Her little home looked more like a mother in law’s quarters. It had to be only one bedroom if it wasn’t just a studio. Chang kicked the door open, making noise on purpose so that if anything was inside it would come at him upon entry.
He quickly scanned the house and gave us the ok to come in. It was a studio apartment as I had thought and the place was a mess. She had been living in this place without leaving for far too long. Tami went to her kitchen area and asked me for my help grabbing something. I felt her grab my wrist and flip me just like someone in a self defense class would do. Next thing I knew she had me up against the wall with a knife to my neck.
Of all the ways to die, I would have never thought it would have been at the hands of a lunatic.
“Hey, punk! Let me go you psycho!!!
She shook her short, dirty blonde hair at me as if to say no.
“Hey, let’s not do this. Ok? If there is something you need, I can get it for you. Just put down the knife,” Chang pleaded. I could see a tear forming in his eye.
“I want you to….
BOOM. Chang shot her right in the temple. Blood and brain matter splattered all over my face and some into my mouth. I gagged and threw up at the putrid taste. Her limp body lay lifeless at my feet. Chang shot to kill.
He didn’t stop to see what her demands were. He didn’t stop to reason with her. The woman had a crazy look in her eyes and there was nothing to him that would be worth risking my life.
He ran to me and hugged the life out of me. He stood there and held me as we both sobbed. He grabbed my face with both of his hands and give me a quick kiss on my forehead. Then we ran to the Suburban, fearful that someone heard the shot and would be coming after us.
“Thank you Chang.”
“I couldn’t let her threaten you like that. I couldn’t take a risk in her taking your life.”
We didn’t talk the rest of the way to the manor. In fact, we didn’t talk about it ever again.
I took a shower and when I came out Chang was waiting for me on my bed. He motioned me over with his hand and stood there and held me for the longest time. He caressed my wet hair with his hands and then he gave me one final squeeze and exited the room.
I laid there attempting sleep but weirdly comforted by Chang. Things were becoming strange around here.
That afternoon I woke up to the sounds of roaring laughter outside. I peeked out of my bedroom window to see Selena and Jewels at the gate laughing as hard as they could. Jewels stood at the gate with a full trash can, throwing apple cores into the zombie’s mouths.
I ran out there to hear zombies hissing and growling at the girls. It was hilarious to watch the girls laughing so boisterously. All I could do was stand there and laugh.
“Are you hungry?” Jewels taunted the ghouls.
More laughter erupted. I left the girls to their game of feed the zombie.
CHAPTER 27
BREANNE
It was January 5th. The morning was cool and a storm had blown in. The rain pattering on my window startled me awake. Brian laid there next to me snoring with his mouth open and with one leg hitched over top of mine. I carefully slid his leg off of me, trying not to wake him. That didn’t happen though. He startled straight up. “What’s wrong babe?” He questioned me.
“Nothing, the rain woke me up.”
Just then his cell rang. It was his mother. Good timing, I thought to myself. I could hear only his end of the call. I was guessing she wanted him to go check on someone. He abruptly ended the phone call and looked over at me and said, “I need to leave today for a while. I need to go and check on my grandma. Mom said she hasn’t heard from her for a few days and it’s not like her to not call.”
“Ok babe. I’ll go with you.”
“No. I don’t want you to go. Just in case. I’ll take Kyle with me.”
“No, I’m going. I can fend for myself. I’m not as helpless as I look!”
My arguing was getting somewhere, I could see. He had better give into my demands anyway. If something involved his family, I wanted to be there. I gave him my best pleading look and he caved.
“Don’t use those eyes on me again. It’s not fair,” He begged. “You can go.”
And so we did. Kyle, Brian and I loaded up in the Suburban to head to grandma’s house. I don’t know why we didn’t use my car anymore; Maybe because the Suburban seemed more durable than my car.
It was a short drive to the convalescent hospital. We pulled into the tiny parking lot behind it and knew why Grandma hadn’t called. The place had been compromised.
Zombies were staring out of every window of the place. At the double glass doors you could see them trying to claw their way out. The stench of the place almost made me vomit. It smelled like death all around this place. It was interesting to see old zombies, with gray hair and some stuck in wheel chairs. Many of them had silver hair and some were even trying to bite us through the doors but had no teeth to bite with.
“They are trying to gum me to death!” I quietly chuckled to myself. Kyle saw the humor in my comment and let out a roar of laughter that could have shaken the building. Brian wasn’t too fond of my joke, but I really wasn’t trying to make a joke. It was an observation.
“Honey, listen. If your grandma is in there then she isn’t ok. Could she have left when the zombie had gotten in?” I patted him on the shoulder. His face was pale with fear. I know he thought the worst for her.
“She could have been visiting her friend Sue. She would leave sometimes to go have coffee with her. Maybe we should check Sue’s house.”
And so we did. We drove down Olive Street as fast as we could but that was hard since there were zombies every so often that we had to stop or swerve for. We finally reached Rite Aid and turned down a little side street. The smell of rain poured in the door as we exited the car. The entire city usually reeked of death and there was no getting away from it. It was nice to smell rain instead of death for a change.
Sue lived in a house that looked like a little cottage. She was a gardener that once cared very much for her plants. She had many different varieties of plants in her yard as well as a coy pond with a bridge near her front door. It was understandable that her bushes were a bit over grown and her flowers were near dead. I felt pity for the old woman. She could no longer do her hobby. She had to watch her plants die just like the rest of the world had died around her.
The front door was closed. Brian gently knocked. “Sue, it’s Brian.”
We could hear scuffling around inside but no one came to the door. He knocked again, a little louder this time. Kyle stood behind me watching the street with his gun cocked and rose at his chest. That was standard procedure for anyone leaving the house now.
We waited a little longer and nobody answered. “Sue, I hear you in there. Can you please open the door? Is everything ok in there?”
“Maybe you should go in. Maybe she’s hurt. Sometimes old people fall and they can’t get to the door,” I speculated.
Brian grabbed the door handle and gave it a slow turn. He pushed the door open gently and yelled, “Sue! Are you ok in there?”
The door gave way under his pressure. He was suddenly face to face with Sue. Sue was about my height and she was a bit overweight. Her clothes were torn and her skin was bloody. Her ghoulish eyes glazed over as she stared intently at Brian. She would make him her next meal. Kyle pushed me out of the way and blew a hole in her brain before we could blink.
“I’m sorry man. She was going to eat you.”
“It’s ok dude. Thanks for getting my back.”
Something loomed in the dark hall of Sue’s house, something small and feeble. I couldn’t really catch a distinction as to what it was but I could tell it wasn’t a person.
“Brian. There’s something in the hall. See it over there?”
Kyle raised his gu
n once again and the object moved closer. It was slow moving but it was headed in our direction. It suddenly moved into the light and Brian began panting.
“That’s, um, that’s my grandma,” He stuttered. He started to shake violently and began to dry heave.
“Dude! She’s a zombie. What do you want me to do with her?”
“I don’t know!!!”
Grandma’s pale face and sunken eyes were too much for him to bear. Her right arm was missing, apparently chewed off by her dear friend Sue. Her clothes were ragged and bloody. It looked fresh. Grandma zombie approached us with more speed. Her dentures made a chop sound as she got closer. She reached out with her only arm to grab a victim.
“Brian! I need an answer now! Right, now!”
“Grandma, I love you and I’m sorry,” Brian managed through sobs. Brian raised his own gun and shot a bullet. Grandma dropped to the floor.
I couldn’t console him on the way home. He was beyond what anyone could do for him. I held him and let him cry it out. It couldn’t have been easy for him to shoot his grandmother, zombie or not.
Brian didn’t speak for days after the incident. I had to be the one to call his mother and give her the dreadful news. It wasn’t a happy time for us but I would love him through it all.
CHAPTER 28
ZOE
I had trouble settling in for the night. I don’t know why, but a sense of dread came over me. I know hearing the story of Brian’s grandma shook everyone up but this was different. I kept thinking about the devil dog and wondering if the government was going to come after mom. I finally settled down for the night when I heard a strange scratching noise at the windows. I ran down the hall to the window that faced Mr. Gong’s house to see if I could see where this mysterious noise was coming from.
The house was very quiet as it was late at night. I could hear the faint noise of snores coming from the opposite end of the hall. I approached the window and looked into the tree house. All was calm, or so it seemed. I opened the window and started to climb out when I felt a gentle tug at my shirt. I turned around in the darkness to see Chang.
“What are you doing?”
“I heard a noise. I’m going to cross the bridge to the lookout and check on Chris.”
“I heard it too. I’m coming with you.”
It was funny that Chang slept as light as I did. It seemed that anytime there was a noise, he was up with me. We cautiously began to cross the bridge when we heard that terrible screeching noise again. Chang stopped dead in his tracks and looked at me.
“Did you hear that too?” He whispered.
“Yeah. Where’s it coming from?”
Just then we heard it again and we traced the noise to underneath us. My heart beat erratically. I could feel all of the blood drain from my head and began to feel faint. I wasn’t sure what was making that noise but I knew whatever it was wasn’t human and it was in our yard. Chang cocked his gun and pointed at the window by the downstairs family room.
Scratching at the window was a small herd of zombies. The manor had been compromised once again. Whoever was on watch had let them through. Chang started shooting the creatures while I finished my task of checking on Chris.
Chris woke with a snort. He was fine.
“Who is on watch tonight?”
“Kyle. Why?” He was hardly coherent, and was still half asleep.
“There are zombies by the house; in the yard.”
He jumped with a start, straight up to his feet. He grabbed his radio and called Kyle. There was no answer.
“Chang!” I called from the tree house. “Kyle won’t answer the radio and he is on duty tonight,” Chang seemed to know exactly what I was implying. At the sound of our voices as if on cue, the zombie herd came towards us and stopped right below us. Some of them were jumping in an attempt to get us.
He nodded his head and continued to shoot the ghouls. Chris did a quick perimeter check and said the fence at the front of the house had a few bars missing in the same spot we had welded. He also spotted an object in the distance but it was too dark to know exactly what it was.
I pulled my gun out and helped Chang shoot them. He was a much better shot than I was but it didn’t stop me from doing my part. Not everybody grew up in a military family and had training with weapons like he did.
We finally killed them all and now it we had to find out exactly what had happened to Kyle. We cautiously entered the yard, backs to each other. Every square inch of the back yard was free of zombies, thankfully. Now that things were clear we needed to make our way over to the object in the front yard.
With every step I took, a sense of dread passed over me. My stomach tied with knots of anticipation. I started to feel dizzy. My mind was racing with thoughts that I tried to dismiss; but I knew my brain was right this time. Something happened to Kyle and I was about to find out exactly what had happened.
We were now 100 yards from the object. It was still too dark to see exactly what it was, so we stood there with our guns aimed at it for a while, waiting for it to move. It was the shape of a body.
“Kyle,” I started, “If it’s you say something. Are you hurt?”
I heard a faint moan and saw something move in the dark. I wasn’t quite sure what it was. I couldn’t immediately tell if the voice was Kyle, but I was beginning to suspect that it was.
We took a few steps closer. “Kyle. Are you hurt?”
And then a faint moan again.
My eyes started to adjust to the lack of light and I could see that if this was Kyle, then he was only half there. Brian came around the corner with a flashlight and then we proceeded to get closer to whatever it was.
We were finally close enough to see it. A sinister feeling came over me as the light shined onto the object. It was Kyle, alright. He was legless and bloody. His hands made reaching movements. I was beginning to think he was in desperate need of help. I took a few steps closer and he began to slither in the grass like a snake. He was bloody from head to toe and his eyes had changed. I knew right then that he had been bit. There was no doubt in my mind that those zombies had torn his limbs off. But why were his eyes different? There was no way he had changed that quickly.
Chang looked at me with a fierce disappointment. “What should I do? He already looks like he’s turned. How is that even possible?”
“Nothing about this virus makes sense,” Brian responded.
I stood there shocked and appalled at what was slithering there in front of me. It was Kyle, but then it wasn’t. I decided to speak to him and try to get a response, just to make sure.
“Kyle, if you can understand me, say something.”
“MMMnnnnnnnnnaaaahhhhhh,” came the ghoulish groan from the would be corpse.
“He’s gone. We have to do something,” Chang sang.
“Execute him,” Brian stated with a dead tone to his voice and walked away.
CHICKA, CHICK, BOOM.
I was the one to do it. Brian was Kyle’s friend and Chang had enough excitement for the day. Tomorrow we would bury yet another family member.
CHAPTER 29
BREANNE
Today we buried another friend. We all knew there would be casualties of war but we never imagined it would be so often. Brian had cried his last tear last night and tried to put on a brave face. I felt so very helpless. I didn’t know what I could do for him. I just wanted to help. He had lost his grandmother and his friend within 24 hours of each other. He didn’t take losing his grandma well. When he cried, he screamed, ‘HOW MANY MORE ARE GOING TO DIE?! WHEN WILL IT ALL END?!’ I didn’t know how to answer him or if I even should. My heart ached for the love of my life and there was absolutely nothing I could do to stop his heartache. His pain was now my pain.
Having to bury Kyle was the icing on the cake for him. He became numb. I knew by looking at him that he had cried his
last tear and now he was angry. He wanted all zombies to die.
Over the course of the next few weeks he left the manor more often. He, Zoe and Chang were our hunting team and they were good at it. They would easily get 100 zombies a day and we had plenty of food and ammo to show for it. Whatever helped heal my husband’s heart, I was ok with. He had a safe way to grieve, who was I to try to stop him? I missed him while he was gone but I knew being obsessed over my new husband did no good for anybody. I spent my days tending to the children and taking care of household jobs.
Aunt Brooke was monitoring her email and web page constantly now. Her latest broadcast brought her more than a billion hits and comments as well as hundreds of emails that were just pouring in.
She was a celebrity overnight. The government hated her though and had the nerve to attempt to shut the website down. Brian had set up a system that they could not get through yet. They also had the nerve to say that she fabricated all of the information she broadcast. Everyone that commented on the website knew the government was lying, who has resources like that at their disposal? It made no sense to all of us. If they were going to lie, they could have done a better job than that.
She didn’t seem to mind. It just made her website more popular and more people were aware of the lies they left behind. The government had to be panicking with the info she was able to obtain. Aunt Brooke was now working on her next step. She wasn’t sure what to do next but I was about to introduce the idea of someone trying to get an interview with the California Governor. Brian had mentioned to me that maybe we should break into the governor’s office and bug it. I loved his ideas but I didn’t want him in the line of fire. Not now, anyway. He has suffered enough loss and so had his family.
Aunt Brooke should have her mind made up soon enough. She was a smart woman and she has a clear head on her shoulders. Once she was determined to do something, she would do it. She will take down the government. She just wanted to be wise about her next step.
CHAPTER 30
ZOE
“Mom, we need to make a move. The news has your face all over it. Every 15 minutes they are showing your face with the million dollar reward for turning you in. You need to commit to the next step and we need to go through with it. I think they are going to start hunting you down even harder.”