Generation Dead - 07 (2 page)

I don’t know what was coming over me, but suddenly I was icy calm, my breathing was slow and measured, and my eyes stared right back at Jake.  “I heard you the first time, big brother, and I’m saying the same thing I said
before,
since you clearly are hard of hearing. 
You
do it.”

Green eyes fought with brown, and it would have gotten
ugly,
if Julia hadn’t spoken up. 

“Oh, for shit’s sake.
  I’ll do it.  Try not to kill each other, you damn
fools
.” 

I watched Julia strolled to the back of the house, where she stopped in the kitchen to grab a pot and a wooden spoon.  With a disgusted glance at the two of us, she went into the bathroom.  A few seconds
later,
a clanging could be heard on the side of the house.

I turned back to Jake to find a knife in my face.  Jake stared at me over the blade that was inches from my eyes.

“Never take your eyes off your enemy,
little
brother.  You’ll never survive if you keep screwing up.”  Jake smirked at me and moved the knife closer, bringing the point to within an inch of my eyes.

In a
flash,
I grabbed Jake’s wrist, twisting the knife away with my left hand.  My right hand grabbed his neck and with a
shove,
I slammed my brother into the wall.  The
doorframe
smacked into the back of his hand and Jake dropped the knife.  He clutched at my wrist with his free hand, but I wasn’t about to let go. He tried kicking me, but I blocked the kick with a raised knee.

I moved my face to within few inches of Jake’s.  He was spitting mad, but couldn’t do anything about it.  I was taller than he was by several inches, and much stronger.  Dad said Jake took after his mother while I took after him.  I think I got the better end of the deal. I was tall, broad-shouldered and strong, while Jake was average sized and not as broad.

“I think I’ll do fine. 
Big
brother.”
  I twisted suddenly, bringing Jake away from the wall and into the middle of the room.  He stumbled as I let go and then turned to face me.  His eyes were ugly and his mouth was twisted into a snarl.

“This isn’t over.”  Jake stooped to pick up his knife and I kept a hand on my own as I waited for him to sheath it.

“It had better
be,
” I said calmly.  I couldn’t believe the change that had come over me.  Jake was usually able to bully me into doing what he wanted, but for some
reason,
I had had enough. 
However,
I didn’t underestimate Jake at all.  I knew from experience and training that Jake, while not as large as
me
, was deadly with his hands and weapons.  Our father had trained us for years, making sure we would be ready for anything that came
our
way.  Julia’s father had done the same with her.  Our two dads were probably the deadliest zombie killers to come out of the end of the world.  All of the lessons they had learned the hard
way,
they tried to repeatedly beat into our skulls. 
Jake took to the training differently than I
did
. 
During
the last few years, he took more of an interest in not just besting the zombie, but destroying it.  I took a more practical view, just get the thing down and out, and not worry about finessing it.

Jake stared at me some more, and when it became clear he wasn’t going to try anything new, I turned away from him and looked out the window.  Julia’s banging had attracted a lot more zombies, but the ones that had been blocking the front had gone into the walkway and were no longer a threat.  Trouble was coming, though, because the banging was going to attract a lot of zombies in a hurry that hadn’t been here before.

Julia stopped and came running into the front.  “Ready?”  She looked to Jake who cocked an eyebrow at me.

“Lead the
way,
”
he
said, hefting his mace.  He smiled, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes and I knew he was thinking of a way to get back at me.  I didn’t feel like having to watch my back the whole
time
, so I decided to throw him off a bit.

“On my way.
 
And Jake?”
I asked sweetly, moving towards the door.

“What now, Aaron?  Get moving, will you?”  Jake shifted impatiently.

“Did you even see me move?”  With that question, I was out the door.  I didn’t see Jake’s reaction, but I would bet a silver
that
he was thinking about it and wasn’t happy.

Chapter 3

I ran down the steps of the home and out into the street.  We didn’t have far to go, but it
was
that short
distance, which
was going to be trouble.  Dozens of zombies were in the streets, and as I burst out onto the scene, they were nearly frantic.  Some of them probably hadn’t seen food in years, outside of the occasional rat they managed to catch.

Julia was right behind me, with
Jake
following
her.  We ran in a shifting pattern, from one side of the street to the other, keeping the zombies off track.  They couldn’t shift as well as we could, and the direction changes really tossed their minds about.  We couldn’t avoid all of them,
so
some needed to be killed as they came too close.  The problem was
that
we couldn’t stop our movement and finish them properly, because we’d get swamped in a hurry.

One zombie
w
as slightly faster than I anticipated
,
and
he
lurched in front of me.  I jumped slightly and kicked it squarely in the chest.  The zombie went flying and I kept moving.  Julia barely slowed down, while Jake actually took the time to kill the thing. 

“What the hell are you doing?” hissed Julia as she looked
back.

Jake trotted up smiling.  “What needs to be
done.
”

I said
nothing,
as I kept
moving,
because I knew he was doing everything he could to level some criticism at me.  Jake was like that these days. 
He would
poke and poke and poke, and when you had enough, he would challenge you to do something about it, trusting he could handle whatever you
threw
at him.  I ignored a lot of it, but
lately,
it had been getting on my nerves.

We ran for about two blocks,
and then
ducked into an alleyway to catch our breath.  Nothing was chasing us that could catch us at the present, but all it took was one to see us and
we would
be trapped.

While we breathed quietly, I took a second to look at
our
map.  Our boat was on the river, but
we would
be crazy to run back the way we came.  The zombies that had chased us in were likely still waiting for us to return, so to go back into their loving embrace was something I’d say we needed to avoid.  The map had several routes we could take, but the problem was
that
we had zombies everywhere, and they were stirred up.  It was
as if
they knew something was different, and they were out to see what it was. 

We were about to head back out when a zombie suddenly stumbled into the alleyway entrance.  He took a second to size us up, and I could almost see his eyes widen and
his
nostrils flare, taking in the
treats before him.  He was a
n ugly piece of work, with deep black gashes across his face and chest.  One eye was stuck looking down, while the other gazed at us. 

His hand reached out slowly, as if to see if we were actually real, and I took that opportunity to grab his hand and pull him into the alley.  I yanked him past
me
and kicked him in the seat of the pants as he went by.  He stumbled to the ground and as he was on his hands and knees getting up, Jake cracked his skull with his mace.

“Any more?”
Julia said.  She had just watched the whole thing, figuring my brother and I would handle it. 

I snuck a quick peek out into the street and while there were a lot, none were paying any attention to our particular location. 

“Not
nearby, but
it’s going to get tricky closer to the
water,” I
said, watching Jake for his reaction.

Surprisingly, he nodded.  “The ones we left behind will probably be waiting. 
Any suggestions?”

“Just one.
  The buildings here are the same size for the next three blocks.  Let’s get on the roof, so we don’t have to worry about the ones on the ground, and we
can
avoid the ones hanging out
inside,” I
said.

They mulled it over for a second, and I though
t
they were going to
argue, but then
their minds were made up for them.  At the entrance to the alleyway, about five gruesome looking specimens walked into view, and as soon as they saw us, a hideous, wheezing groan came from about three of them.  It was hard to tell what they had been in real life, but there was no mistaking what they were now.

“Back!
  Get to the dumpster!” Jake shoved Julia ahead of him and followed closely behind, running to a dark green garbage bin in the corner of the alley.  I was right behind him, and when we reached the dumpster, we both squatted down and heaved the thing onto
its
side.  That little maneuver raised the height of the bin another two feet, and the side of the bin was much more stable than the lid or the wheels.

Jake helped Julia up and she in turn pulled him up.  The two of them pulled me up, and I then shoved Julia up and over the lip of the roof.  I cupped my hands for Jake and he placed his foot in,
being
launched skyward when I straightened.

I spun around and leapt for the roof, catching it with my hands and hanging precariously for a minute.  The zombies had reached the dumpster and were now looking upward, reaching with
hands, their
mouths
gaping
.  If I fell
now,
I’d be easily killed.

“Little help?” I called, and Julia was right there, grabbing my wrist and pulling as much as she could.  Try as she might, though, she didn’t have the strength.  Trouble was, the roof edge was very smooth, so I was having a hard time holding on.

“Jake!  Get over here!”  Julia called.

I couldn’t see him, but I hoped he was getting closer, as my arms were getting tired.

Jake’s face appeared above me and he looked down contemptuously.  “My head still
hurts,
asshole.”  His face disappeared and Julia yelled at him.

“Jake!”

Fuck him
.  I thought.  I did a pull-up, even though my arms were starting to burn, and
I
managed to hook an arm over the side of the roo
f.  I swung a leg up and was able
to get a foot over the edge, easing the weight off my arms.  Twisting over, I fell onto my side and back, my melee weapon jabbing me painfully in the back.

Chapter 4

I lay there for a minute, catching my breath.  Julia knelt down by my head with what looked like real concern in her eyes.  It was nice to see, actually.  I smiled at her and held up a finger, slowing my breathing down and easing the tension in my arms.

Jake walked over and looked at me. 
“Hmm.
 
Pity.
  I was hoping to get an apology before I helped you.”

Julia stood up and rounded on Jake.  “He’s your brother, you shit!  What if he had lost his grip?  What if we both had gone over because I was trying to pull him up?”

Jake looked at her for a minute before replying.  “That would have been a
problem,
”
he
admitted.

I stood up, not wanting to be on the ground anymore, and watched as Julia growled and punched Jake in the chest. 
The punch was
hard enough to elicit a noise from Jake, and
then
Julia stalked off to the other side of the roof to see about getting across.

I walked over to Jake and he looked up at me.  “I wouldn’t have let you fall, baby brother.”

I stared hard at Jake, trying to control
myself
.  When I replied, it was barely above a whisper.  “I wish I could believe you,
brother.
” I fairly spat the last word at him and walked away,
too
angry to trust myself to stay in his vicinity. 

I went over to Julia and looked over the roof.  The alley was about six feet wide, but the problem was the other roof had what amounted to a fence, just like this side.