Love, Revenge and Zombies

by Travis Cotter

  David and one other man were standing in the hall trying to get their bearings when Paul came through the door. His 9mm rang out through the hall as he fired it twice and watched the two men drop to the floor. Paul saw Marcus lying on the floor in front of the men and he knew he was right when he heard that single shot fired earlier. His friend was dead and Paul couldn’t help but feel responsible since he had died trying to help him escape. The time to mourn would have to wait because Paul could hear people coming up the stairs behind him. He ran to Marcus and pulled the duffle bag out from under him.

  “I’m sorry my friend,” Paul whispered as he pulled the bag out and began running down the hall again.

  He was running the opposite way of the stairs but he knew the men would be coming through the door soon, he had to find cover fast.

  The door to one of the rooms flew open as Paul kicked it with everything he had and it was just in time as gun fire erupted in the hall again as the men came through the door of the stairwell. They didn’t hesitate to open fire as they came through the door. Paul ducked down and ran through the open door into the room. The bag was heavy on his shoulder as he dropped it to the floor and unzipped it quickly. It took him a second but he found what he was looking for as he pulled out the fully loaded AA12. The room had one king size bed in it, a dresser and a large flat screen television mounted to one of the walls. There wasn’t much for him to take cover behind but he noticed that there was a small section of wall that stuck out just before the bed. It was the back wall to the bathroom at the front of the room.

  Paul ran and took cover behind the wall and dropped to his belly with his sights on the door. His legs were now under the bed as he tried to position himself for a better shot at the door. The thought of his legs being trapped under the bed if he had to move quickly was troubling him but it was too late. He could hear the men in the hall outside of the room.

  He decided not to wait for them to come through the door and began firing at the wall separating him from the hallway. For a moment he had forgotten that he had loaded explosive shells along with the other shells in the drum on his AA12. The wall in front of him was left with gapping holes in it after he fired off five rounds. Paul fired off three more shots and waited for the smoke and dust to clear.

  There wasn’t any movement in the hall that Paul could see but he was still hesitant to leave his position behind the wall.

  “Anyone still alive out there?” Paul yelled out.

  There was no response and Paul began to get back to his feet but there was something still moving in the hall. He dropped to a knee and sighted back up on the wall and spoke “I’m tired of killing today. I only wanted David and the other three died because they killed my friend Marcus. Nobody else has to die.”

  There still was no response from the hallway. Paul got to his feet again but kept the shotgun sighted on the wall as he moved towards the door. He was able to see partly into the hall through the holes that the shotgun had made. There was nothing moving out there so Paul slowly headed closer to the door. He saw a mirror on the wall next to the closet; he walked over to it and smashed it with the butt of the shotgun. He slung the AA12 over his head so that it hung in front of him.

  He stood near the door again with a piece of the mirror in one hand and his 9mm in the other hand. Paul angled the piece of mirror so that he was able to see down the hall. The section of hallway that led to the stairwell seemed to be clear so he checked the opposite end of the hallway and as far as he could tell it was clear also. He tossed the piece of mirror into the hallway but there was no reaction, he was hoping somebody would get antsy and fire when the mirror hit the wall across the hall. Either there was nobody left alive in the hall or they weren’t the jumpy type.

  His 9mm was still in his hand as he checked the corner and slowly stepped into the hallway. Nobody had shot him yet so things were looking up; he stepped fully into the hallway and saw that a man was slowly crawling away towards the stairwell. Paul quickly scanned the rest of the men lying throughout the hallway. There were four fresh bodies laid out in front of the wall.

  Only one of the men looked familiar to him, he hadn’t known him well but he had seen him before when he was in the Middle East. One man was unrecognizable, he must have been the lead man down the hall and he took the full force of the shotgun rounds.

  Paul stood there for a moment and said a prayer then he spoke “I’m sorry you died today and I’m sorry I took your life. Rest in peace.”

  The man crawling down the hall must have heard Paul speaking because he began to cry out “please don’t kill me. I’m sorry we came after you, I was just following orders. I never wanted to kill you. I only joined with these guys to protect my family from those monsters outside.”

  Paul walked over to the man in the hall and said “I’m not going to kill you. Let’s get you some medical help.”

  He helped the man up to his feet but he had to brace him up to keep him standing. The lower half of his right leg was peppered with shrapnel and there were burn marks on his lower back. He led the man to the stairwell and helped him make it down the stairs. They came through the door on the first floor and made their way back to the lobby.

  There were three men in tactical gear standing in the lobby and they raised the rifles as soon as they saw Paul enter the lobby. The men hadn’t fired yet so Paul took it as an opportunity to speak “what’s it going to be boys? I think enough people have died today.”

  Paul still had his 9mm in his hand was waiting for someone to make a move.

  “Don’t kill him please. He’s my brother,” one of the men said.

  Paul was confused by the statement at first but then he put it together, the man thought Paul was holding the injured man hostage.

  “I have no intention of killing him, you have my word. I brought him down here to see the doctor,” Paul said as he slowly holstered his gun.

  “All I want is to get my stuff and leave this place,” Paul said.

  “I think there has been enough death today. You’re free to go,” the man in the middle said.

  Apparently this man was the new man in charge but Paul didn’t feel much like having a meet and greet. He was ready to hand over the injured man, gather up his bags and head back into the world. The brother of the injured man came over and supported his brother so Paul could let go of him.

  “Thank you for helping my brother. I’m Doug and this is my brother Erik. I know you could have killed him and I’m grateful that you didn’t. I’m sorry we came after you,” Doug said as he held up his brother and then led him away.

  The doctor had entered the lobby and was helping Doug get his brother to the infirmary.

  “Sarah will help him, she’s a great doctor. I suggest you get your things and leave as soon as possible. I think you’ve caused enough drama for one day,” the new man in charge said as he glared at Paul.

  “I’ll be on my way but you need to remember that it was you guys that brought me here and it was your boss that tried to kill me first. I had no intention of spending my day like this. You’re apparently in charge now so make sure you keep these people safe,” Paul said as he walked away and headed back to get his bags.

  After gathering up his bags Paul was led to an emergency exit at the back of the hotel.

  “We’ve cleared this alley so you should be good for at least a few minutes,” a young man said as he held the door open for Paul to leave.

  The door closed behind him and Paul was alone standing in the alley trying to figure out his next step. His stomach began to growl and he realized that he couldn’t remember the last time he ate. He thought about it and then it brought Nick back to the front of his mind. The last time he remembered sitting down and having a meal was when Nick had made him breakfast. He decided than that he would head back to the bar; he had to see for himself if Nick was still alive.

  Nineteen

  The sun was setting as he finally made it to the street that the bar was on. It had taken him
almost four hours to make it the two miles back to the bar. He was slowed down by the weight of his bags but there was no way he was going to leave them behind. He also wasn’t looking to take out all the zombies he came across along the way. There was just too many to take out without a plan and he really just didn’t have the energy. There were a few undead that he wasn’t able to avoid so he quietly took them out with his knife and then continued on his way.

  Paul stood in front of the bar and watched people moving inside so he set his bags down and pulled out his knife again. There were three people that he could see through the open doorway were the glass had been shattered away. Paul slowly made his way into the bar because he wasn’t sure if the people inside were still actually people.

  He was also learning that the living were just as much of a threat to him if not more of a threat then the dead. So whether the people in the bar were alive or dead he wasn’t going to take any chances and he was going to be cautious.

  The first person he approached was a young boy that had to be less than ten years old, there was no mistaking if he was undead or not. His arm was gone from the elbow down and he seemed to be dragging his intestine along the floor as he stumbled around. It was hard for Paul to watch the boy and see how much he had been hurt. He hoped he had not suffered when he died but there was so much damage to him that it was hard to believe that he hadn’t suffered.

  Paul had to shake those thoughts from his head and focus on what was in front of him, it was no longer human and he had to put it down. He walked up behind the boy and slid his knife into his brain from the base of his skull. One thrust up with the blade and the boy stopped moving, Paul held him for an extra second and whispered “rest in peace sweet boy, you’re free now.”

  The next one was an older man in a hospital gown and little else. Paul could tell that he was beginning to decompose and the smell of the bodies in the bar was beginning to turn his stomach. He took out the old man the same way he had taken out the boy and then moved on to a middle aged blonde woman wearing a blue evening gown. It was only a few seconds later and she had been taken care of like the others.

  Paul stood in the middle of the room and looked around at all the carnage. There were bullet holes all around the room and damage from when the stun grenade had gone off. The men from the other day had put down all the zombies that had been there before but left all the bodies lying where they fell. As Paul looked around the room he didn’t see Nick anywhere among the bodies so he had hope that he could still be alive.

  “Nick, are you here?” he shouted out.

  There was noise in the kitchen after he shouted out and he saw Nick through the window on the swinging door.

  “Hey Nick it’s me. I’m glad you’re okay,” Paul said as the swinging door opened and Nick came walking through it.

  “Not you too…I’m sorry I let you down Nick. I’m so sorry,” Paul said.

  Nick staggered out of the kitchen with large chunks of his arm torn off and that same dead look in his eyes. Nick was dead; Paul walked over to him and held him back as he tried to bite him.

  “You were kind to me even when the world went to hell. I appreciate that more than you could ever know. Thank you my friend and go with God. There’s nothing left for you too fear,” Paul said as he took his knife and laid his friend to rest. Paul sat down and stared at Nick lying on the floor and Paul knew he would have to clear out the bar soon. He sat there for a few more minutes and thought about everything that had happened so far. It was a little overwhelming so he got to work dragging the bodies out to the street. It took him about an hour to clear all the bodies out and Nick was the last one he carried out to the street.

  The bodies were piled in the middle of the street; he walked back into the bar and then returned to the street with a bottle of whiskey. He took a swig of the whiskey and then dumped the rest of the bottle on the pile of bodies. He whispered a prayer and lit the pile with matches he had found on the bar. The pile lit up quickly and Paul turned and walked back into the bar.

  The first thing he did when he was back in the bar was nail some tables up were the glass had been in the door. He found a hammer and box of nails in a supply closet in the back of the kitchen. There was still a lot of cleaning that had to be done in the bar but Paul was worn out and starving so he would leave the cleaning for another day.

  He carried his bags upstairs to the apartment and set them down in the middle of the room. The apartment had a different feel to it now that he knew Nick wouldn’t be coming back to it ever again. Paul couldn’t help but feel lonely again but then he convinced himself that it was probably better if he was alone. He had his mission and if he was alone than he could stay focused and not have to worry about anyone else.

  The first thing he noticed was that his bags that he had brought to Nick’s apartment the first time were gone. There wasn’t anything too important in the bags and now he had better weapons so he could get over the fact that they took his other guns. Then it struck him that he had placed Abby’s picture in the bag when he had left her house. It broke his heart to know that he had lost the only picture of her that he had. He saved it before her house went up in flames and now it was gone forever. He couldn’t help put let a tear roll down his cheek.

  Paul warmed up a can of beef stew in a pot on the stove and then sat alone at the table and ate. He was hungry enough that he could have finished another can of stew but all he had on his mind was sleep. His dishes were clean and drying on the counter and he was headed to the shower before he went to bed.

  The shower was relaxing as the hot water ran down his sore and battered body. He couldn’t help but reflect on everything he had gone through as he stood there in the shower. Abby was back on his mind and he was missing her so much as he thought about how alone he was, he would have given anything to hold her again.

  He turned off the shower and found a pair of basketball shorts in Nick’s dresser so he put them on and headed to bed. The 9mm was tucked under his pillow as he lay on the bed, he felt odd sleeping in Nick’s bed but he reassured himself that Nick would have been okay with it. The room was silent as Paul drifted off to sleep; it seemed like the first time in a while that he had fallen asleep in silence.

  His sleep however was not as silent or peaceful as the room had been when he went to bed. Abby filled his dreams again and he could hear her crying out for him but no matter how much he searched he couldn’t find her. Her voice was in the wind but as he searched the city he couldn’t find her.

  He cried out for her “Abby where are you? I’ll protect you; I just need you to tell me where you are.”

  The noise on the wind had suddenly changed and all he could hear echoing through the city was the moans of the dead. Abby’s voice was gone and Paul was alone in the middle of a street, he cried out for her again “Abby where are you? I love you, please answer me!”

  The echoes of the dead kept filling the air around him as he dropped to his knees there in the street. The undead were surrounding him as he knelt there but he didn’t bother to try and fight them. He just sat there and let them come for him as the moans and noise of the dead filled his head.

  The sun was peeking through the window as Paul sat up in bed. He had managed to sleep through the entire night but because of his nightmares he didn’t feel very rested. The moans of the dead could still be heard even though he was awake. He went over to the window that over looked the street and stared out it. There must have been hundreds of them outside; the moans had filled his dreams because he was actually hearing them from the street while he slept.

  Paul had intended to have breakfast and head downstairs to clean up the bar but the street full of zombies got his blood pumping. His plans for the day had changed; he was going to destroy as many of those monsters as he could. There was a box of pop tarts in one of the cupboards so he grabbed a few and gathered up a few weapons.

  There was a roof access panel in the top of the closet in the apartment, Paul had noticed the hatc
h before but had never bothered to go up to the roof. He took with him one of the M4s, the grenade launcher, one of the AA12s, all the grenades and all the ammunition.

  The grenade launcher was the first weapon he used when he got to the roof; he fired off a few rounds down the street. The grenades were pretty effective at destroying the zombies but they also did a lot of damage to everything around them. He wasn’t too concerned about damaging the city, but he also noticed that some of the zombies that were caught in the explosions were still crawling around with their bodies mutilated.

  He decided to switch to the rifle and shotgun for now but he would switch to the grenade launcher for larger groups if he needed it. That was how he spent the rest of his day; he kept taking out zombie after zombie. He would occasionally take a break to eat, get some water or use the restroom but other than he was on the roof killing zombies.

  There seemed to be an endless supply of the undead as he spent the next five days after that on the roof dropping one zombie after another. Every time he fired off his guns or lobbed a grenade down the street it would attract undead from all over the city. As much has he was enjoying his time on the roof he knew it would have to come to an end soon. He was running low on ammunition so soon his fun would end and he would have to go out on a run for ammo.

  The road around the bar resembled a war zone after all the explosions and bullets tore through it and the body count out on the road was too numerous to fathom. All his fun had presented him with a new problem, if he wanted to get out of the bar and find more ammo than he would have to get past the countless undead out on the street. For every zombie he put down he would attract ten more and the numbers were growing every minute. He would need to find a way to clear out a path and destroy or distract enough of them all at once so he could make his escape.

  The first thing he need to do was scan the road for his next destination and then figure out how he was going to get there once he picked it. There wasn’t anything in the area that caught his eye immediately. Then he noticed there was a sporting good store about two blocks north of his position. He knew that most sporting good stores carried ammunition and if he was going to have any luck finding what he needed than that would be a good place to start.