The Dead in River City

by S. A. McGarey

  Alan finished cleaning the blade and sat it aside with his other weapons. Kendra stayed on the bed, breathing evenly and slowly drifting off yet again. Alan hoped she’d sleep a little more peacefully than she did in the car. Alan turned out the lights and crawled into bed. He thought to himself how much he hated not having anything to sleep in. Dismissing his thoughts, he told Kendra goodnight. She did not return the sentiment, as she had already drifted off to sleep.

  Hours passed as the two slept. Both periodically tossed and turned through the night. Sometime close to 2am, Alan awoke. Looking around in the dark, he could make out the form of Kendra on the bed next to his. He could see her tossing and turning, but elected to not bother her, hoping she would return to a restful sleep. He took the keycard from the nightstand and walked out of the room, looking to explore the rest of the hotel.

  He walked the halls, lit by the dim sconces on the walls, but didn’t anything massively interesting. He did, however, locate the housekeeping area. All the soaps, shampoos, and everything else they offered were there, as well as the washers and dryers. He decided it a good thing to remember, as they would most assuredly need them. He made his way back towards the lobby, just to make sure there was nothing amiss. They’d been so shaken up that they never assigned their night watch duties. Alan guessed this would count as his. He reached the lobby, still littered with corpses and doused with blood splatter. He looked around, now taking time to observe everything, instead of rushing to find what they needed. He found very little of interest: mostly just cobwebs and dust.

  Looking around, he saw on the counter a key ring with a set of keys attached. One of the keys he was unable to identify, but the other was clearly a car key. He guessed that the keys belonged to Scott. Alan pocketed the keys, knowing it would be much more effective to have a car they didn’t have to hotwire. Deciding he was finished here, he began to head towards the room to check on Kendra.

  As he was leaving the lobby, he heard a banging noise, as if a person was trying to get inside the front door. He turned to look, and saw that Kendra’s statement about the Dead Ones being more active at night was absolutely true. He saw not 1, but many Dead Ones outside. One by one, they reached the door and began to pound away. The glass on the doors was strong but wouldn’t hold against a horde of the dead. Alan only had a small bit of time. He would need something to fight them off. He ran back to the room, and quietly went in and grabbed the shotgun. He exited the room as quickly as he came, and went to work on his idea.

  Alan had never run so fast in his life. He had minutes to take care of the small horde outside before they broke inside. He ran to the food storage of the hotel. Knowing that any cooking supplies would be there, he had one specific item in mind: a propane tank. Frantically searching the room, he found a single propane tank. Lifting it up, he could tell it was missing some… possibly half the propane inside was gone. It would have to do. Alan took the propane tank, and fled back to the lobby.

  Alan returned to the lobby to see that the glass of the front doors was cracking from the pressure. He had mere seconds to finish the job. He rushed to the door, dropping the propane tank in front of it. Glass shattered as the Dead Ones began reaching inside. Barely escaping their grasp, Alan ran from the door, getting a safe distance back. He turned as the glass broke away piece by piece. Raising the shotgun, he aimed for the half-empty propane tank, hoping his plan would work. He had no time to waste. Alan pulled the trigger and blasted the propane tank.

  The resulting explosion was quite spectacular. It broke the rest of the glass that hadn’t been destroyed by the Dead Ones. The Dead Ones themselves were not only knocked back by the explosion, but also engulfed in flames. As their bodies burned, Alan walked forward; putting them down with the shotgun, making sure each and every Dead One was well and truly dead.

  Outside the front door, the smoke from the flaming bodies filled the air. Burning, rotting flesh had an acrid smell that overtook the scent of the cool nighttime air. Seeing that his work was done, he walked back inside. Before he ever reached the room, Kendra met up with him, still a little drowsy.

  “Alan, what happened?” She asked, seeing the grisly scene just outside the front door.

  “Dead Ones.” He began. “Don’t worry, I took care of them. I’m sorry I woke you.” He apologized.

  “It’s ok.” She said with a big yawn.

  “Let’s go back to sleep. I have a feeling we’ll have a long day tomorrow.” Alan told her.

  They returned to their room, with Alan locking the door behind them. Each climbed into their bed, and tried to sleep for the rest of the night. The room was silent, save for each other’s breathing, and soon, albeit, restlessly, they slept.

  6

  Dim sunlight shone through the window of their room as Kendra began to awaken. To her surprise, they were both still alive. She was sure the explosion in the early morning darkness would have attracted more Dead Ones. She didn’t voice her concerns, and just tried to trust Alan and sleep. She actually slept better than she had in weeks. Glancing at the clock with her tired eyes, she saw that it was 6:30am and that dawn was breaking. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and got out of bed.

  “Alan. Alan, get up.” Kendra said, walking to Alan’s bed and shaking him to get up.

  Alan jolted awake. “Wha… Kendra?” he reacted in shock.

  “You ok?” Kendra asked. “That doesn’t seem a normal reaction.”

  “Guess I’m still on edge from last night.” He remarked, rubbing his eyes. “What time is it?”

  “6:30.” She replied. “We need to get moving.”

  Alan nodded without a word and went to the bathroom to clean himself up as best as he could. The hotel only had so much in the way of hygiene products that they could use. He tried to finish up quickly so that Kendra could have a turn. He spent mere minutes in the shower before dressing back into his clothes from the day before. Stepping out of the bathroom, he motioned the Kendra that she was free to use the bathroom.

  Kendra enjoyed her showed immensely. She couldn’t remember when she’d last had the opportunity to take one, but it was lovelier than she remembered. Until she met Alan, she’d been quite limited in her ability to travel. When she was alone, she spent most of her time going from place to place, fortifying it, and trying desperately to sleep. She pondered the recent events as the warm water poured over her body and concluded that while she initially found Alan to be a hindrance to her own plans, he had actually been quite useful. She had to concede that Alan was not as bad as she previously thought. She was even growing to enjoy his company.

  Kendra pulled herself back from her mental tangent and finished her showed. She stepped out of the room, back in her clothes from the day before. Alan was gathering his weapons. Without looking up, he began to speak.

  “I found the laundry room of the hotel. If we find some replacement clothes, we might be able to wash our existing ones.” He explained his discovery.

  “I am not sure if we should stay here.” Kendra interjected. “With the front door being non-existent, and the explosion you created last night, I expect the threat of the Dead Ones will be too great. We need somewhere else to go.”

  Alan nodded his head. “You bring up a valid point. Any ideas on where to go or what to do?”

  “Well, the prospect of new clothes is a very nice one. Let’s start there.” Kendra suggested. “Then, let’s find somewhere else to stay. Preferably somewhere that you won’t blow up.”

  Alan shot her a look of disapproval. “Get your things. Let’s go.”

  Kendra gathered her things, and followed Alan to the door. As the door opened, they both noticed that something had gone very amiss. Where the building was once silent, there was now an eerie and faint sound. It sounded of death, and the shambling of killer corpses.

  “Alan…” Kendra stopped him in his tracks. “I hear Dead Ones.”

  “Must’ve come in through the front door.” He thought aloud.

  “The nois
e of the explosion, and the smoke from the fire must have brought them here.” Kendra hypothesized. “They never found our room, but the building is infested with them.”

  Alan reached into his pocket and retrieved the keys he’d taken from the reception desk. “Take these, find the car they go to, and get it ready.” He said, throwing the keys to Kendra. “Don’t stop for anything. I’m right behind you.”

  Kendra caught the keys in her hand, and clutching them tight, she took a deep breath and started a mad dash for the parking lot. Alan ran behind her, making sure no Dead Ones ever reached her. As she ran, Alan’s shotgun blasted out every minute or so, dropping every Dead One that got even remotely close to Kendra. She flinched at every shotgun blast, wondering when the gun would fail to sound. She kept running as fast as she could, hoping she would reach the car.

  She ran through the hole where the front door once existed, and looked frantically around the parking lot. Most cars in the lot had been abandoned there when the attack happened. She wasn’t sure which car the keys belonged to, so she ran from car to car, trying to unlock the door of each vehicle. Alan soon followed out of the building, shooting down the Dead Ones, holding them off until Kendra found the correct car.

  It felt like forever in her mind, as she sprinted from car to car, each one of them, the wrong vehicle. Kendra felt as though she would never find the car matching the keys. Her heart rate rose higher and higher as the panic set in, and everything began to blur together. The only constant, the thing keeping her tied to reality, was the continuous blast of the shotgun as Alan worked his way towards becoming ankle-deep in the dead.

  Kendra’s struggles went on and on until she finally got the key to turn in one of the cars, and its door opened as if granting access to salvation itself. Kendra climbed into the car and pulled the door shut with enough force to nearly make the damaged driver side mirror fall off. Her first instinct was to blare the horn relentlessly. She knew it would get Alan’s attention enough to alert him that she’d found the car. She knew it might attract more Dead Ones, but right now, she didn’t care. She just wanted to leave.

  The obnoxious sound of the car horn filled the air, echoing through the emptiness of the city. Alan turned and saw Kendra in the car, and broke out into an all-out sprint towards the antiquated vehicle. He saw Kendra in the driver seat, and made a mental note to go on the other side of the car. He had decided it would be an embarrassing death to die because you tried to get in the wrong side of a car.

  Reaching the old car, he threw his weapons in the back seat and climbed inside, slamming his door shut. Kendra wasted no time in getting the car in motion. She floored the gas pedal and the car peeled out of the parking lot, going back onto the street at breakneck speed. Both Alan and Kendra’s heart rates began to drop to a normal level, as they got as far away from the Dead Ones as they could. Not a sound was around to be heard, except for the heavily used engine on the car.

  Kendra broke the silence. “Nice shooting back there.” She complimented Alan

  “It was nothing. Aiming is easy when you have a shotgun.” Alan replied.

  “Still… I’m glad you weren’t shooting like you were when I found you.” Kendra smirked as the words left her mouth.

  “Hey!” Alan took offense. “Need I remind you that I took one out with a single revolver shot?”

  “I have no issue with that shot. It was impressive.” She clarified. “It’s the 5 shots you fired after that, that makes me question your skills.”

  Alan was silent for a moment. “I had an off day…” He defended himself.

  Kendra left it at that. She knew enough to not pry into people’s lives. She just continued to drive, swerving around the abandoned cars and working towards their next destination.

  “So… new clothes?” Alan asked.

  “Yeah, I think that’s a good start. Any ideas where to go?” Kendra fished for Alan’s opinion.

  “Well, there’s the mall. There are lots of clothing stores there. Also there are plenty of various chain stores around the city. Mostly just depends on which ones haven’t been picked clean by looters.” Alan voiced his thoughts.

  “Let’s try one of the malls. Most of the clothes have probably been taken, but they also have a big selection. Let’s start there.” Kendra decided.

  Alan simply nodded, saying nothing. Kendra altered her course, heading for what was easily the least popular mall in the city. She pondered as she drove, mostly about how Alan had watched her back earlier. She was used to being alone, so this whole teamwork situation was new to her. She slowly found herself glad that Alan had convinced her to stick together.

  Alan, meanwhile, pondered his own thoughts. He was glad Kendra decided to stick around. He knew he didn’t want to be alone in this. He decided that if the apocalypse was happening, it was best to have a friend to spend it with. Sure, Kendra was sometimes detached and held a prickly demeanor, but if you gave her a chance, and gave her some time, she’d grow on you. Alan thought himself foolish for even thinking it, but there was a part of his mind that always wandered back to one question: What if he could become more than just a friend to Kendra? He suppressed the question the only way he knew how. He focused on the mission. He focused on killing the Dead Ones, and making sure they stayed dead this time.

  Time passed on and on. Roughly 45 minutes after the panic in the hotel parking lot, their newly acquired car pulled in to the mall parking lot. As they exited the car, they each grabbed a couple weapons from the back seat. Both Kendra and Alan grabbed their swords, and Alan took his crossbow pistol, which he’d yet to test. Neither of them was really sure if there would be anyone inside, dead or otherwise, but it was clearly better to be cautious than to wind up dead… or worse.

  Alan looked over the car they’d been driving. He didn’t get a good look at it during their escape, but as he examined it now, he saw just how crappy this car was. The side mirrors were in terrible shape, the paint was chipped and the body was warped from various accidents. The odometer was broken, so God only knew how many miles the car actually had on it, and the car’s engine sounded anything but reassuring. On top of all that, the color of the car was arguably the most atrocious color he’d ever seen. The car was chartreuse, or as Alan called it, puke-y green.

  “That’s got to be the worst car I’ve ever seen.” Alan remarked.

  “Stop complaining. At least it got us out of our sticky situation earlier.” Kendra pointed out. “Let’s get in there and get out. I don’t want to stay here longer than necessary.”

  They made their way across the parking lot, going inside the mall, unsure of what awaited them inside.

  7

  The doors of Jefferson Mall were no longer functioning. In fact, the glass panes were shattered into thousands of pieces that now littered the ground. Alan and Kendra stepped through the hole where the glass panes once were, and strode into the darkened building.

  It was painfully obvious that looters had hit the entire mall. Stores had broken windows, merchandise was strewn everywhere, and more evident than anything else, corpses littered the facility. Looters seldom get along with each other, so it’s no real surprise when looters go on a raid and don’t come back. Their bodies littered store after store throughout the mall. Alan was fully convinced that there were still looters somewhere in the mall, and he wasn’t about to take a chance on anything.

  Alan held the shotgun tight, ready to defend himself. He was unsure if he would be able to see anyone in the dark, if there was anyone there at all. Alan never liked the dark, in truth. It wasn’t really fear of the dark. It was more so the fear of what was lurking in the dark. It could be nothing, or it could be bloodthirsty looters. Even worse, it could be Dead Ones. In fact, Alan would be surprised beyond belief if there weren’t any Dead Ones in the mall.

  “Kendra.” Alan whispered. “Keep quiet. There might be Dead Ones lurking in the shadows.”

  Kendra nodded, saying nothing. She held her sword ready, and quietly followed Alan
. They reached the end of the entry hallway, and found themselves in the main part of the mall. It was a seemingly endless row of stores and abandoned kiosks, each one nearly barren of merchandise.

  Alan led the way through the dim darkness of the mall, working off of his memory to find a clothing store. Reaching the first one he could find, they walked in and started looking for something to replace their attire with.

  “I can’t see a thing in here.” Kendra said.

  “Hold on, let me search for a light.” Alan replied. “Usually stores keep a few flashlights in case there’s a power outage.”

  Alan found his way to the counter as his eyes adjusted to the lack of light. He wished his lighter still worked, but he would have to hope he was right about the flashlights instead. Feeling around, he found a flashlight and switched it on. The small store that was full of darkness suddenly had a single beacon of light. Alan and Kendra could see again.

  “Much better!” Kendra exclaimed, as she went to search for some clothes.

  “We should make this quick, Kendra. Find stuff we can wear and then let’s get out of here.” Alan said in a nervous tone.

  “What’s got you so spooked?” Kendra asked, seeing Alan’s discomfort at the current situation.

  “I just don’t think it’s a good idea to stay here very long.” Alan replied. “Whether it’s looters or the Dead Ones, this place isn’t safe.”

  “It’s the zombie apocalypse, Alan. Nowhere is actually safe.” Kendra retorted.

  Alan ignored her comment as he began searching for clothes. As he had suspected, the looters had taken most of the merchandise from the store, but there were still some articles of clothing that weren’t taken. Alan found a single pair of jeans that actually came close to fitting him. They were a little bit tight, but he supposed that was better than being too loose. It would be horrible to die because you tripped on your pants while running from Dead Ones.