I looked around as my mom held me and saw our people in the yard. Each one held a weapon and was using it constantly to attack. Some were firing low, and some were firing over the fence. Targets could not be missed at that range.
Every once in a while one of those things would climb over the dead carcass of its brother or sister demon and attempt to fly over the fence. And one of our people would shoot out its lights. It happened over and over as I watched. I became fatalistic watching it knowing that it was only a matter of time before one of them made it over the flimsy fence.
We looked so small in comparison to the threat that I wanted to run inside and shut all the doors and windows. Then I wanted to get under the blankets and hide. It was a terrible plan, but I had nothing.
I heard a car start and rev its engine. I let go of my mom and looked over the balcony rail. I saw Sam and a few guys surrounding this SUV. For a second they looked like they were going to attack it. They all had guns and looked worried.
I looked closer and saw that my father was inside it. I wanted to scream out to ‘stop’ and ‘don’t leave us!’ Tears filled my eyes. Then I imagined Sam or one of the guys shooting him, and I really lost it. Tears streamed down my face. I looked over and saw that my mom was crying too.
Then I stopped when I saw my dad give Sam a signal. Instantly, Sam and the guys moved to the back gate. I had no idea what he was doing. I was just filled with dread.
My dad pulled forward and gave the signal. Instantly, two men moved forward while Sam opened the gate. They shot out with both barrels right away. Zombies flew backward as they cocked their weapons and fired again and again. They parted for a split second as my dad sped through the gap. He barreled over a couple of Zombies and raced forward to the outer world. Sam and the guys shut the gate hard and fast. None of the Zeds got past their security. Thank God for that.
My dad turned toward the front driveway as a mass of those things jumped up onto the car. They pounded on the hood and windshields trying to open it to get at my father. They climbed all over him. I wanted to scream at them to stop! Then I realized this was the entire plan. I noticed gas cans and propane tanks strapped down onto the roof rack. The thing was a bomb!
Then I got really scared. That SUV was way too close to us. If it blew, it would take all of us with it. I would have run inside had I not been so awestruck. I couldn’t turn my head to look away. I was a gawker at an accident scene.
Then I heard the screams of those things get louder and louder as they attacked the car. I didn’t realize that my father had put on a CD filled with horrible shrieking music. I thought the creatures were just mad.
My dad stayed immobile. I thought the car couldn’t move- that there just was too much weight on top of it. Then all of a sudden the car took off at full speed forward into hundreds of them.
Most of the Zombies on top flew off. They hit scores of other Zombies all around. They promptly stood up and resumed their hunt. He did manage to hit a couple of dozen of them in front of him. I heard the smashing of bones even from far away. It made me cringe.
He let them get on and then gunned the engine again. He kept doing this as he crept forward. He was trying to hurt them. He really couldn’t kill them this way, but at least he was trying to injure them to make them slightly less a threat to the rest of us.
It seemed like it took forever for him to reach the driveway. For a second he stopped and then really hit the accelerator. All of a sudden, the car sped forward and then turned facing downhill. He must have spun out hundreds of the things.
They simply climbed back on top and started pounding again. They did have perseverance, I’ll give them that.
Now he was dead center of over a thousand of them facing the fires of the cars on the side of the driveway. He stayed there as more and more of those things keyed on him.
When he had enough, he gunned the car forward past the flaming cars. I saw at least two dozen of those things fly into the burning pits even as a whole bunch were ground underneath his tires. The noise kept making me cringe.
Then I saw most of the Zombies that had fallen into the flames simply stand up and attempt to move at him. Some were charred, and some were on fire themselves. What truly sent a chill up me was the fact that the Zeds simply didn’t care. They ignored their own plight and moved to feed. Most wounded animals would run and hide. These things were truly unconscious to anything but the hunger. I just couldn’t believe my eyes.
My dad stayed at the bottom of the driveway for over ten minutes while the Zombies tried to open his car like a tin can. They did their damndest to get inside at him. I had this pit in my stomach the entire time. I wanted to run and hide, but I really couldn’t. This was dreadful to me. I looked over at my mom who was crying. She was just as bad as I was. I hugged her close as we continued to look. It didn’t make either of us feel any better.
At the bottom of the hill, my dad’s car just stopped. I thought he was redoing his stopping and starting trick. Then he didn’t move at all. I became very worried. The things swarmed him ceaselessly. They moved en masse on top of him. In response, my dad did...nothing.
It was maddening. I watched downhill and ignored the incessant gunshots coming from my own home. My eyes were fixed on only that car. I sunk into despair. What had become of my daddy?
Then all of a sudden, the car moved. I screamed in happiness at the sight. We hugged each other happily for some reason. We knew the final outcome, yet we still jumped for joy.
Then the car stopped, and we went right back to being depressed. We were being maddened by his effort. All we could do was stand and stare helplessly.
Finally, we saw dad turn and face the gas station in front of the mall. My heart sank. I knew immediately what he was going to do. After ten seconds, he gunned the engine and took off at full speed. He barreled into the pumps and kept right on going. He sheared off one pump and pulled off multiple hoses.
Gasoline streamed out of the station. All around him, everything was completely soaked. There had to be over a thousand of these unwashed Zombies converging on him and the station. They ignored the gas and fixated on that car.
Finally we waited no longer. I swear I heard the sonic boom before I saw the car explode first. I screamed out in terror as the station went next. A great fireball went up surrounding the area as all the gas was consumed with a heat that was greater than anything I had ever experienced. The entire area heated up and forced me to step back through my grief.
My dad was gone and all I could think was that we had to get away as fast as we could. The heat was so bad that I was physically afraid that we would all go up in flames. It sounded like rolling thunder coming at us. I couldn’t even hear the gunshots or the moans of the Zeds over it.
I looked down for a second and saw everything had stopped. Time stood still as the fireball reached up toward the sky and then outward toward the surrounding buildings. I saw every one of us staring dumbly at this strangely beautiful sight. Even the Zeds looked up at the bright light before they continued to hunt us.
I looked back at the flames as they quickly spread. I heard the hiss and pops of burning wood and chemicals as the flames attacked the town. One by one, the homes and shops surrounding the gas station went up in flames. Each house lit another one and then another. The surrounding trees then caught fire. It spread outward in a big circle destroying everything in its path.
I heard a huge scream from the courtyard below us. Sam was running with his pistol out in front of him at something. Then I saw his gun fire again and again as he put down the first Zed. Then he took out the second and the third. The Zeds had come over the top of the gate and raced as fast as they could toward the house.
The firing of the guns increased so fast that they sounded like machine guns spraying. I heard ‘oh my God!’ from my mother as she disappeared into the bedroom. A few seconds later I heard the doors slamming shut. The windows and doors instantly bolted shut. I watched as my mother and a dozen others raced ou
tside with their weapons. They managed to reach the front gate as another hundred of those things flew up and over the gate.
The Zombies were literally streaming into the compound as we fired everything we had into them. Bullets couldn’t help but hit those things, there were so many of them. They fell quickly as our people fought as hard as they could. I saw our people form a line in front of them and fire en masse into the advancing Zeds. As soon as the first Zed line fell, they were replaced by dozens more as they raced at our parents and our friends.
This went on in the blink of the eye as the fires outside continued to incinerate everything in their path. My God, the heat was burning the skin of my face, it was so hot. I wanted to run away. I wanted to hide. I couldn’t, not because I was brave, but because I was literally frozen to the spot. I just stood there with my mouth open watching the doors to Hell open before me. I was a helpless child.
I heard a scream from below as one of those things reached a man I didn’t know. It tackled him as he put his gun into its belly. He fired again and again as it attacked him with all its venom.
He screamed as it ripped his flesh from him. I wanted to scream out for it to stop, and then I saw Sam step forward with his shotgun and fire at point blank range at both of them. The blood spray of our wounded man and the thing was unbelievable. I had nightmares from it for weeks after that. Even to this day, in times of stress, I still saw the sight behind my closed eyes.
Our people moved forward at Sam’s command toward the gate. They reloaded as they moved and fired as they could. The snipers from above continued to shoot everything they had, covering them. Finally, they reached the gate together and laid down a blistering fire onto the invaders. All the Zeds inside fell, and our people attacked all those outside with everything they had. They stopped them.
I looked up at the fire outside. The conflagration reached the whole town now. One after another, the houses all caught. They burned and spread the flames to more and more as the day progressed to night.
By evening the entire town was ablaze. Block after block lit and burned, cleansing the entire town of everything alive and dead within. There was nothing to stop it, and the heat was way too high to do anything about it anyway. The town was doomed. Flames shot up into the sky, making everything appear bright. No lights were needed to attack the Zombies as they were completely backlit by the flames.
Meanwhile, even in the dark, our people fought. They were exhausted and felt nothing by morning. By the time the sun came up, there were only about a hundred of them left to fight. We dispatched them in short order.
When the last shot had been fired our people were literally too tired to hold up their hands. The stress melted away, and the depression and the shakes started. Our people cried as they looked outside at the carnage they had wrought. There were thousands dead before them, all beginning to rot and stink. It was an unbelievable sight that rivaled any photos from Hitler’s ovens.
I looked down and saw my mom lying on the driveway holding herself. I ran downstairs to get her. By the time I got there, she was surrounded by all those that fought beside her. As I approached, my mom saw me and called me over to the entire group. We stayed that way for a good hour as the sun rose beautifully over the charred wreck of the town.
I looked out and saw hundreds of destroyed buildings still burning. Embers and ash sprinkled down on us like a light winter snow. We all wound up looking like we had gray highlights in our hair. We were all filthy and sweaty.
I kept my eyes studiously above the bodies on the ground and looked outward onto our new post apocalyptic landscape. Everything was gone but us. All the homes, trees, shrubs, and farm fields around us were completely burned out husks of their former selves. We were all alone. There was no way that there was anything left alive around us.
That thought brought tears to my eyes yet again. I looked down to where the gas station before us used to stand. I saw a burnt out hull of a former SUV. I stared at it for a few seconds in disbelief. My father started and ended all of this.
****************
We spent weeks cleaning up around us. There was no time to heal for us. We took care of the bodies, we took care of the fires so they would not reach us, and we kept ourselves so busy that we could not think about the irreparable harm that had attached itself to our group.
We all suffered, but in silence. To be sure, there was always a temporary meltdown when we could take no more. Then we went about our business, got back to work, and carried on with living, but I wasn’t sure that we could call it living at the time.
The kids knew something had changed in the hearts of all the adults and avoided us at first. They kept mostly to themselves for a while until they started to bug everyone with their nonsense. At first we yelled at them to mature up and behave. Then we started to laugh along with them as they persisted. There’s nothing like having children around to help you heal.
Over time, the open sores healed and became scars that we continuously carried inside of us. We remembered and the memories persisted, but we made more and more time to actually live. Eventually, we sometimes went days without dwelling on the misery of that time.
To be sure, we always had to stay vigilant. Despite having burned the town to the ground, there was always one of those monsters just around the corner ready to attack.
Once we cleaned up the property and made the house even more secure, we started to explore. Anything that could be salvaged, we brought into our land to be used later. We constructed new homes on our hill, we made new shelters for our stuff, we brought in new animals that we rounded up from the surrounding farms, and we started subsistence farming. We became self-sufficient and left all the supplies that my father had amassed for a rainy day that thankfully has not yet come.
Then, we started to build fences. We put up miles of impenetrable concrete from a local business around ourselves in concentric circles that encompassed virtually the entire town. It took years. We worked hard on it, and it showed.
Eventually, we welcomed new people into our home. Every few weeks, somebody would wander by with their families looking for safety. Most we accepted freely, some we turned away. If you were willing to help and become a part of our community, we wanted and welcomed you. Troublemakers, we sent away. Some people were more interested in causing harm than in helping. We got pretty good at seeing which was which fairly quickly and acted appropriately most of the time.
Vigilance was always in the front and in the back of our minds. All it would take to destroy us was allowing just one of those creatures in here. We couldn’t allow this, now or ever.
While protecting ourselves, we learned to live life to the fullest. We started to love and play while we worked at our medieval existence. We started to date and fall in love, and eventually, we had children of our own. We raised them with all our hopes and fears, just like our parents before us. And we hoped that they would raise their own children the same way in the future.
I picked up my son John and held him tight as I was finishing up my father’s story. I looked into my son’s eyes and saw my own father’s facial expressions. I only hoped that I would live up to the sacrifice that my father made for all of us.
My Last Testament Page 21