by Tahnee Fritz
There’s three of them standing right on the other side of the overturned trailer. They’re staring at the wheels on the bottom of the trailer, probably trying to figure out if the rubber would taste good or not. Zombies can be such idiots sometimes.
Dad doesn’t see them at first and is just about to walk out to where they could see him. I quickly grab his arm and yank him back so we can hide behind a parked car. We don’t make a sound, that would draw the zombies to us.
I peek my head around the car so I can get a good look at the zombies. I know they’re gross, but something about them makes me want to see what they look like before I blow their heads off. Of the three of them, one is a man and the other two are women. The man is wearing a bloodied suit and his pants are ripped off at one of his knees. The only thing left of that leg is bone and I’m surprised he’s still standing. One of the women is half naked wearing only her bra and underwear. A nice gouge is missing from her stomach and blood drips from her mouth. The other woman seems relatively clean compared to the other two. She must be a newbie out to learn the ropes with the ones who turned her. Poor girl, this will be all over with soon though.
I sit back and lean against the car with dad, “I’ve been itching to kill a zombie lately. Can I take the lead on this one, dad?”
He sighs, “A father’s only dream is to hear his daughter ask to kill some zombies. Go for it, sweetie. Make this old man proud.”
I smile and roll my eyes. He is so cheesy sometimes.
There are a few times when we come across zombies or vamps on our journey and we like to make a game out of killing them. The zombies are really easy to tease. You just get their attention, let them lumber on over, and when they are the perfect distance away, when I can see the black haze of their eyes, Kablam!, they’re dead. I kind of get a little excited when it comes to killing those things. They’re just so easy.
The vamps are fun when we are looking for food during the day and we find one hiding in the shadows of a building. I think they get too hungry sometimes and forget about the sunlight and chase after us all the way outside. In a matter of seconds, their skin begins to boil and turns a bright red. The worst thing about watching them die, is the horrible scream they let out as they fall to their knees and let the sunlight burn the hell out of them. But, like I said, it’s fun to lead them on and let them think they’re going to get a good meal.
I slip my bag off of my shoulders and leave it on the ground next to the car. I stand up, turn the safety off, and ready my finger on trigger of the gun in my hand. I take a deep breath and step out from behind the car. I reach up and tighten my pony tail. It’s been a few days since I’ve had the extreme pleasure of destroying the things that have taken so many human lives. There were only two zombies last time and we took them out in a matter of seconds. Didn’t really take the time to tease them a bit.
I walk across the highway toward them and enter the grassy median. The weeds are so tall they reach my knees. I’ve walked through thicker weeds on this journey with dad, so these are nothing. I freeze when I get to center of the median. The three of them are still hovering together, not giving me the time of day. I’m surprised they haven’t smelt me by now. Normally zombies pick up on humans faster than the vamps. These ones must be too in tune with staring at the tires to even look my way. Like I said, they are idiots.
With the gun clutched in my fingers, I open my lips just enough to let a whistle escape and I play them a tune that sounds like birds chirping. It doesn’t confuse them at all and they turn their mangled bodies toward me.
Let the groaning commence.
The sound they create used to scare me, it gave me nightmares for months. But, after listening to it for so long, I guess I got used to their songs. A demonic song that literally wakes the dead. I think they only moan to let others within range know there’s food nearby. I don’t get why they would do that when they would have more to themselves if they just stayed quiet. All I can hope for right now, is that the three of them are the only ones around here.
The half-naked woman leads the pack with her arms stretched out in front of her. A typical zombie look, but she’s the only one doing it. She lets out a horrible screech and moves her legs as fast as she can. The man moves slightly faster, even with a messed up leg. He sort of limps as he walks and I can hear a crunching sound coming from his leg. The third lags behind and her song isn’t as loud as the others. She still has the black, bloodlust lurking in her eyes as she slowly saunters behind the other two.
I wonder what she used to do when she was a human. Her clothes depict a fairly decent looking older woman, maybe in her late thirties. Maybe she was a teacher before all this happened. She probably loved waking up early and going to school to mold the young minds of today. Too bad something had to come along and ruin her life.
Much like the other two, she can’t control what she has become and for a tiny second it pains me to have to kill them. I know there’s no cure for either the zombies or the vamps, but part of me has always wished there could be so I wouldn’t have to keep killing them. Their human selves could be in there somewhere, trying to fight what they’ve become. It’s doubtful, but no one will ever know.
They’re closing in on me, about fifteen feet to go. I can smell the death on them even more now and I scrunch up my face in disgust. They’re practically screaming at me, ripping me apart with their black eyes. Blood oozes out of the man’s mouth as he lets out another bellowing moan. He’s the first to lunge at me and the first one I raise my gun to. The blast echoes all around us and he falls to the grass with a hole in his head. A brown slime gushes from the wound and his eyes stare up at the sky.
His death doesn’t faze the others, only makes them move faster. I take a few steps back and aim my gun at the naked one. Her arms are still reaching out for me and I pull the trigger. Another direct hit to the head and she falls face first on the ground. A small smile crosses my lips and I stare at the third and final zombie.
There’s something different about her this time. She notices the other woman dead on the ground and stops rushing at me. Her blackish eyes look from her dead friend then back at me. It’s almost like she weighing the options, considering what she’s about to do. Even if she doesn’t come after me, I still have to kill her. It’s the only way to keep these things under control.
“Just pull the damn trigger, Bridge!” my dad’s voice calls from behind me.
I know I shouldn’t be lingering about killing this one. She might seem like a newborn zombie, but she’s still a zombie nonetheless. She’s still a man-eating monster who’s doomed to wander the planet killing innocent humans with no control over what she’s doing. A monster that needs to be stopped no matter how confused I am by her reaction to the death of the other woman. Zombies don’t have feelings and therefore shouldn’t stop to weigh the options of coming after their dinner.
I stare at her for a few more seconds. She forces herself to take a small step closer to me. I hold my gun up high and take a deep breath. Her eyes take a sudden change to something a lot more malicious. Blood seeps out through her gritted teeth and she lets out a screeching wail sounding more like a banshee than a zombie. Just as she leaps with her arms reaching out for me, I pull the trigger one last time. She falls to the ground at my feet and I loosen my grip on the gun as I lower it to my side. My eyes look down at the ground and stare at her lifeless body right in front of me. Her bruised arms stretched out in front of her and a gaping hole in her head. The bullet passed right through whatever was left of her brain.
Her body twitches a tiny bit and startles me just enough to get me to shoot her again. I got her in the head and some of that brown mush squirts up into the air. Lucky for me, it doesn’t touch my skin.
“You alright?” dad asks.
I roll my eyes and turn around to head back to him, “I’m fine. Just weirded out by that last one.”
“Yeah, it did seem to hesitate before lunging at ya. I almost had to rush over and sho
w you how the master does it.” He jokes.
I shake my head as I step onto the concrete, “You’re the master alright. The master at almost getting caught by those things a few minutes ago.”
“Oh be quiet.” He says as he hands over my backpack.
I swing the bag over my shoulders. I look over to dad who is currently staring down at my feet with a smile. I raise an eyebrow and glance down to see what’s so funny.
“Are you kidding me!” I shout. “I got that goddamn brown crap all over my boots.”
Dad gets a good chuckle out of my sudden whininess for my boots. I wouldn’t complain at all if they were old and beat up, but I just got these right before we left Florida. They aren’t supposed to get ruined yet.
“Don’t worry, when we get to a puddle you can wash them off. I’m sure that shit won’t stain your precious boots.” The smile on his face makes me roll my eyes at him.
“You better be right because you were wrong about it not staining my last good pair of jeans. I could never get the smell out of them and I had to throw them out.” I say as we start walking again.
“Oh, quit being a girl. You’ll be alright.” He says, then puts his arm around my shoulders and we move onward.
A few hours ease by and it’s after lunch. I’m ever so thankful for having a watch with a good battery in order to tell what time it is. It’s one I found at my grandparents’ house when we were in Florida. Nothing special, just a knock-off brand with rhinestones around the face of it, a few have fallen off since I obtained it. It’s the kind you wind up whenever the battery starts to go bad so I make sure I wind it up at least every other day. It might not matter, but it’s a nice thing to know what time it is and right now it’s time for me to eat.
My stomach growls and it’s loud enough to catch my dad’s attention. He smiles and laughs a bit. He’s always good about keeping the mood light and making fun of me when I’m having issues. At least he stopped giving me crap about my boots since I was able to get the zombie blood off of it.
“What’s for lunch, dad?” I ask, already knowing the answer.
He rubs his chin with his thumb and forefinger for a second to think about it, “Hmm, maybe we’ll stop off for some fast food at the next exit. A hamburger sounds pretty good right now.”
I nod, “Yes it does. One with extra pickles and loaded with the good stuff. Lettuce, mayonnaise, and so much cheese.”
“That does sound like an amazing lunch to me. You’re buying this time.” He says and we both smile.
“As long as you pay for our steak and baked potatoes next time.” I retort.
“Totally.” He takes his bag off and digs inside for the sack of apples.
We could stop and boil a can of soup, but that would take too much time and it’s best to save that for dinner. There are only a few apples left, two for each of us and we decide to eat the rest of them for our lunch. Nothing near as good as a hamburger or a taco or pizza or steak or anything that isn’t fruits or vegetables. The last time I ate something other than fruit and the occasional can of soup, was at least a year ago. This nice family let us stay with them for two nights during a rain storm and they made the best sandwiches I’ve had since this whole thing started. They made their own homemade bread and had a few cows they kept for the meat. It wasn’t much, but it was far better than what we were used to.
I finish with my first apple and start on the second. I can still hear my stomach growling, but it’s growing faint. I can’t wait to get to that town so we can rest in an actual bed and be around living people for once. The dead aren’t as fantastic as they seem, mainly because they’re dead and we have to shoot them in the head or heart. My dad can be kind of annoying, too, sometimes. I know that’s bad to say, but when you’re around the same person day in and day out for god knows how long, you start to get sick of them. I love my dad more than anything, but I would do just about anything for other human contact.
“How much longer till this town you told me about?” I ask.
He shrugs, “Shouldn’t be much further. We’ll get there before dark, about suppertime.”
“How do you know this is a nice town? We’ve never been there.”
“Rumors, Bridget.” He replies. “When you can’t look places up on the internet, you have to trust what others tell you. I’ve been told this is a nice town. The people are friendly and stick together to keep each other safe. We’ll just stay long enough to rest, get supplies and more food. After this place, it’s a pretty long walk to our next stop.”
“Longer than three months?”
“Not quite that long, but long enough.” He shows me a sly smile, “There are a few bigger towns and cities along the way that I’d rather not stop at. I’ve heard too many bad things about those places and we’re safer if we stick to the smaller, nicer towns.”
“Good plan.” I add, then take the last bite of my apple.
I toss the core on the ground and wipe my hands on my jeans. Then I reach for the bottle of water and take a drink. The bottle is about half empty and still slightly cold. I glance up to the sky and stare at the grey clouds for a second. It hasn’t rained since that downpour a few hours ago. Maybe a few sprinkles here and there but nothing to get us soaked.
I actually prefer the grey clouds to a nice sunny day. It matches the depressing mood of the rest of the planet. In my mind, there’s no point of enjoying a beautiful sunny day when millions of zombies are out to destroy you. Same with the full moon and bright stars at night. They aren’t enough to take away the horrid nature of the vampires waiting in the shadows to attack you and drink your blood. I think the weather should match the mood of the planet. Dark and dreary. Then again, we’d never see the sun again if that were the case.
Dad finishes his second apple and tosses the core and the empty sack to the ground. No sense in holding onto the trash, it only takes up space in our bags. Space we could be using to store things we find to trade or good food.
We pass by another pile up of cars and trucks. This time it looks like the van at the front of the wreck lost control and rolled causing about ten other cars to collide behind it. A few of them were really nice cars at one point. A convertible, a really nice black sedan, and a bright blue sports car I would have loved to drive. Unfortunately it is sandwiched between a rusty Corolla and some kind of SUV.
“Makes you wonder what happened to cause that accident, huh dad.” I say as the two of us stare at the wreckage.
“Some people are idiots and can’t handle driving with a zombie or vampire attacking them.” He replies.
“Yeah, they should have taught that in drivers’ ed.” I joke. “Not like it would have made a difference to me since I never made it to that class.”
“I’ll still taught you how to drive. It’s not my fault vehicles just don’t work like they used to anymore.” He replies.
“That’s for sure.” I say. “Walking is okay, though, at least don’t have to get out and push things out of our way.”
“Or worry about other humans trying to steal the car away from us.”
We pass the accident and we’re on a part of the highway with trees surrounding both sides. It looks like it goes on for miles and for some reason the woods always seem to make me nervous. I’m sure that reasoning has something to do with the fact that my first encounter with a vamp was in the woods.
I’ll never forget that night.
My mother thought it was a good idea to get off the road and camp amongst the trees for the night. Us girls slept together while my dad and brother kept watch. There was one vamp in the area which they didn’t see, but it was one more than our family needed and one more than my brother could handle. I remember waking up to the sound of his blood being sucked out of him while my dad was frantically loading the rifle to take another shot.
The vamp was pale and its eyes an eerie grey color. It’s hair was white and glistened in the firelight. When my dad finally got the gun loaded, it let out a horrible screech as the bulle
t entered its gut. The next shot went through its heart and it fell dead on top of my brother. We buried Charlie at the campsite with a cross to mark the grave and vowed to never go in the woods at night, or any time of day again.
As I stare at the woods now, all I can think about is how they’re in there watching us, wishing they wouldn’t burn if they came into the daylight. The grey clouds let just enough sunlight through to kill them instantly if they ever tried. At least during the day there’s always something to protect us from one of our enemies.
“Quit staring at the woods, Bridge,” dad says, “I know they’re in there too, but you can’t let your mind think about them. That’s how you let your guard down and something worse happens.”
I nod and quickly turn my head away from the trees. I hate thinking of my family, other than my dad. I hate when the rest of them pop into my head like that. I can always feel the horrible rock in my throat and it lingers there for a while, even after they’ve left my mind. I know it’s normal to miss the people you care about, but I just wish those feelings would go away. I wish the joy I get out of killing zombies and vamps with dad was enough to make me stop missing them so much. Unfortunately, the world doesn’t work that way and I’ll always be stuck with these feelings.
At least I still have dad. It’s been the two of us for about a year now, even though it feels like longer. He and I have gone through a lot together since we left our home in West Virginia. There was five of us when we left and over the years of traveling and walking across the country, our pack has dwindled down to just the two of us. Things shouldn’t have turned out this way. The world shouldn’t have turned out this way.
