"Why is it so quiet…?"
Little Rock continued to look out the window, like I did, as Vegas drove down her neighborhood in Miami. There were no people… or zombies… around, which is kind of strange for such a populated town.
"They're hiding." Vegas said simply, as she continued to look for her house, "They have nothing to eat anymore, so they're hiding. Once they smell us, they'll attack, so we have to be quick."
Tallahassee nodded, "Where's your house, Vegas?"
She looked around for a minute, and pointed at a two storey house a few meters before us, "There… that's my ex's house."
We stopped in front of the house, and went to the back of the Jeep to get weapons. Vegas was in her full kick ass gear again, and Tallahassee and I had the swords she gave us, as well as our guns, and the sisters had two more swords and guns.
"Okay, here's the drill." Vegas said as she surveyed the house, "Tallahassee, go around back and make sure there's no zombies down that way, and head for the basement. Wichita and Columbus, go around the first floor and make sure it's clear. Little Rock and I will take the upstairs."
All of us nodded, and Tallahassee went around the yard to the back door. We waited for a while, and then we heard him kick the door in. Vegas gingerly opened the front door, her UZI in front of her, and we all went inside.
Little Rock and Vegas went up the stairs slowly, and Tallahassee went down into the basement. Wichita and I was about to enter the kitchen, when I heard Vegas scream, "NOOOOO!"
We rushed back to the stairs, only to see Vegas wrestling a zombie, and Little Rock was running towards her sister in panic. Wichita caught Little Rock and hugged her, and I pushed them away to safety, "Stand back!" I cried as I tried to get a clear shot of the zombie that was attacking Vegas. The zombie's eyes were focused on her, it's blood stained mouth snarling, but as I looked that the zombie, I felt a hint of nostalgia. And then I remembered.
The zombie was Vegas' ex-husband.
Vegas was trying to push the zombie away, and I raised my gun to try to get a clear shot, but Vegas' arms are in the way, and then all off a sudden they rolled down the stairs, still struggling. "I can't get a clear shot!" I shouted, but a shot rang out, and Vegas' ex-husband fell limp… truly and absolutely dead.
"What's going on?" Tallahassee yelled as he bounded up the stairs again from the basement, blood on his jeans as he stopped near us. Vegas pushed the zombie away, and looked up the stair case, as a pair of sneakers stepped down into the stairs.
It was a kid… around 15 years old, holding what looked like a semi-automatic pistol. He had brown hair, but the green eyes the same shade as Vegas'. He strapped a baseball bat on his back, and he was staring at Vegas as she stood up.
"MOM!" The boy yelled in delight, and Vegas whimpered as she opened her arms to him. He quickly ran downstairs, stepped on his father's carcass, and wound his arms around Vegas.
"Oh my boy… thank God you're safe." Vegas was crying and smiling at the same time, kissing the boy… Nathan, as they hugged.
"Dad said you'll never come for me." Nathan said as Vegas took a minute to look at her son's face, "So he hid me in the attic with some supplies. I couldn't come down because I heard he got attacked."
"But I'm here now." Vegas said as she touched her son's face, "I'm sorry I'm late, but I'm here now."
"I shot… I shot my father…" Nathan's face turned from delight to utter disbelief and shock. "Mom, I shot Dad!"
Vegas embraced the boy again, "No… no you didn't." She reassured him, "That thing was a zombie. It would've killed you outright if you didn't shoot him. You did nothing wrong."
Nathan nodded, "Okay." And they both straightened up as we faced them. Nathan looked at us, "Mom, who are these people?"
Vegas smiled, " Nathan, these are my new friends… and family." She looked at us with love, "This man is Tallahassee, this is Columbus and Wichita… and this young lady is Little Rock."
"Thank you… for helping my mom." Nathan said as he nodded to us, but soon he looked at us curiously, "Are those like, your real names? Or are you just…"
"It's… just our thing, I guess." I said as I held out a hand for him, "Nice to meet you…"
"Call me Miami." Nathan… I mean, Miami… laughed, "If I'm going to stay with you, I might as well fit in a bit."
Vegas smiled at the boy, and then looked at Tallahassee as he tried to wipe the blood away from his jeans. "There were zombies in the basement?"
Tallahassee nodded solemnly, "Yeah, an elderly couple… and their mutt."
Miami's eyes saddened a bit, "Must be grandma and grandpa… and their chihuahua, Taco." But all of a sudden, he shrugged, "I don't really care, good thing they're dead, though. Maybe that's why dad got attacked…"
"You don't care?" Wichita asked, "You don't care if your grandparents are dead?"
"No." Miami said straightforwardly, "They were old and mean. They called Mom some really bad names, and they didn't give me the support money Mom was giving. Whenever the mail came, they'd open her letter, take the money and just give the letter to me. Luckily, the mailman was my friend. He made sure to give the letter to me only when I left after school..."
There was a sudden crash from the back door as zombies pounded at it, and all of us raised our guns. Vegas gave one of her UZIS to Miami, and he looked at it in awe, "Whoa, Mom, what the heck have you been doing?"
Vegas smiled, "It's a long story, baby." She winked at him and he laughed, as she felt the door knob of the front door.
"I'm going out front, cover me." She told us as she opened the door… and opened fire. Zombies had swarmed the house and they were all around us. Vegas and Miami kept shooting zombies as Tallahassee, Little Rock, Wichita and I closed the front door after us, trapping the zombies inside.
"Somebody get the Jeep!" Vegas cried as she tossed a magazine to Miami, who caught is and provided his mother with cover fire. Vegas had unsheathed her sword, and was hacking the zombies away from us. Limbs, heads and blood fell to the earth as she, quite literally, danced and dodged her way around the zombies.
"GO! GO!" Tallahassee pushed us towards the Jeep, as he holstered his gun and brought out Vegas' sword at her, and he wielded it like some sort of Roman soldier, hacking at those behind us. Miami was using his mother's UZIs to cover our front, his bullets hitting their marks perfectly. Wichita and Little Rock got in, and Tallahassee and I covered them as she started the car.
"GET IN!" Wichita said as she started the Jeep, and Tallahassee and I jumped in. But Miami climbed up the Jeep, shooting at the zombies from the roof. Little Rock screamed, "What are you doing?"
"Just drive!" Miami said, and he kept on shooting above us, "Somebody hand me some magazines!" Tallahassee scooted into the back, and tossed him a couple of magazines. Wichita started to drive, and astoundingly, Miami remained upright, shooting any zombie that came close to our Jeep.
"Aw, man! He is awesome!" I cried out as he remained standing on top of the jeep, shooting, as if our jeep was just some sort of surfboard for him. He cleared a path for us, and apparently, Vegas did too. She was still slashing her way towards the hordes of zombies, and she noticed her son on the roof of the Jeep.
"Nathan!" She yelled, as she beheaded the zombie in front of her, and started sprinting towards the jeep. Miami let go of his guns, giving them to Tallahassee as he lowered himself down and started heading towards the back of the Jeep.
"I need some cover fire!" Miami yelled out, as he watched his mother sprint towards him, being followed by zombies. Tallahassee and I started shooting from the windows, as Miami reached the back and was holding out his arm to his mother.
"Come on, Mom!" Miami yelled, as Vegas continued to sprint. And finally, with a yell, she jumped and caught his hand, as her foot stepped on the bumper. He pulled her inside, and they collapsed on the back. But the zombie kept coming, trying to catch us.
"Hang on, I have something here." Vegas yelled at us as she rummaged around our weapons. Finally, she found what she was looking for… it was a machine gun, ripped out from what looked its mount, which I guessed was the roof of the jeep. It was welded together with some steel, and it mounted pretty well to the back of the jeep.
She loaded it, and after peering into the scope, she opened fire, the bullets hitting the zombies with such force that they pretty much fell down, really dead, as soon as it hit them. Holes the size of baseballs formed in their dead bodies as she shot, and soon enough, she cleared out those that were following us as Wichita went back to the main road.
"Oh, man… you guys are awesome." Little Rock said as Miami and Vegas leaned back, panting.
Miami laughed, "It's all in the family, I guess." He said as he looked at Vegas, who laughed and held her boy to her chest again.
"On my side anyway… look what happened to your dad." Vegas said as she embraced Miami. "By the way, where'd you learn to shoot and surf like that?"
"Mom, this is Miami… almost all the kids here know how to surf." Miami laughed, "As for the shooting part, I have the highest score in the shooting arcade in the local mall. I guess it turned out to be good training."
She laughed again, "Yeah. I guess it did."