Jude did not have the opportunity to finish his sentence. The owner of the diner came stumbling out of the washroom. He had the side of his white shirt painted with blood. Even in the dimly lit room the three of them could see the chunk that was missing from his side. Jude held up his hands in a friendly manner saying, “You let me know just by saying hi if you aren't one of those things already.”
The shop owner’s reply was a deafening growl moan and it ran towards the three catching the two men off guard. Jude tried to bring his saw up but he did not have time. He was still getting used to the ones that had been bitten in their speed, which those from the graves had not possessed. It gripped Jude grabbing his shirt and trying to lean in to bite into his flesh. Jude had his back to Chuck and Joanne leaving him all on his own. He put an elbow to the man’s face snapping it backward but since he wasn’t able to feel pain, the elbows did very little to help him.
Jude kept the man just far enough from biting him to stay momentarily safe. They slammed back and forth and Jude stumbled backward. The heavy man’s weight threw Jude off balance and then Jude and the corpse stumbled backward full force into a large window, which unfortunately was not strong enough to hold Jude and the shop owner’s weight. The window cracked then shattered and all Chuck and Joanne saw wear two pairs of feet going up into the air as they disappeared over the side of the window located on the second story building.
Chuck screamed the idea of losing his friend wasn’t something he could handle. He yelled, “Holy fuck, what the hell just happened?”
Joanne said nothing. She ran to the window, hanging out of it thinking for sure she was going to see Jude as a meal or with his head caved in from the two-story fall to the cement below. What she saw was Jude staring at her his eyes filled with rage and worry. He and the dead landed on top of a canopy that was stretched over the back door entrance. The diner owner was still trying anxiously to get his first bite of Jude.
Jude kept the saw in between the two of them. He saw no opportunity to escape without using the saw. Jude wedged a knee in between him and the dead’s chest pushing him up just far enough so that he could put it out of its misery.
He gunned the saw and sliced from the diner owner’s right ear to his left, Jude was painted in blood and gore and guts everywhere. He closed his eyes and mouth not wanting to get any of the blood inside of him. Jude jumped when the face was cut free and fell freely down hitting him on the side of the head.
Jude set the saw down still running, grabbed at the diner owner's face and threw it far away from him. Jude grabbed a handkerchief from his pocket, and started frantically wiping his eyes and mouth.
Joanne yelled down to him, “Are you okay dude? Did he bite you? Did you get hurt?”
Jude stared up again and disbelief shaking his head he looked side to side seeing the dead's hands sticking up from all around him and feeling them flying at his form pushing through the canopy.
He screamed, “Fuck no I'm not okay! Would you look at this, do I look okay? Get me up off of this goddamn canopy now before it rips and I fall through to the -”
Jude’s luck was not improving any; the canopy that meant life or death to him gave way sending him to the cement ground below. Jude screamed, “Oh shit,” as he connected with the ground and looked up at a circle of the dead surrounding him. Jude reached around wildly searching for his chainsaw that he could still hear running and when he found it he gripped it as if his life depended on it, which it very well did. This time he did not wave it like a crazy man at their knees. He knew very well the last thing he wanted was their mouths falling full force upon him on the ground.
Jude took back the saw as he got onto his knees and tried to stand. The first one to reach in to get a bite of him got their teeth shattered by the motor end of the chainsaw and knocked them backward. Jude finished standing and saw there was one between him and the alleyway, which led to freedom, however temporary it might be. He had one dead in the way keeping him from going where he needed to. He took the chainsaw up high over his head and brought it down through its skull, down through its spine and finished off at his crotch splitting the dead in half. Jude did not give it a second thought as he pushed through the small hole and ran for freedom screaming “Figure something out, do it now,” as the dead’s halves fell to the ground.
Joanne slapped him on the arm and said, “Come on Chuck what are you going to do?”
Chuck’s mouth fell open shaking his head as he tried to formulate a plan and he said, “What in the hell do you expect me to do? I've never been in a goddamn town of the dead before. I've been places where its like dead because I'm the only one drinking cause you know it’s ten in the morning but never ever been through a town filled with the goddamn dead. It ain't my fault I don't know what to do, and it ain't my fault a dumb ass fell out of that damn window with a zombie on top of him!”
Joanne ran to the bathroom where the dead had come out of and saw there was a fire escape attached to the side of the building. Joanne yelled, “There’s a fire escape get yourself and let's get out of here.
”
Chuck did not want to question her and did as told. The two of them left climbing out of the window and checking to see what was waiting for them below. They saw most of the dead had followed Jude, which of course was good for them, and bad for him. They made their way down the steps quickly and could hear Jude’s chainsaw in the distance. Joanne saw what was left of Roger’s torso on the ground and sprinted to it grabbing the chainsaw holding down the gas and pulling the cord with everything she had. She momentarily abandoned her gear.
Chuck saw all this and was amazed he screamed over the two saws, “Where the hell did you learn how to start a chainsaw?”
Joanne said, “If your dumb ass can start a chainsaw there's nothing saying I can't.”
Chuck said, “You know for a minute there I thought I might have been in love, you might have just ruined that just a little bit right there.”
Joanne said, “You think maybe we should move this along? Your friend sounds like he's getting ready to be eaten alive, and if I had to guess we don't have a hell of a lot of time to waste before he's going to be coming after one of us.”
Chuck nodded and the two of them ran toward the screams of Jude and his chainsaw. Within a minute they had found the mob of dead that was in hot pursuit of Jude.
*****
Jude’s chainsaw screamed in rebellion at the amount of work it was being put through. He swiped the saw back and forth ripping through guts and spines with every free second he had he would cut through the brains putting them down for good.
When one of the dead who had been a very, very large man in his living days came tripping toward Jude it was all he could do to get the saw at the perfect angle bringing it up under the man's many necks and clean through it. The man's head rolled off falling to the ground followed by a gigantic body behind it. Jude tried to stop the body from getting any closer to him but it fell on top of his saw as he tried to move it out of the way. Jude went down to the ground letting go of it and pulling the axe off of his back. He looked at it thinking for a moment and realizing there were way too many of them and not enough of him to make an impact and be able to swing it as quickly as he needed to and escape
.
He dropped the axe and pulled off the machete from his belt. When the first one came to bite Jude he spun around lodging the long blade across the dead’s cheeks allowing it to open its mouth almost wide enough to fit whatever it wanted to in its mouth. Jude grip the blade pulling down cutting off its jaw and bringing a machete back up straight under the roof of its mouth and exiting through its brain. The dead in its eyes faded and it fell to the ground. Jude pulled the knife again he swung it left and right wildly like a madman hell-bent on surviving the day and making it home to his family.
Jude kept this up for a few breathtaking stressful minutes and when he thought all was lost he heard the sweetest sound he had ever heard besides those of his son as a newborn. Chuck and Joanne’s chainsaws revved loudly coming in hot and heavy and slicing the dead from behind.
Jude screamed at the top of his lungs, “I'm alive, I'm alive, don't stop! I'm alive.
”
Chuck yelled back, “When the hell have I ever quit on you buddy we ain't going nowhere until all of these fuckers are dead,again.”
True to his word he did not stop fighting until the last of the dead was on the ground finally at peace. When the last of them had fallen Chuck killed the saw saving what precious gas was still left in it, and set it down on the ground extending his hand in trying to regain the flow of blood throughout them.
Jude looked up and said, “That was amazing you two I thought for sure I was screwed. I honestly was saying my goodbyes after my saw had gotten stuck under big boy there.”
Joanne said, “It was all I could do to keep up with Chuck. He never needed to be told what to do, he was already on his way knowing he had to do something to save you.”
Chuck collapsed on the ground pulling out a broken pack of cigarettes and doing the best he could to make one resemble a straight line so he could get a much needed dose of nicotine flowing through his veins. The dead that weren't already there were drawn in by the sound of the three chainsaws. When Jude saw them rounding the corner he said, “It looks like it is time for us to move on. Now we still need to try and find a way to get to the cemeteries.”
Chuck said, “Didn’t you say Pete left the van keys at the jail? We're only a few blocks from there, why don't we just go back and get them? The dead are probably gone by now.”
Jude thought about it and at that moment was unable to think of a better answer or solution. Jude said, “I can't see any reason why those things would still be there if they weren't being enticed by us in a jail cell. I like to think that if they get bored they would move on.”
The three headed quickly toward the jail and to their relief we're finally met with the smallest bit of luck. The jail was empty of what dead the men had not permanently put down. Jude went back in through the hole Roger had made earlier and quickly found the keys still on the cot. He slid back out of the hole and the three made their way uneventfully to the van. The dead that had been nearing them earlier were far enough away that they were not an immediate threat.
When they made it back up to the bar’s parking lot where they left the van, the dead were wandering around in the parking lot looking confused and as if they were unsure of what they should do next. Joanne screamed in frustration from the current circumstances when she saw the dead she said, “Goddamn it can't we get a break. Is it too much to ask to just be able to go and get a van without having to worry about these damn things trying to eat and kill us!”
Chuck said, “You know you must not have been paying very much attention, because that's like all that has been happening to us lately.”
Jude said, “Don't worry about it we are going to be just fine. All we need to do is give these things a reason to get away from that van.”
Chuck and Joanne both stared blankly at him for a minute, neither of them jumping at the opportunity to be chased by the dead. Jude said, “Oh okay I see how it is. Don't both of you go jumping at the opportunity to be the brave one. Thanks Chuck, appreciate your camaraderie brother.”
Chuck said, “Oh I'm sorry apparently you've already forgotten about the two of us coming and saving your ass from an entire world of the dead train to eat your skinny butt.”
Jude handed Chuck the keys and said, “Pick me up a few blocks away. Don't mess around, God knows how many of these damn things are around here.”
Chuck gave him a short two finger salute and he and Joanne ran back behind a dumpster waiting for the opportunity to make a break for the van when it was clear. Jude started his saw knowing it would be more than loud enough to draw all their attention again. He was thinking about how his previous evening had ended with him almost getting laid, to almost being killed by the woman, to being chased by the dead and having to lose a friend and having to put a friend down. Jude took a long deep breath shaking his one free hand and nodded.
Jude said, “Well here goes nothing.”
Jude ran out into the parking lot revving the engine for the chainsaw holding it up high and letting it scream and echo across the parking lot. The dead slowly turned their heads looking backward seeing the meal or at least the potential for one that was moving very quickly. Once Jude put enough distance between the two of them he stopped running and killed the saw sitting and waiting for the dead to follow him. Jude watched, waiting impatiently, thinking that at any moment they are going to attempt to come after him. After a few minutes waiting he looked over at Chuck shrugging not knowing what to do to make them come after him. Jude screamed across the parking lot, “I don't know why the hell they aren’t trying to come after me? I don't know what I should do to make them leave the van.”
But a voice came out of the van screaming, “Would somebody please get these goddamn things away from this van. I have been stuck here for almost an hour. Please come help me!”
Jude who was trying to see through the midday sun and saw that yes there was someone trying to find sanctuary and safety and they were in their work van. He cupped his hands and screamed, “What the hell are you doing in the van?”