ZombiePalooza - Anthology

#TeamEcrivain Pt. VI - @TheRobot's "Keep Moving"

// Keep Moving

by // TheRobot

Spencer rapped on the door. No answer. He tried again, harder this time. He pressed his ear up against the door and heard the creatures within stirring. Resting his hand on his knife he waited patiently. He knocked once more and the door swung open.

"C'mon Spencer" Abbi yawned. "I've only been asleep a couple hours."

"Five minutes" he replied.

She shut the door in his face and he left it at that. None of them had had a lot of sleep the last week, but sleep was a luxury they couldn't afford any more. Spencer knew Abbi and her idiot husband would take at least fifteen minutes to get ready, so he took a seat by the window and used the time strip down his rifle. He hated the task but it had to be done. Every piece he pulled off the SA80 reminded him of his platoon, the base, and the day it fell.

They'd spent the night in a farmhouse, a old building with tiny door ways and a cramped staircase. Through the window he kept watch over the old dilapidated barn and an overgrown field. He reassembled his rifle after wiping it down, clicked, clacked and locked everything into place. He raised it and looked through the scope, scanning his view out the window hovering the crosshairs over a shambling shadow on the horizon. Seventeen rifle rounds was all he had left, and his pistol was empty. Bullets were fast becoming extinct. He affixed the bayonet and suddenly felt naked without his uniform. It was an eerie chill feeling that ran down his spin.

Abbi and Lucas finally emerged from their room, just in time for the sun to rise and for the three to enjoy the golden hour. Their breath tumbled through the cold air leaving Abbi in some kind of trance. She hadn't had a cigarette in over month, Spencer could see the desperation in her face rise and then quickly fade away as she remembered where she was. It was too early for words, instead wrapped up warm with packs over their shoulders they marched on. Spencer taking the lead, Abbi a few paces behind and as always Lucas dragging his feet behind them. Spencer didn't really give a shit about Lucas, the speccy nerd could drop as far behind as he wanted but Spencer wasn't going back for him.

"We going to have breakfast today?" asked Abbi after an hour of romping through the woods.

Spencer would give anything for these two to be soldiers. But no, he was stuck with two civvies, that would whine when they got "hangry" and he'd have to play momma bear. He stopped, dropped to a knee and opened his pack. He pulled out a cereal bar and handed it to his sister. "Half each."

"What about all this shit we're carrying around with us?" moaned Lucas.

"We ration it" said Spencer for what felt like the tenth time, "we don't know when we're going to find more."

"Can't we just have a good meal, regain our strength and then go hunting for more food?" argued Lucas.

"Okay sure" shot back Spencer turning to face his brother-in-law. "Let's do that, then what happens when we don't find any and fucking starve to death."

"At least we die after a good meal" muttered Lucas.

Spencer couldn't believe what he was hearing, "Lucas, did you wake up today and think 'how much of a twat can i be today?'"

"Both of you shut up" said Abbi.

"I'm the big soldier, I'm always right, I probably don't have PTSD" Lucas jested while mimicking an ape with his arms.

"Lucas!" hissed Abbi. "The cereal bar will be fine."

"Listen to your wife, Lucas" stabbed Spencer turning his back to the couple.

"You always pick his side!" he heard Lucas arguing.

He mouthed the words along with his sister, "that's because he's the soldier, and you're the software developer." She said that nearly once a day. That was because everyday Lucas said something stupid. Sometimes he wondered if he could just shoot the prick and deal with Abbi's shit later.

They marched on for another hour. The sun was rising higher across the sky and the beautiful morning golden hour had begun to fade away into another bleak overcast day. The clouds would soon block out the sun as a thick dark one was chasing the group. Hopefully it wasn't heavy with rainwater. Spencer had always felt like the sun was there for humanity, without it they would never have existed. But sometimes the cold thought crept into his head that it really didn't care about humanity. It didn't give a shit if everyone on Earth was dead, it would still rise in the east and set in the west traveling the skies of an empty world.

His celestial thoughts were interrupted by the sound of metal on bone. He spun on his heel, rifle raised and watched Lucas cave the head in of a zombie with his shovel. It took him a few swings but he got there in the end. Did I just walk past that one?

"Hello!" waved Lucas, "wake up at the back of the class."

I did.

He ignored his brother-in-law and turned carrying on, ears twitching at the sound of Abbi sighing. Your fault, you married the fuck-wit. He stopped in his tracks, heart in his throat. He was nearly nose to to nose with the face of a rotting corpse. It snarled at him. Gnashed its teeth and craned its neck trying to bite his face. Spencer jolted back and rammed his bayonet up through its chin and out the top of it's scalp. He ripped it out and the living dead fell to the floor, now dead in the traditional sense.

"Spence!" called out Abbi.

He turned to see another emerging from behind a tree. Followed by another and another. He smashed the nearest one in the jaw with the butt of his rifle. "Run!" he ordered Abbi. She shot off into the trees with Lucas not far behind. Spencer skipped back a few paces, clicked the safety off his rifle. He watched them for a moment, tripping over each other, arms outstretched like they were reaching for him to help. They were hungry, just like he, Abbi and her idiot were. He put the rifle back on safe and sprinted off after his family.

He caught up with them quick. They'd already slowed their pace but he hoped he'd inspire them to keep going. Hungry, with little to no sleep they ran through the woods. No idea if they'd lost the horde or they were only a few feet behind them. They dared not look back.

They finally stopped once they reached a road. Abbi dropped to her knees panting and wheezing. Lucas nursed what looked like a stitch beside her. Spencer stopped, turned and scanned the woods behind them with his rifle. He tried his hardest to control his breathing while the other two collapsed beside him. "C'mon!" said Spencer lowering the rifle. "Let's follow this road North, they'll keep heading East until they get distracted".

"Sure" gasped Abbi. "But can we just take a minute."

Spencer gritted his teeth, slung the rifle over his shoulder and pulled Abbi to her feet. "We can't afford to hang around Ab."

"Christ G.I Joe" wheezed Lucas, "we lost them alright, just give us a moment."

"Fucking man up Lucas!" spat Spencer. He put his sister's arm over his shoulder and began to follow the road not bothering to look back to see if he was coming. It didn't take long before she caught her breath back and was keeping up with his pace. She fell back a bit to talk to Lucas. Spencer could hear the two muttering, most probably about him but he didn't care. He had his mission and he was seeing it through.

Late afternoon had finally arrived and with no zombie sightings for what Spencer guessed was about eight hours he stopped. His muscles burned and his knees felt like collapsing. He let the other two catch up while he thought up the plan for tonight. He'd been pushing them hard over the last four days. Tonight they'd settle down for a hot meal. The road signs pointed to a small town up ahead. He'd find them a pair of beds they'd have a full night's sleep. He needed it as well.

An empty house on the outskirts of town would provide them with a much needed respite. They arrived before sundown and quickly got to work fortifying the place. They dragged and piled up furniture stacking it behind the back and front doors. They drew the curtains and piled up everything else they could find to cover the windows. Tables, chairs, sofas, beds, cupboards leaving just the mattresses up stairs to sleep on. Spencer took the leadership decision to cook in the attic. There were no windows up there, that way no passers by living or dead would see the light from their small camping stove cooking a can of beans.

"Look what I found!" chimed Abbi climbing up the ladder to the attic. She plonked two bottles of vodka at brothers-in-law feet with a cheeky grin on her face.

"God I love you!" giggled Lucas.

Spencer's smile faded and his lips curled in one corner. "I don't think so guys, we need to stay sober."

"C'mon Spence!" laughed Abbi, that devious smile across her face she had when she wanted to peer pressure him into something. "Nobody knows we're hear, you said it yourself we're all going to have a good long sleep tonight. Why not help it along."

She placed three mugs in front of them and started pouring. Spencer slid the stove away from the flammable liquid not wanting his sister to burn down another house. He ate a mouthful of beans and then washed it down with a mouthful of vodka, wincing at the taste as hit the back of his throat. His lips tingled, "you didn't find anything to mix it with?"