Love, Revenge and Zombies

by Travis Cotter

  “Yea I’m good,” Paul responded as he turned his head to look at Abby.

  As Paul turned his head to face her he saw the crazy man turn his attention also to Abby. With Paul still holding his throat firmly the man began to reach out for Abby and swing his arms franticly, he seemed to be completely oblivious to the fact that he had a hand wrapped around his throat. Abby stumbled backwards as the crazy man was swinging his arms towards her. She hit the ground as she tripped over debris scattered across the alley behind her.

  “Ouch,” she cried out as she landed hard on the asphalt.

  Paul looked over at her and cried out “are you okay?”

  He was still holding firmly to the man’s throat and begin to squeeze it a little harder as his anger grew almost to an uncontrollable level.

  “I’m fine, he just startled me. I think I scrapped my elbow but I’m fine,” she responded as she got back to her feet.

  Paul turned his attention back to the crazed man, he didn’t seem to react at all to his throat being squeezed even harder now. He was still franticly trying to get to Abby who had walked back a little further down the alley.

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” Paul shouted at him.

  The man then turned his attention back to Paul; he was swinging his arms at Paul and struck him across the face. Paul reacted without thinking about it; he struck the man hard in the cheekbone with his fist. The cheekbone seemed to shatter into his face but still there was no reaction to the pain. Paul was becoming more and more disturbed by the minute, the man's face was caved in on one side but he still kept coming after Paul.

  “He has to be on drugs, nothing I do is calming him down or fazing him,” Paul said out loud but he was mostly talking to himself.

  He saw the flashing lights of the police car as it parked at the end of the alley. An officer stepped out of the car with his hand resting on the handle of his gun. He walked around the car and began making his way down the alley, he seemed to be trying to take everything in and decide his next move.

  “Let go of him and step away,” the officer yelled out to Paul.

  “He’s the crazy one not me, he bit that guys face and tried to attack me and my girlfriend,” Paul yelled out to the officer.

  The officer responded “I said let him go, I will handle it.”

  “If I let him go, he is going to attack me. I told you he is crazy,” Paul said.

  “I said let go,” the officer said as he began to draw his sidearm.

  “Sir, he’s going to let go of you but I need you to calm down,” the officer said to the crazed man.

  Paul pushed hard with his hand against the man's throat and shoved him to the ground a few feet away from where the officer was standing. Paul slowly backed away towards Abby with his hands raised up for the officer to see.

  “Sir, I need you to lay on your stomach with your arms and legs spread,” the officer said to the man struggling to get back to his feet in front of the officer.

  He flopped around on the ground like a fish out of water and seemed unable to get his balance. It wasn’t until he locked eyes with the officer that the cop began to understand why the other people in the alley had feared him so much. The dead look in his eyes was enough to send chills down even the bravest man’s spine.

  For a second the officer froze, he couldn’t look away from the man slowly trying to get to his feet. The crazed man seemed for a second to regain some mobility and leaped forward towards the officer. He clamped down on the cops arm like a rabid dog. The officer cried out in pain as he felt the man’s teeth break the skin and sink down into his arm.

  A struggle ensued as the officer wrestled to free his arm from the crazed man’s bite, he struck him repeatedly across the face with the bottom of his pistol but nothing seemed to work. Paul ran to the officer and began to pull with all his strength on the crazed man’s back.

  After what seemed like minutes but in reality was only a few seconds Paul felt the man’s weight shift and Paul fell backwards and hit the pavement hard with the crazed man now on top of him. The officer was free of him but bleeding badly and Paul was the one now in danger as the man flopped around and did everything he could do to get to Paul. Paul fought back but the man felt like dead weight on top of him and he just kept snapping at him like a wild animal. He held the crazed man’s head back with a firm grip on the man’s throat again. Paul was pinned on his back on the asphalt with the full weight of the man on top of him. He did everything he could to hold the man’s head up and keep his snapping teeth away for his flesh.

  Then a sound like thunder rang out through the alley as the top of the man’s head exploded above Paul.

  “I had to do it, I had to shoot him,” the officer said but it seemed as if he was saying it to himself.

  As if he were trying to reassure himself that he had done the right thing. Paul shoved the man’s now limp body off of him and made his way back to his feet.

  Paul looked at the trembling officer and said “he was trying to kill us all and he wasn’t going to stop, you did what you had to.”

  The officer holstered his weapon and clutched his still bleeding arm and said “the ambulance should be here any minute.”

  He checked on the man who was attacked first and then walked back to his patrol car to radio in about how horribly the situation had gone. Paul walked over to Abby who was still trying to take in everything that had just happened. She seemed to be lost in her head and even as he began to talk to her she didn’t seem to hear him speaking.

  “Abby are you alright,” he said as he wrapped his arms around her.

  She still failed to respond and Paul placed his hands gently on her cheeks and said “it’s alright, it’s over now. I’m sorry you had to see that.”

  She looked back into his eyes as she began to come back to reality and final spoke “is he dead?”

  Paul held her close to him and hugged her tight and said “yes he's gone. I’m sorry. He wasn’t going to stop, it had to be done.”

  “I know it had to be done; I’ve just never seen someone die before. This whole thing is so insane,” she said as she hugged him back and felt tears begin to run down her face.

  “I’m so sorry this happened, I’m just happy you’re okay,” he responded.

  The ambulance had arrived while they were embracing and another police officer had arrived on the scene.

  “You folks are going to need to give a statement and then you are free to go,” the second officer said as he walked up to Paul and Abby.

  The officer led them back to his patrol car and took their statement; they then went and thanked the injured officer who was being loaded into an ambulance. They walked over to a second ambulance that had arrived to take the man who was first attacked by the crazed man. Paul and he exchanged information after the man insisted that he would have to do something to repay Paul for saving his life.

  “Thank you again, you truly saved my life. He was going to kill me,” the man said as he was loaded into the ambulance.

  Paul and Abby stood there and watched as the ambulances drove off and then turned their attention back to each other.

  “So I guess I should get you home, it’s been a crazy night,” Paul said as he took her hand and led her back to her car.

  Abby sat down in the passenger seat and turned to Paul as he sat behind the wheel and she said “I really don’t want to be alone tonight, would you mind staying with me?”

  Paul fired up the car and smiled at her and said “not at all, I would be happy to stay with you.”

  The drive back to Abby’s house was quiet as they both seemed to be reflecting on what had happened and they both seemed to be struggling to make sense of it all. They pulled into the driveway and headed to the front door.

  It wasn’t until they were standing in the living room that they began to really take in the full effects of what had just happen to them. Abby walked over to him and felt his strong arms wrap around her, it was then that she broke down and
cried uncontrollably. Paul couldn’t find the words to make it all better so he just held her tighter and let her get it all out. They held each other on the couch for a while and eventually Abby had drifted off to sleep in his arms. Paul lifted her up off the couch and cradled her in his arms as he carried her upstairs.

  It took him a minute to figure out which room was hers once he was upstairs but he figured it out and gently placed her on her bed. He covered her up with a quilt he found folded at the end of the bed and kissed her softly on the forehead. He sat down in a chair in the corner of the room and fell asleep with the events from that night still spinning in his head.

  Eleven

  The sleep that Paul got that night was restless and again was filled with the nightmares that had plagued him so many nights before. The events of the day before had brought back a flood of memories that Paul had tried to forget. The nightmare was the same as always, the same small village filled with death and destruction. Every nightmare was the same and Paul had to relive that same memory over and over again, it was just as painful every time he had to relive it.

  Abby woke up and sat up in the bed, she didn’t see Paul next to her in the bed so she figured he had left. She then heard him mumbling to himself and moving around in the chair in the corner of her room. She rolled over in the bed to face him and smiled because she was happy he was still there with her. Her smile faded when she saw the look of pain on his face and the thrashing around he was doing in the chair.

  She climbed out of the bed and placed her hands on him; she gently shook him and said “wake up Paul, its okay. I’m here, you’re safe.”

  He opened his eyes quickly and looked around the room; it took him a second to remember where he was. He knew he was safe at Abby’s house and not in that village that haunted his dreams.

  “Are you okay?” Abby asked as she knelt in front of him.

  Paul looked down at her and smiled and said “I’m fine, just a bad dream.”

  “Was it about what happened last night?” she asked with a sincere tone in her voice.

  He realized then that she really did care about him and was genuinely concerned about him. That filled his heart with a great feeling and made him truly happy. He knew he felt the same way for her and it made him fall for her even more than he already had.

  After a few more seconds he responded to her question “no it was a different night in a different life.”

  “Do you want to talk about it?” she asked.

  “Not now, I promise I’ll tell you the story sometime. For now how about I cook you some breakfast?” he said as he took her hand and got up from the chair.

  They walked downstairs into the kitchen to find Abby’s grandmother already hard at work cooking breakfast. She must have known Paul had stayed the night because there were three plates set on the table next to the kitchen.

  Paul turned to Abby and said “I’ll be right back; I need to call work and let them know I won’t be in today.”

  “Are you sure you won’t get in trouble for missing work?” she asked.

  He smiled at her because it was sweet of her to worry about him getting in trouble and he responded “I’m sure they will understand. I’ll be right back.”

  He walked out on the front porch and called Nate’s cell phone, he explained what had happened the night before and as he expected Nate understood the situation and insisted that Paul take the day off. Paul thanked him and Nate told him if there was anything he needed that all he had to do was ask, Paul thanked him again and then hung up.

  He walked back to the kitchen to find Abby helping her grandmother cook breakfast. They were cooking a small feast of bacon, eggs, hash browns, biscuits and even sausage gravy.

  “So did you kids have a good time last night?” grandma asked as she stirred the gravy.

  “It was a crazy night but it ended pretty badly,” Abby said.

  They loaded up their plates and sat down at the table and explained the whole night’s events to Ruth. She sat listening intently and was so enthralled with the story that she hadn’t touched her breakfast.

  A tear rolled down her cheek before she spoke “I’m so sorry you went through that, thank you Paul for protecting my baby.”

  She placed her hand on Paul’s hand and took her napkin and wiped away the tear that was rolling down her cheek.

  “Thank you so much,” she said again and got up to refill her coffee.

  She walked back from the coffeemaker and kissed Abby on the forehead. “I’m so happy you’re okay,” she said and then left the kitchen.

  Paul and Abby sat in silence and continued to eat their breakfast, the sharing of the night’s events had brought up a swell of emotions. For Paul it was just another story of death and fear to add to the long list of nights like that. It actually bothered him more that it didn’t bother him. To Abby it was a life changing experience, she had seen a man die and had feared for her life. She had never seen anyone die before and the image of it was flooding through her mind over and over again.

  Paul finished his plate and got up from the table and set his plate in the sink. Abby got up from the table and set her plate on the counter, Paul noticed it and said “you didn’t eat much, you doing okay?”

  Abby looked down at her plate that had most of the food she started with still on it.

  “I’m not that hungry. I can’t get him dying out of my head,” she responded as she continued to stare down at the plate.

  Paul walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her. He wasn’t sure what to say to make it better; he figured there wasn’t anything that he could say that would make it better.

  He just held her tighter and whispered in her ear “it’ll be okay, I’ll always be here for you.”

  She kissed him and took his hand and led him to the living room.

  “Do you want to watch a movie or something?” she asked as they entered the living room.

  “I figure it might help to take our minds off of last night,” she added.

  Paul was about to answer when they both looked over to see her grandma staring at the television with a deep look of focus on her face. She was watching a breaking news story with a reporter speaking frantically and barely making sense. Ruth turned to see them watching her and said “you have to see this, people are going crazy. They say that they are rioting and attacking each other. It’s like the man you told me about from last night but it’s hundreds and hundreds of people, if not thousands. Its madness.”

  Paul and Abby walked over and joined her on the couch. They stared intently at the television and could barely believe what they were seeing. It was just chaos as the news station went back and forth between the reporters in studio to video filmed downtown in the city. They sat silently and watched as they showed footage of people savagely attacking each other and then it switched back to a reporter who looked pale. It seemed like it was hard for him to find the words to cover the horror he was seeing.

  “I don’t know what to say folks; I’ve never seen anything like this in my twenty years in the news business. People are attacking each other with such savagery; I can’t find the words to describe the situation out there. But whatever you do folks do not leave your homes. I repeat, stay indoors.”

  Abby looked over at Paul as fear spread across her face and then spoke “I can’t believe this, what are we going to do?”

  She got up from the couch and began to pace back and forth. “We have to get out of here, we have to get out of the city,” she said as she paced.

  It seemed as if she was talking to herself more than she was speaking to them, it was if she was thinking out loud and trying to convince herself of what to do. Paul got up from the couch and tried to comfort her but she seemed to be in her own world.

  Ruth never looked away from the television as she spoke “it’ll be alright, we just have to stay in the house. The police will get everything under control.”

  Paul looked back at Ruth, who was still staring at the television,
he was pretty sure she also was talking more to herself than to them.

  “As long as everyone just stays calm, I promise it’ll be okay,” Paul said as he continued to try and get Abby to stop pacing and sit back on the couch.

  They all turned their attention back to the television as they heard another man speaking. It was the Chief of Police and the news station had switched to a live feed from City Hall.

  “Ladies and gentleman, we are facing an event like nothing else I have ever seen. As of yet we do not know what is causing people to attack each other. All we know is the attackers seem to be unaware of a response from those they are attacking. All methods of crowd control and riot prevention by our officers has been met with resistance and attacks on officers. It also appears that those who are attacked have begun attacking others. I wish there was more I could tell you. I promise as we figure out more we will share it with the public. Just know that we will do everything we can to get this under control and keep the public safe. Stay in your homes and under no circumstance should you go outside. Thank you and God be with us all in this time of need.”

  He then walked out of the room and the news switched back to the reports in the studio. They looked just as scared as everyone else was feeling.

  “There’s something they’re not telling us,” Paul said as he stared at the television.

  He got up from the couch and began to wander around the room talking to himself “I’ve seen this before. It was a small village in Afghanistan, people started going crazy and killing each other. It didn’t matter what we did, they wouldn’t stop. The only way to stop them was to put a bullet through their head. It was just like that guy last night, why didn’t I see it before? Why is this happening here?”

  Abby snapped back to reality and noticed Paul wandering around talking to himself.

  “Paul, are you okay?” she asked.

  He didn’t respond to her, he just kept walking back and forth talking to himself.

  Abby walked over to him and stood in front of him, he stopped walking and looked down at her. With a small smile he said “I’m okay, sorry if I was scaring you. I’m just trying to figure out this whole situation and figure out our next step.”