Planet Dead (Book 1): Bloodthirsty

by Sylvester Barzey

  “I know” She finally said and Adam nodded walking towards the door.

  Adam stood by Tennessee, and watched as Catherine put up three fingers, “When you open the door, I’ll try to make the best path that I can but you two need to get to that shed,” she said, the pair nodded and one of her fingers went down.

  Adam closed his eyes for a moment, his life had been turned upside down in the space of a few months. He went from private schools, and small talks at family dinners to kidnapping and hurting people he didn’t even know. Adam wished he could say they did it cause they had to, that there was no other choice, that this was the only form of food they had, but he knew the truth. His brothers did it cause they liked it and Adam did it cause he was scared. Adam eyes opened and he realized he was just as scared now as he was dealing with his brothers.

  “I don’t know if I can do this,” he whispered.

  Catherine put down another finger and looked over at Adam, “Then go help-”

  She was about to tell him he could stay and help Sue. That she didn’t blame him, but none of those words came out. Nothing could be said, her time was stolen from her as Tennessee swung the door open and two of the monsters came crashing through. Their jaws were frantically snapping at Catherine, who had jumped back. The zombies were lying in the doorway and Catherine swung the bat down with all the force she could muster up, cracking open the skull of one of the zombies.

  Adam was already stomping on the head of the other and Tennessee was down the front steps racing towards the shed around the corner of the house.

  “Bitch,” Catherine said softly to herself and then she quickly took off behind her. “Move the bodies and close the door!” she yelled back at Adam.

  She was in the middle of the yard with her bat tightly held in both hands, “Bring it on you dead mother fuckers!” she screamed out into the night sky.

  This caused the infected to slowly start to turn towards Catherine. First it was just one, then four but as she continued to scream into the air, backing up down the hillside, she noticed all of them were turning her way.

  It was close to twenty or so, all from different walks of life, she did her best to focus on that, more than the fear. Quickly naming each in her head to take any hidden remorse out of the picture as she swung for their ripe heads.

  She watched as a scantily clad woman with a large sword sticking out of her mouth came walking towards her. How the woman planned on taking a bite out of anyone with that in her mouth was beyond Catherine’s comprehension, but she became Esmeralda. The whoring showgirl from Brazil, who was after the bearded lady’s husband.

  “Bad Esmeralda!” Catherine said as her bat went flying from her left side to her right, smashing into Esmeralda’s neck causing her to fall to the ground and start rolling down the hill side. The next two she focused on seemed to be a couple, they were dressed far more formally than Esmeralda was. The man had a button up blue dress shirt, well it used to be blue, now it was whatever dark color blood and blue produced. Catherine followed the blood stain up to a large hole between his neck and his shoulder, from that hole hung a chunk of flesh, the hunk of skin and tissue sent a stream of blood down the man’s shirt that blended in with his red tie.

  The woman was no better, there were large gashes all along her face, she reminded Catherine of The Ringmaster before she used his head as a baseball. That thought made her smile, it even pushed out a small laugh as she started looking at the zombies hands searching for their wedding rings, so she could label them Mr. and Mrs.

  However, as she did that, she saw him. A small boy shuffled alongside the well dressed couple, he was wearing a matching bright red tie like the man, his father she guessed. Her eyes were fixed on his glazed over grey eyes. The boy moaned and made his way towards her. It didn't seem as if he was fully aware that she was there, unlike the others. Catherine found herself picturing Jordan, holding his hand and walking alongside Robert. They were just three souls trying to live their normal lives and then the world turned it all upside down.

  “Jordan,” Catherine said softly.

  She stood there as the boy slowly turned his head towards her, she could feel his grey eyes locking onto her. Then his slow movements turned into him speeding towards her with his mouth snapping and his bloody hands out, he was missing four fingers and blood was still spraying from his wounds.

  Catherine longed to see Jordan, but not like this. This was a dead boy, and Jordan was very much alive. Catherine knew that, she believed that, she had to. Catherine put her bat up getting ready for a swing when blood came flying onto her chest, the boy’s head tumbled through the night sky and started rolling down the hill side. Catherine’s eyes followed it as it rolled past Esmeralda who was slowly making her way back up the hill.

  Catherine turned to see Tennessee swinging a machete, cutting through the crowd of Zombies, one bloody body part at a time. Adam wasn't too far behind as he started chopping and cutting through the crowd as well, with a small hatchet.

  Adam took one large low swing, bashing into the kneecap of the father zombie. The zombie went down quickly but Adam found himself fighting to pull the hatchet out of the bone, he fell to his ass finally pulling the hatchet free, but on second glance Adam saw the bloody kneecap still stuck to the blade. He had ripped it right out of the zombie's leg.

  A cold sweat started dripping from Adam’s forehead as he watched the man frantically clawing his way towards him. He started rushing back as quickly as he could, kicking up dirt each time his feet kicked away from the zombie. Before he knew it his back had ran into Catherine's legs. Adam looked up at Catherine, who looked over at the quickly crawling zombie. She took a large step forward and swung her bat, the wood met with the softened skull of the zombie cracking it open and causing blood to shoot out like a fountain.

  The zombie stopped cold from the impact, but only for a moment before he started race towards them once again, and once again Catherine swung down with her bat, this time the bat caved into the man's head and his body went limp. Catherine looked back down at Adam and put out her hand to help him to his feet.

  "You alright?" she asked.

  The skinny young man, whose hands were lightly shaking with the hatchet still tightly held by his white knuckled hand, nodded.

  Catherine dusted off his shoulders as she asked, "Where's the truck?"

  Just then Tennessee came running towards Adam and she swung her machete at the left side of his head.

  Adam dropped down to his knees screaming, "What the fuck!"

  Blood started running down the side of Adam’s face, he knew that it was over, that his time to pay for all his sins had come. Adam knew everything his brothers did was wrong, and that he was just as wrong for not stopping them. He knew there was a place in hell for those that helped the devil do his dirty deeds, which was just what he did for his brothers.

  He tied those girls up…

  He dragged the bodies in and out that tent.

  Dead or alive…

  Screaming or crying…

  He did it all.

  Adam might have hated himself for it every night, he might have refused food from time to time, but hate and pain wasn't going to bring those girls back. So as the blood started running down his face and onto his dirty white shoes, he was at an odd peace because he knew he deserved it.

  "Hey, you're alright kid. Get up," Catherine's calm voice broke through all of Adam's thoughts of sin and hell.

  He looked up at her through the drips of blood that had clung to his eyebrows. Adam's head turned towards Tennessee who was standing over him with the machete resting on her shoulder, smiling. Adam stood up and slowly turned around to see Esmeralda's headless body lying on the floor behind him. There was blood all around them, drops of it covered Catherine’s and Tennessee's faces as they watched Adam come to terms with his new lease on life.

  The young man ran his hands over his face trying to clear away the blood, "What the fuck?" he softly said to himself.

&
nbsp; Tennessee laughed and was about to spit out a weak apology to Adam but Sue's blood chilling scream stole everyone’s attention.

  "Catherine!"

  Catherine's head shot back towards the house, where the front door was wide open. She took off running, swinging her bat, knocking over zombies as she created a path to the house.

  "Catherine!" Tennessee screamed out over the moans.

  Catherine didn't look back she just shouted out, "Get to the truck!"

  She took one giant leap, clearing the stairs to the front porch and before she knew it, she was through the front door staring at the back of a rather large looking man.

  Catherine looked past the large shoulders to see Sue backing up slowly, while pulling Faith by her legs, the two were at the bottom of the staircase now, with no place to go but up, and with Faith not providing any help it was gonna be a hard trip. Sue’s eyes burned as the tears started to flow, her chest heaved at the sight of Catherine in the doorway.

  "Catherine!" she cried out once again and Catherine swung the bat as hard as she could right into the back of the large man's head.

  A loud snapping sound went throughout the living room. Catherine hands came back with only half the baseball bat, it had shattered upon impact with the man’s skull. Catherine’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped as her gaze went from the shattered bat to the large man. Blood was running down the side of his head, but he never moved.

  The man’s shoulders rolled for a moment, then his feet shifted as he slowly started to turn around to face Catherine, who dropped what was left of the bat when she saw the large man’s face.

  “Oh my God,” she softly said to herself as she took a step back from the large muscle enhanced man.

  It wasn’t his size that shocked Catherine. It was his face, or lack thereof. His mouth was hanging open, with his tongue just swinging ever so freely from one corner of his mouth to the other. There were no lips to hide his large blood covered teeth as he started slowly walking towards Catherine. His skin seemed to have burned or melted off his face, all that was left was a dark mix of blood and charred skin and these two large bulging grey eyes. There were red veins running throughout them. The man’s large muscular arms came out towards Catherine and she took a slow step back, and the man was still slowly moving forward.

  “Catherine!”

  The man’s head quickly turned from left to right, as his body seemed to be fighting to turn around toward Sue’s scream. Catherine stood there with her back against the door frame of the house. She turned to look out the door way watching the zombies making their way down the hill after Tennessee and Adam.

  Catherine’s turned her attention back to the large burnt face man, she put her hand out towards the open door, then quickly slammed it shut. The man’s head started spinning from side to side once again as his body twisted and turned it’s way towards the closed door. Catherine started to slowly take side steps, one slow move at a time, till she made her way by one of the many boarded up windows, and the burnt face man was still walking towards the shut door with his hands out.

  Catherine’s eyebrow went up and then she looked over at Sue who was fighting to get Faith up off the floor. Catherine slowly put her fist up in the air and shook her head. Sue’s eyes were fixed on Catherine and then she looked over at the large man, then back at Catherine.

  “What the fuck does that mean!” Sue shouted.

  Just as Sue’s words hit the air the massive zombie spun around and started frantically running towards the Sue.

  “Oh shit!” Catherine screamed out as she raced towards the zombie.

  She kept her shoulder low and slammed her boots into the floor with every step, the sounds caused the man to quickly turned, but when he did it was right into Catherine and her rushing shoulder. Both of them went toppling over onto the floor.

  Sue stood up as she watched Catherine trying her best to break free from the massive zombie’s grip. His arms were locked around her like a vice grip. Catherine kept her hands pressed up under the zombie’s bloody jaw to avoid the jagged teeth that were trying to make their way towards her flesh. Catherine’s hands started slipping, one moment at a time sliding off of the blood and slimy flesh he called a jaw. With every slip his head kept getting closer and closer to her.

  “Sue!” Catherine screamed out.

  Catherine was chest to chest with the monster, so she had no idea that Sue was already on the case. Sue had ran up the stairs when Catherine shouldered the zombie and came back down with the knife that was once buried Daniel’s leg. Sue stood over the two, letting Catherine and the monster battle it out between her legs for a moment.

  “Hey!” Sue shouted.

  Catherine’s head shot up and the monster’s head snapped up as well, just in time for Sue to drive the knife down into his bulging eye socket.

  “Night, night! Mother fucker,” Sue said as she twisted the knife left and right.

  The muscular arms fell to the side and Catherine started pushing herself away from zombie.

  She sat there on the floor for a moment, then looked over at Sue, “What the fuck?!” Catherine yelled.

  Sue picked her head up from the man’s face, standing there she raised her eyebrow. “What?” she asked.

  “I was telling you to stop what you were doing, and listen up,” Catherine said as she started getting up off the floor.

  Sue rolled her eyes, “I don’t speak G.I Joe,” she said.

  Catherine walked over to the body and stood there looking at him.

  “He was odd.” Sue said.

  Catherine nodded, “He was blind.” she replied.

  Sue looked over at Catherine and then back at the body, “Well, that could have been way easier than huh?” she asked. Catherine ran her hands over her face as she walked over to Faith.

  “I’m sorry!” Sue shouted out.

  Catherine started laughing as she said, “You're always sorry!”

  The two women went about getting Faith up without any other words. They slowly made their way through the blood covered living room, stepping over the blind monster whose head was pinned to the floor with the knife. Sue stared at his face as she stepped over, he was a frightening even motionless, but she put him down, which was a far cry from where she was just a few days ago. Hell it was a far cry from just a few hours ago. When they made it to the door Sue’s head turned towards the corner of darkness, where The Ringmaster’s black boot stuck out into the light of the doorway. Sue stared at it till she felt Catherine tug on Faith causing Sue to move forward.

  What was lying dead in the darkness, that was the real monster, an evil that preyed on the weak when the world was broken. A monster that didn’t care about surviving, he didn’t care about finding a cure, or worrying about why all this was happening.

  Finding family, or just finding a moment of safety wasn’t on his mind, this monster just wanted to bring the world deeper into the darkness and prove everyone was just as wicked as he was and as Sue took one last look at the blood covered room she wondered if he was right. A honk caused both Sue and Catherine’s heads to pop up. A white dirty ice cream truck sat by the steps, the back door pushed open and Tennessee hopped out dusting herself off.

  Slowly turning her head towards the women, “You clowns coming?” Tennessee said.

  Sue rolled her eyes and they he started walking down the steps with Faith’s body, “Clowns? Really?” Sue said.

  Tennessee laughed as they walked to the back of the ice cream truck, “What too soon?” Tennessee said.

  As they loaded up Faith into the back of truck Catherine looked around it, there were old ice cream containers and a freezer, two seats up front and a sleeping bag in the back that they rested Faith on. Catherine hopped out of the back and closed the doors leaving Sue and Faith inside. Tennessee went towards the driver’s side, but before she got to the door Catherine pulled her by the arm.

  The women were face to face now, Tennessee smiled and raised an eyebrow as she said, “What? I know
it’s not the best ride but beggars can’t be choosers you know?”

  Catherine’s cold stare didn’t leave Tennessee, she studied the smiling woman before softly asking, “Where’s Adam?”

  CHAPTER 8

  T he ice cream truck tires raced along the blacktop road away from the farmhouse, from the bodies, from it all. They just wanted to put miles between them and the madness that had entered their lives.

  Sue had fallen asleep in the back after an hour of verbally battling with Tennessee. The two were going at it over Adam, Sue’s skinny protector.

  Tennessee said once they got to the truck, Adam started it up, not knowing that there was a zombie in the back. Tennessee said he fought for his life, and that she was fighting to save him, but there was nothing she could do. That's what Tennessee said, but as Catherine’s eyes ran along the dusty interior of the truck, she was starting to thinking what Tennessee says and the truth aren't one and the same. After hours of screaming and questions it came down to one pure statement that summed up what everyone was feeling.

  “You don’t believe me, do you?” Tennessee asked.

  Catherine’s head turned away from the cool air that was blowing past her open window, she looked over at Tennessee for a short moment then back over her shoulder at Sue, “It doesn’t matter if I believe you or not, it’s over with,” Catherine said.

  She turned her head back to look at Tennessee whose eyes were fixed on the road, the headlights hardly worked and she had to stay focused to make sure she didn’t hit a deer or a pack of zombies. The last thing they wanted was to walk in the dead of night with Faith still being out of commission.

  “We just need to move forward,” Catherine finally finished.

  Tennessee laughed softly to herself and tightened her grip on the steering wheel, “You never believe me.” she softly said.

  Catherine’s eyebrow went up, “What do you mean never?” she asked.

  Tennessee shouted, “A fucking zombie got him! I don’t see why that’s so hard for you to believe!”