chapter 2 done!
The first thing he was aware of was the pain. He was convinced that his head have been split open and his brain was now leaking through. Ellis groaned as he pulled his head up. His neck twinged with pain and his head began throbbing even worse. His stomach churned with nausea. What had happened?
The memories began to return. Zombie apocalypse. Leaving his home. Keith. His throat tightened and it took a few moments for it to relax again. He opened his eyes to see how was the damage. The tree dented the car and destroyed the engine. Either a blessing, or luck, the crash didn't kill Ellis. The glass was completely cracked. Ellis sighed and stared at the broken windshield. This was his favourite truck! With panic, he remembers the last gift from Keith. Ellis searched frantically until he found the old, dirty hat. The second it was on his head, he felt secure. At this moment, he swore that he'll never take it off.
It took a bit of work to open the car door, and he all but fell out of the car. His head ached something awful, and he felt light headed. He leaned his head against the car for a moment to catch his breath. That was when he saw where he was. The highway was completely full of abandoned cars. It was like a scene of the movies. Some had their doors shut, some were wide open. Trash and supplies littered the floor, and Ellis had half the mind to collect them. It was a disaster. He pulled out his baseball bat, his backpack, and began walking. What had happened here? Why did they all abandoned the cars? The scenery was beyond eerie. Every car that he passed, he always paused to see if there was anything of value. There were some small candy bars, energy bars, water bottles, duct tape, bandages. There were also money, but he opted out of those.
In one of the cars, he found a body of a small child. A small stuffed bear was by her hand. Someone had placed it there. Was it her parents? It took him a moment before he could tear his eyes away. How horrible. Families were being torn part, and friends were abandoning friends. And to think that it would get worse!
At one point, when Ellis was searching the glove box of a car, he hears something moving on the other side of the car. The young man froze and his heart leapt to his throat. Was it a zombie? He rose his head at the same time someone else rose their head to look at him. Before he could react, the woman pulls out her pistol and shoots right where his head was a second ago. A strangled yelp escaped as he ducked. "Don't shoot! I'm human!" he cried out, hiding from his trigger-happy hand.
"Are you infected?" the woman demanded to know. She never lowered her gun. "Stand where I can see you."
Is she a policeman? Slowly so she wouldn't be spoke, Ellis stood up and peered at her. The woman herself seemed human. "Are you?" he asked. The car seemed like a beacon of security for him. "A little dirty, but no."
"I'm not either," he replied. He moved out so that he could see her better. She was a small woman, reaching to his chin. Although she was small, he had no doubt that she could hold her own. She held a machete in her belt loop. Where had she found that?
"Name's Ellis," he held his hand out to her. Although hesitant, she took his and gave it a brief shake.
"Rochelle. That's a nasty cut you got there," she said, as she pointed out his fresh cut. It seemed to start throbbing as a response. He pressed his hang against it and winced.
"It'll heal. I heard that there's an evacuation going on in a hotel. Are you headed there? Might be best for you," he explained. Rochelle nodded in agreement.
"Yes, I've heard."
"Let's go together, then," Ellis invited, a grin on his face. He felt better now that there was someone else with him. "It'll be better if we're two." Rochelle seemed a little hesitant, and Ellis feared that she would say no. Finally she said and shrugged her shoulders.
"Yeah, it would be best." She groaned when his grin grew even bigger.
The two, now partners, began to make their way through the maze of cars. The closer they got to the city, the more sparse the items became. There weren't many zombies around, and were quick to dispatch. Everything was eerily quiet, and Ellis resisted the urge to talk to fill it. The woman was interesting, he decided as he watched her. Rochelle seemed nice, but cold. Like she didn't want to know him or even be friends. Maybe it was because the friendly nature from his town didn't extended to other cities? It didn't helped that her accent was definitely different than from the south.
Ellis, paying attention to the cars and the quiet woman, forgets to pay attention to his feet. He stepped on an arm, cracked the bone, and lost his balance. He tried to regain it as he flung his arms, but it did no good. He stumbled back and landed on a car. A shrill noise started, startling them. The two listened in horror as the alarm echoed. In response, a guttural, inhuman noise yelled out.
"Turn it off!" Rochelle yelled, covering her ears.
The mechanic yanked open the car door, glad that he had worked on cars like this before. He looked for a little red button located close to the floor, his heart racing. When he found it, he pressed and held it as fast as he could. The alarm stopped, leaving the silence even louder than it was before. He hesitated before releasing the button. Ellis stepped out of the car and shut the door with a sigh. He looked around to see her watching him in disbelief and with a hint of anger. Ellis cringed. "Oops?" he said weakly. Rochelle opened her mouth to reply, but an inhuman scream interrupted her. Zombies were coming.
The hairs on Ellis' neck rose. They held out their weapons and looked around, trying to find out where the zombies will be coming from. The suspense was bordering on being intolerable. Finally, the first zombie emerge. It crawled over the highway's rails and limped to the living humans as fast as its body would allow. When it was close enough, Ellis used all his strength and swung his bat. It smashed into the skull and he could hear the bones cracking. It left a dent in the head of the zombie, and the body crumbled to the ground. He heard similar cracking noises coming from where Rochelle was. 'They made a good team!' he thought happily.
There were less and less zombies. Rochelle and Ellis stood their, breathing hard and trying to catch a moments rest. A small laugh escaped Ellis' lips. They survived! Rochelle gave him a weak smile in return.
"Are you two alright?"
They jumped a foot and spun to face the person who had spoken. A tall, big man was standing a little off behind them. He loosely held a guitar in his hands, and a shotgun strapped to his hip. Ellis noticed the school uniform that he had, but didn't recognized the school. The two glanced at one to the other, before they nodded at him.
"Great! I am sure that every single living dead monster now know where we are. Good job," a different voice sneered. A slightly smaller man, but taller than Ellis, stepped up from behind the older man. He was in a white dress suit that somehow still remained clean. He couldn't help but stared at it in awe. How did he managed to remain so spotless?
"Hey! Back off," Rochelle growled and took a threatening step forward.
"Or what?" he replied with narrowed eyes. The older man stepped in to interfere.
"Enough. I'm Coach. This is Nick. I'm assuming that everyone is heading the same place," the older man, Coach informed. Nick, the man in the white suit, scoffed and stepped back. Ellis made a mental note to never make this man angry.
"We are," Rochelle replied. "It would be great if we can work together. We cab get to the evacuation a lot faster than if we were alone." Nick scowled at the idea, but Coach nodded earnestly. Ellis felt relieved that they were going to be a bigger group. Somehow he felt safer.
"It's a good idea."
The four with a silent agreement, began moving forward together as a group. They walked down the highway, Nick in the lead. Once in a while, someone would find something that seemed valuable and would grab it. They weren't doing that often, because they all felt the stress of the situation. What if they take too long and the people will leave? Not only that, but they were all reduced to using melee weapons. After the experience that Ellis and Rochelle recently had, they weren't all that eager to repeat it. They got out of the last one without harm. Who to say the next time will be as lucky?
They finally managed to reach the city without any more events. Yet, the sight was more appalling in the city than it was in the highway. There were more cars, zombies, and dead bodies in the street. Ellis could see a card smashed against a fallen street light. What had happened? Windows were smashed and there were small unidentifiable piles burning. All the stores that he grew up with and had visited his whole life were destroyed. It was like he wasn't even in the same city. A store caught his attention. It was an instrument store that sold about everything that anyone would want. He stared at it and remembered the old memories of his little garage band. Keith had the guitar, David had the drums, and Ellis owned his bass. They were horrible, but the memories were some of his best. A sense of melancholy seemed to hit him hard and he swallowed hard. What seemed to be the hundredth time, he shoved it aside and ran to catch up with the people. He needs to focus on right now.
It was easy to find the hotel. It was the largest building in the whole city, and search beams were lighting up the top. Happily Ellis noted that there weren't many zombies in the street. Looks like they can get to the hotel with no problems. Yet, the sight in front of the hotel was a little concerning. The group of four paused to take it in. A long time ago, someone had surround the building with a chain fence. Now, however, there were a huge gaping hole torn in the thin wires. Someone – or something – had charged right through it. Windows on the lower levels were all boarded up. The front of the hotel was opened and revealed another door. This door was different. It was red and made completely of metal. There was a nice dent in the middle of it, but otherwise was of good condition.
"Well. It's not all that bad," Ellis commented with a cheer as he propped his hands on his hips. He could feel the looks of the other three, especially the anger from the man in the suit.
"Yeah, if you don't mind a hole in your door," Nick scoffed.
Ellis opened his mouth to respond but never got the chance. A heavy weight hit him in the back. It knocked him down on the ground a few yards away from where he was originally standing. He rolled over to see a huge demented looking man. Or, it was once a man. Ellis wasn't sure what it was now. It had a huge, muscular arm and was wearing baggy, torn overalls. What caught his attention was the limp, small arm. It looked out of place on the muscular thing. The creature grabbed Ellis' sides, pinching him, any picked him up. The southerner wasn't sure what was going on, but he knew it wasn't good. "Help!" he cried out.
The creature then slammed Ellis down on the ground. The air in his lungs left with a whoosh sound and the blow gave him whiplash. A series of pops emitted from his back, and if Ellis had any air, he would have groaned. He barely had enough time to suck in a huge gasp before the creature slammed him down again. Stars littered his vision. He hoped that someone had noticed him getting pinned. He pounded him one or two more times until the creature stopped, dropping Ellis on the ground. It soon followed, landing with a dull thud. The next thing Ellis knew, Rochelle was in front of him, looking concern. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah," Ellis groaned, sitting up. His head seemed to be underwater and he felt a little dazed. He felt for any broken bones and felt relieved that he found none. The young man stood up, feeling all his ribs protest. He was lucky, that he knew for sure. He would have to be careful from now on, because something told him that he wouldn't be as lucky next time. Instinctively, his hand flew to his head to check his hat. When he felt his bare head, he panicked; his hat was missing. Ellis whirled around, looking desperately for the missing item. In his desperation, he forgot the new bruises. Where could it have gone? It was nowhere in plain sight.
A hand grabbed his shoulder, halting his search and his train of thoughts. He turned to the owner of the hand to see Rochelle standing there, smiling. She held up the hat, handing it to him. A huge smile of gratitude spread on his face and Ellis happily took it. He put it on, making sure it was keeping his curly hair out of his face. "Thanks, Ro!" She seemed taken aback by the nickname, but smiled.
When Ellis was being slammed into the ground, the others had been fighting the normal zombies. Nick had finished killing the last one when Rochelle saved Ellis. "Into the hotel, now!" Coach commanded. Without wasting a second, they all ran into the room and in front of the metal door. The man tugged at the doorknob and frowned when it didn't move. It was jammed or broken. He took a huge breathe. "This is gonna hurt," he muttered.
With a strength that Ellis have not seen in many years Coach slammed into the door and broke it open. The door almost flew from the hinges. A foul stench in the room slammed into Ellis' nostrils and he staggered back, gagging. Whoever was inside it must have barricaded themselves in it, and never left. The body must have been decomposing in this room for a long time. Nick stepped forward into the room to find where the stench was coming from. Coach and Ellis followed behind.
There was a small room to the left with a closed door. Afraid of what he was going to find behind the door, Ellis creaked it open. The smell was much stronger and far worse inside of the small room. "Found it," he choke out.
There was a chair seated by a boarded up window. A man, or the left overs of a man, was in the chair and an old shotgun in his arms. Many times in his life he had seen dead animals. It was part of living in a small farm city. But dead humans? Especially like this? Ellis could feel the last thing he ate raising to his throat. He blinked hard and looked away. Coach and Nick cleaned out the building of the dead man before everyone entered.
The small room had a huge map nailed to the wooden table, a cabinet full of weapons, and a cash register machine. Ellis watched curiously as Nick made a beeline to collect the money. Why was he even bothering to steal the money? It had no value any more. Rochelle walked to the map and studied it as she tried to see where they were. Ellis himself walked to the cabinet and opened it with wonder. There were five different guns with even more ammo. He stared at the supplies with awe. There were even more baseball bats and a golf club.
There was a loud ripping sound from where Coach stood. Ellis continued to look at the guns as he listened. "'Report unusual behaviour'," Coach read. Rochelle snorted from her position next to the map. It was one of the CEDA papers they've seen laying around. "'Barricade your homes. Avoid all contact with infected individuals. Wait for official instructions'." Couch laughed without humour before he tossed the crumbled up paper to the ground. "Wait, my ass."
Ellis cocked the gun he was holding before turning to them, a huge smile on his face. "Kill all sons-a-bitches. That's my official instructions."
