Alone (14 page)

The only way she could keep the zombie from getting at her feet was to keep moving. She screamed as the gray dead hand swung at her feet. She started to pull.

The creature was small, but so was Trish. The deadly game of tug of war quickly tired her out. The zombie showed no sign of slowing down and it continued waving frantically to reach her.

Roy, Tom and Debbie laughed as they watched. Tom had even tried to make a bet on how long Trish could hold out before she got too tired to stay out of the zombie’s reach.

After about five minutes, it had seemed like long exhausting hours to Trish, Roy walked over and brought the branch he had been holding, down hard against the back of the things head.

With the sound of the zombie’s head being smashed open like a pumpkin, the creature finally stopped moving.

Trish dropped to the ground, her lungs heaving. Tears ran down her face as she looked up angrily at Roy. As badly as she wanted to scream at him, she knew it was in her best interest to keep her mouth shut. She knew as bad as he treated her, it could always get worse. Much worse.

“Ah Roy?” Tom said. Fear sounded in his voice.

Roy was about to answer, but the groaning sounds that seemed to be coming from all around him grabbed his attention..

He slowly stood and started to look around.

“I think we have a problem.” Tom said.

Roy looked at the field in front of them. A dozen of the dead were a hundred feet away coming straight at them.

Another large group was coming out of the woods to their left. He didn’t know how many were coming through the trees on his right, but the sound of the dead groaning was even louder in that direction.

“Shit!” Roy said quietly.

Debbie and Tom ran up next to Roy. “What are we going to do?” Debbie asked. Her voice strained as she forced out the words.

“We could go back towards the warehouse.” Tom said.

“Then do what?” Roy grumbled. “I don’t think that asshole will let us in. No, we have to get back to the bed and breakfast.”

“How are we going to do that? They are going to have us surrounded in a few minutes.” Tom added.

Roy studied the dead making their way towards them.

“Where did they all come from?” Debbie asked, her voice near panic.

“They must have heard the little bitch screaming and came looking for her.” Roy swore.

“We have to do something. They’re getting close and we’re going to be trapped.” Tom said frantically.

“We need a distraction to get their attention, then we can make a run across the field.” Roy said.

“I think we are a little short on distractions.” Tom replied.

“Follow me.” Roy said as he grabbed the rope tied to Trish and began dragging her back towards the woods behind them.

“What about the food?” Tom asked as he watched nervously.

“Grab one case, we’ll come back for the rest later.

Tom grabbed the case of vegetable soup and ran to catch up with Roy.

Roy dragged Trish to the woods line and to a tree, twenty feet away that sat out into the field.

Trish looked confused as Roy started to untie her. A sense of relief started to come over her, until Roy pulled her arms in front of her and tied her hands together again.

She thought he was changing the rope so she could run easier, but her eyes grew wide as Roy tossed the end of the rope up over the branch that extended out over top of their heads from the tree.

He caught the end of the rope as it looped down from the branch and began to pull.

Trish winced in pain as she was pulled off the ground. Roy tied off the rope around the trunk of the tree, leaving Trish hanging by her arms about two feet off the ground. She began to tremble, forgetting the pain in her wrists as she realized what Roy was doing.

Trish began to plead. “No! Please don’t do this! Take me with you.”

Roy grabbed Trish around the waist and shoved her. She began to swing back and forth from the branch.

“Come on, back into the woods. Those dead bastards should focus on her swinging from the branch.” Roy said as he ran back into the woods. Debbie was close behind. Tom followed carrying the case of soup.

They worked their way to the corner of the field and hid behind some tall grass and watched.

Trish cried and call after them. “Debbie, please don’t leave me here!”

Debbie ignored her cries, but the dead focused on her cries and swinging motion and they all started for her.

“It’s working!” Tom whispered. “They are all going after her.”

Roy got up off the ground but stayed low as the horde of dead bodies moved further out into the field, creating an opening along the side of the field in front of them. “OK, stay low and move quietly. While they’re busy with her we should be able to get out this way.”

Roy started moving with Tom on his heels. Debbie lingered for a moment and stared over at Trish as she struggled and cried as she swung at the end of the rope. A tear formed in the corner of Debbie’s right eye, slipped out and ran down her face. Debbie turned and hurried after Roy and Tom.

She wanted to get as far away from here as she could before the screams and cries grew louder. Before the horrible sounds that always followed when the dead cornered and began to feast on the living.

Chapter 17

Trish cried and shook violently. She grew terrified as the dead got closer and closer. She couldn’t control the flow of tears, which came heavily and blurred her vision.

She had seen the dead swarm over the living in Dunbar. She had heard the terrifying screams of terror and agony as the dead ripped the living to pieces.

Maybe more than the actual sight of the dead feasting, the horrifying cries of the living scared her more.

The sounds conveyed the agony that the living felt more than the actual sight.

She had heard the sounds in her nightmares. In her dreams she had turned her head away from the visions, but there was no escaping the horrifying sounds of the agony and pain.

She could turn her head and put her hands over her ears, but the sound would always be there in her head.

When Debbie had disappeared into the high grass, Trish had lost all hope that they were just teasing her again. They weren’t tormenting her, they were sacrificing her so they could escape the dead.

They were leaving her to die.

The feeling of abandonment by her sister hurt the most.

She knew Roy and Tom could do something like this to her, but she had always felt that deep down, her sister would in the end protect her.

When her sister said that Trish had always been a pain in the ass, she thought that maybe Debbie was only making a show to impress Roy and Tom.

She didn’t think Debbie had actually meant what she had said. To know Debbie really didn’t care or even at least try to talk Roy into sparing her, hurt as much as what she thought the dead would do to her in the next few minutes.

Trish glanced towards the edge of the field where she had last seen Debbie. The field was distorted by the tears in her eyes, but she could see enough to know that Debbie and the others were gone. They would not be coming back for her.

She was alone. She would die alone.

The many dead that would be feasting on her, causing the horrific pain that she would feel, didn’t count. She was alone.

She had felt like she was alone for the last year, but she had hoped some day she would be accepted by Debbie and the others. It was a slim hope, but it had been all she had to hang on to. It had been something. It had been all she had.

Trish felt numb from the pain in her arms and from the feeling of despair.

She stopped struggling and hung limp. She had given up and accepted her fate. She would need her strength, at least for a few minutes.

Hanging like this was going to make her situation even worse than the many deaths she had witnessed.

The others had died quickly as the dead attacked their heads and necks. The dead would devour her legs and body before they could get at her head.

That is if they could even get up that far.

The thought that she would have to watch the dead eat her legs while she hung there helplessly made her start to tremble uncontrollably. She realized the pain she would feel would be horrific and last far too long before she would die.

The first of the dead was now only ten feet away. She wanted to scream, but she was shaking so badly that she couldn’t force out a sound no matter how hard she tried.

Small whimpers were all that she could hear coming from her throat.

She had intended to be brave, but all feeling of determination and dignity left her. She felt the warm liquid running down her legs as the lifeless black eyes of the dead thing standing in front of her looked into her eyes.

It held up its arms, reaching for her as its jaws clicked open and closed, anticipating the flesh that it would soon bite into. Her flesh.

Its gray transparent skin reminded Trish of a terrifying Halloween mask she had seen one time. It had scared the hell out of her. She had just been a little kid then.

The heavy sickening smell coming from the creature made her choke and gag.

Trish gritted her teeth, preparing herself for the first wave of excruciating pain that was coming.

She bit down hard, hoping the pain of her clenched teeth would help control the pain that she was about to feel in her legs. Her breathing grew rapid. The air moved in and out of her lungs so fast, her body didn’t have time to absorb the oxygen it needed and she began to feel light headed.

The creature’s hand touched her leg. Her eyes were now open so wide she thought they would pop out of her head.

Her breathing stopped as she watched the gross looking dead figure collapse to the ground in front of her.

She looked out at the next creatures coming at her and saw them fall one at a time.

Her mind was in shock and unable to process what it saw.

She stared down at the unmoving body at her feet. She stared but nothing registered in her mind.

Her mind finally focused on the arrow that was embedded in one side of its head, then everything started to spin and she felt herself falling.

The next thing that registered was her body hitting the ground hard and stars flashing before her eyes.

The next thing she saw was the ugly dead face that was only inches away from her own.

She jumped to her feet and ran her hands over her face.

Then she realized her hands were free.

She looked around frantically and saw the dead were all almost on her.

She ran for the woods as fast as she could.

She thought she heard a voice calling her name, but her mind was in such a panic, she ignored everything and ran.

She had to run. Her rope broke and she was free was all that meant anything to her now. She was free.

She ran. It was her only chance.

Tony shot two more of the dead with his bow. Two of the dead that had surprised him from behind while he was cutting the ropes that had held Trish.

He had just finished the shot when he caught motion on his left.

He grabbed another arrow and placed it on the bow before he looked in the direction of the motion, ready to take down another creature.

As he pulled the arrow back, he realized it was Trish running away from him and to the wooded area at the left side of the field.

“Trish, come back!” He called but she didn’t stop, if anything she ran faster.

Tony started to chase after her, but quickly stopped as six zombies cut off his route.

“Trish!” Tony called again.

A quick look told him he was about to be surrounded. The dead were coming at him from every direction.

Some were going in Trish’s direction, but most of them were now coming at him.

Tony looked down, he only had five arrows left. He would use them up in a few seconds.

He had no choice, he had to get out of here and fast.

The only direction that wasn’t swarming with the dead was the way he had come.

He saw some movement that way too, but it was his only realistic option.

He took one last glance in the direction where Trish had run, but she was nowhere to be seen.

He turned and ran as the groaning of the dead got louder.

When Tony had put a little distance between him and the dead, he started to work his way through the woods to his right. He would take a large looping path back to the warehouse. He hoped the misdirection would lose the dead that were following him, so he wouldn’t lead them back to the warehouse.

He wanted to escape but he also didn’t want to find himself in the warehouse surrounded by the dead again.

He wanted to get back and get more arrows and try to go back to find Trish. He hoped he could find her before the dead trapped her somewhere.

Tony worked his way through the woods. He could hear the groaning of the dead following behind him, even though he could no longer see them.

“That damn Roy.” Tony thought. “Tormenting that small zombie, making it groan and growl, had attracted the others. They were never very far away. You get one crying out and others would soon show up.”

He had seen it many times before. He didn’t know how the other zombies could hear the sound, but they did. Maybe they just sensed or felt it. The dead dry skin and ears of the dead didn’t seem like they could still function. How it worked, Tony didn’t know. All he knew was that when one of those things saw a living person, they had a way to communicate the fact to the other dead. It could even be telepathic. Maybe when those things died, the absence of thought cleared the mind of all the cluttered thoughts so they could receive and recognize telepathic signals. He didn’t think so but it sure seemed to work that way.

Whatever it was, they had some way to communicate that he didn’t understand. All Tony needed to understand was that the dead did manage to communicate.

Fifteen minutes later Tony was at the edge of the clearing that surrounded the warehouse.

He pulled the tall grass to the side so he could scan the area and see around the warehouse.

There were three staggering creatures dragging themselves through the parking lot in front of the trucks.

Tony used the last of his arrows to eliminate them. It took all five of the arrows. Tony was happy his skill with the bow had improved. The many days of practice shooting at targets inside the warehouse had paid off.

He was surprised when the arrow he shot at the zombie about to grab Trish had hit it square in the side of the head.

He had aimed at the thing’s chest, hoping to distract it enough that it wouldn’t bite into Trish. He had hoped to distract it long enough so that he could get close enough to club it over the head. The lucky shot gave him a few extra seconds so he could cut Trish’s ropes.

Tony jogged over to the side door of the warehouse and fished the key out of his pocket. He opened the door, slipped in and locked it behind him.

He stood with his back against the door for a few minutes to calm his nerves.

Today had been a wild day. When he started out to follow Roy and his pals, he never had expected things to go as they had.

He went over to the sporting goods shelves and grabbed a few bundles of arrows. He quickly counted fifty arrows. He should have taken this many earlier today. The dozen he had taken ended up just being enough to save Trish and barely get him back to the warehouse.

He also picked up two boxes of pellets and slid them into his pocket.

He grabbed a box of Hostess Ho Ho’s and began to climb the ladder to his room. He needed to take a break, eat something and see if anything had followed him back to the warehouse, before going back out to search for Trish.

He dropped down in his chair by the window. He popped a Ho Ho into his mouth as he stared out the window.

He chewed as he watched two dozen of the dead come out of the woods and enter the clearing, heading for the warehouse.

Tony opened a box of pellets and poured them into the chamber of his pellet gun. He waited as the dead grew near. They were still too far out for the pellet gun.

He would have to quietly put down the dead that had managed to follow him if he was going to go back out to look for Trish today. He would have to eliminate them all if he had any hopes of getting out of the warehouse anytime soon. If anymore showed up, he could be stuck in here again for days.

Trish ran into the woods. Her mind slowly began to function again and she began to become aware of the pain coming from her head, wrists and feet.

Her head hurt from where it had hit the ground when the rope broke and her head hit the ground.

She could barely remember falling, everything happened so fast. So many things had been running through her mind at the time, it took her by surprise. The last thing she had been expecting at the time was to find herself on the ground.

She rubbed her wrists as she moved quickly around the trees. She could hear the dead behind her, they were coming.

She glanced down to see blood on the sides of her feet. When she started running, she didn’t worry about anything except getting as far away from the dead as she could. In her effort to get away, she hadn’t been watching where she put her feet. She must have cut the bottom of her feet on some stones or thorns as she ran barefoot.

Her feet were sore and were starting to hurt like hell.

Trish finally stopped and looked around. She didn’t know where she was now. She couldn’t see anything but trees. She was tired and sore all over and the dead were still coming. She could hear the groaning. It was off in the distance but she could tell they were getting closer.

Trish didn’t know how much longer she could run. She was exhausted. She just wanted to lay down and go to sleep, but she knew what would happen to her if she did.

Her body wanted to at least sit down for a rest, but she was so tired she knew she would fall asleep.

Her body was shutting down. The stress of almost getting eaten had drained her and now she needed to rest.