She watched on, as he graphically fucked her. She couldn’t look away from it.
“The second I wake up from this I’m going to rip your fucking nuts off, James!”
No one heard her. James was on top of Cecilia now, and he seemed to be getting closer to climaxing. Cecilia was laughing happily as he fucked her.
“I’m going to kill them.”
You can’t kill them, bitch. Remember your orders? The voice reminded her that someone else was at hand as well.
“How do you know about those? There’s no way you could possibly know about my orders.”
You’re just trying to keep us in the basement, or at least the church. You don’t even know why you’re keeping us here, do you?
James grunted happily for the finale and pulled off of her.
“I’m going to rip your fucking nuts off, Allen! That Lisa bitch is going to taste good running down my throat.”
If you do that, what will your friends think? What will your space friends do to you? You don’t even know. You don’t know a goddamn thing.
“Shut the fuck up!”
James rolled over onto his side and slung an arm over Cecilia. There was a pleased look on his face.
They’ve done it in the office too.
“I know,” she didn’t feel like arguing anymore. She had seen something that no wife ever wants to see. She had known about it almost instantly when she became a monster, but she hadn’t been forced to see it firsthand.
Do you wanna see?
“Please just leave me alone.”
I win.
* * * * *
It appeared as if she had gone to sleep at first, but now she was lying on the floor, twitching. Elsie had told him that she was going to do something that would keep the occupants in the basement busy for a while longer, but something was wrong. Her entire gray body was shaking, and she was getting blood all over the carpet. The stink wasn’t any worse though. She still smelled the same. Willis had gotten used to the smell. In fact he had become fond of it. Seeing her reminded him of normal.
“Are you ok, Elsie?” he took a step over to her, hoping that somehow his presence would bring her back up. She began moaning. They weren’t normal upset moans or disgustful moans. They were the type of moan that came from a woman who was being stabbed to death. “Elsie, wake up!”
But she wasn’t Elsie. She was something else. Something not of planet earth or of God’s gracious creation. She, it, was a monster. A monster from the deepest depths of hell, and had been brought into the world to aid in death and destruction. And by helping her, Willis had joined in.
He had joined in by going to the church and picking up the few survivors that had come fleeing. It was his job to give aid to the needy, and they were pretty goddamn needy. If he hadn’t have let them in they would all be dead, either ripped to pieces or walking around trying to find someone else to eat. But he had been keeping them here. He was keeping them for some type of plan. He didn’t know what these demons were trying to do, but he was actually helping them.
And there was a demon before him, helplessly lying on the floor. He could shoot her in the head and everyone would be safe, at least for a while. But what was the guarantee that they would be secure? For all he knew those alien bastards could show up and zap them all to hell the second he killed her.
Whatever was left inside of that gray body wasn’t Elsie. James had been trying to come to terms with that. He didn’t want to admit that his wife was truly dead. But was she even still his wife? He had violated the sanctity of marriage with one of the women downstairs, and he was about to do Cecilia in, just like he had done to his wife. He sacrificed her so he could escape into the church, and he was about to sacrifice Cecilia and the others to something he didn’t know, so he could live. And then what? Would the alien bastards really let him off?
Reverend Willis took a deep breath and let it out, slowly. The nine millimeter was patiently awaiting his grasp inside of his robe pocket. He had to do it. He had to shoot her in the head and try to move on and do what he could to help people survive. That is what God would have wanted him to do. It’s what Elsie would have wanted, if it mattered anymore.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t let you do this,” he whined. His hand was so sweaty that he could hardly grasp the handle of the gun while he pointed it at her. “If I am still worth anything, I can’t be a part of this.”
He walked over to her twitching body and put the pistol up into her face so that there was no chance of him missing.
“I love you Elsie.”
25
The bang jolted Russ from his dream, and when he awoke everyone was crowded around him, including Evan. But they weren’t looking at him. Alan and Evan were exchanging concerned glances and Patrick had suddenly ran out the door, probably going for his family.
The bang was real, not from his dream. It had come from upstairs, from Willis. Had he shot her? Russ didn’t know, but he didn’t feel like running back into the dream world to find out. He had seen enough within that place. Everything existed there, everything bad.
“It’s Willis,” Russ said. “I think he’s shot her.”
“Who?” He couldn’t tell who shouted it. Russ was feeling dizzy and had his eyes closed to make himself feel better. He didn’t have to answer. Evan answered for him.
“The creature. There’s one upstairs. We saw it.” He stood up on his feet and pulled the hammer back on his desert eagle. “I’m going up there. I want you guys to stay here. If that shot missed, Willis is either dead or walking around looking for food. I don’t want two of those things in here.”
“The shot didn’t miss,” Russ said. “She’s dead. That’s why I snapped out so suddenly.”
“Can we trust Willis, though?”
“I think we can, now that he is not under the influence of his dead wife. But they were holding us here for some reason. I’m not sure why. I don’t think the monster knew, either. It was just following orders.”
“We should be leaving then.” Alan paced the room as he spoke. “I don’t think I want to know why they were keeping us down here. I just want to get out of here and get to Wichita.”
“But we don’t know if we can make it to the highway. I saw it. That side of town is completely infested,” Jennifer said. “And how do we know Wichita is safe? How do we know this thing hasn’t gone global?”
“We don’t know,” Russ stood up. “But we can’t stay here much longer.”
Patrick came storming back into the room with Cecilia and Jessica at his side. Russ wanted to tell Patrick about the truth about his wife, but he wasn’t going to do it in front of everyone.
“What the hell is going on?” Patrick raved.
“Calm down, buddy, we’re leaving,” Russ said.
Seeing Russ speak up like that immediately etched his face into Jessica’s mind. He had never been in control of much of anything back in high school, and he seemed a little pathetic. She had mostly gone to prom because she felt sorry for him, but there had always been a spark of something in him. It made her think about him every so often.
It also could have been that she had just finished living with a drunken idiot that liked to beat her a lot. Russ wasn’t the type of guy to do that. He was the type of guy that would give a girl everything she ever wanted, which was a usual turn off, but after seeing the direct opposite of what she was used to, Jessica wanted someone like that. She wanted someone to help her up in the morning and cook her breakfast. She wanted someone to act like she was an actual person and not a sex toy or a punching bag.
Russ felt it. He felt it, but he didn’t want it. When he looked over his shoulder and into her eyes he knew what Jessica was thinking. But he wasn’t going for it.
“I want to know what happened!” Jessica said.
“There was a creature upstairs, Willis shot it. Let’s go.” Russ walked toward the door and everyone seemed to follow him. The Welch family tagged along at the rear.
* * * * *
After going up the stairs into a fully lit auditorium, they found Willis standing at the door leading back into the hall. Evan kept a hand on his desert eagle as he walked up the aisle. He didn’t trust the old man, and why should he? He had locked the damn door after spastically shooting off on everyone. He tried to lock them in the damn basement.
But he had a reason for it. His undead wife was holding him hostage as Russ had explained. He still didn’t trust him though. As Lt. Brown had learned in the military, it is better to be ready than deady.
“I’m sorry! My gun just went off. I don’t know what happened!”
Russ smiled, Donahue laughed. Evan grabbed him by the collar and pulled him over face to face. He thought about punching him out right there. Every fiber in his body wanted Willis to pay for what he had seen in that dream. It was the most horrific experience he ever had, and he wanted Willis to feel it.
“Why the fuck should we trust you?” He raised his desert eagle under Willis’s chin. “You trying to lock us down there? We know what happened.”
“It’s okay, Evan. Let him down.” Russ placed a hand on his back. “I don’t want to see anymore blood tonight.”
When he didn’t let go right away Donahue threw in: “He’s right, Evan.”
Brown sighed and let go of him. Willis bent over for a moment and clutched at his throat, obviously exaggerating. Russ wanted to kick him. Russ even thought about throwing out his dirty little secret with everyone present, but he bit his tongue instead.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t have a choice.”
“We don’t care about that now,” Alan said. “We just have to get out of here.”
“The Humvee is still out front,” Willis said. “There isn’t enough room for nine.”
“I brought our station wagon,” Jennifer said. “We have enough room.”
“Very well.”
Just as they began to empty into the hallway the lights in the auditorium flickered and went out. Then a low hum echoed within the walls of the hallway.
“What the fuck?” Lisa whispered.
“Get down against the wall.” Russ marched toward Willis’s office. “Stay there until I get back.”
“Who the fuck put you in charge?” Patrick shouted.
“If you only knew, pops.”
“Fuck you!” Patrick turned to his daughter. “Let’s get out of here.”
“I’m staying,” she said. “He knows what he’s doing.”
The humming sound intensified and everyone was against the wall except Patrick. He kept shouting something, but no one could understand it. The humming was too loud. The bulletin board just across from them began to rattle against the wall.
Patrick sighed and sat down between his bloody daughter and cheating wife. Cecilia leaned against him like a frightened child. Jessica just stayed put with her eyes closed, thinking about the man she should have been with. He was going to save her. She could feel it.
Lisa hugged her knees and tried to bury her head between them. The hum was loud, maddening. Evan and Alan were talking about something next to her, but she couldn’t hear them. All she thought of was trying to compress her body, as if rolling into a ball would help her escape the sound and the rattling. Why are we just sitting here? She thought. What the hell is Russ doing? She pulled her head out and looked down the hall, unable to see him. The feeling of safety had faded away.
He was gone. She was now alone with nothing and no one to live for. There was a brief smell of blood when she looked down the hallway because she was sitting next to Jessica. Neither Evan or Allen seemed to care about it. Lisa had faith in him, though. He was going to get them out of this, and she knew it. But the feeling was gone for some reason. Was she too far away from him to be safe?
Jessica pulled off her bloody night gown and crawled out into the middle of the hallway. Streaks of blood still covered her soft skin.
Patrick shot after her and tried to pull her back, but the young woman’s resistance was unexpectedly strong. She shoved him away and grabbed at her bare stomach, then puked.
Lisa turned away and shouted, “Why are we just sitting here?” But no one could hear her.
Fuck it.
Lisa sprinted down the hallway, jumping right over Jessica. When Evan saw her go, he ran after her, shouting for her to stop, but his voice was inaudible. Alan would have jumped up and chased after them, but he vowed to stay with his wife. He wasn’t going to leave her. If she was going to die, so was he.
“Russ what the hell are you doing?” Lisa cried as she sprinted into the room. Evan followed her in. For some reason the hum was less intense.
“Look,” he pointed out the window.
26
There were thousands of them standing in the parking lot like soldiers getting ready to attack. Lisa found herself wondering if there were even that many people in the town to begin with. It reminded her of seeing the sports arenas on television, with countless people, but these people weren’t screaming or even talking. They were completely silent, and completely dead.
And the ship. There was a fucking space ship. It was hovering just thirty feet above the black top, shining its lime colored ray down upon the gray skinned ghouls.
“Russ, what’s going on?” Lisa clung to his back. Evan muttered an obscenity from behind them.
“The experiment,” he said. “They’re going to try a fucking experiment.”
“How do you know this?”
He stared down into her eyes for what he thought would be the last time. They were beautiful, even with the light from the ship making her face appear greenish.
“I don’t know,” Russ said. Lisa took a step back from him as if the response scared her. “I think they have come here to test something.” Russ swallowed. There were too many undeads outside to get to the Humvee, or any of the cars. “What the fuck am I supposed to do?”
He heard Evan cock the mp5 from behind them. “I’m not dying tonight.”
* * * * *
Reverend Willis watched the young woman in the middle of the hallway. She looked just like her mother, the woman he had sex with just a week before, and even multiple times before that. Most of her was covered by darkness, but there was just enough light to see her. She mouthed that boy’s name, probably screaming, but no one could hear it. Russ. She wanted the boy with the black hair.
“He can’t help you,” Willis said, but of course no one could hear him.
She pulled herself to her feet, and nearly fell at first but quickly regained her balance. Then she walked, still in her underwear, down to the doorway of Willis’s office, where a lime green light lit up the room, and when she looked out the window there was a floating circle, and for some reason, the hum was gone. Jessica’s mind could think again.
“Russ!” She screamed and fell to the floor. She didn’t know why she screamed his name. It just felt comforting. He was in charge. He was going to save them. Jessica wanted to be with him, whether they were dying or not.
Alan stepped in the room behind her. He appeared dizzy and was leaning against the doorway.
“I need everyone in the basement,” Russ said. “I can stop this.”
“How are you going to stop this?” Donahue said. “I saw you do some weird shit in the basement, but this is big time! There are –holy shit,” he walked over to the window. “There are thousands of them.”
“They won’t attack the church, they’re just on guard duty. The aliens want to try an experiment on us, but they’re afraid because they know I can backfire it.”
“Backfire?”
“Just like I did when I went in the dream with Evan.”
“How the hell are you going to do this?”
“Just trust me. Get everyone in the basement, right now. I don’t want anyone upstairs in case they try something.”
“I think he’s right,” Evan said. “He knows what he’s doing. Let’s go.”
Evan and Donahue nodded to each other and then ran out into the hallway
. Jessica had just regained her balance and was leaning against the wall. Lisa was still holding onto his back.
“You too, Lisa.”
“What are they trying to do?”
He looked at her face and became more confident at that moment than he had ever been in his entire life. He felt like he could take on a NFL football team by himself with nothing more than a helmet. She was what he was fighting for. She was what he would return to. He wanted to see that face every day for the rest of his life. And after he sent the aliens back to whatever piece of shit planet they came from, he would.
“Please just go. I’m going to do this.”
All the uncertainty Lisa had felt out in the hallway was gone. Russ was somehow superior to everything around him. All of the lime colored light focused directly on him, not the zombies outside. They were afraid of him. They were afraid of him like a child was of a monster under his bed. Russ was their monster.
“I love you,” she whispered, then kissed him. It was deeper than any kiss they had shared, and probably as deep as any kiss could possibly get.
Jessica flinched at the site of it, and made brief eye contact with Lisa as she ran out the door.
“You too, Jess,” Russ said.
Hearing him call her Jess again made her feel more comfortable. But she was feeling bad once more about the stolen speakers and the bad night at prom. It was her mistake, and she wanted him to know how sorry she was all in that moment. Here was the guy she had ditched at prom, and he was about to save her life.
“I’m sorry, Russ.”
“What?”
“I’m sorry about prom and the speakers and everything.” Tears streamed from her eyes as her voice fluctuated. She walked over and hugged him. Russ didn’t hug her back.
“I love you,” she whispered.
“Now is not the time for this,” Russ said. “Just go to the basement. I need to take care of this.”
Jessica nodded, and then left the room.
Super Zombies from Outer-Space Page 16
