When The Dead Came 2

by Torralba, Ariana

  The zombies began to attempt to climb up to the second floor, a few making it up by climbing. Meanwhile, Avery tried to open the bedroom window, pressing the splinters in her hands even more and leaving blood streaks on the glass. They could hear the dead stalking them, making their way up the demolished staircase and down the hall toward the room. Trevor made his way toward the window and moved Avery aside. He raised his rifle and swung, hitting the glass with the butt end and shattering the shards everywhere.

  "C'mon," Jeff yelled to everyone. Holly helped Nick out of the window, the two of them sliding down the roof slope and hitting the ground, hurting Nick's ankle even more that he almost cried out when Holly covered his mouth quick to not draw attention to them. Drew helped Laura out the window and the two of them dropped down too. The door slowly began to break as Charles attempted to shove Lucinda away.

  "Leave me," he breathed, turning paler.

  "No," she said, trying to grab him. He shoved her harder, causing her to fall back on the floor.

  "Go," he shouted at her. The zombies came into the room, the door now destroyed, and one ran toward him and bit down on his wound. Lucinda, laying on the floor, cried as she watched the last man she ever loved die in front of her; she then screamed out and began to get torn into by zombies, their rotted hands digging into her skin and flesh, instantly murdering her. Charles, not wanting to feel the pain anymore of seeing his loved one dying and the pain in his shoulder, got out his gun and aimed it under his chin, pulled the trigger, and a bullet shot out, going through to his brain and bursting out, killing him instantly. As Jeff, the last one in the room, began to climb out, a zombie grabbed a hold of his arm and he struggled with releasing it. The zombie grabbed his gun and Jeff let go of the butt of the gun, losing his balance, he fell down the roof, rolling and hit the grass, landing on his now agonizing back. Avery helped him up and they all began running down the street.

  Out of a nearby alley, a zombie jumped out and grabbed Nick, instantly biting into his throat, causing a constant blood flow,"No," Holly cried out, trying to run back to him until Alex had to drag her along with them. Leaving Nick to die. They continued running, when a large horde came along. Evan, Drew, and Laura stopped, Evan holding Laura's small hand. He tried to figure out a way around the horde, the others disappearing from their view. Drew aimed his pistol, firing at the closer zombies when Evan picked Laura up and yelled at Drew,” We got to go. C'mon.” The two guys ran left, down another street, the little girl looking over Evan's shoulder, seeing the undead chasing them down and she dug her nails in his back. They ran into a townhouse, locking the door behind them and ran up the stairs to find a way to safety. Looking around, Evan put the little girl down and spotted the air ducts, big enough for the three of them. He managed to remove the covers on them and Drew climbed up first, then Evan lifted Laura up to Drew, and he climbed up into there too, pulling the cover over the opening as the door downstairs became demolished by the hungry corpses.

  The others kept running when they found a school bus parked in the bus zone just in front of an elementary building. The survivors climbed aboard and Will closed the door of the bus, started it up and began driving, making their getaway fast as possible. Holly looked around, counting off names in her head of those that are present like how a teacher would do for a field trip: Will, Jenny, Jeff, Keith, Avery, Alex, Trevor, and herself. " That little girl, Evan, and Drew are gone!"

  "Don't say it," Will cut in, shaking his head without looking at her,"In the movies when you return to find lost friends, you either die or come back infected. I'm not risking our lives."

  Evan, Drew, and Laura crawled through the air ducts until they came to a room that had no zombies, seemingly a study room. The three of them climbed out, and ran down the stairs. They ran out into the streets and continued searching for a safer place, when thunder began rumbling overhead again. As rain poured down some more, Drew looked around and pointed,” there,” Evan looked across the street and noticed a cellar. The three of them ran over to it and Drew got out his crow bar, forcing the cellar door to open, and they ran down in there, barring it shut. Upon going down in the cellar, they stopped, getting their guns ready, when they realized that down in the cellar was a few survivors from an orphanage (or group home), kids ranging in age, and some adults. They looked alarmed.

  "Don't worry, we're not infected," insisted Drew.

  The bus drove on, leaving Ohio behind and coming into Pennsylvania. No one hardly spoke nor looked at one another. Those left alive now were only Will, Jeff, Alex, Holly, Avery, Jenny, Keith,and Trevor. Holly looked from the window toward everyone else, they also looked as tired as she felt.

  Keith rested his head against the windw, staring out at the scenery, ignoring everyone else. Alex rubbed his temples before resting his head against the seat, his arms crossed over as well. Jeff sat alone, his legs outstretched on the seat. Avery stared down at her wounded hands, bits of wood still lodged under the skin and dried blood. Trevor looked out the window before shutting his eyes. And Will continued staring ahead, under his eyes becoming dark from lack of rest.

  Not far away now, they could see the Appalachian Mountains as they began to drive through a town. Passing by zombies, the group of undead previous townsfolk began chasing the bus,a few managing to catch onto it. They started to bust the windows and reached in at them, Jenny screaming out in fear when one grabbed her hair. She jerked away, falling out of the seat she was in, her hair messed up in the back. Aggravated that there was no end to this, Will opened the bus door while still driving and he grabbed Holly by the arm, keeping one hand on the wheel.

  "What are you doing?!"

  "Jump out and run," he shouted at her. Holly shook her head, afraid to attempt the jump," Alright," he told her and he shoved the teen out of the moving bus. Holly, letting out a scream, began to roll down a hill, trying hard to find something to catch on to so she'd stop rolling. Jenny went to the front of the bus," Jump,"Will told her, turning his hazel eyes toward her. Jenny nodded and jumped out, also rolling down the hill, hitting her left leg on a tree. As he looked ahead, he tried to stomp on the break pedal, but didn't do so in time; the bus crashed into a turned over semi truck, the bus falling over on its side, making the survivors fall against the left side as the bus began sliding, crushing the zombies that had been holding onto the left side of the bus. Once it became silent after three minutes, Alex struggled to get up and he looked around, trying to regain his sense of balance. He looked at the others, seeing Will was now dead, glass shattered into his face and neck as part of him was now out the windshield. Looking around, he spotted the machete that Jeff had with him and he picked it up with the few weapons he found. He looked for any signs of survivors, but appeared no one else was moving.

  He looked over at Keith, his eyes were shut as blood dripped from his mouth, a large shard of glass protuding from his stomach, bits of it also in his face and neck. Alex swallowed, checking Keith's pulse, but not feeling one. He moved back, smelling the air suddenly, the smell of gas and smoke. And then he shook Avery instantly, feeling a pulse.

  "Wake up Avery, we gotta get out of here," he smelled the air once more," hurry, the bus is going to explode if we don't get out of here." Avery, weary, finally moving and coughing, pulled the duffle bag strap up more on her shoulder and he pulled her out of the bus, leaving everyone else behind. They began to run toward the mountains, away from the bus and semi.

  "The others," she mumbled.

  "They're dead."

  "Keith is still in there,"she argued, her vioce scratchy from the smoke. Before she could finish her argument, both the bus and semi exploded, causing Avery and Alex to drop down in the ditch. Avery looked over at the large fire, feeling like she was at her wits end. Alex grabbed her arms.

  "C'mon," he said," we can hide in the mountains.” The two survivors ran through the grass toward the mountains for sanctuary.

  When Jenny came to, she was laid out near a pond, she s
at up and slowly stood, feeling her body hurting from the jump and constant hits against trees. She looked around, seeing she was alone and she couldn't figure out where she was now. She felt delusional. Jenny looked everywhere, gripping her hair, ready to start screaming for help. Looking over at the pond, she walked over to it with a limp, sitting near the water and using a little to wet her face. Out of nowhere, near the center of the pond, a figure jumped out of the water, covered in mud and moss.

  Jenny screamed and attempted to back away from the water, thinking it was a zombie. She picked up a nearby rock, almost the size of a golf ball, and threw it, hitting the figure against the face. It screamed.

  "Stop it," the voice yelled at her. Jenny stared at the figure, and realized it wasn't a zombie.

  "... Holly," She said, frowning at her. Holly climbed out of the water, flinging mud and moss off herself," You're still alive."

  "No shit," she said, still hurting from the roll down, and from the rock that hit her. She fell down about three feet from Jenny, still trying to get all the mud off her face. Succeeding by a little, she sat there, looking around,"We should find a safe place to hide out before those bombs are dropped."

  "Yeah," Jenny agreed, nodding. They both stood up,"but where should we go?"

  "Remember that town we went through before we were thrown off the bus?"

  "You were thrown,"Jenny corrected," I jumped."

  "... Anyways," Holly continued, ignoring the 15 year old's remark,"when we were passing through there, I saw one of those businesses that sells shelters like sheds, and bombing shelters, tornado shelters. We should go there."

  "It's overrun last I knew."

  "Doesn't matter," Holly said, sweeping her arms out," I don't want to die from getting bombed;" she stopped walking and looked at Jenny,"we should go find the others first though." Jenny shook her head.

  "We can't, earlier, when I hit the bottom down here, I heard an explosion,"she paused," I don't think they made it out alive after that." Holly just stared at Jenny and began fearing that they were the only two left alive now. She looked up the hill and nodded, refraining from crying.

  "Let's go then," she said after a moment and they began walking up the hill, choosing their steps carefully so they wouldn't fall back down by the pond. They reached the ditch and began walking back to the town, taking a moment to witness the now ruined bus and semi truck. Debris had blown everywhere, and even though the explosion happened earlier, they could smell flesh still cooking. Before feeling sick to her stomach, Holly ushered them to continue walking, trying hard not to look back.

  Over in Labrador City, in Canada, the remaining world leaders had been gathering for plans on what to do, working together to end this pandemic. The only country leaders left alive being Japan, Africa, U.S., Russia, Canada, Israel, Italy, Romania, Pakistan, Korea and Germany. The rest haven't been heard from in awhile. The 11 country leaders gathered in their meeting room in an underground facility up on a hill, trying to plan the next move against the zombie virus.

  "We need to do something,"Japan's leader insisted,"this is larger than any pandemic."

  "Our soldiers are becoming more scarce ever since it began,"added Korea.

  "And our militaries are running low on ammunition,"cut in Africa, showing the concern on his face along with the frustrations,”this whole thing is just sickening. It's beginning to mutate with other illnesses. Ebola, malaria, cholera.”

  “Bubonic plague,” cut in Pakistan's leader.

  "There's really nothing else we can do," the U.S. leader said after a short pause," we only have camp Pendleton on the west now, the other military base that had been up and running in Pennsylvania hasn't been heard from since last month. The only solution left is to go with plan #2."

  "Are you sure about that,"asked Russia," there are still many living people out there."

  "There's nothing else we can do," U.S. said glumly," they're multiplying out there."

  "He's right," added Pakistan," half of the middle east has already turned, and those surviving are rushing into mountains. All of our safe camps are gone."

  "So has most of Germany," spoke Germany's leader.

  "Most of my people have left to the Carpathians,"said Romania,"they're hiding out there, but if the undead don't kill them, then the freezing cold will."

  "My wife and children are at sea still," Italy said, adjusting his glasses," I told them to never come to land. What will this bombing do to them?"

  "If we don't do anything now," Israel said," then we will all be dead too."

  "How long do we have exactly?" Asked Canada, looking at everyone.

  "Two days, maybe four," U.S. Answered," we must decide now."

  The climb up the mountainside hadn't been easy for Avery and Alex, each climb hurting Avery's hands more as the wood bits pushed into her hands more; but finally, Avery and Alex reached a safe place. They walked into a mountainside cave and sat down, the outside light the only source for them to make sure there were no wild animals in there with them,” Stay here,” Alex told her, Avery just nodding, while Alex checked further in the cave. When he returned, he sat down across from the last person of his original group. " What now?" Asked Avery, still shaking from the wreck earlier, causing her body to be in pain, attempting to pull out the splinters.

  "We need to just wait,"Alex responded, wiping his face. He looked out over the scenery, the smoke from the wreck below carrying the scent of the dead through the air. He looked over at Avery, pulling splinters out of her hands and he looked down at his own hands, cut up from the glass from the wreck. His back ached, he had a headache, he just felt pain everywhere from the constant running and fighting.

  Jenny and Holly reached the town and barely ran into any zombies. Yet. They walked on down streets until they spotted the shelters Holly had mentioned. They began to walk toward them,until a zombified woman wearing a blood stained blue sundress with flower patterns on it, spotted them. She began running at them, Holly and Jenny running away from her.

  They ran over toward the shelters and jerked open the door of the closest bomb shelter pronouncing a bright yellow sign containing the words ON SALE in dark blue. Jenny ran in and Holly began to close the door when the zombie ran up and reached its arm in at her. She screamed and tried batting the arm away. Jenny ran over and jerked the door shut, severing the damaged arm and she locked the door. The two of them watched as more zombie faces appeared in front of the door, Holly closed shut the peephole and locked it,sitting down on a medium sized bunk bed.

  "How long do we have to stay in here,"Jenny asked.

  "Forever depending on what type of bombs they're gonna drop." Holly laid down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

  "I hate this,"Jenny said after a moment.

  Up in the mountainsides, a day later, Alex climbed back up into the cave, carrying with him sticks and rocks. Earlier that day, the two of them had climbed down in search of food, but they only caught what Avery had shot, which was a small squirrel. And they didn't worry about water or smaller snacks, since Alex remembered he had thrown a little supplies in the bag Avery had had with her. Setting the sticks and rocks down, he dusted his hands off.

  "This should be good for the fire tonight," he said. Avery forced a smile and began to check the sticks in case of any water on them to set them out to dry. Alex looked at her and felt sorry for her loss of her friends. "I'm gonna get some water."

  "Alright," she said and continued checking the sticks. He stood up and walked over to their bag and began digging for the water bottles. Stopping, he remembered his cell phone was in there. Looking over his shoulder to make sure Avery was doing okay, he turned his phone on. He looked at the time on it, reading 4:50 p.m., and it flashed, his battery's about to die. Pausing, he realized he had a message.

  Thinking it was from before it began, he checked it and his breath caught in his throat. The message read:"Alex, I'm still alive. N Chicago. Justin." Immediately, Alex checked
when he got the message, which was two weeks ago. He looked over at Avery, who was now sitting there, her back against the wall of the cave, looking out over the view. Alex couldn't decide what to do. He knew she was in pain still from the events in Ohio and from the wreck yesterday. She'll be a problem the whole way to Chicago, he caught himself thinking. She hardly ever sleeps and when she does, she awakens from nightmares. She's likely weak from lack of food and water. Her hands are useless right now from all the splinters. He grabbed out his gun and checked it for how much ammo he had left. He stood up and walked over to her," Avery."

  She looked up at him and stood up slowly, walking up to him too. He rubbed her right arm,"We'll be okay," he reassured her," You'll be okay." Avery nodded," And ,you can always trust me, no matter what."

  "I know," she finally said and added," what's wrong with you?"

  "Nothing," he said," I'm just trying to figure something out. For our safety" Avery nodded and turned away, a bit confused. He pointed the gun at the back of her head as she stared out at the scenery, smoke in the distance. Alex hesitated, ready to pull the trigger. He aimed the rifle at her," I'm sorry for doing this."

  "What?" She turned around. And he turned the rifle; without warning, he hit her hard on her head with the butt end of the gun, knocking her down and out, cracking the end of the gun. He stood there, breathing hard and he dropped the damaged useless weapon. Turning away, he ran over to the duffle bag and threw out her crowbar, he zipped the bag and picked up the crow bar, standing over her, he prepared to raise the bar up and hit her a few more times; but stopped, thinking that the one hit to her head likely killed her anyways. Alex dropped the crowbar and walked out of the cave, making his way down to sides and make his way to Chicago.