The Real Night of the Living Dead

by Mark Kramer

  “I don’t wanna hear that crap…”

  “Whether or not you believe that they are dead,” I said, interrupting the cop, “the only way you can stop them is by shooting them in their brain, or hitting their brain with something hard.”

  “What?” said the disbelieving cop, his neatly pressed shirt now baring wrinkles, with a few buttons, having been ripped from their places during the confrontation, now resting in the footwell.

  I turned back in my seat, looking at Officer Antonio now. “Hey, that’s how the doctor explained it to me and my pal and it’s been working, so I’m sticking with that method.”

  “Where’d you two get the guns?”

  “The guard house. Why?” I said.

  “Well, for one thing, this gentleman here is a patient. He shouldn’t be in the possession of a firearm.”

  I was getting a little upset at the way this guy wanted to play Dick Tracy when we were in the middle of a war for survival. “Hey copper, this ‘patient’ just saved your life. And he saved mine plenty of times throughout this mess, so if anybody here deserves to carry a gun, he does. If you want to smack cuffs on him after this is all over, and God willing we survive, then that’s swell, but make sure one end of the cuffs is on my wrist, ‘cause if you arrest him you arrest me.”

  “Calm down, calm down,” said Antonio. “No one’s getting arrested. If anything, you two will probably be commended.”

  The banged up Plymouth was approaching the small bridge that passed over the creek. Along the way, we passed a few of the infected, spread out behind the trees lining the road, heading toward the children’s camp. They were slow movers, dragging their feet and not making a sound. As they saw the headlights appear, they would turn to us and let out a loud aching moan.

  I watched them as we passed, saying to Antonio, “After we cross the creek, there’s going to be a building about a hundred yards down on your right. Turn in there. That’s the building we need to get to.”

  I was desperate. Looking up at the dark sky, watching the moon break through the storm clouds, showing its bright familiar face for the first time tonight, I could only think of Clara. I don’t believe it had even been an hour ― I wasn’t too sure ― since I called and spoke with the nurse who said a few of them were bitten. She better be okay. Let it play out in her favor. Please. Christ, if I find that she’s one of them, I’ll do myself in. I swear. Without her, I’m nothing. I’m empty inside.

  Stop worrying about it, I thought. Get it out of your head. I blinked away a tear and turned to the professor. His eyes were focused. Curious as to what he was looking at, I gazed down. The old man was staring at the wedding band on his finger.

  Poor guy. He must have really loved his old lady.

  I saw his lips move, like he was talking to himself, or to his wife, wherever she was. Then he passed his fingers on his right hand over the wedding band, caressing it.

  “How’s that shoulder, tough guy,” I said, trying to pull him out of his misery.

  The professor looked away from the wedding band, into my eyes, and said, “It stings. I can’t seem to move it very much, but I shall recover.”

  I nodded, saying, “Good. Glad to hear it. Keep your chin up, pal. We’re going to be just fine.”

  The cop slowed down as we approached the creek.

  It was beginning to overflow and swallow the small bridge, but we were able to make it across.

  There was an infected woman moving slow across the bridge. She turned as the headlights reached her. When her eyes landed on us, she moaned and walked in our direction.

  The cop stopped the car and said, “She’s one of them?”

  “Yeah,” I said.

  “Shoot her. I don’t want to run her over.”

  “She’s dead.”

  He snapped at me, “Please, just shoot her. I’m not shooting any of these people unless I have to.”

  “Sweet Mary,” I said. “You must have been the head boy scout back in your day, am I right?” He ignored me as he watched the woman move toward the car. I looked around, making sure there were no creatures near who would grab me once I poked my head out.

  It was clear.

  I climbed halfway through the broken window and fired a shot at the woman. It nicked her cheek, and she continued. I fired another. It blew the bottom of her jaw away. She kept coming.

  Geesh, I was really getting tired. I needed to sleep. At times, my vision would blur for a second or two.

  I wiped my eyes, as she slammed her hands on the hood, and fired a third shot. That hit its target. She was down. The top half of her corpse was resting on the hood of the Plymouth.

  Antonio backed up slow, letting the corpse fall to the ground, and drove around it.

  Then we crossed the creek.

  Antonio sped up, dodging a few straggling creatures roaming the road. Some, I noticed, were children. “They got to the kids.” I didn’t have to say it, but I did. The cop already knew. I could tell by the disgusted look that swept over his face.

  He said, “We’re going to do what we can to secure these buildings before the rest of them get here.”

  “You don’t get it,” I said. “Some of them already made it to this side.”

  “I see that, but there can’t be too many. The place seems quiet. We’ll get rid of the ones that are here and safeguard the camp.” He paused. “Backup should be here soon to help put a lid on this mess. We’ll do our best to keep everyone safe until that happens. There plenty of ammo in those bags?”

  “Not enough to do away with the storm headed this way,” I said. “But enough to hold them off for a while. As long as we’re not wasting bullets missing our mark.”

  The Plymouth pulled into the parking lot of S-3. It was the administration building for the children’s camp and one of the hospital’s older buildings. Whereas the N buildings were built in the late forties and were still very new, this side of the campus was erected during the twenties and its age showed. A lot of the cottages and S buildings had leaking roofs; some of them were unstable buildings and were supported with planks wedged into the ground. They were blistering cold in the winter and boiling hot in the summer.

  He parked the car right in front of the entrance to S-3.

  We all stepped out. I was surprised to see not one of the infected was roaming the parking lot.

  Our guns were loaded. I had one satchel over my shoulder, and Antonio took the satchel from the professor and was carrying it over his.

  I led the way as we marched up the stairs.

  The sound of moaning was heard and grew louder as we got closer to the entrance.

  I peeked inside, through the small window, and saw an infected male attendant with the side of his face plastered to the door. His dead breath was fogging up the window as his lifeless eyes stared through the glass.

  He saw me and began to scream, going crazy, banging on the door.

  I looked back at Antonio and the professor. “Follow me, but stay alert.”

  The professor nodded, holding the gun to his side.

  Antonio wore a look of determination; his mouth tight-lipped, breathing through his nose, as he held the gun up, ready to take down anyone who would attack us.

  I was exhausted. I held the gun in front of me, ready to take this creature down, breathing through my slack jaw as my chest rose with each spring breath I sucked in.

  My eyes were stuck on this man as I lifted my leg and rammed my foot against the door.

  It flew open. The man stumbled back a few steps, then charged toward us with his mouth open. I aimed at his head and pulled the trigger.

  His forehead disappeared, and his corpse collapsed to the dingy floor.

  As we passed over him, Antonio looked down at his stomach; it had been torn open, and most of the intestines and organs were gone. The rest of him, his legs and chest, were almost completely covered in his own blood.

  I saw that Antonio’s eyes were wide; almost bulging out of their damn sockets. He said, �
�How…How can it be? This can’t be…true. Gotta be a nightmare.”

  No one answered him as we moved down the empty hallway.

  The silence for me was too eerie.

  The hallway was empty; no one in sight. Blood was smeared on the wall that ran down to the floor where it collected into a small pool.

  As we avoided the red pool, moving further down the hall, we heard footsteps in the distance.

  When we turned the corner, three infected children were straggling out of the ward. Their yellow eyes gazed at me, the professor and the cop, and they ran toward us.

  Being smaller than the others, they moved much faster. My gut reaction was to hold out my foot, which I did, and I kicked one of them in the face, dropping him to the floor.

  Another grabbed my right arm, but I wrapped my thick hand around his small neck, lifted the screaming maniac a few feet from the ground and tossed him back into the ward.

  The third one, a little girl, ran past me and tried to bite the professor.

  That’s when I flinched at the sound of the gunshot. I turned back to see Officer Antonio holding his smoking gun. His eyes were wet and filled with horror. Then he aimed past me and fired another shot.

  I spun around to see the infected kid, who I kicked to the floor, dead.

  A scream erupted.

  Our eyes followed the scream to the creature that I tossed in the ward. He was charging at us. The cop aimed his gun. I pushed it out of the way and fired a shot into the charging creature’s skull. He was dead. Couldn’t have been more than fifteen.

  We felt horrible for what we were forced to do. Antonio dropped against the wall, put his head in his hands and cried.

  “You can’t think of them as children,” said the professor. “Their souls were already taken. Those were lifeless beasts sent to destroy humanity.”

  Antonio stared at the professor, saying, “No, those were kids.” Pointing at the girl’s corpse, “I got an angel at home who looks just like her.”

  I placed my hand on his shoulder and said, “Look, it won’t make what we did any better, but our only saving grace is to make sure the rest of the children are safe. Like you said, we’ll check the buildings and try to hold down the fort until help arrives.”

  I headed into the ward. The professor followed. The cop stayed in the hall, devastated over his actions.

  Toward the rear of the ward was a slow mover; a female patient from across the road who was probably one of the first to be murdered. Her skin was grayish blue, and the odor from her body was of rotting meat.

  We didn’t give her a chance to even moan. I shot her dead.

  So the first floor was clear and no sign of Clara.

  I was scared. The lump in my throat was growing larger, and I was struggling to keep the bad thoughts out of my head.

  We exited the ward.

  The second floor was next.

  Antonio followed behind us as we walked to the stairwell. There were no elevators in this building, but we would’ve avoided them anyway. Just so we wouldn’t be surprised to have the doors open on a band of creatures waiting to shred our flesh.

  I entered the stairwell first and, after all the surprises I endured tonight, I was very cautious.

  It was empty. But I swore I could hear faint screams in the distance, coming from the higher floors.

  We ran up the stairs and threw open the door to enter the second floor.

  No one around.

  Another faint scream. I couldn’t tell if it was a creature attacking, or a living person being attacked.

  “Come on,” I said, speeding down the hall.

  We reached the door to the ward.

  I grabbed the handle.

  It was locked.

  I heard the screams now loud and clear. I looked through the square foot window and saw about four creatures banging on the window of the nurses’ station.

  I was unable to see what they were after. The four creatures were stuck to the window panes that enclosed the nurses’ station, blocking my view.

  Then, an opening appeared between them.

  There she was, trapped in the nurses’ station.

  My sweet Clara.

  Chapter Thirty-three

  I screamed her name and caught the attention of an infected child. He ran from the nurses’ station to the ward door and began pounding away, trying to get over to our side.

  The door bounced, and the noise echoed throughout the hall.

  I shot the lock, it popped off, but the door still wouldn’t open. I pulled and pulled, but it didn’t budge. The lock was jammed.

  Antonio came beside me and wrapped his hand on the handle, above my own hand, and we pulled together.

  The lock released. The door opened, as me and Antonio stumbled back.

  The creature snarled, showing us his bloody teeth.

  Antonio hesitated. I didn’t. I was anxious to reach Clara. I dropped him with one shot.

  As we entered the ward, the remaining three creatures surrounding the nurses’ station heard the commotion, turned to us, and attacked.

  I was alert now. Whatever feeling of exhaustion I had was gone the moment I saw Clara. The creatures didn’t even get within reach. I killed the three of them before the professor or the cop could pull their triggers to help.

  The rest of the ward was empty, except for whoever was barricaded in that small space with Clara.

  I approached the glass and looked at her. She was crouched down on the floor, arms over the top of her head, doing her best to hide from the flesheaters.

  “Clara!” I said. “Open the door.”

  Her eyes met with mine, and I was relieved to see that they didn’t have the stale appearance of the infected. She was okay.

  She cried as she shouted my name, removing the chair that was wedging the door shut.

  I traveled over a mile of hell that separated me from my beautiful sweetheart. All that came between us now was a door, and Clara was opening it.

  My wet smiling eyes looked into those beautiful teary hazel eyes. We threw our arms around each other and kissed for what seemed like hours.

  We pulled our lips apart and held each other tight. I fought so hard to reach her, for so many hours, seen others lose their lives along the way, and now I didn’t want to let her go.

  “I love you, Clara.”

  She cried and gave me a nervous chuckle into my chest. “I love you too, Veimer.”

  I looked over her shoulder. There were two small children, girls, wearing gowns tightened with a piece of twine, huddled in the corner, under the table.

  “We’re going to be okay,” I said.

  “Ma’am,” said Officer Antonio. Clara’s attention went to him. “Is there anyone else in this building that you know of?”

  “No,” Clara said, shaking her head. “We were the only people in here. Once the attacks began, we locked ourselves in here…” Her eyes blinked. She was fighting, choking back tears. “Millie and two of the kids were bitten. They were fine for a while…but…then…” she cried, “they tried to…eat…us. They grabbed one of the kids and started…” She broke down. I put my arms around her, trying to relax her.

  My eyes went to the girls. They were staring at the cop. One of them appeared to be physically handicapped; her back seemed to be twisted with a hump toward her shoulder, and she was making a squeaking noise with her mouth. The second girl was quiet, staring.

  “Were they bitten?” I said, motioning to the girls. Clara shook her head. “And you?”

  “No.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Yes,” she said, sounding adamant. “We were able to make it in here before they could grab us.”

  I saw her eyes welling up again. It was obvious the kid who was butchered before their eyes is what gave them the extra few seconds or minute they needed to lock themselves in this station.

  With my arm around her, I ran my fingers through her hair.

  “So we need to get to the rest of the buildings,
” Antonio said, staring at me, “like we discussed.”

  “Why?” said Clara.

  “We’re going to secure these buildings,” I said. “There’re more of these things headed this way, and we want to make sure everyone is safe…”

  “Norm and Bobby are working the camp tonight,” said Clara. “We can call them and let them know to lock up.”

  Me and Antonio looked at each other, then I was back to Clara, saying, “I didn’t even know they were on duty. Go ahead, give’em a call.”

  She called Norm at the first building, but there was no answer. She tried calling Bobby at the second building, but again, no answer.

  “Oh God,” she said, with her hand to her mouth. “What do you think is going on over there?”

  “Who knows?” I said.

  Antonio interrupted, “We better get moving. We’ll do what we intended in the first place.”

  I nodded and turned to Clara. “Come with us.”

  “I can’t leave these girls,” said Clara. “I’m responsible for them.”

  “Okay, okay,” I said, trying to come up with a quick solution, “we can leave the professor here, locked in the ward downstairs with the girls.”

  Clara said, “He’s a patient, Veimer. I can’t leave patients in the care of other patients.”

  The cop interrupted, saying, as he placed his gun back in its holster, “I believe it’s best, for your safety, you stay here with the patients.” His eyes went from Clara to me, waiting for an answer.

  “Yeah,” she nodded, “I think you’re right.”

  Tucking the revolver in my waistband, I turned to the professor and said, “You got the gun. Think you can handle things while we’re gone?”

  “Absolutely,” he said. “Most definitely without a doubt.”

  “Good.” I gave him my satchel of ammo; I would take from Antonio’s satchel, whatever I needed. I saw Clara’s eyes squint, like she was thinking, What is he doing with a gun? “Clara, while we’re gone, call S-1 and S-2 and the buildings across the boulevard, let them know to lock down the entire campus.” She nodded. “Let’s go, we’ll walk you guys to the ward, make sure you get there safe.”

  Officer Antonio said, “We’ll be back fast. We’re getting in my car, locking up the buildings and heading back here. I promise, we won’t let anything happen to you. Any of you.”