by Tahnee Fritz
My feet carry me away from the gas station and down the short stretch of road to the few buildings ahead. I pass by a few groupings of trees and peer through them. A deer runs away in the distance and a couple birds fly through the branches. I wonder if they are afraid of the zombies and vamps. I wonder if they even know what has happened to the human population or just plain don’t care. My guess would have to be that second thought.
I pass a red barn with a tractor parked outside of it. The body of an old man is lying on the gravel next to the machine. From what I can tell, it doesn’t look like he’s been lying there long, he isn’t all decomposed yet and the blood on the white rocks underneath him is still red and glistens in the sunlight. I pause in the middle of the street and look around for a moment. I raise an eyebrow when I don’t see anything lurking in the shadows and choose to go on.
This place isn’t much of a town, a few houses and a tall apartment building. A scorched bar is on the corner of a street, the smell of smoke looms in the air. I glance around at the few houses. The front door on a white house has been busted open and a splatter of blood stains the siding. What looks like a leg or an arm, lies on the porch where the stain has drifted down the house.
That looks fresh as well and my heart is starting to race.
Something isn’t right with this town and regret instantly floods my mind about coming this way instead of getting back on the highway. The feeling gets worse when I take a breath through my nose and smell what’s coming toward me.
I stop walking and stare at the road straight ahead of me. Two of them stumble and moan, tripping over rocks and sticks in the street. My heart starts pounding and I take a few steps back wanting to turn and run away. I hear a noise to my right and my head quickly turns in that direction. Three more pile out of an open garage, blood dripping from their mouths and tattered clothes. The second they see me, fresh meat, their moaning gets louder and their movements faster.
“Shit.” I say, under my breath.
Glass breaks from one of the windows of the apartment building and a few more fall onto the sidewalk. A total of nine zombies are coming for me. I’ve never been face to face with that many by myself before. Dad has always been right by my side and I never had to worry about a thing. He always had my back and I had his. I’m alone now and I’m the only one to have my back. I could try running away, I might be successful at it but they would still chase me. They would follow me until I run out of energy and give up. That’s when they would take their time to devour my body and soul.
Giving up and running away isn’t an option. Dad wants me to survive and that’s exactly what I’m going to do. I slip my bag off my shoulders, I can move faster without it, and toss it on the ground next to a black minivan. I stare at the faces of the zombies as they close in on me. All of them are old enough to be parents or grandparents, save for one. A small boy, maybe seven years old, lumbers toward me with his arms outstretched, a childlike moan coming from his throat. It’s going to break my heart a little, but I have to do what has to be done.
I take a slow, deep breath and raise my gun. My feet move a few steps closer to the few that came from the garage. I aim for the first one and pull the trigger. Brown blood squirts from his head and he falls to the cement like a sack of potatoes. His death doesn’t bother any of the others and I aim for the next one. The bullet enters her shoulder and she stumbles back. I fire again and don’t miss her head this time.
I look around, the others from the apartment building are getting much too close for comfort. I take aim for them and fire three times only hitting on of them in the head. Three down, six to go and I’m running out of ammo with no time to reload. I back away from the approaching zombies and shoot again hitting one in the gut. Nervousness really affects my aim.
“Shit.” I say again and start looking around for something to use as a weapon.
There’s no time to sift through my bag for dad’s gun. They would be on top of me before I could get the damn thing unzipped. The one I shot in the gut lets out a loud moan and charges for me. I move backward and one more time at him. He finally falls to the ground, but the others are getting awfully close. I keep looking around for anything I can use. A thick branch lies in the middle of a yard, too big for me to even try to lift. Behind that, I see a garden hoe leaning against the house. That could come in handy.
I inch my way toward it, pulling the trigger two more times, another zombie falls dead. The barrel is empty and I toss the gun to the ground. I think they can tell when I have no other options. The zombies start moving faster once the gun hits the ground and their horrible moaning gets louder. It’s like they’re singing to one another in a tune no musician could ever hope to repeat.
I quit walking backwards and start running to the house. Their footsteps are right on my tail and I jump over the thick tree branch. I reach for the hoe and one is right behind me. I swing my new weapon through the air as I spin around. The blade connects with the zombie’s neck and blood sprays out of the gash I created. I yank my weapon out of its flesh and swing it at the monster again. The crack of its skull sounds through the air and it topples on the grass.
Three more to go.
I hold the garden tool tight in my fist as the final three come after me. The little boy stands amongst them and his eyes are just as black as the others. I stare at their faces. A big hulking black man has a gnarly gash across his bare chest. Black blood oozes out of the wound and I can see his bones poking through the skin. His eyes are screaming at me with hunger and of the three of them, he’s the one who scares me the most.
He moves in closer, I take a few steps back. A terrible moan comes from his throat and he reaches out for me. I swing the hoe at him and miss him by mere inches. He lunges at me and I fall backward, landing on my hands and back side, in order to keep him from touching me. A single scratch alone and I’d be just like him in minutes. I raise the hoe above my head and chop it through the air coming down on the man’s shoulder. It doesn’t even phase him.
He still comes after me, the garden hoe stuck in his shoulder. I crabwalk away from him and finally scramble to my feet. I dart my eyes from side to side, desperately searching for something else I could use. There’s nothing around. No shovel, no axe, nothing. Then I remember the knife in my pocket. It isn’t much, but all I have to do is get close enough to stab the creature in the head.
Much easier said than done.
I pull the knife out and keep moving backwards. He lunges at me one more time and I let out a sharp scream and stab at him with the knife. I can feel its thick blood running down my finger tips and I’m afraid to look at my hand. His moaning stops and he falls forward leaving me no choice but to let go of the knife. I got lucky and stabbed him in the right temple on his forehead. My hand covered in his blood.
I let out a much needed sigh of relief and stare at the final two zombies. There’s still a decent chance of dying here today, but the thought that I single-handedly took out seven of those bastards makes everything worth it. A good sense of pride flows through me as I stare at the last two standing a few feet away. A woman, old enough to be my grandmother, stands with the little boy. Her clothes are drenched with blood and her grey hair is matted. Her black eyes glare at me, but she also glances at her dead friend lying on the grass in a pool of his own murky blood. Maybe she will stay distracted with him long enough for me to finish this so I can go on with my life.
The little boy next to her growls at me, but remains frozen in his place. I can see the looks of contemplation on their dead faces. Much like the look on that female zombie I killed a few days back. That seems like ages ago now, but her face still burns in my mind. She weighed the options of coming after me much like these two are doing right now. Like they are deciding whether I’m worth it or not. The little boy obviously thinks I am.
He lets out a childish grunt and sprints toward me. I react quickly and yank the hoe out of the dead zombie’s shoulder, thanking god it came out easily. The boy
ran up faster than I expected and I swung my weapon smacking him in the head. His skull cracked open and he let out a loud shriek then fell to the ground on top of the other. It saddens me to know children are capable of turning into flesh eating zombies. I still kill the few I come across, there’s no point in sparing them just because they’re kids. They might appear innocent, but if you look past how young they are and stare into those black, evil eyes, you can get past the innocence long enough to shoot them in the head.
I drop the hoe and my breathing quickens. My eyes glare at the old woman still standing at the other edge of the lawn. The only monster I have left to face, then I’m out of this hellhole. She doesn’t seem like she wants to move.
“Aren’t you hungry too? Don’t you want a piece of me?” I shout at her, feeling extremely tough.
Still, she stands and acts like she’s considering her options. Anger has filled my heart completely and I storm across the yard, heading for my backpack. Who cares if she doesn’t charge after me like the others, she deserves the same treatment as them just for being what she is. Zombies and vampires do not deserve to be ahead of us humans on the food chain. If I let one of them live then a hundred more humans could die because of me. Not a chance in hell am I going to let that happen because one zombie chooses not to attack me.
I rip open my bag and grab dad’s gun from inside. The old woman has taken a few steps into the street, slowly getting further away from me. She must have decided I’m not worth the risk. My feet carry me across the street, closing the gap between us. The look in her blackened eyes almost pleads with me to not pull the trigger. Whatever human is left inside of her must be controlling that part of her mind right now because no zombie would ever plead for their life. No zombie would refuse a meal like she is doing and I’m even more confused by it than ever. Maybe one day I’ll take the time to figure things out, but right now I have one more of those damn things to kill and I’m not going anywhere till it’s done.
A final groan escapes her throat right as I pull the trigger letting a few bullets enter her brain. Blood sprays out of her head and she falls back to the cement. I listen to the crack of her skull as her head hits the ground, then I lower the gun and walk away. I grab my gun from the ground and toss it in my bag then zip it back up. I fling it over my shoulders and hold dad’s gun tight as I walk away from the gruesome scene.
I don’t even care to look through the houses in this damn place anymore. Getting out of here has become my number one priority.
“Hey wait!” that thought changes a bit.
I freeze in my tracks and my heart starts racing again.
I hear the footsteps running up behind me and I slowly turn around. I half expect to see another zombie running after me, one that is far more advanced than the others and can speak to us. That would be a good way for them to blend in with the living. Instead, I see a boy, my age, running away from the apartment building toward me. His black shirt torn at his neck and his jeans are ripped in one of the knees. A light blue satchel hangs over his shoulder at his side. His brown hair blows in the breeze as he makes his way to me. It’s been a few days since I’ve seen another human being and I’m a little speechless when I see this pretty good looking man coming up to me.
He stops running a few feet away, then looks back at my handy work. A smile crosses his face and he nods at me.
“That was pretty awesome.” He says.
I take a breath, “Yeah, I know.”
“I’ve never seen anyone take out so many of them alone before.” He comments, “Who are you?”
“Bridget. Who are you?”
“Ryder.” He replies. “Are you on the road by yourself?”
I nod, not sure if I should be telling him any of this.
“Me too. I came this way about a week ago and found a place to stay for a few nights. Those zombies showed up and I barricaded myself in a bathroom for two days. They killed everyone here and they trapped me in that room until you showed up. I thought for sure I was dead until I heard all the commotion outside. I watched you from a small bathroom window and you took out nine of them. You saved my life.” Ryder states.
“Well, you’re welcome. In case you think you owe me for anything, you don’t. I didn’t even know you were here.” I say.
“I wasn’t thinking that, but I do want to thank you.”
“Anytime. I’ve been told I’m a bit of a badass when it comes to zombie killing so if you’re ever in a bind, feel free to look me up.” I say a bit sarcastically, but I say it with a smile.
“You’re hard to get along with, aren’t you?” he asks.
I shake my head, “Not really. I’m normally a delight, but when you lose everything worth living for and run into a horde of zombies, it can bring out a side of anyone that isn’t very pleasant.”
“I can see that.” He says.
“Okay, well, I’m wanting to put as much distance between me and this place as possible, so good luck.” I say, then turn around to leave.
I hear him rush up behind me and say, “Wait.”
I turn back around and face him, “What?”
“Look, we’re both alone, why don’t we travel together?” he suggests.
I raise an eyebrow, “I’m sorry, but I don’t know you at all. What makes you think that traveling together would be a smart thing to do?”
Ryder shrugs, “I don’t know. This wasn’t part of my plan. I have been on my own for over a year now and I’ve come to realize that being with someone else has its benefits. We can look out for each other until we get where we need to be, then we can go our own way. Which way are you headed?”
“North.” I reply.
“Same here. There’s a city I’m trying to get to. What do you say?”
I stare into his amazing hazel eyes and think things over for a moment. He makes a good point. Having another person with me has always proven to be a good thing in the past. Dad was always there for me when he was alive and it was a blast traveling with Sherry’s family. We did help them out when they needed it, maybe Ryder can help me out.
“What city are you trying to find?” I ask before giving him a direct answer.
“Des Moines. I’ve heard rumors that it’s walled off and relatively safe. They let humans come in as long as they aren’t infected.” He says.
“That’s in Iowa right?” I ask.
He nods, “So, is that a ‘yes’, because you know I don’t really need your permission. With this being the end of the world and all, I can do just about whatever I want.”
“Yeah, that makes me want to travel with you even more.” I say, rolling my eyes.
I turn and start walking back toward the highway. I can hear him rushing up behind me and soon he’s right by my side. I can’t tell if he’s purposely trying to be annoying or if he really hasn’t been around humans for a while and doesn’t quite know how to act around them anymore. I’m sure I get a little weird around others. After going so long with just my dad, I know I say the wrong thing or do the wrong thing and they probably want nothing to do with me. I got lucky and Sherry is just as strange as I am. I just don’t get this Ryder fellow that won’t seem to leave me alone. He wears this goofy smile on his face and he talks more than any other guy I’ve met out here talks.
“I take it you don’t care if walk with you?” he asks after a few seconds of following me.
I let out a deep breath and say, “Only if you tell me that you don’t just want to go with me because I saved your life. Don’t think I’m going to keep protecting you forever. If we go north together, it’s an equal opportunity journey.”
“Totally. I’m pretty good at keeping myself safe as well as anyone around me.” He replies.
I stare at him, then glance back toward the apartment building he said he was trapped in, “I can see that.”
“I am, honestly.” He protests. “You just caught me on an off day.”
I smile and shake my head, “Whatever you say, buddy.”
; I guess it won’t be so bad to have a guy my age to travel with. It beats talking to myself all the time and having no one there to answer my ridiculous questions. It doesn’t hurt that he’s really hot too. His hair is the perfect amount of shagginess and his smile makes him even more attractive. He’s a few inches taller than me and has the right amount of muscle, not too bulky and not too scrawny. Just perfect.
I think I could get used to being around him.
We don’t say much the first hour or so of walking together. It’s actually a bit awkward walking right next to him without saying a single word. I’m still a bit shaken up about running into that many zombies on my own. I never thought I was going to die more than during those few moments of trying not to be eaten by them. It does make me feel somewhat good about myself that during the whole process of killing things that should already be dead, I was able to save the life of someone. A very handsome someone.
I love the way his hazel eyes light up in the sunlight. How is shaggy, brown hair blows in the wind. I can’t help but glance over at him every so often. Maybe I’m checking him out. Maybe I’m trying to see if he’s staring back at me. No matter what, this could be the start of a good thing.
“So,” he says to break the silence between us, “I have to ask, why north?”
I shrug, “I don’t know. My dad always thought we would be safer up there. Like the cold weather would keep the zombies and vamps at bay.”
He shakes his head, “I hate to tell you, but he’s wrong. Zombies might be scarce up that way, because they freeze in the cold, but the vamps are everywhere. The nights are often longer up north which means they have more time to hunt and eat. Whatever humans are up there are really lucky to still be alive.”
