Outbreak of the Living Dead

by Aaron Guerra

  “Sarah? Who the hell is that?” Mary asked them. Kim quietly repeated the name to herself which caught the girl’s attention. “Oh? So you know this Sarah as well? Alright then! Speak up before another one of you ends up like the teacher here,” she had threatened. Matthew was grinding his teeth as his blood began to boil from the darkness that was awakening within. His old self that he used to survive the horror from the other town came to surface.

  “You’re so dead…” he said in a deep voice. Everyone turned to look at the man, including Marilyn. She knew what was about to happen, but this time she wasn’t going to stop him from changing. The man had used all of his strength to break through the weak rope around his wrists. He quickly grabbed the spear from the teenager’s hold before impaling him in the leg. The boy cried out in pain as the others watched the lunatic get closer. “She was nice. She was a survivor,” he said. Matthew broke the spear in half with the use of his leg as he got closer to the one in charge. She tried to stab him but he was too fast. He ended up catching her wrist with a tight grip. Mary tried to break free but there was no escape from his hold. Everyone watched as they heard the sound of her wrist pop from his mighty grip. She fell to her knees while holding onto her hand when he finally let go.

  The hunting knife landed down on the floor, which he kicked over to the rightful owner. Kim had used the blade to cut Cindy and Marilyn free before turning back to face everyone there. Some of the students dropped their weapons while stepping back from fear of the man.

  “Listen, we didn’t want to do that! She forced us to do it,” one of the students in the back started to speak up, which sparked some interest in Matthew.

  “Go on, boy,” he said.

  The young man had came out from the back while pointing down to Mary.

  “She kicked Mr. Reeve out last night cause he was caught stealing some food!” the student said. Mary looked up at him with fresh blood on her face still.

  “Shut up you moron…” she said to him. The student had stepped away from her while pointing down still.

  “If anyone of us has to die, it’s her! Please spare the rest of us and just go. We’ll even give you your stuff back,” he said.

  Three students came out from the back with their weapons and supplies. Cindy and Kim went over to grab the stuff, but Mary tried to take it from them like a spoiled child. Matthew grabbed the girl by the back of the neck to lift her up off the floor.

  “You’re just like the cowards that killed more people than monsters back at Crimson Falls!” Matthew said to her face. He threw her to the floor as she turned to face him with tears in her eyes.

  “This…happened over there? My family…MY FAMILY IS THERE!” Marry cried out. Marilyn came towards them with her hand gently resting on her lover’s shoulder.

  “We are the only survivors that came from there. My love and I escaped that hellish nightmare to end up in this one,” she said to the girl.

  Mary got up fast to try and choke the woman that just spoke out to her, but Kim got in front of her with the blade entering her stomach. The redhead had slowly looked down to see the handle sticking out of her. The students watched as the person pulled the blade out to allow the blood to flow freely to the floor. Mary collapsed while facing the direction where Roxanne was laying. She tried to speak but the blood loss was too great for her. Kim wiped the blood off of her hunting knife while watching the girl bleed to death.

  “That, was for my friend,” Kim said. She had brought the blade up once more, pointing it at the students near by. “You…you’re no different from her. I couldn’t care less if that thing finds and devours any of you,” she told them. Cindy put a hand on her shoulder to turn her away from them.

  “Come on, we should leave before Sarah passes this place,” said Cindy.

  A student slowly stepped over Mary’s body to stand next to Cindy and Kim.

  “Please, can you take us with you? We don’t want to stay here any longer,” said the student. Kim turned her back to them when retrieving some of their supplies that they gave back. Marilyn and Matthew walked through the small crowd to reach the only door that lead to the large lobby of the store.

  “What’re you going to do, Kim?” Marilyn asked. Kim turned to look at her before exiting the room. There was no answer from her. She just stood there while the soldier stood in the middle of the students. Cindy held out her ID for some of the teenagers to see.

  “I am part of the Outbreak & Prevention Center. It is my duty to help rescue any survivors I come across. So yes, get your stuff. We are moving out!” Cindy had told the lot. The woman in black walked out of the room with the teenagers following after her with their weapons ready. Kim was left alone in the room with the two bodies covered in their own blood. She knelt down by Roxanne to close her eyes and fix her bangs.

  “You came this far only to end up here…” Kim said as her voice trembled.

  A few tears started to escape from her eyes as she stood up. The grip around her knife’s handle had tightened when she saw the girl she murdered.

  “Forgive me,” Kim told the science teacher one last time. She left the room before closing the door behind her. She could see everyone standing in the middle of the open space, waiting for her. “Come on,” she said.

  Cindy watched as the young girl before her had changed during that short time. The cute innocent vibe wasn’t coming off of her anymore. As the college student walked on by, the presence of a future OPC soldier started to come from her. Matthew and Marilyn gave a sly smirk to the woman in black when they passed her up as well. The students followed after her with their weapons ready in their hands. A random dead fiend came out of the sandwich deli from the left with it’s blood red eyes shining from the light of Cindy’s flashlight. It tackled a student to the floor with it’s rotting teeth tearing his face off. Some of the students impaled the thing with their spears to keep it down. Others quickly rushed over to swing their own weapons down at it’s head until it stopped moving. Kim turned back to see the faceless guy cough up blood before trying to climb up off the floor.

  The creature looked all around the area with his white eyes before reaching for the nearest person. Kim quickly jumped next to the faceless creature before shoving the knife into it’s eye socket. The thing continued to move until she forced more of it inside to damage the brain. The students watched carefully as she pulled the blade out of it’s head. She stared at them before walking to the front of the large group.

  “Notice something different?” Kim asked. Cindy knelt down to the dead bodies to notice something odd.

  “They aren’t giving off that disgusting smell like the others,” Cindy said in surprise. Everyone started to notice it, which was strange.

  “What does that mean?” a young girl in the middle had spoke out while holding her backpack close. “I was friends with someone that was totally into this kind of stuff,” she said. Marilyn grabbed her lover’s shirt to stop him from advancing when she heard the kid talk.

  “Speak up sweetie! What do you mean?” Marilyn asked.

  The student walked to the two bodies, but not too close.

  “She was into freaky stuff. Witches, Vampires, Werewolves, Aliens,” the student had said. Kim turned around to hear what she had to say about the subject.

  “So what? You think they’re involved with this too? Give me a break,” Kim said while rolling her eyes. She looked away to see something useful for herself. As the student continued to talk about her friend’s hobbies, Kim found a few dead soldiers wearing the same outfit like Cindy had on.

  A few moments had passed when Kim returned to the group, wearing the OPC uniform. Her hair was now cut short which resembled Sarah’s length.

  “Where did you get that outfit?” Cindy asked. Kim walked over to Cindy with a machine gun in her hands. She had handed a full clip of ammunition to her which she had found on a dead OPC soldier. The college student in uniform walked past her. Marilyn was a little jealous to see her wearing an all black u
niform, until Kim told her that there were a few more of them left. Matthew and Marilyn had went over to the area that she pointed to while holding hands. Some time passed when they had returned. The two lovers were wearing the same uniform as Cindy and Kim.

  “I feel a little more professional when wearing this outfit,” Marilyn happily said as she tugged on the bulletproof vest with the large OPC letters embedded on the front.

  “This is way better than that damn Hospital’s paper dress that they made us wear!” said Matthew.

  It felt wrong to Cindy to see them wearing that uniform. But it could help their chances to survive a little better when in combat with the revived creatures. The real soldier stood in front of the three, including the students while holding the new weapon in her hand.

  “Alright listen up! You’ve made it this far because you were pushed to the corner. All of you had your families taken from you by this evil. I know that you’re scared, but being scared now will be your ultimate demise. When you come face to face with one of those things, don’t cower in fear! Face them head on with all of your rage!” Cindy had said. She brought her gun up high as the others did as well with their weapons. They continued to cheer on from the morale boost that they just received.

  The abandoned factory was dead quiet and cold. The wind started to pick up as Velski and Tristan entered the large empty building. Countless soldiers in uniform were walking around inside with most of their necks or faces torn apart. This was one of the few times he had ever seen the woman show the face of defeat. He had forced her out of the building before shutting the door behind him quietly. The woman was holding her sides as she began to cry in the grass. The things inside started to bang against the door when hearing something outside.

  “Come on, we don’t need to be here anymore,” Tristan told her. He held out his hand until she accepted it. Tristan helped her walk along the back of the building to see if there were any vehicles the soldiers could’ve left behind. When they had reached it, they noticed that there was a large black helicopter parked in the open field. “Is that one of yours?” he asked. She ran ahead to check on it for herself, but the ground beneath her suddenly came up. The woman was thrown back to where Tristan was as something new came out of the earth. “What the hell is that thing?!” he muttered to himself.

  They watched in horror as a large unknown black creature slithered to the surface. It had long arms on it’s sides with no legs. There was also no eyes or a mouth of any kind to be seen. The thing started to shake it’s body to get the dirt off of itself.

  “What should we do?” he asked. Velski looked around to see a backdoor that lead into the factory.

  “Hide for now!” she said. Velski held his hand firmly as the two ran for safety from the unfamiliar creature. They were able to catch their breath when they entered the place to escape the thing.

  “Is that what Rebecca was looking for?” he had asked her.

  Tristan looked out the window to see it slowly crawling towards the building they were in. Velski went down the steps to reach the floor where the old machinery was stored.

  “We need bigger weapons. Must destroy it,” said Velski. He followed after her while holding the shotgun she gave him earlier.

  “I never did ask you where you found this stuff,” he asked her.

  Velski slowly opened a door to see some of the creatures in civilian clothing. They were feasting on the people she had worked with for a couple of years now. The soldier quietly came up behind one of them and forced their head to collide with the brick wall beside it. The one eating a leg had stood up to face the woman but it was kicked back down to the floor. She brought her leg up high before swinging it down to crack open it’s skull.

  “Like them! I found weapons near by in the street. Soldiers were dead already,” said Velski. She checked the OPC soldier’s pockets to find nothing of importance. “Put this on,” she told him. Velski quickly unclothed the soldier that must’ve shot himself fairly recent. His uniform was fine but some of his blood was on the vest. Tristan started to put it on while feeling a little silly.

  “This isn’t right. He earned his way to wear this stuff, I didn’t,” Tristan had said. Velski stood up to face the man with her eyes staring into his.

  “He killed himself. You are still here. You’re stronger,” she said to his face. The woman patted her hand against the vest that he was wearing while giving him a smile. “You’re strong, but I’m still stronger,” she said.

  Tristan lifted the shotgun up to his shoulder while looking through the open doorway that lead further inside the factory. He could hear more of those things shuffling around in paper that must’ve been thrown to the floor during the massacre.

  “I‘m going to check the area out while you wait here,” Tristan said. He gently pushed her back so that she didn’t step one foot in the place that smelled like death. “I’ll prove to you that I’m stronger,” he said playfully.

  Tristan gently closed the door behind him so that the things couldn’t hear anything to get excited about. The man in the soldier uniform quietly lowered himself before advancing towards some opened crates near the wall. He kept looking over his shoulder to see if any of them noticed that he was there.

  “Alright,” he quietly said to himself. Tristan stepped on a piece of paper that had caught his attention. The man started to examine what he picked up. “Evacuation? Someone is suppose to pick the soldiers up?” he whispered. Tristan folded the paper and placed it into his front pocket so that he could read it when returning to her. He carefully stood up to look into the crate that caught his eye the first time. It was empty, which was no surprise for him. “There has to be some heavy duty weaponry in here somewhere,” he said. Tristan turned around to see a soldier missing his face walk past him. This was new to him, since being so close to something like that would usually end in confrontation.

  Another crate was spotted near by which had him walking to it slowly. When he finally came to it, he noticed that it was still closed.

  “Please be something awesome. Some insane firepower or explosives,” he wished. Tristan quietly lifted the lid to the side to see what was resting inside the large box. There was a young soldier still alive inside. The soldier brought his finger to his lips to tell the stranger in uniform to stay quiet. Tristan did the same before pulling the paper out of his pants to show him. The young soldier slowly peeked his head out of the box to talk to the man.

  “What group are you with?” the soldier asked. Tristan looked down to see the uniform that he was currently wearing, then back to him.

  “I’m with Velski’s Group I guess. How about you?” he said to the young fellow. The scared man had slowly stuck his head out of the crate some more to look at all of his fellow soldiers walking around.

  “I’m from Group-B. We were sent here to save all the survivors while Group-C was ordered to find the scientist that had escaped,” he had revealed. Tristan slowly helped the soldier out of the box that he was hiding in. “The name is Scott, what’s yours?” he had asked him.

  Tristan was going to answer, but something inside the crate was more important than the chitchat that was going on.

  “Hey Scott, help me get these out of here,” Tristan said. Scott looked back down to see two boxes with the words, ‘Grenade Set’ on it. Tristan pointed over to where he came from to show where they needed to go to escape.

  Scott took one step which suddenly caught everything’s attention. Tristan looked down to see some wrinkled paper under his boot.

  “GO!” he yelled.

  The men evasively dodged the hands of the dead as they ran to the door that Velski was waiting behind. She had her machine gun ready to fire when the large black creature came busting through the wall behind her. Velski had kicked the door open to get away from it, but she came in contact with the one that was in command for her unit. The man had turned to face her with his right eye missing. She quickly smacked him across the face with her shotgun before kicking him bac
k. Tristan and Scott were next to her as the dead and the new threat had them surrounded.

  “Any bright idea guys? Cause I honestly don’t want to die here with them!” Scott said.

  He looked up to the one in command now, which was Velski. She grabbed the lid to the box of grenades and removed it. Tristan held it out for her as she quickly grab two strangely shaped explosives.

  “You two, fire at them. I will keep this thing busy!” said Velski. Scott placed his box down next to a large machine while Tristan put his box down next to her.

  “You heard the lady! Let’s put them out of their misery!” Tristan said with a smirk appearing on his face.

  Scott knelt down on one knee while bringing up his assault rifle. The sounds of heavy fire were coming from the factory which attracted some more unwanted guests that were lurking outside. Velski waited for the thing to show it’s ugly mouth when it finally opened up to consume a dead soldier. Without wasting another second, she pulled the pin from the explosive and sent it into it’s mouth. The thing roared unlike anything they’ve ever heard before when it‘s lower body expanded from the explosion within.

  The flesh eaters all stopped moving to look over to the alien life form after it was done screaming.

  “What’s going on?” Tristan asked. They watched one of the reanimated OPC soldiers open it’s mouth wide. Tristan had took a few steps away from the odd one while raising his gun up to prepare himself.

  “I don’t like this one bit!” he said.

  A black creature with many spider-like legs started to come out of the mouth until it dropped to the floor. It’s body started to pulse before it began to grow right before his eyes. Tristan fired the shotgun down at the thing before it could have the chance to grow bigger than a full grown dog.