by Steven Till
A woman close to her age burst through the doorway, but then stopped short as a man grabbed her hair from behind. The woman screamed as the man dragged her back inside. Evelyn stopped and tried to get a look at the girl’s assailant, but all she could see were shadows. The door slammed shut and the sounds that followed caused her blood to run cold. She had never heard screams like that before. Then, without warning, they stopped.
For a moment, she debated on helping the girl, but her friend needed her. Besides, she wasn't sure what she would be walking in on. A car screeched around the corner and sped down the street she had just came from. Moments later, she heard it crash into another car; a horn droned on and on.
Evelyn forced herself to move and continued on to Julie’s place. She didn't know what was going on, but standing still in the middle of the street definitely seemed like a bad idea. She continued on towards the dead end. The car horn still blared in the distance behind her, but she didn't noticed. The only sound she could hear was the beating of her own heart. A minute and a half later, she was standing in front of her best friend’s apartment.
The door was open. A six inch crack of darkness was visible. A smear of blood ran across the front. She gripped the aluminum bat tight and took a step towards the door. Noises came from inside, as if someone was moving around on broken glass. Her pulse quickened, pounding hard as she took a deep breath and approached. Extending the bat out in front of her, she nudged the door open. It creaked every inch of the way.
Why do things always have to creak during these situations? she asked herself as she held her breath, bracing herself for the worst. Unfortunately, the worst would have been preferable. The shuffling sound had stopped, leaving an unnatural silence in the dark apartment. She took a few steps through the door, trying to force her gaze deeper. The carpet squished beneath her feet with each step. Looking down, she could see dark stains covering the entire area down the hallway and into the living room. She gripped the bat even tighter and continued on out of the hall. As she emerged, the gruesome scene came into view.
The glass coffee table lay on the floor shattered into pieces; shards of glass were everywhere. Blood painted the L-shaped sectional couch. There was so much blood. Jutting out from behind the end of the sofa was a foot. Eve took a wide, circular approach towards the back of the couch. There lying on the floor was her bestie of fifteen years; naked and obliterated.
The sight immediately caused her stomach to clench, throwing her into a fit of vomiting. She steeled herself and looked at Julie. Empty hip sockets returned her gaze. The legs sat a foot below her torso. They appeared as though someone plucked them from her body like a couple of apple stems. Her torso gaped open from pelvis to throat; wide like a high school dissection project. The majority of her internal organs were gone, leaving the body cavity hollowed out like a canoe. The head twisted backwards; her face buried into the blood-soaked carpet. Both of her arms were missing.
“Oh Jules…”
Tears ran down her cheeks as she struggled to pull herself together. Calamity ensued outside; doors slamming, horns honking, people yelling. The commotion had been increasing in intensity while she’d been inside.
A bang from the front bedroom told Eve that it was time to get the hell out of there. She sprinted down the hallway. Just before she got to the door, a middle-aged woman lunged from the bedroom to her right, smashing her into the wall. Luckily, she had been able to bring the bat up in front of her with both hands, using it as a barrier between herself and the deranged woman.
Since her attacker was a mere nine inches from her face, she was able to get a good look at the woman. Pale skin, which seemed white, was the most obvious feature about the crazed lady. Blood-red eyes glared at her from the other side of the bat. They were so red, the pupils almost got lost in the crimson. Thin, veiny, dark red tendrils branched out from the outer corners of each eye like little barren tree branches. The fingers that held the bat had lost all their nails, but the tips seemed to have elongated and tapered into two-inch talons. The woman turned up her mouth into a snarl, exposing teeth that were now stained red with Julie's blood.
Her mouth opened like an anaconda and released the engorged, snake-like tongue. The tip split down the middle and a bony stinger protruded. It dripped some sort of gooey greenish liquid from its tip.
The tongue flailed towards her head, but Evelyn ducked to the right, while pushing forward onto the bat. The stinger punctured the plaster and had embedded into the wall stud. Her chance had come. She sidestepped the creature and slid the bat from the hideous woman's grip, then jabbed the fat end of the bat into the side of its skull. The impact wasn't powerful, but it looked like it was enough to stun the thing. The downside though, was that it also dislodged the stinger from the wall.
Adrenaline had taken over all thought processes, keeping her alive. She darted out the front door, with the mutant psychopath right on her heels. As her feet hit the parking lot in front of her, she changed directions and stopped, causing her pursuer to overshoot her. Evelyn readied the bat and swung as hard as she could, striking gold as it connected with the ghoul’s head. The force of the impact stung her hands. The loud “ding” and immediate “crunch” that followed confirmed that she had caved in the back of the skull. Mission accomplished.
The woman pitched forward from her momentum, landing face-first into a snow bank. Thick reddish-black blood spurted from the fresh head wound and she laid there twitching. Evelyn didn’t stop to contemplate what had just happened, nor did she contemplate what had happened to this woman. Around her, mass hysteria was wreaking havoc on her senses. As she surveyed her surroundings, she stood in in disbelief.
Some of Julie's neighbors emerged from their apartments. Some still appeared human, while others had changed into whatever the hell had attacked her. The “changed” ones were chasing after the “normal” ones; beating, clawing, and biting at them. The resulting screams were horrific.
She tried to move along the far side of the street, furthest from the apartment buildings, but there was not much cover for her to duck behind. A few cars provided her with some protection, but her luck had run out. Now she needed to go about two hundred yards past the homicidal mutants that were making quick work of the remaining “normals.” She took off at a sprint down the road, but the salt covered street made traction difficult. Behind her, ravenous wails bellowed. Evelyn chanced a glance over her shoulder and could see at least a dozen of the changed had abandoned their victims and were now giving chase after the new prey.
“Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit...” she whispered to herself under her labored breathing. Footsteps behind her were closing in fast. They moved much faster than she had anticipated. With some luck, she could make it back to safety, although she wondered how safe she would be inside her own apartment.
She was now about ten yards from the intersection. A sharp right turn and another one hundred and fifteen yards and she would be within sight of her place. A deep growl erupted behind her as the mob closed the distance between them and her to a mere twenty feet.
I’m not going to make it, she thought. A car sped down her street towards the intersection and screamed around the corner, and halted in the middle of the road. The passenger door whipped open and a man popped out of the driver’s side.
“Get your ass in the car lady! Run faster or I swear I’ll leave you!”
Eve did just that, pulling from that untapped energy that athletes use when they overcome the agony of defeat. She pulled ahead of the mob by a few more feet. As she approached the vehicle, it started to creep forward. She ran up beside it and could hear the man yelling at her.
“Jump lady!” the man commanded. Again, she obeyed, jumping into the car. The stranger floored the accelerator, which lurched the car forward once the tires gained traction on the asphalt. Evelyn closed the door and looked behind them. The mob of creatures kept in pursuit. Their getaway seemed to have pissed them off; driving them to run faster. The two survivors reac
hed the end of the street that led out of Forest Glenn. The man made a quick glance in both directions and gunned the car left down Cemetery Lane.
“What the fuck just happened back there?” she asked. It was more a question to herself than to the man who just saved her, but he replied anyway.
“Hell. Hell just happened.”
CHAPTER 8 EMERGENCY CALL
“Aw, Christ,” he muttered as he approached the parking garage where his car sat. Nathan surveyed the scene as his brain ran through other options for a way out of town.
Red and blue lights spun, throwing colors onto the four car accident. The accident that, as chance would have it, occurred in front of the garage entrance. The only entrance. The fate of his former awesome escape plan was a no-go. Broken glass and twisted metal covered the street. EMTs were busy tending to the injured passengers.
One passenger in particular looked more worse-for-wear than the others. He was pale, and sweating rivers down his face, despite the sub-freezing temperatures. His eyes looked very bloodshot, as if he sneezed really hard and popped all the blood vessels in his eyeballs. For an instant they locked in a gaze, staring at each other. A look of confusion, pain, and anger filled the man's face, which then contorted as he began to gush thick, reddish-brown sludge from his mouth.
The man doubled over clutching his stomach as more of the vile liquid expunged itself from his body. A paramedic noticed the poor soul and rushed to his aid, lying him on his side so he didn’t drown in his vomit. Another paramedic came to help and he kneeled down beside the dying man. You could tell he was dying by the urgent tone in the medics’ voices and the frantic way they pulled various syringes and equipment from their crash bags.
Five minutes ticked by in a heartbeat and finally, the medics gave up. They covered the dead man with a sheet and took their gear back to the ambulance. An animalistic scream, which sounded more like a howler monkey than a man, came from the body underneath the sheet. The body which was now sitting up. The various people who saw the corpse bolt upright spewed a fountain of expletives. One brave EMT walked over towards the body and removed the sheet, exposing the very awake dead guy.
The man looked around, his skin ivory white, his eyes ruby red. His arm reached out and grabbed the EMT by the throat Were those claws!? and threw the medic two car lengths into the street. The dead man stood and looked around with an agonizing expression on his face, hopped over one of the wrecked cars, and sprinted down Sixth Street.
A wailing screech sounded from the opposite end of Sixth. In unison, everyone around the accident scene forgot about the injured (but still alive) EMT on the ground and looked in the direction of the scream. A young teenage girl walked down the middle of the road. That dark red sludge soaked the front of her shirt. Even from a distance, Nathan could tell that she suffered from the same fate as the man who had just ran off. She continued to stagger down the road. Her tongue snaked out from distended jaws, forking at the end. Black tears streaked down her cheeks as she sobbed.
She plodded after the terrified pedestrians. The girl stopped in the middle of the intersection, turned, and continued down the street towards the onlookers at the accident site.
She’s seriously fucked up, Nathan thought.
Another shriek, but not from the sobbing girl-thing. The girl was a block away now, standing in the intersection of Sixth and Penn. Out of nowhere, a group of fifteen or twenty people rushed her from her right, tackling her to the ground. As he looked on, the group began to tear the girl apart. Blood spilled out onto the intersection. Oh my god. They’re like her. They’re all fucked up too.
For the second time today, Nathan bolted. He was already up the street and around the corner before the group of murderers had looked up from their prey.
CHAPTER 9 NAPALM
Nathan cursed himself for being out of shape. He had run more in the last thirty minutes than he had in twenty years. His thoughts bounced around his skull. What the hell was wrong with that poor girl? What the hell was she sick with? And why the hell did all those people attack her? How the hell am I going to get outta here?
He ducked into the doorway of a 7-Eleven to catch his breath and figure out his next move. Running around town would get himself killed. He looked around the vestibule of the convenience store. The place appeared to be empty. Staying alert, he made his way inside. Nathan peered over the counter, but nobody was hiding behind it. There was a blood stain that travelled the length of the counter and back into the store room.
Wonderful. Not eager to go looking for trouble, he inched his way to the back of the store. Nathan slid the cooler door open, grabbed a Loca Mocha Monster energy drink, and a bottle of water. After closing the door, he crept back to the vestibule, opened the water, and chugged it down.
Once the water was gone, he popped the tab on the energy drink, sending an echoing “crack” throughout the abandoned store. The door in the back opened and in the doorway stood the young 7-Eleven clerk; pale skin and soaked in blood. He knew the clerk, having seen her on many occasions when he stopped to buy smokes. He thought how strange the Indian girl looked with snow white skin. A growl rose from her throat as she stood in the large puddle of blood from the dead customer that laid at her feet.
Well, now I know where that blood trail leads. Nathan flew out the door and shot right; the clerk clamored after him. Another quick right took him into the alley behind the store. Four quick strides and he was jumping into a dumpster. He got the lid closed just as the clerk stopped in front of the alley entrance.
Nathan held his breath, both out of fear and to keep from throwing up from the stench of garbage. The clerk paused right outside of the dumpster. The lid to his left flew open. Nate shrunk in against the far side of the dumpster that was still covered, trying not to shift the bags of garbage beneath him. A clawed hand reached in and began poking through the bags and rubbish.
Nathan began to think of all the stupid things that always went wrong for people in horror movies. Being a huge horror aficionado, he had seen dumb teenagers die because, well, they’re dumb. Running in heels, walking into a dark basement alone, tripping at the worst possible time, hiding in a room with only one way in or out, or knocking over a can or bottle while trying to be stealthy. His brain stopped his mental Rolodex of horror clichés on one that might get him killed.
God I hope my cell phone doesn’t ring.
The notion to reach into his pocket to ensure that his phone was on silent crossed his mind, but doing so would surely get him caught. He continued to hold his breath, which became more and more difficult, and hoped that the store clerk would give up the chase. Bag after bag of garbage piled on top of him. Mystery sauces and wetness seeped out of the myriad of bags that now covered his head. After what felt like an eternity, the clerk withdrew her arm and the lid slammed closed.
Ten minutes later, Nathan decided to make his move. He eased the piles of filth off of himself and lifted the lid an inch. His cell phone rang. SHIT! Closing the lid, he frantically pulled his phone out of his pocket and dropped it in the process. Just like in all those stupid movies. He managed to recover the phone on the third ring and answered it.
“Hello?” he whispered as loud as he dared. Bracing himself for the lid to fly open again, he heard his friend on the other end of the call.
“Dude, where you at?” Ronnie asked.
“I’m sitting in a dumpster.”
Ronnie chuckled. “Why are you sitting in a dumpster?”
“This homicidal 7-Eleven clerk is trying to kill me, I think.”
“That’s fucked up, bro. I can barely hear you, can you talk up?”
“No I can’t talk up, I told you someone’s trying to kill me and I’m hiding!” Nathan replied in one of those whisper-yells.
“Oh, right on, right on.”
“Hold on a sec.”
Nathan ventured another peek out into the alley. Through the slit of light he allowed, he saw no sign of the infected clerk. The alley appeared to be empty.
He stood up, flipped the lid back, and sprung out of the dumpster, grateful for the fresh air. Nathan inched his way to the entrance of the alley, peered around the corner and surveyed the street. No sign of the clerk.
“Okay, so where are you at buddy?” Nathan asked, more himself now.
“Walkin’ your way bro. I think we should boogie on outta here; shit’s gettin’ crazy!”
“Sounds good to me, but I’m not at work and I’m not equipped to deal with any of the shit that’s going down,” Nathan said as he made his way up to Penn Avenue, keeping an eye open for any immediate dangers. People everywhere ran in a panic, but nobody paid him any attention.
“For sure. You got a plan?” asked Ronnie.
“Nope, none whatsoever. All I know is that we definitely need to get out of the city. I gotta get back to Eve as soon as I can.”
Ronnie answered in an unusually lucid tone, “Don't count on using any of the bridges, cuz. They got the National Guard rollin’ in to shut ‘em all down.”
Their options for escape dwindled at an alarming rate. Nathan racked his brain for an alternative. He had seen enough end-of-the-world movies to know that the government would try to contain what was going on downtown. They weren't going to let anyone leave. Then, it hit him. He was about a block down from Liberty Avenue, which contained a strange mish-mash of retail stores and businesses. Among the eclectic menagerie of shops, was an Army/Navy surplus outlet. Although an odd store to find downtown, it had been there for decades. If he and Ronnie were to escape to the North Hills, they were going to need some survival gear and weapons.
