Chapter 2: Turn for the Worse
I woke to my dad shaking me awake. "Come on," he said, "get up!" I slowly opened my eyes and looked up at my dad, who was holding his M1911 pistol.
"What's up?" I said groggily.
"There's something outside," he said, "come with me and check it out." By this time, the others had woken up and were starting to get up.
"Alright," I said. I stood up and walked over to my gun cabinet. I took out my shotgun and put eight shells into it. I grabbed about another 20 shells and shoved them into my pockets. "Take what you want," I said to the others. Will instantly rushed over and picked up the AR-15. Michael picked up the MSG90 and took the nine millimeter, Seth took the Desert Eagle, and Zayna decided to dual wield the M1911's. They quickly loaded their guns (We kinda had to show Zayna how, because she'd never really used a gun) and grabbed some extra ammo (my gun cabinet was stocked with tons of ammo).
We followed my dad into the living room, and I glanced at the clock in there. It was 8:43 A.M. Dad peeked out the small window of our door. "I can't see anything," he said. He carefully opened the door and stepped outside. I told Zayna to stay with my mom and the rest of us followed my dad. We stepped outside onto the deck and stayed absolutely quiet. We could definitely hear something. Some kind of weird growling noise. My dad motioned for us to follow him and he slowly started down the steps. We walked down the driveway, the sound growing louder as we progressed. Dad peaked his head around the corner of the house and quickly turned back to us.
"Who is it?" Seth whispered.
"Mrs. Carter and Mr. Greenleaf," he whispered back (they were a couple of our neighbors). "I'm gonna go check it out, but cover me. There's just something not right about them." We all nodded in response as dad went around the corner.
"Mornin', folks," he said as he walked towards them. Mrs. Carter and Mr. Greenleaf both growled loudly in unison as they turned to face dad. We all kind of jumped when we saw their faces. There was fresh blood all around their mouths and their skin was extremely pale. They stood about twenty feet away from dad and they both growled as they started sprinting towards us. Now, these two were both elderly people. Mrs. Carter was in her 80's and Greenleaf was in his 70's. Their age didn't make a difference though. They flew towards my dad and got to him in a couple seconds. Mr. Greenleaf got there first and dad gave him a good right hook. It kind of stumbled him, but not for long. He quickly regained his composure. Dad fired his pistol and hit Mrs. Carter right in the heart. Again, it staggered her, but she didn't fall.
"What the hell?" said dad. He fired again, hitting her in the chest. Still nothing. Mr. Greenleaf was right about to hit dad when Will fired, hitting him right in the temple. Greenleaf fell to the ground, blood spraying from the bullet hole. Dad fired again, hitting Mrs. Carter's head. She also fell and we all took a moment to gather our wits.
"OK," said Will, "just what the fuck was that?"
"I think Seth was right," I said, "looks like that virus has turned people into zombies."
"Zombies?" said my dad, "You kids and your imaginations."
"Come on, dad," I said, "You saw them. Sure, they were still human, but they just weren't the same. I don't expect you to understand. You were never really into watching zombie flicks."
We all looked down at the bodies of the fallen zombies, blood pouring from their wounds. "Ya know," said Seth, "If you think about it, this could be lots of fun."
"What do you mean?" asked Will.
"Come on," said Seth, "We get to kill people, but they're not really people anymore, so we're not really killing anyone."
"Seth," said Michael, "I worry about you."
"Yeah, I get that a lot." We all kind of laughed and headed back inside.
"What happened?" asked my mom and Zayna in unison.
"Well," said dad, "we were just being good neighbors."
"What do you mean?" asked mom.
"Mrs. Carter and Mr. Greenleaf had changed into some weird things and we had to kill them. I don't know what they were, but the boys called them zombies."
"Oh my God," said Zayna, "Don't tell me that Seth was right."
"Yeah, pretty much," said Michael.
"I gotta give you props," said Zayna, "I thought you were stupid, but it looks like you proved me wrong."
"I have my moments," said Seth.
"So what're we gonna do?" asked my mom.
"I don't know," said dad, "Obama said to stay in our homes and avoid all contact with them, but it looks like its too late for that."
"Should we just stay here and try to wait it out?" asked Zayna.
"That would work for a couple days," said my mom, "but I haven't been grocery shopping in a few days and we don't really have that much food."
"What do you guys think?" asked my dad as he turned to face Will, Michael, Seth, and I. We all looked at each other with puzzled looks on our faces.
"I don't think it's too smart to stay here for long," I said.
"Yeah," said Michael, "Our best bet is to go and barricade ourselves in an easily defensible spot."
"This place isn't too great," said Seth, "too many windows."
"You guys OK with that?" asked dad as he looked at mom and Zayna. They nodded. "Alright, pack your things. We'll be leaving soon." Just then, our radio (which had been kept on since last night) started saying something.
"All people in the Farmington area," said a man, "please report to the Farmington airport for evacuation. I repeat, please report to the Farmington airport for evacuation." The message repeated and we all looked at each other.
"Well," said dad, "It looks like that where we're headed." We all started to gather things for the trip. We had a ton of backpacks around the house. Enough for each of us and we still had one left over. We all packed ammo and some food into our bags. I opened a drawer in my gun cabinet and there were a bunch of flashlights. We all mounted them onto our guns. I took out a few straps that went over the shoulder, so that we could carry our guns on them. Those with rifles clipped their guns onto them and those with pistols carried them anyways.
We all gathered back in the living room a few minutes later. "Alright," said dad, "everyone ready?" We all agreed. "So how're we gonna do this? Who's going in which car?"
"How about you and mom take your truck and the rest of us can take my car?" I asked.
"Alright then," said dad, "let's go." He carefully opened the door and peeked out. He stepped outside and took a look around. "Clear," he said. The rest of us poured out of the house. We all walked down the driveway until at our vehicles. Dad opened the back door of his truck and took out a rifle case. He took out a 30-06 rifle and clipped it to his shoulder strap (dad carries a gun almost everywhere he goes). He and mom got into the truck and started it up. Will, Michael, and Zayna got into the backseat of my car and Seth got shotgun. I started up my car and rolled down the window. Dad rolled down his window as well.
"Just follow us," he said, "and don't stop for anything." I nodded and we both pulled out of the driveway. We pulled onto the highway and started heading towards Bloomfield (we had to go through Bloomfield to get to the airport). We got to B Hill and as soon as we could see over it, we all gasped. The street was full of zombies.
"Damn," said Seth, "Did the whole town get infected?"
"I guess so," I said.
"Well, fuck 'em," said Seth, "just run 'em down."
"Oh really?" I asked sarcastically, "What did you expect me to do? Honk at them and hope they moved?"
"Just tryin' to help," said Seth. We got to the bottom of the hill and noticed that dad sped up. We sped up as well, splattering some zombies as we went. I got into the right lane, so that I could see past dad's truck. We turned right at the stoplight and kept going. Ahead of us, I saw a really fat zombie step into our path.
"Look at this guy," said Will, "He needs NutriSystem or something." I chuckled as I sped up even more, preparing to ram him. We hit the zombie and he instantly exploded. He exploded with such force that it managed to send the car into the air. The car flipped over and we all grunted from the impact.
"Everyone OK?" I asked. They all moaned agreements. I managed to open my door and crawl out. The others soon followed. I looked around and saw that we'd gathered some attention. A huge mob of zombies was sprinting towards us. "Holy shit," said Seth, "This is gonna be awesome!"
"Get ready, guys," I said. We all began shooting at the zombies, taking down a lot of the first wave. I saw my dad's truck skid into a group of zombies, flattening them. He rolled down his window and looked over at us. "Just go!" I yelled. He looked at me like I was crazy, as did my friends. I didn't want them to stick around and get hurt. No sense in all of us dying right here.
Dad's truck accelerated, flattening another group of zombies. He sped down the street and towards Farmington. There were still zombies that needed to be taken care of. One rushed up to me and I shot both of his legs off. His upper body fell to the ground and he started crawling towards me. I fired again, taking off his head. Blood and brains flew everywhere. Seth fired his Desert Eagle and totally destroyed a zombie's head. Michael was using his pistol, since a sniper wasn't really made to be used up close. Zayna was firing her pistols as fast as possible and it surprised me how good of a shot she was (she was getting tons of head shots). Distracted by the zombies, we didn't notice another approaching. Another of the fat zombies stepped around the car and leaned back. He shot his head forward, puking on all of us.
"What the fuck, bro?" yelled Seth. We all hurriedly wiped the puke from our eyes and saw the fat zombie rushing us. Seth shot him, causing him to explode, sending more goo flying. The explosion knocked us all off our feet. We quickly got up and saw that even more zombies were rushing us. "This is bullshit!" yelled Seth as he punched a zombie straight in the face. I quickly put eight more shells into my shotgun and cocked it. I rifle butted the zombie in front of me and then blew his head off. Zayna kicked a zombie right in the nuts, which seems to still hurt when you're a zombie. He kind of fell to the ground and she put a bullet in his head. Michael was busy with a girl zombie, kind of wrestling her. He put his pistol under her chin and fired three times, blowing her brains out.
It continued like this for a few minutes. Suddenly, the zombies stopped coming. We all took a moment to catch our breath and reload our guns. After a minute of heavy breathing, Seth broke the silence. "That…was…AWESOME!"
"You're such a little kid, Seth," said Will, "We could've died right there, but you were having the time of your life."
"Damn straight," he said, "Didn't you guys think that was fun?"
"It wasn't exactly fun," I said, "but I could get used to it."
"Now see that?" said Seth, "Paul knows how to live. Come on you guys, we're the baddest motherfuckers in Bloomfield! No zombie is gonna stop us!" Just then, the wall in the building of the Dominoes Pizza across the street broke open. A huge muscular zombie emerged and yelled with rage.
"Except maybe that one," said Seth.
"What the hell is that?" yelled Zayna.
"Something bad," said Michael.
"Run or shoot?" asked Will as he took a few steps back. The huge zombie started running towards us. His legs were really small compared to the rest of his body and he had to use his arms to walk. "Run or shoot?" asked Will again.
"Both," I said as I began to run backwards. The others followed and the huge zombie picked up speed. He was right next to my flipped over car and he hit it with his right hand. The car came flying towards us and we all dove out of the way. We quickly got up and fired at the zombie. He yelled in rage again and reached down to the ground. He dug his hands into the ground and pulled up a slab of concrete.
"What's he gonna do with that?" asked Seth as he loaded another clip into his gun. The zombie raised the rock over his head.
"Shit," I yelled, "he's gonna throw it! Scatter!" We all scrambled to spread out and the zombie threw the rock. Seth ducked just in time, otherwise that would've killed him. We continued shooting at the zombie as he ran towards us. The zombie ran straight for Seth and Seth loaded another clip into his gun.
"You wanna go?" asked Seth, "Let's go then!" Seth rushed the zombie and fired a round into its chest. The zombie swung his massive fist, which Seth ducked under. Seth circled around the back and jumped onto his back. The zombie tried to reach back and peel Seth off, but his huge muscles wouldn't let him reach. Seth climbed up and put his pistol to its head. "Good night, you ugly bastard." Seth fired the whole clip of his Desert Eagle into the zombie's head and he yelled in pain as he fell to the ground. Seth climbed off of the body and stood up. He kicked the zombie and reloaded his gun. We all jogged over to him as we reloaded.
"What the hell were you thinking?" asked Michael, "That thing could've ripped you to pieces!"
"I know," said Seth, "but it didn't."
"You crazy bastard," I said as I shook my head while smiling.
"Yeah, I know," said Seth, "but there's a method to my madness."
"I guess so," said Zayna, "you just took down a thing that looks like Arnold on roids."
"What made you think of doing that though?" asked Will, "Climbing up on his back like that?"
"I dunno," said Seth, "To be honest, I was just making shit up."
"It looks like we finally found something you're good at," I said, "Who would've thought that killing zombies would be your calling?" We all laughed and looked around. We were in the parking lot of Farmer's Market (it was Bloomfield's local grocery store). We took a look around and found some human bodies. It looked like some people hadn't been as lucky as us. I walked up to a body and saw that the man was holding a shotgun. I leaned down and picked it up. It was a SPAS-12, a semi-automatic shotgun. "Now where does a guy get something like this?" I asked myself. The gun had a six shot magazine and the guy had tons of extra ammo on him. It also already had a barrel-mounted flashlight. "Hey, Seth!" I yelled. He came jogging over to me.
"What's up?" he asked. I tossed him my Remington 870. He saw the SPAS-12 in my hands and smiled. "Got yourself a new toy, huh?"
"Yeah," I said with a grin, "This should fuck some shit up." Seth took my ammo for the Remington 870 and I took the SPAS-12 ammo from the dead guy. I clipped the gun onto my shoulder strap and we all began to gather together. Zayna was holding a MAC-10 in her hands, which she'd found on a dead body.
"So what do we do now?" asked Michael.
"I don't know," I said. I turned and looked at Farmer's Market. "Maybe we could just stay there for a while and think." They all agreed and we walked up to the doors. The doors were all locked and I was about to give up, when someone came to the door. I looked through the glass and was surprised to see Amos Brown. We had all gone to school with Amos since elementary school and he had been a pretty good friend of mine. He was about 6' 2" with black, curly hair. He had brown skin and dark brown eyes. He took a key ring out of his pocket and unlocked the doors. The doors slid open and Amos stepped out slightly. He was holding an Uzi and had a survival knife on his belt.
"Hey, guys," he said. We all greeted him and he said, "I was watching you guys fight. You guys are pretty bad ass. Especially you, Seth. Jumping on the back of that thing took some big balls."
"I try," said Seth, flattered by Amos' comment.
"How long have you been here?" I asked Amos.
"Just a few hours," he said, "I've been waiting for someone else to show up and I'm really glad it was you guys."
"And we're glad it was you," said Zayna, "Not many other people would've opened the doors for us."
"I'm not just gonna leave my friends out here to die," he said, "come in." We all walked into the store and Amos locked the doors behind us. We looked around and saw a few zombie corpses lying around. We walked to the left and into the Deli area. We saw Jacob Salazar standing there, holding an Uzi. Jacob was about 5' 8" with dark brown hair (he usually put tons of gel in it), he had really light brown skin, and he was skinny (him and Michael basically had the same build).
"What's up, Jacob?" said Will.
"Just slaughtered some zombies," he said pointing to a pile of dead zombies. "It's not much compared to you guys though. I watched you guys fight that big motherfucker and, damn, you guys are pretty bad."
"Most of that was Seth," said Zayna, "It looks like recklessness actually helps when fighting zombies."
"Guess so," said Amos.
"Speaking of zombies," said Will, "Don't you guys think that we should name them so that it's easier to communicate in battle? I mean, we're bound to come across more of them."
"I guess so," I said, "It would help."
"So, just say fat guy and steroids," said Seth, "Problem solved."
"I dunno," said Michael, "I was hoping for cooler names than fat guy and steroids."
"Then you come up with one," said Seth.
"Alright," said Michael. He thought for a few seconds then said, "I've got it. That fat guy exploded, right? Why not call him a Boomer?" We all looked at each other and nodded.
"Sounds good to me," said Zayna, "Now what about that huge guy?"
"I think I've got that one," said Will, "Think about it, that guy was super hard to kill. It was almost like he was indestructible. The first thing I thought of was a tank, so how about we call 'em Tanks?" We all agreed on the names and walked over to the tables in the Deli. We looked out the windows into the parking lot.
"Damn, that sucks about your car, Paul," said Will.
"Yeah, but I got some good use out of it," I said. We all sat there and began talking about our next move. One way or another, I knew we'd make it through this. I knew that some of us might not make it, but I intended to save everyone I could.