Zombie Hour (sequel to zombie game)

chapter 4

4

Joe was panting, as was Linda. They were both covered in blood that wasn't there own. Tom was standing on the top of the hill, a bloody smug grin on his face. But Joe could tell that Tom was in pain. He suddenly collapsed atop the hill.

“We need to get him back to the tent!” shouted Joe. Joe raced up the hill and grabbed Tom's limp body, carrying him back to the tent, and gently setting him down in a bed. He pried the machine gun from his hand and placed it against the wall.

“How is he?” asked Linda.

“He will be fine. His leg is just a little weak. He won't have time to rest though. We need to leave this place in a little while, leaving the dead zombie bodies alone. Who knows how many more are crawling around here.”

Linda nodded. “That was something though. What exactly happened?”

“Well I was searching for that deer when I saw the zombies. Sixty or seventy of them. They smelled me so I shot one in the eye with an arrow. And then I ran and I came back here. Did you here the gunshots?” asked Joe.

“We did,” replied Linda.

“Why didn't you come and help me?”

“I thought it was someone else. A stranger. I wasn't gonna risk my own life,” said Linda. “I didn't know it was you.”

“Well have you seen anyone else around here?” Joe asked.

“No I haven't. But you never know.”

“True, true,” said Joe. “We need to get out of here soon.”

“Yea we do need to,” said Linda. “Who knows how many zombies are lurking in the shadows?”

“Right.” Joe stood up from where he was sitting and pulled back the flap of the tent, looking outside. Clouds were shrouding what was left of the sun. The bodies of zombies littered the ground, ripped and torn, and blood was like a river that flowed down the hill. He had to wash up.

“Where are we gonna be headed?” asked Linda.

“The CDC. Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta Georgia. Or what is left of Atlanta Georgia. Timothy told me there might be survivors there and a stronghold there and if he was right then that is a very good thing. That means we are not alone. But for now we are, sadly,” explained Joe grimly. He went to a small creek that flowed left and right through this area of Northern Michigan and bathed in it, wiping all the blood and dirt and grime from his entire body. They were in the Upper Peninsula at the moment; Joe had seen a broken down sign upon entering this place saying where they were.

He stepped out of the icy cold creek and clothes again and walked back to the tent to check on Tom. By this time, Tom had woken up and he was staring up the caved in ceiling of the tent.

“Tom I know you need to rest, but we need to leave here soon,” said Linda softly.

Tom looked at her, a small smile upon his face. “I understand. We should leave as soon as possible. I can survive...I am a fighter. It's just a leg wound.”

“I know that,” said Joe, “but leg wounds can get infected and we don't have the proper medical supplies to help you out. We are assuming all the medical supplies are gone since the world ended. We just need to see if there is in fact people in the CDC who can help us. I am not sure whether to trust what Timothy said. I mean, he was pretty nuts. We'll just have to see about this I guess.”

“Yea,” Linda said. “When are we too leave?”

“In about a half an hour. We should make a small fire. Warm up. Alleviate all the pain we had to go through and the tiredness of fighting those zombies.”

“Sounds good,” muttered Tom. He slowly sat up—or tried to—but Joe pushed him back down again.

“You need your rest. We are going out in a half hour like I just said. Just lie here and rest. Linda will you keep you company while I make a fire. And once the fire is made, than I will call both of you out of here and we can warm up. Until then though, stay put.” Joe sounded very exasperated and stern about it. But Tom nodded nonetheless.

Joe stepped out of the tent and revealed a lighter he had in his pocket. He had gotten it from before the outbreak; his father had bought him one, and he used it a few times, but now he was more dependent on it. It didn't always work for him, but most of the time it did. He knelt down by the hole in the ground where a previous fire had been and he clicked the lighter, a small flame flickering on the end of it. He placed the flame in with the burning wood and a sudden flurry of sparks enveloped the pieces of wood. Smoke clogged the air, nearly making Joe gag. He got up from where he had been kneeling and went to the tent to tell Tom and Linda that they could come out.

Tom came out, leaning on Linda's shoulder, limping, a painful expression upon his face. The pain in his leg was like fire; it burned beyond recognition. Tom was sat down on the dirt and he warmed his hands over the fire. It had gotten so cold on their journeys; they had see snow awhile ago, four days after the battle with the zombies, and they had nearly frozen—especially Tom. They had gotten frostbite and for a while they had to survive with the snow, until—of course—it stopped and the sun came out and the heat from the sun melted all the snow very quickly. This was why there should have been more water in the creek, but there had been a sudden dry spell after the snow and the water dried up. It was still pretty cold, but the land was barren, dry, allowing for few trees to grow big and beautiful. In small areas of land though, some of the chillier parts, water still flowed, letting trees grow big and lustrous, and letting some of the surviving animals in the area drink.

Joe sat down beside Linda and Tom. He put his hands over the fire and warmed up and he could feel himself warming up. He breathed some air. His breath was visible because of the cold. Tom looked at him wearily.

“What are we gonna do when something else comes to take us? I mean there are the zombies. Those aren't really hard to kill. But I mean the wild animals. There are sure to be some wild animals roaming around, looking for prey,” said Tom.

“We will just have to survive and deal with--”

“No. We hardly have anything. It seems to me that all hope is lost.”

Joe looked annoyed. “Hope is never lost. You just make it seem it is so you throw yourself a pity party. You will survive. You said so yourself. We all will no matter what challenges we all face.” Tom nodded. He looked pretty mad. Joe stood up from where he was sitting and walked to the tent, tearing it down, taking out all the stuff, and putting it in their backpacks.

“We need to go now though,” Joe said. Tom and Linda and Joe gathered their stuff and they put out the fire, and they walked back down the hill, over the bodies of the dead zombies and they were gone.