Living Dead 2.0

by Radovick, Ronda

  Suddenly, two more came from the side. They must have been behind him. He jumped to the side. He swung his knife up and around, to the side of it's temple. Then, he shoved the other away, before it grabbed him. It fell down to the ground. He took long steps backwards. He turned and looked behind him. There was another one coming towards him, from behind. He jumped to the side, spinned around and stabbed it in the temple. It fell to the ground. The other one had gotten up and caught up to him, he kicked it in the mid-section, pushing it back. Still walking backwards, he turned and went in the other direction, it still came his way. He took out his machete. As it came closer, he swung fast and hard. That, took it's head off. It fell one direction, while it's head fell the other way. He froze for a few seconds. He was both terrified and disgusted at what he had just done. He still heard noises. He looked down, the head was still snarling and growling. He stared down, in shock and awe. He looked around to make sure there were no more zombies near him. There were none that he could see. He took his knife and stabbed the head in the temple, it stopped snarling. The quiet was deafening. He looked around, again. He studied the street. He was on Conkey street, now. It was not that late. No one was out. No cars had passed him the whole time that he was walking around. There were no lights on inside any houses. No porch lights, either. He walked a little further. “Where are all the people? They can not all be gone.” He looked around, there were hardly any cars in the driveways. “They all tried to leave. The Interstate.” He turned and headed back to his home. He went into a slow jog. He went into his garage and took out his bike. He rode his bike towards the Interstate. He wanted to get a look through the neighborhood. Or, at least, on some of the main streets. The bike was quiet, and would give him some speed if he ran into any large groups of the Living Dead ones. He glided up and down several streets. He made it to Main street, and as soon as he came within a few blocks of the Interstate, saw a line of cars leading to the end of the off ramp.

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  The street lights were still coming on. This would stop soon enough. But, for now, this allowed him to see things from a distance. At first, he didn't know if he should go down the ramp. He looked down the lit up trail of cars, trucks, and RVs. Every vehicle was stopped, or inching it's way along. What looked like a mile or so up ahead, were vehicles stopping and going into one lane. He was able to see the brake lights going on and off with the movement of the vehicles. “They are all trying to get out, too. There must be an accident blocking the outer lanes.” He nervously, looked over is shoulder. He turned around, his bike in hand. He pushed it into movement and jumped back on. He rode back a little faster. But, he was still cautious, just in case those things came out of now where. He made it back to his place, and tip-toed in through the back door. He took his home-made protective cover of and placed it inot the hall closet. He went into the bathroom, and took a shower. Then, headed for bed. As he walked out of the bathroom, the light went on from across the living-room. Matt and Mary were both sitting there waiting for him. “Where were you?” Mary demanded to know. “We were worried sick! Why would you leave, and not tell us where you were?” He stood there, looking like a child who was caught with his hand in the cookie jar. “I went scouting. I didn't go far, but I saw what I needed to see. I am glad you showed me the road behind the Mall, Matt. The Interstate is backed up. Everyone is trying to leave, and getting nowhere. We leave out tomorrow morning. I am going to take the RV out for a drive, early. Just to make sure that I didn't miss anything. And then, we are going to Ray and Amy's place. We are going the old highway. The way you showed me.” Matt asked, “Did you see anything out there? Those things? Did you find any?” Jessie answered, “ Yep. And, the woman in the video is right. You have you kill the brain. They move slow. The danger is, if they grab you, then they can bite you. They move slow, and come from all sides. We have to be careful, not to allow them to corner us.” Mary repeated, “Then, they can bite you? Like Amy?” She looked worried. Matt looked away. He didn't want to upset Mary. He knew that her sister was not going to make it. He just didn't know how to tell her. Jessie said, “I am going to get you to Amy, Babe.”

  He didn't know what else to say. He knew that there was no hope for Amy, now. He didn't want to come out and say it to his wife. He said, “ We have to stay close together, when we go out there. We, also need to be ready for what desperate people will do. All of the things that Ray has been warning us about, well that time is here. Only, with a terrible twist. We have to be ready for the worst.”

  Matt said, “ Yeah, cause a zombie apocalypse is not the worst.” He rolled his eyes. Jessie said, “ But, they don't think. They don't shoot, and they don't rape, or rob you. People, especially people who were bad before, they do all of those things.” Matt asked,” So, when do I learn to shoot?” Jessie said, “ Do you know how to shoot a BB gun?” Matt said, “Yep.” Jessie said, “ Same thing, except, the kick back is stronger. And, the end result is deadly. Never point at anyone, or look into the barrel. Look down the top of barrel from the butt side of the gun, and grip with both hands. Don't put your finger on the trigger until you are ready to shoot. And, whatever you do, don't try to point the gun at anyone who is already aiming at you. And, you will practice when we get to Ray's.” Mary swallowed. She said, “ Amy won't make it... Will she?” She looked distraught, and started to cry. Matt rubbed her shoulder. “ I am sorry for your sister, Mary.” He stood up, and went to his room. She wiped her eyes, but kept crying. Jessie sat next her. He put his arm around her. He said, “ I love you. I am going to get you to Amy. This is bad, Babe. I hope she is okay. I can't lie to you, this does not look good.”

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  She buried her head in his chest. He said, “ It's not safe to go out there at night, not until we know what is outside of town. We have a route that, I think is safe. But, we should go in the morning.” They went to bed in silence. Matt did not come out of his room. Jessie thought that he was upset and thinking about his own family. They woke up the next morning to Matt frantically knocking on their bedroom door. Jessie jumped up, and ran to the door. He opened it, to see a panicked Matt standing there. Matt said, “ Jessie, come here. Hurry!” He followed Matt, to the window in the living room. Before slightly moving the blinds so that Jessie could see outside, he motioned for him to be quiet. He put his finger to his mouth and whispered, “ Sssh.” When the blinds became separated, Jessie could not believe his eyes. “Oh shit!” There were zombies all over the place. There had to be a couple hundred of them. They were, mostly, following the street. But, there were stragglers up in the neighboring yards and driveways. Matt said, “I opened my window a little while ago. I could hear them all snarling. I could not believe it. Jess, how are we going to get out of here?” Jessie answered, “ The gates are locked. So are the doors, we are going to have to wait them out. When I went out last night, I led them the way I wanted them to go before I killed them. Maybe, I can divert them away from here.” Matt said, “ Jessie, you can't go out there! I saw them swarm people. They have no mercy on anyone.” Now, Mary was standing behind them. She peeked through the blinds. She cried, “Oh, no!No! No!” She took a couple of steps backwards. She was shaking her head, from side to side. Jessie turned and grabbed her. He had place his arm around her, turning her towards him. “It is going to be okay. We are going to get out of here...Okay? We have a way out. We can't make any noise, Babe. They are attracted to noise and light. Okay?” He took her face in his hands, and looked her right in her eyes. “I promise. I will get us out of here” he said. Matt continued to watch the horde. He was nervous. He was breathing hard. They were moving, slowly. “Mary, I want you to wait here. I am going to check the back yard. If we stay quiet, they won't know that we are here. We have to be quiet. I will be right back. She shook her head up and down. He said, “ Matt. Be quiet. Stay here with Mary.” He put his vest on. He ran out to the garage. The horde could not see him, because he went out into the back yard. And, he had a privacy fence up around his yard. He frantically
took the duct tape, and wrapped his arms, legs, and neck. He took his weapons and helmet. He grabbed his bike. He ran to the back, peeked over his fence to make sure there were no zombies waiting for him. When he realized that there were none, he tossed the bike over. He jumped the fence into Matts' back yard. He carried the bike and ran around to the front. He was relieved to know that there were no Living Dead waiting there. He would ride down Matts' street, come around to the corner, make noise and lead the dead ones in the opposite direction. When he made it to the corner, he could not see any zombies. He should have been able to see them. He rode towards the horde. When he made it to the corner on his street, he could see them. There were not as many as he thought, but there were a lot of them. From the corner, he could see that they were stalled in front of his house. He started waiving his hands in the air. He whistled, loudly.Then, started yelling, “ Hey!” some of them turned to look at him.They all headed his way. He could see that some of the horde didn't hear him. He whistled, again.“ Hey! Over here! Come on!” he yelled He waited a minute, more of them were coming his way. They were still in the middle of the block. Two of the dead came at him, from behind. He stopped, and jumped from the bike, then stabbed one in the eye. It fell dead. Then, he grabbed the other by the hair and stabbed it in the temple. It also, fell dead. The small herd was coming towards him. He knew that he would need continuous noise. He had to lead them away from the street, all together. He looked around, and knew what he would do. The herd was getting closer.

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  He got onto the bike, and started to ride around in circles. He yelled, “Come On you Ugly Mothers!”. Come on!” Now, they all seemed to be coming towards him in unison. He whistled, again. When they came within ten feet of him he rode a little further down the street. He rode in circles, again. They came closer. Then, he turned, and rode further down the street. He did this several times. He led them up another street. Turning south, away from his future travel route. He rode fifty feet ahead. When he saw a vewhicle parked on the side of the road, he jumped off of the bike and kicked it. The alarm went off. The vehicle honked and beeped. He smiled.” This should keep them busy, for a while.” He knew that he needed to get back home. He rode to the next corner, then took off around it. He headed back to his house. He passed a straggler zombie every fifty feet. The sound of the car alarm was attracting them from out of back yards, and alley ways. They were exiting everywhere to get to the sounds of the alarm. He rode as fast as he could. He made it to another corner, and turned. When he arrived at the next corner, he was surprised by a small mob of the dead, after almost hitting one of them. “Whoa!” They were staggering towards the alarm that still blared from blocks away. He almost ran into them. He swerved around them. Two of them grabbed for him, and almost got him. He kept going. He pedaled faster, so they would not catch up. He rode back to his house. He went up the driveway and tossed his bile over the locked fence. He climbed the fence, jumping to his feet on the other side. He checked the yard to make sure hat no dead had gotten inside. After making sure that everything was as it should be, he went into the house, and into the living room. Mary and Matt saw him come in, and both of them let out a loud sigh of relief. Mary rushed to him, and gave him a hug. Jessie was sweaty from his fast ride. He peeked through the blinds. There were a couple of stragglers. But, not the mob that Jessie had led off. He said, “Okay. I led them down to Center Street. They should be there a while. Mary said, “Jessie. I don't know if we can make it out of here.” He said, “ Oh yes, we will. You can't freeze out there. When we drive out, you have to follow me. You can't stop the RV, unless you see me braking.” Matt said, “I can drive Jessie. I will drive the RV. My Dad taught me how to drive the truck. I used to help him sometimes. The RV is smaller than my Dads' truck.” He looked at Matt. He said, “ Okay, Kid. Don't freeze up, and you can drive it. Just follow my lead. If you see me hitting my brakes, stop, turn around and get out of there. I have something else to do. Get ready.” He looked at his wife. “Mary, when we leave, you go with Matt. Let him drive. And, we will get there. You two, make sure we have everything that we need. If you load anything else into the RV or truck, be quiet. We don't want to bring those things back here. I am going to take a shower. Mary, after you get dressed load the food up. I think we need to eat fruit, or something don't waste time on hot food. Unless you want to make some BLT's. Just, make us some coffee. Matt, get your things in the RV, and help Mary get what we need from the kitchen. Get you a shower before you go. Then we are gone.” He went out to the garage. He put his snow plow onto the trailer. He double checked his supplies. He checked his two ways, and made sure they both worked. It had occurred to him that something had happened to Ray and Amy. How would he keep Mary calm if they were both turned? He would go inside the house, first, and alone. He went into the house, and took a shower. When he came out, he saw a few boxes on the table. Mary and Matt had piled a few bags of personal stuff and placed it by the door. They all ate fast, had coffee. Then, they finished loading their supplies, locked up the house and started for the vehicles to leave. Before, Mary and Matt climbed into the RV, Jessie pulled out one of the two-way radios and handed it to Mary. He said, “ If you see anything odd, let me know. Keep it on. If I see something I don't like, I'll radio you two. Make sure all of your doors are locked. Especially, the side door.”

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  He looked at Matt. “Watch my brake lights. If I keep braking, hang back. Remember, make sure all of the doors are locked before you pull out. You don't need anyone coming up on you, and pulling open that side door. I have to get the truck out, and get the gates open. There a few of those things out there. Let me get them out of the way, then I'll wave you out. Drive through the yard to get around the truck. Then, wait to the right. I'll pull around after I close the gate.” As they waited inside the RV, Jessie pulled the truck upto the gate. He exited the truck to open the gate. As he walked down the driveway, Matt and Mary watched as Jessie stabbed a zombie in the eye. It fell on the driveway pavement. Another came stumbling towards Jessie. He stabbed it through the throat in an upwards direction. That one fell, too. He pulled each body by the feet into the grass. He ran to the truck ,and drove to the end of the driveway. As he exited the truck, two more dead came at him. He kicked one down to the ground. The other grabbed him. It was snapping his morbid teeth. His eyes were fixated on Jessie, as he chomped in the air. Jessie tussled with the zombie. Then, he stabbed it in the eye. As it fell, the other came back at him. Mary yelled, “ Jessie!” Jessie kicked it back, again. Then, the dead one lunged for him. He pushed it back with his forearm, while stabbing it in the temple. Then, he waived them out. Matt drove the RV out the gate, and through the yard. He stopped halfway into the street . He turned to watch Jessie, who was already locking the gate. He ran to the truck, climbed inside and drove past the RV. He spoke into the radio. “We are on our way. Matt, stay behind me.” Mary replied, “ We are right behind you, Babe. You scared me back there.” Jessie replied, “ Don't worry about me. They move slow, remember that. We should be there in a while, if we don't run into any delays.” Down the street, there were stragglers from the horde that Jessie had led away, earlier. Jessie drove through them. He spoke into the radio. He said, “Don't stop. Drive through them. I put the plow on, if we run into a big group of them, I'll pave the way.” Mary said, “ Okay. Lead the way. “ They drove to the old Mall. As they came up the old service road, they saw a group of the Living Dead. Jessie dropped his plow. With sparks flying to the side of the plow from the metal scraping the pavement, he plowed through them. He picked up his radio, and said, “Keep going. Stay on here until we get through the mob.” Mary held her radio to her mouth, “ Jessie. Be careful!” He replied, “ I am, Babe. Tell Matt to stay behind me.” From the drivers side seat, Matt replied, “ I am right behind you, Jessie.” Mary watched as the already dead bodies of zombies flew from both sides of Jessie's truck, as he drove down the road. Some of them were bloody, and partially eaten. There were children, too. Ma
ry's heart went out to them. She felt her own belly. She didn't want that to happen to her child. When they came out to the highway, Jessie turned towards the edge of town. They traveled for about a half hour before seeing some cars stopped on the highway. Jessie slowed down. His voice came over the radio, “Okay, slow down. We need to see if anyone is stalled here. Or, if it's just a bunch of abandoned vehicles.” Matt felt uneasy about the vehicles on the side of the road. He asked Mary, “Can I have the radio, Mary?” She handed him the radio. He said, “Jess, don't stop. I have a bad feeling about this.” Jessie heard Matt's voice, but didn't respond. He drove slowly around the vehicles. He peered at the scene, looking for any clue of life. Or, at least, a hint of any dangers that may be lurking around. There were some military vehicles. Empty military vehicles. And, what looked like a pile of dead bodies, over to the side. Jessie said, “They must have stopped them, and pulled them from their cars.” He picked up his radio, “Okay. It looks like the military is killing people, now. This ain't good. I don't think that anyone is alive, here. But, we need to watch out, because I see citizen bodies, but I don't see military bodies.