Dawning of the Dead

Chapter Three

November 2019

            Ikarus ducked into the doorway of a house and tried the knob. There was no red X on the front door, no markings to indicate that anyone else lived here, no sounds of the dead inside. The door knob opened and he let himself inside, hiding in the darkness and remaining as quiet as he could.

            After the hospital, he had gone to his parent’s house first. He had run through the streets, slaying each zombie on his way through town. He had found it, or what remained of it. As he stood in front of the place where his parents house had been, he beheld only a pile of flaming rubble, the fire that had claimed it still raging along the ground. Ikarus had wondered how recently the fire had been set, but knew that his parents were not there. The entire neighborhood was deserted, except for the sounds of the zombies in distance.

            He had scavenged for food when he could find it but others had always been there before him. Food was becoming scarce, as was shelter from those that hunted him. Ikarus had not seen another living soul since escaping the hospital. It was as if he was the only human that remained on Earth. Ikarus often thought his life had become something like a horror movie. To think that he had once gobbled up zombie movies like brain candy. Now he was living inside one but there was no escape from it. All that was left was survival.

            He went to move further into the house when there was a noise in the darkness. He listened for a moment, hoping it was another human. The sound of shuffling feet and a low, primitive moaning told him otherwise. They had infected this house, too-in fact every house he had tried for the past few miles had zombies shuffling around in it. He wondered if there were any safe places left. It had been so long since he had slept for a full night, his body was exhausted.

            Moving towards the door, Ikarus went to open it when he heard movement behind him. He turned, light filtering in from the street, and saw a zombie shuffling towards him, an eager sound issuing from its mouth. Ikarus saw that it was missing the bottom part of its jaw. Where it had been was only a mass of decaying flesh and blood. It moved to snap at him, to take a bite of his soft flesh and Ikarus rose the pick axe in a high arc, slamming the point deep into the zombies skull.

            He threw open the door and ran down the street even as the sound of more wails rang through the air behind him. Sparing a moment to look behind him, Ikarus turned and experienced a rush of fear that filled his whole body.

            The entire road behind him was filled with them. They shuffled and wailed and moved towards him on mass, blood and bits of flesh gleaming wetly in the half light of the evening. Ikarus knew that he stood no choice against so many of them, that he probably stood no choice at all.

            He hadn’t fought for weeks to stay alive. He knew that he had to keep going, that he wasn’t ready to die yet. He knew that he had no choice.

            He had to run. He picked up more speed and ran blindly, stumbling once but regaining his footing quickly. “Fuck,” he said. “Fuck fuck fuck.”

            He swung the pick axe at another zombie that came into his path and tried to pull it free but it was stuck. “Fuck!” He had no choice but to leave the pick axe there, buried into the skull of the zombie. Ikarus had lost everything and everyone that mattered to him and wondered if it was worth it to keep on fighting.

            A light flared in the sky in front of him and the sight of it filled him with something approaching awe. A voice spoke in the air around him and the light wavered in the sky. “Run, Ikarus. You must run. You are close to safety. You must run.”

            Though a stitch opened in his side, he cast a glance at the light and let the words out in a rush of breath. “Who are you?”

            “No time, Ikarus. You must run.”

            The light and the voice vanished and Ikarus was left with only one choice to survive. Steeling himself, he moved further into the darkness away from the hoard of zombies that still shuffled after him.

            Gathering all his strength, Ikarus ran…