie shadows across the floor of the unfinished basement. It was just as I came to the landing that I saw them.
There were two shadowy figures that were wavering from side to in the darkness, hovering over a body on the floor in front of them. They looked up at their own shadows, cast upon the wall in front of them as I brought my tactical light on them for a better view. As my light brought greater detail to the shadowy figures, the bright reflection of the word “POLICE” along the back of one of them shot back at me.
The intensity of the reflection blinded me momentarily as I tried to readjust my eyes in the darkness. As I looked back to the figures, they were now facing me, eyes burning bright yellow in response to my presence. My hand shook as I steadied my aim, as I was now faced with two friends who had turned.
It was clear that Geoff was wearing his tactical gear, complete with body armor and helmet. Trying to pull a head shot off would be nearly impossible under these conditions. Mike would be an easier hit, but in doing so would give Geoff ample time to reach me before I could defend myself. I decided to do the only thing I could do – run.
I ran back up the stairs and out towards the garage. I could hear the screeching from behind as Geoff and Mike, now zombies, tried to race their way upstairs. They were hindered by the stairwell and it appeared to slow them down, as I was able to get outside before they even left the basement. I got on my two-way and called in my ride.
I went out the gate to the front yard, securing it as I closed it behind me. A zombie in full tactical gear was not something I wanted to deal with. We needed to get out of the area and back to the safe house.
As I ran to the driveway, there were dozens of zombies milling about and in my direct path to safety. Tool and Eric had been looping the block in opposite directions, in an apparent attempt to confuse the zombies and keep them from overtaking the street. Eric was coming up fast and I began to make my way down the driveway as he went off road in an effort to meet me there.
There were more zombies coming from every direction once they caught sight of me. Some were running, others in a slow lumbering walk, but they were intent on the same goal of devouring me. Tool was coming up the yards in the opposite direction and it looked as though he was coming straight for me.
As Eric pulled up, Tool passed behind me within a few feet. I could feel the rush from the passenger side mirror across my back as he went by. The loud thud and accompanying crunching noise that ensued told me that he just saved my ass, as he drove a zombie up and into the garage door of Geoff’s house. The overhead door crumpled and crashed down on top of the Hummer upon impact.
I jumped in with Eric, bloody hands grabbing at me as I pulled myself in. Eric was still moving and I had to slam the door several times to break free from the runners who were trying desperately to grab onto me. As I looked back, I saw that Tool and Justin were now surrounded and hung up on the fallen door. White smoke billowed from the driveway apron as Tool floored it in reverse. The number of zombies grew and a large crowd had gathered at the back of the vehicle, rocking its large frame from side to side. As Eric swung around to help, I was thinking that the zombies might unknowingly help free them with all of the force they were applying to it.
Eric pulled up across the street and it was as if we were invisible. The horde of zombies gathering were now solely focused on Tool and Justin, as if they sensed the distress they were in and realized that they were the easiest prey. From the angle we were at, I couldn’t get a shot off at the crowd without risk of hitting Tool or Justin. We watched in horror as Tool desperately tried to get the vehicle unstuck from the wreckage he had created to save my life.
“Holy shit,” Eric said as we looked on, “what in the fuck is that?”
Climbing over the fallen garage door, and onto the front hood of the Hummer, was an armor clad zombie. Geoff had apparently made it up the stairs from the basement and was now making his way outside to be with his ‘kind’. The smoke stopped billowing as Tool placed the transmission back into drive, followed again by reverse, trying to rock the vehicle out of the wedge. This motion threw Geoff off to the side, knocking over several zombies as he landed.
“That would be Geoff,” I replied as we continued to look on, “we need to do something – start honking the horn!”
“Do what? Are you fucking crazy?”
“They don’t care about us,” I said pointing to the gathered herd and stragglers that were making their way over to the group, “they’re focused only on them! We need to divert their attention!”
Eric began honking the horn. There was no response from the zombies so I rolled the window down and scoped in on the group.
“What are you doing? You’re going to kill them!” Eric yelled as I brought the assault rifle up.
“If I do, it’ll be better than if they get eaten by those things! Trust me, I just need to thin out the herd and get their attention!”
I began scoping in on the crowd, aiming for the thigh and knees of the growing group of hungry undead. As I began to fire, there was little attention paid to the shots as they hit their mark. Bones shattered, and damaged legs folded, as they were broken by the gunfire and could no longer support the weight above them.
I was yelling at the top of my lungs as I continued to shoot, when a runner slammed into the window behind Eric. What looked like bloody stomach bile was splashed onto the window from the impact, as the zombie proceeded to screech and claw at the thin pane of glass separating us. Eric hit the gas and veered to the right, slamming into several more zombies that were heading our way. I pulled my muzzle back in and closed the window as Eric swung back around towards Tool and Justin.
Eric plowed through the group, pushing the masses against the left rear corner of the Hummer. The group of bodies acted like a cushion as Eric proceeded to straighten out the rear end for Tool to get more traction.
“Get it in reverse!” I shouted into the two-way radio.
Tool responded with the gunning of the engine and thick white billow of smoke as he slammed on the gas in reverse. There was a loud groaning sound as metal ground on metal, but he began to move slowly backwards and broke free.
Eric lost traction as he pressed on, causing the vehicle to careen to a hard right, pinning the vehicles side by side, with several undead caught in the middle. With Tool in reverse, and Eric in drive, we made our way down the driveway like a turtle on a slip and slide. The transmission lunged and locked as we struggled to get traction on all of the bodies and spilled entrails that began to mount under our tires.
Suddenly there was a loud gunshot, followed by another. As I looked around, I saw a zombie running towards us, which was ripped in half as another shot rang out. I looked back and could see Geoff’s armored form rising to his feet through the thick mess on our rear window. I was hoping that he had come back to the living just enough to help us out of this mess and was making a final stand in our defense.
As the next shot rang out, it became apparent that it was not Geoff who was firing. The shot hit Geoff in the right thigh mid-stride, shattering the femur and shearing the leg off completely. His armored frame came down face first into the disemboweled zombie below. He continued to try and pull himself upright, clawing his way through the mess.
“Look!” Eric yelled pointing to a house across the street.
We saw what appeared to be a teen lying prone with a scoped rifle, firing off cover shots as we made our way to the street. The gun appeared to be a high caliber sniper rifle, and the boy was doing a fine job with it.
Eric continued to drive over the curb and up towards the house as t
he boy sprung to his feet and came over to the edge, sniper rifle in hand. Eric swung the vehicle around, giving the boy the opportunity to jump from the roof onto the moving car. He came crashing down and I scrambled to unlock the door as he hit the ground on my side.
I jumped out and while opening the back door, helped the young man to his feet and into the H3. With a firm push he was in and I leapt back into the passenger side as Eric spun off, following behind Tool who was now making a clear path out of the subdivision. I thought Eric was being a little presumptuous that there wasn’t anyone else with the young man who needed saving, but then again he hadn’t hesitated at getting down to us.
“Is there anyone with you?” I asked as we drove off.
“No,” he said as he straightened himself out and looked over his rifle, “I’m all that’s left.”
“Not anymore you aren’t,” I replied with a smile, “I’m Griff and this is Eric.”
“I’m Logan,” he said as he held up his hand like we were in a class giving roll call.
“Glad to meet you Logan. Now let’s get you someplace where you can get a hot meal.”
“And a shower,” Eric said as he opened the window just a crack.
While we made our way back to the freeway and back to Tommy’s, I felt a pit in my stomach for not being able to save my Aunt, Geoff and Mike. I couldn’t figure out how they made it all that way, only to have turned. The bullet holes in the car that was left in the garage, in addition to the condition of the SRT vehicle, seemed to indicate that there was more than the undead Geoff had to contend with. It was devastating that they had come so far simply to lose everything.
I would have felt even worse for putting everyone’s life in jeopardy during the whole rescue attempt if it hadn’t been for our rescue at the end. I was thankful to have found at least one survivor along the way. I’m sure our new friend Logan had a tale to tell, and we were sure to learn all about it in good time.
Thank you for reading the second installment of Zombie Reign, as there is much more in store for Griff and the other survivors! The third installment, Zombie Reign 3: Refuge, will be coming soon!
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Table of Contents
Copyright
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Other book of the author
Table of Contents
Copyright
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Other book of the author
Zombie Reign (Book 2): Rescue in Detroit Page 10