Decay

Decay 5

Eight zombies stood before us. Each drenched from head to toe in dried blood from their previous meals. Their torn and rotting flesh exposed the bruised muscle beneath. When they finally noticed our presence, they released a chorus of loud groans of hunger, and advanced towards us. I rushed forward, shooting at anything I could. Blood squirted out from the monsters as bullets embedded into them. One grabbed my arm and yanked me, causing me to stumble backwards, hitting hard into the metal railing. Considering these monsters were undead creatures, they were very strong. Turning towards another attacker, I shot it in the head, letting the corpse fall to the dirty floor, spattering blood through the stairwell.

Rand followed behind me using her machete on whatever came close. Maxine pushed forward and cut their necks when they came near. Within a few minutes, we had killed each of the zombies and were covered in their decaying, black blood. Zena knew that the zombies with slit throats would not be completely dead. They would arise within a few minutes. She stalked up to each of the zombies on the floor, raised her sledgehammer high, and smashed their tattered brains in. More blood spattered onto the walls, stairs, and us. With the area now clear, we continued upward. We wouldn't rest until the Head Zombie was nothing but a slaughtered corpse on the ground.

After our mini battle, Teddy spoke up. "You guys smell like you were digging around in a dumpster." He whispered.

I rolled my eyes, "Shut up. You know you love it." I said. He laughed but remained silent.

By now, we had reached the sixth floor and still hadn't been attacked. We hadn't seen or heard another zombie. Actually, we hadn't heard anything at all. Not a moan, a groan, or the scurry of a rat racing to its secret hideout.

"Does anyone else think this is odd that we aren't seeing more of them?" Maxine whispered as we scanned the cubicle area and attached hallway.

"It's very odd." Rand replied as she pulled her weapon closer to her body.

The girls continued to whisper back and forth about what to expect, though none of us could have planned what would happen. They were evil and undead. They had no way of thinking or planning attacks. Only the Head Zombie was capable of such a deed. We would never be able to completely plan for his attacks, or understand his decision making process. I then heard a slight movement of paper on the ground nearby.

"Shhh." I whispered as I motioned for them to be silent, placing a finger over my lips.

The shifting of paper continued as I moved in the general direction it came from. My foot land on something squishy that let out a shrill squeak. It was without a doubt, a rat. I flew backwards trying to avoid the rodent, with a girl-ish cry. The startled rat stood upon its hind legs and looked at us, before it rushed off in a different direction.

Dray laughed, "Aw, is Sara afraid of the big, bad rat?"

I was about ready to tell him that if he didn't shut up, I would stick my foot in a very unpleasant place where the sun doesn't shine, when there came another noise. This was not the sound of another rat or paper being moved. It sounded as if something was being dragged across the marble floor. That was when the moans and groans started. I stood by a doorway and looked down a hall on the sixth floor. Dragging themselves down the hall were about fifteen, gory zombies. They looked just like the others did, except they had come in a greater number.

"Holy crap!" Katie remarked.

I shuddered. These things used to have lives. They were living breathing people and now they were flesh eating monsters. The zombies increased their pace and began to surround us. Their mouths began to salivate as their gaze zoomed in on our throats. Those of us with guns aimed and fired. Our aim was off and just hit them in the shoulders, but we continued to shoot. We needed to live through this.

Some of the zombies went down as they were shot in the head, while other dragged themselves closer to us. They were within touching distance. The combined scents of their rotting flesh and stale breath, made me gag. The state of their decomposition made my skin crawl. A part of me began to panic, remember the reoccurring dream I'd been having. Would today be the day I died? While distracted by my thoughts, one of the devilish zombies, grabbed my wrist, and pulled me closer to it. I struggled to break its grasp and injure it. Andy rushed to my rescue chopping its hand off, before detaching its head from its neck. Heads were literally rolling; blood pouring onto the floor around us. My face now felt sticky and wet from the sludge.

Just a few moments ago, we had been surrounded by fifteen zombies and now there were only three left. Katie went up to one and blew its head off with her shot gun. Teddy went up to another and did the same. Zena surrounded the last one and hit its head with the sledgehammer. I was left standing next to the doorway, trying to calm myself from my previous thoughts while my friends finished up. Reality began to settle in on me, knowing that because of my distracted thoughts, I'd almost died.

"Wow, we're doing great! We killed about twenty zombies today." I panted.

The others nodded and turned around to check behind us to see if more were coming our way. Some of them even explored the floor we were on. I continued to stand in place and catch my breath. If only I had been paying more attention to what was beside me.

Katie stood in front of me, when she turned around, her eyes became very round and terrified. "Sara! Behind you!" She screamed as she tried to raise her weapon.

It was too late. I felt two hands grabbed onto my shoulders and push slightly downward. Razor sharp teeth embedded themselves into the crest of my neck. Pain consumed me, as I let out a scream. Never in my life had I been in so much agony before. The zombie's teeth were pulling at my flesh eating me alive. I could feel my skin and muscle tugging, and skin detaching. Blood poured from the wound, onto the floor. The zombie groaned with delight as it continued to dig into my flesh, as I feebly tried to knock it off.

"Sara!" I heard Teddy scream out my name.

I was growing weak. I felt myself collapse to the floor as the monster held on tight. My vision was becoming foggy as the pain continued to grow. Everything else seemed to be drifting farther and farther away from me. I heard the sound of a gun being fired, barely feeling the relief of no longer being in the zombie's feral grasp. Even though I was no longer being eaten, the pain still lingered. I could sense my eyes rolling back into my head as I completely collapsed. A fierce cold crawled through my body. Arms wrapped around my torso as I felt drops of hot water upon my face. I could faintly hear yelling. Why were they yelling? Were they in trouble?

"We have to get her out of here now!" I faintly heard a male scream from a far distance.

That was the last thing I heard before everything went dark. Nothing to be seen. Nothing to be heard. No warmth or cold. It was bleak, nothingness.