Killing the Dead *Discontinued*

Chapter Two: 2012

Allyson's P.O.V

The Sun was just clearing the horizon when Robbie and I set out from L.A. By the time the sun had risen up to it's full height, the Los Angeles Refugee camp was just a dim memory, and hopefully it would stay that way. I didn't tell Nathaniel, or even Robbie for that matter, but I didn't plan on returning to L.A, not in a week, not in year, not forever. It's just to close to Anaheim, where I used to live before......That Night.

"Allyson, pack of Z's, sixty feet and closing." Robbie says interrupting my more than unpleasant thoughts.

Looking up, I see he's right, a pack of about 20 Z's are rapidly approaching. "Shit." I whisper under my breath. I had hoped that we wouldn't encounter any Z's until later on. This just proves that you can't rely on the stupidity of Z's, they'll still find you in the end, they'll always find you. The virus made sure of that.

Reaching into my pocket, I pull out both the pistol and a bullet cartridge that Nathaniel gave me earlier. With the synchronized ease of people that have been doing it for a long time, Robbie and I both slide the cartridges into our guns and cock our weapons.

"Left!" I shout aiming at the closest Z on my left.

"Right!" Robbie shouts back.

Years ago we devised a system to keep us from shooting at the same Z and wasting our ammo. By shouting out the direction of what we're planning on shooting, we save ammo as well as time.

The Z I'm aiming at looks to be a man about 50. Other than that, I can't tell what he looked like before he was turned.

I've been hunting Z's for so long that I've grown immune to their awfulness, but a shudder passes through me when I see the thing that used to be human lumbering towards me. A bloody black eye and the stump of a nose are the only discernible features on it's ruin of a face. A shredded suit hangs off the emaciated frame, so encrusted with dirt and blood that you can barely tell it's a suit. Obviously some Z gorged on him before he turned, else he wouldn't be missing an arm and have a gaping hole in it's stomach.

Beside me I hear the crack of Robbie's gun and the Z on the right goes tumbling down into the long grass. A moment later, I squeeze my own trigger and the emaciated Z in front of me collapses as the bullet passes through it's brain. The only way to kill a Z is to hit it in it's head.

Almost immediately after taking down the first Z, I'm shooting at the next one. It's only a matter of time before both Robbie and I are able to dispatch all of the Z's except one. I raise my gun to rid the world of one more undead monster when my gun jams. Beside me, I hear Robbie curse under his breath as his gun does the same thing.

"What's happening!!" I yell, trying desperately to get my pistol working.

"I don't know!" Robbie yells back, bashing his gun against the palm of his hand, "I think Nathaniel gave us faulty equipment!"

I give my gun a few more shakes before jamming it into an empty holster and pulling out the knife Nathaniel gave me earlier. Cranking my arm back, I throw the knife with deadly accuracy into the middle of the Z's forehead, the weapon embeds itself in it's skull with a sickening thwack. Almost immediately, I hear the click that means Robbie's pistol is working.

I start towards the Z I just brought down. I'm pretty sure it's dead but when something has been technically dead for years, it's hard to tell. Bending over, I carefully try to extract the knife from it's forehead. The skull bone has been made soft by the rotted brain, but even so, I almost have dig the knife out before it comes free. Black blood gushes out of the wound as I straighten and wipe the blade clean on the grass. I hear Robbie coming up behind me and turn to face him.

"Something's wrong." I say, "Nathaniel wouldn't have given us defective guns, besides, your gun jammed and you didn't get it from Nathaniel."

"True, " he says, drawing out his weapon, "But that still doesn't explain why these things jammed when the Z was ten feet away."

Something dawns on me, "Maybe it was the Z." I say, crouching down beside the body.

"Maybe..." Robbie says hesitantly, twirling the pistol around in his hands, "But we've fought close combat before with Z's even closer than that one and that's never happened."

"But have we fought close combat with a First Town changeling before?"

Robbie's eyes widen in shock, "How do know it was changed in the First Town?"

"Well it's hard to see at first but notice this I.D tag?" I say, holding the chain up for Robbie to see.

"Yes, but what's so special about it?" he says, gingerly taking the gore-smeared tag into his fingers.

"It says that this person was in Yuma, Arizona on December 21, 2012, that's the exact date and place of where the virus originated from."

Robbie's mouth drops open, "I thought the government killed all of those on That Night."

"Obviously not." I say turning back to the Z, "But that also means that..."

Robbie finishes my sentence for me. "In order to be killed, it has to be stabbed through the heart."

And that's when the clammy hands close aroung my throat.

Author's Note: Sorry 'bout the shortness of this chapter, promise the other one will be much longer.

Spoilers* I see a rapidly approaching death in the future, wonder who it is! HA! ;)