Number 1 had the bag on her back, smashing skulls in with her hammer. Evelyn and Daniel stood back to back, fighting off the enemy together.
I stood beside Number 1, I had just kicked one on the ground, and used the end of my shovel to cut his forehead open. Blood poured out like spilled wine. The stench filled my nose, and with every breath, came another gag from the dead flesh.
We had worked our way close to the door, but just beyond reach, no more zombies were coming from inside, but I knew there were more. I turned my head to see Number 1 pull the sharp end of her hammer out of a young girl's eye. Tears rolling down her cheeks. Number 1 stepped back, astonished from the child's emotion. Walking into a zombie, who pulled down on the bag, making Number 1 crash to the ground.
"Number 1!" Evelyn yelled.
"Alex has it! Don't move from that spot!" Daniel lectured.
I ran over to Number 1, she had already killed the one that had pulled her, but she needed backup while getting back to her feet. She stood up after I had pushed one back, knocking down four more standing in front of the door.
"Force your way to the door! It's now or never!" I pulled Number 1 with me, we fought the remaining ones who I had knocked down, while Evelyn and Daniel killed the ones surrounding the door.
Evelyn and Daniel jumped over the railings on the sides running inside. Number 1 and I backed up into the house, fighting them off as we went. We barely got inside, before another wave came running through the hole.
As we shut the door, Evelyn and Daniel pushed a television set on it to keep them from coming inside. That's when they started banging on the door, and on the walls.
"Move up!" I yelled. We saw the stairs, and went for them, no zombies insight, though the house was dark, we could barely see our feet running up the steps. Evelyn and Daniel were the first ones to get up, immediately checking the area.
"Find a room, with a lock." I told them, "But leave the closed doors shut."
We ran into what appeared to be the master bedroom, Evelyn and Daniel checked under the bed, while Number 1 shut and locked the door. The bathroom door was shut, so I swung it open, but nothing attacked, so Daniel and I checked inside. Grabbing tylenol, bandages, and other things like that that could help.
The windows weren't boarded up, and there was the house that we came from in reach with just a stretch of the arm. "We didn't get any food." Daniel complained, sitting against a wall.
Evelyn opened up the closet, and checked inside, "Hey." She walked back out carrying a cooler.
"Is there anything in it?" Daniel stood up, with an expression of a child on christmas.
"I don't know, but it's heavy." She set the cooler on the table. She waited a few minutes, building the suspense in the room. Daniel getting more and more anxious.
Evelyn put her hands on the lid of the cooler, she slid them down to the sides, and slowly opened up the lid. A gust of rotten flesh and mold came gushing out. We all stepped back, and gagged. Evelyn peeked inside before running to the corner and hurling.
Daniel was standing as far from the cooler as possible. Number 1 was standing against the window, with her hand over her nose. I stepped forward, and it felt like another wave of the stench came flowing out, but I continued forward, and peeked inside.
It was full of rotten meats, body parts, rotten moldy meat, and spoiled milk. I slammed the lid shut and ran to the window, breathing in fresh air. I looked down and saw a lot of them, at least 20, just shuffling around. I turned around, and Evelyn was moving the cooler back into the closet.
"Wait." I called out to her.
She stopped and looked at me, "What for, I want to get this out of my sight."
"We can use it."
"I'm not eating that shit if that's what you mean." Daniel said, still leaning against the door.
"No dumbass! We'll lure them with it. We can lure the ones down there, we look really close to them. So we could throw the meat and get them out of the way, I bet that they will sense us or what the fuck ever, and follow us." I point down to the zombies.
"So... we're going out the front door?" Daniel stepped closer to me.
"Well..." Before I could finish, I was interrupted by a loud crash, and the sound of feet thumping against the creaky floorboards.
"Move the bed!" Evelyn exclaimed. We moved the bed, scratching the floor, covering the bedroom door, even though the door was locked we felt like we needed to.
We covered the door, just as the fists came crashing down. We heard their moans and groans. "We have to go now!" I ordered them.
"Where!" Evelyn cried out.
"The window!" Daniel said. We all picked up our weapons, and headed for the window, I used the pillowcase and dumped the food from the cooler into it. I threw it out the window to the side, as far as I could. The zombies down below ran for it. Evelyn crawled out, she reached for the other house, but it was too far away.
"Hurry!" Daniel rushed her.
"Shut up! It's too far away." She came back into the room, "I think we have to crawl down the wall and go in from down below, we already got them distracted and that won't last much longer."
"Alright." I said, but I wasn't convinced, it seemed too dangerous, Number 1 put her hand on my shoulder reassuringly. The door started to crack and lean in, "We have to move fast!"
Daniel went first this time. He slowly crawled down, avoiding the windows, and being as quiet as possible, careful not to attract the ones around him.
He gets down to the bottom, and gets his hatchet, he signals for Number 1 to go down, she climbed down, Daniel guarding her back. When she signaled for me, I told Evelyn to go but she insisted I go.
I crawled down, half way down I heard a loud crash from above, And Evelyn screaming, I tried to climb back up but my foot slipped and I fell down, I was just standing back up when Evelyn fell from the window and landed in front of me, her breath had been knocked out of her, but that was the only visible injury, we dragged her inside the house.
We leaned her against the wall, Daniel standing next to her, me and Number 1 pulled the TV set in front of the door. Daniel turned and inspected Evelyn, he looked at her left hand, she had a bite on it. He didn't hesitate, he grabbed his hatchet and cut off her arm, up to her elbow. She cried bloody murder and passed out. We wrapped it.
"Hopefully I was fast enough." Daniel said as he tightened the wrap.
"We should do a search make sure there are none in here." I picked up my saw, the shovel had broke when I fell, nearly impaling me.
"I agree. I'll stay here and guard her, you two better not split up, and you better come running if I yell." Daniel pointed his weapon at me, I swatted it away.
"We know. You be careful."
"No, you be careful," Daniel looked me straight in the eye.
I nodded, Number 1 and I split up from the others, doing exactly what we told each other we weren't going to do. If I'm correct, this should be the house we originally started in. So there must be zombies in here.
"Okay, so I say we start in the kitchen, because it's obvious nothing is in the living room. So, we can check for zombies and for food." I looked at Number 1, she smiled and nodded, we went into the kitchen, standing back to back, the kitchen was empty, and the only other way in was shut.
We relaxed and searched the fridge, cabinets, and everything else. The only thing we could find was some stale crackers, a thing of Spam, a half eaten jar of jelly, a bag of rice with bugs in it, some spoiled milk, a couple pop tarts, and some grapes. We put the grapes, pop tarts, jelly, and crackers in the bag. It was starting to get really heavy, I threw it over my shoulder.
We turned and headed for the other door, we didn't know what room was behind this door, so we had to be extremely careful, we opened the door, it was a long dark hallway, pitch black, we couldn't see a single thing. I turned around and searched the room for a flashlight. I opened a drawer closest to the fridge, nothing, I went to the one next to it, nothing, and so one, and by nothing, there was literally nothing. Actually I stand corrected, there was a dead rat in one. I checked the cabinet under the sink, I reached under and saw a flashlight. I grabbed it, and clicked the button, the light flickered, it wouldn't last long, I clicked it off, and opened up the back, they were regular double A batteries.
I looked inside the cabinet again, and saw something lying in the back, I clicked on the light and saw a single battery in the back, I grabbed it, sticking it in my pocket. I walked back to Number 1, she nodded, she walked down the dark hallway, the wallpaper was frayed. There were bloody handprints up and down, left and right. I moved the flashlight around the never ending hallway, searching for a door. I moved the flashlight up ahead with a quick stride. Number 1 nudged me, I looked at her, she pointed down the hallway.
I move the flashlight back and see a dead body on the ground, we silently and swiftly walk over the corpse. There were several holes in the back of its head, and the whole scenery seemed familiar. I pointed the light above his head and saw a familiar door. I walked around him, and turned the knob. I opened the door, the familiar room spread out around me. I closed the door, it was a long hallway and had no food, or anything we didn't already have.
I looked at Number 1, who just sighed and shrugged her shoulders. We turned back, and starting walking back the way we came. It was very disappointing. We reached the door, and shut it. We returned to Daniel and Evelyn. Evelyn had stood up and was holding her stump. She stared blankly at us. I looked over at Daniel, he was staring at her.
"We found some food, nothing that will last long, at all. We reached the garage again, that's it, we didn't want to go much further, we can go upstairs when Evelyn is up to it." I said.
"Let's go." Evelyn spoke. It was scratchy, but clear.
"No, you need to rest, we'll wait till tomorrow, then we'll go. For now, we should sleep, of course, someone will have to stay up and keep watch. We'll take turns, I'll go first, then Alex, then Number 1. That cool with everyone?" Daniel said.
"Good with me." I said, Number 1 nodded.
Evelyn spoke no more, she just laid down, and dozed off. I walked to a corner, I set the bag next to me, my saw in my hands. I leaned against the wall, supporting myself with the bag. Number 1 sat next to Evelyn. Daniel, still standing, faced the doorway out of the living room, his hatchet in hand.
I laid down, the bag below my head, it was a hard pillow, but it worked better than an air vent. I stared up into the ceiling. Letting out a long sigh, I turn my head to look at Daniel, he had satten against the wall, still staring the same direction though.
I looked back up at the artwork. I dozed off with my eyes open. When reality hit me, I looked over at Daniel again, he was standing, stretching. I sit up, Number 1 and Evelyn had fallen asleep.
"How long have I been out?" I ask.
"About thirty minutes," he said.
"I can't really sleep well, never have," I said.
"Nice." He said. Rubbing his eyes.
"We can switch now, get some sleep, I'll wake you up when I get too tired, Number 1 never sleeps, she really needs it." I say, standing up and walking over to Daniel.
"You sure?" He asks.
"Yeah. Why not." I said.
I stand in his spot, "No, I'll stay up for a while longer." He sits down.
I sit next to him, "Alright."
We sit in silence for a while, "How can this be happening?" He finally asks.
"I have no clue, first aliens now zombies." I said.
"Fucking zombies, how does that even happen? How does our lives go to shit?" He snorts a little, then looks at me.
"Hey, I have something to ask you."
"Shoot."
"Did we meet at the fair?"
I look up at him, he must have guessed by my face expression because he looked away, "I thought so, I thought it was a dream." He said.
"No. I have that memory, actually it's my last memory, before... well this." I wave my hands in the air.
"I don't really remember how we met, or if we met, like if I just saw you." He lays back.
"We met, you also met my friend. His name was Johnny. He was the best."
"I'm sorry." He looked at me.
"Number 1 also lost her friend. Her name was Emma, she was here with Number 1 when Johnny and I got here. She was stabbed through the head with one of those poles. We had been attacked by those things so much, that's why we didn't jump in right away, and also why we didn't keep going, Number 1 has always felt it coming on, like when the Surgers came, she knew where to find them." I said.
"The Surgers?" He asked.
"Yeah, you know the aliens that came in, and cut you open and killed you. They got me, but Johnny, Number 1, and Emma saved me." I said.
"Nothing ever came in for us. Just the food, speaking of food, we haven't eaten anything at all since the beginning. Wanna eat a cracker?" He said.
"Sure, just one. But if we have one, won't we wanna have more?" I said.
"Probably, but I need something in my stomach." he walks over to the bag, unzips it, and pulls out two crackers, zips it back up, and walks back to me, resuming his spot. He hands me the cracker.
"You eat it, I'm not hungry." I wave my hand at the offering.
"You're not hungry? How is that possible? You know what. Nevermind. Thanks." He said, taking the cracker for himself.
He eats it slowly, the sudden change in his stomach makes him sit up, he sighs. Putting the other cracker down, "Your hypothesis was wrong, it pushes away the food."
I laugh at him, "Well then it's better I didn't eat one."
"Okay, I am going to go lay down, before I throw up." He gets up, puts the cracker back, and lays on the bag. I sit, and stare off into space.