The Beginning of the End

by Emily Allison

"You're right, I don't know the details of your life, but I think I know the things that matter most."

  Before Damon could say anything back, like what the fuck are you talking about? They were ushered out of the arena by the same guards that brought them in. By the look of it, one had just lost a bet.

  "I told you." Damon overheard the short one say to the other.

  The walk from the arena back to their cells was too short. Damon still had no idea where they were keeping Victoria, nor did he spy a way out of this predicament. A sense of dread slammed into his stomach. Either he was going to be food for the zombies or food for the mangy wild people; either way, his future was looking pretty grim.

  The light spilled into Damon's cell. Even though it was cloudy he still had to shield his eyes from the light peeking through the clouds. He couldn't count how many hours he had been locked away.

  He hadn’t eaten anything and didn't remember his last meal. He felt weak. He couldn't fathom how long he could go on like this. Added to his gut-wrenching hunger was his thirst. It burned in his throat. He was yanked up from his sitting position by the same assholes that came for him the last time. Dizziness flooded over his brain and blackened his vision. For a second he thought he was going to pass out, but he bit his dry tongue, refusing to fall before these people. If they could even be called that.

  "Not so tough now, are ya?" the taller man said. His nose was mostly healed, with only purple bruising around his left eye.

  Damon didn't bother responding. He didn't know if he could, his throat being in the same condition as a desert. His vision cleared, to reveal Mathias being pulled from his wooden box, requiring more than two guards to get him up. It looked like he was in the same shape as Damon, and he knew what it meant if they were both being herded off somewhere.

  Hagerty kept his promise. There were more undead waiting for them in the arena, and he could already hear the spectators. Mathias cast a glance at Damon that clearly showed he wasn’t very optimistic either. The jaunt to the arena seemed to take forever, and once again the shanties were empty. All of them were waiting inside the arena, sitting in the stands, waiting to see the men die. Neither man spoke as the doors split open. The grinding metal sent daggers into Damon's head.

  Good God...this headache.

  The taller asshole kicked Damon hard in the middle of his back sending him careening face first into the dirt. Precious air left Damon's lungs, his thorax contracted and held. His dehydrated body fought to breathe. Finally gasps of air filled him up, but pain tingled through his chest.

  "Here, let me help you up," Mathias offered, and pulled Damon up by his arm.

  "Thanks. Something tells me we aren't gonna be drinking beers and playing horseshoes today," he rasped over his dry lips.

  "Still a wise ass? Even after all this?"

  "I guess someone I know rubbed off on me." Damon offered a slight smile before he picked up his trusty old exhaust pipe. It felt heavier in his hand than he remembered.

  "Just try to keep a sharp eye."

  Damon was about to say something sarcastic but was interrupted when Hagerty made his appearance. The crowd cheered for their master when Damon growled deep in his throat. He scanned the area for Victoria, but didn't see her. Damon's heart hit his adam's apple, his stomach instantly got sick. What did he do to her? I'm gonna kill him, I'm gonna kill him, I'm gonna kill him.

  "Let's see what show you put on for us today. Make it a good one," Hagerty shouted like he was a ringleader at a circus.

  This was a circus. A fucking sick and twisted circus.

  Just as those death doors opened it had started to rain. Damon didn't have the time to bask in the much needed resource, but the bare skin on his arms seemed to suck up whatever droplets that landed on him. He heard the screams of sprinters...a lot of them, he nodded to Mathias. In his mind saying good fighting with you buddy, now we're gonna die sort of thing. Damon moved, his legs were sluggish making him a second slower. The first sprinter appeared then two more, then three. The lead zombie short, just under five feet, but the thing was faster. It dodged around the car, with milky eyes locked on Damon, its black mouth fixed in a snarl. When it came within striking distance, he swung and hit the thing, but his aim was off. The pipe struck the zombie in the shoulder, busting the clavicle and humerus instantly. It continued its pursuit, unaware that its right arm was dangling at its side. Damon back stepped and struck again, this time landing a pile driver on its skull, and it crumpled in a heap.

  Cold rain tapped against his head.

  Mathias shouted in alarm. Three sprinters were attacking. He kicked out, sending one flying, but it got to its feet just as he took the face off an undead woman. Damon jogged over, fighting the wave of dizziness. He attacked a male sprinter that had his back to him. A sickening crunch echoed through the arena when he swung the pipe like a baseball bat into the side of its head. The zombie spun, then hit the dirt and stayed there.

  He could hear the screams of more sprinters and the crowd erupted. He cursed, knowing there was no way he could last. With the pipe getting harder to heave, he knew his strength was failing. He thanked God that Victoria didn’t have to watch him die. He took one down as Mathias stomped the skull of another zombie into the hard dirt.

  The rain came down harder, soaking Damon's shirt through to his tight chest. It felt so nice. He scanned their surroundings, eight more sprinters stalked them.

  Mathias was pushed away from him, trying his best to stay alive. Just then he was struck from behind. It felt like a lineman tackle. A sprinter had managed to circle around Damon while he was killing another. The thing growled and snarled in his ear as he fought to get it off his back. His hands were glued to the zombie’s head, keeping its snapping jaws from digging into his back. The awkward position of his arms made it impossible to hold, and he was losing his grip. This was the zombie that was going to kill him. But at least the pouring rain felt good against his skin.

  Damon’s biceps and forearms were shaking, the zombie’s teeth inched closer to the back of his neck. The pouring rain had turned the dirt pit into a mud hole, and the right side of Damon’s face was squished in the cold muck. The odor of rotting meat flooded his senses making his dizziness worse.

  The zombie’s claws raked at the mud on either side of him, thrashing its body relentlessly to get to his flesh. Its chest pressed against Damon’s back while its feet kicked against the ground, striking Damon’s sore legs multiple times.

  A rifle cracked across the bleeding sky, and two things happened at once. Damon felt the full weight of the zombie slam into his back just as his grip failed, while the arena spectators started screaming. Damon waited to feel the shredding bite that would rip open his neck, but after an eternity passed and his flesh remained intact, he rolled, heaving air into his lungs. The weight of the zombie flopped to the side allowing him room to move and maneuver onto his hands and knees. It was then he registered what was happening, the first sound he’d heard was a gunshot, and there were more flying everywhere over him. He watched as guards were hit, their warm blood spraying the air, while the remainder of the sprinters each fell into motionless piles.

  Mathias was about to clobber an undead woman when a bullet shot through the side of her head. Rain ran down his bewildered face as he cast a glance around him, as if he were in the same disembodied frame of mind as Damon. He saw Damon on the ground, hands and knees underneath him, but could not see his face. Without hesitation he ran to his aid, making sure to keep low to avoid being hit by a stray bullet. He reached for Damon, helped him up and over to the burned out car for cover.

  “What the hell is going on?”

  Damon shook the fuzziness out of his head and brushed the mud from his face. His eyes scanned the arena. Could it be? He caught sight of something remarkable. If he was the crying type, he would have, but instead a gaping smile flashed across his face.

  “About damn time,” Damon said when he recognized two men hunkered down in the arena, their M16s rapi
dly firing off rounds. The tall one-handed marine nodded to the other, jumped up and jogged outta sight, but not before making eye contact with Damon. He looked over at Mathias, “You wanna get outta here.”

  “Friends of yours?” the big man asked as he slung Damon’s arm over his shoulder to help the mechanic walk.

  Damon nodded weakly. As they shuffled to the giant gates Damon scanned for Hagerty but didn’t see him among the living or the dead.

  The doors to the arena opened wide as the hulking, rifle wielding marine appeared. His eyes narrowed when he saw a man he didn’t recognize holding Damon up. “You look like shit.”

  Damon raised his head up. “Thanks for coming for me.”

  “You didn’t think I would leave you behind because you acted like a dumbass earlier, did ya?” He shoved his shoulder underneath Damon’s armpit and the two large men hoisted him up. Because of their height Damon’s feet barely touched the ground. “Plus Riley wouldn’t shut up until we came here.”

  Damon smiled again, but it quickly faded. “Wait, we have to get Victoria. Hagerty has her somewhere. We can’t leave her behind,” his voice strained.

  “There are other prisoners too,” Mathias said.

  Harper looked at him over Damon, his face harsh. “Damon and Victoria are our top priority. If there is time and we can safely extract the others, then we will.”

  “You can’t make them stay here.”

  “Now is not the time to argue.”

  Damon could feel Harper’s shoulders tighten with anxiety. “No worries Mathias. Let’s just find Victoria.”

  The three of them circled around the arena, keeping low. Mathias had to take Damon’s weight when Harper released him to shoot down one of Hagerty’s guards. Before Damon’s vision blurred again, he saw that it was the short asshole he’d had multiple encounters with. Harper swiftly sidestepped to help Damon again.

  “Come on this, way,” Harper urged. “Reese and Matt are holding up at the entrance but I don’t know how long they will be able to. This Hagerty guy has a lot of manpower.”

  “Then how the hell are we still alive?” Mathias asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “I don’t know...luck maybe,” Harper surmised, then dropped Damon’s shoulder again. More rifle blasts.

  The sound of bullets hitting metal cracked in Damon’s ears when a guard got close with a lucky shot. Harper put him down before any more harm could be done.

  “Where’s the exit?” Mathias asked.

  “Almost there.”

  “We gotta find Victoria,” Damon said. Goddammit, my head.

  “You guys looking for me?” a cheerful voice chirped from behind the three of them.

  Damon tore away from Mathias and Harper, whirling around, recognizing the voice immediately. “Victoria!” he shouted and collapsed into her with a hug.

  She squeezed him hard, burying her face in his soaking shirt. The pouring rain had matted her hair to her scalp. She knew she didn’t look pretty, but she didn’t care. “I missed you too.”

  He gave her a big, disoriented kiss. “I thought you were--”

  She pressed her fingers against his lips. “Don’t say it.”

  “I just-”

  “Sorry to break this up, but there’s Riley with the signal. Time to get outta here.”

  Damon looked at Victoria for another second and looped his arm around her, suddenly feeling strong enough to walk on his own. Then with a curt nod he followed Harper out of the encampment.

  "What about the others?" Mathias asked again. "They don't deserve what Hagerty does to them."

  "Do you mean those prisoners?" Riley asked the stranger, flicking his head to a group of nervous looking people huddled together near the dense tree line.

  Harper frowned at his cohort, quickly counting eight feeble looking people, five males and three females. "You always got to be the hero."

  He flashed a smile, his blue eyes still sparkled in the sunless sky. "Hey at least I'm not as bad as Damon."

  "Being a hero ain't always bad, but maybe when I let you come along with me and Chloe back in the alley it was," Damon joked weakly referencing the time when Riley took down a monstrous zombie blocking Chloe and Damon's escape from the zombie filled Vail. It was the day Riley joined them and never left.

  "You woulda died then too. Tryin' to take on that behemoth with a little ol' baseball bat."

  Damon coughed when he tried to respond, but the dryness seized his throat. "Anyone got a drink?" His throat was about to drive him crazy.

  "Back at the truck, but we gotta get there first," Harper said with a grim look on his face. He frowned when he looked back at the prisoners. They looked weak, much more so than Damon, and weakness meant slow.

  "Hold on Babe. We'll get there," Victoria encourged the fading Damon.

  "I'm trying."

  "Move out. I'm not sure how we are going to throw Hagerty's men off our trail with this gaggle of people," Harper grumbled. "I hope we killed enough."

  Mathias and Victoria hefted Damon's weight along as Harper moved to the front to lead, and Riley fell in behind the small group. One of which didn't get up as the others stood. The young man's face was gray, his eyes were shut, and there was a bloody mark on his chest. It was obvious he was dead, and there was nothing anyone could do for him.

  "Stray bullet," Harper explained callously. "Now let's get away from this hell hole before we all end up like him."

  Over the pummeling rain the ragtag band could hear shouts from Hagerty's men to regroup and capture the intruders and escaped prisoners. To Damon's dismay Harper had taken off at a brisk jog, not looking to see if anyone followed. But everyone did follow. Damon grunted as both Mathias and Victoria propelled his exhausted limbs further into the brush.

  Once behind the tree line another obstacle presented itself. Curious zombies teetered toward the gunfire, and before the four with guns could put all of them down, a prisoner fell under the gnashing teeth and ripping fingers of one female zombie. Blood spraying from the woman’s neck covered the zombie’s tattered moss covered dress. Riley shot the zombie, but the damage was done, the blonde woman lay lifeless in the sprouting foliage. The scene forced the six prisoners, including Damon and Mathias, into a tight circle with Harper, Riley, Reese, Matt and Victoria surrounding them. It was an agonizing few minutes before the shooting and moaning stopped.

  “Let’s move,” Harper ordered. “More will come.”

  He didn’t need to say anything else, the group moved as one through the woods, stepping around the bodies of the dead zombies. Riley passed by the motionless blonde covered in bright red blood. Her blue eyes stared at the treetops unseeing, but Riley felt she was staring at him. Every time he saw a dead body, even during his time in the desert, he felt the dead were staring, judging him. It gave him the willies. He heard a curt whistle, knowing Harper had seen him stop, he aimed his rifle once more and pulled the trigger. The round echoed in the trees. Riley jogged after the cluster without thinking another thought about the woman lying in the leaves.

  Harper was leading them back to the truck he had hidden by a cliff face two miles south of Hagerty's encampment. It was a place he had found when he, Riley, Reese and Matt were on the run from a Jeep full of Hagerty's men. It was easy to evade them on the back country roads since he had the map of the area pretty much memorized. Sometimes it paid off to be the navigator. Harper looked back over his shoulder to the four people he cared about; knowing they were safe allowed him to enter his thoughts once more. When they were on the highway and he saw the death machine ignite in a ball of exploding fire, he was sure Damon, Victoria and Jerry were dead. After they threw off the enemy they trailed them back to the encampment. The plan was to exact revenge against the men who had killed their friends, but that plan changed when they found out that Damon and Victoria were being held captive. The revenge part would have to wait for the right time. It wasn't until half way through the rescue they figured Jerry had to be dead. It was a sad loss, but things lik
e death happened a lot in the type of world they lived in. He was happy to have the family back together, even if they were a few people heavy.

  chapter 11

  The rain finally ceased when the vacant sun disappeared behind the western horizon, which was good news for Mathias and the other escapees since they were crammed into the bed of the truck. With the destruction of the death machine, it was going to be a long ride home unless they found another vehicle to drive back to Colorado. Thinking of the people in the back, Damon and Riley made the call that it was too dangerous to continue with them unprotected from the ever grabbing zombies. The sky turned a shade of coal as the time grew later. Soon the zombies wouldn't be seen until they were within just a few feet of the truck.

  "Keep your eyes peeled for somewhere to settle in for the night. We got a town coming up in four miles," Harper said pointedly to the crowded cab.

  Damon sighed with relief as he laid his head against the cool passenger window, shifting his numb thighs under Victoria's slight weight. With the supplies sitting between Reese and Matt in the back seat, and Riley siting between them and Harper, it didn't leave any room. So Victoria took the comfy seat of Damon's lap. He didn't mind the extra weight, but the crowded space was eating at his nerves. Just then Victoria handed him a half empty lukewarm bottle of water, and he took it hungrily. He was still reeling from dehydration from his time with Hagerty. His blood boiled slightly thinking about it, but he grew tired almost instantly. He figured he would have only survived one more day if he had managed to find a way out of the arena battle; which he wasn't sure he would have if the marines hadn't come along.

  "I shot that zombie, you know," Riley said in the growing darkness. There was a smile on his face and in his voice.

  "Here we go again," Harper complained with a sigh.

  Damon chuckled.

  "Of course you would bring that up out of nowhere because you're freaking weird, Riley," Reese laughed from the back. His white teeth flashed a smile. "But I was pretty sure I saw Harper take him down."