World of Dead | Vol. 1 | Issue 3

by Johnson, Broderick

  Kyra wasn’t sure what to say, but she found herself explaining, “Amy, we really don’t have time to have this conversation out here. Please, let us inside and I’ll explain everything.”

  Jason’s wife, Amy, was unsure of whether she should trust the two strangers at her door or not. She felt like she didn’t have any choice, however, as they held a young baby of their own in their arms. Originally blocking access to her home, Amy moved to the side and nodded. Kyra and her mother entered the home before Amy closed the front door, once again, and locked it behind them.

  “Alright, I let you in,” Amy said, “Now start talking. Where is my husband? Who are you? How do you know him?”

  Kyra wasn’t sure where to start, but she found herself explaining her journey to the store the day before. She explained why she was going there and how Jason had saved her life. When it came down to what happened to Jason himself, Kyra struggled to talk. She really didn’t know how to tell his wife what had happened to him, but she was also hesitant because she blamed herself for what happened.

  “The store was overrun by the infected,” Kyra explained, “It all happened so quickly and I don’t really know how it happened…”

  “Where is my husband?” Amy shouted. She had been fearing the exact thing that had happened to him. On the inside, Amy knew what was about to be said, but she needed to hear it anyway.

  “He didn’t make it,” Kyra finally let out. She looked at the ground, afraid to meet Amy’s eyes, and said, “He sacrificed himself so that I could live. He told me to come find you and tell you…”

  “Tell me that he loved me?” Amy whimpered. Tears filled her eyes as she covered her mouth with her hand. She began to sob uncontrollably. As she did, she repeated the same words over and over between breaths, “Why? Why?”

  “I’m so sorry,” Kyra said. Her heart sank as she watched Amy mourn the death of her husband, but Kyra knew that they didn’t have long. She continued, “I know that you don’t want to hear this, but we need to leave. All of us.”

  Amy began pacing the hallway as she sobbed before finally sitting down and resting her back on the wall. She covered her face with her hands and continued her sobbing, almost ignoring Kyra and Karen entirely. Kassidy was also getting in on the sobbing as she was becoming fearful of all of the screaming that the night had entailed.

  Kyra, worried that all of the noise would attract more of the infected, got down on her knees and grabbed Amy by the shoulders. She shook her, trying to get her attention.

  “I lost him too,” she explained as Amy focused in on her with tear-filled eyes, “I can’t imagine what that feels like for you, but I lost him too. I lost my father. I’m tired of losing people. We cannot stay here. There are hundreds of those monsters outside right now and we need to get out of here before they begin attracting more and more to the area.”

  “I can’t,” Amy let out, “I can’t do this without him.”

  “Yes you can!” Kyra said, “I know how hard this is, but I need you to pull it together. Do it for your baby! Do it for Jason! Because he believed in you. He sent me here to take you to the city so that we can all be safe.”

  Amy sat there, tears flooding down her cheeks, as she tried to compose herself. Finally, she wiped her eyes clean and nodded. She rose from her seated position and looked at Karen, who was still holding baby Kassidy, and said, “You’re right.”

  Wasting no more time, it seemed, Amy turned down the hall and headed for a door at the end of it. She quickly came back with a young, baby girl, in her arms. Kyra was immediately reminded of Jason’s picture once again. It was a self taken photo by Jason, with his wife holding their newborn baby while laying on the hospital bed.

  Amy handed the baby to Kyra and said, “Her name is Sara. She’s only six-months-old so please be careful with her.”

  “I promise you,” Kyra said, “Nothing is going to happen to her.”

  “Thank you,” Amy answered, “Take her to your car. I’m going to quickly pack my things and then I will meet you out there.”

  Kyra nodded and Amy turned to head back to the room, but Kyra grabbed her arm to turn her back around. Kyra quickly said, “I’ll be right at the front door waiting for you after I get Sara into the car, okay?”

  Amy hesitated, as if something was wrong with that, but then she nodded and Kyra let go of her. Karen and Kyra then headed back to the front door and looked out the window. There were a few of the infected wandering around the vehicle, but their attention had once again been turned to the main road and most of them had turned around to join the herd again.

  “We have to be quick,” Kyra told her mother, “Get the girls in the car and then come back to make sure Amy makes it safe. As soon as we start making noise near that car, they’re going to come back for us.”

  Karen nodded, and Kyra slowly unlocked the door with her free hand as she held Sara in her left arm. The door opened and Kyra led them out. She grabbed the hatchet that she still had resting in her belt and prepared it for battle in her right hand.

  Their footsteps immediately drew the attention of the infected as two or three of them turned and began to groan in the direction of Kyra and Karen. One of them was too close to the Jeep for comfort, so Kyra made a last second decision. She built up some speed and aimed for the head of the infected, running past the car as she did so, and forced the hatchet through its forehead.

  The impact caused Sara to begin to cry in Kyra’s arm and suddenly the dozens of infected, that began to walk back towards the road, turned back around to focus in on the baby’s cries. Kyra, leaving the hatchet inside the forehead of the dead, quickly turned around and opened the Jeep’s back door. There was only one carseat, but Kyra didn’t have time to think. She quickly placed Sara down in the back seat and buckled the seatbelt around her small body to keep her from falling over.

  Karen had no intruders on her side of the vehicle and was able to quickly open the backdoor and strap Kassidy back into her carseat while Kyra handled her attacker. They finished putting the babies in the back almost at the same time and then met each others eyes.

  “I’m going back for Amy,” Kyra said, “Get in the car and get it ready to go.”

  Karen nodded. As Kyra turned, she pulled the hatchet from its resting place and began to run towards the front door. Karen swiftly moved around the car and got into the drivers seat. The panic was beginning to set in, however, because Karen realized that they were running on thin ice with their time at this point.

  Kyra entered Jason and Amy’s home once again and began to move back down the hallway towards the door that Amy brought Sara out of. Kyra shouted, “Amy, we have to go now! They’re closing in on our car!”

  Kyra opened the door to an image that would not leave her anytime soon. Amy was sitting on the edge of her bed. In her right hand was a picture and, in her left hand, a small revolver. Tears were once again soaking her face, but it was too late. She already had brought the gun to her head by the time that Kyra had gotten to the door. Just as Kyra went to let out a scream Amy pulled the trigger.

  Karen, from inside the vehicle, heard the loud bang of a firearm and that panic that was already filling her body, shot through the roof. She let out a whimper and, without thinking, opened her driver-side door. Closing it behind her, she ran as fast as she could back into the home, down the hallway, and to her daughters aide at the doorway.

  Kyra was in a state of shock as Amy’s body lay back on the bed with her legs still touching the floor. The picture that was in her hand could be seen from the doorway. It was a picture of Jason and Amy. Taken years before any of the current events were happening. They looked like they could’ve been in high school.

  Karen covered her mouth with her hand as she too was in shock of what she was seeing, but she didn’t see it happen. Kyra, on the other hand, couldn’t move a muscle. It wasn’t because of fear or panic, but rather disappointment. She had done everything in her power to make it there. Kyra did everything asked of her. She
stayed brave and calm, even when her mother was panicking and Amy was crying, but it still wasn’t enough. Another person was gone.

  “Kyra,” Karen said, unsure of what to do in the moment, “We really need to go.”

  Kyra still couldn’t move, but Karen knew that there was no more waiting. She grabbed her daughter by the shoulders and forced her down the hallway. Kyra felt like everything was moving in slow motion as her mother pushed her along. Her legs felt weak, like they could collapse on her at any moment, but her mother supported her as they went back through the home.

  Karen was racing against time. The group of infected had made it dangerously close to the vehicle and her daughter was non-responsive to the dangers at hand. Karen pushed her along, however, making it to the back door of the Jeep. She pushed her daughter inside and closed the door.

  Before Karen could get her door open, though, one of the infected grabbed onto her. She screamed, having no weapon on her to fight with, and pushed it back with all of her force. This one in particular used to be a big man. Heavy on the upper body and a lot of strength. Karen’s push didn’t do much, but it created just enough space for her to open her door and get into the vehicle.

  Just as she reached to close the door behind her, the man grabbed ahold of her wrist. In one fluid motion, the infected monster opened his mouth and bit down onto Karen’s left forearm. The bite was so strong that Karen felt a crack as she let out a hurling scream. The man pulled back, ripping a large piece of flesh from Karen’s arm, but it allowed Karen to turn her body and use her legs to kick the man away from the car. Just enough to close finally close the door.

  Kyra watched the entire event unfold, only mere feet from her in the back seat. It didn’t help her mental state, either. She did everything in her power to hold them back, but tears began to fill her eyes. Tears of anger, frustration, and confusion began to stream down her face as her mother put the car in reverse.

  Karen slammed her foot into the pedal and the Jeep aggressively launched backwards. The sudden movement was so strong that Kyra had to grab onto Sara to keep her from flying forward. Karen no longer cared, however, as she let the power of the Jeep run into each of the infected, one by one. Karen led the vehicle back to the main road, all in reverse, where she backed into a group of a few dozen infected.

  “Hang on to something!” Karen shouted. Using her one good arm at this point, she put the Jeep back into drive and hit the gas once more. They took off down the highway, running over any of the monsters that stood in their way, but eventually the numbers of them began to fade.

  Kyra could feel herself coming to grips with the reality of the situation and thirty minutes into the drive she reached forward and touched her mother on the shoulder. Karen reacted by shaking her daughters hand off of her. She claimed, “I can do this. Just take care of the babies.”

  “Mom,” Kyra said softly, “Pull over and let me look at your arm.”

  Karen hesitated, but she was in a lot of pain. She knew she couldn’t keep driving forever with her left arm in her lap and her back scrunched over as she focused on the road. She lifted her foot from the gas and allowed the car to come to a slow halt in the middle of the road.

  Kyra turned on the cabin light in the car as her mother lifted her arm into view. It was hard to see the real damage because of all of the blood that was rushing out, but Kyra knew that it was bad. The infected monster took a large portion of her arm out with that one bite. Her mother needed to see a doctor and, if Kyra was being honest with herself, she needed it quick.

  Because of the herd blocking the road for them, Kyra and her mother were going to have to take the long way to the city, down the east border of New York state. It was a trip that would take six or seven hours and Kyra wasn’t sure her mother would last that long.

  She had to try, though.

  New York City was their best option. That’s where the sanctuary was and if she could get her mother there, then there was a chance of saving her. Kyra looked her mother in the eyes and despite the lack of confidence in herself, she gave her mother a look that would convince anybody. Kyra was not going to let her mother die.

  Kyra had made a promise to her father and she intended on keeping it.

  Written By Broderick Johnson

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  'World of Dead' is a short-story series with new issue's being released on the first day of every month. For updates on where to find more 'World of Dead,' visit @BroderickWrites on Instagram of www.facebook.com/broderickwrites.