Still Alive (Book 5): Zombie River Run

by Bonds, Javan

  Bare feet could be heard flopping through layered manure and stopped before coming into view. It could be heard sniffing, catching wind of something delicious. An exhalation of joy came before it began barking and alerting the rest of the revenant’s of the location of the buffet. Company had arrived. And the company was bringing guests.

  The first ghoul to round the corner was met with a single 5.56 round. It penetrated the skin right above the left collarbone and shredded tissue before exiting out the right side of the neck. The animal fell, blood pumping from the fresh holes made in its body. There was absolutely no way to recover from a definite death blow like the one it just received.

  The servants of the Galactic Empire came to either side of Samus and similarly readied their rifles. Hammer gave instructions. “Single shots. Use grenades only if needed. Melee will be the last option for close quarters.” Now that the enemy was already alerted, maintaining silence was no longer a priority for this operation.

  Growling, barking, howling, and other types of animalistic noise came from down the hall as the beasts swarmed into the pawn shop. Dozens of peevies shrieked as they came into view and were dropped by all three protagonists. Blood and feces were sprayed as each reanimated corpse toppled over.

  The peevies seemed to fall closer and closer. The walkers were losing uncountable numbers, but their overwhelming roster of undead backups would eventually see their victory.

  “Nade while you shoot!” The Expert ordered.

  She bounced a white phosphorus grenade to the end of the hall just as another group of zombies rounded the corner. They came charging as the grenade exploded behind them. They had bullets coming at their faces and searing magma eating at them from behind.

  Every beast was being incinerated by the burning explosion from behind them. The bullets had stopped when it was apparent all enemies received some of the blast. They slowly died by fire as they screamed for relief. Any of the animals still alive on the floor were surely truly dead considering the burning fluid eating through all the bodies.

  ☠☠☠

  Three more grenades and three more full magazines emptied meant that the living people would have to soon start fighting off the dead hand to hand.

  Hammer drew her broadsword and prepared for the oncoming horde. Kumar unsheathed his Indian talwaar with a zing of readiness. The doctor readied his double-ended mace. All three were primed for the approaching undead.

  The Medicine Man threw his next to last grenade. At the end of the hall the next group of naked cannibals rounded the corner just as the frag went off. Shrapnel tore through meat and eviscerated the soulless horde as the first few came into view. Walking corpses were shredded and the mass of bodies already on the floor were turned into thick paste after so many grenades exploded right on top of them. It was nearly impossible to differentiate bodily remains and the grotesque amount of sewage filling the hallway.

  The Expert spread her arms and spoke to the closest beast. “Bring it, Vladimir!” The nudist jumped over the desk and she brought her sword from right to left.

  It took a second for the body to begin sliding apart. The upper portion, from the ribs up, separated from the lower body and organs began spilling out both sections of the torso. The steaming guts made sickening wet slaps as they were expelled onto the floor.

  The monster wasn’t able to continue the attack for the few seconds it remained conscious. It was so racked with excruciating pain from being cleaved in two. Vital organs spilled out as if it were a piñata.

  Blood was flying as Kumar hacked the monsters with his talwaar. Made to wound rather than kill, the curved sword gashed enemies as the HIT sliced.

  Jindal’s talwaar was a curved sword made to slice rather than stab. Often confused with a simple scimitar, the talwaar could slash enemies to ribbons. Blood had been spilt and would be spilled countless more times by his familial blade.

  The peevies didn’t attend to their injured and carry their comrades from the battlefield, so it may have been a poor choice of weapons. It may not have originally been intended to, but the razor-sharp blade did end the life of its victim, it just took more effort.

  The Expert worked alongside The Phantom to destroy the Ruskies he wasn’t able to. He sometimes had to drive his blade into an animal three or four times to receive the wanted result. He would continually slam his blade into a ghoul until he cleaved something necessary for life. She sliced up the tangos that he dropped but didn’t eliminate.

  The dark suited cardiologist was dealing with his own festivities while the other two faced off with their opponents. Three nudists launched themselves at him simultaneously and he brought his weapon up to hold them all back. The barbs on the ends dug into the beasts on either side while the wind was knocked out of the center infected. He shook his mace to lose the hangers on. Bloodied, blue, ragged tissue clung to the spikes as he brought one end against an un-punctured revenant. The spiked head dug into the beast at the base of the skull and lodged in the meat of the neck.

  The cannibal tried to scream but was unable to stretch its jaw more than to let out a momentary whimper. The doctor forcefully ripped the barbs from the warm holder, sending blood spraying from the neck as he rammed the other end of his mace into the opposite side of the creature. Ribs were shattered and organs ruptured as the zombie crumpled to the floor in a heap.

  The spiked head again was flipped and slammed down onto an infected cranium. This completely flattened the brain. Eyeballs popped free from their sockets. Even though it was still twitching, the bleeding body was clinically brain-dead. No amount of resuscitation would sustain the fading un-life

  The trio continued to dismember reanimant until the flow of enemies trickled to only one at a time. Three on one the protagonists easily eviscerated these stragglers. The Expert finally pulled her trusty 1911 from within the suit. What was going to be her final line of defense would now be used to finish off the last of the horde.

  As what they discovered to be the last enemy on the alert climbed over the desk blocking the door, she sent a .45 into its chest. The bullet exploded out the lower back, sending guts, bile, and crimson blood flowing onto the floor.

  The naked ape collapsed with outstretched arms. It fell into what looked like a Superman pose. That is, if Superman were naked and covered in feces. Most of the body was blue and there was some red in the ensemble. There were similarities, but a gaunt monster could not be confused with the last son of Krypton.

  Each used their weapon as support, spent from the exertion of the extended hand to hand combat. The Expert unclipped her helmet and started to let it drop to the floor but changed her mind when she looked down. She gasped and forced out words. “I think that was all of them.”

  The Medicine Man spoke through his voice changer between ragged breaths. “I would be surprised if there are any more in the city.” His chuckle came out as a wheeze. The voice changer altered the wheeze and Hammer could only smile, imagining Darth Vader with COPD.

  Looking across the room all they could see were piles of steaming, quivering, filthy, vile smelling mounds of piss covered, dung drenched genitals, blue boobs, arms, legs, charred bodies and pools of zombie meat. Even the ceiling was covered in a mixture of every type of body fluid in existence that dripped brown rain which covered every inch of floor except the small patch the protagonists had defended.

  The Expert stepped over bullet riddled bodies surrounded by hundreds of empty cartridges. She peered out the door into the hall decorated by John Wayne Gacy. The floor was mostly three deep with massacred, eviscerated former humans. The walls on the opposite end of the hall were completely gone, giving a glimpse into adjacent rooms. Even the walls of these rooms had spots eaten through with the incendiary explosive.

  She turned back and looked up to her compatriots. “Well, let’s go get what we came for.”

  ☠☠☠

  The haul was so meager; it was barely worth taking back. A couple ARs, a 9mm, and
a 22 revolver were the only weapons not too rusted to worry about carrying back. The boxes of ammunition barely made up for what they had spent today. Topping off the ammo bag were a few bricks of .22.

  The only oddity worth retrieving was a pair of spiked brass knuckles and a knife disguised as a writing pen. “Now,” sighed The Expert, “we only have to do this a few hundred more times.”

  All three humans had their helmets removed as they loaded the boxes of ammo in the bag. Hammer grinned at The Medicine Man with a chaw poking from her cheek. “Kumar tells me y’all ran into a mama.”

  He was taken aback by the casual way she spoke of the infected; especially the female carrying the next generation of former humans. “It was at least several months pregnant. It goes without saying that the woman was bitten while she was with child.” He put his hands up, gesturing for her to wait. “There is no way the fetus remained uninfected, and it is obvious the infection does not disturb gestation.”

  “So it’ll be nine months like normal?” she questioned.

  Infection didn’t disturb gestation, but he wouldn’t assume it would speed it up. “I am fairly certain, unless the mother was pregnant at the time of infection as this one was, there should not be any births earlier than usual.”

  Throwing their loads over their shoulders they made their way out the exposed shop. Heading down the eerily quiet street of another dead southern town, this trio wasn’t expecting another fight. If there were any infected left in the area, there would surely be pregnant females. Carriers of the coming baby boom of peevies. Rarely seen in the next few months of gestation like most mammals, they would not be treated as queens. But as in most species the pregnant females would be cared for to some extent.

  The doctors shuddered at the thought. The number of these demonic cannibals would exponentially grow as time went on. The species at the top of the food chain usually remains while others become EXTINCT.

  20

  Memoirs of Benji 3

  THIS CHOPPER HAD the name Skywalker printed on the side of the nose. The only things that could have made this ride any cooler is if “Flight of the Valkyries” or “The Bird Is the Word” were playing. What? Anyone who knows anything about pop culture knows about the iconic songs in Apocalypse Now. It’s not like I’m a secret geek or anything. No one in my family is the nerdy type.

  Ghost Rider and Indiana Jones flew in our Jedi ride in the direction of Lattiwood water tower. The spare ammo box from the Cherokee came in handy and we were prepped for touchdown. Well, our guns were reloaded. There’s no way to prepare one’s self mentally for witnessing the depravity of the horrors known as peevies.

  ☠☠☠

  “Fuck if I know. One of them seen me and started hootin’ and hollerin’ and must have told the rest of them where we was!” Chester was filling a couple of his boys in on the reason there were suddenly countless undead surrounding their pillar of solitude.

  “Quit wastin’ shots!” He screamed at Jed while the younger man popped .22 rounds into infected craniums. “They can’t get up here!”

  Peevies dropped one right after the other as Jed Ivey cracked open blue skull after dead head. A beast would look up to take a bullet through the front teeth. Lead would then go through the top of the mouth entering the sinuses. This would blow out the top of the head after scrambling some gray matter.

  The scourge beside its now truly dead comrade would similarly look up to receive its own piece of lead. Going through a yellow eye or catching the creature in the temple, it would collapse just as its fallen brother. There had to be dozens of infected bodies with holes in the skulls scattered for yards around the water tower!

  These survivors assumed they were the last living humans in the county, or at least on Sand Mountain. Of course, Chester’s wife, Arlene, and his stepdaughter, Chyna, were safe at the home place. Chester, his nephew, Jed, and Jed’s simple brother Scooter, had come to the water tower earlier. There was a tank of clean water here, ripe for the taking. They didn’t want it to go to waste.

  Jed and Scooter had climbed the ladder to work on getting the tank open. About 12 feet up, they used bolt cutters to severe the ladder from being reached by anything at ground level. Chester traveled to the truck and was headed back with an aluminum ladder when one of the dam zombies caught sight of him. He had just enough time to lean the ladder against the pillar, climb up to the bars attached to the tower, and reach down to grab the flimsy aluminum ladder.

  With nothing but his Rugar 10/22, Jed had decided to put down even more of the peevies. They were in no danger, or so Chester assumed, peevies couldn’t fly. Just as he called for the fire to stop, he witnessed something he would have imagined was impossible before this very moment.

  On the ground, the three amigos could see a human pyramid being formed by the inhuman monsters. Dozens of the screaming blunatics stood against the base of the tower waiting for others to climb onto their shoulders. This process was repeated for several layers.

  Chester had an idea! He lifted a flask from his boot. The skinny metal container was full of something he carried for medicinal purposes. Everclear. He unscrewed the lid and flipped back the top before turning the container over emptying the contents on the growing pyramid of zombies below. Pulling a folded handkerchief from his pocket, he used his Bic to set one corner alight, released it to watch it fall.

  When the falling cloth reached fumes of the near ethanol, the air in the immediate area filled with flames. The growing tower of peevies started collapsing under oppressive fire. Oxygen was ripped from infected lungs as superheated air pushed the monsters to the ground.

  Blue demons at the highest point of the pyramid suffered the most heinous injuries. Doused in accelerant, they received the initial wave of flame. Not one of the creatures received death by fire, every one of them toppled to the ground as they were singed. Bones were broken and organs ruptured as their bodies impacted the hard ground.

  Roasted skin, fried hair, and smoked diarrhea came together to form a vomit inducing scent that was worthy of a title. The horrible aroma wafted up to the survivors on the tower and Jed couldn’t see through the tears for a few seconds. Chester leaned over the railing to empty his stomach of what little rations he had consumed that day while Scooter collapsed on the metal grating and began weeping.

  With the current tactic appearing fruitless, a new one was tried. A pair of the blue monsters picked up the section of ladder lying on the ground. Even though Jed frantically tried to drop every one of the creatures carrying the ladder, they were eventually able to get it against the tower.

  It was now standing, appearing to be attached. Monster after monster charged up the rungs, anticipating the tasty food above. Human flesh had not been tasted in so long; the peevies were committed to achieving their goal.

  As the former humans bolted up the iron bars, they screamed with delight. Jed’s .22 bullets collided with infected heads but could not stem the tide. For every one that fell from the ladder, at least three surged up. When they had nearly crested the opening, numerous .556 rounds began relentlessly slamming into their backs.

  ☠☠☠

  “I wished like hell this thing had its dam GAU-16 .50 cal mounted!” I screamed over the whir of the blades. Shrugging, I knew my M4 would do the job!

  Devin piloted Skywalker, being a trained chopper pilot, while I stood at the opened door unloading magazine after magazine from my M4. We were so close to the tower, peevies that fell from the ladder were actually being blown against the pillar, gravity being altered. Force from the blades also pushed the monsters down. The rough stone of the tower left bloodied blue flesh clinging to the sides as they were forced downwards.

  It was nearly painful to watch. The animals would be slowly rolled from the top of the stone pillar to the ground. Almost every piece of skin was ripped from their bodies, leaving peeled blunatics writhing on the ground. They looked like wads of flailing hamburger meat!

  The older man, am
ong three survivors looked to be in charge. “Hey!” I yelled at him with yards between us. My hands were cupped over my mouth. Jokingly, I questioned him. “Do you guys need some help?”

  Even though the zombies were almost on them, he smiled back and nodded “A little bit!”

  The pilot of the whirly bird pitched us up so that the rotors were above the top of the tank. Reaching over to pick up my buddy’s M4, I started unloading duel automatics at the climbing beasts. No matter how many peevies crashed to the ground, they still were making headway. The kid with the little rifle was throwing everything he had at the wave, but they still managed to top the walkway. First it was just one and then over a handful was on their feet and charging.

  When I threw the rope ladder, it dangled first in front of a large, weeping kid. “Fucking move!” I screamed at him. He reached out to begin pulling himself up the rungs.

  He was halfway up the ladder and I yelled down to the next closest individual, the young man popping off the small rifle. He reached up only after knocking one of the blunatics back with his rifle butt.

  Finally, the older guy was up. Devin angled Skywalker to line up with our third to be rescued. The man knew the score. It was too late. There was nothing he could do when one of the blue cannibals dove at him. Wind was knocked from his lungs as he was violently pushed.

  “Fuck.” he wheezed.

  I could see what was happening. “Sumbitch!” His back collided with the railing and he actually remained standing for a brief second. But the next damn monster that slammed into him tipped him over the guardrail and he fell.

  Screaming unintelligibly was the only thing I could do. It was excruciating to watch the man flip head over heels on his way to the ground. Nothing could have been done differently to save the man. Both weapons being almost simultaneously unloaded didn’t make a difference.