Life As We Know It

by Harper-Adams, Connor

  “Where do you want me to put these, Charlie?” Jack asked.

  “Just drop them by the van, I’ll bring them back inside later.” Charlie replied.

  As Jack did that, Penny went over to one of the zombies and dragged its lifeless body over too one side of the front lawn. She went and grabbed another zombie, only to find out that it had just been lying there, not actually dead. She screamed, but took her knife from its sheath and properly destroyed the zombie.

  “And that ladies and gentlemen, is why we ALWAYS carry our weapons.” Rory said.

  “Right. Everyone get your guns out.” Jack said. They all did so. “I want everyone to carefully walk past each zombie and shoot it in the head. We cannot be too careful her guys, do this properly and when we are done, we will burn the corpses.

  Jack, Penny, Charlie and Rory walked past each and every zombie they had shot or stabbed earlier, and shot it right in the forehead. After about ten minutes of this, Jack shot the last zombie and they could begin with the burning of the zombies.

  They dragged the lifeless bodies over to a big ring of rocks, with wood inside. Charlie had figured that in a zombie apocalypse, these bloody things would have lost some weight, but there were some heavy buggers here. One looked like he had eaten a whole army of people! Then, with a rather sobering thought, he realised that is probably exactly what had happened.

  “Can we spare a canister of fuel to get this fire really going?” Jack asked.

  “Yeah, we have five, so one shouldn’t really make a big difference.”

  “Come on now guys, fire isn’t a toy it is a very dangerous and potentially deadly- Rory was cut off by Charlie:

  “Yeah yeah, we get it, Fireman Rory. Jesus.”

  As Jack got ready to throw the fuel on the fire, he got that really disturbing feeling that something absolutely horrible was about to happen. Jack didn’t believe in mystical visions that could tell the future on anything stupid like that, but he couldn’t help but feel there was a little bit more to this than just a feeling. He was really worried that something was about to happen. Worse that the horde. Worse than getting stabbed in the foot by Charlie. Worse than anything else that had happened in this new world.

  Charlie splashed some fuel onto the corpses and then stood back. He drew a matchbox from his belt and struck it against coarse edge of the box. It sparked to life with a very satisfying crackle, and with that, he told everyone to stand back, and he threw the match onto the pile of zombies.

  Holy shit. That was probably the best way to describe it. The stench was absolutely horrific! It was like burning rotten meat. Again, Charlie realised that was exactly what they were doing. The Survivors actually had to cover their noses in order to keep from vomiting. The flames licked high into the air, and the heat was very intense. Jack, Penny, Charlie and Rory stood back as the flamed burned the corpses away to ash and nothingness.

  Suddenly, one of the zombies who had previously been lying in the pile of corpses tumbled off the top of the pile and got to its feet. It seemed that one of the people who had shot this zombie had missed, and the fire hadn’t destroyed the brain yet. It ran blindly towards the trees in the front yard, and set them alight.

  “Holy shit.” Jack yelled.

  Understandably, Jack, Penny, Charlie and Rory had not wasted precious water on making the trees look nice and lovely, and the dead trees went up in flames. This was now very serious. The flames licked higher and higher, and in that moment, Charlie knew they were in trouble.

  “GET THE FUCKING FIRE EXTUINGISHER.” Screamed Rory.

  “ON IT.” Replied Charlie.

  He ran into the house and jumped the stairs to the attic 3 at a time in order to get the fire extinguisher and put out the flaming trees. He got it, and he prepared to throw it out the open window. He leaned out and saw Jack, Penny and Rory waving their arms and yelling. Charlie couldn’t make out what they were saying.

  Then he understood.

  The house was on fire.

  ***

  Without a second thought, Charlie threw the fire extinguisher out of the open window into Rory’s arms, in the hope that he could control the blaze. Charlie bolted downstairs, only to find the entrance to the front door already alight. He would have to find another way out. He went to run to the back door, only to find that before they had left to fight the zombies, Jack had boarded the back door shut. It would take too long to open it again, so Charlie went back the way he came. He tore up the stairs to the attic and screamed to his comrades outside:

  “I’M TRAPPED. YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO CATCH ME.”

  And with that, he jumped.

  It wasn’t a long jump. It was only a 2-storey house. The fall was long enough for Charlie to regret jumping, but he knew he could trust his mates. Sure enough, Charlie fell right into Jacks outstretched arms, bowling them both over and giving Charlie a nasty headache. However, they had much bigger problems to deal with that just a headache.

  The house was beyond saving. The whole bottom of the house was completely alight now, and the flames were starting to reach the second floor. The house that had protected them for the last five months had finally met its match. Jack dropped to the ground, and started sobbing relentlessly. He had put so much work into that home, and now it was just a burning pile of ash and charred wood.

  Penny just stood there, blank faced. She had loved this house. She remembered when they had first bought the house; it was just a one storey, weak old thing. Couldn’t have survived a water balloon attack, let alone a zombie apocalypse. But she and Jack had fixed it up, added more to it. And good god it had payed off.

  Charlie sat on the ground and put his head in his lap. He couldn’t believe that this was how this tough old house met its end: A bloody zombie on fire running into some goddamn trees. He got up, and ran over to the zombie who had done all of this. It was lying on the ground, alive, but only barely. The fire had gone out on his clothes, so he was just lying there, waiting to finally die. Charlie obliged. Picking up a hammer that was lying nearby, Charlie smacked the zombie on the head with it. Hard. The weak zombie’s skull shattered instantly, caving in the head and showering Charlie with brains and muck. But Charlie didn’t stop there. He smashed the zombie all over its body, caving in its chest, exploding its heart with a well-placed blow and then finally getting out his sword, and cutting off the bloody corpses head. He looked down at his work. The horrific, gory mess of a head was lying there, looking at him with undead eyes. Charlie kicked the head into the burning fire and the skin slowly melted of the face, leaving a grinning skull in its wake.

  Rory stared at the fiery wreck of a house they had once called home. He couldn’t believe it was gone. Every thing they had ever known. Gone. All of the extra guns, all of the extra ammo. Except maybe… Rory looked over to where the armoured van usually was, expecting the worst. Instead, he saw the van in one uncharred piece, with all the bags of fuel and clothes and medical supplies sitting in top!

  Rory ran over to the van and opened it up. And in that very moment, Rory finally understood why Jack had always made sure that the guns and ammo were always locked up, safe and sound.

  Inside the armoured van.

  ***

  Rory was pretty excited about that. Even in the tragedy of that day, he couldn’t help smiling at that bit of luck. It must have been a miracle! What were the odds that, not only were ALL their spare guns locked up in the van, but all of the bags from the top of the van would escape unharmed too! Rory had gone through every single bag just to make sure, and he found that there was not one thing that was wrong with any of the contents. This had to be some sort of miracle!

  Penny walked over to Jack. She sat down next to him and grabbed his hand. She out her face close to his, and their silent tear flowed down their faces, sharing the grief for the house that the had loved with all of their hearts. Penny looked at Jack.

  “It’s going to be alright.” She said.

  After Jack had finished grieving, he got up, a
look of new hope etched into his face. That was the odd thing about Jack. There was never a prolonged grieving period with him. He would be a complete basket case for 10 minutes, and then never get upset about it again. Rory thought that was a very dangerous thing in this new type of world. He looked straight at Charlie and said:

  “Let’s get out of here.”

  Charlie grabbed all the bags from on top of the van and chucked them in. They all piled into the big van one by one. Without a word form anyone, Jack started the ignition and they drove away from everything they had ever known since the world promptly and abruptly went to shit.

  Chapter 4: The Kindness Of Strangers

  The van rumbled down the road. Not one single word was uttered between them. Every now and again, Jack would turn his head and look at the rest of the passengers, before turning his head and continuing on down the road. After almost 2 hours of unbearable silence, Charlie finally decided to speak.

  “We have to find more survivors.” He said. “There has to be more out there, and we just have to get to them.

  “We can’t go on like this anymore. We can’t continue alone.”

  Jack pondered this. Finding others wasn’t a bad idea, and their group’s current situation wasn’t exactly perfect.

  “Ok.” Jack said. “Your right. We really do need to find others. We need shelter, we need more eyes and ears, and we could do with some human interaction as well.”

  All went silent again. The adrenaline was really starting to wear off now, and everyone was starting to feel really sleepy. Charlie was the first to nod off, snoring quietly in the corner of the van. Rory was next. Leaning up against the gun cabinet wasn’t exactly confortable, but it would do. Penny fell asleep soon after, nodding off in the passenger seat next to Jack. Jack turned around and looked at the passengers in the van. He smiled and went to turn back, but there was car lying in the middle of the road. The van crunched into the car, and the van flipped on its side, rolling at least 7 times before coming to a rest on it’s roof. Jack was thrown from the van, at least 15 metres away. Just before Jack blacked out, he saw footsteps approaching the overturned van, and the unmistakable growl of the undead…

  ***

  “H-hey st-stranger.” Came a voice from somewhere above Jack.

  Jack quickly came to his senses. He shook his head and sat upright. He was lying in a bed. His arms and legs were tied to the bedposts. A girl was staring at him. She had a rifle pointed directly at his head.

  “If you t-t-try anything, I w-w-will kill you with this.” She stuttered.

  With that, Jack slipped back into unconsciousness.

  Meanwhile, Penny, Rory and Charlie were tied to chairs in another room. They were all unconscious. Gradually, they woke. Penny was the first to speak.

  “Where the FUCK is Jack?” She yelled, struggling against the bonds that held her to her chair.

  A big guy, with not a single hair on his head stood up. He had a rough voice. It was deep and rumbling, yet somehow quite intelligent sounding at the same time. “You mean your other friend? He’s in the other house. Your van rolled, and when we got to you, he was in pretty bad shape. We patched him up, and we let him rest. He will be fine. If YOU want to stay fine, then I advise you to SHUT THE FUCK UP RIGHT NOW, BEFORE I PUT A GODDAMN BULLET IN YOUR PRETTY LITTLE HEAD. GOT IT?” He yelled.

  Penny nodded, clearly terrified.

  “What do you want with us?” Charlie asked.

  The big guy smiled at Charlie.

  “Well, let me put it this way: After we are done with you folks, you are going to wish we had just fed you to these undead motherfuckers.”

  ***

  The girl looked at Jack. So peaceful and calm. At least he was until he sat bolt upright, reaching for the gun in the girl’s hand. She screamed, and pointed at his head.

  “STOP.” She yelled. “I don’t want to do this. I’m not evil. I’m not them.’ She whispered that last word, as if being ‘them’ was some kind of horrible fate.

  “What do you mean? Were are my friends?” Jack asked.

  “I can get you to your friends. But in return, you have to help me escape this place. Can you do that?” She asked.

  “How do I know you aren’t just going to kill me right here?” Jack said.

  “I’m afraid you will just have to trust me. After all, I am your only way of getting out of this place alive.” She said.

  “Alive? What do you mean by that?” Jack said, urgency clear in his voice.

  “These people are horrible. They take random surviving groups and they kill them. After they kill them, they take all their possessions that could possibly be helpful to them in any way. Weapons, Medicine, Clothes, you name it. I am part of one of those groups. Or, I used to be. They killed them all. I managed to convince them that I could be of use to them. As an interrogator. As you can plainly see, I am not very scary. However, ever since I was a little girl, I have been an excellent shooter, so at least I have that.” She said.

  “What’s going to happen to my friends?” Jack asked.

  “They will leave them overnight. To make them more scared. The ‘head honcho’ says that it makes it even more fun to kill them if they are scared, begging for their lives.” She shuddered at that point, and something in Jacks intuition told him that she had witnessed this maniac kill someone already.

  “So they will be alone tonight?” Jack asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Then we are going to save them, and get we are going to get the hell out of here. By the way, I don’t think I ever caught your name. Mines Jack McCarthy.”

  “I’m Vanessa.” The girl said.

  ***

  Rory, Charlie and Penny struggled against the bonds, but it was to no avail.

  “Don’t bother trying to escape us.” The bald man said. “I am afraid that you are going to be stuck here for a while.”

  “What are you going to do to us?” Rory asked, fear crackling in his voice.

  “Well, you are staying here for the night. We start tomorrow.” The bald man said, a grin on his face. “Oh, and one more thing. If we hear you AT ALL tonight, we will kill you.”

  With that, he left Rory and the others tied to their chairs, and strode out of the room, shutting the door before him.

  ***

  When it was dark, Vanessa cut Jack free from his bonds and they snuck out of the room that Vanessa had locked him in in the first place. They ran along the darkened streets and Jack stopped and looked around.

  “What is this place?” He said.

  “What. You mean this whole lovely little community?” She snorted derisively. “It’s just some empty houses that these guys use as a homes.” Now come on!”

  They ran through the darkened streets, making sure that they couldn’t possibly be seen by any of the evil humans that had locked Jack up in the first place. They ran through a dark and smelly alleyway, only to be confronted by a drooling zombie to stumble out of the dark towards them. Jack managed not to yell, but it was a close thing.

  “Shit! I forgot about the zombies.” Vanessa said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “They put zombies out at night to catch anyone who is out on the streets after dark. I told you these people were evil.”

  “Well. Is there anything ELSE that could kill us out here?”

  “What are we going to do? We can’t risk a gunshot, and I don’t have any weapons!”

  “Leave it to me.” Jack said.

  He grabbed his heavy-duty flashlight from his belt. While he was grabbing his torch, he noticed that they had not relieved him of his weapons yet. Weird. He walked up to the oncoming zombie and hit it on the head. He continued to smash the zombie in the head until it’s skull finally caved in, and blood and brain matter showered all over the floor. The zombie fell to the floor with a disgusting thud.

  “We need to move.” Jack said, as he replaced his torch.

  Vanessa led Jack to a big warehouse that was next to one of the houses. />
  “Ok, your friends are in there. Lets do this quickly. If they find out that we are here…” she trailed off, but Jack didn’t need her to finish her sentence. If they were found, they were in BIG trouble.

  Jack ran over to the door and tried to open it.

  “Shit! It’s locked!” He said. “What are we gonna do?”

  “Don’t worry, I’ve got this.” Vanessa said. She produced a set of keys from her pocket and fumbled for a while before she found the right one. She unlocked the door and they both snuck in.