Just Survive Somehow

Chapter 7 - Gorelore

"Help!" I screamed out.

I looked up to see Cat standing above me with a panicked expression on her face. "There's a pocket knife in the front of my backpack!"

She hurried off to fetch and knife from my bag, leaving me to fend off the monster until she got back.

"Sasha, I'm right here!" I heard Jasper shout. His voice was comforting but still sounded panicked as he watched me with concern. "Do you want me to come down?" He asked.

I shook my head, throwing hair off of my face in the process as I continued kicking at the dead one still latched onto my ankle. "Just have Cat toss the knife down!" I shouted up at him.

"Cat, where's the knife?!" He shouted back at her while I battled with the dead one.

I now truly feared for my life as I watched the zombie slowly pulling itself from under the subway train. I could hear its intestines beginning to snap as the flesh broke way and the rotting thing began to break in half. Blood started splurting out, painting the train car red.

"Cat, hurry!" Jasper called out, watching the gory scene play out from above.

It was a gruesome sight, a half of a half-dead monster trying to eat your foot.

I reached my arm around above my head to find anything I could use to kill it, a rock for christ's sake would be helpful. My search ended when the rotting piece of shit finally snapped and was now crawling further towards me.

I shook my leg and kicked at it with my other foot until its grip finally loosened and it fell off my leg so I could get up. Once I'd regained my balance I grabbed the dead one's skull and smashed it against the back of the train car repeatedly sending blood flying in all directions with every hit. I finally dropped the half of a body back onto the track when all that remained of its head was a chunk of imploded flesh.

When I looked up I saw that everybody was now staring down at me, Cat still had panic plastered all over her face. Ahren and Allie had returned to see the last of the battle and were standing above me with a shocked expression covering their features. Ahri was hiding behind Cat, fear was all that shown on her face. Jasper, however, was standing there smiling down at me like he was proud.

I was huffing, my chest fluttering in and out at a rapid rate as I stood above the dead one while the others continued to stare at me. I tucked the knife away and climbed up the back of the train. I glanced down at myself now realizing that I was covered in mud and blood. My heart was still racing as the adrenaline pumped through my veins, my heartbeat pulsed up through my ears.

I sighed as I grabbed the handle to open the back of the train car. My knuckles began turning white when I pulled against the handle. The door swung open, causing me to stumble back a few steps before regaining my balance.

"Finally we're getting somewhere," I said to myself as I entered the train car.

It appeared to be mostly empty aside from the stray piece of trash that I would see laying on the floor or under a seat.

"Find anything?"

I turned to see Cat now standing in the doorway watching me wander through the train car. "Not yet." I answered as I continued through the train. "I figure we'll be safer in here overnight though."

She nodded in agreement. "Ahren and Allie found the key."

"Good."

"The sun was setting while they were up there. They said the dead ones had cleared off the gate for now, but there were still a few stragglers scattered around the street." She explained.

I nodded back before pitching another idea, "I'm thinking that we're gonna need a few more weapons." I started. "I figure there's gotta be a hardware shop or something around here."

"In the middle of a big city, there's gotta be, but how are we ever gonna get around with all of the dead ones roaming the streets?" Cat asked.

"We take the subway." I answered plainly. It made perfect sense, use the tunnels to get around the city undetected by whatever lurked above ground.

"Huh?"

"A group of us will move through the tunnels to the next station over and see what we can see above ground." I explained to her.

Cat nodded as she took it into consideration. "That's pretty ingenious." She finally concluded.

I smiled, "You never believed me when I said I was a genius."

She laughed before motioning to the door that I'd been examining throughout our conversation. "Need some help with that?" She offered.

I nodded, "I think we just need to get something through this small crack so we can gain leverage to shove it open."

She looked around the train car before her face lit up, "I think I might know where we can get that certain something... I'll be right back."

I chuckled to myself as she ran out of the train car to find her 'certain something'. When she came back in a minute later she was holding a crowbar in her hands.

"Where in the hell did you find one of those so quickly?" I questioned, taking the bar from her hands and examining it in my own.

"I saw it laying on the tracks earlier when I tossed the knife down at you." She explained as she watched me place it between the two doors.

"Alright, I'm gonna try and pry the two open enough for you to slide your hands in and pull them apart the rest of the way." I described my plan to her before we started working.

I jammed the crowbar between the doors and started pulling. Cat reached in and finished pulling the doors apart till they were wide open.

We had a clear view of everybody else as we watched them through the doorway. Ahren was playing with Ahri. Allie sat next to Jasper who was still sleeping on the bench.

Cat bent down and picked something up. "I think I know why the doors wouldn't open."

In her fingers appeared to be some sort of bolt that had gotten jammed into the door's track line and forced it shut.

"It should just slide open and closed now." I said, testing my theory. The doors slid easily now that the bolt had been pushed out of the track line.

"It must be dark out now, the tunnel seems to have dimmed a lot since we first got in here. We should move everyone inside for safety." I told her. She nodded as we left the train to get the others.

"We're gonna move into the train for the night." I started, gathering the other's attention. "It must be dark out by now and it'll be safer inside the train car."

Allie shook Jasper awake as Ahren picked Ahri up and headed towards the train. I followed everyone else inside before sliding the doors shut behind me.

Allie helped Jasper get comfortable across a few seats and elevated his leg. Cat sat with Ahri laying across her lap and Ahren was closing the door at the back of the train car.

"We live to see another day." I said as I approached him.

He nodded. "Seems that way. Go rest up, I'll take first watch."

I raised and eyebrow. "Are you just gonna stare out the window?"

He pointed a finger towards the ceiling and my eyes followed it. There was an emergency hatch at the top of the train.

"Good idea. Wake me up when you need a relieve." I said as he nodded again.

I laid down across a few of the seats in the train car as Ahren climbed his way up to the hatch on onto the roof.

I could hear his light footsteps as he paced above us. I counted the steps as I closed my eyes and waited for sleep to come.