Zombie Hunter

by A. Giacomi

  EVE

  Escaping the camp was not as fatality free as I had hoped. Unfortunately, a few soldiers had decided to stand in our way. I know very well that they had orders, but their orders were ill advised. Soldiers were put in place to save people and the Prime Minister had no clue how to do that. Vincent and I were two very experienced informants and if only he had been willing to work with us, perhaps we would have saved some time. A war against zombies was futile, there would always be more. How could he not know that?

  Tearing our way through soldier after soldier brought pain to my stomach, not because it was filling quickly, but because I felt remorse. If only they would have listened to us this wouldn’t have been necessary. Vincent does not share my guilt. He tears through each man relishing the taste of blood. There is a moment our eyes meet and he’s no longer the Vincent I knew, his eyes are wild, his body twitches. Vincent was leaving me.

  Grabbing a gun off one of my victims, I aim it at Vincent and call to him. “Vincent, we have to go now, please. We’ve cleared out enough of them. I’ve tracked down a vehicle, it’s time to go!”

  He stares at me blankly as he approaches.

  “Vincent, please!” I yell. “I still need you, I need your help to finish this.”

  Vincent closes his eyes, trying to fight the voices in his head no less, but when he opens them, he is no one. The virus had finally won, Azrael had come to claim his soldier, and I was left to destroy him. I had promised him that much, where Dr. August had failed, I would finish the job.

  Standing a few inches from me, Vincent halts, almost waiting for the blow. He doesn’t say a word, but he almost appears to nod. I hold up my gun and he stumbles toward it, allowing it to rest upon his head. He wants this, he knows his time is up, and yet pulling the trigger seems impossible.

  “I have to do this, I have to…” I tell myself, “Vincent, I’m going to miss you. Thank you for taking me this far. I will do the rest now. I hope you’ll be free now. You’ve suffered long enough. Please forgive me…”

  And with that my finger finds the trigger, I close my eyes and offer the blow. A loud bang fills the air, just as bloody tears fill my eyes. There is no time to mourn him, I step over him as more soldiers approach. Taking them down with the rest of my ammo and feeling horrible with each blast. This was not a fight I wanted, this was the fight that had been brought to me, and I was completely sick of it. Innocent people were dying because the higher ups told them that this was their “mission”. How dare they be used like this, I thought.

  Finding my vehicle, I speed off quickly into the night, leaving a pile of corpses behind. Some of them would be re-animated, one bite would cause an epidemic, but twenty, nearly thirty would cause the camp to collapse. If anyone survived it would be a miracle. I had to force myself to stop thinking about them; it was time to focus on Cameron. I had to find him before it was too late, which I feared it might already be.

  ***

  After about an hour on the road, I begin to feel queasy and need to pull over. As I attempt to get out of the vehicle, I flop out of it and land on the ground almost as if my legs had forgotten to function. I lay on the ground and rest while trying to gather myself. I can feel my body changing, Vincent’s fate would soon be my own, I could feel it. Fear strikes me like a fist to my stomach, who would be here to shoot me? No one, I would turn and no one would save me from that. That thought alone forced me to find my strength to rise. I didn’t want to become that monster; I wanted someone to put a bullet in me before that happened.

  When I rise, I smell something foul, the smell continues to get stronger and stronger until I see its source. A herd of zombies begin to walk toward me. Most of them were still intact, they were fresh zombies, newly turned, with barely a scratch on them, this meant they would surely be stronger than me. Clearly Satan was bringing out the big dogs. He wanted me to fail, he wanted me away from Cam, but I was determined to save him, so the dead would need to die once more.

  Pulling myself to my feet, I launch my body into the vehicle and rummage through a bag of artillery that had been left inside. My hands find a few guns, some bullets, and finally a grenade. I had always wanted to use one of these things before, a strange thing to have on a bucket list, but watching action movies just always made hurling a grenade look so bad ass. I can’t resist, with the grenade in hand I feel like Rambo. The zombies are still far enough away to launch it safely, but I still feel that being on the other side of my vehicle would give me a better buffer between myself and the blast. Pulling the pin with my teeth I let out a loud scream, almost like a roar as I launch the grenade right into the center of the massive group of undead. A few of them look a bit confused, but the rest pay no mind to the tiny weapon lurking amongst them. They continue to move forward as I wait for the blast to come. It seems to take longer than in the movies and I begin to panic that it’s a dud. Just as I begin to think about a plan B, the grenade goes off, the bang is deafening and especially messy. Blood rains down from the sky and limbs and organs hit the hood of my vehicle so hard that they leave dents. When the carnage clears, a few zombies still linger, not fully intact, but still trying to move toward their target. If I wasn’t so pressed for time I would stop to destroy their brains, it was the least I could do, they had been people once, and this grim fate didn’t seem fair.

  “Sorry,” I say under my breath as I hop back into my vehicle. There was no time to waste, I would join them soon, but not just yet. I had unfinished business to attend to.

  As I drive on toward home, the stench of the dead follows me. They were at my heels I could feel it, I was being hunted, but hopefully I could stay ahead of them.

  ***

  Stopping my car just outside the welcome sign to Little Lake I can’t help but weep a little. This had been my home, but no one was left to make it homey. They say home is where the heart is, but my heart was an orphan and it barely existed these days. No heart. No home.

  “Cam,” I gasp as I remember his fate, he was about to lose more than just his home.

  Losing myself in memories was dangerous, I had to focus on my mission. Hunt down Marcus, save Cam, and destroy anyone and anything that gets in my way. It sure sounded simple enough.

  Rounding up a few guns out of the vehicle and a knife that I tuck into one of my boots, I decide to continue the rest of my journey on foot. Little Lake was a small town and driving around wouldn’t have exactly been inconspicuous. It was a necessity to be silent, and invisible. The dead were trailing me, my nostrils made no mistake about that, but as for the whereabouts of Marcus and Cam, I couldn’t sense them or scent. Either they were hiding or someone had hidden them from me.

  Walking the deserted streets of my once happy town seemed like something out of a horror movie. An abandoned cop car lies up ahead on one of the curbs. I knew that car, it had been Officer Hon’s, one of Little Lake’s most respected and reliable officer’s. He wasn’t just a great cop, he was all about helping the community. Everyone knew him, everyone loved him, not typical for a cop, but he was a special breed. I brush my hand along the abandoned car before peeking inside. The inside was empty and I prayed somehow he had gotten away, that he had not tried to be the hero and stayed behind, but I knew in my guts that this wasn’t true. Hon wouldn’t have left until he got everyone out safely, and I’m not sure anyone made it out of Little Lake “safely”.

  Taking a moment to squeeze my eyes closed and push away images of various neighbors dying, I begin to hear a voice. It sounds muffled at first, but soon becomes a clear hiss. It tells me, “Leave now before it’s too late.”

  Ominous warnings so weren’t my thing, so I shake my head and ignore the hiss until it becomes background noise.

  My first stop is a no-brainer. I see my house in the distance and begin sprinting toward it. I felt if Cam would be anywhere, he’d be there. When I climb the front steps a note is taped to the door, it flaps up and down as the
breeze catches it. Ripping it off the door frantically I pray it’s from Cam, and to my delight it is. A brief smile is quickly wiped away when I read the words before me. This is a farewell note. Crumpling it and throwing it to the ground I scream in agony. Thrashing my fists upon the front door of what used to be my home, I leave blood stains as I burst skin open with every blast of my fist upon the wooden entry wall.

  “How could he do this to me?” I sob.

  Death fills my nostrils; clearly, I had garnered some attention with my fit of rage. Rather than sulk and let them have their way with me, I rise and accept the challenge. I was much too furious to be taken down. My rage made me invincible. The corpses appear through the trees across the road. They creep toward me at a snail’s pace. Easy targets. Preparing and pointing my rifle I aim for one head at a time and never miss my mark. I guess I had learned a thing or two from Marcus after all, even though I hated to admit it, he had made me a good shot.

  When my rifle is out of bullets I decide to abandon guns altogether and opt for the knife I stored in my boot. The shiny blade brings me pleasure, but what I lusted for was the dismantling of the corpses before me. Sprinting toward the crowd of mindless corpses, I tear into any flesh I can. A few heads come apart easily with my bare hands, some corpses take a knife through the ear, destroying the brain and bringing them to the ground, immobile. I count each kill as though I’m in some sort of video game. Delight stains my face, so that I’m grinning like the Joker in twisted excitement.

  My skin is stained with dark ooze, which was zombie blood. I try to wipe it away as I step over the mess I made of the neighbors. Cleaning off my blade on my shirt I get a whiff of something in the air. “Cam?” It sure smelt of him, but perhaps this was a trap? I decide I have no choice but to follow it, trap or not, I needed answers.

  ***

  My nose takes me to our favorite park. The very park that Cam, Alex and I spent most of our weekends hanging out. Scanning the area, there is no sign of that wretched zombie Marcus, or my Cam. Sniffing the air like a hunting dog, I get a slight whiff of blood, human blood. Racing in the direction of the scent I pass over a bridge overlooking Little Lakes best vantage point, the beauty is disturbed by what I find at the other end. Standing at the center of the rock garden stands Cam. He’s holding a large ancient looking knife and pouring blood from his arm into a dark bowl lying at the center of the stone garden’s circle. I had never noticed how much the rock garden resembled a sacred circle before. The actions before me seemed mystical and dangerous at the same time.

  As I watch Cameron’s blood drain from him, Marcus comes into view. I feel my eyes burn with rage as I lock eyes with him. He still wears the hospital mask covering the hole in his face, but his eyes still hold that familiar smirk suggesting his supremacy. Without thinking, I race toward them in a blind rage only to find a barrier between myself and Cam. He looks up at me, it wasn’t a look of surprise he wore. Instead it was more of sympathy. He hadn’t wanted me here, he didn’t want me to see this.

  “Cameron!” I scream knocking my fists against an invisible barrier keeping me from entering the sacred circle. He doesn’t respond instead he looks to Marcus and continues to drain vital fluids into the bowl set out for him.

  Marcus walks up to me, too close for comfort, but that was Marcus’ way, he liked being in your face and especially now that he knew I couldn’t touch him, he relished in the nearness we shared.

  “Coward,” I utter instantly.

  “Coward? Really, Eve? We haven’t seen each other in so long and those are your first words to me?” he mutters through his mask.

  “I think that’s about all there is to say, Marcus. You’re a coward, a follower. How do you even know the Dark King is telling you the truth? What if he’s working with the devil? That makes you his stooge,” I say glaring at him intensely.

  “Eve, I’ve seen things you can’t even imagine. Take now for instance, here you stand on the other side of a barrier. Who taught me how to create a sacred circle? The Dark King of course. He knows of a whole other realm that you will never know about. With such power, why would he need to convert me? Why not just take over my mind?”

  “Maybe he has and you’re too stupid to know it, Marcus.”

  My remark only makes him seem giddy. He liked to get under my skin. I suppose that was typical of scorned lovers. They wanted to see their former partners squirm.

  I decide not to lose any more energy on Marcus. Trying to peer around him, I call out to Cam. “You don’t have to do this! He doesn’t know what he’s talking about! He’s using you, Cameron!”

  Cam merely shakes his head. “No Eve, you don’t understand. He’s shown me a lot of things that make sense. I have my memories back now and it makes everything so much clearer. This has all been a part of a bigger plan. Unfortunately you’re the one that’s been used. Look at where I’m standing, Eve.” He holds out his arm still dripping with blood and motions toward the lake. “This is our home, and there has been a sacred circle here under our noses this whole time! Why do you think that is? Why do you think you’ve been called to return here? You’re here to bear witness, not to stop this. This has been your destiny all along. When you were bitten, you were chosen…you were chosen to save us all. We were both brought here to die, this is the only way to end this. We end so everyone else can live.”

  “Cameron, you sound insane! Listen to what you’re saying! It’s bullshit! All of it!” I scream.

  “No Eve, it’s just harder to believe you matter somehow. I know, we’re so used to being insignificant that when the universe calls upon us, we deny our fate.”

  I shake my head trying to wake up, this couldn’t be happening. None of it made any sense. Looking to Marcus again I can see him preparing another blade, this one was for the final blow, and all I could do was watch. This was a cruel destiny, if I could even call it that.

  “Eve, I suggest you brace yourself, this isn’t going to be gentle,” Marcus says almost considerately. “If it makes you feel any better, it won’t be me performing the act…”

  Furrowing my eyebrows I reply, “Then who?”

  Before I can get another word out, Marcus drops to the ground and a dark shadow stands in his place holding the blade. How a shadow can hold a blade, I had not a clue.

  “The Dark King,” I mutter in shock. We had met before. He was vicious and powerful and not much could stand in his way, he was about to win, and I was about to lose.

  I watch as the shadow approaches Cam. Cameron looks afraid, but he does not hesitate or hide. He faces the shadow and offers him the bowl of blood. The shadow raises it to where his lips should be and appears to drink it down.

  Pounding my fists on the barrier once more, I beg Cam to “Run! Run dammit!” but he ignores my pleas. Instead, he ignores the knife as the Dark King raises it above him ready to strike. The whole time Cameron keeps his eyes glued to me, and I can’t bear to break away from the stare either.

  “Cameron! I want more time!” I scream as I feel the bloody tears streaking my face.

  “Me too, Eve, but sometimes we don’t get all the time we want, we just get the time allotted to us. I’m sorry I won’t be there to hold you when it’s your turn. I know you’ll be gone soon, and wherever you go after this I hope we’ll be together. It’s all I can hope for I guess. I love you, Eve,” he says with a final smile.

  It would be the last smile I’d ever see for the large knife wielded by the Dark King plunges into his chest, robbing Cam of his smile and replacing it with a look of agony. Cam doesn’t scream, instead, he seals his eyes shut tightly as he deals with the pain. The Dark King’s incision is quick, and he soon drops the knife and places his shadowy hand into Cam’s chest. Cam dangles from the wrist of the shadow man, this was the only thing holding him upright. As he removes Cam’s heart I can feel my own disintegrating, it didn’t have to beat to be broken.

  The dark
shadow holds the bloody heart into the sky in victory. Cam slumps to the ground lifeless and pale. I sink down to the ground watching his lifeless body, I just wanted to hold him now, but the barrier still remained.

  The Dark King waves his free hand over Little Lake and creates a swirl of dark water. I raise my head to witness what would become of Cam’s heart. The water swirls and swirls until it creates a deep hole or cavern leading into its depths. Flames rise up from the hole he creates, this was a portal to hell, he was to deliver the heart directly to the Underworld.

  “No!” I scream. “He can’t have it, you can’t feed that to him, Cameron was a pure soul.”

  The shadow shakes his head and his voice enters my mind. Now, now child, fear not, this is how we silence the beast. Cameron’s soul is safe, his heart is simply a sacrifice to end the reign of the undead. Be silent, be still, this will all be over soon…

  His voice is eerily soothing, and so I watch on as he throws the heart into the deep dark hole he created in the center of the lake. Flames engulf the heart and a scream from below carries into the sky. Someone below wasn’t very happy about all this. The ground shakes slightly with rage and I fear something might be released from the Underworld to attack us, but nothing exits, instead there is silence as The Dark King seals the gateway and the lake returns to its former appearance.

  With his mission complete, The Dark King’s shadow dissolves into a dust carried away by the wind. The barrier dissolves with him and I scamper over to Cameron desperately. Before I can reach him, I feel a jolt of pain surge through my entire body, he had promised it would all be over soon, and I guess it would be…

  Collapsing to the ground, I find my body betraying me, becoming stiffer and harder to move. Dragging myself along, I am determined to lay beside Cam and bid him farewell, a second death wouldn’t keep me from him.

  As I near his body, something grabs my ankle, I look back to see Marcus clawing at the rotting flesh on my leg. When I look at him I don’t see the smug look in his eyes, I don’t hear his voice, only growls and a dead stare. He had fully turned now. He is gone. Reaching into the back of my pants I pull out a small handgun and point it at Marcus. He stops clawing at my legs and instead appears to welcome the bullet. I don’t hesitate, all the hatred I had stored up is released in a single shot between his eyes. Marcus flops to the ground and lies still. Relief brushes over me, at least one less monster had been removed, now it was my turn.