Rise of the Dead

by Emir Skalonja

  “Holy shit!” Jill exclaimed in surprise and awe, a giggle escaping her on accident.

  “Are you alright?” the woman said as she turned to her and Jack. “Did you get bit?”

  “Damn, you sure did a number on that guy,” Jill said, her eyes still fixed on the bloody mess just behind the woman. A guy followed her; he was carrying a gun that would put Jack’s to shame.

  ‘Definitely an army type gun,’ Jill thought. Then she made eye contact with the girl.

  She snapped her fingers, as to bring Jill out of her daze. “Did he bite you or scratch you?” the woman repeated.

  “No…” Jill said as her and Jack glanced at each other, rather confused and somewhat alarmed.

  “You guys should get out of here as soon as possible,” the woman sporting a running outfit said, clenching her knife. It was somewhat unsettling to Jill as her jogger -looking savior glanced over at the body she had destroyed moments ago.

  “Yeah,” her guy friend chimed in. He didn’t look that tough, Jill considered, but that gun, though. Boy, that was a big gun.

  “There’s some sort of an outbreak, apparently. This guy right here…” He pointed with his thumb behind him.

  “Wait … what are you talking about?” Jack asked. That was his annoyed voice, Jill noticed. The one where he was inquiring if what he was hearing was bullshit and he was being taken for a fool.

  “It’s this place. It’s causing the dead to come back to life,” the jogger said. “This was an old toxic waste site. Decades ago they buried massive amounts of chemical waste.”

  “It’s like ... zombies … or the undead, I guess, call it what you want, but the best thing to do right now is to get out. That’s what we’re doing,” the man with the big gun said. Jill noticed that he was struggling to find the words good enough to describe what was happening. Maybe he was right, to an extent, Jill thought. That would certainly explain the guy they had to kill twice and now the woman Jack shot, and the poor bastard whose head the jogger woman had smashed.

  “You guys are joking, right?” Jack said.

  Jill looked at him in search of an answer, and now he even had his eyebrow raised, which was Jack’s exterior bullshit detector, though it was only used when it was possible the truth was there, just hard to swallow.

  “The undead? Zombies?” Jill said. “Are you guys on drugs or something? I mean, what you’re saying seems just a little too far-fetched and, to be honest, a little ridiculous, you know?” She smirked in the end, but it was more of a nervous tic than anything.

  “Listen, we just saved your life,” the woman said harshly. “The least you can do is to show a little gratitude, if not to listen to what we are saying. Look at that man down there, look at him!” She pointed at the headless corpse. “I don’t care what you do,” she continued. “It’s not on us anymore. Just be warned and make sure you destroy the head if you run into any more of them. C’mon Tom, let’s go.”

  The man stood there just a little longer, looking at them, then shook his head and followed after his lady friend. “Good luck,” he said on his way past them.

  Jill watched them jogging away and the feeling that something strange was up with that place lingered in the still, warm air. Now that she thought about it a little more, there was definitely something wrong. She couldn’t disregard the fact that the man they had shot hours ago, who, if anything, should have died of blood loss, had come back to life and had attacked her. And what about the ones that had just attacked them moments ago? Could they have been some meth addicts tripping out of their mind? That was a reasonable assumption. But the fact that this girl and the guy had jumped out to their aid put a whole different spin on the things.

  “What do you make of that?” Jack asked and began to walk slowly to their car.

  “Well, I like the girl. She seems tough.”

  “I mean about what they said? It’s fucked up, don’t you think?”

  “I know what you meant; I was just making an observation. And I don’t know, babe, I mean, odds are … they’re right. I mean, the guy, then these two. And did you see his damn gun? Holy shit, that’s something we need in our arsenal.”

  “Yeah, we do,” Jack said absently and continued to walk.

  But Jill stopped.

  “Babe?”

  Jack turned and when he saw that Jill stood still in place, he walked over to her. “Hey, listen, it’s gonna be alright, I wouldn’t worry about it, honestly.”

  “Seriously? With everything we’ve seen? I dunno, but this shit sure sounds scary.”

  He leaned in close to her face, their noses almost touching. “Let’s get out of here. We can’t lose our heads over this, not now. We’ve got some good shit happening for us and there’s nothing that’s gonna mess that up. We’ve got plans, and we’re sticking to them. That’s it.”

  She smiled and kissed him on the nose. “Alright, let’s go!”

  “That’s my girl!” Jack kissed her back, took her hand and they ran toward their car.

  ***

  “Well that was a detour,” Becky said as they turned onto a narrow, long and desolate street. All they had to do was to walk to the end of it, make a left, and then walk another half a mile and they would be at the car. It was quiet, and it appeared as they’d left the carnage and commotion behind them. Perhaps there was something on the news. She couldn’t wait to get home and turn on the TV and see just was actually going on. But then again, perhaps the only true and honest account they would ever get would have been from the mercenary soldier Tom had shot. She tried to let that sink in and it didn’t work. She just couldn’t.

  “It sure was,” Tom agreed.

  “What was up with those too, anyways? They look really … odd?” Becky made an attempt at describing the man and the woman they had helped out a few minutes ago, but calling them odd was the next best thing, even though it really didn’t do them any justice.

  “Very strange. What with the outfits? They looked like they were in a band or something, like one of those screaming types.”

  “Did that guy have eyeliner? Is that what it was? It sure looked like eyeliner.”

  “Whatever it was, I really don’t care,” Tom said and shook his head. “That’s like the last of my worries right now. I’d figured there’d be weirdos around here. I’m sure the place is full of them come nightfall. What I never expected to do was to actually kill a person. I can’t stop thinking about it. I mean, the look in that man’s eyes. I can’t…”

  “You did what you had to do,” Becky said and placed one hand on his shoulder. “It took real courage to do it. I’m sorry I was a bitch about it.”

  “No, you were right. That’s the difference between you and me. You get things done. I, on the other hand, will live in mom and dad’s basement for the next thirty years.” Tom shrugged, almost as if he were giving up on his life. Becky knew she was hard on him, but she had to be since their parents babied him to no end. She loved him more than anything in the world, but damn, he needed to be pushed to do everything. And now, she couldn’t even begin to imagine what killing that man did to his psyche.

  “Don’t talk like that,” she said. “We’ll sort it all out when we’re home. We’re both in shock from … well, everything. It’s been a shit of a day, to say the least.”

  “You can say that again,” Tom agreed and lowered his head in defeat.

  She didn’t blame him from being so downtrodden. She’d give him space and a moment in silence to gather his thoughts. Whenever he got too down on himself, that was the best thing to do, and now was as good of a time as any.

  But once Becky looked at the end of the street, she stopped immediately and put her hand on Tom’s chest, stopping him from going further.

  “What?” he asked absently and took a split second to raise his head back up and face their new obstacle ahead.

  “You have got to be shitting me...” Becky whispered through clenched teeth. It had to be either anger or hopelessness, or even a combination
of the two. It seemed as though the dead were coming out of nowhere, appearing out of thin air, and by the looks of it, they would have to fight their way through to get to their car.

  “Shit!” Tom said as he raised the M4 and pointed it in the direction of the zombies blocking their exit. “There’s a bunch of them. It looks like they’re multiplying.”

  “They have to be coming from that building the guy mentioned. Didn’t he say that’s where they were doing all the experiments on the people?”

  “It doesn’t matter, for all I care they can be coming out of my ass. It’s just that they’re too many of them. Look at them, they’re like a mindless herd of animals.” Tom adjusted the weapon against his shoulder and just before he was about to squeezed the trigger, a gunshot came from behind the dead. One of them dropped as the bullet passed through the mouth, shattering the jaw to bloody chunks.

  Then another shot followed and another one of them fell down, until they all started piling on top of each other.

  “What’s going on?” Becky asked surprised, not that she was upset that the zombies were being shot, or anything. Her question was answered when she saw the man and the woman they had meet earlier. It was the odd-looking couple.

  It didn’t matter who it was, as long as they were mowing down the walking corpses.

  “Well would you look at that,” Tom said smirking. “Hey, we’ll take it, am I right?” He nudged Becky with his elbow.

  “For sure,” she said and then heard a deep, guttural groan come from behind her. But before she had any time to react, she felt a clammy hand grab her arm and pull her back.

  “Becky!” Tom yelled as he tried to grab her but fell just short as she was pulled down.

  There were at least a dozen of them coming from behind.

  “Holy shit! T-Tom!” Becky stuttered as she fell on her back and saw three horrid, drooling faces appear just inches above her head. Before they could all converge and take a bit out of her, Tom pushed one of them off to the side. She brought her knife hard into the skull of the one closest to her. She felt the knife puncture the skull, crack the bone and sink into the brain. She twisted it quickly and pulled it out, then rolled out of the way before the thing could fall on top of her. The third one almost got a bite of her, but she hit the gruesome looking woman with her shoulder on her way up.

  Tom fired the first shot and hit the man closing in on Becky in the shoulder.

  “Try again,” Becky said as she pushed the man away, and heard another shot, this one taking a large chunk of the man’s head and sending it into the bushes on the sidewalk.

  Still, there were about nine of them left and they were all within ten or so feet away. Tom fired, aiming more carefully, killing some of them in a single shot through the head. Becky ran to the ones that were getting closer and stabbed them in the head with her blade. It was a grotesque feeling, stabbing the brain; she could hear the bone crack and the meat tear inside as she twisted the knife and then pulled it out.

  Tom shot the last two that paraded toward them. One of them was a boy, not a day older than twelve. He was chewing a piece of meat, if that’s what it really was, as the bullet eradicated his frontal lobe and blew the rest through the back.

  “That’s it on our end,” Tom said and turned around to see the strange couple walk over the pile of corpses they just took down.

  “This is not happening,” Becky said as she wiped the blood from her cheek and onto her sweatshirt. “It can’t be real…” she trailed off as she walked back and then faced the two coming their way.

  “Beck, look who it is. Just in the nick of time, huh?”

  “Yeah,” Becky said and wiped more blood off her neck. “Not complaining.”

  “We haven’t been properly introduced,” the short buxom woman said. “My name is Jill, and this is my boyfriend Jack, and it looks like we’re even right now.” She smiled.

  Becky didn’t answer, just nodded.

  Tom relaxed and lowered the gun. “Tom,” he finally said. “This is my sister Becky.”

  “Hey,” Becky said and waved a hello. “Thanks,” she continued as she glanced behind at the pile her and Tom had created.

  “Don’t mention it,” Jill said. “Just returning the favor.”

  “You know,” Jack chimed in, “it really wouldn’t be a horrible idea if we just joined forces and, you know, get the hell out of here together. Whaddaya say?”

  There was a brief moment of silence. Only the distant cars on the highway could be heard as they passed by. And yet, those cars seemed so far away, Becky though as she regarded the couple in front of her. This place was like a maze: abandoned streets turning into one another, abandoned house lots, overgrown bushes, grass and shrubbery, made it all far more foreboding than it really was.

  “I guess we could,” Tom said.

  “Yeah, I guess you were right what you said earlier, about them coming to life and all. Definitely the dead becoming … undead, if you will.”

  To Becky it seemed as if the girl, Jill, was the spokesperson for the two. Her boyfriend appeared calm, more calculated and stable than the girl.

  “Yeah,” Tom agreed and looked over to Becky.

  Becky shrugged. “I guess, strength in numbers.”

  “We’ve seen our share of dead bodies, but they’re usually one hundred percent dead…” Jill said, then sort of cut herself short and tried to cover it up although rather unsuccessfully.

  Jack shot her a scolding look.

  Becky clenched her knife tighter, bringing it just a tad higher up so she could strike in case these two really did prove to be some sort of psychos. “So…” she said.

  Tom raised his gun back up.

  “You gotta be kidding me,” he said and aimed it at the couple.

  “So, you’re like serial killers? Contract killers, hitmen, whatever you call it?” Her heart started racing again. If it wasn’t one thing, it was the other. First the dead, now these two turned out to be professional killers. Well, the guy looked more so than Jill.

  “Relax,” Jill said.

  “Yeah, no worries,” Jack added, his voice calm and soothing. “We do it for money, we have targets we are given—”

  “So, unless you’ve done something to someone, or to us, I’d say, you guys are pretty safe.” Jill cut in and finished what Becky thought in their heads was a pretty reasonable explanation.

  “That makes everything so much better,” Becky scoffed and raised her knife further up to her chest.

  “You know, you could be stuck with someone far worse than us,” Jill continued to be the ambassador of the two. “If you are right about everything that’s going on here, we’d be better off all going through it together. More weapons, more hands, extra eyes to look out … you know, the works.”

  “Yeah, honestly, we’ve got no beef with you,” Jack said calmly, his voice a bit more reassuring than Jill’s. “We get through this, and you won’t ever see us again, trust me. Like Jill said, we are better off sticking together than taking our chances on our own. You helped us, we helped you, that speaks for something, I’d hope.”

  Another moment of silence ensued as the four exchanged their curious and studying looks. Eventually, Tom lowered the weapon and shrugged. “I guess, why not?” he finally said. “But I swear, you try anything, I won’t mind pulling the trigger.”

  “What could, or would, we possibly try?” Jack tried to reason. “It’s not like we kill out of pure boredom or interest. To us, it’s business, so again, you can rest assure, we’ve got none with you.”

  “I understand, but I’m just warning you,” Tom added and shrugged his shoulders again, as if there was nothing more to it, and he was just stating a fact.

  “Fine, fair enough,” Jack said and gave in.

  There was some truth to it, Becky thought as she studied the two. Sure, they were odd balls, they were eccentric, but it sure didn’t look like they just went around and randomly killed people just for the hell of it. If they said they killed for
money, that was that then, and they should be able to team up with them for next half hour or however long it took them to get back to their car.

  “Alright, let’s go then, before more of them show up,” Becky said and started walking. “We should probably cut through here.”

  “Good idea,” Jill said and followed.

  Jack and Tom eyed each other for a moment until Jack took the first step.

  “This place is like a maze,” Becky said as she led the way. “And these things popping up everywhere just makes it that much harder.”

  “Yeah,” Jill agreed, “it sure seems like they just come out of nowhere. So, let’s just keep our eyes open.”

  “They seem to be like animals, herd mentality,” Jack added. “They move in groups. I don’t know if they’re communicating in any way, shape or form, but they sure do move with a goal in mind to devour their prey.”

  “Well, whatever it is, I hope we don’t run into any more,” Becky said, but couldn’t shake the feeling that her words were just false hope. The dead were around every corner, and if they were behind you, you didn’t know it until you were down and staring at their jaws.

  They entered the construction site and passed the giant mound of gravel. There were two bulldozers there, sitting side by side on the other end, and a truck that was propped up by jacks since it was missing two front wheels. Were the truck functional, it would be so much easier to plow through any obstacle, but no such luck shined upon her odd rag tag group.

  As they passed the gravel mound, she saw out of the corner of her eye a few pieces roll down from the top and hit the back of her foot. She gripped her knife, ready for attack and when she glanced back, one of the zombies tumbled down and ended on its knees right behind her. The thing snarled and reached out for her, grabbing her free hand.

  “Shit, here we go again,” Jill said desperately from the front of the column.