Dead Outside (Book 1) (25 page)

He
reached for the machete again and scrambled to his feet. I reached for a chair
leg to use as a weapon. My shoulder was on fire with pain but I pushed it to
the back of my mind.

He
lunged at me as soon as he got to his feet, swinging the machete wildly, but I
deflected the machete with the chair leg and punched him in the face. He
stumbled back a few paces with a stunned look on his face. I wasted no time.

I
threw the chair leg at his head, and tackled him to the ground before he could
regain his senses. I punched him as hard as I could until his nose was as
bloody and his face was as bruised as mine. I stood up slowly and slightly
light headed.

I
kicked him in the side to make sure he was out. He didn’t move, other than his
weight shifting back from the kick.

Blood
was running down my arm. I was nearly out of breath and I could feel myself
going into shock, but I had to stay focused.

I
could hear shallow breathing so I rushed over to Sarah. She was unconscious,
and had a trail of blood running down her face from a cut on her forehead.

“Sarah,
can you hear me?” I cut the tape that was binding her to the chair and gently
lifted her head so it was looking up at me. “Come on honey wake up, we have to
go.”

Her
eyelids flickered a little bit, and opened slowly. She looked around the room,
taking a few seconds to comprehend what she was seeing. “Sam?” Her voice was
groggy, “What happened?”

“Don’t
worry,” I said as I helped her up, even though my shoulder was screaming, I
pushed the pain to the back of my mind. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

“Are
you sure?” she asked with a mix of fear and love in her eyes.

“Yes,”
I smiled through the excruciating pain, “for the first time in a long time, I
really do.”

She
smiled and kissed me. I barely felt her lips, but I felt them well enough to
make me feel better.

I
saw my hat lying on the ground a few feet away so I walked over to it. I knelt
down to grab it and dusted it off. Some blood had stained under the brim where
my forehead cut was. “Hey Sarah, do you know how to get a blood stain out?”

She
didn’t answer right away so I turned around, only to see Wade was back up and
he had a gun in his hand aimed at me. “No more fucking around.”

The
gunshot was deafening as it echoed through the room. I didn’t feel anything at
first. I thought I was so in shock already that I couldn’t feel it, but when I
looked down and felt my chest I didn’t see any holes. I looked back up and saw
Wade drop his gun and collapse to the floor. Sarah was standing behind him aiming
a gun where Wade was.

I
took a few deep breaths then finally said, “I had him.”

“Yeah,
sure,” she scoffed as she lowered the gun. “Why can’t you just admit I saved
your life?”

“I
had him right where I wanted him,” I persisted sarcastically, still out of
breath as I picked up the gun that Wade dropped. “I was just about to make my
move.”

I
pulled the slide of the gun back to make sure a round was chambered then aimed
it at Wade’s head. His eyes were still open wide. A fearful expression was
frozen on his face. I stared intently at his eyes, and saw no trace of green.

I
fired.

Blood
and brains sprayed across the floor. I paused for a second then fired two more
times.

Sarah
gave me a perplexed look and shrugged, “Why’d you do that?”

“He
already got up once,” I shrugged back, wincing at the pain it caused my
shoulder wound. “I just wanted to make sure he wouldn’t do it again.”

“Oh
shut up,” she pleaded, “Can we just get the fuck out of here?”

I
smiled as best I could, “Yes ma’am. Our truck is right outside.”

Chapter Twenty-Five: What Next

12:00
AM, December 14

Sarah
patched up my arm and head as best she could with what I had in my truck. I
needed Roxie to stitch me up, and we were headed to where I told Nick to go.

We
drove past the school on the way back and saw it was completely engulfed in
flames. I slowed down so we could get a better look.

“All
our stuff,” Sarah looked up at the burning school solemnly. “What are we going
to do?”

“I
don’t know,” I admitted. “I grabbed as much as I could carry when I left to get
you. I figured we’d have to wait for the undead to clear out, but I didn’t
think the explosions would burn the school down.”

“Where
are Nick and Roxie?” Sarah asked frantically, “Were they inside?”

“No,”
I tried to reassure her. “I told Nick to get Roxie out of there and take her to
our old house. Last I saw they were running toward the other truck in the auto
garage.”

Sarah
was still upset. She wiped tears that were beginning to roll down her face. I
put my foot on the gas pedal and kept on driving. Sarah turned as we drove past
the school, staring at it as we drove away.

I
glanced in the mirror and saw the eerie orange glow of the flames flickering
off the school. After a deep breath I looked away from the mirror. It reminded
me of the flames in Ohio. There wasn’t anything I could do but move on.

Sarah
was sniffling. I didn’t blame her. The school wasn’t just a safe house. It’d
been our home for five months.

I
reached over and put my arm on her shoulder, “Remember what I said earlier, everything’s
going to be fine.”

“I
hope so.” She turned back around. Her eyes were red and tears were flowing down
her face. “I really do.”

I
hadn’t been to the house since I first got back to Florida. The bodies that
were in the street then were still there now, just more decayed.

The
yard was full of weeds that were about waist high, but that wasn’t unusual.
Nick and I absolutely hated yard work, but now the weeds were growing across
the sidewalks and driveway as well.

The
other truck wasn’t in the driveway. I drove up and parked in the street.

“I
thought you said they were here?” Sarah asked, opening her door. “Where’s the
other truck?”

“Sarah
wait!” I opened my door and followed her up to the front door. “Don’t just rush
in! There might be some inside.”

On
the way to the door I noticed the weeds growing across the driveway were
pressed down like they were driven over. Before I could tell Sarah she opened
the front door and went inside.

I
sighed and followed her inside. She was standing in the living room looking at
the damage. “It doesn’t look like they were here.”

“Someone
parked in the driveway recently,” I limped up to Sarah. “There are tire marks
on the driveway.”

“Well
then where did they go?” she asked with a shrug.

“Last
time I was here Roxie left a note on the fridge,” I walked into the kitchen to
look for a note. The note that she left months ago was still there, as well as
another one above it.

“What
does it say?” Sarah asked with a concerned look on her face.

“Dear
Sam, Nick didn’t want to stay here, he said it wasn’t safe,” I read from the
note. “He said we’re going north. We’re going to Grandpa’s hunting cabin.”

“Isn’t
your Grandpa’s cabin in Ohio?” Sarah asked.

“Yeah,”
I sighed, rubbing my injured ribs. “I told him to keep her safe. I guess he took
it seriously.”

“So,”
she crossed her arms. “What next?”

I
grabbed the note and looked at the back. There was a crudely drawn map with a
star on it. It was the route they were taking so we could follow them in case
we were alive. “Looks like we’re going north.”

The
End.

About
the Author

Nick
is an author who doesn't much like talking about himself, much less write about
himself, hence the creation of fictional characters and stories to avoid doing
so, but seeing as someone might like to know more about him, and he really
appreciates you buying his first book
Dead Outside
, here we go:

Nick
is an avid hiker, hunter and all around nature loving type of guy, though
hardly a Walt Whitman, as he enjoys movies and video games and air conditioning
just as much. He enjoys spending time at his family's cabin in Southern Ohio as
often as possible (mainly to avoid the Florida heat) and is working his hardest
to complete the sequel to
Dead Outside
titled
Alive Outside
sometime
in the next year or so, so stay tuned for when that might pop up for sale! If
you would like to follow what he's up to, he has a Facebook page that he tries
to keep up to date with news about his writing, funny anecdotes, and the
occasional sample chapter and short story which you can find here:

www.facebook.com/NickOliver6