Emperor of a Dead World (3 page)

He was now in the middle of the street and a little too far from his house. Other than the ones out front there were several more down the street milling about. He started calculating. It was a decent sized complex but he had never counted the properties. If each house had an average of four people, wait, some had gotten out and probably others had died. What about survivors, were there others like him? He must find out. He started heading for his house. This was going to be a formidable challenge and he had to prepare. He must eat and exercise so he would be strong. It was time to get back into football shape. With his mind preoccupied on what he must do, he started walking a little too quickly. He glanced over and realized he had caught Ben’s interest. While keeping an eye on Ben, he bumped into Max again. This time Max waved his arms and snarled. Brad ignored him and shuffled on. As he headed for the backyard, he glanced at Ben. The man was walking toward Max. Were they collaborating or did Max’s reaction just create more interest for Ben than he had? When he got to the corner of the house, he took a quick look back. This sudden movement attracted the interest of a few others and they started moving toward him. Screw it. The backyard was closer than they were. He broke into a run and did not stop until he was in his garage. Once inside, he put his things down and hung his coat on a nail. Suddenly something grabbed him. To his horror, one of his neighbors was in the garage.

“How do you get in?” he cried.

As he struggled, he noticed the open door. He tried to push the thing away but it was very large and it knocked him against the workbench. Losing his balance, he reached back to steady himself and his hand landed on a portable drill. Without hesitation, he held it to the thing’s head and pulled the trigger drilling into its skull and spraying blood and pieces of brain into his own face. After it dropped, he dragged it outside then secured the door and headed for the shower.

Once he had washed off all the filth, he began his regiment. He did not have any eggs but he had plenty of whey and protein power, which he mixed with water. He also had a few Tiger’s Milk bars lying around. Today he would start light, probably only an hour or so. He would focus mostly on cardio at first but he would also do a couple of light sets on the Bowflex. Along with this, he felt it would be a good idea to practice with his sword and shield until he was proficient. For the next six days, he did two hours in the morning, three in the afternoon and one more in the evening. On the seventh day he rested.

Now he was ready. His face was clearing up and he felt strong. He looked outside and saw Pete, a scrawny little pest that would be no challenge. As he stared at Pete, he wondered about Tyrone. This man lived a couple streets away and he was huge - Probably six five and two hundred fifty pounds of muscle. He hoped Tyrone had survived because he could sure use the help and he definitely did not want to tangle with him. No point in dwelling on Tyrone he decided as he headed for the garage to suit up. He kept his attire there because he did not want this smelly stuff inside the house. His mother might come home and chew his ass. He was already in enough trouble for breaking her nice chair.

Once dressed he set out through the back door of the garage making sure it closed behind him. His plan was to clear his street and the immediate houses around him as he checked for survivors. If he succeeded in clearing his street, he would clear the entire community. Once he did this, he would look for survivors on the outside. If he found any, he would need quarantine houses until he was sure they were safe.

Without any false pretenses, he walked up to Pete and severed his head. Killing these things no longer appalled him. The world had changed while he slept and he had no choice but to adapt. After cutting ties with Pete, he looked over and saw Ben and Jerry. These two were always a little too close and friendly with each other. They had seen his treatment of Pete and were coming to confront him. He decided to meet them half way. He put his sword in its scabbard, looped it through his arm and carried it on his back. His dagger was now in his hand and ready for action. When he met Ben, he drove the ten-inch blade up under his chin and into his brain. Jerry received the same courtesy. After Jerry fell, he turned and gazed at all the slain bodies around him. He counted seven in the yard, four from yesterday and three just now. There were also four more in the backyard. He had never imagined killing would be so easy and it frightened him that he had become so proficient so quickly. As he reflected, he convinced himself that this was war and in times of war, you must do whatever is necessary to survive. After he regained his composure, he headed for Little Richard and Long Tall Sally’s house. This was as good as any place to start. After all, they were not home. Before he walked in, he glanced across the street at Rita’s house. He was grateful she was not around. He did not know how he would deal with her but he had to remember that that thing was no longer Rita.

It took about five minutes to check and secure the house then he headed to Ben and Jerry’s place. When he walked in the first thing he saw were their two little annoying dogs. The boys had already killed them so he threw them out the back. After this place was secure, he headed back across his yard to Charlie’s house. He made it about half way and stopped.
Hold on, I need a plan. What did coach always say?
Don’t get caught in the middle. Run for the sidelines.
He looked down the street.
I’ll keep going in that direction.
He passed Ben and Jerry’s place and stopped in front of the old woman’s house. He did not know her name. She was just the old woman. He tried the door and found it locked. After banging a few times he took off his helmet and listened. He could hear her inside. “Hey old woman, are you alright in there?” She did not respond so he put his ear to the door and he could hear heavy breathing. “Old woman,” he shouted. Still nothing so he peeked in the window. When he saw her, he shook his head.
Hard to say, she never did look very good.
As he looked around, he found everything secure and wondered how someone had infected the old hag. At last, he decided to get his ladder and climb up to get in. He needed to clear all the houses along the way and he did not want to break any windows on the ground floor. Once he secured the houses he would leave the front doors unlocked for an easy entrance then he would drag the bodies into the street and burn the remains. He turned to get his ladder and stopped. Six neighbors, or actually creatures as he had determined to call them, had shown up and were coming towards him. His banging and shouting had attracted them.

Great, I guess it starts now,
he muttered.

He looked over and his helmet was on the old woman’s porch. He shrugged and determined to leave it. It just got in his way. As he walked toward the creatures, he formed an arc in order to confuse them and spread them out. He now replaced his dagger with his sword. A few feet separated each of them so he charged forward and swung his blade catching the first one across the face splitting it open. As the next one came up, he swung like a lefty and caught it on top of its head sending pieces of brain flying. He continued on the same way through the other four. This activity brought others out.

I’m good to go
he shrugged.
Not in top shape but I can keep this up for a while.

He met them in the street and there was no short supply of victims. Almost twenty minutes later, he must have killed sixty. Needing to catch his breath, he worked his way back to Ben and Jerry’s place. He was a little short on food at his house and he hoped they had some ice cream. After slamming the door, he stood and listened. The creatures were much more aggressive in their pursuit and they kept pounding on the house.
What if they broke a window
, he thought?
That could be trouble
.

Trying to ignore them, he decided to search for food. The freezer was his first destination.
No ice cream - seriously.
At least there were some hot dogs. He boiled them to defrost them and after he ate, he looked out the window. They had given up and moved on. These things had the attention span of two-year olds. Feeling it would be best to stay put for a while he checked Ben and Jerry’s DVD collection. Nothing he cared to see. After eating some stale cookies and resting, he decided to go home. He looked out the front door and only saw a few so off he went. As he hobbled along, they watched him. He kept an eye on them but no one got aggressive. They just watched.

When he got close to his house, he noticed Max coming towards him. The boy was not walking in his usual lackadaisical way. He looked down at Max and Max looked up at him. It was quite unnerving. Suddenly Max lunged forward. Out came the dagger and down went Max. All at once, several more came at him. Brandishing his sword, he went to work. This time they were a little quicker and when he got to his garage fifteen more bodies lay on the ground. That was enough for today.

The next morning Brad slept in because he was sore from his previous day’s exertions and he was not anxious to repeat them. After lunch, he decided he had stalled long enough. He suited up, grabbed his ladder and set out for the old women’s house trying to ignore all the corpses. One quick look back and up the ladder he went. The first window he checked he found locked.
Screw it
. He easily put his foot through it then used the storm trooper handle to break away the remaining glass. As soon as he stepped in, the old woman was there and she looked pissed.

Man, this is like a scene from Psycho.

With the storm trooper in hand, he was ready when she came at him. He brought the blade across her throat and down she went. He then watched with disgust as she slowly rose back to her feet with her head hanging half off and blood gushing out of her neck. He shuddered then drove the butt of the storm trooper down upon her skull and tore her head free. She did not get up again. He tossed her head after body out the window then checked the house.

When he was ready to go, he made sure the front door was unlocked in case he needed to return in a hurry. The next house he checked was unlocked and unoccupied. By the time he cleared this and the remaining houses on this side of the street, he was hungry. He had a grilled cheese on stale bread then took a nap. When he awoke, he cleared the ten houses on the other side of the street and the two remaining on his side. Fortunately, he did not run into Rita. He knew he would eventually have to deal with her and he was not looking forward to the encounter.

Now that he had cleared all the houses on his side of A Street, he piled the corpses up out front. If anyone interfered, he or she soon became part of the pile. When he finished there were over a hundred bodies heaped up. In order to dispose of them, he went to his garage and got a five-gallon can of gas and a book of matches. It was time for a bonfire. He drenched the bodies with gas then poured the remaining fuel in a line about ten feet long away from the pile then lit a match and dropped it. The fire quickly followed the line and burst into flames when it hit the bodies. Soon he had a raging inferno with black smoke billowing into the air. After a few minutes, the heat became so intense that he had to take a step back. As he did, he noticed some others had come to watch the funeral pyre and pay their respects. This did not concern him because he was wearing his disguise and he was not making any abrupt moves. Besides, it was getting dark and this would give him cover.

As the fire grew so did the crowd of spectators.
Maybe this was not such a good idea
, he thought.

There were soon over two hundred creatures looking on. He started to back up slowly but when he did, he ran into a something behind him. From fear of creating suspicion, he did not look back. He simply waited a moment then moved forward and curved around toward his house. There were so many that in order to get through he had to squeeze between them. This created interest because this is not how the others moved. Sensing he was causing a disturbance, he became more aggressive in his escape. This, of course, created even more interest. The only thing that saved him was the fire that held their interest.

He was now very close to his house but there were still about twenty adversaries between him and his front door. As he pushed his way forward, one of the creatures suddenly grabbed at him. In order to escape he dodged to the left and rammed into another one. This caused a chain reaction as the one he bumped into bumped into another and soon they all started checking their neighbors looking for the instigator. As his fear took over, he headed for the front door. On the way by, one of them caught his coat and the storm trooper claimed its hand. Now it was on. The ones nearby came at him. Out came the Beretta and down went six in a flash. This was a mistake. The entire crowd caught on and headed in his direction. He ran for the door as if it were the goalpost knocking the defenders over as he fought past them. It was difficult to get through because they were all grabbing at him on the way by but he pushed forward relentlessly. When he finally made it inside, he locked the door then stood with his back against it trying to catch his breath. He could hear them just outside. Unfortunately, they had not stopped merely because they could no longer see him. These things were pounding on the house and they wanted in. The place was shaking so much that he thought they would knock it down. They seemed to entice and invigorate each other with their efforts and the more one pounded the harder the next did as if this were some kind of creepy competition.

He stood in disbelief for only a second before he realized what he must do. He ran upstairs and got the rifle and shotgun dropping the sword and shield in their place. He also grabbed a few boxes of ammo and headed for the roof. On the balcony facing the backyard from his parent’s room, his father kept a ladder that he used to get on the roof to put up Christmas lights. Brad shot up the ladder and once safely on the roof he fired into the crowd with the shotgun hoping to take out as many as possible. Each round of buckshot claimed from four to six of his attackers. After exhausting most of his shells, he decided to conserve the rest for close encounters. He now grabbed the rifle and aimed at the larger of his foes. After going through two boxes, it was time to take it easy with these as well. Besides, the noise was attracting as many as he was killing. When he stopped shooting, he could hear the breaking of glass and he knew they were inside his house. He felt secure that they could not get on the roof and since he had stopped shooting, nothing would lead them to him.