Fight the Dead
Fear the Living.
Chapter 1.
The Apocalypse
The city thrived with life of its occupants, several cars passed by the armoured prison truck, carrying a total of ten people, three police men and seven criminals. One of the police men was an ex-soldier named Jack Dustan, a retired soldier who was still in the early years of his adult life, decided to put his work to use as a man of the law. He was in his late thirties, short buzz cut hair like a soldier, his skin was lightly tanned, eyes dark blue, his right side of his face bore a nasty scar that traced from the top of the head to the jaw.
He wore a blue and black uniform, his hat sit beside him, a baton strapped to his right hip with his pistol. He was a tall man, bulky as well, imposing and intimidating. He was in front with his partner, William Donnell, driving the truck while the third officer was stationed in front of the gate with a shot gun in hand.
The criminals each had a mixed crime which rated from minor pickpockets to bank robbers and so on. Only two in particular seemed to be their biggest concern, two big shots in Savannah according to the chief.
Russ Cromwell, a African from Australia, ran up a good few deals that helped him become one the top ten most wanted in Savannah. His partner is Adam Keller, a gang banger according to the reports, hit up a few neighbourhoods with his gang for a few years, until he got picked up by Russ, and together with a crew, they sacked a bank, small one but enough to get the police force on their tails.
Apparently, their Intel was leaked to the police, from who Jack wasn't told, but it was enough to get their plans and plan an ambush. Four good men died from the shootout, while Russ lost not only his gang members, but now with all the evidence they got and with enough witnesses, they could put him away for life.
'We're almost there, about an hour or so', William said, taking a turn onto the highway to the prison. 'Good, I was starting to fall asleep', Jack said, his American accent thick and voice deep. 'Feel free to doze off', William said, smirking at his partner's laziness. He chuckled and looked out the window, watching the fields passing by with the other drivers.
'Did a few run ups on those two, chief's being pouring a lot of resources into this, I mean Jesus', he said, tilting the rear view mirror. 'Any idea who slipped the Intel', Jack asked, looking from the corner of his eye to check on the criminals. 'Nothing, used some video message but edited the hell outta it, could've been a crook who lost his pay check or someone just looking to get rid of the competition', he explained.
Suddenly, he stopped when he saw the traffic. 'Aw shit', he complained. Jack rolled his eyes and checked out how big the traffic was, hoping it was small.
Sadly, it was opposite.
It stretched out far, probably about as long as the highway. 'What's going there?', the third officer asked, noticing the lack of movement. 'We've hit traffic, we're not going anywhere', Jack said, his disdain for the army of cars was evident in his voice. He heard him sigh deeply and muttering a few swears. Jack leaned back in his seat, sighing deeply at the seemingly still traffic.
He was gonna get home late again, not that it was urgent or anything, if anything he was just giving a few minutes to spare outside. Life seemed very still for him at this point, his job was, for the most part decent and it paid well, but he would be lying if he said it was perfect. Despite William and a few others, the police were as corrupt as the next criminal, difference they were more subtle and sneakier.
He rubbed his stubbled chin, dying for something to do, a pack of smokes would be nice, or if he actually installed music in his I-phone. He looked at the watch on his wrist, watching the handle tick so teasingly slow like it was mocking him with how long he was gonna be stuck here.
Speaking of being slow, he noticed that the traffic hasn't moved, at all. He also started to take in the sight of no cars beeping their horns, engines reviving or anyone complaining about the slowness of the traffic. 'Hey what's taking so long!? We're going to jail or not!?', a criminal barked. 'Shut the fuck up!', the guard barked, aiming his shot gun at the speaking criminal. 'Dave, something's up with this', William said, acknowledging the same thing as Jack.
'Hold the fort Dave', Jack said, as he opened his door and hopped out, followed by William. The area was too quiet, it was extremely uncommon for a traffic this big and this only raised more questions. Jack stopped in front of a car to ask what the holding up was all about.
Only to find no one inside the car. Empty and from the looks of it, it was abandoned recently. 'What the?', he asked, looking in the passenger seat and the back. 'Hey, what's all the stopping about?', William asked the driver in the truck. Jack followed him to the door. The driver's head was slumped against the wheel, unmoving and breathing.
'Sir?', William asked, opening the door and reaching out for the driver. 'Wait a second, Will- It was too late.
No sooner did Will's hand get close to the driver's shoulder, he lunged forward to him and both hands gripped onto his shoulders and took a massive bite into his shoulder. Will screamed in agony as he fell backwards with the driver on top of him, munching his flesh.
'AHHH! FUCK JACK, HELP ME!', he screamed. Jack's eyes were the saucers and his blood turned cold, but he pulled out his pistol and aimed at the driver. 'Get the fuck off him!', he shouted, as he kicked the driver in the side, the sound of bones cracking echoed in his ear, but it didn't even faze the driver.
'SHOOT HIM! FOR FUCK SAKE SHOOT HIM!', William screamed, as blood started to escaping his mouth. Jack had no choice, as he aimed the pistol and shot the driver in the head, killing him instantly.
He panted heavily as he kicked the driver off his partner, who laid there, his shoulder torn open, blood pooling up underneath it, his skin pale and mouth foaming blood. 'Fuck, William hang on!', he said as he knelt down and pulled out his cell phone. 'Officer down! We need an ambulance RIGHT NOW!', he shouted into his phone, but got nothing but static. 'Shit!', he cursed as his friend was slowly dying.
'William', he said, before his friend gagged and coughed, then his eyes rolled backwards and he laid still. Jack looked down in remorse, as he closed his friend's eyes. 'I'm sorry Will', he said sadly. He looked at the driver with disdain, but on closer inspection, he noticed the body was not normal.
His skin was all rotted and the smell indicated he's been dead for a while now, also there was nasty gnash on his arm, teeth marks as well. 'Jack, the fuck happened?', Dave yelled out from the truck. Jack took one look at William and with a sad sigh, headed back for the truck.
However, he stopped when he heard groaning. He turned around and was soon shocked to see William crawling to him, his skin getting more greyer and his eyes were empty, only white spheres in his sockets. He snarled and growled at him, crawling at Jack, who was too shocked to move. 'Jack!'. Jack yelled and ran away from the reanimated William back to the truck.
He slammed the door shut and leaned against it, panting heavily. 'Jesus man what happened, ya see a ghost or something?', Dave asked, looking back at him with brows raised. Jack looked at him, got up and just before he said something, they heard screaming. 'Holy shit look!', a prisoner said, his eyes fixed on the window. They all looked and gasped at the sight.
People were eating one another, the ones who were being eating screamed in terror and in agony as the fell to the ground and were torn apart by others, some managed to get away but the rest were torn apart. 'The hell is going out there!?', one of the prisoners screamed, backing away from the window. 'We need to leave, now!', Jack said, looking at the way he came, but the path was blocked by the monsters.
'Oh shit!', he said backing away. 'Dave, door's blocked', he said. 'The back way, come on!', he said, opening the cage door for Jack and heading to the back. He opened the door and jumped out, but before Jack followed suit, the prisoners started yelling for freedom. Jack looked back at them. 'Fuck'em, they're criminals Jack!', he said.
Jack looked back between Dave and the criminals.
They were murders and bank robbers, they deserve to die, at least the chief would think that and regardless how little evidence, they'd end up executed anyways. Yet, some of them committed minor crimes, pick pockets and bank frauds, they deserve a second chance at least. Leave those to die, or save them but risk Dave leaving him?
Jack growled and grabbed the keys from Dave and ran to the locks despite Dave's protests. 'The fuck man!? You wanna die with a clear conscience fine but I ain't going down with ya!', he said, leaving him. Jack unlocked the chains on the legs for everyone and led them out of the truck.
'Alright, we're good!', he said as they ran from the truck. However, he didn't get far. He felt a sharp pain going through his leg, causing him to fall on his side in pain. 'Sorry mate', the leader said, Jack's pistol in hand. He stole it when Jack freed him.
'That was for me boys ya shot back at the bank, enjoy yourself', he said, his men following him. Jack swore under his breath as they ran away from the zombies. He tried to get up, but the pain was too much at the moment. He grunted as he fell, but saw a zombie closing in on him.
He was defenceless, no weapon or any means of self-defence. He closed his eyes, ready for the bite. Until, he heard bones snapping. He looked and much to his surprise, he saw one of the criminals beating a zombie to death with a pistol. He was a tall man, dark skin like leather, orange jumpsuit, thick messy hair and a black beard. He looked at Jack after his brutality. 'Hang on man', he said, he sounded foreign. He picked up Jack, having hang one arm over his shoulder while gripping his belt from behind.
He dragged Jack to a car occupied by a zombie, but one smash to the skull was enough to kill it. He carefully put Jack in the front passenger seat while he drove. He started the car and they drove off from the highway, away from the city.
Jack panted, his leg hurt like hell and it felt like it was gonna snap off. 'We'll get ya a doctor, I promise man', the prisoner said, adjusting the mirror. Jack looked at him. 'Who are you?', he asked. 'Davis Yon, a punk', he said. 'Jack Dustan', he introduced himself with a smirk. 'Well Jackie, looks like you're stuck with me', he said with his own smirk. 'Sucks to be me'.
Two hours later
They drove into a small neighbourhood, streets were empty and silence was heavy. Davis kept his eyes on the road while Jack looked around, his leg bandaged up and bleeding had ceased, but without proper treatment, it wasn't going to get any better.
Jack was wondering if those monsters had reached this area already, seeing as he saw about a horde's worth of zombies. Davis stopped the car in front of a house. 'Think anybody's home?', he asked. 'If we're lucky maybe', Jack replied, as he opened the door up. Davis and Jack both got out of the car, Jack using a crutch to walk due to his leg, while Davis loaded the pistol. The pistol was, ahem, "borrowed" from the police truck, but Jack didn't care if he shat the gun out, it was a weapon and a weapon they needed.
Davis ditched his orange jumpsuit earlier due to Jack reminding him he was still a criminal, so now he sported a blue and orange tank top with a blue pair of jeans, his tattoos were covering his arms entirely. 'Front door maybe?', Davis asked, looking at the house. 'Maybe, but if these folks are smart, they'd ignore us', Jack said, looking up and down the street. He could help this feeling of being watched, or worse, followed.
The two headed for the front door, Jack stood in front of it and knocked on the door. 'Hello? Is anyone home?', he said after the third knock. 'Try using your job, maybe they respond better to police men?', Davis offered.
Nodding, Jack said 'I'm with the police, no need to be afraid'.
Nothing at first, then he heard a click from the inside of the house and slowly, the green door opened. A woman stood in front of him.
Ten Minutes earlier
'Hold on tight Sophia!', Alice shouted as she drove her car like a lunatic. She drove past the zombies and was certain she ran a few down in the process. She was just heading to the store for groceries after picking her daughter up from school. She was a healthy woman in her late twenties, snow white hair with light blue eyes, wearing a green hoody with black slacks and grey shoes.
She was a relatively small woman, fit and healthy. Her daughter, Sophia was sitting in the front seat with her mother. Her hair was light brown, wearing a blue and white sun dress, small child around six or seven.
When she got out, she saw people being eaten alive and then come at her. She panicked and drove away with her daughter back to her home.
Once they arrived, she carried her child in and slammed the door shut, locking it as tight as possible. When her daughter asked why she was acting like this, she broke down and cried at the sight, the people she had to leave behind just to keep her daughter alive.
Then, she heard the door knocking. Quickly, she told Sophia to hide in the kitchen and not come out until she said so. Once her daughter was safe and hidden, she took out her gun she kept underneath her couch and readied herself in case it was looters or worse. Until the voice told her he was with the police.
She took a breath and slowly opened the door and sure enough, they were, well one of them was.
'Hello ma'am', Jack said, with a friendly salute. She looked at him and noticed his leg was bandaged and could see dry blood on his leg. 'Jesus what happened to you?', she asked. Jack looked at his leg and then sighed. 'A slight mishap', he explained. 'Come in, I'll take care of it', she said, helping him and allowing Davis inside.
She sat Jack on the couch and examined the leg. 'Oh god, did you get shot?', she asked, his leg on her lap. 'Yeah, a prisoner shot me after he escaped, left me for dead. Davis saved my ass', Jack explained, flinching and grunting when she prodded and moved his leg. 'Doesn't seem any arteries or anything important was hit, just a gun shot and loss of blood', she said. 'Sophia, grab mommy's first aid kit from the kitchen!', she yelled.
A few seconds later, her daughter hopped into the living room with the kit in hand, handing it to her mother. She looked at the two men and quickly hide behind her mother, often peeking out. 'Shy little thing ain't she?', Davis said, chuckling. 'She's just shy from strangers, no offense', Alice said, smiling at her daughter. She began to clean up Jack's wound with peroxide and stitches. He yelled in pain from the medicine but the stitches weren't so bad, he grunted and growled from that.
'No trouble with the needle huh?', she teased, smiling politely at him. 'I've had worse patch ups', he chuckled weakly, one eye closed from the pain. She shook her head and continued to add the finishing touches. 'You know how to use a needle, nurse or doctor?', Davis asked, noticing the skilful work of Jack's healer. 'Nurse. I studied medicine and medical studies in college, work for the hospital, which explains why I don't flinch from blood or flesh', she explained.
'There you go, just be careful when your walking and try not to open it', she said, wiping off the blood from his leg. He set on the floor and tried standing on. Stiff but easier to walk. 'Thank you very much ma'am', he said, sitting on the couch. 'My name is Alice Alexander, and this is my daughter, Sophia', she said.
'Jack Dustan, Officer of the law and ex-soldier', he introduced himself. 'Davis Yon, just some guy', he said. Jack looked at him but quickly turned away, realizing his background would need to be in the dark for awhile. 'Then, do you know what's happening out there? I mean, I saw a man literally eating someone alive!', she asked Jack.
'I've been wondering that myself for the past few hours'. Davis stood up and checked the window. 'You've been here long?', Jack questioned. 'Just got back ten minutes ago from the store before those things got us', Alice replied, looking at her daughter, who smiled at her. 'Damn, is it really that bad?'.
'Yeah, so many people were killed, and when they die, they come back as them', Alice said, her voice heavy with fear. 'We ain't gonna last long here, there ain't enough room and food for all of us', Davis said. 'No, I lost the groceries when we escaped them, so I'm afraid we're without food'.
Jack looked at her and then Davis. 'Then, we should head out, find somewhere safe at least until this blows over', he suggested. 'Where though?'. 'Maybe Macon? It's probably guarded by the military by this point?', he said.
The other two looked at him and each other, both faces showing fear and worry. 'I don't know man, seems like a big risk', Davis said, leaning against the wall. 'It's either that, or starve here', Jack stated.
'If we are leaving, then there's two things first', Alice said. 'Let me get a few things for me and Sophia, I think my husband's clothes might fit you two'. Jack stood up and looked at her. 'What's the second thing?'. 'There's a little girl next door, I think she's alone by this point, we're bringing her along'.
'Okay then, I'll go check on her, Davis can stay and watch out in case for more of them', Jack said.
Jack hopped over the fence and into the next door garden. According to Alice, the girl was named Clementine, a little girl who was left with a baby sitter when her parents went to Savannah. Jack looked around the garden, seeing no one insight and the silence was nerve wrecking, it made him put his hand on the pistol he got from Davis more often than he should have.
He was about to enter the house, when he saw movement within. Was it the owner? It could be her father, but where was the mother? Deciding to announce himself, he knocked on the porch door.
Lee quickly turned around when he heard someone knocking on the door. He was a tall black man wearing a blue shirt and grey pants, white sleeves and a watch on his left hand. He had black stubble with short black hair, hazel eyes.
He opened the door, revealing Jack. He recognized him as a police officer and suddenly felt the need to run from him. 'Hey there, you live here?', Jack asked, walking into the house. 'No, I'm just looking for help', Lee said. 'You and me both', Jack replied, looking around the place. He saw the blood splattered around the kitchen, which only brought him to think someone was either murdered or worse.
'Names Jack', he said, looking at Lee. 'I'm Lee', he replied, shaking his hand. 'Nice to meet you Lee, hey have you seen a little girl around the place?', he asked. Lee shook his head, which made Jack sigh deeply. 'Hope she's okay', he said, walking to the living room.
'So, you alone out here or anything?', Lee asked, walking into the kitchen. 'No, got some help next door, woman and her kid and a friend of mine', Jack explained, checking around the room. 'Good to know'.
Lee opened a few cupboards and drawers in the kitchen, eventually finding a small radio. Then, just as he was about to head out of the kitchen, the radio came to life, a voice echoed from it. 'Hello?', the voice said in a scared tone. Jack looked at Lee, and headed over. 'Hello there', Lee replied. 'You guys need to be quiet', she said.
'Whose this?', Lee asked. 'I'm Clementine, I'm inside my tree house outside', she said. The two looked at each other, before Lee handed the radio to Jack. 'Clementine, listen to me, my name is Jack and this is Lee'. He then looked at the tree house from the window and said 'Can you show me yourself, I need to know if you're there and unharmed'.
The small door opened up and showed the little girl, a talkie in hand and waving at them. 'Good, listen, your neighbour Alice told me about you, she wants you to come with us to somewhere safe', he explained. 'What about my parents? I don't want to leave them here when they get back', she said sadly. Jack noticed the broken look Lee gave when she said parents, which then gave Jack a good idea what happened to them.
Not wanting to break the kid's heart, Jack tried to persuade her. 'Clem, its not safe here, for anyone. We have to leave, your parents are smart right? They'll leave the area when they learn its not safe and come find you, okay?'. He saw her look down, but nodded at him as she began to climb down. 'Look, why don't you tag along as well, I could use some help looking after her', he said to Lee with a friendly look. 'You sure, you don't know me', Lee said, folding his arms.
Jack's face became sullen and voice turned serious. 'You're Lee Everett, you were found guilty when you murdered the senator's son and your wife'. Lee's expression didn't change, he just stared at Jack. He then sighed and said 'Look, normally I'd arrest you, but fuck it man. I have one criminal for pick pocketing to keep two people safe, I'm not gonna leave you here'.
Lee looked away and sighed deeply. Jack gave a sympathized look. 'I know its not easy, but for now, work with me and we might just make it out of this alive', he said. Lee looked at him, and with an uneasy look, nodded. The two exited the house to meet up with Clementine, and their journey together began.