“Somebody get Morris!” A voice shouted.
The undead shuffled out of my sight and I leaned forward to see them heading for Morris. Gunfire erupted once more and several of them fell, as the Guards were doing their best to defend their leader and rescue him at the same time. However, in their task they had forgotten all about me. They were so focused on saving Morris, even though he belittled each of them constantly, that not one of them had their eyes in my direction. This was the advantage I had been hoping for all long, and now it had presented itself to me. I took it instantly.
I rose slowly and placed the short rifle on the hood of the cruiser. More of the undead dropped as they grew closer to Morris and if I did nothing soon, all of the undead would be on the ground and I’d be back to hiding with no way out. I could
not
let that happen.
Those that follow a tyrant, do they do it because they have no way of thinking for themselves, or do they do it to feel empowered in constraining others?
I let a short burst go, killing one of the Guard’s and badly wounding another. The confusion of the moment hid the fact in plain sight, as the others were still doing their best to save their leader.
Morris, still lying on the ground, was burning through the magazine in his pistol and soon he’d be empty. He’d have to reload and if any of the undead were close to him, they could simply fall forward and land on him. From that point on his life would pretty much be over.
Several more bursts from my SBR finally called the attention of the Guards who had no other choice but to retreat into the safety of the grove, leaving me alive and their precious leader with only moments before death. I finished off the remainder of the mag and dropped behind cover to reload, and that’s when I saw it.
Dashing up the street in a full sprint, six of the newly turned undead were headed my way. I fumbled for the first time to get the fresh mag into the short rifle, as the pack of wolf-like predators closed the gap. No doubt they had seen me on their arrival to investigate the gunfire and now I was their prime suspect or victim rather. I turned my head to Rachel. “Run your ass off!” I shouted to her.
She looked at me as though I were some crazy person randomly shouting things to get attention, although as I turned away from her she caught sight of the reason I had instructed her to run. In the time from then, when all of this started, up until this very moment, she had been sheltered so to speak from the realities of how screwed up the world had really become. Rachel, as well as the Guard’s with her, had not yet had the pleasure of meeting the
runners
like I had. They knew only the slow undead that shuffled about in some aimless manner, easy to run away from and only dangerous in large groups if one was to became trapped.
“What the hell are those things?” She blurted.
“Move your ass!” I responded coldly, slammed the mag in tightly and let the bolt close home. I was ready for them this time. They wouldn’t catch me with my back to them; they wouldn’t take me by surprise as they had before. This time I would dictate how things happened… not them. I crouched as low to the street as I could get and took careful aim at my fast approaching enemies. “Come and get me,” I whispered.
The pack surged ahead and I found myself worried about Morris once more. I peered around the front of the cruiser to see him trying to get to his feet. The graze wound to his head still held him firmly planted in one spot. He was alone, the rest of the Guards had fled into the protection of the grove and if he didn’t get his act together, he’d be on their menu.
“This had better be worth it,” I mumbled and fired the first series of shots at the fast approaching runners. Two of them dropped and rolled to a stop. One of them took a round to the leg, tripped and fell, but quickly got up and carried onward. I killed another one, as they grew even closer and began to think that maybe I was better off running away, then standing my ground and fighting them. I dismissed that thought instantly, knowing that I had to be the one that made Morris pay. Those things were no longer bound by emotions or revenge. They didn’t care who they killed or why.
Morris looked my way and I could see the empty handgun in his hand. The pack zeroed in on him, now fully aware that there was more than one victim. I motioned for him to come to me, speaking as I gestured. “Get your ass over here!”
He was stunned by my words, frozen at the sight of me being able to shoot him, yet I was trying to help him instead.
I pointed toward the fast approaching foes. He looked to see them for the first time and his eyes went wide with fear. They were sprinting at him with murder burning wildly in their eyes and looked like a pack of wild dogs.
“Run!” I shouted to him and went back to picking them off one at a time. They caught on and quickly began spreading out, making it harder for me to hit them. They were smart, or they were learning somehow. I’m not sure which was the case, but whatever way it was going, they were changing the outcome at will.
They dodged behind a few cars and hid, waiting for me to either reload or make a break for it. I did my best to shoot at only the ones I could hit and after dropping one more that fell off completely. They were dug in close by and watched with great anticipation as Morris made his way drunkenly across the street toward me. I could see the excitement in their eyes, see them licking their lips as if he were a piece of fresh grilled steak just lying there waiting for them.
“Hurry!” I barked to him, as he crossed the front of the cruiser and fell to the pavement beside me. I didn’t give him a chance to say anything, because no matter what he said I didn’t care. He was as much a murderer as Smith had been and the only reason I was doing this was to ensure that he paid for those deeds. Justice would be served, one way or another.
“When I tell you to move, you get your ass up and get to that parked car over there in the driveway,” I told him and pointed. “Don’t look back, don’t dick around, you run like your life depended upon it, because if those things catch you… you’re done!”
He took a good hard look at me, watching me shoulder the rifle and wait for any of those things to emerge. “Why are you doing this?” He asked me in a winded voice. “Why are you trying to save me when I was trying to kill you?”
I ignored his words. “Get ready to move,” I told him, taking up a better position to defend the both of us if the runners found some courage and charged us. I could see his faint shadow looming over me with a whisper of the sun peeking through the darkening clouds and I began to worry that he would shoot me in the back, even though I was trying to help him. Just because I was allowing some small sliver of my humanity to shine through, in no way did that mean those around me would offer the same courtesy. I half expected him to try something, which would have given me the justification I needed to turn my rifle on him and end his life.
Maybe deep down that’s why I had
really
chosen to save him? It wasn’t because I wanted to be the only one to administer any punishment for what he’d done, but simply because I knew that he would be unwilling to show any form of humanity and I’d be forced to use violence. When the time came, he would do something stupid and that would be all there was.
“I can’t run real fast,” he stated. “I’m still bleeding quite a bit.”
“I’m not dying on this street for you or anyone else, so I suggest you use your shirt to wipe that blood away,” I responded quickly. “Those things are getting restless and they won’t hide there for much longer, so either get your shit together or you’ll find out the hard way that they can’t be reasoned with. What’s it going to be?”
“Okay, okay… just give me a second,” Morris said and wiped the blood from his forehead on his shirt, freeing his right eye where he could see much better. “That car, right there, in the driveway?” He asked and pointed. I looked quickly, saw what he was pointing towards and nodded my head.
“Yes,” I said and watched one of the runners slip out from behind a car. I fired and hit it square in the chest. It fell to the road and I zapped it with several rounds until it stopped moving. “Go!”
As before, I expected one thing and got the complete opposite. Morris took off running and the runners behind the car gave chase. They were more and more like wild dogs than the humans they had once been. Two of them took headshots and dropped instantly, but the rest kept coming. “Holy shit,” I uttered and tried to kill the last three, although they scattered in different directions, they were still converging on my current location. I had to pull back or I’d fall victim to an ambush in just seconds… if that long.
Moving backward I stole a glance over my shoulder to see Morris reach the said vehicle and motion for me to approach. Suddenly though, he pointed and I spun just in time to see one of the runners leap the front of the cruiser. I dropped and emptied my magazine into it. I lie on the ground reaching for a fresh mag looking almost eye to eye with the now dead runner. A side from the obvious smell, which consisted mostly of body odor and sweat, so there was no real difference between the two of us and for some strange reason I found that utterly amazing. It was the foul words of Morris that pulled me from my wonder.
The world snapped back, filling the spaces all around me with the surreal complexities I had unwittingly become accustomed to, like it or not. I slammed the mag into the weapon and went into a low crouch, waiting and watching for the next attack, all the while using my ears to listen for the slightest noise I knew to be danger, to which I would swiftly react with sheer unadulterated violence.
Rachel moved out from in front of the vehicle Morris was hiding beside. She had her Glock trained on him and was ready to shoot if he lurched at her, even though he was faced the opposite direction, she was going to give him absolutely no chance to turn the tables.
Her foot picked up and rock and flung it forward. Morris, thinking he was about to be blindsided by one of the runners, spun and lifted his empty pistol out of habit to see Rachel staring back at him. “Holy shit, Rachel. You scared the shit out of me,” he stated. “I thought you were one of those running things about to get me.” Morris refocused his attention to me, wondering why I was still in the same location even after being charged. His thoughts quickly changed and he held a hand out to her. “Give me your gun.”
“No,” she replied.
“That’s an order, now give me your gun so I can deal with this asshole once and for all,” Morris stated and turned to see the pistol pointed at his face and a very determined look residing on Rachel’s face. It took him only a few seconds to realize what was going on. “You’re with him?” He asked. “The same guy that killed several of your friends. Are you serious?”
“None of those people were my friends,” she responded. “You included. All you knew how to do was bark orders and send good people to die. You don’t give a shit about any of us and we are only there to serve whatever it is you need done!” her eyes were cold and held and obvious hate for him. “You enjoy hurting people, where he treats me with respect and only wants to get his son back, but you couldn’t leave him alone could you? You just had to push and push until someone finally pushed back!”
There was more than enough distance between them that if he tried anything, she’d be able to shoot him multiple times. He wasn’t in a position to demand anything, nor was he in a position that allowed him any level of advantage. To his left was a military packing guy that was persistent as well as dangerous, and to his right was an unstable female that would pull the trigger if her life depended upon it. His manipulation of others was swiftly coming to an end and he wasn’t very fond of the new world unfolding before him.
Continuing to linger in the same spot was stupid. I needed to get moving and lessen the chance of the runners boxing me in and surrounding me, although they’d had the chance once before and didn’t act upon it, so maybe my wound somehow told them that I was a part of them. Or maybe I had been so easily captured that I was insignificant to them? They were hunters after all and expected me to fight or attempt to flee, yet I had done neither, they simply lost interest and moved on. I, however, still retained a great deal of my humanity, it was only a matter of time before they figured that out and when it happened I’d only get one of them while the remaining runner got me. I surveyed the situation and quickly pulled back, covering the distance to the driveway in a few brief seconds to find Rachel holding Morris at gunpoint. Out in the open I didn’t feel he would try anything stupid, as if he did he’d be dead moments later. It was what he would do in the safety of the nearby house that worried me. And I wasn’t about to take any chances.
“If he moves the wrong way, shoot him in the leg and let those things decide his fate,” I told her and she happily nodded, as he looked from her to me, and then to her again. I checked the vehicle in the driveway but found no keys in the ignition.
“We really need to keep moving,” Morris said aloud.
“Don’t you mean
you
need to keep moving?” I asked snidely, cutting my eyes to the last know position of the runner.
“Excuse me?” He said as if offended by my comment.
“Don’t act all offended, jerkoff. If you had the chance you’d take off running like the true coward you are in a heartbeat,” I said and everyone, including him, knew it was the truth. I grabbed the door handle, fearing it to be locked. Surprisingly enough though, I found the door unlocked, but as I opened it slowly the alarm instantly began honking. I froze and both Rachel and Morris looked at me.