Urban Decay

by Paxton Matthews

  "See? I told you, Erica, I do excellent work."

  Erica sighed. "Theo, I have a loaded pistol tucked in my waistband. Keep it up."

  "I'll be quiet."

  Macey let out a large yawn. "Excuse me."

  "Macey, if you're tired, go ahead and go get some sleep. Theo and I will hold the fort down. Anything happens, we'll let you know."

  Macey nodded and thanked Theo and Erica for taking her in. She then walked back downstairs and laid down on her bedding.

  "That poor girl," Erica whispered.

  "Shit's rough, I know. I can't imagine seeing my folks torn to shreds by the dead things like that," Theo replied.

  "Where are your folks anyways, Theo?"

  "Divorced and both of them live out of state. I haven't talked to either of them in a very long time."

  Erica could tell from Theo's tone that he really didn't like talking about his parents, so she just left it alone. "Now that there's a third person here, we're going to need some more supplies. You do realize that right?"

  "Yeah. Looks like we're going to have to go on another adventure, aren't we?"

  "We'll have to see if Macey knows how to handle herself too."

  Theo stood up and stretched the muscles in his back and then he popped the bones in both sides of his neck. The cracking sound that his neck made echoed throughout the house. "Ahh. What a relief."

  Erica looked at Theo. "That's gross."

  "You're just jealous that you can't do it."

  "Oh yeah, I'm really envious of that. What a great skill to have."

  "That, and my handsome looks. I'm the complete package."

  Erica frowned at Theo. "Please Theo, I'm losing my appetite over here."

  After finishing another can of soup, Theo and Erica went downstairs to get some rest themselves. Macey was out cold on her bedding, sleeping soundly.

  "Damn, she must have needed the rest," Erica whispered to Theo.

  "Lucky. I wish I could conk out like that," Theo replied. "In the morning, we'll talk with Macey about our next supply run."

  "You got it," Erica said as she spread out on her pile of clothing.

  Theo woke up the next morning and saw Erica and Macey still sleeping heavily. A dead thing stumbling by the basement windows broke up the bright orange sunlight shining into the basement. Theo couldn't tell what the corpse looked like, just that it was wearing filthy blue sweat pants.

  Theo slipped out of his bedding and went upstairs. Theo looked at their supplies wondering what he would eat for breakfast when Macey slowly wandered up the steps. Her hair was a mess of tangles and it was matted down. And her eyes were heavy with sleep.

  "Wow, looks like you slept pretty well," Theo said.

  Macey sat down across from Theo. "Yeah. I needed that. That basement is a thousand times better than my cramped up warm closet, that's for sure."

  "Want some breakfast?"

  "No. Thanks though. I'm not really hungry." Macey glimpsed into the living room, she noticed the dried blood on the living room floor and the brown dried blood on the living room wall. "Whoa, what's the deal with those stains?"

  "Don't worry Macey, we're not serial killers. That was from when the dead things got in here a few days back. Erica and I had to fight them off."

  "Ahh, so that's what all of that ruckus was. I heard the gunshots. But 'Dead Things?' What do you mean by that?"

  "That's what those things out there are. They're dead, or they were dead. Undead really."

  Macey was taken aback by what Theo had just told her. "You mean to tell me that those things out there are dead? How is that even possible?"

  Theo shrugged his shoulders. "Macey, I have no idea. Erica has no idea. But I've seen people have their throats torn out and then seconds later get up and move around like nothing even happened. I can't figure it out, nobody can."

  Macey slouched back in her chair, stunned. "I just thought that everyone went nuts or something."

  "That's what I thought too. That or cannibalism became en vogue. Erica told me that the news said something about the recently deceased are coming back to life and attacking the living. Then, the power went out."

  "Wow, I don't even know what to say."

  "Try not to think about it too much. You'll just give yourself a headache. Instead, how about joining me in some dry cereal for breakfast?"

  "Sure, why not?"

  Erica pulled herself up and out of bed and walked upstairs. Theo and Macey offered her a bowl of cereal, but Erica declined. She went right for the green tea. After making herself a small glass of the drink, she took a sip.

  "How is it?" Theo asked her.

  "Bitter, but damn is it good" A groggy Erica answered. She could feel the caffeine hit her. "That's the stuff right there."

  "So, what are we doing today?" Macey asked Theo and Erica.

  "Survive," Theo answered.

  Macey smiled. "Sounds like a plan to me."

  Erica joined Theo and Macey at the kitchen table, "Now that there's three of us, we're going to need some more supplies, that's for sure."

  "Guys, I don't eat that much," Macey told the two of them.

  Erica looked Macey up and down, looking at Macey's slender figure. "Yeah, I can see that. You're a stick with blonde hair."

  "Yeah, maybe we should go out and get some more food just so we can get some weight on you Macey," Theo said.

  Macey giggled, "I could go for a burger."

  "Oh come on Macey. Please," Erica said, grabbing at her groaning stomach.

  "Believe me, Macey, as soon as you run out of cigarettes, you'll be changing your tune about eating," Theo told her.

  "I know, I'm rationing what smokes I do have," Macey replied.

  "I've taken this whole end of the world thing as an opportunity to quit."

  All three of them laughed. They sat in the kitchen talking with one another for a few minutes. Macey told Theo and Erica that she did have some relatives that lived out of state, but she didn't feel confident taking her father's Blazer and trying to get to them.

  "Macey, have you ever had to deal with any of the dead things?" Erica asked. "Before we head out there, you have to be able to defend yourself."

  Macey shook her head. She had been cooped up inside of her home for pretty much the entirety of the undead Armageddon.

  "You haven't had to defend yourself against the dead at all?" Erica asked.

  "Erica, chill out, you sound like her mother," Theo interjected.

  "Screw you, Theo," Erica replied tersely. "I'm just asking her questions."

  Theo relented, "Okay fine, fair enough."

  "No guys, I've been pretty much hiding out in my bedroom closet. That's all."

  "It's actually pretty simple, Macey. You gotta get em in the head. That's the only way that we know how to take care of these things."

  "Oh man, I don't know if I can," Macey said timidly.

  "It's not pleasant. I don't like it too much myself."

  "Me either," Erica added.

  "We don't have to head out for a little while. Maybe the two of us can show Macey some moves?" Theo suggested to Erica. "Not that we're experts or anything like that."

  "Okay. I want to help out in any way that I can," Macey replied.

  "I'm going to check things out on the roo-" Theo was interrupted by a gunshot. Deep, and loud, and it sounded like it was right in their backyard.

  Chapter 8

  The three of them instinctively hit the deck.

  "Where did that come from?" Erica asked.

  "Sounded like it was out in the yard," Theo answered.

  Theo crawled over to the kitchen counter and popped his head over the top, looking out into the backyard. All Theo could see were the dead things running past the yard. "It's coming from somewhere in the alley."

  Then came another blast, the sound echoed all throughout the neighborhood.

  "Get to the basement," Erica said. "Those shots will lure all of the dead pricks that are around here. We're gon
na have some company before long."

  "You two go ahead, I'm getting to the roof," Theo told them.

  "Are you insane?" Erica asked.

  "I have to see what's going on. Don't worry, I'll be okay. Who knows, it could be someone that needs our help."

  Erica and Macey began to crawl towards the basement steps while Theo hurried to the upper flat. There was a third gunshot, and Theo knew that it wasn't from a pistol. It sounded like the shots were coming from a rifle of some type. Probably a hunting rifle.

  Theo crawled up the awning and onto the roof. That's when Theo saw another survivor. He was standing atop the garage roof directly across the alley from the home. Theo looked down in between the houses, the corpses were paying zero attention to Theo, they just flocked towards the man standing on top of the garage. Theo squinted, trying to see just who the man was.

  Theo recognized the blonde man. It was his former neighbor Tommy. "Tom!" Theo shouted.

  Tom stopped aiming his rifle at the dead things in the alley below and looked towards Theo, "Theo? Is that you?" Tom yelled back.

  "Yeah. Stop shooting! The dead fucks can hear you!"

  Tom didn't reply, one of the corpses started to pull itself up onto the garage. Tom aimed his rifle at the corpse's face and fired. The back of the dead thing's head erupted in a dark red mist. The corpse fell backward off of the roof, down to the undead mass below. The corpses were worked up into a feeding frenzy, climbing over one another and trying to get at Tom.

  "Tom! Stop shooting!" Theo shouted.

  "What?" Tom yelled back.

  "The dead things! You're drawing them right to you!"

  By now, the entire garage was surrounded by the undead. Tom looked over the edge of the garage, looking at the corpses in horror. Two more dead things climbed onto the garage, Tom kicked one in the face and sent the dead thing back down to the alley. The other corpse grabbed at Tom's rifle. Tom swung the gun by the barrel, landing a blow with the butt of the weapon upside the dead thing's head.

  "I'm surrounded!" Tom yelled at Theo.

  "Shit! Can you jump?!"

  Tom shook his head. "It doesn't look like it!"

  "Try!"

  Two more corpses climbed atop the garage, this time from the other side of the building. Moving up behind Tom.

  "Tom, turn around!" Theo screamed at his friend.

  It was too late, the corpses were on Tom quickly. One dead thing bit down onto Tom's left shoulder, the other dead thing biting into the right side of Tom's neck. Theo could hear Tom's shouts of pain as he struggled with the corpses.

  Tom shook off the corpse that bit his neck, pushing the dead thing off of the garage. The dead thing fell onto the fencing below, becoming impaled on one of the poles. Tom still wrestled with the other corpse. He held the dead thing by its arms, but the corpse leaned in and sunk his teeth into Tom's chest. Tom lost his balance and he and the corpse fell down off of the garage and into the group of corpses that were waiting down below.

  Theo heard the corpses all worked up. Dust from the alley was being kicked up into the afternoon sky as the corpses pulled and ripped at Tom. Theo thought that he could hear a faint wail coming from the group, possibly Tom screaming out in agony, but he wasn't sure. Theo just sat there on the roof, watching the undead swarm around Tom like a pack of hungry hyenas. A corpse broke away from the group, clutching at one of Tom's arms, biting down into the bicep area.

  Theo sat up against the chimney in shock. He had never felt so helpless. He wanted desperately to get over there across the alley and try and save his friend. There were just too many corpses surrounding that garage.

  "Theo?" Erica called out from the upstairs window.

  "Yeah?" Theo asked.

  "What's going on?"

  "Nothing," Theo replied sadly. "It's all over."

  "What? What do you mean?"

  Theo wiped the tears from his face and stood up by the chimney, trying to get one last look at what was left of Tom, but the group of undead was too thick, and Theo couldn't see much of anything. Just a large pool of blood forming around the corpse's feet as they fought over Tom's remains.

  "I'm coming in," Theo told Erica. He slipped back inside the home. Macey and Erica were standing in the empty room with Theo.

  "What happened?" Erica asked. "I take it there was another survivor?"

  Theo gave Erica a slight nod. "Yeah, there was. I knew the guy. He used to live in the two-story right behind me."

  Macey gasped, "Shit, Tom?"

  "Yeah."

  "Oh Man. My brother worked for his floor cleaning business from time to time."

  Theo was about to tell Erica and Macey what happened to Tom, but remembering what the undead did to Macey's parents, Theo stopped himself. "I tried to get him to stop shooting. I tried to get him to jump over the dead things and get to us but I just....couldn't." Theo sat down on the floor to try and gather himself.

  Erica crouched down in front of Theo, "Theo, there was nothing you could do. Or anyone else could have done for that matter."

  The three of them sat there in the empty room, listening to the riled up dead things.

  "No doubt those gunshots brought a lot of them to the area," Erica noticed.

  "Yeah there's quite a few out there," Theo replied.

  "What do you mean?" Macey asked Theo and Erica.

  "For some reason, the corpses are attracted to loud noises. At least that's what it seems like," Erica told Macey. "Theo used my pistol to lure a few out of the house, and they just flocked right to him."

  "Yeah they did," Theo chimed in. After seeing yet another one of his friends being attacked by the undead, Theo needed to be by himself for a little while. He walked down to the basement and laid on his pile of clothes and stared up at the ceiling, not saying a word.

  "Just leave him be for now," Erica told Macey.

  "I understand," Macey replied. She and Erica sat down in the kitchen, keeping their ears and eyes peeled for any corpses that might try to get into the home.

  There were a lot of the dead things around the home and the surrounding area due to the gunfire. Theo, Erica, and Macey had to just try and wait it out before they tried to go and get more supplies.

  "I think that's either the third or fourth person that Theo knew from around here that's been taken out by the dead things," Erica said.

  "Really?"

  "Yeah."

  "I can't stop thinking about my parents and brother. I miss them badly."

  "I can imagine. I wish I knew what to tell you. But the only thing I've been able to do is to just not think about it. That's how I've been getting by."

  Macey and Erica didn't disturb Theo, they just let him rest in the basement for most of the day. In the late afternoon, Theo emerged from downstairs for some dinner. The three of them nibbled on soup and crackers and watched the undead that remained outside. One corpse, in particular, had stumbled into their backyard and sat down on the ground beside the garage. The dead thing was eating something. Most likely a part of Tom. Macey and Erica turned away from the window in revulsion, while Theo couldn't even bring himself to look. After eating, the corpse stood up and meandered out of the alleyway and disappeared.

  "Are you feeling okay Theo?" Macey asked.

  Theo gave Macey a solemn nod. "Kinda. That's Mike, Joanie, Tom, and Mel, all gone or they've become the dead things."

  Macey slouched back in her chair. "Oh no. Not Mel. They got him too?"

  "Yeah. Last I saw him, he was out in front of his store, he was one of the dead pricks."

  Macey sighed, "Shit."

  "Tell me about it."

  Erica noticed that the sun was starting to set, "We should all just go downstairs. It's gonna be dark soon, and with all those dead things out there, we better get out of sight."

  Macey and Theo agreed with Erica, and the three of them retreated to the basement. It seemed like every few hours a corpse would stumble past the basement windows, wandering in between the houses.


  "Man, those gunshots brought a lot of them around," Macey said. "Can they see in here?"

  "Yeah they can, but don't worry. They haven't noticed us yet," Erica replied.

  "Yeah, but still. Kinda dangerous, don't you think?"

  "She's right," Theo said. "There's gotta be something around here we can use to cover the windows. Either that or sleep in the upper flat."

  "Forget all that," Erica told Theo. "Hot as hell up there. Don't worry, we'll find something in the morning."

  None of them slept much that night. They were too worried about the dead things moving around outside. Nobody said much of anything either. Theo just laid on his back and continued staring at the basement ceiling. Erica tossed and turned, while Macey kept her eyes on the windows. She was too paranoid about the undead. At the first sign of daylight, Theo sat up and looked at Macey who was laying on her stomach, head in hands and keeping an eye on things outside.

  "Still worried about the dead things?" Theo asked her. "Don't worry, they don't look down here."

  "You never know Theo, they might," Macey answered.

  Erica awoke and rubbed her eyes, "What are you two babbling about? I actually got a little bit of sleep, and you two start yappin."

  Theo chuckled, "Well, someone got up on the wrong side of the litter box this morning."

  Erica responded in kind by flipping Theo the bird.

  "Is that an offer?" Theo asked.

  "Most certainly not," Erica replied bluntly.

  "Damn," Theo sighed.

  "Rejected," Macey said.

  "I'm used to that," Theo replied as he put his boots on.

  "Why am I not surprised?" Erica asked him.

  Theo waved off Erica and Macey, "Yeah yeah, whatever. Let's get upstairs and get some breakfast."

  After checking to see that the upstairs hadn't been broken into by the undead, the three of them sat down at the kitchen table and began to eat. The sunlight filled the kitchen with a dim orange hue. It was early out there, too early, and the three of them were very tired.

  Macey yawned and stretched. "Man, I don't know about you two, but I'm tired as all hell. I could hardly sleep."

  "Too worried about the basement windows?" Erica asked her.

  Macey nodded. "Yeah. I just kept picturing one of those things out there crashing through the windows and sliding into the basement."