Panting with fear and adrenaline, Kyle stared at his brother’s corpse at his feet. Carrie had said that he was losing his grip on reality when she took the kids, maybe his mind had broken. Had he just murdered his brother? “No…hell no,” he mumbled to himself. “This is really happening, but what IS this?”
He flipped on the television; there must be something on the news. There, an emergency broadcast message scrolling across the bottom of a rerun sitcom. Riots, evacuating the city, it was written like the world were coming to an end. Kyle was on the outskirts of the suburbs, but he had a feeling that he was going to need to get further away from civilization. He decided to head to the hunting cabin, it had belonged to his parents but nobody had been there for a few years.
Grabbing a couple of grocery bags, Kyle crammed food in haphazardly. He would sort out supplies when he got to the cabin. There might still be some shells up there so he threw his shotgun into the cab of the truck and took off down the driveway. In a few moments he hit the main road and headed for the highway. Everything seemed so quiet in his neighborhood that he wondered if he was still dreaming. Then he got to the on ramp and let out a groan. The highway looked like a parking lot, several cars were on fire and shapes flitted between cars. Screams rent the night air lending a nightmare soundtrack to the scene.
As he began to back up and seek an alternate route, something slammed into the back of the truck, then the side. A foul visage pressed up against the window as Kyle slammed his foot on the gas pedal. The truck lurched backwards and jumped the curb into the parking lot of a gas station. The creature still clung to the door as the truck slammed into a gas pump. Kyle threw the vehicle back into drive but the rear wheels were in the air and they spun uselessly.
Kyle jumped out of the driver’s seat and ran into the gas station, locking the door behind him. Then the living dead arrived in force, apparently attracted by the noise from the accident. Ghastly corpses ran headlong into the walls and pressed their dead flesh against the door. Kyle looked around and saw a door, it led into the back office which was encased in bulletproof glass. The handle was locked and Kyle pounded on the door, praying that someone was inside.
A face appeared at the glass, it was a cashier who Kyle recognized from past visits. “I’m not opening the door,” she said sobbing. “I’m sorry, I just won’t. I’d rather starve to death in here than become one of those things.”
“Please,” Kyle yelled back. “I’m going to die out here.” He gave the door a hard kick, trying to break it free from the frame. The front door began to groan under the weight of undead bodies pressing against it. Without thinking, Kyle drew his gun and shot out the door handle, rushing into the office.
When he pushed through the door, the cashier rushed him and swung her arm in a wide arcing punch. She hit his left shoulder and searing pain shot down his arm. It had not been a punch; she had stabbed him and was winding up to do it again. Kyle raised his gun and fired hitting the deranged woman in the chest. She crumpled like a rag doll and lay still.
At that moment the front door gave way and three gaunt faced monsters raced inside. What had been a woman and a young boy stalked to the left, sniffing the air like animals. An animated corpse in the gruesome remains of a business suit headed straight toward the office door, it had seen where Kyle went. Looking through the glass, Kyle could see that the creature had a patina of gore splattered down the front of his grim outfit. This one had been busy already and its appetite was not sated.
The office door was ruined; it was not going to keep the creatures out. Kyle knew that he could not make it past all three and he was running low on ammunition. He saw keys on the counter and thought that maybe the cashier had a car in the parking lot. Grabbing the keys he was contemplating a way out when his eyes fell over her still-warm body.
Kyle grabbed the recently deceased woman and stormed out the door into the station. As the first undead charged Kyle, it was hit with the corpse of the cashier. The monster immediately fell upon his meal, rending the woman’s torso. It became entangled in entrails, feeding voraciously. Picking up the abattoir scent of the corpse, the two other intruders rushed over hungrily as Kyle fled the hellish scene.
As he cast about wildly for the cashier’s car, Kyle realized that his truck had been the only vehicle at the station. The keys he had found must be to the safe or the woman’s house or who knew what else. Two more undead creatures came shuffling around the corner of the building and perked up at the sight of Kyle. They rushed him and he took off running back toward his neighborhood. He had not seen anyone else on the road; maybe he could take a car from one of the houses and find a way out of town on the back roads.
He quickly realized that the creatures were going to catch him before he could escape, so he turned to fight. They were on him in an instant and he brought the gun up to fire. Boom, boom, boom, boom, click.
Kyle put down the undead chasing him, but he knew that the sound would attract more. He resumed his flight and popped the empty clip from his gun. He reached into his pocket for the extra clip and his stomach sank. Somewhere during his desperate flight he had lost the rest of his ammunition. All of Kyle’s training left him as he moved beyond desperation and into panic. He ran at a full out sprint and before he could think about his course, he was headed back up the long driveway to his house.
When he reached the house he slammed the door behind him and stared at the corpse of his estranged brother. He had run to Kyle for help even after all of the nonsense that had happened between them and Kyle had failed him, just like he had always failed his family.
An electronic tone from upstairs caught his attention and Kyle ran up the steps two at a time. His cell phone was ringing. The cheap flip phone that he never carried or even remembered owning. He didn’t even know who would have the number. He answered the phone…
“Captain Kyle Harris?” asked a voice.
“Who the hell is this, how did you get this number?”
“Are those really your most pressing concerns right now Captain?” asked the man on the phone.
“I’ve shot two people tonight and one of them used to be my brother,” said Kyle through gritted teeth. “Unless you can tell me how to get out of this situation, you’re just wasting my time.”
The man said, “There is a chopper inbound, it will land for ten seconds in the field across the street from your driveway. Be there in five minutes or be meat.”
Kyle had no idea who he had been talking to, but he did know that he would be dead if he didn’t take this chance. He burst out the front door of his house and ran headlong into the arms of a zombie. The pair tumbled headlong down the front lawn and Kyle struggled to free himself from the fetid embrace. He broke free and got to his feet, as the monstrosity bit down on his calf. With impossible strength, it sank its teeth through the denim of his jeans and the tender flesh beneath.
Despite the searing pain of the bite, Kyle willed himself forward and stumbled to the bottom of the driveway. He saw the chopper touch down and knew that he was saved. He limped toward the transport and saw the crew gesturing wildly at him and yelling. He thought that they were telling him to run faster until he was a foot or two from the chopper.
“He’s been bitten, take him out,” a crew member was yelling.
“I need medical attention,” responded Kyle.
The chopper began to lift off as Kyle grabbed wildly for purchase at the doorway. There was a blinding flash and he felt a punch in the chest. The man in the doorway had shot him, but Kyle’s vest had protected him from the bullet. Unfortunately it had given the pilot enough time to lift off without him, leaving Kyle flat on his back and out of breath.
He tried to get up, but he could not put weight on the leg that had been bitten. He flopped back in despair and wondered what was left to do. His question was answered a moment later when the monster that had bitten him fell over him again and bit into the side of his face. It tore free a lump of flesh from his cheek and quickly swallowed
it whole, like a bird. Kyle tried to swat it away, but it slammed its head down again biting down on his throat this time. As the light fled from his eyes, Kyle couldn’t help but think of his wife and children. He knew that they must be dead as well.
Tales of the Zombie Apocalypse (Issue #1 | August 2015) Page 9
