Endless Winter

Chapter Six - The Loss of One

The suburbs weren't so lucky. Every block had its own show of corpses. Infected littered the streets. The cold temperature and snowfall didn't seem to bother them. Jake was starting to get worried. He wasn't sure if his mom and sister were safe at home. His dad would be out of town and in the neighboring city. Who knows if the outbreak had already reached there?

Cold, worried, scared, shivering, and alone, Jake carefully maneuvered the streets to his home, keeping away from any infected he sees. He held his trusty, cylinder hunk of metal ready beside him. It was surprising how something meant to put out fire would be used to put out infected cannibals.

The snow beneath his feet was starting to get annoying. Jake wished there was the Arizona sun in the sky and desert sand under his shoes. The snow stung his skin and it made his clothes damp. The freezing air hurt his lungs and made him more exhausted.

Just a few minutes ago, the group talked about what to do next. All of them agreed to go back to their homes and check on their families. They can stay with their families if need be. However, if misfortune strikes (hopefully not) and somebody is unable to reunite with their relatives, the Plan B is to return to the bench where they sat earlier. Nobody wanted to fall to Plan B.

And so there he was, walking by himself towards home. Of course splitting up would increase the danger, but they all lived so far apart they were forced to split up.

Jake arrived at last. They had moved here only yesterday. Jake had a feeling he would never sleep here again.

Luckily none of the infected had spotted him.What bothered him was the fact that the windows of his house were all broken, and the door had been burst open and taken off of its hinges.

Then he heard screaming inside, as if a fight was going on.

He ran towards the front doorway, and to his horror, found his mother pinned to the ground by a zombie. She was barely keeping it away from biting her.

Jake instinctively kicked the infected away from her and started bashing its head with his fire extinguisher until its skull broke. He felt so much fear dizziness hit him. But for now his mom was safe.

"Jake! You're all right!" His mother hugged him tightly. Jakes shivered, both because of the cold and the fear that he almost lost his family. To lose his family - that was one thing that would break him.

"Where's Dad? And Maria?" Jake asked.

"I hid her in her room upstairs. We can't let anything happen to her. We will only let her out when we're ready to go," His mom's voice was shaky and full of fear.

"And Dad?" He asked again.

His mom began to cry. "I don't know. He went to work in the city this morning, then these... things, they came here and started... started to... t-to eat everyone alive. I don't know what's happened to your father, Jake. I don't know if those... monsters have reached the city yet."

"We'll find Dad. We'll find a safer place.  You should have told me we were running away from them, that's why we moved here. I don't know how they got here, but I know how to kill these things. I can help us get to Dad safely," Jake wasn't sure about the things he said.

"I have to start packing here," his mom said as she wiped her cheeks. "You go get your sister upstairs."

Jake grabbed his fire extinguisher, still bloody from his last kill. He went upstairs and walked to the farthest room, his 5-year-old sister's. He set the fire extinguisher just by the doorway; no use freaking her out with a bloody hunk of metal.

Jake reached for the doorknob, but before he could open the door, the noise of scattering furniture and appliances alarmed him. The sound came from downstairs.

Then he heard his mom scream.

He picked up his weapon and dashed towards the stairs and down to where she was. Jake was traumatized by what he saw.

A zombie just got in through the broken door, grabbed his mom by the shoulders. It was too strong for her to push away, and the zombie took a deep bite on her neck. As the it pulled its head away, blood flowed through a horrifying wound. Jake was too late.

"NO!!!" He yelled and hurled his fire extinguisher towards the zombie. The blow didn't kill it. Jake ran and punched it directly in the face, as it dropped his mom's body, her consciousness fading away.

Jake grabbed the infected by its shoulders, but it was stronger than him. A second later the zombie had Jake pinned to the ground beside the windows.

Jake desperately reached out to whatever was in the floor he could use as a weapon. There was nothing. His fire extinguisher had fallen elsewhere. A few more seconds and the infected will overwhelm him.

He reached for the broken window glass. He grabbed one that looked menacing enough, and plunged it straight to his attacker's eye socket. The zombie stopped moving and Jake pushed the corpse away.

Jake lay there on the ground, breathing heavily in exhaustion. That sucked. He certainly didn't feel like an expert zombie killer.

The snow began to fall even more. Pools of blood scattered on the floor. Debris was everywhere.

He began to sob. A voice in his head spoke, "You think you're a hero? You're an idiot!"

He had failed to save his mom.