Part three: Finale
Bill brought the phone back up to his ear, and smiled.
"YES. You're the first person I've raised." Said Bill with a musical chuckle. If he hadn't have raised anyone, he would have been crushed.
"Oh thank god. We were starting to think that we were the only ones."
Bill frowned. After only a couple of days?
"We lost power in our building. Can you tell us what happened?"
"It's bloodbath city man. Everyone's gone. The police, the National Guard, the guys in biohazard suits. There's nobody left man."
"In three days? I don't get it. What happened to everyone?"
"What rock have you been under? Those things... They killed them. They killed them all."
"Who? Who killed them all? The rioters? Was it a new drug?"
"What the hell are you talking about? They aren't rioters. They're…. something else entirely."
"I don't understand. Was it a medical concern?"
"Maybe. We're not the CDC guys. They had a couple of ideas to what they were, but it was all best guess. We really have no idea of knowing. It's a moot point now. All those guys got overrun."
"What happened?"
"The police, the Army, FEMA and some civil volunteers tried to hold the line. Fat lot of good that did. Using tear gas and rubber bullets against them. Insanity. Pure insanity. The whole thing lasted about twenty minutes. Then it was all over."
"I don't get it. The Army has tanks and machine guns. The police have SWAT armor and trucks. How did they get overrun?"
"These Army guys didn't bring tanks with them. It was deemed by the powers that be in the state government that footage of tanks rolling on our own soil would be too demoralizing or some bullshit like that. Those tanks are probably still sitting at the base. When the government figured out that they really needed them, it was too late. There wasn't anyone left to drive them, or go get them for that matter."
"So, what organization are you part of?"
"Well, I'm a civil volunteer. So are the others with me. What's your name?"
"Bill. Yours?"
"Jack. Tell me something Bill, are you armed?"
"With what, guns?"
"Yeah."
"No. Not to my knowledge. The most dangerous thing we have in our building is a baseball bat. Are you?"
"We have a couple of guns. Listen, you have to hit them in the head."
"The head? Why the head?"
"We don't know. We shot a couple of the things in the chest with the twelve gauge, but they just shrugged it off like it was nothing. We aimed a bit higher, and boom. They seem to go down permanently if you just hit them in the head."
"Alright. Anything else we should know?"
"You know what we know now. By the way, where are you located?"
"I'm with three other people in our apartment building off of First street. Where are you?"
"First street? We're down at the mall across the freeway. Can you signal us?"
"Why? You think we have line of sight?"
"Maybe. You have a way to signal us?"
"My friend just went down to his room to get some Roman candles left over from the forth of July. We'll launch those. Do you have binoculars?"
"Yeah. What do you have in mind?"
"Well, with the power out and all, I can't recharge the battery on my phone. It's about seven eight's spent, so when it's gone, we're not gonna have a way to talk to each other. Plus, even if I did have a way to recharge it, the cell towers are going to crap out eventually. You have a dry erase board and some markers?"
"I'm sure we can locate one. Why, do you want to write messages to each other, and see them through binoculars."
"Yep. I just need to get my pair. I'll meet you in a little bit. Say, five minutes?"
"Ok. You're launching Roman candles?"
"Yeah. You should be able to see them from here."
"If you are where I think you are, yes."
Bill slowly climbed down the ladder, and was met by Sam, Roman Candles in tow.
"There are some people at the mall. Can you try and find a dry erase board and some markers? I'm gonna try and find my pair of binoculars."
"Alright. What's the situation outside?"
"It's bad. Everyone's dead."
"What about the rioters?"
"They're not rioters. You know how we were talking about a virus earlier? Well, these guys are pretty sure that it's the case."
"Huh, a virus. Even the Army's gone?"
"Everyone's dead man. They're the only people I've been able to raise. All of the other numbers were useless."
Sam nodded.
"Ok. Who are they? Police? National Guard? Or just civilians like us?"
"They say that they're civilian disaster workers. Volunteers apparently. They had been assigned to the Mall by FEMA as some sort of rescue station. With medical supplies and other goodies. They got cut off from everyone else, which pretty much saved their lives. Everyone thought they were dead, so they were ignored."
"Alright. I'll go get those things you wanted. I'll be back in a second." Said Sam, running back inside. Bill climbed back up to the top of the array and spoke to the others.
"The battery on my phone is nearly drained. I don't have a lot of time, so lets make this quick. In one minute, I'm going to launch a single roman candle from the roof of our building. Do you have your binoculars out?"
"Yeah. One minute you say?"
"Uh-huh. Be ready."
"Will do."
"Oh, one more thing. Jack, I need you to-"
Bill's phone beeped. Bringing it away from his mouth, he looked at the display.
No battery. Shit.
Bill pocketed the now defunct phone and climbed down the ladder. Removing a pack of matches from his pocket, he readied a Roman candle for launching. Once it was set up, he glanced at his watch, and then looked out towards the mall. Once it was time, he struck the match, and lit the fuse to the firework. Stepping away from it, he found cover behind the stairwell shed.
The fuse burnt out, and the powder inside the rocket combusted, launching it into the air. Bill covered his ears from the high pitched sound that followed. As soon as the coast was clear, he made his way out into the open, and waved his arms rapidly. Sam burst through the doors soon after, carrying his telescope under one arm and a dry erase board under the other. While Sam assembled the telescope, Bill wrote a message into the board. Holding it up into the air, he took a sigh of relief.
After Sam assembled the telescope a little while later, Bill peered through it, towards the roof of the mall. A tall, lanky man holding up a sign smiled. There were two others with him. A shorter, bearded man in a leather jacket held a large pair of observation binoculars stood by him looking directly at Sam and Bill. A rugged looking woman in military fatigues holding an evil looking rifle wasn't too far away from them.
Bill's message read: Can you see me now?
The reply read: Perfect.
Bill smiled, and scribbled down some more onto the dry erase board.
The next morning….
Bill and Sam stood on the roof of the building, with Sam manning the telescope and Bill writing the messages.
"Can we get to them?" Asked Sam, peering through the lens.
"Have you seen the streets outside? They're completely clogged with burned out cars, broken glass, and those infected folks. Nothing in the parking garage, short of a tank or monster truck, is going to get through those streets."
"Wait a minute, do those guys have transport?"
"I don't know. I didn't ask."
"Ask 'em. If they've got transport, see if they can come to us. If not, we'll figure something else."
"Ok. I'll get on it."
"Do you have transport?" He wrote onto the board, and then held it up.
"More or less. FEMA gave us van." Came the reply, as Sam read it.
Bill nodded.
"If we give info, can you get here?" He wrote, erasing the previous message.
"Sounds risky." Read Sam.
"How good at driving?" Held up Bill.
"Ok. Parking?"
"Yep. Underground."
"Can you get to it?"
"I think so."
"Tell us where your building is."
"Corner of First and Pine."
"Ok. We might make it."
Jack erased the message, and wrote a new one.
"Launch candles?"
Sam turned to Bill.
"What does he mean by 'Launch Candles'?"
"He wants to have a point of reference by launching our Roman Candles."
"Yeah, I think we can do that. What kind of intervals should we launch them on?"
"Well, that's dependant on how many Roman Candles you have left."
Bill checked the box
"Eight. Eight Roman candles." Said Bill
"A candle every two minutes sounds about right." Said Sam.
"Always the accountant." Said Bill, scribbling another message.
"Is there a sporting goods shop?"
"Yes. Need something?" Came back the reply.
"Check for weapons. Bring them." He wrote, and then held over his head.
"What side of building garage at?"
"North side."
"Alright. Be down there?"
"Yes. # of people with you?"
"Three."
"Gotta get 2 work. Leave tomorrow 6 PM?"
"Alright. Good luck."
"Same 2 you buddy."
The following day…
Bill prepared to launch the roman candles. The sky was now a shade of light blue, and the city was much more visible. Columns of smoke that had rose above the city several days earlier had no disappeared, and the destruction that had taken place was quite obvious.
"Sam, I need you to go down to the parking lot. Make sure that the door is open for them when they get here. Alright?"
Sam nodded.
"What if those things are down there? How will I protect myself?"
Bill picked up the baseball bat, and threw it to him.
"How 'bout it?"
Sam nodded.
"Ok. Let's hope this works."
"Yeah."
Sam left to go downstairs, leaving Bill to himself. Setting up all eight Roman Candles, he got a match ready, and looked off towards the mall. Kneeling, he put the match to the fuse, and ran for cover. Taking cover behind the stairwell shed like the last time, he plugged his ears as the first a Roman candle went off into the sky, providing those at the mall with a beacon.
Nervously, he counted the minutes until he launched the next candle.
Meanwhile, down in the stairwell….
Sam ran down the stairs to get to the small parking garage directly under the building. He was a little skeptical about the whole plan, but was glad to see that there were other people still alive. Clambering over the barricade, he made his way further down the stairs. Panting, he reminded himself that the garage was the very last level. Getting his key to the door ready, his grip on the bat tightened. He really hoped that none of those things were down there.
Back up on the roof….
Bill peered down at the mall through the telescope. Jack had left, and he along with his companions had boarded a white cargo van. Driving as fast as they could to avoid being caught by the creatures, Bill could hear gunshots, even from as far away as he was. Preparing another Roman Candle, he launched it into the air. The guys in the van were getting a lot closer, and Sam might have needed help downstairs, so Bill abandoned his post on the roof, and ran into the stairwell shack.
In the garage…
WHAM!
Sam hit one of the creatures in the chest with the baseball bat, sending it off it's feet. Earlier, he had discovered that there were half a dozen of the things down there, and he had been trying to make his way to the garage door opener. But the creatures had been making that rather simple task rather difficult.
Gritting his teeth, he swung at the head of one of the zombies slowly advancing towards him, downing it instantly. Blood splattered across his face, and he nearly threw up. Wiping off some of it with his hand, he went back to the task at hand. Running for the garage door opener at the other side of the parking garage, he panted. There couldn't be many of those things left down there, and if there were, the civil volunteer guys had a couple of guns with them. They could shoot the damn things, instead of having to beam them in the face with a big stick.
Nearly there, he was tackled by a zombie moving parallel to him. He bat slid across the floor, just out of his reach. Trying his best to push the zombie of the top of him with his right arm, he reached for the bat with his other. Above him, the zombie's jaws gnashed violently in midair. He couldn't hold it off much longer.
Then Bill burst through the stairwell doors, brandishing a table leg.
"Bill! A little help would be nice!" Sam hollered out in desperation.
Bill nodded, and ran over to where Sam was pinned down. Kicking the zombie off of Sam, Bill ran the table leg through the thing's head. It fell limp to the ground, now completely harmless.
Getting up to his feet, Sam grabbed the baseball bat from the ground, and motioned Bill to follow him.
"How far away are they?" Sam asked, rubbing his neck.
"Not far. Not far at all."
"How will we know when they're here?"
"Yeah, they said that they'll honk."
"You sure?"
"Pretty sure."
"Pretty sure! SHIT!"
The remaining zombies inside the parking garage advanced on Sam and Bill. Looking to the fire axe inside a red box mounted on the wall, Bill threw away his table leg and took the axe. Looking to Sam, he spoke.
"Look, make sure you open the door for them. I'll watch your back."
Sam nodded.
"Ok man. Be careful."
"Yeah, yeah." Said Bill, charging a zombie, and swinging at it with all his might. The axe connected with the zombie's neck, severing off the head.
He looked around for another attacker, and charged at the last two in the garage. Yelling out with anger, he smashed the face of the zombie in with the blunt end of the ax, sending it backwards onto it's ass. The other zombie charged Bill, just as he was in mid-swing.
Crunch. The sound of human bones breaking could be heard as the axe swung into the zombie's chest. Bill tried to get the axe out, but it was stuck, lodged in the ribcage of a very pissed off dead guy.
Suddenly, both men heard the sound of a car horn honking at the garage door. Sam acted quickly, and opened the door. The white transport van zoomed inside the garage, and came to a screeching halt. The man that had earlier identified himself as Jack got out of the driver's seat of the van, wielding a shotgun.
"CLOSE THE GODDAMN DOOR!" He yelled to Sam, who nodded, and pressed the button to close it. Outside, the lower halves of zombies moving towards the door could be seen, trying to get through before it closed. One of the creatures tried crawling underneath the closing door, but he was too late. The heavy, metal door came down on top of 'his' body, pinning him under as the door cut him into two pieces.
Jack pumped his shotgun, and took aim at the zombie that Bill had just knocked backwards. Firing, the zombie's head exploded like a melon as the buckshot hit him. It stirred no more. Directing his attention to the axe zombie, he pumped another shell into the chamber and fired, hitting the thing in the chest and knocking it backwards. When it hit the ground, it began twitching like he was having a serious seizure.
"Twitcher. I hate twitchers." Uttered Jack, taking a drag from a cigarette in his mouth, and then shooting the zombie directly in the forehead from about two feet away, creating a nasty mess on the floor.
"Christ!" Yelled Sam, seeing the severed zombie trying to pitifully inch it's way towards the others, despite losing three fifths of it's body.
Jack simply groaned, and shot it dead.
"Dumbass. How are you guys doing?" He asked, flicking the safety back into the on position on his gun. The two others that Sam and Bill had seen on the roof got out of the back of the van, both looking kind of shook up.
"Not great considering. Yourself?"
"It's nice to see other people. You sure this place is secure?"
Bill nodded.
"There are as sure as hell no more of those things down here if that's what you mean."
Jack nodded.
"We got some stuff from the sporting goods shop that you just may be interested in. Lemme show you." Said Jack, pulling a brown cardboard box out of the back of the van. Opening it, he took out a hunting crossbow, mint in the box.
"Got plenty more where that came from too, and not just those. You like machetes at all?"
"Any more guns?"
Jack shook his head.
"Sorry. Just bows and blades. Nothing too fancy. We don't have a whole lot of ammunition for the guns we DO have anyway."
"Well, it's better than what we got. How many arrows did you bring along?"
"Each one of those crossbows comes with ten. With the regular bows, a little more."
Bill nodded.
"Well, let's bring this stuff up. Looks like you guys could use a solid meal. You hungry?"
Later, during dinner…
The tenets had prepared a meal consisting of potatoes warmed over an open fire (made on the roof of course), warmed chowder, and beef jerky for the newcomers, who hadn't seen substinance that hadn't come from a fast food restaurant in a couple of days.
"Sorry we couldn't make something better. With the power out and all, it's a bit difficult to cook something really interesting." Said Tim, Cooling a spoonful of chowder.
"Oh, we don't mind. Trust me, having to eat frozen cheeseburgers isn't my idea of a great meal. This is brilliant. Now bear with me for a moment. I sense something in the chowder. What is it? Chili pepper?" Asked Gene, one of the newcomers.
Molly shook her head.
"Nope. Cayenne pepper. You like it?"
Gene nodded in agreement.
"Yes, as a matter of fact I do. Adds a little zing to the clams. Who came up with it?"
Tim raised his hand.
"I did." He said, rather bluntly before continuing with his food.
Gene smiled.
"How'd you come up with it?"
"Uh, it just sorta popped up. I was cooking it on the stove one day, and bam! Why not put it in the chowder? So I did. It couldn't have hurt. Alas, a masterpiece was born… You'd be surprised how many different kinds of food you can put the stuff on. Pizza, potatoes, steak, noodles, rice, etc. The whole nine yards. It's the new Ketchup."
Bill looked to the new woman (judging on her Army fatigues, she was probably military), whom he thought was rather good looking, and smiled in a very cheesy, almost eighties sleazy car salesman sort of way.
"Hey, my name's Bill."
The woman simply looked up from her food to give him a cursory glance, nodded, and went back to her food. Bill was undeterred.
"So, what's your name?"
The woman didn't even look up this time.
"Alice."
Bill nodded, still smiling like an idiot.
"So… Alice…. What do you like do for fun? You like to party?"
Sam buried his face in his hands and groaned.
"No. I like to work." Said the woman.
Bill thought of something to say, and continued with his swagger.
"The only thing that looks good on me is you baby."
Sam gritted his teeth, and kicked Bill from under the table. Unfortunately, Bill had the memory of a goldfish.
Jack, doing his best to change the mood, pulled up his pack to his seat, and opened it. Once inside, he removed a waterproof map of the city and the surrounding area, which had been given to him by FEMA.
"Ok folks, here's our situation as stands… We're cut off from the chain of command, the power is out, and those things are in the streets. What are we gonna do?"
"Well, we've already gotten a lot of food together. We allotted it for four people, and it would have lasted us a couple of months. But with the addition of three more people, it'll last a lot less longer than that." Said Sam.
Jack nodded.
"This building. Is it safe? Have you boarded up and dug in?"
Molly nodded.
"That stuff you saw in the hall was in case we needed to block the door. Nothing short of a tank or bulldozer could get through that kind of obstacle." She finished.
Bill groaned in pain, clutching his wrist. The others, who were alerted, abandoned their conversation to attend to him.
"What's the matter?" Asked Sam, scratching his stubble.
"Oh, nothing. Damn those fuckers bite hard…" Said Bill, revealing a bloodied wound on his arm that he had been covering up with his now bloodied sleeve.
"Holy shit… That looks bad. That looks really bad." Repeated Tim, looking the bite over.
Jack's face changed from a smile to a look of disdain.
"Well, that settles it."
The others looked to him, a puzzling look on all their faces.
"What settles it? What are you talking about?" Asked Molly.
"He's been bitten. It's only a matter of time before he turns into one of those things outside. We have to deal with him…"
Sam looked confused.
"Wait a minute. You mean kill him?"
Jack nodded. Standing up from his seat, he removed a bright red shotgun shell from one of his vest pockets. Inserting it into the breech, he cocked the gun.
"Yeah. That's what I mean."
"Woah there! Can I have a say in this matter?" Asked a somewhat panicked Bill.
One of the newcomers swore. Jack started to explain.
"I saw the exact same thing happen to half a dozen people. Once you're bitten, you have a little while before you turn. They always turn."
"First off, you're not gonna kill him. I don't know who the hell you think you are, but blowing my best friend's head off isn't something I'll stand for." Said Sam, throwing his napkin onto his plate, and standing up to defy Jack.
"Tell me something Sam. Once your buddy turns, do you really want him in here?"
"Well, frankly I don't know if I should trust you. I've only known you for a couple of days, and that wasn't even in person. I've known Bill since Grammar school. What the hell gives you the right to decide who lives and dies?"
"As long as that man is infected, I have the right to self defense. I'm exercising that right." Said Jack, his grip on the weapon tightening.
"Well fuck that! You're not gonna go shooting my friends on a whim. Not gonna happen man."
Jack turned around to face Sam.
"Oh really? I'm the one that's armed."
"Is that a threat?" Asked Sam, picking up the fire ax that was propped up against the wall.
"You bet your ass it is. I'm not letting one guy kill us all. This is for the good of the group. He has to die."
"And if I don't let you, you'll shoot me?"
Jack nodded. Sam's grip on the fire ax tightened even more.
"Alice, take the axe from him." Said Jack, not even looking at her.
Alice slowly took a few steps closer to Sam, and outstretched her hand, nervously.
"Give me the ax Sam."
Sam's eyes shifted.
"No-fucking-way." Said Sam, his gaze directly on Jack.
"Please… Just give me the ax." Pleaded the woman.
Gritting his teeth, Sam took action. Grabbing the woman's hand, he held her in front of him, and put the ax to her neck. Jack brought the gun to his shoulder.
"Sam… let her go…."
"And then what? Let you kill someone I care about?"
"Try to understand that in a couple of minutes he won't be somebody. He'll just be another one of those mindless fucking stiffs."
"Yeah, yeah. Put down your gun, or she gets it."
Jack didn't waver.
"Am I speaking Greek? DO IT GODDAMMIT!"
Jack lowered his gun, and set it down onto the table. Pleased, Sam let Alice go.
"Now…. Walk towards the door, with your hands up where I can see them."
Reluctantly, Jack did so. Letting go of Alice, he dove for the shotgun. Bringing it up to his shoulder, he gritted his teeth as he spoke.
"Alright then. Bill, tie 'em up."
"With what?"
"I don't know. Go look for something." Said Sam, not glancing away from Jack.
"What's your plan?" He asked his captor.
"What do you mean?"
"When he turns, what are you going to do? Lock him in a room. Try and reason with him? Seriously, is that what you have planned?"
"Shut it!" Yelled Sam, his grip on the gun tightening.
"Look. I'm on your side. I know what you're going through. At first, I didn't think much of this infection… this virus. But then Roger died. That was a little weird, considering he had been bitten in the shin. There wasn't much blood loss, and he died about twenty minutes after it happened. Now that was really weird. You see, it takes a long time to bleed out, especially if the wound isn't that bad. And so I asked myself, why did that happen?"
"I'm warning you…"
"I thought it was nothing until Stacey died too. Bit in the hand. Took her only ten minutes to pass away. Still, I thought it was a coincidence. But, then Frank was bitten. This time, it was really, really messy. He got jumped by three of them. He just managed to get away. I'm not sure how he did it, seeing as those things tore several chunks out of him, including his jugular, I bet the pain started to dull as his body began to shut down."
"Last chance…."
"It was then when I realized what was going on. It's a viral infection of some sort. That was given. The CDC guys said so in their last transmission. It all began to make a bit of sense in a creepy sort of way. It's a little like AIDs or HIV I suppose. The virus travels from the stiffs' saliva into your blood stream. It only kills you when it gets to your brain stem. That's why it took 'em longer to die if the bite was in the extremities. The infected blood cells need time to travel up to the heart, get re-oxygenized, and sent to the brain. The infection kills the bite victim, and in a little while… presto. Walking corpse."
Sam lowered the shotgun. He hated to admit it. He really did. But Jack was right. It made sense. It perfect sense.
"What do you want to do?" He asked, turning the safety back onto the gun, and setting it down onto the table.
"There's only one thing to do. We have to kill him."
A single tear came streaming down out of Sam's eye. He nodded, and handed the man's gun back to him. He accepted, and cocked it. Exiting the room, Jack and Sam looked around for Bill. They found him rummaging through cabinets for something to tie the others up with.
"Bill." Said a solemn Sam, trying to keep his gameface on.
Bill turned around, and was surprised to see Jack standing there with him.
"What's he doing there?"
"Bill…."
"You here to kill me, aren't you?"
Sam gritted his teeth, and nodded.
"Yeah…"
Bill bit his lip.
"Alright, it's that easy then?" He said with a sigh.
"Look, this isn't what I wanted. You've gotta believe me."
"I cannot believe that you're trusting the word of a total stranger to kill me. We don't even know if their intentions were good when we invited them into our homes. Now they're saying that one of us is infected, and I have to die? Please, I don't have time for this lord of the flies bullshit. Now, if you'll just excuse me-"
Sam cocked the shotgun, bringing it up to his shoulder. The weapon aimed directly at the center of Sam's rib cage.
"So this is how this is gonna be, eh?"
"I'm-I'm really sorry about this whole thing. If there was any other way, then…"
"Well…. What the hell… I've got nothing to lose now. My best friend in the whole world is aiming a gun at me. Guess I have no choice now, eh?"
Sam nodded.
"Where do you want to do this?" Asked Jack.
"The roof. It's no use making a mess in here." Said Bill, glancing around the kitchen.
"Alright, lets go." Said Sam, ushering his friend out of the apartment, with Jack in tow. Opening the door to the stairwell, the three men climbed the stairs to the roof. When the reached it, Jack closed the door behind them. Bill walked a short distance away and kneeled on the ground, facing the sunset. Jack turned to Sam.
"Do you want to be the one that pulls the trigger?"
"No. I couldn't do it."
Jack nodded.
"If you're not gonna do it, then it might be best if you went away. This may get a bit graphic. If you see him…."
"Yeah, I know."
Patting him on the back, Jack tried to comfort the man. Sam simply slipped away, and went back down the stairs. Closing the door, Jack flicked the safety off the gun, and slowly advanced towards Bill, who still kneeled in the gravel, watching the sunset.
"How do you want me to do this?"
"Wait til' afterwards. This sunset is uh… quite a sight."
Jack slowly nodded.
"Do me a favor. Don't get everyone killed, ok?"
"Alright. I'll try not to."
"And uh, one more thing."
"Shoot."
"Tell… tell… what's her name again?"
"Alice?" Offered Jack.
"Yeah… Tell Alice that's she's got a nice bum."
And with that note, Bill's head hung forward. Jack took aim with his gun, and put pressure onto the trigger as soon as he had a bead on Bill's head. Sighing, beads of sweat dribbled down his face.
A beat, and the dead man awoke.
A sound of thunder….
The End, for now….
I'd like to thank the following people for being a large source of inspiration in writing this. Wasn't easy…
George Romero
Zack Snyder
Stephen King
Steve Carrell
And many, many others….