The Dead Series (Book 1): Dead Nightmares

by James Lawrence Jr.

  I looked through the back window and saw through the rain, one familiar person on the top of the trunk. I stared for a little while then realized who it was, I turned in the seat and tugged my brother’s soaking wet shirt, “It's Carey, it's Carey!!” I thought my brother would be worried, but he started laughing.

  Carey must have heard him because he got angrier and started shouting, “HELP HELP!!!”

  Troy turned in his seat, aimed the gun to his head and fired, saying, “I’ll help you, buddy.” The car swerved a little as the sound rattled Patrick, and Carey disappeared from view.

  Choices

  My nerves are just now starting to calm down after being back to back with danger to save my little bro, but it was worth it. I turned to see my brother looking down, eyes barely visible and a whimper here and there.

  “Cheer up bro.” I said rubbing his head. He smiled a little showing some of his missing teeth, but I could tell it was half-hearted. I turned back to the seat putting my hands over my face and sighed in relief that we have a moment to ourselves.

  “Troy, can you kill him? Keith said looking at the boy laying in the torn leather seat next to him.

  “I hate him. I don’t want him to be with us.”

  “You want to kill him? Why? What did he do?” I said looking through the rearview mirror. That completely threw me off.

  “YES!! He is a bad kid. He got Kyle killed!! Kyle was my best friend!!” He shouted getting riled in his seat. I could see the anger in his teary eyes.

  “So,...” I said holding the gun near my face examining it. “What do you want to do about it?” I placed the gun in his lap, and I see his face study the massive object. He fell silent. He looked over to the kid and back at the gun, and I could see the fear fade away and be replenished by anger. Keith grabbed the gun and pointed the gun at the kid’s head.

  “How do I shoot?” He said wavering his voice. I smiled, “Just pull the little trigger bro, he will be a problem no more.” The air became stiff and time seemed to drag on for hours. I could hear his thoughts through the silent air. Keith put the gun down, and I snatched the gun.

  “It’s a lot harder to kill someone than you thought isn’t it?” I said bragging a little, Keith could sense that and crossed his arms looking out the window.

  “Even if you shot him, it wouldn’t bring back Kyle, and the pain would remain,” I said while turning back in the seat.

  “You keep smiling and be happy. I’ll worry about everything else.”

  I looked out the window and saw the streets filled with people fleeing their houses with loved ones chasing them, blood running down the pale torn up skin and clothes. So much screaming it was starting to drown out the radio. I grinned in delight, look at our new wonderland. All the dumb people in the world reverting to savages. Patrick sways to avoid hoards of crazies bent over in the middle of the street feasting in the rain.

  “So what should we call them?” Pat said glancing out the window. I look at one in particular running after a lady missing some of her hair.

  “We should call them Gluttons.”

  “Glutton sounds stupid bro, what about crazies, or psychopaths,” Pat said grinning.

  “Nah I like mine, Gluttons. It’s the definition of what they do, an excessively greedy overeater. I could see at the corner of my eye Keith flinching.

  “I want to go home.” Keith cried in an exhausted manner. 63

  “I want mom and dad.” I didn’t bother turning around, I continued looking out the window. Keith raised his voice and started tugging my shirt, “I want to go HOME!”

  “WE can’t go back home. If we go home, it won’t be safe. We have to keep moving and get out of town.” I said turning my head slightly back.

  “Why do we have to go? I want to see mom and dad first. Can we go get them first?” He persistently objected.

  “NO! Shut up about it,” I yelled, starting to get mad. “NO TROY, I WANT TO SEE THEM” “Why are you acting bratty just chill. They are probably not even home.” He lowered his voice a little. I could tell I hit a weak spot.

  “If they saw there was danger going on outside then they would have left home already right?” I said trying to get him to stop and think.

  He was quiet for a second and then reluctantly said, “ok.” 64

  Pat interrupts us, “Hey we are running low on gas man, we got to stop at a gas station.”

  “I can’t believe that cheapskate can't keep his gas tank filled,” I said looking over to Patrick disappointedly. I look down at my bent, bloody, old friend, grabbed it by the handle and put the gun in my pants. I signaled Pat to stop at the gas station around the corner. We came to the alleyway on the backside of the building.

  “Why don’t we park in front, we need gas?” Pat said as he put the car in park.

  “We don’t need any extra attention drawn to ourselves, plus if something happens, it’s easier to escape,” I said while checking to see if the coast was clear. I could hear shrieking but could not see anyone.

  “Listen. Stay here and protect my little brother and the other kid. Keep the car running and if I am not back here in ten minutes leave the city.” I said exiting the car.

  I shut the door and started walking, the back seat window went down and a small head popped out, “You better come back!” Keith said with a shaky voice. I grinned and kept walking not turning back. I didn’t want the last thing I say to be a lie to him.

  Supply Run

  I turned the corner of the brick gas station and nearly ran into a male Glutton in his early thirties. I ducked behind the edge and peered over. It seems he didn’t notice. It was standing there just looking at the wall, twitching, breathing fast and looking in a daze. I could see that past him were swarms of people going in and out of the store. A woman in her late forties came out of the store and ran in the direction the Glutton was in. The Glutton seemed to wake out of his daze, waited for the woman to run past him and then did the weirdest thing. It threw it’s chest forward to the ground until I heard cracking noises coming from his back and then shrieked, running after the woman like a dog. She didn’t make it far until powerful jaws locked around her neck and dropped her to the ground.

  “Shit,” I whispered to myself and continued on my mission managing to get into the store and grabbed a handcart. I walked down the crowded aisles; grabbing can foods, toilet paper and putting them in my handcart. I can barely see 3 feet in front of me. There are different colors of people fighting amongst themselves. Walking to the register. I felt the handcart yank out of my hand from behind me. I turned in sudden rage but then quickly to embarrassment to see that it was a little girl about the age of ten.

  “Where the hell are your parents?” I said trying to snatch back my stuff. She swayed into the swarm of people and Gluttons . I push and shove to find her but she disappears into the crowd. Frustrated, I turn and continue to the counter. I see the store owner yelling at customers who are grabbing and dashing away with his merchandise. He walks around the counter and then bends over, grabs a broom off of the muddy floor then begins to thrust and shove the freeloaders on the head trying desperately to get them out. Seeing these efforts in vain. The store owner flips the broom around to the wood side and starts flaring at both Gluttons and humans alike. From out of nowhere a gunshot rings out in the air as the store owner’s life fades from his tired and heavy body. His clothes now soak in the new red color emerging from his chest. He falls to the ground and not long after he collapse on the floor. Swarms of Gluttons cover his body, ripping him apart and dining on his innards. I jump the messy wet counter and scan over the screen of the computer to find the buttons for gas. I turn on pump two and looked underneath the counter. I find a red gas container. I decide to give up on supplies for now. Instead I grabbed the container, hopped the counter and headed for the exit.

  Midway through the store, I saw a Glutton eyeballing me; smiling. The Glutton appeared to be a male in its fifties, and he was looking at me like he wanted my body in more
ways than one. Once our eyes met. It opened its mouth revealing some broken sharp teeth. This was one of the most sickening things I have ever seen. He started walking to me and then stopped, his back started dropping like the other Glutton I saw outside and I heard very nasty crackling noises. The Glutton began to shriek and run at me. I ran as fast as I could toward the exit door, but it didn't look like I could outrun it.

  As fate would have it, I saw the little girl again who stole my basket. She was standing towards the aisle that was closest to the exit. I turned back to see that the Glutton was closing in on me. I reached out in front of me grabbing back my basket and yanked that little girl by the hair directly behind me. I could hear her screams even after the door shut.

  Hijacked

  I looked out the window and saw people being mean and fighting other people for their stuff.

  “How long is Troy going to be, why are people acting crazy?” I said looking out the window.

  Patrick turned in his seat and said, “When people get scared of what’s going on, they panic. They start fighting each other for things they-” The passenger side door shatters, and an older man jumps into the car holding a duffel bag full of stuff and puts a gun to Pat’s head.

  With a raspy voice, he hissed, “Drive!”

  “We are waiting for my friend, he is going to be back any minute,” Patrick said trying to be brave. A blur of the man’s hand throws Patrick’s face forward as red blood covers the dashboard.

  “I said DRIVE!!” He screamed at Patrick holding the gun inches from his head. This is the kind of stuff you see on TV not in real life. The moment was super cool and really scary at the same time. I started to inch closer to grab him, but I was noticed too soon.

  “Don’t you fucking move!! Sit back there and play along or I will blow ya damn brains out!!” he yelled throwing me back to my seat effortlessly.

  Patrick started the car and started driving slowly down the alleyway. I glared at this man, angry and confused. I sat there gripping the torn leather tightly.

  “Why are you taking our car, what did we do to you,” I said trying to sound convincing.

  “I have to get back to my daughter and wife. My time is running out you would not understand. I have no choice.” he said refusing to take the gun off Patrick.

  “Why didn’t you ask for help, I don’t think this is the best route of getting help,” Patrick said trying to remain calm.

  “I did but no one wants to help another out, remember this one thing kid, in this world all people care about is helping out number one before even thinking about the number twos.” he turned to me and grinned a little. I didn’t understand why peeing was more important to him than pooping, but it sounded funny. I started chucking a little, the man turned in his seat and stared at me a little bit before lowering his gun.

  “You know my daughter is about your age,” he said as a grin overtook his low expression. “What’s your name?

  “Keith,” I said proudly. “What is your name?

  “My daughter’s name is Kai’ry,” he said while almost breaking out in tears. “She is my little angel.” he paused for a second and continued, “No matter what kind of shit day I’m having at my pathetic job, she would be home waiting for me. My wife would be home cleaning my dirty work clothes, washing dishes, and cleaning but I never would thank her. I always assumed she knows how much she means to me dealing with that and me never being home.”

  He fell apart like a dam, and it became harder and harder to understand him as he spoke.

  “I MISS THEM SO MUCH. THEY ARE MY LOVE AND LIGHT IN THIS WORLD!!” he said balling his eyes out. I guess we were too loud because the jerk right next to me woke up.

  “WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON!!” Mike said as he rose up from his seat then stared at me.

  “You shouldn’t be here you should have been eaten.” I said bitterly looking down on mike.

  “Sit still back there!” he said putting the gun at Mike. Mike’s eyes lit up, and he hurried and tried to unlock the door and jump out. The man put the weapon down, jumped to the back seat, grabbed ahold of mike and started trying to force a seat belt on him. Patrick tried jumping for the gun in Robert's lap, but he felt it and grabbed his hand pushing it into the back seat. The car slammed forward, and it flipped into the air, we all tumbled through the air like clothes in a dryer. The headrest broke off, hit me in the face, and everything went black.

  A Force To Reckoned With

  I put the cap on the gas container, picked up my bat and started running for the back corner that leads to the alleyway. I hate all this continually watching over my shoulder business. It is nerve-wracking. I cut the corner quickly and looked over my shoulder, my chest heavy with exhaustion. I saw a little further up, the Glutton still on the ground munching away. I caught my breath and continued jogging to the alleyway to see the car gone. I looked up at the sky seeing that the rain was letting up, I pulled out my cell phone and saw it was 11:28am.

  “Fuck, I was too slow.” I started walking down the alley slowly putting my hands in my pocket.

  “Well at least I know they got out-” I stared at the ground by my feet to see quite a bit of broken glass. I looked over the area, and the more I think about it, the more I think the car was precisely sitting right here. My legs started running before I can finish thinking, my anxiety taking hold of my body. I couldn't stop thinking that something was wrong, and I started becoming more panicky as I ran. After what seemed like an eternity of chasing a thought, I saw further down what looked like the car flipped over on top of another vehicle. I bent over in exhaustion and looked over to the wreckage. I approached carefully as to make sure it was not full of Gluttons , “last thing I need is another chase”, I thought.

  I saw an unfamiliar man’s head poking out of the car. His face was bloody, and he was unconscious.

  I was about to walk away until I heard a faint voice call out to me, “Troy?” It was so weak I could have easily missed it. I turned around, called to the sound, but I couldn’t hear anything. Maybe it was my imagination, I might have tried to fool myself to get my hopes up. I walked away and started trying to figure out my next plan to get the heck out of here.

  “Troy!” the voice yelled out in pain. I ran over knowing that it was Pat’s voice, I came over to see that he has been flipped out of the car and slid three feet from the crash. I bent over and helped Pat sit up.

  “Hey, what happened, who is that dude?” I said looking over Pat’s torn up clothes.

  “That guy smashed the passenger side window, jumped into the car, held a gun to my head and told me to drive,” Pat responded, rubbing his ribs from the impact.

  “How did you end up crashing, this was a good escape car?”

  “The kid in the back seat you hit with the baseball bat woke up and tried to jump out, and the guy wrestled with him to stay in the car.” I rose up and turned to the direction of the car to see my little brother motionless, my anger ate as much hatred it could fill up on. I pried open the crushed passenger side door and dragged the man out of the car by his coat. When I had him entirely out, I could see his leg seemed broken, I dropped him on the ground near Pat. With a howl of terror and anguish, the man woke up to me slamming my bat into his kneecap.

  “AAAAAHHH, WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR!!” he screamed rolling on the ground nearly brought to tears.

  “Do you have any idea what you have done?” I said slapping the bat into my hand repeatedly.

  “NO, YOU CRAZY FUCKER. ARE YOU AFTER MY MONEY CUZ I DON’T HAVE ANY. DO I KNOW YOU?” He wailed holding his bleeding leg.

  “No you don’t, but,” I said pointing to Pat “ You messed with him and more importantly-” I turned and pointed to the flipped car. “ You fucked with my little brother’s safety.”

  “I’m sorry man I really needed help, and I didn’t know. Can you please just let me be on my way?”

  “Sure. I’ll send you on your way.” I said smiling. I grabbed the bat firmly and came down hard like rain
on his injured leg.

  “TO HELL!!” With every smack of the bat and every cry of pain I sensed a feeling of euphoria. It was fucking exhilarating, I felt the bones crackle through the metal bat, it made me more hyper to come down harder sometimes missing his leg and eventually wholly missing his leg. I could feel the horror in Pat’s heart, and it egged me on to do more bad.

  “Pwease lgeg we gwou! Ium swoury!” he pleaded but not understanding him made me angrier. I dropped the bat and walked back to the car. I searched the ceiling of the car and found the gun he had. I walked back to the bloody scene to see this “badass” weakly crawling away still mumbling and blubbering. I pointed the gun at his head and pulled the trigger.

  “You didn’t need to do that.” Pat said walking over and taking the gun from me.

  “I know. I just wanted to. It felt good,” I said looking down at my hands.

  “So what do we do now?” Pat said looking around at the aftermath.

  “We should find somewhere to camp out.

  “What happened out here, “A voice behind me said lifting my spirits. I turned and saw Keith crawling out the car, his face cut up from broken glass and one eye purple from getting hit with something. I ran right over to him checking him out and hugging him. He struggled to get away from my grip, then scanned the area.