Urban Decay

by Paxton Matthews

  Silvia tapped the back of Macey's left hand. "It's okay. You're just nervous. It's your first time out here since all of this began."

  Macey looked at the alleyway and then to the section of the avenue. She watched as some of the rotters shambled around the road. "What if the corpses see us?" She whispered.

  "The ones that are in Michigan Avenue are too far away to notice us. All we have to worry about are the rotters in the street out front. And it doesn't look as though there's any around. We could just walk right across the street," Theo answered.

  "But still, we should be quick about it," Erica joked.

  "Yeah, what Erica said," Theo replied. He took Macey by the hand and stood up with her. "Come on, let's go. Silvia and Erica are right behind us, right?"

  Both Silvie and Erica nodded at Theo and Macey, reassuring Macey that everything would be okay. Macey took a big deep breath to steady herself, and she and Theo sprinted across the street. Macey was holding onto Theo's hand the entire time. When they made it into the alley, she made Theo stop running.

  "Those damn cigarettes," Macey said in between breaths.

  "Tell me about it," Theo replied. "The one thing about being a smoker; we know the shortcuts for everything."

  Silvia and Erica were running right behind them. "See Macey? That wasn't so bad, was it?" Erica asked.

  "No, but we do have to get back home, remember?" Macey answered.

  "And Erica says I'm the wet blanket," Theo added.

  The four of them made it back to the dollar store after they hurried across the next side street. Theo popped his head inside the store and called out, checking to see if anyone or anything had gotten inside while he and Erica were gone.

  "I think we're all set," Theo said to the girls.

  "Man, it's eerie in here now," Macey said.

  "Just don't head out onto the roof."

  "Yeah, that's not a good idea," Erica replied.

  "Why? What's up there?" Silvia asked them.

  "Dead guy," Theo replied bluntly. "Not a pretty sight. Just leave him be."

  "Will do."

  "What happened?" Macey asked. Her curiosity got the better of her.

  "It looked like he was bitten and he took care of himself before he could turn into one of the rotters," Erica answered. She mimed shooting herself in the head.

  Theo and Erica were glad to see that their carts sat untouched, resting right near the back office. Macey and Silvia began wandering through the store.

  "What are you guys doing?" Erica asked them.

  "Yeah, we got what we came for. Let's get a move on," Theo said.

  Silvia and Macey returned to Theo and Erica pushing carts of their own. "We would like to go shopping too. You guys had all the fun yesterday," Silvia said.

  Erica looked at Theo and laughed. "It's only fair I guess."

  "Great, now we have to wheel four carts past a bunch of the dead things. I should've stayed home," Theo said. Then he realized that he sounded like his dad. "Alright you two, have at it."

  Macey and Silvia went up and down the aisles loading their carts with food. Theo peeked out of the front windows to see what was going on out in front of the store.

  "How is it out there?" Erica asked him.

  "It's not too bad actually. There are fewer rotters bumbling around out there than there was yesterday."

  Macey and Silvia were finished with their shopping trek. All four of them would have a full cart that they would be pushing towards their home. This was going to be tricky.

  "If any rotters get in your path, just mow the fucker down," Silvia said. "They're not that coordinated."

  "Yeah and neither am I," Theo quipped.

  "Cool, if you fall down, we'll leave you to get devoured while we get away," Erica said.

  "Ah, friendship."

  They wheeled all four carts out into the alleyway and prepared to make their way back home. Theo realized that the carts were making a lot more noise than he had anticipated. They had the potential to lure any nearby rotters right to them.

  "Maybe we should rethink this," He said. "These things are a tad noisy, wouldn't you say?"

  Erica looked at the carts that were full to the brim. She kept telling herself not to be greedy, but there was enough food there to last them weeks, if not a month or two. "We'll just take it easy. We got this. Just keep alert and stay frosty."

  Theo grinned at Erica, getting her reference. "Aliens is the greatest movie ever made."

  "You'll get no arguments from me."

  "Me either," Silvia added.

  "I hate to break up the nerd convention, Aliens ruled by the way, but shouldn't we get a move on?" Macey asked them.

  The group began to wheel the carts down the alleyway, stopping when they heard a hacking noise that was coming from behind them. They turned around to see what it was, and Theo was greeted by a familiar face.

  Theo sunk his head, "Shit, Mel."

  Mel was standing there in the alley, just looking at the group. His eyes were empty, just like the rest of the undead, and he was absolutely filthy. Mel was covered in dried blood and dirt. Theo had hoped Mel had wandered far away from the store. No such luck.

  "I'll handle this," Theo told the ladies as he moved forward towards Mel.

  Mel didn't rush towards Theo, he was just standing there, staring at his former friend. To Theo, it looked as if Mel was studying him. As Theo grew closer to Mel, crowbar ready to strike, Theo saw why Mel wasn't moving; Mel's right foot was broken at the ankle, the bottom of Mel's leg was bent outwards at a ninety-degree angle.

  Mel growled at Theo as Theo got nearer to him. Theo turned his crowbar around and looked at his old buddy.

  Theo took a deep breath and then exhaled sharply. "Mel, I'm so sorry man. You didn't deserve this at all. If you're in there somewhere, I just wanted to let you know that."

  Mel reached forward, trying to snatch Theo, but Theo was ready, driving the pointed end of the crowbar through the bridge of Mel's nose. Mel stopped moving instantly, and just hung there. The only thing keeping Mel upright was the crowbar. Using his left foot, Theo pushed Mel's lifeless body off of the crowbar, sending the body down to the ground.

  Erica went up to Theo, "I take it that was Mel?" She asked him.

  Theo nodded slightly, "Yeah."

  "I'm sure that was awful. Let's get the hell out of here, huh?"

  "Not yet. I'm not leaving his body lying here in the middle of the alley."

  Overhearing Theo, Macey volunteered to help Theo move Mel's body somewhere else. "I'll help you out, Theo. He was my friend too."

  "Okay," Theo answered. "Erica, you and Silvia keep an eye out for any more dead things okay?"

  "Got it," Erica replied.

  Macey grabbed Mel by the ankles while Theo lifted Mel's shoulders. "Where are we moving him? Back into his store?" Macey asked.

  "Nah. Move him to those trees over there," Theo replied, motioning to the row of trees at the far end of the small parking lot at the back of the store. "I remember when Mel planted those trees. He was so proud of himself. We'll leave his body there."

  Theo and Macey carried Mel's body over to the row of trees, setting it down in between two of them. "Makes you wonder who else we know got it," Macey muttered.

  "Yeah, but I really don't want to think about that now. Or at all really. Let's get home," Theo replied.

  "You guys okay?" Erica asked Theo and Macey when they returned.

  "Yeah, it sucked, but we'll be okay," Theo replied.

  The four grabbed their carts and resumed pushing them out of the alley. The metal carts rattled and clanked on the cement with each bump and crack that they rolled over. Theo and Erica kept an eye out to the right towards the Avenue for any undead, while Macey and Silvia looked down the street to their left. There were some corpses mulling about, but the dead things were too far away to notice the four of them.

  "Keep watch on the houses too," Erica reminded everyone. "Dead pricks could be lurking in between the
homes."

  Macey looked down at her arm which was still bandaged. "Yeah, I know," She said quietly.

  They made it into the next alley and Theo stopped everyone once he remembered the close encounter with the undead woman from the day before. "You guys wait here a sec. I'll go scout ahead, see what we could be up against." He left his cart and huddled near the chain link fence. Theo scanned the street being watchful for any nearby corpses. Theo motioned for the girls to wheel their carts towards him.

  Erica pushed her and Theo's carts and then took a look down the street for herself. "Looks alright. We're gonna have to head down the alley behind our place though. I'm not up for carrying these things over a bunch of fences."

  "Yeah, good idea. As soon as those dead things over there wander away, we'll get a move on," Theo replied. There was a small gathering of corpses stumbling around across the street, about half a block away from Theo and the ladies.

  Erica, however, had no intentions of waiting around, "Fuck this. You all keep up," She said to the group, and then took off out of the alley like a shot.

  "Erica, what the hell!" Theo shouted at her. Before he could begin pushing his cart, Macey and Silvia darted past him as well. They both were laughing nervously. "You guys are nuts, you know that?"

  Theo grabbed his cart and followed suit. As Theo pushed the cart across the road, following the girls into the next alleyway, he could hear the rotters drawn to the noise that the shopping carts were making. "We're gonna have some company!" He yelled to the girls, but it didn't appear that they heard him. The corpses were growling and yelping as they charged behind Theo.

  Taking a quick glance behind him, Theo saw the three dead things giving chase. He stopped, spun the grocery cart around and pushed it as hard as he could right into the mid-section of the first rotter. The corpse flew backward into the other two dead things, dropping them all three of them to the ground.

  "Shit, Theo needs help," Silvia said and rushed to his aid.

  The first corpse, a younger guy with the right side of his face eaten away was dispatched with the curved end of the crowbar being brought down on the top of his skull; caving his head in. Theo took care of the second corpse by sidestepping her attempt to grab him and then bashing in the back of her skull. The third dead thing rose to his feet. With one smooth action, Silvia sliced his head off with her machete.

  "Are you alright Theo?" Erica asked.

  Theo turned around and looked at her, and judging from the scowl that was on his face, he wasn't alright. "Thanks a lot," He replied.

  "What? What's the problem?"

  "You just took off out of the fucking alley like a damn psychopath, that's the problem."

  "Oh lighten up. I was just trying to have some fun."

  "Yeah, by luring a bunch of the dead fuckers right to us. Thanks!" Theo looked at his shopping cart sitting near the three rotters that were laying in the alley, "All for some dollar store junk food. Man, fuck this."

  Theo left the cart sitting in the alley and began walking to the house.

  "What the hell's the matter?" Erica asked him as Theo brushed past her. Theo just ignored her. He didn't even care if there were any corpses lying in wait in the backyard, he was fed up with everything.

  "We screwed up," Macey whispered to Erica and Silvia.

  "I dunno why he's so upset. I mean, I was just trying to break up the monotony. Not only that, I was sick of just sneaking around. There weren't that many rotters nearby, I thought we could just run past them," Erica said.

  Silvia wiped the blood off of her machete on some nearby overgrowth, "I think it's finally starting to get to him."

  "What's getting to him."

  "This. Whatever 'this' is. The end times, I dunno what the hell to call it. But I've seen it happen before. Everyone has a breaking point. I think Theo just reached his."

  The girls wheeled the carts into the backyard and began to unload the supplies. Theo was sitting at the kitchen table, staring down at the floor.

  "You're right Theo, that was a stupid move. I'm sorry," Erica said.

  Theo didn't raise his head, didn't even respond to Erica, and Erica knew better than to press the issue with him. She just kept on unloading everything they brought back home. When they were done unpacking, Theo got up from the kitchen table and went to the upstairs, preferring to be left alone.

  It was having to put down the undead Mel that really pushed Theo over the edge. Any other time, he would have been laughing and joking with the girls as they were pushing their shopping carts down the alley. But not this day. Theo climbed over to the chimney and sat down, watching the rotters in the neighborhood mull about. There was another corpse out there that Theo recognized. It was that of an older woman. She used to live right down the street from his old house. The woman was still wearing her pajamas and bathrobe. She stumbled around on a few of the front lawns of the homes across the street, and then she disappeared in between two houses.

  Theo shook his head at the sight, "Damn."

  When he looked to his left towards the avenue, he saw a small group of around ten to fifteen corpses. Theo couldn't tell how many there were exactly. He watched them as they wandered from the avenue and onto his street. It was a good thing Theo and the others made it out of there when they did.

  "Maybe it's a good thing Erica took off like a bat out of hell," He thought.

  "Theo? Are you up there?" Macey whispered from the bedroom window.

  "No, it's just me, Spider-Man," Theo joked.

  Macey giggled. "I was always partial to the Punisher myself."

  "Whoa, me too."

  "Can I come up there?"

  "Nobody's stopping you. Just be careful. If you slip and fall down there, I don't really think I can dive after you."

  Macey eased herself out onto the awning, and then she slowly climbed up towards the chimney and sat down next to Theo. "Wow, it's actually kinda nice out here. It's getting a little humid inside."

  "I can't stand summer. The heat sucks."

  "What's wrong? Are you that pissed off at Erica? She really feels bad about what happened. But she was just trying to liven things up and have some fun."

  "Oh yeah, it was a real hoot," Theo scoffed.

  "But you and Silvia handled it."

  "Still, I really didn't want to become dinner because Erica felt the need to have a little fun."

  "It's been really awful these past few weeks."

  "Yeah, that's an understatement."

  "We all have our limits, Theo. When my parents and brother were torn apart by the rotters, I didn't leave my room for two whole days. All I did was sob and sob."

  "So you're thinking all of this shit's starting to catch up with me?"

  Macey nodded. "Oh yeah. I did notice you wiping away a few tears when we laid Mel down by those trees."

  "Damn, I was hoping nobody saw me."

  "Theo, it's okay. How about we go inside for some dinner?" Macey asked him. "My treat!"

  "Woohoo," Theo said sarcastically.

  Theo once again noticed the red Chevy Blazer sitting in front of Macey's house. "Hey Macey, I meant to ask you, was that your dad's truck there?"

  "Yeah. He loved that damn thing."

  "You wouldn't happen to have the keys would ya?"

  "No. My dad had them in his pocket when...."

  "Oh, okay."

  "Why? Are you thinking about leaving or something?"

  "Not really," Theo answered. In reality, he was lying to her. Theo was, in fact, thinking about getting out of the area. "Just in case we have to get the hell out of here. I like to have all bases covered."

  "I think there might be a spare set of keys in my house somewhere."

  "Let's eat, we'll worry about the keys some other time."

  During dinner, Erica once again tried to explain herself to Theo. "I was just trying to-"

  Theo stopped her. "I understand. I guess you guys are right. I just reached my limit is all."

  "I think we could all use
a breather," Silvie said.

  "Yeah. With all this food, we can relax for a little while and catch our breath," Erica replied.

  When they were all laying down in the basement sleeping, Theo kept thinking about that truck outside. More importantly, the spare set of keys. He thought about sneaking out over to Macey's house and try and look for them, but it was almost pitch black outside; he'd need a flashlight. If any rotters outside saw the beam, Theo would be in trouble. Plus having to hear it from Erica for making such a boneheaded move after he just gave her a hard time wasn't really worth it. Theo did want to leave, however. In the morning, he decided to take it to the group.

  Chapter 15

  "Whoa, leave? Are you serious?" Erica asked Theo. She couldn't believe her ears.

  Theo nodded. "Deadly serious. I want out of here."

  "Theo, we have no idea what it's like out there. From what Silvia's seen, it sounds pretty bad."

  "It is," Silvia said. "I've seen a lot more than what you guys have seen."

  "You're still angry from yesterday, it's clouding your judgment," Erica told Theo.

  "I'm not angry anymore. It's just, seeing that horde of rotters, and seeing Mel made me realize that sticking around here isn't worth it. How long before another mob of those dead things comes trudging on down the road and there are hundreds of those corpses right out in front?" Theo asked the group.

  Erica laid her hands down on the table and took a deep breath. "That could have been a one-time thing, we don't know."

  "Doesn't matter."

  "Where would we go then? Erica asked. "Ever think about that? Let's say we did take off out of here. Where would be heading?"

  Theo sat back in his chair, he hadn't given that aspect of the plan much thought. "I've got nothing."

  "See?"

  "I think we all should just calm the hell down," Silvia said. "It was a rough few days. Theo, you reached your breaking point yesterday."

  "I'm calm. Calmer than you are," Theo said.

  Macey was the only one that got Theo's reference and she chuckled. "Great movie."

  "Damn right it was."

  "Yeah, anyways. Why are we even talking about this then?" Erica wondered. "Why bother?"

  "Hypothetically, what if we had to get the hell out of here in a hurry?" Theo asked the others. "Let's say a pack of dead things gets in here and we retreat to the basement. That basement door can't hold all of them back. Two, maybe three of those things. But that's it. What if we couldn't even make it to the basement, or even up to the roof?"