Living Dead 2.0

by Radovick, Ronda

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  Omar shouted orders, while grabbing Theresa, and throwing her to the ground. Emilio shot at him, and missed. “Leave my daughter alone!” Omar shot back at the older man. Emilio went down. Theresa cried, “No! Papa!” She ran to her father's side. From the bus, the children were screaming. Will shot the man, just before he shot Kyle. One of the Raiders shot Will in the arm. He yelled, “Ah!” Stella yelled, “Dad!” She was trying to make her way across the shooting spree, when a woman tackled her. She, and the woman started to fight. Will ducked behind a vehicle. He was bleeding, but was still able to shoot. He just had a flesh wound. He peeked around the side of the truck, and saw Stella and the woman. He started to shoot at a man that was heading towards them. He hit him. The man went down. Now, the Raiders were losing. They had to pull back, or be killed. Kyle saw Omar on top of the wall barking out orders. He ran towards him, and climbed to the wall top. “You little punk-thug!” He tackled Omar. The two started fighting. Omar, like many thugs, had always gotten away with beating up on women or boys smaller than him. He had not had to hold his own with a real man, until now. Kyle started to beat the hell out of Omar, and the two went over the edge, near the gate. Now, they were outside the wall. Zombies had begun accumulating outside the wall, from the sound of the horn blaring, and the gunshots. As Kyle and Omar fought, the zombies gathered around them. They dodged the boney fingers of the dead clawing at them, while fist fighting each other. Omar was trying to run away. But, there were so many zombie circling them that, he had to back track every five or six steps. Which, allowed Kyle to get a hold of him for a few more minutes, each time. Back inside, Ben and the man were still fighting. They could hear explosions happening from outside the walls. Someone yelled, “It's Jimmy, Rose, and Aidan! They are back! They are blasting the Raiders!” Then, they heard heavy artillery fire. The escaping Raiders were cut down, by the many bullets coming from the armored vehicle. Kyle turned around. He saw Aidan, and Jimmy, shooting the mob of Raiders. He caught Omar. He started to drag him back to the wall. “You are going to pay, this time.” he told the Raider. He drug the young man back to where his group lay dead. Jimmy came out of the tank, “We have to move that truck, so we can get though the gate.” Kyle said, “Glad you guys made it. Watch this one, will you? Cover me? He turned, and kicked down a zombie that was trying to rush them. He stabbed it in the temple, and turned to Omar, “You! Stay put!” Jimmy asked, “Will it move?” Just then, Omar lunged at Kyle, knocking him down. He and Kyle started to fight, again. Jimmy jumped down onto the ground. He started to run towards the two fighting men. A zombie came up on him. He grabbed it, shoving it to the ground. The zombie tried to get up, he shot it. Three more came towards him. He heard Rose yelling, “Jimmy watch out!” The children were yelling, and crying, from inside the truck. Rose, and Aidan had come outside of the vehicles. They were both fighting off zombies. Jimmy focused on Kyle, and Omar fighting. Four zombies had rushed them from all sides. Kyle threw him on onto the ground. Omar jumped to his feet, and shoved his way past two of them, then started to run away. Kyle was trying to catch him, while fighting off the dead. He turned, and stabbed one in the temple. Then, another grabbed his arm. He shot it in the head. The next one tackled him. He dropped his knife. The large he-zombie tried to bite his face. He snapped his teeth, and growled at Kyle. Kyle pushed back on the large, grumbling-stiff. Just as the snapping zombie tried to take a bite out of his shoulder, he heard a shot. The big leathery zombie fell on top of him. The smell almost made him sick. He scrambled to get the rotting-body off of him. Aidan stood over him, still holding the gun in his hand. Jimmy yelled, “Come on! We have to hurry!” They could hear Omar yelling. A mob of zombies rushed him, as he tried to flee into the trees. He could not get away from them.

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  Rose said, “We should hurry, there are too many to fight off.” They all looked behind them, at the coming wave of the dead. Kyle jumped to his feet. They ran to the vehicle that was stuck in the gate-way. Kyle said, “We may have to pull it out. We have to hurry! There are still some of the Raiders inside.” The armored truck had a built in pulley. Aidan said, “We can use that rig, to get it out of our way. All of the gunfire must have drawn them here.” He pointed to a second large group of zombies that were moving towards them. They were a few hundred feet away. They only had minutes. Rose said, “I'll cover you. Hurry!” Kyle, and Aidan, rushed to the back of the large truck. They pulled on the large hook and cable, then latched it to the axle of the truck that was stuck inside the gateway. As Jimmy sat in the drivers seat. He turned on the wench. The truck started moving. Meg frantically said, “We have to hurry! They are getting closer!” On the other side of the wall, the man that Ben was fending off, stabbed him in his side. Ben doubled over. Now, he was down on the ground. Renee had shaken off the beating she had gotten, and crawled back up to her feet. She was wobbly, but realized that Ben had just been stabbed. Emilio was starting to turn, he woke up, and grabbed for Theresa. Tony, grabbed the zombie- Emilio. He held him at bay. Tears welled up in his eyes. The Emilio zombie, snapped his teeth at Tony. Raul stood there, with tears in his eyes. He said, “I'll do it.” He took his knife from his belt, and slowly pushed the blade into his father's temple. The zombie version of Emilio fell to the ground. Theresa fell to the ground, crying. Stella, and the woman were rolling around the ground. Will ran towards his daughter. Before he could get there, Rachel came out of now where, “Leave her alone!” She grabbed the woman by the hair, pulling her away from Stella. Now, the woman was being pummeled by Stella and Rachel. Will tried to get to his daughter, and Rachel. He thought that he heard some kind of loud machinery. Before he could get to the girls, he saw Ben. He knew that Ben had been stabbed. The Raider stood there, with an evil grin on his face. The knife was still in his hand. He bragged to Renee, “You are next.” he started to move towards Renee. They heard more shots ring out. The man fell dead. Will turned around, to see Aidan standing there with the gun still pointed in the man's direction. “Aidan?” Renee blurted out, in shock. He looked at Renee's face. She had a fat lip, and a bloody nose. He walked towards her. “Are you alright?” She went into a panic. She said, “Yes. Help me get Ben to the infirmary.” He looked at Ben. He knew that his injury was bad, from the blood that he saw all over the place. He looked at the dead man that, he had just shot. He shot him a second time. This time in the head. “You son of a bitch!” Aidan said, “We don't have much time. The dead are coming.” He bent down to try to help Ben get up. “It's okay Buddy. Just breathe. Stay awake.” Everyone looked towards the gate. The truck was gone, and a military truck, followed by a tank came rushing through. They saw Rose driving the truck. Kyle was walking next to the vehicles. He turned and yelled, “Come on! We have to close the gate! The dead are coming!” All of the men pushed the gate closed. Then, they backed a truck up against it, to give it extra strength against the horde that was heading towards it. Renee, and Will, helped Aidan lift Ben up. Jose ran up to the scene “Ben!” He was stunned. “What happened to Ben?” He looked at Renee's face. She was bleeding, and was visibly shaken. Renee said, “Jose. Honey. We need to get him back. Help us.” Jose looked like he would cry. “Ben! You have to hold on. Talk to me!” Renee tried to comfort Ben. “Ben, Honey. Hang on. Okay? We are bringing you to the infirmary.” He looked up at Renee, then closed his eyes. He started to lose consciousness. “Hold on, Ben.” She knew that, him fighting to stay awake meant that, he had lost too much blood. She stared down at him. “Ben! Wake up!”

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  She turned, and yelled for Scott. “Scott!” Her voice was shaky, and she was crying. Scott ran up to them, “Hurry! Get him up in the bed of the truck.” Aidan, Will, and Scott lifted Ben into the bed of the truck. Jimmy rushed to the truck, “Oh, no!” he said, “Renee, keep him awake. He has lost a lot of blood.” Scott said, “Jimmy, you and Kyle get everything together here. Will you? I'll be back as soon as I can.” Kyle watched, as they tried to wake Ben up. He knew that it was not good. The
Raiders were gone, now. Near Rachel and Stella, the woman lay motionless on the ground.

  Will climbed into the truck, as he watched Rachel and Stella tying her up. He looked at Kyle and Jimmy. He said, “ We're going to get him to the infirmary.” Kyle, Jimmy, and the others, made their rounds and put down the men who were no longer alive, a second time,. Jimmy said, “We have to make sure they can't get through the gate.” He looked over at Raul, Tony, and the rest of the newcomers. “Who are they?” Kyle asked, “They came here wanting to trade with us. Now their father is dead.” Rose took the children to her house. She walked into the kitchen, and gave her Granny a big hug. Granny said, “I have been praying for you to come back safe.” At the infirmary, Imogen and Scott worked on Ben. Chloe, Jose, and Renee waited in the next room. Chloe was worried. “They are taking too long.” Renee said, “We have to think positive, Honey.” Jose said, “If I had just gotten there a few minutes earlier.” Chloe said, “It wasn't your fault, Jose. Everyone was in a panic. You didn't know.” Renee said, “Jose. Don't blame yourself. None of us knew what they would do next. We have to let Imogen, and Scott to work on him.”

  Just then, Imogen came out of the room. They all turned towards her. Tears had welled up in her eyes. Chloe looked at her for a few seconds. Then she screamed, “No! No! I want to see Ben!” Renee tried to comfort her daughter. Chloe took several steps backwards, until she was up against the wall. She began to cry, uncontrollably. Jose stood there in shock. He, and Ben, had been friends since the first grade. He wanted to scream, but could not make a sound. He stared at Chloe, who repeated, “No! No!” She kept crying, and held her hands on her head. Jose didn't know what to say. He was frozen. Back at the wall, the horn on the over turned vehicle had finally, stopped blaring. The dead were outside the gate. Jimmy said, “Glad that battery finally went dead.” Stella approached the Fontana family.” She introduced herself,” I am Stella Neely. I want to say that, I am very sorry for your loss. We have an old school that some of the group stays in. They have made apartments from the rooms, there. Please, make yourselves at home. We have three combined properties, and an Orchard. Anything that you need, I'll try yo get it for you, if we have it.” Theresa, was still in shock. With a blank expression on her face, she said, “Thank you. I am Theresa.” The woman looked lost, and traumatized. Her father had just been killed. Stella didn't know what to say, to make it better for her. She continued to lead them around the place. “The men are talking about watching the walls, now. If you like, please bring you vehicles, and get some rest. I will bring you all some food, and snacks for the kids.” The woman, just shook her head. “Thank you.” She brought them to the school, and settled them in. Raul, and Tony, helped on the wall. As the men watched, what was left of the the horde in their field, they all got to know each other. Raul was quiet, but the men understood why that was. He needed to keep it together for the survival of himself, and his family. Aidan came to the wall. They could tell by the expression on his face that, he had bad news about Ben. “Ben didn't make it.” He whispered the news, but they all heard. Everyone there, whether old, or new members of the group, were deeply saddened by their losses that day. Outside the wall, the dead were wandering around in circles.

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  Some of them were stumbling back towards the trees. Some, were still eating Omar. Kyle said, “We need to deal with any Raiders that are left, once and for all.” All over the place, people within the group were cleaning up. Some of them had started to dig graves. They had started to re-organize. Charlie spoke over the radio, “Raiders are coming. Only two vehicles, this time.” Kyle said, “We need to deal with these guys. They are not going to go away.” Will came up the steps. His shoulder was blood stained. “Kyle is right. These people are going to keep attacking. They don't care who they hurt. Raul asked, as he stared at the oncoming vehicles, “These people are with the people that attacked, and killed my Father?” In sync, Will and Kyle answered, “Yes.” Kyle said, “ They killed another one of ours, not too long ago. Now they killed Ben, along with your Father. Ben, was sixteen. They don't quit.” Raul said, “So, we have common enemy.” Scott walked up. He looked very serious. Everyone could see that, the death of Ben was bothering him. Before anyone could say anything, Raul said, “Let them come. See what they get.” Scott felt sorry for Raul, and his family. Just as Emilio thought that, he had found a safe haven for his family, they all saw him die a senseless death. Then, he thought about Ben, again. Why couldn't I save him? he thought to himself. Scott said, “Raul, I know that, you are upset. Why don't you go be with your family? Let us deal with these guys.” Raul said, “I would like to see them. I hope they don't get out of line.” Kyle cut in, “Scott. We need to kill everyone of them, now. Otherwise, this will never stop.” They all watched, as the two vehicles came to a stop in front of their wall. Several men stepped out side. A man walked right up in front of the gate. “Well. I see our men came to visit. Where is the Captain's son?” Kyle stared down at him. He pointed to the half eaten body, now a crawling zombie. The man turned around. He looked up at the men who stood on the wall top. The man rolled his eyes like he was a teenager, who was disrespecting his parents. Another man said, “The Captain won't let this one go.” The man in front said, “Yes. I know.” Kyle spoke up, “Take your guys home. We didn't want any trouble with your people. But, your people would not leave us alone. You tell your Captain, to stay away from our people.” The man turned around, and ordered his men into their vehicles. “Everyone. Get back into the vehicles, now. We need to go collect Omar, and bring him to the Captain.” They followed his orders. Will, and the rest of the group watched, as they drove to where the crawling zombie that had been Omar was. They watched one of the men walk up to the zombie, and stab him through the temple. Then, two of them wrapped him in an old blanket, picked him up, and carried him to the back of their truck. Then, they simply, pulled away. Will said, “We ain't heard the last of them. They will pull another surprise attack. Kyle is right.” Imogen sat in the infirmary, staring out through the window. She watched, as Jack, Aidan, Jose, Raul, and Tony dug two graves. She started to cry. She had gotten to know Ben, and she liked him. He as a good kid. She felt like she had let everyone down. The door swung open. It was Kyle. She turned and looked away. She took a tissue, and wiped her eyes. He walked over to her, and hugged her. He didn't say anything, at first. He just held her. He watched the men dig the graves. He took her chin in his hand, and looked down into her eyes. “I want you, and all of the women to be ready to get into the escape. Especially, at night. They came back today. It was a smaller group, and the guy in charge didn't say much. But, I know that they'll be back.” She asked, “What did they want?” He said, “They picked up Omar's body. Remember, what I am telling you. If this place falls, you get as many people as you can, and get to the back part of the Orchard. You don't come out, until we come to get you. We are starting on drills, tomorrow. So, everyone know what to do.”