White Flag of the Dead wfotd-1

by Joseph Talluto

  I chanced a glance over my shoulder at the front door and ducked as a decayed hand swept towards my head. I dove forward and sprang to my feet, spinning around and facing my attacker. Correction. Attackers. About five of them had come in the door while I was ruminating, and I nearly got nailed for it. I whipped my carbine up and shot down the first one, snapping off a lucky one-handed shot that entered through its chin and blew the top of its head off, spraying brain all over the ceiling. I didn’t have time to shoot the second one, he was on me too fast. I kicked him backwards and he fell over another corpse that was on the ground. The third came from the side and I swung the crowbar viciously at his head, connecting with his neck and breaking it. He went down, but his mouth still snapped, his eyes tracking me as I moved. I shot the second one as he got up and nailed the fourth to the ground. The fifth moved slowly enough that I was able to sling my carbine over my shoulder and get a good two-handed grip on my crowbar. It came within reach, a decaying woman with dank hair and half her cheek missing, along with her nose. I swung hard and literally took her off her feet, tossing her aside and slamming her into the wall. She wasn’t dead yet, so I needed to smash her again to finish her off. I was running out of room on the floor. Literally most of the floor was covered in some sort of gore or decaying flesh, or eaten flesh, by the looks of some of it. We were losing people, but the question was, where were they, and how many had we lost?

  I quickly checked the doors to the upper floor and saw they were still secured on the inside by zip ties. Good. No one had been that way. I briefly wondered where the big guy Charlie was, but I realized I maybe didn’t want to know if the worst had happened.

  I ran towards the firing and skidded to a stop by the atrium. Three zombies were feeding on a corpse, and they were so engrossed in their task they didn’t know I was there. I looked at the body and to my horror, the hand on the ground closest to me was still moving, the fingers curling into a claw of pain. It may have been reflex, but part of me was sickened by the notion that this poor person was still alive as these creatures were feeding on him. I unslung my carbine, and placed my crowbar up against the wall. I clicked off the safety and got busy. I killed the three in short order, then shot the downed man as well. If he was still alive, he was coming back as one of them, and I could only hope someone would do me the courtesy should the need arise.

  I saw more corpses of our survivors as I moved towards the gym and commons. I didn’t see Duncan or Tommy, so I still held out hope they were still alive. Moving quickly I looked back over my shoulder and saw a steady stream of corpses from my old post. They tripped and stumbled over the bodies in the hallway, falling and getting up, never ceasing in their movement towards me. I realized I needed to keep them coming, so they wouldn’t try to get upstairs. I fired at the closest ones, dropping two and causing the rest to head my way. I backed towards the commons, and got my first look down the hallway by the gym that led to the outside of the building. It was choked with bodies, most of them zombies, although I could see a limb here and there that was not grayish in color. My God, I thought. Who’s left?

  I didn’t hear any more shots, so I was fearing the worst as I opened the door to the gym. I was immediately assaulted by the smell of dozens of decaying bodies, and the coppery smell of blood that no one ever mistakes for anything else. There were corpses everywhere, and small pockets of men were making a final stand in several places in the gym. I could see Tommy and Duncan on a small stand in a little alcove in the gym, and they were elevated enough that they could stand and smash zombies that came to them without danger of being grabbed. I saw that guy Charlie standing with three other men, swinging his length of pipe like a medieval mace. Every time he connected with a skull it was caved in and the zombie went down. But I could see he was going to be overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of zombies that were reaching for him. I had to do something, or all of these men were going to die.

  I raised my carbine and began firing. I killed ten of the zombies before the noise began to register with them and most of them turned my way. Oh, brother. I backed up a step and took aim at another Z. Click. I glanced at my gun and realized I was out of bullets. I quickly switched my 30 round magazine for a 15-round one, and again took aim. I fired ten more times, and dropped nine more zombies. The tenth round was a straight miss, and Duncan jumped as splinters flew from the furrow the bullet dug in the bleachers he was standing on. Whoops. “Sorry!” I shouted, as I lined up another ghoul. That one went down as well. I fired my remaining shots, then switched magazines again. I killed several more, then began backing towards the door.

  “Finish the rest, then get out of here!” I yelled at the groups. “There’s a huge group coming in any minute!” I screamed as I fired, knocking down several more zombies. “I’m going to try and draw the rest outside! Head for that door and meet me outside!”

  I spun around and ran back for the door, shoving it open and knocking down a zombie that was on the other side. I stepped out of the gym into a foyer choked with zombies. I didn’t hesitate, I just ran for the hallway, scrambling over the corpses and gagging as my foot slipped in something I would rather remain unidentified. The horde behind me howled and gave chase, stumping along in that rhythmic gait that never stopped. I reached the door and fell as something tripped me. I looked down and saw a greenish-grey hand clutching my pant leg. I pulled on it, but only managed to free a length of arm that was attached to the clawing hand. I pulled harder and managed to pull out the head of the zombie who was grabbing me. It had a bullet hole in its head, but it must not have been a killing shot. The decaying face moaned and tried to bend down to bite my leg. I kicked it in the face with my other foot, trying to dislodge it. No luck. My hands were slipping on the floor, and I couldn’t get away from the ghoul.

  I was getting panicky, pulling on my leg and trying to get out, all the while a gang of undead was slowly making their way over the pile of corpses, moaning and tripping.

  The zombie that had my foot was freed further by my struggles and started to bend down to bite at my leg. I pulled again and unholstered my SIG. Enough of this. I drew a bead and pulled the trigger, putting another hole in its head and causing a dark splotch to appear on the wall behind it. The hand relaxed its grip, and I managed to pull away, just ahead of the grasping crowd. I went outside, and glancing around, saw there weren’t any moving zombies out here. There were a great many lying around, but all were permanently dead. Cautiously looked around the corner and found myself kissing the barrel of Tommy’s gun. I backed up as he sheepishly put his gun away.

  “Sorry, man. Thought you was a Z, you know?” Tommy shrugged.

  “No troubles, brother. I’m glad I smell better.” I said looking at the men he had behind him. Out of the 75 that we had started with, at least 20 were missing. The good news was the remaining men were more battle hardened and would stand if needed. I looked at Duncan and said, “Take half the men and sweep around to the other side of the building. Hit this group from behind and deal with any outside. Keep moving, don’t let them bottle you up. Make them come to you, make sure you have an exit.

  I motioned to Tommy. “I’m going to act as bait and stand out there.” I pointed to a spot on the grass. “Give me five men to place on the other side of that wall there, and put the other five over there by that wall.” I indicated spots out of sight of the doorway. “Get set, and hit them hard from behind as they come out. If your weapon sticks, let it go, next guy in line steps up. Got it?” I got several nods. “Okay, follow me.”

  I headed out to the grass and immediately heard several groans and moans as the dead caught sight of me. They came stumbling out in twos and threes and we killed them in twos and threes. The ones on the left side were wiped out by the men on the left and the ones on the right were wiped out by the men on the right. The ones that came straight on or were too bunched together got dispatched by my carbine until I ran out of bullets, then I switched to the SIG. There were growing piles of zombies and I was amazed that
they just kept coming. If they were on the roof, I bet they would just keep falling off if there was something they saw on the ground they wanted.

  We lost one man to a zombie who came around the corner a little too fast and managed to get a bite out of his arm. We killed the zombie, but the man just sat on the ground staring at his arm. It was a death sentence, and he knew it. He looked at us and with a look of quiet dignity coming over his face, he raised himself up onto his knees and placed his hands in his lap. He stared out into the distance, and with a final look at me, nodded his head. I nodded back and moved behind him, drawing my SIG. I waited ten seconds and then put a bullet into the back of his head. The rest of the men just looked on and I saw some nods. I knew what they were all thinking. If something like that happened to them, they would want someone nearby to end it for them as well, rather than submit to being a zombie.

  After ten minutes, we ran out of zombies. There were corpses everywhere, and from the sounds I heard coming from the other side of the building, there were many more. I reslung my carbine, hefted my crowbar, and started to move back through the corpses and back into the building.

  Tommy stopped me just as I started back inside. “What are you doing?” He asked. “Why don’t we swing around back?”

  I shook my head. “We need to hit them from behind while they are busy in the front. Surprise can get us ten zombies, easy.” I started back inside with several men following me. Tommy just shook his head and followed suit.

  Back inside the building the stench was nearly overwhelming, but we pressed on into the gloom. There were signs of battle everywhere, with splatter on the walls and corpses creating a grisly carpet on the floor. At any second, I kept expecting a ghoul to come around the corner, snarling and biting. But none came, and we moved cautiously towards the next battle. I could hear the distant groans of the dead as they moved towards their prey, but I didn’t hear any screams that would indicate they had found any.

  Glancing around the corner of the atrium, I saw a crowd of zombies slowly pushing their way out the back door. Over their heads I could see weapons coming down and smashing them as they came into range. Figuring I could even up the odds a little, I motioned for Tommy to take the rest of the men into the commons, and I waited behind. When I got a hand signal from Tommy, I moved towards the center of the room, then I whistled as loud as I could.

  The zombies at the back of the pack spun around and immediately began moving towards me, I slowly walked towards the commons and stuck my crowbar through the door. Immediately someone struck it with another bar, causing a painful vibration to pulse through it. I heard a “Whoops! Sorry!” from the other side of the door, then I stuck my head through.

  “They don’t carry weapons.” was all I said as I moved into the room. I didn’t even look at the man who struck my crowbar. Tommy had arranged men by the door and men in the bleachers. Two more were acting as bait, and we were going to have our hands full in a minute. I took off my Enfield, and placed it on the top of a milk cooler. I put my carbine next to it and limbered up my crowbar. It was when I looked around that I got my flash of inspiration.

  Along the west wall of the commons was about twenty large lunch tables, folded in half for easy storage. I grabbed one and wheeled it over to the entrance, and unfolded it so it was perpendicular to the entrance. Tommy looked at me strangely, but I just grinned at him. I motioned for three more tables to be put along side this one, and signaled the men on the bleachers to move higher. They looked at me the same way Tommy did, but didn’t argue. I told him to grab another table and put it near the entrance, but don’t open it.

  I told the other men to act as bait on the end of the tables and had a few more wait by the sides of the tables, ducking down so as not to be seen easily.

  The ghouls walked in slowly, never taking their eyes of the men on the end. They shuffled and groaned and stayed where they were supposed to, between the bleachers and the tables. They groaned loudly, and hurried as best as their infected legs would take them.

  When there was about twenty of them, I yelled “Push!” and I shoved the table from the other side. The men all pushed and managed to pin all the zombies against the bleachers, effectively immobilizing them. The men on the bleachers worked their way down the line, smashing in heads and crushing skulls. Tommy had moved the last table in front of the door, and was desperately holding it against the horde that was behind it.

  “Hurry!” he shouted as the table lurched and a grey arm reached around to try and grab.

  “Pull back the tables! First positions!” I pulled on the table and repositioned it, seeing that the other tables were in the same spot. Tommy pulled back the upright table and allowed twenty more zombies into our killing zone. We pushed the tables and trapped the next ones, and the killing began again.

  By the time we had finished, we had used the tables eleven times. Tommy pulled back the upright and looked out. There were no more zombies in the hall. He looked at me and I shrugged. Maybe we had won. But we couldn’t know for sure.

  I ducked out into the hall and worked my way to the back entrance. There weren’t any ghouls lingering back there, so I cautiously looked out. Duncan and his men were sitting on the ground, taking a breather. I stepped out into the sun and several men jumped. I could only imagine what I looked like. Goggles and balaclava, gloves and crowbar, and covered in zombie goo up to my elbows. GQ all the way, baby.

  “What’s the status?” I asked, sitting down next to Duncan.

  “Well, with you out here, I think we may have actually done it.” Duncan said, to the half-hearted cheers of the men on the ground.

  “You might be right.” I said. “But if we want to live here, we need to clean out the corpses.”

  Duncan groaned and fell back on the grass. “Come on, mom, I’m tired. No wanna got to school!” Considering where we were, that was actually pretty funny.

  I laughed with the rest of the men and got to my feet. Duncan followed suit and the crowd of us headed back to the piles of corpses we had made. I instructed the men to use their tools and drag the bodies to that baseball diamond up on the hill. It was a distance, but a necessary chore. We couldn’t risk the virus getting too close. I then went to the janitor’s closet and gathered up as many cleaning supplies as I could. We would need to wash down everything as best as we could. I sent two men to the creek with buckets to get water while I rummaged around the garage. Finding a can of gasoline, I gave it to the men dragging the bodies away and told them to burn what they could. With any luck, that would stave off any chance of infection.

  I went back to the garage and rummaged through my trailer. I reloaded my SIG magazines and my carbine magazines, mentally wondering how many I had shot. Not nearly enough, I thought, as I went back into the hallway. Tommy was supervising the cleaning of the gym and the commons, and we were doing well. I wandered over to him and asked what I thought was a dumb question. “Did you go upstairs yet and let them know we had been successful here?” I asked, expecting him to confirm that he had.

  Tommy laughed out loud. “I thought you did. Oh, geez, they must think the worst!” He laughed again.

  I chuckled with him. “I figure they must have looked out the window at some point and saw us dragging bodies out of the building.”

  Tommy nodded. “You’re probably right. You want me to go up?”

  “No,” I said. “I’ll go up. We need to get some more help down here anyway. Did you send anyone to sweep the building on the outside for stragglers?” I asked

  “Duncan’s with them now, although they haven’t found any yet.”

  “Good enough. See ya.”

  Tommy waved me off and I headed to the stairs. As I went past the atrium, Charlie was there, dragging two dead ghouls by the collars of their shirts. Our eyes met and he nodded. I nodded back, the understanding between us clear. He was saying ‘thank you’ and I was saying ‘you’re welcome’ in that expressive way men had.

  I reached the stairs and stuck my kn
ife through the crack between the doors. It took some work, but I managed to sever the zip ties holding the doors closed. I stepped into the stairwell and shouted up the stairs. “Hello?”

  “Hello! Who’s that?” Came the reply.

  “It’s John! We did it! Can I come up?” I asked, poking my head around the stairs and smiling at the two nervous-looking gents at the top of the stairs.

  They both relaxed visibly, and waved me up. When I reached the top of the stairs, both men insisted on hugging me. While I wasn’t much on displays of affection between guys, I found I didn’t mind this so much. I grinned at them and went into the hallway. One of the men ran down the hall, shouting that we had done it and people streamed out of the classrooms. I shook a lot of hands and received a lot of hugs. There were a lot of questions, but I raised my hands for silence.

  “Hey all! Listen up! We have a lot of cleaning up to do before we can call this place home, so anyone with gloves or a crowbar head downstairs and help drag the bodies away for burning. Anyone who wants to help with the cleaning of the floors and walls, go see Charlie by the atrium. Just so you know, this is not the last fight we will have, but we won this time and learned a lot, so we will be more ready when they come again.”

  Someone asked, “When will they come again?”

  All eyes turned to me. “Could be tomorrow, could be today. We learned a few tricks, so next time we won’t lose as many.

  “How many were lost?” came the question. I knew it was coming, but that didn’t make giving the answer any easier.

  “We lost 27 to the zombies, so we will need people to help bury them.” I let that sink into the silence that followed. “But their sacrifice is not going to be in vain. We will survive and we will beat these zombies. I have no guarantees except my word. I promise you that we will survive.”