Author's Note: My first try on this website so please be brutal. The chapters are actually chopped up pieces of my story since I didn't actually intend on posting it here but I've seen great stories and thought that I'd be able to get some feedback. If it's good, I'll try to update often. I'll do my best to keep it going in a straight line but I'm not one to really plan ahead in my stories. Could be the reason I never finish. Okay one thing I plan on doing is a huge reference to on of my favorite stories here As the world dies. You will notice it when it comes. Ah, sorry to ramble on and on but I'm as giddy as a school girl. Oh, and expect a lot of curse words. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!
-Peter-
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Gabriel huffed up the stairway of a skyscraper unknown to him. The inhuman screeches from below seemed to grow ever closer. They never grew tired, knew no pain, and feared nothing. They would be the perfect soldiers if not for the fact that they were dead and uncontrollable.
They attacked only three months ago and destroyed everything just as a hurricane does. The difference was that these things would never go away unless man physically fought back.
Gabriel was only an average boy, just about to graduate and confess his love to a girl that he had become friends with not long ago, when it all went to hell. He watched friends and family be torn to pieces then devoured. He even had to kill some of those who he held dearest to him.
After trying to get with a group, the things tore apart their hideout of a house. Gabriel and a few others got away but he had gotten close to a few of those who died. He decided not to get with any more groups of people, fearing not for his life but for his emotions getting the best of him.
Armed with a wooden baseball bat and small 9mm pistol with four rounds left, Gabriel did what he could to survive, stopping only to sleep and rest for a moment. The last reports he heard, said to head north. Gabriel went south into Seattle, knowing the dangers. With an entire country heading north into Canada, the horde was sure to follow. He just had to hold out long enough for the monsters to clear out enough for him to rebuild a home.
The monsters were catching up. Gabriel took out a lighter and a small round of firecrackers from his cargo pocket on the side of his pants. He light the long fuse and threw it up onto a higher flight of stairs. He then went through the door next to him and quietly closed it. Gabriel tightened the grip on his bloody baseball bad and listened to the stamped of dead feet rushing toward the sound of the firecrackers. He waited for any more creatures to hear the sound from this vast room of cubicles and charge toward him. So far so good.
"Stupid pieces of shit," Gabriel said to himself. It made him feel a bit crazy but saying small comments like that kept him as sane as possible.
Walking through the office area with an alertness that was almost pure instinct by now, Gabriel headed to the other side following a few signs signaling that there was another emergency exit. Other words, more damned stairs.
There was the sound of something clattering came from an office to Gabriel's far left. Gabriel wasted no time to run as fast and silent as he could to the far side of the room and swing open the door just to look into undead eyes.
"Fuck you!" Gabriel shouted through the black rag that covered his nose and mouth, and slammed his bat down onto the monster's head.
Gabriel ran over the dead body and began to jump down the stairs. He encountered only one more zombie that went down easily and Gabriel continued on his way to the streets below.
Gabriel hesitated at the door at the bottom of the stairs. The sound of footsteps could be heard. Though, there were no moans. There were distinct mumbles. A sigh of relief escaped Gabriel's mouth as he opened the door.
"… Down here," a voice had just finished its sentence.
Five faces turned to face Gabriel. They all wore military clothing but in a strange way. They wore there clothing loose and far different than the way Gabriel thought a soldier should. They stared in disbelief. Who knew that the one who caused the entire ruckus and took out a few zombies alone was a young man?
"Um, hey?" Gabriel waved.
"We found someone sir," the man on a walkie-talkie spoke with a smile and approached Gabriel, "What's your name boy?"
"Gabriel," He replied, staring at the bike chain around his left arm and the machine gun he held, "Who the hell are you?" Gabriel's face turned stern.
The man lifted his gun, "Get on the ground now."
Gabriel looked at the other four who had smirks on their faces. There was something off, besides the loose clothing, bike chains, and malicious looks. The other four men relaxed as Gabriel dropped his bat and lied down on the floor.
The five men surrounded him and Gabriel could hear them cock their guns. A door opened and more footsteps followed.
"Find anyone?" A man said.
"No," another huffed, "Joe's dead. It just came out of no where."
"I'm alone if you were wondering," Gabriel said confidently.
"Bullshit," another voiced sounded annoyed, " Who're you with?"
A man stepped on Gabriel's neck and pushed down with the heavy military boots, "Answer the fucking question."
As though on cue, undead fists began to pound on the door leading to the stairs Gabriel had escaped from. The noise the creatures made forced one of the soldiers to panic and begin firing at the door.
The boot lifted from Gabriel's neck and the rest of the men fired while backing away from the door. Gabriel grabbed the bat beside him and ran passed the men. One man looked his way but turned his attention back to the threat in front of him.
Saved by the undead, Gabriel smiled to himself as he shot through one door into the lobby then outside. The devastation was nothing like you saw in the movies. Sure, there was broken glass and smoke in the distance from fires but there were not overturned cars every two feet and crumbling buildings. In fact, most buildings were very much intact with the exception of the lower floors glass doors scattered around the ground. Gabriel often found a glass window in the high floors of office buildings broken through. Especially if there were many of those things on the floor. At the cement below would be a dead body, its head cracked wide open. Sometimes there would only be a trail of blood.
Gabriel walked in the middle of the street, his mind on high alert. He sure as hell did not want to be caught off guard from one of the many alleyways. He had to admit that he was surprised at how little of the things were here. It was a major city with a high population density yet it was damned near empty. Gabriel just put it off as they had followed the mass migration of living people.
Looking to his right, Gabriel saw one of those trails of blood next to a skyscraper. The trails lead right back into the building. Movement could be seen inside of the building. The creatures were coming towards what was left of the entrance.
Gabriel began to jog only a short distance so he would not get fatigued quicker with the on strap backpack on and pockets of toys, as he called them. He heard a few rapid footsteps and already thanked his old friends for dragging him into free-running. It had saved his life many times since the outbreak and it was about to save him again.
Gabriel turned sharply to his left down an ally. He jumped onto the top of a dumpster, bit down onto the handle of his bat, then jumped onto a ladder to the roof of the building be dwarfed by the others, in one swift movement. Gabriel pulled himself up and peeked over the top of the roof. Last time he was careless and was almost killed by two of the monsters. Thankfully, this rooftop was empty.
Pulling himself up with a great strain, Gabriel fell onto the roof. He cursed the weight of the backpack as he opened it up and dug around. He had plenty energy bars left but only two and a half water bottles. There were also three cans of ravioli that Gabriel had taken from a small store at the beginning of this disaster. A few books and a change of clothes took up the rest of the room.
Gabriel took out the three cans and tested the weight of the bag. It seemed to be all right to jump with it on but just to be safe, Gabriel tossed out a the shirt and pants in the backpack, leaving only a pair of boxer shorts.
Not wanting to let the cans go to waste, He threw them at a glass window across the street and waited. The monsters turned and made their way to the noise. They seemed to be attracted to the slightest notion of food and Gabriel used that to his advantage. His cargo pockets held a few small firecracker bunches. About ten pops each. In his waist pocket was a zippo he snatched from a gas station and a half eaten energy bar he forgot to eat when he was attacked.
Gabriel dug through his pockets until he found the half eaten bar. He attempted to bite down onto the food but it was almost hard as rock. The bar was tossed off the roof.
He stood up and surveyed the area from the rooftop. The desperate wails of the monsters that he had just distracted were thankfully moving into the building. More of the creatures had come out of other buildings as though called by the first small group. More than Gabriel needed to deal with. He turned to the other side and looked down to the alley below. Another building just a bit taller was right across, about six feet away. The jump was far too risky.
Looking down again, Gabriel tried to map out a path to get down with no injuries and as silent as possible. There was a small pile of boxes and garbage bags but the possibility that there was enough glass to screw him over was right up there with the possibility he would never see his friends again. He decided on going the way he came from.
Swinging one leg over, Gabriel slowly placed a foot onto the ladder and moved to the ground as fast as possible. Gabriel looked to his right, where the undead had flooded into the building, then moved on deeper into the alley.
I need a fucking strap for my bat, Gabriel thought as he walked.
"Stop right the fuck there!" A shaky voice shouted from behind Gabriel.
Gabriel turned and saw one of the supposed soldiers standing there, covered in blood, and aiming his gun right at him.
"Let's not be hasty," Gabriel said nervously, "We can work together."
"Fuck you!" The man shot once but missed horribly, crying out in pain.
Gabriel looked at his arm and saw that much of it had been torn apart by the monsters. He was looking right into bone and muscle. Using the man's pain to his advantage, Gabriel bolted around the corner just as the man began to scream in pain. The creatures must have heard the man yelling and attacked him. At least they would be busy for a few minutes.
Rounding the corner, Gabriel peeked around a wall to check the street. The man's screams had died along with him but Gabriel could still hear the chewing and crunching. The sound still bothered him even after the countless times it abused his ears and filled his nightmares.
Gabriel crouched and made his way across the road to the next alleyway. As he crossed, he noticed that someone had tagged the wall to his left. The words were simple and stated that it was the territory of a group named Nisho. Only a few months into an apocalypse and people were taking territories. Greedy sons of bitches. Sadly this wasn't the first time Gabriel had seen someone stake their territory in a part of town. Many bands of survivors were taking territories.
Shuffling could be heard shuffling deeper into the alley and Gabriel was sure that no one would be stumbling around the alleys. He stepped quietly and stuck to the wall until the creature came into view. It stepped slowly and rarely. The monster stared blankly at air directly in front of itself. These things were dumb as hell and they were able to wipe out the entire world?
No time, Gabriel thought to himself right before he snuck up behind the monster and swung his bat, colliding with a crack in the back of the undead's neck. The thing's body did not move but its head still lived. The thing growled and bit at Gabriel. It reminded him so much of his uncle. The same uncle Gabriel held at such a high stature. The same uncle Gabriel thought of as a father. The same uncle that saved Gabriel's life by risking his own when he was with that first group of people.
Tears streamed down his face as Gabriel swung his bat down onto the thing's head again and again. Blood and chunks of bone flew all around as Gabriel's cries of pain filled the air.
G abriel huffed and whipped off the blood from his brow. Surely more of those undead fucks heard him so he'd have to get a move on and fast. The screeches of the zombies were already close. Gabriel turned and ran, leaving the corpse of his dead uncle behind.