When The Dead Came 2 (10 page)

“And
you're as bad as they are,” he almost hissed at her,” I
haven't once seen you defend yourself against those out there, I
doubt you'd last even a day on your own. Apparently you prefer to
hang out with Alex more than your own friends. You didn't even remain
behind in Kansas just to see if we were even alive!”

“I
didn't know,” she responded, shaking her head,” like I
was able to see in that large horde.”

“There's
always the option of waiting.”

“And
if we had waited then you'd literally be dead right now. It was
because of Alex and I that you're even here today 'cause we drove
away, that whole horde followed us, you shouldn't even be snapping at
us.”

“You
give all your attention to everyone else,” he snapped.

“What
does that even have to do with this?” Avery asked him, shaking
her head. Keith grew silent and looked at all three of them.

“You
guys want to leave, I want to stay here.” Alex looked at the
others before responding.

“Alright,”
he said,” do what you want, we'll do our own thing. But I think
you should stop drinking and get sleep.” Keith looked down at
the couple empty bottles on the ground and looked back at them before
nodding silently. Alex, Holly, and Avery walked away to leave Keith
alone in his thoughts.

“It's
sleeping time,” Charles shouted at the others just as thunder
began rumbling,” lights out.” Nick got up from his area
and shut the small lamps off, leaving them in darkness.

The
city was busy with the dead,still roaming the streets,the
buildings,the stores. Just down underneath the bridge,several zombies
were walking past a door that held a sign reading: KEEP OUT. CITY
TUNNELS. One particular zombie,wearing a hardhat,yellow vest,and
bloodied jeans, could overhear the shouts from within in the tunnels
and began to beat on the door. The other nearby zombies,seeing the
hardhat wearing undead beating on the door,joined in,also beating on
the door with their decaying and diseased hands. It shook repeatedly,
until there were enough zombies to knock the door down. Sniffing the
air more,the horde began to sense the smell of the living inside the
tunnel, eager for dinner, they ran down the dark tunnels, in search
of the source of yells.

When
they began to shriek out, echoing throughout the tunnels, everyone
awakened immediately. Will turned the lights on. “Turn those
off,” Charles shouted and they listened. "Gather the
weapons, let's get the hell out of here,"instructed Charles.
Drew began to load his guns by the faint lighting of Lucinda's small
flashlight. Just then, a zombie yelled out, echoing even louder. They
looked over, shining the flashlight down the tunnel, and all they
could see was the tall shadows growing as they neared their safe
area. The survivors ran over to the sandbags, Evan, Trevor, Drew, and
Alex began to push aside as many of the bags as they could.

"Climb
over," Jeff shouted. Everyone began to climb over, Evan and Jeff
continued firing at the visible zombies. Holly climbed over the bags
and lost her footing, falling down on the ground outside and Charles
jerked her up by her arm, causing a quick pop sound that made her
eyes water as she ran to join the others. Lucinda climbed over as the
others did and felt her left ankle being grasped by one of the dead.
She screamed out,” help me!” Charles stopped running and
ran back toward his girlfriend, using the butt end of his rifle to
smash in the head of the zombie grabbing his girlfriend's ankle while
she kept screaming, fearing its nails will eventually squeeze hard
enough to break her ankle or even the skin. Charles swung down
repeatedly until the zombie stopped moving and he fired at the ones
coming closer,
Trevor
helping him while Lucinda finally ran out toward the vehicle everyone
else was in, rain pouring down on her. Once out of the tunnels, the
remaining survivors ran to the vehicles,and everyone climbed into the
paddy wagon, watching the zombies come pouring out of the tunnels.
Evan put it in drive and sped away, the group of zombies kept chasing
the vehicle.

Holly
sat with her legs drawn up, crying and repeatedly saying,”
please God, help us.” Avery clutched down on the seat, her
hands turning red while Alex attempted to reload a gun and Keith
sitting there, beginning to sober up quicker than when he was drunk.
Evan, caught off guard, attempted to swerve away from a Pontiac
GrandAm and a Honda Van that appeared to have wrecked into each
other; the effect was swerving too far, causing the vehicle to turn
over on its side, everyone in the back hitting the left side of the
wall in the paddywagon, and the vehicle, sliding, finally stopping
when it bumped against a building.

Carefully,
Alex pushed open one of the double doors, letting Keith and Holly
make it out, and he turned around and pulled Avery out of there too,
only saving his group just as he knew Justin would approve of. Holly
began to run as soon as she could stand straight.

"Where
the hell are you going?!"Keith shouted.

"Getting
the hell away from them psychos,"she shouted, gesturing toward
the vehicle still holding the SGO. Keith looked around and then ran
after Holly, the two of them disappearing behind a building. Alex,
wanting to take advantage of the moment of freedom too, pulled
Avery's arm.

"Come
on," he shouted at her.

"We
have to help them, Alex," she insisted.

"They
held us hostage though," he argued back,frowning,"they beat
Keith and Holly, likely killed Jenny. And their crazy leader tried to
beat me to death and that one guy even fought with you. Why help
those that harmed us?"

"I'm
helping them," she finalized, then proceeded with running up to
the driver side door and pulled Evan out the best she could. Alex,
sighing in fustration, decided to help the ones in the back of the
vehicle out of there. After helping Evan out, Avery began to help
Alex until everyone was out of there.

"C'mon,"
Alex yelled at them,"let's go!" They began to run down the
street, avoiding any zombies as best they could. Holly and Keith
finally stopped running, resting in a deserted alley.

"I
can't wait for all this to end,"Keith breathed, regaining his
stature after the moment of dizziness that hit him. He realized he
was already becoming sober. Holly nodded in agreement. Out of
nowhere, a hand grabbed Keith's shoulder, causing him and Holly to
jump," Avery."

"Hey,"
she said," You know that talk we've been having since Texas?
Y'know, about helping all survivors who aren't infected, whether we
hate them or not? Remember that,Keith and Holly??" They looked
at one another.

"...Vaguely,"
Holly said with a shrug.

"Then
why in the hell did the two of you run?!!" Before they could
respond, the others ran up, taking a rest too.

"Didn't
I tell you that'd happen?" Alex said to Charles.

"It's
a 50/50 chance of something like that actually happening," he
responded almost breathless.

"We
need to get moving," Lucinda cut in," standing in an alley
isn't exactly safe." Alex began walking down the alley.

"Where
are you going," asked Charles.

"Shelter,"
he answered, looking back," a house instead of a business
building or tunnel." Everyone else began walking too, catching
up with him.

"That
was nice," Charles said to Alex,"going back and helping us.
Thanks." Alex noticed that it seemed to almost kill Charles to
say that to him.

"Wasn't
my idea," Alex said," It was Avery's idea, she insisted
that we help you guys. If it had been up to me...I would've left you
guys in there."

"
She's such a little saint, isn't she,” Charles spoke with the
same tone as when he thanked Alex. Even before the virus happened,
Charles was never much for kindness or kind people. “ Either
way," Charles began," the world could use more people like
your group now days."

"Why
is that?"

"Look
at you guys. We've been on guard in this city since it began, hiding
out in a tunnel. You guys have been traveling on foot and by
vehicles, from Colorado all the way up here. You took a beating at
Wal Mart and are still carrying on and fighting to survive. You've
done more than we have, and we've got more guns than you do."

"That
was all mostly my brother Justin's work. He's the one who pushed us
to survive." Alex stared off when he noticed a house with its
lights on,"There's a house with its lights still on."

“That's
not possible,” Charles said,” all electric here went out
some time ago.”

“There's
a thing called a generator,” Alex responded.

They
walked across the street and up to the porch of the two story house.
Evan and Charles opened the door quietly, making sure there were no
zombies in there. The rest came in, Lucinda closing the door behind
them and locking it.

"Hello,"Evan
shouted out in case,"any survivors here??"

"In
the living room," they heard a girl shout, who Keith and Holly
identified as Jenny.

"Jenny,"
Alex shouted and ran into the living room. He stopped, along with the
others, when they saw Jenny and a little girl sitting on a couch, and
a middle aged man sitting in a recliner, holding a hunting rifle in
his lap.

"I'm
gonna call the police, let them deal with you drug addict
psychos,"the man said, apparently thinking the zombies were all
on drugs.

"No
one's on drugs," Will insisted," we're survivors trying to
find a safe place."

"Yeah
right," the man scoffed," all of you people out there are
on drugs! That's why I don't ever leave my house."

"This
guy's nuts,"said Drew,"Let's go." The man immediately
gestured the rifle at them.

"No
one's going anywhere," he shouted,"I will not let you let
that evil in my house."

"There
is so many things you're saying that doesn't make any sense,"Charles
said,"We came here to find shelter and survivors."

"All
of you are covered in blood," he said,"You could be one of
them."

"None
of us are injured," Lucinda said to him.

"It'd
also help if you kept your voice down," Nick added," or
they'll hear you." Holly glanced over at the large uncovered
window. Gently, she touched Nick's arm.

"Nick,
they're coming." He looked at the window too, but couldn't see
anything.

"I
think we should move on from here," Jeff said.

"Maybe
it'd be best to turn all the lights off too," Drew said after
that," they could be attracting them, and we really don't want
that."

"Shut
up,"the man began.

"He's
right," Evan cut in," you don't want a whole horde of them
getting us." Charles then opened his mouth to also say
something, but the man turned immediately and fired his gun, shooting
Charles in his left shoulder. The force knocking Charles back against
the fireplace. Lucinda ran over to him, crying. Charles clutched his
shoulder, in dire pain. The gunshot had echoed through the night,
setting off the dinner bell for the zombies. They ran toward the
house, spotting the living people through the window. The crazed man
cocked his gun again and aimed at Jeff next, the others beginning to
point their guns at him, but was stopped when the zombies came
bursting through the window, instantly grabbing him since he was
beside the window. He screamed out in both fear and pain as they
began to bite into his skin. Will began to fire his gun at them,
firing at their heads, but he noticed one zombie never went down with
each shot he fired. He stopped shooting and stared at them, knowing
they're all screwed now. The survivors ran to the foyer, stopping
when they could hear more zombies trying to bust the front door down.

"Upstairs,"
Trevor shouted to them, and everyone began up the stairs. The stairs
were apparently termite-ridden, because while Nick ran up the stairs,
his right leg went through a covered hole, causing his ankle to make
a snap sound and he screamed in pain. Holly ran back and struggled to
pull him up, eventually getting help from Will. The banister began to
shake violently as they ran up the stairs, the zombies attempting to
chase them. Avery was the last to run up the stairs when they
collapsed, and she managed to catch on the edge of the flooring, her
hands beginning to bleed from the sharp shards of wood sticking up,
almost making her wish someone would help or she was about to let go.
Keith ran back and pulled her up while Alex shot at the zombies. The
group ran down the hall, all of them gathered in the master bedroom.
They stopped and Holly almost began gagging. On the floor near the
bed,were half eaten bodies.

"
He was catching survivors and eating them," Evan said.

“I
think he was a cannibal,” Jenny said,” when Laura and I
came here, we caught him in the kitchen, blood everywhere, and he was
using a meat grinder on some dead bodies and cooking it.”

The
zombies began to attempt to climb up to the second floor, a few
making it up by climbing. Meanwhile, Avery tried to open the bedroom
window, pressing the splinters in her hands even more and leaving
blood streaks on the glass. They could hear the dead stalking them,
making their way up the demolished staircase and down the hall toward
the room. Trevor made his way toward the window and moved Avery
aside. He raised his rifle and swung, hitting the glass with the butt
end and shattering the shards everywhere.