Book of the dead
By Hunter Smith
Chapter one
Beginning
I woke up Thursday morning ready to take the day the way I always do, by staying in the corner and ignoring everyone that shows up. My name is Jason Hale; I am a short red headed, kind of chubby 17 year-old kid. I spent for five minutes walking to Salem High School, on the way I saw a few people I recognized but never really talked to. When I got there I immediately heard the words "Go home freak!" as a plastic tray of food hit the back of my head "Rock", as he's called, and groupies all laughed like the morons they are. I walked to my first period classroom and sat in my seat in the corner of the room. As the teacher blabbed on about math terms I made sure I had the necessary supplies. I check it three or four times every an hour, just to make sure I'm ready for the inevitable end. See, I believe that one day soon the dead will rise and take over the world, so I prepare for it! I have water bottles, books on how to survive, survival kits, science and self defense notes, and more. I take hand-to-hand classes after school. Last year some guy got a hold of my notebook and showed of the contents at lunch. Soon afterward people started calling me Freak and jumping me, my friends started to ignore me, even my girlfriend left me! When school got out today I went straight home because I didn't have any after-school activities to indulge in. I got home and called into the dark, old house we live in. No one answered, no one ever answers when I call except for my Golden retriever, George, but he's at the vet right now. Nobody answered because moms at work and dad died a year ago, he died of lung cancer. Every day he would come home and smoke two or three packs before I went to bed for the day, who knows how many more after that. I tried to tell him he had to quit, even tried helping him do it, but he wouldn't listen and died because of it. Mom had to start working a second job so we could eat and bills after he died and now I always come home to silence and an empty house. I went to my rooms I could research zombie physiology some more. At around 8:30 or so mom came home, she came up to my room to say hello and was obviously disappointed to see what the book in front of me was. "For god's sake stop looking through those books every day!" she said, "they aren't real and never will be, so stop thinking about them!" she slammed my door shut, when she left I decided to look through my telescope and study some constellations. I saw a shooting star streak across the black, cloudless night, I didn't make a wish, and I saw no point in doing so. I nearly jumped out of my skin as I saw and heard the comet land maybe 30 miles away from our house! I couldn't believe my eyes, but there it was the giant dust cloud that signaled the sheer strength of the impact, "wow." I muttered as the cloud shrunk to nothing.
Chapter two
Outbreak
As the ground shook I ran to my car to get a better look, a comet had just crashed down! I was lucky enough to be outside as the comet through itself to the ground hard enough to shake us a good thirty-something miles away. I was careful not to go fast enough that I look suspicious as I drove to the landing point, maybe 45 mph, it took forty five minutes to make it to the site. It had a strange greenish glow to it that made me uncomfortable, "Screw it!" I mumbled to myself as I walked back to the car. "What?" I screamed, the car wouldn't start, "It has a full tank of gas!" I thought I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. "Who's there?" I said, I was scared out of my mind, "This was a bad idea." I said to myself. I saw something move again, "Who the hell is there?" I screamed at the top of my lungs, I heard a gurgle behind me in the back seat, "AAAAAAAHHHH!" was all I could say as I jumped out the car ready to run for my life back to town, but I didn't make it very far, something grabbed my leg, "Let go of me!" I screamed. I looked at what was holding me and screamed one last time. "Friday morning." I said to myself as I got up for school, I said goodbye to mom as I walked out the door. When I got to school I was surprised to my old friend Bobby Jenkins run up to me crying, "My dad's missing man, you have to help me look for him!" shocked by the sudden confrontation I hesitated, Bobby was taller than me, the head of the football team, short brown hair and always had a look that said 'get out my now!' but he didn't have that look now. "Seriously?" I asked, "Yeah he went to see that comet last night and didn't come back, no one will help me man, please?" oh no I thought, " Y-y-yeah Ill help you Bob" I stuttered to him, "oh thank god, thank you so much man I owe you so much right now!" he said as he hugged me crying. I caught a glimpse of my ex girlfriend Alex looking at me with that look that can make your legs turn to jelly. "When are we leaving to look for him?" I asked Bob, "Now!" he said as he ran out the school doors towards his bright red corvette, "Come on," he shouted as I started to follow him. Half way down to the landing site I asked, "When did he leave?" He replied, "Immediately after he saw the comet land he ran to his car drove towards the site and shouted 'Be back soon son' and I've been worried about him all night." We made it to the meteorite site a few minutes after that conversation. "No. No! OH GOD NO!" he shouted when we got, there, it was obvious why, and there blood everywhere and his dad's car was right next to it all. "I'm so sorry man." I said to him, "what happened here?" he mumbled "what happened to him?" I dialed 911 and said "The police are coming; there is a chance that's not your dad's blood." "The hell there is!" he shouted back, "My dad's dead and there is nothing you or anyone else can do!" he punched me in the face and the world went black. When I woke up I saw something that almost made me puke, it was Bob's dad, or rather, what was left of him. A chunk of his face was torn off and there was a large piece of the side of his chest missing. Oh dear god I thought as I noticed what he was doing, Bobs body was laying in front of him with several bite marks in the flesh. The cops were there but most of them appeared to be dead with more bite marks, blood was everywhere. "Get in the car and get the hell out of here Jason!" police chief Richards shouted as Bobby got up from where he was lying on the ground. "Ok." I shouted back as I ran up to the car, wait a minute Bob has the keys! I saw them dangling from his dead limp hand, oh come on! I ran to him and tried to wrestle the keys out of his hands, he tried to bite me as he was shot more times by Richards. I got the keys, ran to the car and drove away "Well," I said, "The end is near, He, he." I chuckled, mortified.
Chapter three
A living nightmare
A mile from town the car ran out of gas, why don't you ever fill this thing up Bobby? I thought to myself. I ditched the car and started running as fast as I could towards town, as out of shape as my may look I am in really good shape, I ran the entire way to my house. I was surprised to see mom in the living room "What are you doing home so early Jason, What's wrong?" she asked, "I-I-I-I." I couldn't get the words out, "What is going on here?" she demanded, "You won't believe if I told you." I managed to replied, "Try me." She replied. After a minute, I managed to get my breath back and told her everything that had happened since I got to school that morning, "You expect me to believe that load of crap?" she screamed, "Come with me to the Jenkins house so I can prove it." I begged, "It's true!" I was almost crying now, "Fine!" she said. So we walked over to Bob's house and knocked on the door, Mrs. Jenkins came to the door with a tear-stained face "Yes?" she looked like she had been up all night, "Is Harold home right now?" mom asked, "No, he left last night while I was at work and hasn't come home since, why?" mom told Mrs. Jenkins what I had told her, "Oh god," she said, "Wait, you believe that?!" mom answered, "No, but the cops sped by half an hour ago and school called asking where Bobby was not too long ago." She replied. Believe me now? "Oh god." Mom said, "That's not good." Well duh, there are zombies right outside of town! "Well mister," mom said, "You better get back to school until we can figure out what's going on." "Ok." I replied. When I got back to school I didn't even look up at the people that were standing there, "Where's Bob?" asked Alex's voice, "You won't believe me but I have to tell you if anyone at all." I recounted every single detail of the day. "O my god." She said, "Honestly?" "You don't just immediately assume I am lying?" I asked, "No, I trust you Jimmy." I hate it when she calls me that, "But it is not easy to believe." Well then you have to help convince others to believe me too." I said, "What, why?" "So that we can get ready for when they come into the town and try to kill us all." I said, "Um, ok I guess but who would believe you of all people about this?" "Well if you helped than maybe they would. I mean, you are the most popular girl in the entire school, everybody believes whatever you say." "Well, ok, let's give it a shot but not everyone, just a few of my friends ok?" "No, we will need some my old friends to ok? I had a few buddies who studied this stuff too but got beat up for hanging out with me." "Ok, Jimmy but if you die I'm going to kill you ok?" "Ok" I chuckled back.
Chapter four
Preparation
We both decided to call our friends and meet at an old hideout we made when we were little and fixed up over time to be a personal fortress of solitude. My friends Rich and Andy were shocked to hear from me after so long, "Rutabaga, old hideout." Was all I said to them because when we were little we made that password to say "it's happened, come meet me at _ now." Then I called some people I never planned to talk to again "Rock, it's me Jason, I need your help." "What zombies kill your friend?" he joked, I heard laughter in the background, "Yes we need you to help barricade the gun shop that Alex's dad owns." I replied, "What is this, some kind of lame joke? Screw off Freak!" "He hung up, you try calling him." I said to Alex, "Ok, I got my friends Lizzy, Mark and Toad to help out but that's it so far." I nodded and called my former best friend Billy Downs, "Hey Bill remember me man?" I had to smile at his voice, "Jason is that you? No fucking way, I thought I'd never talk to you again." He said, "What's up man?" I told him the situation, "What, no way! It will take me maybe half an hour to get there but I'll meet you and whoever else you round up ok?" Yes! "Ok." I said back, "Did you convince Rock to come meet us?" I asked Alex, "No, he's not coming." Alex replied. "Then let's get going." We started by barricading the already barred windows with old plywood and extra metal we found. The doors didn't need as much because they were made to protect against a riot in recent years. "Are you sure this is going to hold?" Alex asked, "Not at all, in fact we are probably going to die a horrible death." I joked, "Well we can at least have some fun." She said. Before I could ask what she meant a car honked outside, "Jay, it's me Billie, is this the place? I am almost out of gas." I opened the door and shouted back, "Yeah, come on in buddy." When he came in he looked like he was freaked for half a second, "Who's the hottie?" he asked right before Alex hit him in the face "My name is Alex." She said to him. Billie is taller than me by a foot, has bright blue eyes, smells like apples most of the time, and has shoulder-length blond hair. Just then the door opened with Lizzy: taller than me by maybe 5 inches, black and blue hair tied into a ponytail, green eyes like Alex, and perfect shiny-white teeth. Mark: My height exactly, short black hair, and strange, almost glowing, brown eyes. Toad: Unearthly gray eyes, long, stalky legs, green hair under a black fedora, and abnormally short arms. Rich: At least 2 feet taller than me, dark blue eyes, red hair in a crew cut, and long, pianist style, fingers. And Andy: Tanned dark skin, red eyes in sunken eye sockets, no hair at all, and is only four feet tall, including shoes. "Hey old friend got any beer?" Rich asked as we high fived, "Not yet we don't." I replied, "Look we have guns and there is a super market, convenience store, and my house not too far from here, let's focus and get ready for this." Alex said to us, "Are you sure this guy isn't bullshitting you?" Lizzy asked Alex, "He's never lied to me before." She replied in an aggravated tone, "Look I want some damn alcohol, so can we get some?!" Toad asked, obviously mad at us, "No, we need to be focused and ready for anything ok?" I said. Both Bill and Toad both looked very sad at that, "We might be able to raid a liquor store sometime this week but not any time soon 'k?" Bill and Toad both nodded. We continued to barricade the store; Bill and Toad obviously enjoyed talking to each other. Good, I thought, we need to be able to get along. Right around then the emergency alarm for the town went off and a man's voice rang out "Cannibalistic people are entering the town, hide inside and wait for instruction on how to stay away from th-AHHHHH!" we all fell silent, "Crap, they can't be here already!" Rich said, "Well, they are so deal with it man." I said to him, "We are all going to die screaming." Toad said. I chuckled, "All we want to do is eat your brains." Toad smiled as everyone looked at me, apparently only I and Toad know that song.
Chapter Five
The unexpected
All we heard for the next three day's were screams of the slaughtered victims of the plague, "We have to help them." Alex said, "No it will only get us killed, and if they scream that means we are already too late to help them anyway." Billy said, "We have guns to save them with. We HAVE to help them!" She cried, almost crying, "Billy's right." I said to her, "They are almost dead anyway." I saw Rich's face light up, "Hey, don't you still have George? That dog will come in real handy right about now." "Yeah but we was at the vet when those thing's showed up." I said, "Then let's go get 'im dummy!" He picked up an assault rifle and started undoing the barricade, "Beside's, we need some food." He said, "He is going to get all killed, but alright."I said. I picked up a Desert Eagle and a crowbar I found outside the day before, Toad liked the look of a shotgun and a hunting knife, Billy grabbed two 45's and a baseball bat, Alex decided to handle a sniper rifle and a machete, Lizzy looked like she was going to be sick but grabbed a magnum anyway, Mark and Andy both grabbed sub-machine guns and Trench knives. "We all ready?" I asked, everyone nodded, "Ok." I opened the door and immediately two guys from the football team charged at us with torn clothes and gray skin. Oh the irony I thought as I shot one in the face. Dried blood and rotting brains splattered all over the concrete behind the zombie as it hit the ground hard enough for more of it to come off. The other got its face beaten in by Billy's baseball bat; surprisingly it stayed down after that one hit, "Nice whack." I said as one of Rocks former lackeys saw us and started to stagger our way. Bullet holes scattered across its body and the world behind as Mark opened fire, "save your ammo!" I said, "And quiet down!" But it was too late, his shots had alerted every zombie for a long way's away. Moan's and the smell of rotting flesh gathered as they began to home in on our position, "Fuck!" I said as I shot our former Principal in the face," you should have grabbed a silencer." There were probably groups in the fifty's now coming closer, "We are screwed!" Bill said, "The hell you are."Came a familiar voice, Just then a zombie split apart, Rock came around the corner in a military R-V machine gun on the back and all, a cheerleader named Roxy was stationed there. "As long as I'm alive, none of you are going to die." "No fucking way am I going to trust Him." Rich said when were all inside the car, "He's a moronic jerk!" I gave him a death glare, "Cut him some slack Rich, Rock may be a jerk but he saved our lives!" Toad was talking to Bill, but decided to cut in, "Jay's right, besides, we can kill him later." He put on an evil grin you only see in movies, "Yeah!" Alex giggled, "Shut up, you're not going to kill him!" Roxy shouted from the back. "He saved you and he deserves RESPECT!" Toad laughed, "You are just saying that because you liked him before all this." We all laughed, "Shut it!" she screamed, "Stop the car." "Stop the DAMN car!" We screeched to a stop, "What is going on back there?" Rock said, "Nothing Jeremy, I saw the vet's office back there." Toad smirked again, "Jeremy?" he whispered. We all walked out, Lizzy looked relieved when Roxy took her magnum from her, "Let's get that fucking dog!" Roxy said. A few minutes later we heard Roxy give out a pained scream, we turned around to see a zombie had embedded its teeth in the back of her neck, "Help MEEEEEEEEE….!" She was waving the magnum around franticly. She fired the gun without even noticing she had, "OWWW!" Toad screamed angrily, "You shot me in the chest goddamnit!" zombies began to surround Roxy, "HELP ME!" after four more shots a zombie's head exploded, then there were only frantic clicks. She only packed a six-shooter! I thought, all the zombie's scattered and some exploded as Toad shot the writhing horde twice, "You need to learn stay DEAD!" Bad line, I thought. Lizzy and Alex helped Toad up, "Come on, it's not too much farther now." Alex said as Toad groaned at the pain. We made it into the vet as dozens more zombie's flooded the street, "What are we going to do?" Alex said, "Simple, we put 'im down, like you do any animal in his situation." Rock said. Toad looked up at me and groaned, "You should have listened to Rich." And blood spurted out of his mouth, "I won't make it, just go." His eyes rolled to the back of his head, "Toad?" Alex cried, with a groan Toad went limp, Toad was dead. We managed to block off the door and windows with machines and chairs and other things lying around the vets. "Great, just great!" Rock grumbled, "My girlfriend's dead and now we're locked in a vet with a rotting corpse!" he punched a wall, his hand went straight through. There was a moan coming from the back, near where we dumped Toad's body, "Crap, there's one in here to!" Rock was clearly going out of his mind, "Stay back." I said to them. Around the corner I saw something unreal, something impossible, "Hey," I said, trembling, "Toad's back."
Chapter seven
The impossible
"Hey man, got any beer yet? My chest is killing me." Toad said, Alex ran in here and immediately fainted, making a grade-A face-plant into the linoleum floor. I almost fainted too, "What the FUCK!" Rock shouted as he came in here with us, everyone else stayed back. Rich came up to me and whispered in my ear, "I think I know what happened to him." Toad spoke up, "I was bitten back at the gun store, remember, I was in the back. I knew what would happen but didn't say anything, I probably should have though." Rich started talking again, "Two things could have happened. One: he is immune to the virus and it brought him back to life when he died. Two: When Roxy shot him it stopped the flow of the virus, letting just enough get to his brain and make him come back from the dead." We all looked at him, "Remember, I study this stuff all day, every day." Toad looked at me, "Cool." He said, and then barfed, "I feel like shit." We brought Alex to the couch in the waiting room, "Why'd she faint?" Billie asked, "Well, it's not every day you see a dead friend of yours walking around." Toad said, "Especially when you saw him die." Rich added. We all assumed that Rock had gone insane earlier that day; right now he was rocking in the corner, muttering to himself. "What in the hell are we going to do with him?" Andy said, pointing to Rock, "We try to make sense out of him, calm him down." I said. We jumped at a noise, "Just the zombie's banging on the door." Andy said, we then heard a dog bark in the other room, "Is that George, is that your dog?" Bill said, getting up. Before we could stop him, Rich walked into the hallway and started towards a door. "Don't!" Andy shouted, but he was too late, Bill opened the door and was greeted by a golden retriever running out, "See? Nothing to worry about." No sooner had he finished saying that than a zombie jumped on him and bit into the flesh, blood began to wetten the floor. Rock got up and started moving the barricade, "GET ME OUT OF HERE!" "We are absolutely screwed." Andy said to himself as he ran towards Rock, I was shooting at Rich and the zombie. When they stopped moving, I inched closer,"Bill? You still alive?" Bill groaned and got up, stumbled forward, "Jay…." He fell over and stopped groaning. The zombie had bitten into a vain on his neck, he bled out and would reanimate anytime soon. I shot him in the head, "Bye old Friend." I said, voice breaking. 3 years ago Bill and I had lived next door to each other, visiting regularly. I got him into the whole zombie thing and he never stopped studying them, he learned everything there was to know about them: Span of the gray matter that necessary was for a zombie's survival, how long it takes for flames to intrude a zombie's skull, I mean everything. He moved away one day when his parents discovered all of his "research". I haven't called him until the other day, I was too ashamed. So I have to admit being the one to pull the trigger hurt me more than him.
After a few minutes we managed to calm Rock down enough for him to sit still. Toad worked up the nerve to ask him the question, "What is wrong with you man? Are you alright." He glared in response, "No, my girlfriend died, the living dead are trying to eat me alive, the military's going to nuke the city, and you're here asking me questions. I am far from alright." We all looked at each other for a moment then Andy asked franticly "Nuke the city?!" "Yeah, I forgot to tell you, with all the zombies and all. When me and my girlfriend Jessie went to the military base we overheard two soldiers talking about 'Nuking the city to eradicate the undead threat' then we were seen and they started shooting at us. I stole the jeep and ran into Roxy still in the school, screaming like an idiot…" We looked at each other again, "Did they mention when they're going to nuke us?" Toad asked, shaking, "I think so. Um…. Saturday at 1700 hours."
Chapter eight
Getting the hell out of here
Saturday at 5:00 P.M, that's when we die. We have no way to get the jeep alive, not with so many zombies outside. It is already 6 in the morning, so we have about 11 hours to get the hell out of this damn city. "How much ammo do we still have?" I asked, "One clip for each weapon and one backup clip, but that's it." Alex told me, I could tell she was as scared as I was. We heard gun shots outside, "Who is that?" toad asked quietly, going to the window, "Holy…It's chief Richards!" I gasped, I had to, I thought he had died Monday morning with Bobby and the other officers. "I moved the some of the barricade in the window, grabbing my gun I shouted through the broken window, "Chief, stay there we are still alive!" I signaled to Toad to start moving the barricade, he did without question. When it was all out of the way I kicked open the door, making as much noise as possible, shooting any zombie that got too close. After what felt like hours, all our ammo, and Chief Richard's help, we took out the zombies. Chief Richards is easily eight feet tall, blue eyes hidden behind darkened subscription glasses, a strong, burly 350 lbs, slicked back red hair under the policeman's hat, and a large 'cop' mustache. "The military is going to nuke us! You have to get as far away from this city as possible!" Toad screamed, waving his smoking shotgun in the air, "I got a military jeep down the street with enough gas to get the job done will you come with us?" Rock said, I noticed his eyes were twitching, "Yeah ill come with, but if any survivors are found than we pick them up. Understand boys?" we shook are heads. Then I noticed something, "Wait a minute, Toad, you said 'You have to get out', what's going on?" Toad looked at me with his gray, dead eyes, "I am staying here. I should have died before; I am an unholy monster and should not be brought back to civilization." Alex stopped moving altogether, "What?! You have to come with us; they could make a cure using your blood!" "NO! I am staying, I will make sure you make it out of here but that's it." He retorted and started walking to the jeep. We were almost out of town, the only noises was the occasional gunshot from Toad on the gun and the bump of the road. I noticed that we began to slow down; I looked in the front seat and noticed that Rock appeared to be asleep. "WAKE UP!" I shouted, making everyone jump in alert. Rock stayed still, "Hey, wake up already." I said, shaking him and very freaked out, now Chief Richards was checking his pulse. "Dammit, wake up NOW!" he screamed and punched him. He opened his eyes and I almost screamed. There were no pupils, pure white. I looked around and noticed where we were, right next to the meteor that started it all. Rock moaned and immediately got hit in the face three times by Chief Richards's baton, I pulled out my crowbar and hit three times as well. It stopped moaning and went slack, to be careful we both stepped back. Toad pushed us out of the way and fired the last bullet he had into Rock's face, I almost laughed as his face exploded and it fell forward onto the dashboard. Andy went outside and opened Rocks door, we pushed him out and Richards took the wheel. A few minutes later we hit a bump bigger than the others, then we hit even more, after that we one big enough that Toad fell off the gunner spot and hit the road hard enough that hisWe hit more and more bumps, each one worse than the last, "Stop the car!" Andy shouted there was an explosion down the street, a chunk of debris flew and hit Andy right in the eye, covering Lizzy in blood. Rich and I struggled to keep our balance, we hit a large pothole and the jeep flipped and the world became a blur of colors before being finally being taken over by the blackness that I so despise.
Chapter nine
Death awaits
I woke to the frantic screams of Alex and Lizzy; I crawled out from under the smoking wreckage of the jeep and immediately recognized what was left of Andy's face. There was a chunk of splintered glass protruding out of his left eye socket and the other half of his head had a large piece of the metal that made the jeep inserted inside. Rich limped over and helped me to my feet, wincing at the effort. I looked to where the driver's seat used to be and saw that officer Richards was crushed under the engine and on fire, "Run!" I screamed a moment too late. The jeep exploded, throwing me and the others several feet forward. I hit the ground hard enough that all the breath in my lungs, I almost passed out again but forced myself to stay awake. I pushed myself up and looked towards the others to make sure that were okay, they were all awake and standing, I looked at my watch cursed loudly, "its 3:30 guys, we need to find a way out of here. We were almost out of the radius of the bomb, at least, that's what we thought at the time. We walked nonstop for 30 minutes when we saw a military helicopter above, it hovered there for a few minutes when we heard a voice say, "Turn around and reenter the city we cannot afford to let you leave, in case you might be infected " Lizzy stood up straght and looked at the helicopter dead on, "N…" they shot at her with a mounted gatling gun,blowing her into little pieces. Rich and Alex panicked, running at full speed back to the city. Alex stopped dead in her tracks as she and Rich noticed the three dozen zombies piling up behind us, moaning and limping towards us with a never-ending hunger for living flesh. Many of the living dead fell apart as the helicopter gunman blasted them with wave upon wave of bullets. "Get us out of here!" Rich shouted at the helicopter, waving his arms and making a fool of himself. "Turn around and get back to the city NOW!" a voice boomed at us. A rock flew towards the rotor of the flying vehicle, it hit its mark and the helicopter began to swerve. Zombies began to explode from behind as a voice said, "Freak, why are we so far from home at a time like this? The leader of the football team stood before us, standing tall and smug like he had just won a million dollars, "Nerd alert, guys, do you think we should end this poor guy's life right now, or torture them." A cheer erupted from the five other people there; I wanted nothing more than to punch Darien in that big smile plastered on his face. Darien is seven foot ten, menacing brown eyes, the size and shape of a refrigerator, and curly black hair that is always covered by some sort of hat. The fiery wreckage of the helicopter behind us burned the back of neck, making me even more uncomfterable than I already was. The remaining members of the football team stood behind Darien, each carrying either a machine gun {probably raided from the military} or some sort of bladed weapon. Rich walked over to me with what looked like a piece of the helicopter's tail motor, "We can take 'em, we just have to surprise them and hit them hard." He whispered into my ear, "No, they have us outnumbered and have superior fire-power, we stand down." I whispered back, he made some sort of head motion towards Alex, they both relaxed and tensed at the same time. "Leave us alone Darien, we are getting to the next closest city for help, so just go away and wait for us to get back." I said hoping they that theye didn't already know what we did, "No way pipskeak, this place is going to burn and we are not going to burn with it. You are coming with us." They grabbed us all at once, we had no time to react and were too weak to break free from their grasp, I struggled even harder when they put an old grey bag over my head. I could tell from the muffled screams that they had done the same to both Alex and Richie. They dropped me hard on something metal, at this point my hands were tied, we began to shake. Well, i thought, at least they have a car. soon the shaking and rumbling stopped, and I was pulled out of the car. When they took off the bag I screamed, it was the high school! a clock was still working an dit 4:30, half an hour before we all blew up in a firy, nuclear explosion. I escaped my ropes and caught one of the football players of guard, taking his machete and slashing him right in between the eyes. I gagged, that was the first living person I had ever killed, and I could tell it wasnt going to be the last. I took his machine gun and started firing at two more football players that had started to get their bearings back. On eof their heads exploded and the other got a lot of rounds inbedded in his chest, that armor was NOT made to protect against bullets, I thought to myself. The other three football players ran away, probably to get help from Darien. I untied Alex and Rich, "We have to steal their car, Rich, do you know how to hotwire a car?" "Are you kidding me, I can steal anything that can be stolen." We managed to hotwire the car before Darien and his buddies came to blow us away, I looked at my watch, 4:50, we had to get out of there fast. just then Darien and his other friends came out of the school parking lot with a much faster car, "Forget them, just get us out of here!" I shouted at Rich, He put his foot down on the gas peddle as far down as his injured leg would let him, he groaned at the pain as we sped through the streets, everything became a blur. I saw my old house run past, and the remains of Toad, even the car that held the corpse of my beloved dog, George. I couldnt help but cry at all I had lost in the days that had passed since the meteor landed, Alex held me close and tried help make me feel better, I looked back just in time to see darien's car hit a small pile of zombies and flip through the air, exploding on the landing, I laughed. I looked at my watch and stopped laughing, it still said four thirty, I put it to my ear, "Damnit!" my watch was dead, I looked up and saw a military plain heading torwards the city. We almost made it out of the city in time, the explosion made my head hurt for day's and the shockwave after wards flipped our car, in our hurry Rich didnt buckle his seat belt. We managed t land on our wheels but the landing still broke Riches spine and killing him, I hated this, in a few days I had lost more freinds than I ever had before. managing to pull me an Alex out of the car and looked at what was left the city I had spent my entire life in, the city that I will never go back to. There was nothing left, it was just a flaming black mound that used to be my home, the car was trashed, the meteor was something thirty miles away from us and had caught fire as well. I relized just how lucky we were that we had made it out of there in one peice, well, most of us. Alex was alive and standing next to me, " Goodbye, Langford. " I said, "Goodbye." she said back. Chapter Eight, the last of a dying race We managed to survive long enough for the military to find us, We told them everything that had happened. They were especially interested in how Toad had kept his sanity after being bitten, as it tured out the meterorites had fallen in small towns all over the country, but our town was the largest infested zone in the entire U.S, to avoid the virus escaping and engulfing the entire continet, they had to make sure every single monster was desroyed. After a long time I convinced the army to let me be part of the crew they sent out to make sure that every zombie was gone. Far from every zombie was gone, we ran into zombies at every corner, one of them was big enough that one of the surviving soldiers said he mistook it for a beached whale! It died easily, they all did, something about the radiation making them soft and brittle, but they could move fast. Ones that had been dead for over two weeks could have caght any of the soldiers if they were running. But we didn't run, we stood our ground and killed every last surviving zombie in those smoky reamains.
Chapter nine
The end?
It took months to calm Alex down and have all our wounds heal, physically and had Alex put in a corectionall facility for two weeks, when she came out she was her old self, minus the scars.I had no living relatives but they let me on my own, I was old enough that they helped get me a job and a place to live, they made Alex live in another part of the country, one largely inhabited so that she could forget about home, the same with me, but I never night I would get the same nightmare, I was in the city, at the gun shop, but I was alone, outside were the dead, groaning remains of everyone that died during the time that we fought. Richards broke down the door with Rocks help,Toad jumped through the window, laughing at me as Bill crawled in through the shattered broke down the back door with Liz walking close behind then Rich came through the broken door and grabbed my arm, I couldn't move, he and March started the feast, with the others joining ing. Except this time, Alex came in and tried to save me, Liz ate her alive. I wake up screaming, covered in a pool of sweat, and out of breath. I looked out the window towards the pale moonlight, and looked at my clock, it was four thirty in the morning.I decided to stay up and went to the kitchen for something to eat but decided against it. I turned on the TV and half listened to reporter, he made no mention to the zombies, I wasn't surprised by this, the military made sure that it wouldn't be revealed to the public and cause a panick. At some point I fell back to sleep, when I woke up I started walking to the park that was near my house. I was off that day and didn't want to be stuck inside all day, I had become claustrophobic during the attack and could not be inside to long or else my mind played tricks on me. I stayed away from most people and enjoyed the cool fall air blowing gently and brushing against my face.I had grown a small beard over the weeks but I didn't cut it, I wanted to remember the entire adventure that I went through. Most people would want to cut it and forget everything and everyone that had happened in Langford, but I am not most people, especially after such an adventure. The next day I went to work, I worked at a small fast food place, the manager put me in drive-through every day. Most people would hate the drive-through position, but I liked it, I enjoyed nothaving my face shown. I used to be an outgoing person, but after what happened I stopped trying to meet people, if I got attached to someone and it happened again, than losing that person could get me killed. Emotion made people weak, and was going to make sure I was not seen as weak. I was off on Saturdays and Sundays, and I had to work every other day of the week. There was one person who kept trying to be friends with me, his name was Danny but he looked so much like Toad that I kept calling him that and it made him mad. I tried to avoid him but he somehow know where I lived and I could never get rid of him. "Listen, you're a great guy but I don't want to hang out with you, ok?" I said to him one day, "You're a funny guy, you know that, wanna go to GameStop? I hear they got that new game Deathwish 3." He said back to me. I just groaned and walked home, mumbling to myself.
Chapter ten
Another day
The nightmare woke me at four in the morning again, I just got up and walked around, unable to find anything to do, bored without the constant burden of school or survival to worry about.
