by Kris Beus
Before the beast could reach me a deafening shot rang from the back of the store. The shot pierced the head of this barbarian taking his face with it. When I came to my senses I noticed Caz standing in the back of the store taking aim with a 300 Weatherby. Amanda opened fire with a smaller yet effective 9 millimeter. They were successful at pushing the horde back. Any whom dared enter took a bullet to the head. I found it fascinating that they stopped attempting to come in. We could hear them outside and they sounded afraid. They seemed to be learning and understanding what actions would mean their immediate death.
We were able to push some furniture and scrap wood to block the door. Listening intently the footsteps surrounded the store. They were the predators waiting for a perfect time to attack their pray. Even Amanda took notice when she asked “What are they waiting for?” None of us had an answer for her. It was apparent we had no idea what this virus does. These beings were not simply death walking. These could learn and adapt in order to pursue their target. They would not run to their deaths, but rather hunt as predators.
Picking up my gun I headed to the back and began filling my bag with guns and ammo. Amanda and Caz both found packs in the store and did the same. Worried about the zombie’s ability to learn we decided waiting for night would not be a good plan. We would need to leave while it was still day. After an hour of scavenging we began pulling all the items from the front door. Thick snarls swam through the doorway chilling us deep inside. Hesitantly we moved the last large piece of plywood from the door. This pack of dead kept in sight, but hidden at a distance. They lurked as if studying us. Perhaps the disease inside was driving their new life sustaining behavior or perhaps it was a part of humanity left behind. In either case the chances of us surviving dropped as their intellect increased.
Slowly we moved down the street trying to keep our backs towards the buildings making it difficult for a surprise attack. Anticipating an attack was maddening. All three of us grew extremely anxious as the beasts followed and watched in the distance. We were pushing past a simple clothing store not paying attention to the windows. As we walked past the display window, blurred movement caused us to turn our heads. Out of the window came a woman snarling and landing on Caz. Before any of us had a chance to react the woman sank her teeth in to the defensive forearm Caz threw up. The sound of flesh ripping seared into my mind.
With my gun drawn I aimed down trying to shoot the zombie and not my new friend. The bullet passed through her head spraying blood, brains, and skull fragments. Caz threw the body off him disgusted then looked terrified at the bite. The zombies that were once keeping their distance now felt it the time to begin pushing once again. The dead we left on the pawn shop floor had been replaced by stragglers interested in the noise. More and more came out looking around trying to find what had made the noise. Helping Caz to his feet we continued walking down the street this time a little further from the buildings.
We checked every car we passed in search of one which wasn’t demolished and had the keys. As the dead grew in numbers their patience seemed to wane as well. The meal began to be split more and more as others joined. Realizing their chances grew with numbers one strange looking man in a suit began the charge. The hunt was on. We sprinted down the road as the horde began closing the distance. I turned putting a couple shots into the crowd dropping one of the fifty that had now joined the horde.
Amanda jumped in a car a little down the road. The car was one of the only that we saw which wasn’t wrecked. The car was started before Caz and I arrived. We jumped in with the horde a few feet from our heels. As I attempted to get in I felt the hand of one grab my shirt. My right foot was in the car I screamed “GO”. Amanda hit the gas while I was still hanging partly out of the car with one of the dead holding my shirt.
Flying through the air I felt the dead dragging along the pavement refusing to give up. With my free hand I reached towards the back of my shirt attempting to gain release from the things grasp. My fingers grabbed its wrist. The arm was ice cold and the skin felt gritty. The skin was peeling with the force I applied, but its strength was overwhelming. Finally as Amanda swerved to miss a pile of trash the force of the turn and mine together was enough to rip the hand away. Looking back the sight of the woman tossing freely against the pavement then standing quickly to begin the chase surprised me. I have never seen anything in my lifetime so bound on their goal. That being would have chased me through the depths of hell if allowed to its own devices. Luckily it was not a match with the car Amanda had found.
Chapter 5
Sliding into the seat next to Caz I noticed him trembling. I asked if he was ok. He said “Why is it so fucking cold.” Sweat was pouring down his face and his eyes began looking dead. As Amanda drove I kept my eyes on him intently. Caz was looking worse by the minute. His lips had begun turning blue and his eyes were slowly losing the life they once had. As we drove it seemed the disease had difficulty in taking a life which was not near or already dead. Caz was fighting that was apparent, but looking at him it was easy to see that he would not make it long. An hour passed and he was drifting in and out of consciousness.
In my own mind battlegrounds had been drawn. It was easy to see the danger that he imposed, if he was going to change. There would be nothing we could do to stop the attacks in these close quarters. On the other hand he was not a zombie. He had saved me over and over. For this do I not owe him the benefit of the doubt? He couldn’t keep his eyes open and now seemed to be dying right next to me. No I could not think like this. There is a difference between killing a ravenous being trying to rip you limb from limb and killing a friend who is simply sick.
The car seemed to slow and leaving my thoughts for a second I looked out the windshield from the back seat. There was a massive road block, which was created for the purpose of containing the outbreak. I pointed to the side of the road. Amanda pulled over and we got out. Caz was barely able to stand. “Let’s get off the road and back into the woods.” The others listened and we began making are way a safe distant into the forest. The brush was thick making the walk difficult. We walked about a mile into the forest and found a nice grove to make camp.
Not realizing we would need camping material, we were ill prepared. We emptied all the bags onto a blanket which Amanda brought from the pawn shop. All together there was ten cans of food which had enough water in them to satiate our thirst for a couple days. Mostly we had corn and green beans. Two boxes of crackers Caz found at the shop. One canteen which would hold water. Two lighters I had grabbed from my kitchen at home and quite a few guns with ammunition. It was certainly easy to see that we felt guns the most important, but stuck in the woods without correct supplies I feared we would not last long.
I asked Amanda to help me find some wood suitable to make a fire. We walked off in separate directions leaving Caz lying on the ground with his head propped on a couple of our packs. He looked absolutely terrible and was shaking uncontrollably. The forest was thick and collecting dead wood easy. After about twenty minutes we had enough wood to last us at least one day. Putting the fire together was much more difficult than what I had imagined. The fire refused to stay lit constantly putting itself out. Either there was not enough room on the bottom to allow air in or my little pile would collapse in on itself. It took over a half hour to finally get it to stay lit.
As the fire grew Caz noticed and with what little strength he had, started pushing himself closer to the fire. Amanda and I jumped up to help him get closer. He seemed to do well and was even able to eat once we opened a couple cans of corn. They were the only cans with a pop top and we had forgotten to grab a can opener. I drained the cans into the canteen allowing us to preserve precious water. The corn was by far the best thing I had ever eaten. Never before have I gone without food for two days. The faces on both Amanda and Caz showed the same enthusiasm over a food as simple os cans of corn.
We finished eating and were wore out from the journey. We made make shift beds out of the sup
plies we gathered in town. They may not have been the best beds, but were better than nothing. It was a very cool night, so we kept the fire going as long as possible. The best Amanda and I could do for sleep was an hour or so at a time. Both of us jumping awake at the sound of a twig snapping or the sound of a rabbit passing close by. Caz was not so lucky. He laid close to the fire shivering and seeming to be in a daze. Neither graced with sleep nor waking, but rather stuck somewhere in-between. Eyes were half open and every so often he would mumble something incoherently.
I sat up staring at him wondering what I should do. The darkness made it difficult to see him clearly, but the sounds from his lips made it clear he was suffering. My pistol laid next to me on the blanket. I picked it up and began slowly walking over to him. I looked down upon him watching the losing battle he was having with the disease. Minutes passed with the barrel of the gun pointed directly at his head. Caz looked up seeing the barrel of the gun and unaffected laid his head back down. Realizing the murder would not be in rage, but rather mercy, I slowly cocked the hammer and pulled the trigger.
The sound was extremely loud in the silence of the night. The boom echoed for what seemed like miles along the mountain range. Screams came from behind me, but it took a minute to register they were coming from Amanda. Turning I saw the horror on her face as she looked at me then down at Caz. The terror in her eyes actually confused me quite a bit. There was a mumble from her lips inaudible at first, but after repetition I realized she was repeating the phrase “You murderer”. At this utterance there was little I could say or do to qualify my actions to such a hysteria. Looking at her deeply and with great confidence I said softly “He was suffering.”
With that phrase I walked away from the lifeless body and hysterical companion laying back down with little thought or regret of my actions. I could hear Amanda ten feet away still muttering in shock, but paid no attention. I stared across the fire at my once friend lifeless now and surrounded in what seemed to be peace. Knowing I did the right thing did nothing to stifle the deep sadness my actions caused. This had nothing to do with self-preservation, but rather my inability to see another person suffer. There were other options which could have solved this problem. Amanda and I could have left him at camp and would have probably done so, being unable to carry him through the forest.
With that thought I finally found some peace. Letting him change to me was not an option. Whatever those things were they had no humanity left. The basic respect and dignity that came with being human was wiped away by pure instinct. That was no way to live. Slowly the darkness surrounding me closed my mind to the external world. Peace came for me in the form of a deep sleep letting me forget just for a moment what had happened.
The morning came in what seemed like seconds. Sitting up very groggy and freezing I first looked to the fire which was almost out. Looking over I saw Amanda had gone. This terrified me, not knowing where she had gone, but more so not knowing if she was alive. Quickly I got up walking over to where she had laid. Her bed was gone with here pack, leaving no trace. I saw the foot prints walking off into the forest. Looking back towards the fire Caz still laid motionless in a pool of blood covering my pack and his. I was surprised that only two cans were missing from the food supply. I guess Amanda felt bad about leaving without letting me know. The guns she had found were also missing, but everything Caz had touched remained in camp.
The fire was almost out so I went into the forest I was looking for dry leaves and twigs to build it back up. It took about ten minutes to find all the necessary material. The fire was much easier to ignite. The dry leaves burst into flames within seconds. Sitting close trying to get warm I thought about my next move. Should I search for Amanda to see if she was still alive? Should I go on my way to the quarry?
As I warmed up I decided the first thing to do would be burying Caz. Lacking a shovel I scrapped the earth with my board. It took over an hour to dig a hole two feet deep and six feet long. Grabbing his feet I drug Caz into the hole. “Thank you for saving me.” I said as I began filling in the hole. I buried him and the sledgehammer he was fond of.
I packed up everything I could carry and headed off in the direction of Amanda’s footsteps. Without any scouting experience following someone through the forest was an extremely time consuming activity. Frequently I would lose her trail and have to zig zag forward to see where the trail began again. Hours past as I pushed myself further. The hard ground made finding the footsteps nearly impossible. Luckily since I could see her direction I did not lose the tracks permanently. I came to a river which the tracks led straight into. The water looked about waist deep so I took my shoes and socks off. Slowly I walked into the freezing water. The slime covering the rocks gave little grip making me concentrate on each step. The river spanned about thirty feet and once I reached the other side before putting on my shoes I let my feet air dry.
The sun was reaching past mid-day and setting into evening. Worried about becoming lost permanently I began picking up my pace. Through the forest I came to a valley. Two miles off on top of a ridge I saw someone walking along. I could not make out any features, but the blue of Amanda’s jacket was clear enough. She looked as though she was attempting to find safe crossing up over the ridge. Rather than follow the trail I headed directly towards her. As I got closer and closer it was easy to see she was exhausted. So much so that she was not looking down into the valley or behind her on the ridge to make sure no one was following her. I could completely understand this as I struggled as well with the physical labor. Never before have I covered miles of wilderness in such a short time.
The valley had tall grass and spots of swamp. Spotting these were difficult and I found myself stepping in muck deep enough to cover my shoe. Through this terrain I was making ground quickly on her. After about 30 minutes I had reached the base of the ridge. Keeping my eye on where she was going to head over the mountain. She chose a break in the rock face which allowed her to walk over rather than climb.
I began to ascend the hill. The ground was covered in loose gravel making the climb very difficult. Slowly I watched each foot as it landed and took my time allowing myself to feel the security of each step. Frequently I would slip and slide down the hill landing on my hands. The climb was slow and tedious, by the time I reached the top my hands were scraped and I felt the breeze through holes in my jeans. I followed through the path Amanda took. The ridge had a deep crevice about twenty feet wide. I placed my hands on the rock to my right leaning on it for stability. As I made my way up through the crevice the next valley began to fall into view.
She came into view after a couple minutes scanning the valley. She had made it down the hill and began crossing the valley. The valley floor was a mixture of grass and weeds both green and yellow. The only part of her visible was the top of her head. Slowly I began my decent hoping it would be less injurious than the climb. A sound came across the valley making me stop immediately. It was a gunshot, worried about Amanda’s safety I searched the valley finding her stopped as well and a couple men running through the weeds towards her. I could hear them scream, but they were too far away to understand what they were screaming.
I kept vision on them to see if I could discover their intentions. I was certain they were not infected since they ran normally and were using speech. Looking down the mountain the terrain was very flat. It was possible for me to see they had not used a vehicle to reach this location. No roads nearby told me their camp was nearby. They reached her within a matter of minutes and were searching her for weapons. Not wanting to be spotted I remained low and slowly moved behind a large rock a few yards down the hill. On my back was the rifle Caz used in the pawn shop to push the zombies back through the door. It could easily reach the two men, but I would need a better vantage point. A few yards down the mountain was a large rock which would provide great vision. I climbed down to the rock then climbed on top.
Slowly I got into position with the scope of my 300 searching for my lost compani
on and the two men. When I spotted them they were heading back with her the same way they approached. She had her arms on her head in a submissive fashion and one of the men in front of her with the other in back. Both were very well armed and even more so now they had taken Amanda’s guns. Knowing nothing of their intentions and having no faith in my long range shooting I decided to follow them rather than attempting to kill both before they hurt Amanda.
Chapter 6
I stayed on the ridge as long as I could attempting to keep sight on the two unknown men. Once I reached the edge of the ridge I began making my decent. From what I could see through the scope they had not done anything to hurt Amanda yet, though from the way they looked I doubted she would be safe in their custody. As I came down the mountain my safety was much less a concern. Falling every few feet though painful made it possible to get down quicker. I reached the bottom with cuts and bruises covering my arms. My pant were shredded as well leaving large cuts across the back of my legs. The pain was numbed by the adrenaline that was pumping through my system.
Quickly I made my way through the long grass in the direction I last saw them moving. As I continued following them I did my best to make sure each foot step I took was nearly silent. Within a mile I was close enough to hear their banter and laughter. I stopped allowing them to gain more distance. Once the noise had died down completely I continued this time keeping more distance so I would not be heard. The long grass was becoming shorter and shorter. The ground seemed to be much drier and sturdier as well. I was excited my vision would be greatly improved, but fearful of losing the protection of the long grass.
They were over a mile off, but very visible through the shorter grass. I stayed as low as possible and before moving ahead I would pick cover to move to. The land had few trees and rocks though enough I felt safe in tailing the two men. My camping pack seemed to offer me an advantage since it was built for weight distribution. The men had simple back packs and the strain of carrying all their weapons seemed to be taking its toll allowing for me to easily stay within sight.
