The Red X_Complete Edition

by Robert P. Sullivan

  We made our way out into the street and started to go to the north, as the roads to the east and south were clogged with broken down cars, and to the far west we could see the men still fighting the wall of zombies. It looked like they weren’t going to stop coming which meant that the ‘X’s would have to make a retreat soon, and that was going to push them our way. So, we were in a bit of a hurry to get moving, which made us a bit more hasty than we should have been.

  We were running down the street and just turned the corner when I actually ran straight into one of the ‘X’s. It was an odd moment. We both fell to the ground as Mark was still running up behind me. He was a bit slower than me even though he was older and taller. And for a brief moment I sat there staring right at the man I ran into, and do you know what he said? “Watch where you’re going asshole!” He hadn’t realized that we weren’t on his side. He rubbed his head and shouted something about hurting his knee as I just sat there in silence, because when I hit him I dropped the wrench. “Well what do you have to say for yourself?” he said finally looking back up to see me sitting there dumbfounded.

  His eyes struggled to make out what was happening, but when he finally managed to make out who I was, it was too late. Whereas I dropped my wrench, so too did he drop his rifle. He reached for his weapon, and shouted “Oh fuck!” as Mark put his baseball bat against the man’s cheekbone. It hit with enough force to make sure that he wasn’t getting back up, but that didn’t stop Mark from making sure that the job was done. He hit him a good number of times more than was necessary.

  I sat there still in silence as Mark was standing over the beaten man breathing heavily. “Shit! You have to be more careful Jake. That’s the second time in three minutes that I saved your life.”

  I started to get up “…Yeah, I guess I owe you one now.” I said back to him, getting my wrench.

  “It’s a stroke of luck though I guess, we got ourselves a gun out it” he said grabbing the rifle and looking it over. “Have you ever used one before?” he asked as he pulled back the slide.

  “No” was all I said back to him.

  “Well me neither!... I guess that means we’ll have to rock paper scissors for it.”

  I shook my head with a sort of whatever nod and threw out scissors, which made me lose, but I was glad that I lost. I didn’t want to freeze up with it and get us both killed.

  “Looks like I’ll hold on to this then.” He said. “Ready to go?” Mark asked as he started off in a light jog.

  “Hold up! We have to be more careful.” I said grabbing his shirt to stop him. “We don’t want to run into any more of them if we can avoid it.”

  “Good thinking.” We slowed down to a fast walk to keep the sound down and pay attention a little more.

  That wound up saving our lives too, because as we reached the edge of town, we saw the rest of the other survivors off in the distance. They were lying down on the side of a hill, and not moving, we might have just ran out to where they were if we hadn’t been paying attention.

  “What do you think happened to them?” Mark asked.

  “I’m not sure, but I think they got shot. Look, there are no zombies near them.” I replied.

  “Yeah, it looks like they didn’t start to get shot until they got about two hundred feet out though. They were so close to the top of the hill too. I bet if they had reached the other side, they would have been able to get away.” Mark said as he pointed beyond what was left of the other captives. “Beyond that hill you could stay in cover until you were out of firing range, if we could just find a way to get past that point.”

  “Well I don’t think runnin’s a good idea,” I told him. “If they didn’t make it to the top with a group that big, then we definitely aren’t going to get any further… Maybe we should just look for a way around.” I turned back to the town and started walking.

  “No… there won’t be any better spot than that.” Mark said as he began to follow me back to town.

  “What do you mean?” I stopped and asked him.

  “Think about it,” He said walking past me and heading back towards some of the nearby houses. “We are just as likely to get shot leaving the town from any direction right?”

  “Yeah?” I said questioningly.

  “So, at least at this part we know when they are going to start shooting at us, and how much farther we have to get in order to escape their fire.”

  “So where are we going?” I asked him.

  “Well, you were right, if we just run out there we are going to get shot. But!” he said, trying to open the door of a nearby house. “What if we could get out to where they got to, without getting shot at?” he broke the window and unlocked the front door of the house. Once inside he went straight for the garage.

  “Well how the hell are we going to do that?” I asked as he started to look through the junk in the garage.

  “We’re going to disguise ourselves. Help me look for red paint.”

  “But won’t they think it’s weird that their friends are just walking away from town while it’s being attacked?” I asked as I looked over the piles of junk that were in the garage.

  “That’s why we have to go where the other’s died. If they see us walking towards the corpses we might be able to trick them into thinking that we are just checking that they are dead.” Mark said as he was shaking an old spray paint can, before testing it out on the wall. “Damn! Green. That was the only can I could find, let’s go to the next house.”

  It took us a good five or ten minute to finally find a can of red paint to mark our backs with, but after having marked ourselves we headed back to the spot where the other’s lay. Mark turned to me and asked “Are you ready?”

  “I don’t think I’ll ever be ready.” I replied, my knees quivering just a little.”

  Chapter 15

  “We stood there, both of us were a little shaky. We knew that as soon as we stepped into that field, we were in someone’s sights. We took a brief moment to calm our nerves before we headed out towards the hill, but it didn’t help. My heart was beating out of my chest as we walked further and further from the town. I remember the feeling of terror only getting worse as we approached the bodies.

  “Try and relax.” Mark told me. “We need to look like we are just one of them… and not two scared shitless escapees.” He was worried and it showed in the slight waver in his voice. But, even though they were only words, it helped me to remember to walk normal, and try not to look over my shoulder, back at the town. I was just starting to get hopeful that we would make it out of there no problem, when we heard a voice yell out from behind us.

  “Hey! Where the fuck y’all going?” we heard a man shout at us from the town. I froze when I heard him yell at us. I knew we were caught, and we didn’t even make it to the first corpse yet.

  “Keep walking.” Mark said to me and he turned to face the town before continuing. “Where checking to make sure they’re dead!”

  “We can do that later! We’re supposed to keep our post in times of emergency!” the voice replied.

  “Shit!” Mark cursed only loud enough for me to hear. “Hold on, what did you say their boss’ name was again?”

  “Davidson, it was Davidson.” I said while I turned back to face Mark. I tried to use that moment to get a look at where the shooter was, but I couldn’t tell from all the buildings out there which one he was in.

  Mark cleared his throat and yelled back. “I fucking know that dipshit! Davidson told us to make sure they were dead! I tell you what, why don’t you come out here and play with the fucking corpses, while I sit on my ass!”

  Now I don’t know if it was just pure luck, or if Mark was just that smooth, but by threatening the man in the distance with menial labor, he bought it, hook line and sinker. “That was a perfect impersonation of their hillbilly accent.” I said to Mark, because I was impressed, but there was silence in the air as we waited for the shooters response.

  “No that’s your job! Have f
un!” We heard him yell back at us with a laugh, and, with a great sigh of relief we continued on to the bodies.

  We approached the first body laying face down on the ground. “Turn him over.” Mark told me.

  “Aww man, I don’t want to touch this dead guy.” I whined back at him.

  “Use your foot or something, just hurry up, we don’t want them to get suspicious.”

  I started to try and kick the first body over onto his back, but I didn’t have the strength to really get him over. So, begrudgingly, I bent down and grabbed the body to turn it over. It was full of bullet holes, and he certainly wasn’t breathing.

  “Alright, so here’s the plan,” Mark started as we walked to the next body up the hill. “We are going to check the bodies till we get as close to the top as we can. Then, when I say to run, we are going to run as fast as we can over the top and out of their range of fire.”

  “Sounds good.” I said as I approached the second body. I rolled it over and stood back up next to Mark. “Damn it, I got blood on my hands.” I said and tried to wipe it off on my coat.”

  “Bang!” Jake yelled at Barry as loud as he could while he raised his hands to emphasize the sound.

  “What the hell?!” yelled Barry in surprise.

  Jake laughed. “Yeah, that was exactly what I said too, you see Mark shot the body I just turned over, right in the face.

  “Why did you do that?” I nearly screamed at Mark.

  “Calm down!” He yelled only loud enough for me to hear. “I’m just selling the scene, if they think we actually are doing the job, we have a better chance of getting away… Especially if they aren’t suspicious about what we are doing when we try to run over the hill.” Mark told me while starting to move onto the next body.

  “Ok, you’re right, but warn me next time.” I said trying to shake off the fear. And on to the next body we went. We kept getting closer and closer with each body we turned over, each one a bullet riddled reminder of what would happen if we got figured out.

  “Ok Jake, just three left. Remember when we get to the last one, I’m going to say run, and that’s when we both take off.” Mark said walking up to the next corpse.

  “I know, let’s just get to the next one.” I said after flipping the body. There were only two left between us and the top of the hill, and the one nearest to the top was still about twenty feet from the peak. The second one was lying about ten feet farther down than him. “We’re close, just a little further.”

  I turned over the next body and looked him over. I had just realized that he wasn’t that shot up when he said. “Don’t kill me.”

  “Oh my gosh, he’s still alive!” I said jerking and standing up away from the man on the ground.

  “Oh shit…” Mark added as he looked at him with shock and confusion in his eyes.

  “What the hell are we going to do?” I asked.

  “Please don’t kill me.” The man pleaded again.

  “Be quiet, we’re not with them. Oh crap, I don’t know.”

  “You’re not going to shoot him are you?” I foolishly asked the only guy who came back to make sure that I made it out of the cage earlier.

  Mark stared at me for a moment almost a little disappointed that I would even ask him that. “No, we aren’t going to shoot him.”

  “Thank you!” cried out the man on the ground.

  “Shh, we don’t want them to hear you.” Mark said looking at me so as not to appear to be talking to a corpse.

  “So, what are we going to do?... just leave him?” I asked.

  Mark rubbed his forehead trying to figure out the best course of action and said “We can’t just leave him here.”

  “No, I don’t want to be left here to die. Please.” The man pleaded while trying his best not to move.

  I looked back at the town, and thought for a moment. “Actually leaving him might work, think about it after we run, they won’t likely check the bodies before trying to follow us, that would give him a good chance to run also.”

  “They might not,” added Mark. “But then again, they might just put a bullet in the rest of the bodies from range… Well we don’t want to seem suspicious, Jake go check the other body, while I try and figure this out.”

  I nodded and began to make my way towards the last body. I had just reached it when I heard Mark say something under his breath. “I’m going to regret this.”

  “What?” I said slightly turning back. It was one of those moments where you hear what a person said, but you can’t quite make out the words until after a few seconds.

  “Run.” Mark said with a gesture toward me as he frantically threw the gun over his shoulder, leaving it hanging on his back by the strap. He bent down to help up the other survivor. I watched him as he did it, but it didn’t quite sink in that this was when Mark was telling me to make our move. “I said run!”

  It was an instant adrenaline rush. I felt the world slow to a crawl as I spun back around to face the hill, and began to sprint as fast as I could. I know it was only about maybe a second or two before I heard the first shots, but when everything slowed down like that, it felt like an eternity before they whizzed by. The bullets sunk into the ground with a few spats of dust from the dirt as I ran toward the top of the hill.

  I had reached the peak and just like that the earth was gone beneath me. What I couldn’t tell from the side of the hill that we ran up was that the backside was a ten foot drop to a steep slope. When I hit the earth I immediately started tumbling head over feet. I finally came to a rest at the bottom of the hill face down in the dirt and weeds, with the wind knocked out of me… and it hurt. I heard the shots ringing out from over the hill, and the sound of the other two coming over the top, but I didn’t have time to warn them about the drop.

  It wasn’t until I heard them come to rest beside me that I started to pull myself together, and try and sit up. When I did get up, I had a mouth full of dirt, and eyes full of dust. I was spitting, coughing, and trying to get the dirt out of my eyes for a good ten seconds or so before I could even talk. “Are you ok?” I asked.

  They were quiet at first, just long enough to get me worried when Mark spoke up. “Awww, shit… no…” He said straining his voice as he coughed a little. Mark pulled himself up and leaned back against the hill.

  “What about you… other guy?” I asked to the man Mark had just saved. But when the dust had cleared I could see the unnatural twist in his neck.

  “Yeah, he ain’t doing too well either.” Mark replied grasping at his thigh. It took me a second to catch what was going on, but when I looked closer at Mark, I could see blood gushing from between his fingers. “Shit! I’m going to die and I didn’t even manage to save him.” He continued wincing in pain.

  “What happened to your leg?” I asked making my way over to where he was sitting.

  “I got fucking shot!” He yelled in more of a matter of fact way than with rage.

  His wound was bleeding through both sides of his pants. I know that means that it went straight through now, but at the time I was stupid enough to ask the question, “Are you going to be ok?”

  Mark let loose a slight grin between his pained expressions and spoke. “Do I look like a doctor?” He paused for a moment before he continued. “Jake, you have to run.”

  “Ok come on I’ll help you up.” I said trying to get him to his feet.

  “Look just stop!” He said shrugging me off. “Listen Jake, I can’t run! I know you don’t want to leave me, but they are going to come over that hill any minute.” At that I could hear the sounds of the men’s voices carrying from the distance. “I guess they’re bickering over what their boss wants them to do, that’s good luck for you though.”

  I wanted to stay there and argue with him, but the fact was that he was right, if I didn’t make my move then, I was not going to be able to get out if the ‘X’s came over the ridge and shot down at us from the high ground. Letting myself get overwhelmed with the situation nearly got me killed in
the pit of steel, and I was not about to make the same mistake again.

  “Ok, I’ll go, but I can’t just leave you here.” I said as I scanned the area briefly, the cliff went down into a riverbed, and there were some large boulders sticking out. “If I leave you the gun and get you to cover, you can at least have a chance of fighting back.”

  “No, just take the gun and go!” he yelled at me trying to wrest his arm free from my grasp.

  “You’re buying me time!” I yelled back! “And besides, don’t you want to get a little bit of payback for the leg?”

  That was what sold him. Mark suddenly got real determined and spoke in a low vengeful voice. “Yeah… that sounds pretty good. Help me over to that rock.” I picked him up and walked him over to one of the larger boulders, which was just barely on the river’s edge. I started to let Mark sit down when he grasped me tight. “No no! Now help me over to that rock over there.” He said pointing up the river about fifty feet. “If I’m clearly behind a rock, they are going to have to come down here and try to circle me. But!” He said trying to hobble the best he could through the water. “If the footprints and blood lead to the wrong rock, they might just be stupid enough for me to get a good vantage point on them.”

  I let him down behind the second boulder and stood there looking down on him leaning against the rock. “I… I owe you one.” I tried to say thanks the best that I could.

  “You owe me three! Don’t forget the cage and the fellow we got this gun from in the first place…” He snapped back at me in a mocking way.

  “Nah, I saved you once remember? So I guess that makes it two.” I said as we both smiled a little bit at our horrid misfortune.

  “Alright enough bullshit.” Mark told me as nonchalantly as he could. “Get the hell out of here.”

  “I don’t know Mark… I mean I can’t just… do that… I just-” I was stammering over my words.

  But he had the final say. “Leave me.” And that ended the conversation. All I could do was nod with sorrow in my eyes and turn away. I didn’t look back, because I knew I would have broke down in tears if I did. I thought that it was probably a death sentence, but both of us were going to die if we stuck together. So I left, running down the river, trying to not leave any hints as to which direction I left in. I must have made it about half a mile when I finally heard what I was afraid of. The gunshots started cracking behind me off in the distance, and after a minute, silence.