After Genocide: The Dead Live Again (6 page)

              I get up and look, the creature began to continue its walk. I load an arrow to the crossbow and aim at the eye and shoot. A loud roar echoes of pain and then I thought and thought for a few seconds.

“Six! Toss me a grenade!” I yelled.

Six obeyed and he grabs a grenade from his bag and tossed it to me, I caught it with my hands and held it there.

              “Hey!” I yelled at the monster, but the creature did not want to bother with me again and it continued walking. I pick up my pistol and aim then shot the monster on its spine several times. The monster looks back towards me and it began to move towards my position. 

“Okay Joe just think for a second,” I whispered to myself to gain confidence for what I was about to do next.                                      

              I take a deep breath and I began to walk towards him as well, the zombie began to curl its hands as if it couldn’t wait to grab hold of me. It looks at me with its eyes of anger, but I didn’t care and I continued walking in his direction. The monster looks at me with hate, it stopped; it look up into the sky and it began to roar loudly. My opportunity came early; I removed the clip from the grenade and threw it at the monster’s mouth.

              “Watch out!” yelled Six, and everyone ducked or hid for protection from the explosion.  The monster’s head exploded and pieces of its face flew everywhere: bones, skin, teeth and muscle tissue. Some of the teeth that flew landed on Aaron, me, Pam; Six, Max, Blade and Kelly.  The only person safe from being hit by zombie skin, or teeth is Ruby. I ran towards where Pam is sitting “Are you okay?” I ask.

She didn’t reply with words except a huge hug. 

              I dropped my handgun and returned her hug.

“I’m glad you’re safe,” I told her.

Pam smiles, “Thank you,” she says. “You risked your life to save me.”

“Yeah well you’re part of the team you know,” I reply, and she smiles again.  

              I pick up my handgun and place it in the holster. Ruby appeared, “Is everybody okay?” she asks, and Pam sighed.               

              I helped Pam up to her feet, “Poor Aaron,” say Kelly.

Max grabs Pam’s handguns and says: “Here you will need this,” and he hands them over.

“Thank you Max,” Pam says. 

“Mike, carry Aaron,” ordered Kelly.

Mike is quick on his feet and moves in to pick up Aaron. Out of all the things, the helicopter remained unharmed by this mess, then come to look at things, this roof was bigger than imagined. 

              Mike carries Aaron and as a group we walk to the helicopter; Six opens the door and enters through the drivers’ side and began to turn the engine. Kelly boards through the passenger side, Mike placed Aaron carefully on the backseat.  Pam, Max, I, Ruby, and Mike sat down as well and Blade jumps in happily. 

              “All aboard,” Six says.

“Okay ready for takeoff.” 

Mike closed the door and locked it, the helicopter blades begin whirring loudly. Slowly we began to elevate from the ground.

“Goodbye Wal-Mart,” says Pam. 

“So where to now?” asks Kelly.

“The house where I grew up,” I suggested. “I want to know if any of my family members are still alive.” 

“Okay then, to Joe’s house it is,” Kelly says. We rested for the few minutes we were going to have, everyone is tired and could not believe how all this happened it is a disaster but it is uniting us all as a group a group of individuals at that.

Ch.6: Past Curfew

             
I closed my eyes for a few seconds just trying to forget anything, clear my head and prepare for whatever is next. Slowly opening my eyes, I notice Aaron still unconscious. Pam rests with her eyes closed as does the rest of the group.  

The fog is still dense by then we noticed the old H-E-B in Elsa. 

“Hey the fog is still dense,” I say in amazement.

“Yeah it’s almost too weird,” commented Kelly. 

“So where exactly do you live?” asks Pam.

“Well we are going to have to land on the parking lot of the Sacred Heart Church because there is no space where I live.” 

              Six maneuvers the helicopter easily and began to land it on the parking lot; he shut the engine and said, “We are here.”  Out of the blue, Aaron regained consciousness again. He grunts while holding his head, “Where am I,” he asks.

“It’s okay you’re safe, you are at the Catholic Church in Elsa,” replies Kelly. 

“Are you able to walk?” asks Six.

“Yeah, yeah I can do almost anything.”

“Okay so we are at the church now what?” Pam.

“Yeah, to get to my house we have to go to the street after and walk down near the end of the road,” I say.

“A walk through the dark chilly morning, why do I suspect bad news already?” Pam’s question lingers through the group. She is right, what am I putting these people through, the rest of my family could easily be dead and I’m condemning innocent people to follow me to the brink of death?

Max began searching inside the helicopter and found certain useful items such as grenades, and ammunition.

“Hey guys load up,” Max says.

I load another clip into my pistol, I am down to two of them and five arrows. I put my pistol back in the holster and sling my crossbow behind me. I draw my knife out and toss it lightly in the air and catch it again. Six loads his AK with another clip, Max inserts more shells into his shotguns and slings one behind him. Pam reloads both revolvers and Kelly, Mike and Aaron check how many rounds they have left.

              Aaron gave a long stare at the church, I glanced around; the chilly breeze almost made me shiver, but it gave me the creeps more than anything.

“There isn’t any noise,” I say. 

“What?” Pam asks with a twist in her face.

“There should be birds chirping, crickets chiming but instead nothing barely the wind.”

“All right guys keep an eye out,” says Six.

“How about we check out the church?” suggested Aaron.

“Bad idea,” says Max.

“We must be very careful,” says Kelly.

              “How is checking out the church a bad idea?” Ruby question.

              “Because it is not part of the mission. Besides we need to conserve as much ammunition as possible.” Six’s voice is straight.

              “But you never know what could be in there,” replies Ruby. Six put a face of minor anger, one thing he disliked was being questioned about his military skill, even if it included the survival ratio of checking out a church.

              “Fine.” Six speaks out with some reluctance. “But you’re leading the way,” and he forces her to go first.

              We begin walking the group just barely eyeing Six for fear of being pushed in front of the line, but no, his beef was with Ruby.

Looking around with the simplest wind blowing; small howls as it blew against and between branches. I kept my knife close and ready for anything.

“We should have leave someone in the helicopter just in case,” suggested Pam.

“I’ll go,” said Mike and he retreated back to the helicopter and sat in the driver seat.

              As a group we walk through the parking lot then trough a small cemented path made for people. We take caution in observing our surroundings.  Pigeons lined up at the edge of the roof; the only movement from them is to watch our every move, funny thing is, they did not scatter about as they normally would. 

              Ruby takes charge and just rushed into the church, “Is anybody here!” she yelled while making a scandal.

“Hey do you not know how to keep your mouth shut or what,” Pam argued.

“Back off, I can do what I want,” Ruby replies.

              Up ahead of us is the podium, sitting on an elevated level of the floor. Five steps, that’s what it takes Ruby to walk up and stand on the podium as if she were the priest. 

              “Hey come on no time to joke around here,” ordered Six, but Ruby disobeyed and stayed up there.

“We should just leave her here,” whispered Pam into my ear. There is a door behind Ruby, the priest’s dressing room.

“What if the priest is still here?” Pam asks.

“I don’t think…” I uttered, but loud screaming and rustling made my mouth shut. 

              “It came from behind that door,” says Kelly.

“Pam is right, it’s probably the priest,” added Aaron. 

“You guys are just chickens,” says Ruby and she placed her hand on the door; “watch there is nothing here,” she said while she opened the door.

              A dark face, burned and rotten with inside out flesh and plain white eyes stared her down; drool dripping from the mouth and large teeth. 

“Crap,” she says and the zombie pulled Ruby with it and then there is only snarling and yelling echoes. The grip on my knife tightens at the thought of trying to do something but my subconscious kicks in telling me there is nothing left to do.

“Shit, nothing we can do,” I say.

“Prepare your weapons and get ready,” ordered Kelly and we wait.

              The sounds stopped and the group aims at the podium; the door flew open and several zombies burst out and jump over the podium, but quick blasts of the weapons sent them down like flies.

              “Is that all of them?” asks Pam.

“How about let’s get out of here and not find out,” suggested Aaron.

“Good idea,” Max agreed and we leave the church in a hurry. 

              Mike loading his firearm in the helicopter noticed as we rushed out, “Everything okay?” he asks. “Hey where is the annoying one?”

“Oh she was invited to dinner by the priest,” I reply.

“Dinner?” Mike thought with a long pause. 

“Come on I have to check on my family,” I say.

              We walk as a group through the dark breezy morning, the fog still coming down like mist, it makes my nose get cold as the spray hits. The group is still tired, all this running around, but I need to find out, plus it might help with my amnesia too. I will make it up to them I promise, I don’t know how but I will. My knife still in hand as we walk. The neighborhood seems quiet for the moment, where was everybody? And by that I meant how come there isn’t any zombies to welcome me back home? Past the Gomez house, then the creepy gray house, then the Garza house and finally as we get closer there is a brick house which used to be Fabo’s Beauty Salon. My house is right next door.

              “Here it is, my old family house. Max, no matter what happens or what you see; try not to freak out okay,” I say and Max nods. Blade stood next to Max most of the time; the panting of the dog is making me impatient. It is a yellow house with some light blue trims, more like a desert due to the cactuses around the yard. 

“You like cactus?” Pam asks.

“That was our mom’s idea,” I say.  The gate is open, “somebody or something is here; so keep your eyes peeled,” I say. 

“Sure have a lot of vehicles here,” says Aaron. “BMW, and Suburban’s red and white.”

Remind me to search for the keys of the vehicles, we might need an extra one just in case.

“It’s like there is eyes all around watching our every move,” I speak.

              “Okay…you’re the man and kind of like the leader here so do try to suck in that gut and step forward,” Pam encouraged.

“Leader? What the heck, who died and made me boss?” I ask.

“Well you give a vibe of course for that sort of thing, second of all you rounded me up, and let’s not forget Six and your brother. Searching for others was technically my idea but you put it into exercise. You could’ve shot the SPOSA team but ultimately you decided to create more of a group. It was your idea on how to stop that ten foot super zombie. The food, plus I think you’re the only one who has used a knife in combat. That speaks out more than anything,” she replies.

Ch.7: Lonely House

             
We approach the house as a group. The color yellow is lightly faded, the Cactus tall yet sad looking. I remember now, flashbacks of me growing up with ducks here, and lots of dogs. Where are those dogs, or any dogs for that matter?