Urban Decay

by Paxton Matthews

  "Start climbin," Jones answered.

  "With all that damned barbed wire? I don't think so," Silvia told Jones.

  A few dozen feet from where the Blazer was situated, and right near the second factory was a dip in the fence. "What about there?" Macey asked. "You guys think we can climb over that?"

  "Totally," Theo answered. He pulled up to the dip. Beyond the fence was Beakman's park. They still couldn't get a good enough view of the river however thanks to all of the overgrowth. The thick cover of shrubs and vines was making it hard for them to try and spot the boat launch.

  The group exited the Blazer and began pulling out all of their supplies. Theo looked over to the row of houses across the street. He saw a small wooded area; a couple of trees surrounded by thick shrubs, Theo figured it would be a good place to stash the truck.

  "Hey, Erica, what do you think about storing the Blazer across those railroad tracks? By those trees?" Theo asked.

  Erica looked, "Yeah, sounds like a plan. The truck sitting out by the fence could give us away."

  "You guys, finish unloading and I'm gonna move the truck over by that wooded area," Theo told the others.

  "Don't be gone long, Theo. We're gonna be skinny dippin here real soon," Jones replied.

  "Okay, you guys have fun. I'm going to go live in those houses across the road," Theo joked.

  After all of the supplies were unloaded and the Blazer was empty, Theo got back inside and drove the vehicle across to the trees. He parked the truck and hopped out and began to jog back to the group.

  Sonya and Jennifer were the first to try and get over the dip in the gate. Sonya cleared the barbed wire easily, jumping and landing in some thick reeds. She dusted herself off and eased her mother down off of the gate making sure Jen wasn't cut up by the razor wire. Then it was Macey's turn. She made it over without any difficulty. Erica and Silvie began tossing bags of supplies over to the ladies on the other side of the fence.

  Jones noticed that Theo was standing in the middle of the street. "Hey Erica, lookit Theo there."

  "Theo? You alright over there?" Erica asked him.

  Theo didn't answer Erica. He had his right ear titled slightly skywards, listening to something.

  "Theo, what are you doing?" Erica said. "Hey, Theo? Jones, you and Silvie finish tossing the stuff over, I'm gonna go see what's wrong with Theo."

  Theo stopped Erica before she got close to him. Erica was growing irritated with her friend. "Theo, what the hell are you doing now? This shit's not funny. The sun's about to go down and-"

  "Shh!" Theo interrupted. Theo could hear them down the road. It was the rotters and it sounded like a lot of them. Theo heard their moans and groans. He turned to Erica, "I think we might have a horde nearby."

  "Bullshit," Erica replied. "I don't hear anything."

  "That would explain all of those smaller groups of rotters that we've been seeing though," Silvia said. She tossed another bag over to Macey. "You guys get going, we'll be there in a sec."

  Macey nodded and she took off towards the water with Sonya and Jen, the three of them were fighting to get through the dense bushes and vines.

  Jones climbed up onto the dip in the fence, "I'll make sure they're okay" He told Silvie. "If you see me runnin back this way, you know the eaters are right on my ass."

  Silvie smiled at Jones. "You got it."

  Theo was still listening to the undead, or what he thought was the undead. All it sounded like at the moment was a low dull roar. But Theo was certain that it was a horde of rotters.

  "Whatever it is Theo, to hell with it. Let's get moving," Erica told him.

  "Go ahead. I'll be there in a second. I just want to make sure," Theo replied.

  "Fine, whatever." Erica turned back to Silvie. She grabbed one of the last bags of supplies and stepped up onto the dip in the fence and began to gingerly climb over. "This damn rusted fence. I'm gonna need a tetanus shot."

  Silvie laughed. "Better you than me. I'll just hang out in one of those empty factories. You're not giving me rabies." Silvie looked to Theo, "Theo, you coming along? Or are you just going to wait for this nonexistent horde of rotters?"

  Before Theo could answer her, the vague outline of several dead things appeared on the horizon. Only a couple at first, but then they quickly swelled in numbers. "Look, I told you it was a damn horde," Theo said to Silvie.

  Silvia glanced down the road, there had to be well over a hundred rotters. "Damn, you were right. Let's get in the park and lay low." She turned to gather the last bag of supplies. As she picked the bag up from the sidewalk, the bottom ripped, spilling the contents on the ground. "Ah, shit!"

  Theo ran to Silvie. "Here, I'll help." He began filling his pockets up with whatever was on the ground; candy bars and snack cakes mainly. Silvia had the duffel bag on the ground and was picking up the rest of the food.

  Across the street and across the railroad tracks, back at the row of condos was a rotter. She was shambling around near the sliding glass door at the back of her home. She was wearing a dark pink t-shirt and plain white pajama bottoms. Her bleach blonde hair was matted with dirt and blood. There was one lone bite mark just underneath her right elbow. Right across the street from her were Theo and Silvia, about to hop over the fence and get into Beakman's park. The corpse bolted out of her house heading right for them.

  Erica had made it over the dip and was fighting through the overgrowth to get to the others. She turned around to check on Theo and Silvie, that's when she saw the rotter streaming up behind the two, "Guys, look out!" Erica screamed.

  Theo and Silvia looked up from their bags at Erica, "Wha-" Theo tried to say before he was brushed aside by the corpse.

  The dead thing grabbed Silvia from behind and bit down onto the top of Silvia's left shoulder. Silvia yelled out in pain. She pushed the dead thing away from her. The corpse lunged forward towards Silvia once more. In a panic, Silvia pulled out her pistol and fired at the corpse, hitting the dead thing in the bridge of her nose. The corpse dropped to Silvie's feet. Silvia immediately brought her hand up to her shoulder and pulled away a blood drenched hand.

  "Oh fuck no!" Erica shouted from the other side of the fence. "Silvia, no!"

  Silvia looked at her bloody palm and then looked at Theo, "Can you fuckin believe this?"

  Theo wiped away the tears that were streaming from his eyes. "Silvia, I don't know-" He was interrupted by the horde, worked up into a frenzy due to the gunshot. "They're coming."

  "I know," Silvie replied. "Go on. Get to the river."

  "No, you're coming too," A sobbing Erica said from the other side of the fence.

  "You know what's going to happen to me. You both know," Silvia replied. "Go. I'll hold them off as best I can."

  "No!" Erica yelled.

  "Yes. Go. Guys, it's okay."

  Theo could only nod. He took the duffel bag from Silvia and managed a slight smile. "See you, Silvie." He managed to get out. Theo couldn't think of anything else to say at that moment. Theo began to climb the dip in the gate, not wanting to look back at her.

  Silvia walked out to the middle of the road and turned to face the horde. By that time, there were well over three hundred and counting, and all of them charging right towards her. The few rotters at the front of the pack were getting closer to her.

  Silvie raised her pistol and fired a round at the first rotter. She was beginning to feel the effects of the bite and she was already getting weak. Silvie's first shot hit the dead thing in the shoulder, the second shot hit it in the side of the head. The next rotter was hit in the throat. Silvie pulled the trigger for a third time: Click. Her pistol was empty.

  Both Theo and Erica watched as the undead mob began to envelop Silvie. The last thing Theo and Erica saw of her was Silvia's machete falling to the ground when the dead things began ripping into her.

  "Come on, Erica," Theo said. The two of them would have to mourn some other time.

  While some of the corpses feasted upon Silvia's rem
ains, the other undead began to climb up the fence. Theo and Erica could hear the rotters behind them as they fought through the dense shrubs and bushes. The mass of undead bodies caused the dip in the fence to buckle even more. It wasn't long before the fence gave way, and the rotters began to file into the overgrowth, hot on the heels of Theo and Erica.

  Theo could see the top of Jones' head as he and Erica drew closer to Beakman's park. The two of them emerged from the overgrowth and were greeted by the rest of the group.

  "Where the hell's Silvie?!?"A panicked Macey asked.

  "She's. She's gone," Theo spit out. "No time to talk. Rotters. Right behind us."

  Macey began to cry. "No. Silvia! No!"

  Jones peeked into the overgrowth, "No time. To the river, now!"

  All six of them took off heading towards the water. Theo could see several boats of varying size sitting on the surface of the Rouge River. However, they looked to be deserted. The largest boat, a big white houseboat looked like it had been abandoned for months. The group was too far away from the boat launch to see if they had something viable they could use to get on the water.

  Erica glanced behind her and saw dozens upon dozens of corpses, some were struggling to get through the overgrowth, others were almost right behind the group. Erica spun around, flicked off the safety of the AK and fired into the mob of undead. She wasn't aiming for the rotters' heads. No, Erica aimed for their legs, hitting some of the lead corpses in the knees and causing them to fall down to the ground. The corpses behind them stumbled over the hit rotters. With the undead stumbling over one another, it bought the group a few precious seconds.

  The six of them ran through the parking lot and into the park area past the jungle gym, slides, and swing sets. Finally, the boat launch came into view; empty.

  "Shit no!" Theo yelled. "We're boned!"

  "Looks like we're swimmin!" Jones shouted.

  "Don't worry you guys, I won't let you drown," An almost out of breath Erica told them. "We got this."

  They made it to the water, stopping at the guardrails. The corpses were now filing through the parking lot.

  "Get in the damn water," Erica barked at everyone. She hopped onto the guardrails first, Theo reached into the back of Erica's pants and pulled out her pistol. "Theo, what the fuck?" She asked him.

  "You guys go. Swim to the boats," Theo replied.

  "No. Wait, what?"

  "I'm staying here. I'll buy you guys some time. Now go."

  "Hell no, you're coming with us!" Erica shouted at Theo.

  "Yeah Theo, come on," Macey said. "We already lost one friend today, we're not losing another."

  The undead were charging through the parking lot, it wouldn't be long before the dead things would be tearing into the group. Jones turned and in a last-ditch effort emptied what ammo he had left in his revolver into the pack of rotters. It didn't do much of anything to the corpses.

  Theo grabbed Erica by her shoulders and looked into her tear filled light green eyes. "Erica, I'm tired. Tired of running from these things. That's our future now, running. And I don't want to-" Gunshots rang out, the group could feel the bullets rip past them.

  "Hit the deck!" Jones shouted.

  They all dropped to the ground. Theo covered Erica and they both closed their eyes tightly. The gunfire tore through the late afternoon sky. The shots sounded like they were coming from the river, from the boats. Then it stopped almost as quickly as it began and everything grew silent. No gunshots, no screaming, and no dead things snarling and wailing. Theo opened his eyes as did the rest of the group.

  All throughout Beakman's park were the lifeless bodies of the undead splayed out all over the place, cut down by the gunfire.

  "What the?" Jones asked everyone.

  They all sat there in shock for a few seconds. Then Theo heard some yelling coming from the water. He got up to his feet to see people standing out on the tops of their boats, they were waving various types of rifles and pistols, yelling and motioning for the group to swim out to them.

  Theo looked at Sonya, Jen, Jones, Macey and finally to Erica. With a wry smile on his face he said, "Guys, I think we had better start swimming."

  THE END.