After Genocide: The Dead Live Again

by Rodriguez, Jose

  Up ahead are ten more of the zombies staring at us from the long distance, we reload and begin walking towards the monsters, they come raging at us, wanting to take a piece of our flesh; but they were not getting a bite today.

  We continue to walk as a group but in distances, aiming high to the head and we begin shooting, one of the creatures picks up a microwave on display and throws it at me. I dive to a side and land from harms’ way, but at the same time released the knocked arrow I had in place. Max gets anticipated and he shoots anywhere a creature moved, regardless of accuracy. Six continues to walk and shoot, and Pam fires using her handguns from a distance.

  The lobby is quiet after all the bloodshed. Zombies lay there on the white floor and blood streaks down like the rivers. We sit down to relax, due to Max’s lack of accuracy he leaves a zombie twitching. Pam just walk towards it and shoots it in the head.

  “Thanks,” Max says.

  “You're welcome,” she replies with a tired grin.

  Pam walks toward me and sits down to relax, we take a deep breath, “Now what?” Max asks.

  I walk towards the zombies with the arrows stuck in their head and pull them out, “We do some shopping,” I reply with a smile.

  Ch.4: Wal-Mart

  We begin to walk in different directions.

  “Hey keep your eyes open anyway,” I say.

  “Okay,” the rest reply. I could agree with everyone else, they were happy to finally rest on something, shooting causes fatigue. I walk around the aisles and spot the watches and I stared until I found the one I liked the most, “You know life is better spent doing something instead of nothing,” says Pam as she approaches.

  I look up and smile, “Psychology education,” I ask and Pam laughs.

  “No, just basic ethics,” she replies.

  “You like watches?” she asks.

  “Yeah I like the one with blue,” I reply.

  “I think that’s a nice watch also; I suggest you get it.”

  I look at her “Cover your eyes,” I say, and then I smashed the glass with the back end of my crossbow and I grab the watch.

  “Using the key would have been better, but oh well,” she joked.

  “Oh my, what a beautiful ring,” she gasps and turned her attention to it. She walks over and she stares at it from the glass.

  “Wow; wish I had something like that on my hand,” she says, I look at her then I smashed the glass while Pam covered her eyes. I pick up the ring and handed it to her: “Here,” I say. Pam looks down and she turned away quickly. She walks away and sat down near the women’s clothes section with her head down.

  I sighed, and walk towards her and sat beside her, “I’m sorry, I forget about the guy you love,” I apologized.

  “No, it’s not that. I mean, I’m just so upset at the world. You’re a nice guy, you saved me and all but I don’t know I feel like it’s too quick to move,” she says concerned.

  “Hey I’m not trying to force you to do anything against your will. It’s not like I’m proposing either. I’m trying to be here for you that’s all, just trying to be a friend, a companion at that,” I reply. Pam stared into my eyes as did I and there is that smile again, “Thank you.”

  We leave that aisle and begin to walk around again, exploring the foods that are available and then the book shelves come into sight. There is something that catches my eye, Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead graphic novel and beside it a copy of season ten. A spectacular adventure of survivors trying to outlive becoming food for the reanimated dead. On top of that they get a major villain each season, well usually. I can’t help but to reflect on this graphic novel with our situation at hand.

  A loud yell echoes through the store, “Help!” the sound of a feminine voice. Pam and I stop what we’re doing and stand up.

  “Where did that come from?” she asks.

  “I don’t know? Straight ahead; perhaps the restrooms,” I reply.

  Pam and I rush to the restrooms, “Which one,” she asks.

  “Men’s room,” I reply.

  “Okay it could be somebody mutating into a zombie so let’s reload,” I say and we quickly reload and I begin to lead, “You ready?” I ask, and Pam nods while aiming her firearm. I enter the Men’s restroom and quickly re-turned to a posture holding my crossbow in the air, aiming straight.

  There is only a frightened girl, maybe about eighteen years old, “Who are you?” I ask, but she did not reply. I slowly begin to approach her and lower my weapon at the same time.

  “It’s okay, we are not going to hurt you,” I say with comfort. Pam kept her aim steady just in case, “Pam you can lower your weapon,” I suggested.

  “But if she turns?” she asks.

  “She’s just scared,” I reply.

  The female figure looks up at me, she has long black hair, and a white face that had seen a lot of disaster, “My name is Ruby,” the girl speaks.

  “Okay, my name is Joe, and this is Pam,” I say.

  “Nice to meet you both,” Ruby replies.

  “Come on, we should regroup with the others,” Pam suggested.

  “Yeah, come with us,” I agreed. The three of us walk through the quiet store; we pass through the clothing sections, the pastry section and find ourselves walking through the electronics section.

  “Hey it’s Max” Pam says, Max is playing video games but he stops at the sound of Pam’s voice; “Hey guys, did you find anything useful?” he asks.

  “Nah, we barely began to explore this place. Pam and I were relaxing and then we heard a yell, which turned out to be Ruby,” I reply.

  Max looks at Ruby and is paused by her face, he could tell something is up with her but waves it away in his mind, “Oh, well that’s cool, I found a first aid kit, bet nobody thought of that.”

  “I’ll stay here,” Ruby says while Pam and I look at each other.

  “Okay,” we both agree with a puzzled look; we take off to do some more exploring. Pam finds a shopping cart and grabs it; she enters the clothing section and begin to grab items.

  “Hey I’m going to check the home defense and make sure the doors are closed to secure the place,” I say.

  “Okay,” she replies.

  Meanwhile, Six regroups with Max at the electronics section.

  “Who is this?” asks Six.

  “Oh, Ruby,” replies Max. Six looks confused but nods his head.

  “I guess,”—he looks around,--“I found a backpack full of grenades, Maximum I suspect about thirty,” says Six.

  “Cool,” replies Max, barely paying any attention; he is too busy concentrated on the video game he is playing.

  A couple of hours went by and soon after checking the doors and the rest of the Wal-Mart, I went back to the electronics section, Pam is there, Max, Six, Ruby and Blade.

  “Hey sorry I’m late but I just had to double check everything to make sure we are secure, so what’s new?” I ask.

  “Well I found a lot of clothes for me…and night vision goggles,” say Pam.

  “I found a first aid kit and a collar for Blade,” says Max.

  “I found grenades,” says Six.

  Grenades? I thought, now why would there be grenades in a super store? Unless we’re not the only ones to have come by this place or if some World War veteran is hiding here. Perhaps Ruby? Nah, that can’t be right at all.

  “Looks like we found something useful,” I say, “the only thing I found useful is this flashlight.”

  “Um, what’s for dinner?” asks Ruby.

  “Oh that um, well how about subway for dinner?” I ask the group.

  “Sounds great,” they reply.

  “Great, just write down how you want the sub and I’ll go make it,” I reply. The group writes their name on a piece of paper each and writes down their order from bread, to meat to vegetables. I grab the tickets and say, “I’ll get started on dinner at Subway. I’ll call you when it’s done.”

  Pam enters the women’s restroom and begins to undress h
er shirt and pants. She changes to black jeans and a black shirt with the words PINK written across the chest. She removes her socks and shoes and puts on a new pair with more comfort. She opens the faucet and begins to splash water on herself to help her wake up a little. She is tired already, and this is just the start, what about in one week? She puts on a black hoodie sweater and again looks at the mirror. The person reflected is tired, almost wants to give up but she can’t. She doesn’t know why, she just can’t.

  “Dinner time,” I shouted, almost everyone came rushing, “Yes, food,” says Max and Six hungrily.

  “Wow, somebody is hungry,” I say.

  Ruby came by walking patiently, “Dinner” she said and she began to eat.

  “Anybody see Pam,” I ask the group.

  Everyone looks at one another, then a voice speaks, “Hey sorry I’m late.” I turn and Pam is walking patiently as well, wearing her black hoodie and pants and a new set of shoes as well. I stare, and she smiles; “Miss me?” she asks. I shook my head trying to awaken from my sudden hypnosis, the group is now staring at me.

  “Just in time for dinner Pam” I say and I seat her, “Thank you Joe,” she says and smiles.

  Blade enters hungry as well, he barks and I smiles, “Okay Blade, you can have a sub,” I reply and the group laughs. As a group we eat like starved hyenas. It has been a while since we did something like this, just enjoy a nice meal among company even if some of us were strangers.

  I take a glance at my new watch, “Well it’s nine, we better call it a day,” I say. Nine in the evening so soon, how quickly goes the day. The rest of the group stood up; “What about the dishes?” asks Max.

  “Leave them, there is always tomorrow,” I reply.

  “Question, where do we sleep?” asks Ruby.

  “Find a place and sleep,” I reply.

  Max went to sleep in the electronics section and beside him Blade; Six went to sleep in the men’s clothes section, Ruby in the female clothes section, and I went to the shoe section, all the way to the back.

  I heard footsteps approaching me, I cocked my handgun and prepared to aim, “Joe” Pam’s voice called out. I relaxed my fingers and hands and put my handgun aside, “Yeah I’m over here” I reply.

  She puts a sleeping bag in the women’s shoe section and begins to relax.

  “Why did all this happen to us?” Her question lingers around.

  “I don’t know. I really don’t know.” I stare at the ceiling, and the lights get dimmer.

  “Do you think we’ll survive?” Another question from Pam now.

  “Depends on how well we stick together and fight for our survival.” I take a deep breath and Pam does as well.

  “Any family that you might have alive?”

  Now this question strikes me, I know about my little brother but who else. It begins to come back to me now, my father, sister, older brothers? Where are they?

  The night passes by faster than seconds at least that is how it feels. It is four o’clock in the morning when I hear the sound of roaring; a helicopter landing on the roof. I quietly awaken Pam.

  “Hey.” I shook her body a little.

  “What?” she wakes up.

  “There is a helicopter on the roof, go wake everyone,” I say.

  “Alright,” she agrees barely awake. She grabs her weapons and leaves. There is a stairway that led to the top of the roof. I stand in the pathway with my crossbow in aiming position. Pamela comes rushing with Max, and Six, along with Blade behind them.

  “Where is Ruby?” I ask.

  “I don’t know, she isn’t in her sleep area,” she replies.

  “Okay every one, steady,” I ordered.

  Pam, Max, and Six prepared their weapons to fire for any situation; the footsteps echoed through the quiet stairway, and they get closer with each step. Each one of us with our fingers placed on the trigger ready for anything; our intruders made their way down the stairs and met face to face with us aiming our weapons at them.

  There are five of them, one female and the other four male; each dressed in some kind of special military uniform, S.P.O.S.A is what is written in the center of the shirt. Kevlar body armor, some tear gas, a handgun, a machine gun, black boots, a knife; however their uniform is a black and gray camouflage color.

  “Freeze and put your weapons down,” a soldier demanded; Blade began to growl.

  “Quiet Blade,” I say.

  “You picked on the wrong group at the wrong time bub,” I speak. Tension is growing between us, our fingers ready on the trigger.

  “Are you infected?” the woman in charge asks.

  “No.”

  “Swear to a spray check?” she asks.

  “Only if it’s non-lethal to healthy humans,” I reply.

  The tension decreases and the weapons are lowered on both sides of the confrontation.

  “Sorry about all the inconvenience, but its standard S.P.O.S.A procedure,” says the female agent in charge.

  “We are on the friendly side” says a male agent.

  “Never heard of SPOSA?” I ask.

  “My name is Kelly Saldana, and these are my partners: Mark Rodriguez, Eduardo Lugo, Aaron Rodriguez and Michael Camarillo,” says Kelly.

  “Mike? Long time no see brother. I can see you managed succeed acquiring a well-paying job after all the bad grades you earned as a student in school,” says Six

  “Well as people say, sometimes the worst are the best,” replies Mike.

  “Is this who I think it is?” I ask.

  “Yeah Joe, it’s Mike; remember he would go to visit and play video games with you?” asks Six. Still I look puzzled, “Oh yeah, man you grew,” I complimented.

  “Thanks,” Mike replies.

  Out of all the S.P.O.S.A team members, Mike is the only one with long hair and a much more toned body stature than the others.

  “I apologize for the wrongful and intruding welcome especially in the middle of the night,” says Kelly.

  “Well thank you,” Pam replies.

  “Well since we were too busy for warm welcomes let me introduce you my friends and one brother: Max, Six, Pamela and Blade our dog; and well there is Ruby but I’m pretty sure she is just hiding,” I say.

  “Pamela who played volleyball for Edcouch Elsa Yellow Jackets?” asks Kelly.

  “Yeah, hey I remember you,” replies Pam. Blade let out a loud bark, “What’s wrong with him?” asks Mark.

  “Oh I believe he is mad because we left his introduction out. This is Blade our guard dog and friend,” I say and Blade barks.

  “Highly trained if you ask me,” says Aaron.

  Blade walk over to the S.P.O.S.A agents and begins to smell them and acknowledge their smell. Michael crouched and began to pet Blade, “Nice dog,” he commented.

  “Thanks,” replies Max.

  “So Six, that’s a cool name or is it a nickname?” she asks and Six smiles.

  “Well nickname actually. It’s what I earned at the Marines,” implied Six. Pam and I look at Six.

  “Wow, a Marine that’s impressive for you or almost anybody to be a Marine and alive. I hear it’s a tough training and if that does not make you crazy or disturbed then the gruesome combat and experience does; in a way, it’s kind of hard to find a conscience Marine, but I’m impressed with you Six,” she says.

  Six let out a small blush at the grotesque but yet non-fictional truth.

  “A small question, what does SPOSA stand for?” asks Max.

  “Oh yeah S.P.O.S.A stands for Special Police Officer Secret Agency,” replies Eduardo.

  “Oh good to know,” comments Max.

  There is a change of mood and questions; “Our mission has been to search for any survivors around the counties and bring them to special military bases for protection and salvation,” says Kelly.

  “So how did you suspect human life or if anybody is here?” asks Six.

  “Well for starters no other store around this area has it’s lights on, second of all this
store did have its lights on, and finally, several creatures were surrounding the back doors and a few on the front,” replies Aaron.

  Just when all is in place, there is a sudden shattering of glass echoing through the Wal-Mart, “What is that?” Eduardo is concerned about the noise.

  There is the sound of a woman screaming, then it happened, Ruby is rushing towards us yelling: “Run. Run for your lives.” She runs past us, and then we could hear them, the zombies had broken into the Wal-Mart.

  “Oh shit, let’s get out of here!” yelled Mark. The zombies come rushing at us snarling and wanting a piece of meat from our body; their red eyes, long sharp nails, huge teeth, inside out skin; the thought of it just sickens me.

  As we run, Mark would fire a few shots and take one or two zombies down but it isn’t enough, the monsters keep multiplying; it’s like if more had rushed at the smell of flesh or the sound of screaming, heck maybe the helicopter attracted more attention than it had seemed. We rushed through the door that led to the stairway, while Mark and Eduardo covered the rest of us; but as we ran up the stairs, Eduardo trips on one of the stairs while trying to go up. Mark noticed his fallen comrade and went back like a good friend; he knew the risks of his job and is willing to make a sacrifice so others could live, a noble thing to do indeed.

  Six and I paused to look at Eduardo and Mark on the floor while the rest of the group went to the roof top; I look up and see a security gate hiding, made of pure steel; like a burglar bar door. There is a red button beside me that controls the door above, Mark looks up at me, “Do it! Close the damn door!” he yelled. I take no chances and hit the red button and the door begins to come down in the middle of the stairway separating the zombies from the rest of us. There is nothing Six and I could have done except go and regroup with the others on the roof.

  The fog is still thick and the growls of other zombies are echoing around the open space. A morning breeze with this fog and it looks like mist is taking over. The helicopter is there waiting for us. Six and I told the rest of the group what happened, Max steps towards the edge of the roof, he looks down at the zombies gathered around and paused to gaze.