Tales of the Zombie Apocalypse (Issue #2 | September 2015) (2 page)

“Baby, come on … this is our chance.” He touched Susie’s shoulder.

She joined him almost crawling out of the driver’s side of the car, both of them were exhausted from the sweltering heat. Jacob pushed the driver seat forward and gently pulled Cody’s body from the back seat, then lifting him up into his arms. He hoped and hoped there was some way to get Cody to a hospital and he could be revived and everything would be ok.

The man and the woman on the passenger side of the car kept firing their shotguns, but the zombies kept moving toward them. The growling and howling noises were unnerving. The shotgun blasts had no effect on the approaching monsters. Other than ripping the dead flesh from the zombie’s chests, it was as if they were throwing cotton balls at the zombies. After a full minute, the undead creatures reached the couple.

Jacob and Susie both winced and watched in fear as the walking corpses grabbed at the man and woman who had saved their lives. They wanted to help them, but they had nothing and shotguns didn’t even stop them. They stood there in horror and shock as the zombies tore the man and woman to pieces, feasting on their flesh. The screams were nightmarish. In seconds, there was silence. The man and woman were both dead and being torn to shreds and devoured right there between two cars on the right hand lane of Interstate 17.

“We have to do something for them, Jake. They saved us.” Susie was begging Jacob, hoping they could do something.

“We can’t help them, they are already dead.” Jacob turned back toward the city, still carrying his dead son in his arms. He knew he would never reach the hospital in time, but he walked anyway. He didn’t realize his son was beyond help already. All around them, screaming people were being torn limb from limb by these creatures. Some were firing pistols and shotguns at the walking corpses. To Jacob, it was all a blur. The gunshots being fired all around him were nothing but echoes. Jacob kept walking, tears streaming down his face, totally unaffected by the mayhem all around him. Susie walked with him, sobbing uncontrollably and stroking her dead son’s hair.

“Deserved”

Story #2

By

Kendra Stoffel

There it was. Salvation for their whole group, but only if they could pull it off. They had cased the store the day before. Unfortunately, without actually going inside, there was no way to tell if it was infested.

“I’ll go first, you cover me.” Lee’s lips brushed against the shell of Erin’s ear as he whispered. The goal was to make almost no noise. Keep as silent as possible; noise attracted trouble. It was a rule they all lived by now. Erin nodded in understanding, it wasn’t her first time out scavenging. Gun out, Lee walked noiselessly toward the broken glass doors of the abandoned grocery store, Erin close behind.

Once inside they did a quick search. When they didn’t spot any zombies, Lee let out the breath he had been holding. They were in luck. This place still had plenty of canned and boxed goods they could take back to camp with them. While he had been busy appraising goods, Erin had snuck away. Lee looked around only to see Erin already grabbing food off the shelves and throwing it into a shopping cart instead of her pack.

Still keeping his voice down Lee stalked over to Erin. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Gathering supplies.” She shrugged and threw the few remaining cans of tomatoes in the basket.

“What part of ‘No more than you can carry’ don’t you understand?” He grabbed the front of the basket, forcing her to a halt.

“You can’t tell me we don’t need this stuff!” She hissed at him and pushed the cart, barely moving him. “No one is here, we should take it all!” Her voice rose to just above a whisper, yet still seemed to echo through the quiet store.

Lee pushed the cart into her stomach, hard. “Put. It. Back. Now.” He forced out through gritted teeth. They didn’t have time for this! Erin’s eyes sparked at the perceived challenge in his voice. For once, the fire in her eyes didn’t excite him. “Now Erin.”

She narrowed her eyes at him before tightening her grip on the cart, “No.” Erin pushed the metal cart half full of boxes and cans as hard as she could. He was being ridiculous and she would win this argument! She put every last ounce of her strength into moving the shopping cart.

Lee wasn’t expecting the assault. With nothing bracing him, he was mowed over by the cart. Erin -not expecting him to move- fell as she was pulled along by the basket. Lee watched in unstoppable horror as Erin and the cart rammed into the shelves that still held canned goods. A domino effect. It was the only way to describe what happened next. The first shelving unit fell. Metal shelves and various food items scattered onto the linoleum floor and knocked down every other shelf until they hit a wall.

The noise was deafening in their silent world. Lee knew they had to get out. Now. There was a reason they were always quiet. Noise drew the un-dead in like a moth to a flame. In the silence that followed the catastrophe, he heard them. The shuffling of rotted feet. Bare bones clacking against the hard floor. Over the dry hiss of worn and leathery skin, he could hear the wordless moans of the un-dead. They had been wrong, so wrong. The store was crawling with them.

“GO! Get out of here!” Lee shouted. Keeping quiet no longer mattered - it was too late for that. He pushed Erin behind him in a fruitless effort to keep her safe. The corpses were slow moving now, but once he and Erin were spotted, the zombies would stop at nothing to reach them. Lee looked around frantically, she needed a way out. The way they had come in was not an option, he could see their dark shadows blocking the front doors. He knew from the day before that the back door was blocked and offered no escape. He glanced up. There!

“Erin, get on my shoulders.” He said and kneeled down. He held out an arm to help her climb onto his back. “You can crawl through that air duct. It should take you right to the roof, you can make your escape from there.” It was the best he could do. The zombies were close enough now that he could smell their putrid flesh. Even after all this time, the smell was almost more than he could handle. He and Erin wouldn’t have much longer before they were surrounded. Leaving now was their only chance.

“Leave? You must be joking. I can’t let you have all the fun.” Erin flashed him a grin and pulled him up by the arm he had been offering her. “I can’t return to camp without you, they’d eat me alive.” Lee had always loved the flash of mischief in her eyes. Now, however, he wished she would listen to him (Just this once!) and leave. She was too young to understand that she needed to fear them. It was the only way to stay alive. He almost regretted only taking her on safe missions before now. Ones where he knew the area was clear.

Once more, Lee tried to push her behind him so she could clamor onto his back. The small vent above them was the last path to safety. “I can’t leave. I won’t fit though that small hole, but you can! Just do it you stubborn woman!” He growled, fear for her edging its way into his tone.

Erin, stubborn as ever, wouldn’t budge. “Stop trying to get me to leave Lee. It won’t happen.” She pulled her gun out of its holster on her thigh and moved so they were back-to-back. Lee grimaced, but didn’t argue any further. It was too late, they were surrounded.

-0-0-0-

Lee marveled at how easily dead flesh was pierced. His bayonet sliced through partially decomposed windpipes as if they were butter. He found once the head was severed, it was easy enough to put a bullet through their virus infected brains; ending the half-life they had been living since the first time they died. Depending on how recently they had fed, some hardly even bled.

He could tell this lot had fed recently. They were faster and stronger. Blood and other viscera covered the white linoleum floor. He and Erin were having a hard time keeping on their feet. The puddle of gooey -almost black- blood made traction difficult. A swollen corpse appeared in front of Lee. Its jaw was missing and the resulting maw was red and dripping blood and saliva on to the thing’s chest. What was left of the tongue wriggled and danced against its neck, as if it were still trying to form words. The pale flesh and the bloated stomach told Lee that this man had died recently.

The zombie swiped at Lee and he quickly fell to his knees and pushed his bayonet into the soft flesh of its abdomen. He stood up and used his foot to push the reaching dead man off of his rifle. Acid, blood and gasses exploded out of the small hole Lee had made. The gore splashed over him, coating him in a fresh layer. The small hole became larger as the gasses that had been building up and slowly eating the muscle and tissue, spewed forth.

Lee felt no remorse as he stepped on the things glistening entrails. He thought they made a pretty picture where they spilled across the crimson floor. The zombie grabbed Lee’s ankle, but it was too late. Lee had his .357 mag already aimed at the middle of the un-dead man’s forehead. Erin called it his ‘cowboy’ gun. Lee liked the hole it left behind. Fierce joy flooded him as he watched the grey and pink brain matter burst out of the wound HE had made. Lee knew it was twisted to get such a kick out of destroying the un-dead, but it didn’t stop him.

The skirmish with the fresh corpse had seemed like minutes, but had only taken seconds. He was already blasting holes through another rotten body before the one at his feet had stopped twitching. There were too many of them, he knew that. Yet he still turned to share a manic grin with Erin at the chaos that surrounded them. Her eyes were blazing when they met his, and in that moment he knew. His eyes widened at the realization, but before he could fully process the thought, she cried out in pain.

Lee watched helplessly as she was over-powered by two zombies. There were too many bodies between them. He couldn’t reach her. With an animalistic roar, he threw himself toward her. He was determined to try and save her regardless of any injury to himself. Before he made it to her side, Erin rose to her feet but Lee could see that she was already dead. Oh, not yet, but soon. He could see it in the ragged and torn flesh on her shoulder; on the exposed and hanging muscle of her calf. It was obvious in the way she continued to fight without a care and the way she should have been on the ground unable to move, yet was standing tall. Her body was already reacting to the virus that had, until this moment, been dormant.

Finally, it was over. They were the last two standing. Lee knew he wouldn’t have made it out of there if Erin hadn’t continued fighting. Her enhanced strength and fearlessness had saved him. Now it was time for him to return the favor. Her back was to him, her head canted down, looking at the dismembered corpse at her feet. He had watched as she had torn the last one limb from limb before putting a bullet in its brain. Carefully, he put a hand on her uninjured shoulder. He tried to ignore the slowing blood and exposed shoulder blade on her other side.

When she turned to him, Lee could see the mischief had faded from her eyes. A new hungry and malicious glint was taking over. This body still looked so much like her. Bloodied and broken, but still her. It wouldn’t be her for much longer though. The infection was quickly taking over. Lee slid his hand from her shoulder up until he was cupping her cheek. Erin rubbed her face against his rough palm.

“It’s okay.” She said softly. “I want you to.” The hunger faded from her gaze, replaced by something he didn’t want to name.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered, wishing he could brush her lips with his one last time. Instead he brought his other hand up and pressed the muzzle of his cowboy gun right between her eyes. Neither of them blinked as he pulled the trigger. There was no fading light in her wide blue eyes as she went limp in his arms - just a glassy stare.

Cradling her to his chest, he sank to the floor. He wasn’t aware of dropping his gun until he felt that hand holding the back of her head. Almost as if he were trying to keep her brain from running out. It was useless, he could feel the thick gore running through his fingers. Soon, he had to drop her. He gently closed her eyelids, then stood. His pants stuck to the drying floor, a viscous glue trying to hold him in place. Instead, he left her there, already starting to decompose among the rest of the rotting bodies.

With a slow and steady trudge, Lee made his way back to camp. He made it past the boundary just as the sun was setting. Refusing to answer questions about his solo state, he sat in front of the fire and relived the day, wishing and dreading that in hind-sight, he could have found a way to save her.

It had seemed like such an easy mission. In and out. Yet here he was, sitting alone watching a dying fire, her blood still on his hands. He had refused to wash it off. He needed the reminder that not every zombie death would bring him joy. In their world it was foolish to fall in love. Only the weak fell in love out here. Lee had known that, yet still let himself get attached. In the fading embers of the fire, he thought he could still feel her body in his arms. The memory of the light instantly disappearing from her eyes when he pulled the trigger…. It was quickly becoming too much.

It should have been me. The phrase played over and over in his mind, drowning out all other thoughts. As the self-loathing mantra continually stung his brain, Lee stood up. Still staring down at his bloody palms, he watched in fascination as they turned from crimson to black. The further he moved away from the firelight, the darker they became. He quickly reached the edge of camp and hesitated only briefly. It should have been me. He stepped over the boundary. No one would come save him.

Deeper into the trees he walked. His path wandering and slow. Lee had no real sense of his destination, but knew he was looking, waiting, for something. Finally, he heard them as he neared the city limit. Their groans carrying through the trees. He could tell when they smelled him, the hungry sounds they made were far from the once human throats they came from. Three of them scurried towards him, making their way through the sparse woods. Lee fell to his knees, his guns and knives far away at the camp he had left behind.

When the first one jumped on him from behind, Lee couldn’t stop the instinct to fight. He grabbed it by the shreds of clothes left on its skeletal body and threw is over his shoulder. The next one he couldn’t have stopped if he wanted to. Lee roared in pain as a strong jaw and sharp teeth tore through the skin and muscle on his thigh.

The zombie there was holding his leg as if Lee were a piece of chicken and eating it with gusto. The creature currently gnawing on him pulled back, lips peeled away from blackened gums, and bared its teeth. The lower half of its face was bright from his still pumping blood. Lee suddenly had the urge to reach out and touch the slick sanguine fluid. Before he could act on the morbid instinct, the other two zombies attached themselves to him. One bit clean through his shoulder, rendering his arm useless. The other tore off his hand. Lee had been hearing a faint screaming from the time the attacked. It wasn’t until the sound was choked off from the shock of his hand parting from his arm that he realized the sounds were coming from his own mouth.