Our Undead

by Theo Vigo

  The hostel's occupancy is already quite crowded. They figure it is mostly made up of people who were staying there before the outbreak began, but they also realize that they couldn't possibly be the first people on the run to check and see if the hostel is a safe place to stay. As they walk through a crowded room of people led by their savior, the family takes in how many of these people are huddled together. Some are crying together, some speaking with each other normally, and some people completely by themselves. It's seems safe for the most part, the perfect sanctuary they could stay in for a day or two.

  Someone from the crowd sees the family being led through the room and notices the father nursing his arm. The riled up man stands up and points at them, yelling out for everyone to beware of the bitten man, that he and his family should be sent out before they kill everyone. Everybody in the room goes on about their own business, not bothering to heed the loud man's words. Nonetheless, it is still very embarrassing for the family. The girl that let them in assures them that it's all right and leads them out of the main hall.

  She takes them through a series of hallways, and they end up in a room. The girl flicks the lights on and welcomes them in. It's a small room, with only a single bed, a couple of bedside tables, a dresser drawer and a chair. It isn't much, but it's the best this hostel has to give. They thank the girl, and she excuses herself, leaving the family to be alone.

  The father wretches in the pain of his arm, and his wife and daughter urge him to lie down, taking the shovel out of his hands. His legs wobble slightly, while walking over to it, and when he sits down, his face breaks out into a cold sweat. The color is drained from it already, replaced with hundreds of the tiniest little sweat beads. His wife takes his dress shirt, shoes and socks off, and lies him down. He takes a few deep breaths, trying to keep hold of his orientation while his ladies stand beside the bed not knowing what to do. The wife tells her daughter something, and then leaves the room.

  Alone with her father, she places the family portrait on the bedside table, takes the room's only chair and sits by his side. Tears begin to well up in her eyes, and her father says something to her, trying to reassure her that things will turn out fine. She takes his hand in both of hers and weeps, praying inside that things will be okay. But they never get better.

  For the next three days, his wife and daughter never leave his side. At night, they sleep cuddled together on the floor, and by day, they sit by his side. The girl who had let them in is kind enough to bring them an extra chair, as well as some bandages and any sort of medicine she can find that might help ease their man's suffering. They wrap up his wound and give him what painkillers they can, but with each passing hour, the father's condition gets worse. He develops a cough and his complexion continues to fade even more.

  On the second day, he begins vomiting a dark brownish spit up. They are able to get a bucket for him, but half the time, his throw up comes without warning and he gets a lot on himself anyway. By the evening, he can no longer speak. He tries to say things, tries to tell his wife and daughter everything he's had neglected to tell them when he was well, but he can't get the words to sound right. His girl's try to but can't understand him, so they tell him to be quiet and just rest. As painful as it is to quiet his last few words, they don't want him to stress himself out. The family photo of the three of them sits out in the open on the bedside table, a reminder of how good things used to be. This night, all of the lights in the hostel are cut-off.

  On the third day, the father doesn't open his eyes in the morning. His wife and daughter don't bother to wake him, although, they know he is alive because of his breathing, which is so shallow that they don't notice it stop five hours later. They spend this third day with him until a commotion starts up somewhere inside the hostel. The wife goes to figure out what all the noise is about and tells her daughter to stay with her dad. Alone in the room, the weeping girl takes her father's hand again and starts talking. She spills her guts about everything, confessing and apologizing to his body everything she had ever held inside. She lets it all out, but doesn't get the chance to finish before a frenzied man stops at her room's door and yells at her. "There has been a breach." The daughter doesn't know what to do. Should she stay with her father or go see if her mother is okay? She looks to her right and sees the framed picture of her and her family resting on the bedside table. She picks it up and absorbs it. In her heart she knows that this will be the last time she sees her family happy, but no matter what happens, she wants her father to know that they will be together always and forever. She decides to go and find her mother, but before she leaves, she slips the picture out of the frame and stuffs it into the pocket of her father's dress pants. Standing at the door, she looks back at her father and blows him a kiss, then empties the doorframe in search of her mother.

  SUHH SUHH, EYE TO EYE

  Alarms and a siren wail in chorus. General Feleider didn't have to shoot any of the members of The Mav-Elite to stop Sharp and Holden from fighting. The loud popping of his gun is enough to get everyone's attention. It jolts everyone in Laboratory D-9 to a stop. All eyes are on Feleider, and the moment of peace gives Kerrick the opportunity to pull Sharp off of Holden. He pushes him away, and Holden gets back up to his feet.

  Margaret: ABE!!!!!!!!

  From the General, everyone's eyes shift to the screaming girl, and then to the infected test subject, still attached to the lifted observation bed. General Feleider's bullet had found its home in the zombie's skull. Abe's head hangs loosely in front of him, still partly upright due to his neck's harness. Billy can't believe what he is seeing. In the beginning, it seemed strange to befriend a zombie, even to just be around one without immediately wanting to kill it or have it try to kill him, but as he got to know Abe, all of that changed. On their journey, Billy found that he could actually have some sympathy for the monster, but now that Abe has been killed, his heart overflows with it. And then, he remembers that someone cares for Abe much more than him.

  He looks to his friend and her face is just as in shock as everybody else's. She stares, unblinking at Abe's hanging body, no longer undead, but truly deceased. Her eyes become glassy, but no tears fall from them. It is a wonder with the emotional turmoil she feels inside, and now, the stinging ache developing in her throat. Her body shakes with disbelief, and Billy fears how she might react.

  Feleider: That's more like it. Holden, come!

  Margaret: I'LL KILL YOU!!!!!

  Her sleeping rage awakens, as she takes one leaping swing on her crutches over to General Feleider and throws a right jab. The General tries to dodge it in time and shoot her, but the flat base of her crutch lands deep into his neck and sends him stumbling backward. He coughs harshly and tries to catch his breath, rubbing at his neck with his free hand. That was the last thing he expected to happen, but it had. There is no way in hell he can let her get away with such misbehavior. She tries to charge after him again, but Billy gets a hold of her.

  Feleider: You're going to regret doing that for the next two and a half seconds. After that, you'll be dead.

  He takes aim at Margaret.

  Erika: You pull that trigger, and you'll be dead half a second later.

  The General looks to the side and clears his throat at the gun Erika has locked on him. He decides to lower his own.

  Feleider: All right! I don't have time for this. Holden!

  This time, he turns away safely and walks for the door. Margaret fights with Billy to let her go, but he manages to keep her from chasing after him. She begins to settle down, but only after he exits the room. Holden follows behind him. His disappointed teammates watch him leave.

  Erika: We'd better start making some moves ourselves, people!!!

  Bernard: She's right! We have to make our way to the lifts before it's too late! We can take the carts outside!

  Everyone heads for the door except for Margaret, Billy and Gwen. The grieving girl shrugs Billy off of her and limps over to where Abe's dead body is hanging. Gwen
and Billy follow behind her. Erika waits by the exit to make sure that everything is all right, but a reaffirming nod from Gwen let's her know that it's okay for her to wait outside.

  Gwen: Margaret, honey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen.

  Margaret ignores her. She stops in front of Abe and looks up at him. It's funny how this moment reminds her of the very first days of meeting him. She remembers in the cabin how lost his eyes looked. They were alive and wild with no real direction, just mostly in hers for wanting to eat her. They were lifeless looking. Over the time they spent together, she noticed that they had changed. They were still grey, but had acquired a glimmer somewhere along the way, like there was something inside of him that appreciated again. It was like he had regained a small piece of his humanity, of his lost life. Margaret, she felt, had helped him achieve it, and maybe he would have improved even further over time, but now she would never know. She looks up at his eyes, and they look the same as the day they first met, lifeless and empty. It becomes too much for her, and she breaks down into tears.

  Gwen: Dear, it'll be okay. I promise you, I won't stop trying to find a cure, but in order for the fight to continue, we need to leave, right now.

  The sound of Gwen's voice has the opposite effect on Margaret than the professor expects it to have. The tears stop coming, and the sadness dwindles away. Being sad, being scared, those were exactly the emotions that were the cause for everything bad happening in her life. She remembers her promise to Abe and Billy, to her late parents, that she wouldn't be so blindly fearful anymore. She had failed moments ago when she hadn't forced Gwen to lower the goddamn bed. If she had just made sure, instead of constantly getting swept back into the General's bullshit, Abe would still be alive, at least, conscious. She looks back up at Abe and starts getting angry. Her grips tighten around her forearm crutches' handles, whitening her knuckles while everywhere else on her body begins to glow red, and then she drops her gaze to the floor, breathing intensely. Billy notices the emotional shift, so he calmly addresses it.

  Billy: Margaret, we have to go. Don't let it end here. You made a promise to us both.

  It's Billy's voice that has the desired effect. The sound of it brings Margaret back down to earth, and he knows it by the way her rate of breathing slows again. He places a hand on her shoulder to let her know that there's someone still around to care for, who cares for her very much. She looks at him briefly but says nothing, just looks back to the floor. Erika calls out to them from the door.

  Erika: I don't mean to be a bitch, but if we want to live, we really have to go!

  Gwen: She's right, guys.

  Billy coaxes Margaret along with comforting rubs to her shoulder, and with one last look up her at friend, she slowly pulls away from him, and once again, his body is left alone. His second life ends, abandoned in an underground laboratory named, D-9.

  The whooping sirens are even louder on the outside of the lab, possibly because the sound carries better through the open halls. Kerrick, Sharp, and Bernard are waiting on one cart, and Erika gets into the driver's seat of the other. Gwen gets into its passenger's side and Billy and Margaret sit in the back.

  Erika: Here we go!

  She honks the horn, letting Sharp know that she is ready to go, and the lead cart takes off. The unexpected announcement of the compound's self-destruction has the entire place in an uproar. Even in this less populated Block-D, people are scrambling around, running every which way doing God knows what.

  Gwen: Jesus, if it's this crazy here, it must be total anarchy in "A"!

  Erika: We'll just have to see when we get there!

  Gwen: The reason I say so is because the lifts will be impossible to get to!

  Erika: Well, that's just fabulous… If you have any better ideas, maybe you should tell us now. You know, so we can tell the guys?… And live?

  Gwen: Actually, I do. There's an emergency lift that not many people know about.

  Erika: Where is it?

  Gwen: It's also in Block-A, so just keep following them.

  Erika: All right! (clicks communicator) Denver, Gwen just told me that there is an emergency lift no one knows about. It's also in Block-A so stay on course. Standby for more information.

  Sharp: *** 10-4, Blaze!… Take lead!***

  Sharp's cart slows, and he lets Erika overtake him. The pair of carts speed through the halls of the compound at top-speed. Usually, Erika is keen to follow the rules of the road, but now, she finds herself swerving to avoid people and other recklessly driven carts and trucks. Her acute ability to react helps a great deal, and it isn't too long before they enter Block-A safely. Even on the outskirts of the division, the pandemonium is so much heavier than it was in "D". With most of the civilian dormitories and the compound's resources being there, it is expected, but as Professor Gwen watches the people speeding by, something feels a little off.

  It's something in the people's faces. They are all afraid, yes, why wouldn't they be when the place will be going up in about fifteen minutes? But something about the way they are running. It isn't to something or for anything. It doesn't look as though they are running to get anywhere important, to their families or even to the lifts. Most of them are actually running in the opposite direction of the lifts.

  Gwen: Where are all of these people going?! Make the next left turn!

  Erika: Oh, great. Okay, hang on, guys!

  The majority of the people running are flushing out from the incoming turn. Billy takes heed of Erika's warning and makes sure to grab on to something, not only for himself, but for Margaret, who's mind is clearly not in the present moment. She stares into the unfocused terrain as the cart speeds over it, caring not to look up at the insanity going on all around her. Billy holds her tight as Erika takes the cart left into the heavy influx of crazed evacuees. Sharp and Kerrick are tight on their tail. Bernard holds on for his life as the back seat swoops around.

  The amount of people in this corridor is significantly higher. It takes a lot more concentration on Erika's part to avoid everyone, especially since most of them are not paying attention to where they are running.

  Gwen grips the roof of the cart with her right hand and the dash with her left. She looks around at all of the terrified people and feels a deep sorrow for them. All of these families, the children, the elderly, young lovers and heroes will be gone in the next few minutes. Is she a hero, attempting to leave everyone behind? The people that she had set out to cure? She feels selfish as though she is abandoning them, but what can she do for them now? She can only find a cure if she survives, and that might save the entire planet, so it is what she must try to do. But all these people still underground, such a great loss.

  For all her thoughts, Gwen still cannot figure out why more people are not running in the direction of the main lifts. Do they not want to survive? She can't understand it. And then, she sees something she finds hard to believe, two men fighting on the ground with one another. At a time like this? What could they possibly be fighting about? Further along, she sees more people fighting. This one is a bit stranger. A teenaged girl wrestling with an old man, pulling and tugging at his sweater vest while his old wife tries to beat the teen off with her cane. She passes them by in the cart thinking, what on earth could that old couple have done to make that girl so angry? She was extremely irate, as though possessed.

  When she thinks about that word, "possessed", Gwen's gut sinks into her pelvis. A sickly feeling comes over her. She remembers General Feleider saying something about the infection having possibly breeched Alyster's lab. The possibility slowly becomes a reality. Each fight they pass in the cart is more vicious than the next, and then the biting and blood appears. Crying, and growling and the sounds of chaotic shrieking manifest themselves. It had never truly ended. The nightmare is now back at full throttle. Soon, they find themselves driving through a sea of people, half of which have been changed into desperate killers. Gwen can't believe her eyes. She looks over at Erika.

 
Erika: Yea, I see them!

  Erika's demeanor hasn't changed whatsoever. The Mav-Elite live for chaos, and Blaze feels right at home. She checks the cart's rear-view mirror to see if Sharp feels the same way. As she expects, he's still with her. Kerrick already has his piece out, firing polished rounds into the crowd. His aim is dead on, sniping zombies with a handgun through a throng of moving heads. Going strong with a streak of twelve. He takes a break to reload and looks over at Sharp.

  Sharp: Yea, I know. You wish you had a bigger gun!

  Kerrick: Damn right!

  He pops a magazine in and adds another headshot to his streak. Bernard is still holding on for dear life in the back seat. Sharp's precision driving requires some close calls, and the English doctor finds himself having to dodge swiping zombies and clingy people who only want their chance to escape. A desperate woman grabs on to the cart's bumper rail with one hand and hangs on with everything she has. She screams at the doctor for help, to pull her up. He hesitates for a moment, but then realizes his skinny frame will never be able to pull this woman up into the seat. If he tries, he himself would surely go tumbling off and get left behind. He makes a difficult decision, but the one he feels is best and starts stomping down on the screaming lady's hand. Each blistering stomp is harder to do than the last through the woman's begging and pleading, but the doctor gets some relief after she finally lets go. It takes seven stomps for him to watch her disappear back into the crowd from where she had come. He breathes a sigh of relief. Kerrick and Sharp are none the wiser.