I heard the zombies before I saw them. Without any weapon, I couldn't just stand and fight. The options that I had were limited, and it seemed like at the hot spring I would have to make do with what I had and hope it would be enough.
Running wasn't an option, as I could see the compound in the distance and I didn't want to risk getting lost again. There was barely any sunlight left and the night was swiftly turning into one of the coldest yet. I stopped walking and closed my eyes, listening carefully.
Days and nights spent listening to the creaks and groans of my house to detect where everyone was came in handy as I heard about three of the dead coming from somewhere on my right. I hadn't had much experience with zombies so I wasn't sure how far away they were.
I looked around the part of the woods that I stood in, the trees were too tall to just climb and the forest floor was barren of any sharp object.
I'm not going to die, I told myself as I crept towards the compound. Maybe if I run fast enough towards it, I could outrun the zombies and climb inside, without a problem.
I spent too much time thinking it seemed, as a zombie came into view, and spotted me.
"Holy shit," I muttered as I turned on my heels and booked it towards the compound.
My heart raced in my chest, so hard it threatened to burst through my ribcage. I heard groans and footsteps behind me as the zombies gave a chase. They must be new. They had more power than I did, being new, or freshly fed.. then again they could be starving and desperate.
I was rounding a corner around a tree when I tripped and landed on my front, the sickening groans of the zombies got louder and I pushed myself to my feet. As I looked around a little wildly, I noticed a dead tree. Not a dead tree as it had fallen over, but a dead tree as it had been hollowed out and it looked like there was enough room to fit inside.
It was a risk, but the angle of the hollowed out opening was facing away from the zombies, as long as they didn't look back, I would be safe. I took the chance and folded myself inside the tree, trying to ignore the possibility of this being the house to spiders or other nasty things. I would rather be bitten by a spider than be bitten by a zombie.
As the zombies approached I pressed myself tighter into the hollow tree and forced my eyes to stay open as they hobble-ran past me. The first one to pass nearly made me pee my pants. It was wearing yoga pants and what was left of its blood stained blonde hair, was in a high ponytail. It wore a shirt that might have been white at one point, and ugg boots. One of its arms were gone and the clothes looked very wrong on the rotten flesh and decaying body parts.
The second one to pass was even worse, I couldn't see its front but the trail of intestines that it drug behind it gave me a pretty good idea of what the front looked like. It was so bloated and torn up that you couldn't tell what it had once been, male or female it was unidentifiable now.
The third was the worst yet, a little boy from the looks of it, tottered behind the two others. It had a toy truck clutched in its little rotten hand and I wanted to throw up. It looked like it had lost a foot, and that's why it limped everywhere.
I waited until it disappeared in the trees before letting out a breath. The smell that had accompanied the trio was revolting, and I had to swallow back the bile that threatened to rise up. I stepped out of the tree and rested my hands on my hips. The compound wasn't far off now, and I knew that if there were no more zombie problems, that I would make it back before the light completely disappeared from the sky.
I took a step forward, only to have a hand touch my shoulder. The self defense lessons that I had been taught by my father, that Cody had been teaching me, rose to my mind and I lifted my elbow, swinging back and connecting it to the side of a fleshy, too soft to be human, temple.
I turned around in time to see the zombie stumbled to the ground. It was more burnt that anything. Its skin was charred and the smell was worse than the other three combined. It made me wonder how the hell I could have not smelled it until now.
The zombie rose to its feet again and I could barely hear anything over the sound of my heart beat in my ears. A quick glance around revealed a stick that wouldn't be too thick to lift, but it wasn't too thin as to be flimsy.
I dove for the stick as the zombie dove for me, I managed to pick up the stick in time for the zombie to grab onto my ankle and lean down to bite. I kicked the ankle it was clutching and kicked it in the face with the other foot. As I scrambled back the zombie followed, not feeling any pain as a normal human would have.
I back into a tree and waited for the zombie to get close again before slamming my shoe into its face. It fell back and I stood up, all of this noise had me worried that the earlier trio would appear again and any chance I had in winning this little dual would be diminished.
The zombie stood and the same time I did, and I did the only thing I could think of. I swung the stick like a baseball bat, right into the zombies neck. The zombie's head tore off it's shoulders and fell to the ground while the body crumbled. I breathed heavily, and stepped over to the head. The mouth was still moving and making hissing sounds, which didn't make sense, as it had no lungs.
I looked down at it for a moment, and considered using my stick to ram it through the brain, but after looking at my stick I noticed that it had broke with the force of my swing. I tossed it aside and readied myself. After a few counts to three I slammed my foot down on the side of the zombies head, and at first there was resistance, but once the mushy skull gave away it was like my shoe had gone into a mud puddle that was mostly mud.
The sound of me pulling my shoe out, had my stomach rolling. I left the area without another glance and speed walked to the compound. I was about forty feet away when I had to stop and empty the contents of my stomach out into a bush.
When I had finished, all I wanted was a toothbrush, toothpaste, a shower, and bed. I knew the comfortable bed thing would be a no go, but at least I had a shower and the ability to brush the nasty taste out of my mouth.
The rest of the walk to the wall was thankfully zombie free, and by the time I had found the spot on the wall that I had climbed out of, I was in the dark. I had goosebumps all over my skin and I had to keep my jaw clenched so my teeth wouldn't chatter.
The first raindrops started falling when I was climbing back into the window. Climbing back in was a little trickier than climbing out, but I managed. When I got to the window I noticed that it was firmly locked. I had a mini panic attack, wondering if the boys had done it in symbolizing that I was not allowed back inside, but when I peaked inside I saw Mabel on the bed.
I thought she was asleep, but before I could start moving to check the bathroom window, she sat up and gave me a look. I was about to ask her silently to help me out, when she smiled and flipped over to face the other way.
I ground my teeth and shook my head angrily before scooting over to the bathroom window.
Once inside, I immediately stripped off the nasty clothes and started scrubbing away the sweat and blood in the shower. I knew Mabel must know that I was inside by now, and I kept expecting her to come in and say something nasty or rude, but she never did, and I was thankful for the small break that I had been given.
After the shower I brushed my teeth a total of six times, and braided my now clean hair. I gathered up the dirty clothes and washed them in the sink, getting most of the dirt, blood, and stink out of the fabric before wringing the clothes out and walking into the room. I waited a moment, watching Mabel before relaxing as she was fast asleep. I grabbed a basket and put the clothes I had worn today in, along with some of the other clothes that I had that I could wash in the same load.
When the basket wasn't full enough I decided that the boys probably had some dirty clothes in the laundry room that I could include in my load. I made it halfway to the bedroom door before turning around and finding my gun from my grab bag. I stuffed it in the waistband of my sleeping shorts and then quietly made my way downstairs to the laundry room.
I was just closing the lid to the washer when I heard a noise behind me. My little trip had me somewhat paranoid, and I pulled my gun out, before tip toeing towards the back door, where I had heard the noise. I saw a figure outside, and while I knew in my mind that it couldn't be a zombie, the possibility had me undoing the safety on my gun.
I waited, hidden in the shadows for the figure to open the door.
No, zombies can't open doors, but burglars can, at least that's what I told myself as reason for still having the gun out.
The figure stepped in and shook a little bit, getting a mess of water onto the floor. Outside it was raining even harder than when I had snuck inside, and while the sound was soothing, I was no where near relaxed. The figure took off its jacket and then hung it on a hook next to the door. Little droplets fell from the jacket, making a small puddle on the floor.
I watched the figure walk towards the kitchen, and pause. He or she, it was probably male as the structure was too masculine to be female, tensed and turned slightly. His head tilted and he seemed to be listening for something. Quicker than I could register, his hand flew out and flipped on the light, and he turned, looking right at me.
I nearly shot at Beck right there, as the movement he had made to spin around and turn on the light, had startled me. He looked pissed off until he recognized me, and then he just looked confused, "Woah, what are you doing buttercup... don't shoot me," he said, his hands in the air.
I sucked in a deep breath and flipped on the safety, lowering the gun, and my eyes.
"So," he said casually, "Want to tell me why you look like shit and why I almost got my face blown off?"