The Dead Series (Book 1): Dead Nightmares

by James Lawrence Jr.

  “Where is the man who was in the car? I don’t see him, did he run off?” Keith said, wandering the area.

  “Why?” I said looking at him puzzled.

  “He was the...” he paused, standing over the mangled body. “Is... this Robert?”

  “Why do you care about him?” “He was a nice guy...“ “He held you all at gunpoint!” “But he wanted to help his family! Did you do this to him troy?” “Yea he put everyone in danger! I had to make sure he didn’t get us killed.”

  “Why?... your so mean...” Keith said breaking out in tears.

  I don’t have time to sit and argue with him, we are losing daylight, and we don’t have a shelter for the night. I looked around to find something and saw a car repair shop not far away that would be perfect.

  “We can talk later. For now, we need to take shelter somewhere. There are still Gluttons out here and new types.” I said grabbing Keith and tugging him away from the scene.

  “We got to secure a good base, I see one up ahead Pat. Grab the other kid and let’s go.” Troy said looking forward. Pat shrugged and decided not to argue. He went to the flipped over car and pulled out a squirming little child. It yanked, pulled and yelled trying to break free until his gaze fixated on Keith.

  “Two, ....two people I liked you got them killed. Mike, you don’t deserve to be in our group.” Keith muttered bitterly.

  “I don’t care about being in a group with you, I don’t want to be here anyway.”, Mike said jerking away from Pat. He saw this as the perfect moment and ran down the street as fast as his little heart could take him.

  “We should go after him, he will die on his own,” Pat said walking in the direction before Keith’s arm stops him.

  “If he wants nothing to do with us, we shouldn’t force him. We are not his parents.” Keith said staring at the puddle reflection of himself on the ground. I walked up behind Keith and rubbed his head, “I guess I’m rubbing off on you.” I said with a chuckle.

  “Alright, let’s move on.” I said, looking up at the cloudy sky.

  Mechanic Shop

  Troy, Keith, and Patrick quickly run up the street, hugging the sides of the walls of the alleyway. The eerie silence made the mood pretty tense for the group. Troy pointed forward to a mechanic shop called the Monkey Wrench. They got to the entrance of this workshop and inspected the surrounding area. It was trashed up and looked abandoned, the windows bashed out and paperwork scattered throughout the floor.

  Troy raised his hand to slowly knock on the door. Silence answers him back and he ushers the group to follow. With a hard swing of the bat the doorknob flies off and they walk into the main office room to explore the new environment. The floors were painted with black and red marks. Troy motions for Patrick to explore the workshop, takes Keith and heads towards the backrooms. Keith went forth knocking a couple times on the door, Troy stood on standby with weapons ready at the sound of any danger in the distance but was met with no resistance. Keith slowly pushes the door open and it squeaks revealing some bodies lying on the floor. He starts to walk forward but is stopped by Troy who is eyeballing the bodies cautiously. A loud crashing sound breaks the silence.

  Troy quickly grabs Keith and takes off for the garage but not before a cold circular sensation overtakes his neck. His body goes stiff and the eerie silence makes them both uncomfortable. “Move forward!” the voice sternly commands. Keith turns slowly to see a long shotgun pointed towards his brother's neck and a big chubby old man looking very angry. Troy grits his teeth, ushers his brother, and sauntered toward the main door. A few moments later, more figures appear creeping out of the garage that startles both of the brothers for a second before realizing it is Patrick who has been captured by a man and a woman. The man has Patrick in a chokehold by his neck. The woman steps forward pointing her gun at Patrick’s stomach.

  “We got him,” she said trying to sound intimidating. Troy thought to himself that her clothing was tomboyish with black smears all over and the man holding Patrick appeared to be in the same manner of dress code.

  “They must work here”, He thought to himself.

  “Y'all gotta get going. We don’t want or mean any trouble, but we don’t need any extra attention either”, the man said pushing the gun harder on Troy. His raspy, strained voice echoed in the small central office room. Troy spun like a toy top, and a gunshot went off blowing out the front door glass. He struggled with the older man and held on like his life depended on it. The woman turned the small pistol away from Patrick and pointed it to Keith’s head.

  “Let go or I’ll shoot!”, she said taking a step towards Troy. Troy ignored her and finally pulled the gun away from the older man pointing it at the woman.

  “Wrong target! Drop your weapons and...” he demanded, pointing the gun at her before suddenly pointing the gun over to the door. Everyone shifted their attention to the door. A pair of hands and pale white eyes peered over the ledge. It looked over the group silently inspecting the bunch. It looked over to Troy and gripped the broken glass on the door so hard it began to bleed. Its head rose slowly exposing a bloody smile.

  With a loud shout, it jumped through the frame, “I LOVE SURPRISES!!” It was a chunky male around the age of 20. It's vast presence caused the room to feel small. It walked closer to Troy with its mouth wide open showing nothing but white shining teeth. The woman pointed the gun to the Glutton and pulled the trigger barely missing it. It turned its attention toward her, grabbing her by the wrist with it’s teeth causing, her to drop her gun. Blood begins to pour onto the floor and she screamed in agony. The Glutton moves toward the door and jerks the woman with him.

  “What are you waiting for!! Pull the trigger boy!” the old man shouts behind Troy. Troy lowers the shotgun and watches.

  “If I shoot, it might attract more attention and kill her.”

  The old man grits his teeth and yells to the other man, “Jacob help her!” but he appears frozen in fear. Troy looks down at the baseball bat, ducks down and grabs it. With both hands firmly grasping, he slams down on the unsuspecting Glutton. It drops down to the ground like a sack of rocks releasing its grip on the Woman.

  She drops to the ground crying, holding her wrist. “June!” The man holding Patrick releases his grip and drops down to June who is bleeding carelessly on the floor.

  “We are going to have to chop off her arm,” Troy said nonchalantly.

  “That is ridiculous, what kind of video game do you think this is boy!” the old man said stroking Junes hair.

  “I believe these are Zombies, and Zombie bites turn others into zombies. It’s the way it works.” Troy said looking over to Patrick. Patrick’s neck shines red and after a few minutes jumped in with Troy.

  “It’s true we have to before it spreads,” he said walking over to her to examine the bite.

  87

  “NO! We are not barbarians. We can patch her up and clean-..”

  “It’s ok Jack. I’ma big girl.” June said smiling weakly attempting to stand up. Keith peeked over through the huddled mass to take a glance at the woman lying on the floor in pain. The bite mark started producing a gross yellow pus.

  “Time is running out to save her,” Patrick said walking closer to the old man. “We need something sharp.”

  “You won’t find anything that sharp like that in the shop,” Jacob said glancing over the shop. Patrick put his hand to his chin and started mumbling to himself. Eventually Troy patted him on the shoulder, “Got an idea bud?”

  “Yea...I have an Idea, but I don’t like it.” Patrick said staring into the shop.

  “What do you have in mind,” June said wincing in pain trying to look where Patrick is looking.

  “What if we... put her arm under the car... and drop the lift on her arm? It would have to slam down. Otherwise, it will hurt like hell and still be attached.” Patrick said trying to remain calm.

  “You don’t have to do this. No one is forcing you.” Jack said rubbing her arm.

 
She raised her hand and said, “Let’s do this before I change my mind.”

  Turned Down

  I helped Ms. June get up off the floor, she seemed like a nice person. The other man Mr. Jacob took over bygrabbed her by the waist and assisted her to the garage. I could feel the grim tone in the atmosphere. My brother walked ahead of us, keeping the gun close to his side. Mr. Jack walked over to the wall where the switches were and waited in silence. Ms. June got close to the car lift where the black SUV hung, then laid on the ground. I saw a few tears come from her eyes before she quickly wiped them away. Mr. Jacob bent over handing her a work rag, she grabbed it and put it in her mouth like a dog. Patrick poked me for snickering, I just didn’t get why no one else laughed.

  Ms. June scooted over, placing her arm underneath the blue bar. Her head was turned and she shut her eyes. Mr. Jacob turned to me and tried to close my eyes, but I squirmed around trying to still see what's going on.

  “C’mon bud let’s go explore this place,” Troy said walking over to me holding out his hand. I hesitantly grabbed it. I didn’t want to go explore, but I could tell my brother didn’t want me watching. As we walked away, I could still feel the grim mood like somebody’s dog just died. As we turned the corner, I could see the lift descending.

  We walked back over to the office area where we meet Mr. Jack earlier. The office was a mess with papers everywhere, blood stains on the wooden floor, and the room was dimly lit. I walked over and started searching the desk. I pulled out some of the drawers until I came across a bulky machine.

  “Hey bro, what the heck is this?” I said flipping it over back and forth.

  “Good Job Keith, you found a radio.” he took it in his hands and started turning buttons and opening it up until it came on. It was kind of low at first, but he suddenly turned it up to full volume and put the music to my ear. I struggled to get away from his firm grip, but it was useless. He stood up pulling me closer and continued looking forward towards the door. After staring at the door for a minute, he let me free.

  “What was that for!” I yelled at him, but the words seemed to bounce off his ears. He was still searching the office. I grumbled for a bit and sat down on the black leather chair spinning around crossing my arms. After he explored for a bit, he gave up and ushered me to come on. I grabbed the radio and hopped off the chair. We came back into the workshop, and Ms. June was sitting in a chair sobbing to herself with Mr. Jacob rubbing her back. Mr. Jack was standing against the wall with a long black bag in his hands. His face looked like he ate something sour.

  Patrick walked up to Troy and he raised the radio out from my hands and said looking at Mr. Jack, “Found the radio, have you tried listening to see when help is coming?”

  Mr. Jack wiped his face and started walking over to Troy, “I should be mad that you were going through my stuff but I am surprised you managed to get it to work. It has been broken for some time now.” Mr. Jack yanked the radio out of Troy’s hands and they stared at each other’s eyes for a while.

  “Extra People means, extra mouths to feed and water.” Mr. Jack said never batting an eye away from Troy.

  “I guess we will be leaving now.” Troy said as he grabbed my hand and pulled me along. I turned and looked back at the group, their eyes avoided meeting mine, and we walked out the door.

  I thought I could see Ms. June mouth the word, “sorry.” Patrick trotted along after us and shut the door.

  Aftermath

  The walk home was longer than I remember. We were on the north side of town heading south. We only had a few miles, and a couple turns to make, but it felt like time was at a standstill. Both Keith and Pat were pretty quiet. I knew that Keith had been through a hell of a crappy day and Pat has been just getting the aftermath of just following me around. The cold air was crisp after the heavy rain we just received earlier on in the day. I wanted to turn around and tell them both I was sorry and hope that the mood would change but I didn’t feel that I did anything wrong.

  A small cold hand grabbed ahold of mine. I gritted my teeth and wrapped my fingers around his tiny fingers warming them up. I felt I was responsible for everything that has happened so far, but I still don’t see how it was my fault.

  “We are going to make it out of all this ok, don’t lose hope, you guys,” I said looking forward.

  We arrived at Lakewood apartments, but the place looked a mess compared to when we last left seven hours ago. Crashed cars, bodies ravaged the parking lot, and the whole place littered with trash. We were not alone.

  The Gluttons were swarming the parking lots in search of their next meal. I waved at Keith and Pat and motioned for them to creep to the side of the wall so we can sneak in through the backside. We went by stealth using the cars for cover so they couldn’t see us move. A Glutton caught wind of our scent and began sniffing around for us. I forgot we were covered in sweat but we were lucky to be sitting by a dumpster. I reached in slowly, careful not to make any unnecessary noise and found a brown glass bottle.

  I threw that bottle as hard as I could at the building across from us and like magic they started flooding around the noise. Quickly I ushered Pat and Keith to climb a nearby tree that led to the apartment balconies. Keith's fingers were still messed up from before so I grabbed him and put him on my back and scurried up the tree. Finally made it to the balcony of our apartment, but it looked abandoned even though both cars were outside. I figured our parents were hiding but took the worn out bat out of my belt loop and held it tight just in case. Funny how a place that supposes to feel like home never felt so distant in this moment. I felt like we went into the wrong house but seeing my old man's ugly paintings reassured me. The front room was thrashed around with bloodstains here and there. I lead the way through the dark hallway to my parent's room. Slowly, I opened the door and crept my head through and peeked to see if they were home but I found another pair of eyes peering back. I immediately had a gut-wrenching experience. A snarling, sweaty, and bloody creature lay in their bed.

  The Glutton was bald with patches of hair still lingering. The outfit it was wearing was the telltale sign of who it was.

  “What’s wrong? Keith asked trying to push his way past me. “ I want to see mom-”. I tried to hold him back, but it was too late as he pushed the door wide open.

  “Damn, I’m sorry Troy,” Pat said putting his hands over his head.

  “Mommy?” Keith said mumbling to the Glutton .

  “No Keith! She is not our mom anymore.” I said waving my hand for him to come back.

  “She won’t hurt us right?” He said as he still continued strolling to her.

  The Glutton starting smiling and then shouted, “GOOD BOY!!” The voice was enough to break the thin layer of courage Keith had to see his mother. He ran back over to me. It didn’t like that too much as it started rocking the bed trying to break free of the bindings it was in.

  “GOOD BOY!!” she shouted still smiling.

  A Simple Dinner

  The sound of a door closing catches our attention away from our newfound mother to a figure coming in through the balcony.

  “Shit they know how to climb,” Troy said shutting the door quickly. I stood there lost and I had no idea what I was supposed to do. Patrick walked over to Mom and fought around her to put a shirt in her mouth.

  A familiar voice in the living room broke the silence, “WHO DA HELL TRACKED MUD IN HERE!

  “I know who that is, that’s dad’s voice!” I said as I start running to the door trying to push Troy over. Troy looked down at me and said, “shhh.” It took me a second to understand looking behind me to see mom’s creepy smile revealing her bloody and broken teeth.

  I stood away from the door with my head down, awaiting the next course of action my brother would take. He rubbed my head with his sweaty palms and grinned, giving me the thumbs up and looked at the door clutching the bat hard enough to make noises. With a slow creek Troy opened the door, then saw an immediate face staring back surprised.

&n
bsp; “What the hell-” Dad said before being smacked in the face with a bat.

  “AWWWWWHHH!!!” Dad reeled back in agony holding his nose and mouth. “ NO FUCKING WARNING!? AND IN MY OWN HOME!”

  “Oops.” Was the only word my brother could utter before being lunged and tackled to the ground by Dad who was seething with rage.

  “I’m sorry. I thought you were one of them,” Troy said pointing to Mom who seemed to want to join in.

  “Ughh.” Dad moaned getting up slowly to look at Mom who had a black shirt in her mouth, jumping at Patrick. He rubbed the sweat off his forehead and looked down at Troy still lying on the ground.

  “Your mother was bitten earlier on today. That is why she looks the way she does. She is just not feeling well right now, so she is on bed rest.” Dad says turning to me and smiling. “Help me lock up.

  The sun is going down early because of the weather, and we need some food in our bellies.” He waits by the door for everyone to leave before shutting the door on Mom. Dad remained silent humming to himself in the kitchen, while we sat at the table staring at each other wondering what we should do next. Our empty stomach prevented us from leaving to our rooms. Smells like cheesy macaroni, honey baked beans, but most influential of all and my favorite, home-style fried chicken. But the mood wasn’t all cheery, Mom sat across from us. She was restrained in the chair tied up with clothes. Her mouth was shut, but her eyes bounced around like tennis balls. Dad finally broke the silence while he started bringing in the food to the table and sat down.

  “I got fired from work today. The bossman thinks I don’t know how to do my job so he uhh let me go.” Dad said while keeping his eyes down on the food. He chuckled to himself then looked up at us. “He THINKS he can fire me.” His eyes caught mine and he patted me on the shoulder and said, “How was school today bud?”