“Mommy, please answer,” it said again.
The voice was coming from the blanket. Kyle couldn’t believe it. Could Angel have been alive all this time? Had Susie been telling the truth? He walked toward the blanket and slowly unwrapped it. Staring back at him was the face of an
“Where’s my Mommy?” Angel asked.
“I …” Kyle said, not able to process how this girl was still alive. He never had seen her dead body; only Victor had. Had Victor lied? “I …” he said again. “I’m sorry,” he finally stuttered as he pointed the barrel of the Winchester at the smiling girl’s face and fired.
Chapter Nine
The sun was just rising. The streets reeked of death and were littered with many fallen dead. Most were no longer moving, but some crawled mindlessly like military soldiers after an air raid. The earth was calm. The only noise came from birds that chirped and crowed from the above power lines, as if mocking the dead below. Interrupting the calm was the sound of a gun discharging. Victor jumped in the air as the blast shocked him. He turned back quickly, only to see Kyle kicking the corpse off the roof. The shotgun round completely obliterated the little girl’s head, leaving nothing but a stump and a mangled mess. Kyle looked down as the body landed on the ground, hitting one of the Existing Dead as it fell.
“Why did you do that? She was already dead,” Victor said, not understanding why Kyle had shot a dead and decomposing corpse.
Kyle realized he had been hallucinating. Angel was dead, but yet, he heard her speak. He saw her beautiful face, the rosy red cheeks and the big blue eyes. In reality, the girls’ dead body had been decomposing. Her skin was gray and one of her eyes was half open. There was a large hole on the top of her head, as if someone had hit her with a hammer. And now her entire head was missing, thanks to Kyle.
“She was alive and I killed her mother. I had to kill her as well. So they could be together,” Kyle said, still looking at the dead ripping away at what was left of Susie. A mixture of blood, entrails and Victor’s vomit surrounded the dead bodies.
“Dude, she was dead! Did you not look at her? Don’t tell me you’re starting to go crazy, too,” Victor said, almost pleading.
Something snapped in Kyle’s head. He broke free from his daydream and saw Angel for what she was, just another dead body. “Sorry, I just got lost for a second. Are you ready to go?”
Victor nodded and held the gun out in front of him. Kyle saw a little opening to his left, then saw a clear path that led back to his truck.
“Okay, this is what we’re going to do. We’re going to jump off the roof into the front yard. Hopefully they will be too occupied with Susie to look over at us. When we land we are going to speed walk back to the truck. There are tons of them on the ground. Most look dead but you can’t be too sure. Try to keep a distance so they can’t reach you. If any of them do, then shoot them in the head. Got it?”
“Yeah, let’s go,” Victor replied.
“Come on.” Kyle turned to run. Without hesitating he jumped off the roof. He landed on the ground, bending his knees to absorb the impact. Kyle looked up at Victor, who was unsure about jumping.
“Just do it!” Kyle yelled, “Bend your knees when you land. It won’t hurt. I promise.”
“I can’t,” Victor replied.
“This is no time to be a pussy. Now get your fucking ass down here or I’m leaving without you!” Kyle yelled, thinking that was what Victor needed, some tough love. Kyle turned and fired his shotgun at one of the approaching zombies. The force of the shot caused its head to explode, completely liquefying it. The head juice rained onto the ground. “Jump now!” Kyle yelled.
Victor closed his eyes and leaped off the roof. He landed and fell to his knees on the ground as his gun discharged. The bullet ricocheted off something on the ground and somehow managed to strike an Existing Dead in the head. Kyle helped Victor to his feet, scolding him for leaving his finger on the trigger. They began power walking toward the truck. They looked at each dead on the ground before passing by the remains. Victor took one last glance at the driveway. The Existing Dead eating away at Susie stopped and began walking in their direction. Their moans grew louder with very step they took. Some fell into the crater at the end of the driveway only to get back up and walk toward them again.
An arm reached out for Victor’s leg. He was distracted looking at the dead in the driveway. Kyle pumped the shotgun and blasted at the creature’s arm, severing it. Kyle pumped the gun again and shot it through the head, ripping half its scalp off and revealing a liquid brain.
“Keep walking,” Kyle said, grabbing Victor by the forearm and dragging him closer. “Don’t worry about the ones far away. We can walk faster than them.”
“But they’re everywhere,” Victor said as he looked behind them. It looked as if hundreds of them were following the only two fully alive beings in the area. There were many more that they hadn’t noticed walking down the streets. The path in front of them looked clear until the Existing Dead began pouring out of their hiding spots and soaked the streets.
“We gotta move faster,” Kyle said as he began to jog lightly.
Victor followed close behind. They could see Kyle’s truck out in the distance. They were getting very close. A few Existing Dead got between them and the truck. Kyle pumped the shotgun and fired. The blast made them disburse and fall to the ground. He pumped the shotgun again as they reached the truck.
“It doesn’t look like the jet touched it,” Victor said as Kyle opened the door and let himself in.
“Get in, now!” Kyle ordered as he started the engine. The truck sprang to life and Victor climbed in. He sat the gun on the floor and put his seat belt on. The road in front of them was filled with bodies. Kyle carefully tried weaving around them, but there were too many. He had no choice but to run over a few. The truck jumped as the tires rode over bodies instead of pavement.
“There’s a clearing up ahead,” Victor mentioned, pointing forward.
“Yeah, I see it.” Kyle was in such a zone that he didn’t even take one last look at his house before driving out of the suburban neighborhood. The tragedy that had taken place yesterday was in Kyle’s past now. His son was dead, and there was nothing he could do to bring him back. But there was something he could do to help fill the void that a father feels when he loses his son. He saw this void filler in Victor.
“So where did Susie say this safe zone was?” Victor asked, picking snacks out of the shopping basket.
“Vegas,” Kyle replied staring at the Existing Dead in his rearview mirror.
“Las Vegas, huh? That’s not too far from my place. About an hour or so. You should be able to make it there after you drop me off at my mom’s,” Victor said, then stuffed his face with a Snickers bar.
Kyle suddenly remembered what Susie had told him the night before. Was Victor living in a delusional world where his mom was alive and well in their house? Did he honestly think that when he got there the world would go back to normal? Kyle needed to know what Victor was really thinking.
“What do you expect to find when you get home? With everything that has been going on the past week now, do you honestly think that your mom or family is still alive?” Kyle said, as he swerved out of the way of a body.
“I don’t know. My mom’s a tough woman, I’m sure she’s held up in our house just like Susie was. I’m sure she’ll be excited to see me,” Victor said with a tint of joy in his voice. Just talking about his mom made him feel better.
“Like Susie? You did see how crazy she was, right? If your mom survived then you have to think that she’ll be a little off. We all are. I keep having visions of my son and I know something is not clicking right in my head. I’m not totally nut-balls though. At least I can admit I’m not all there.”
“So what are you saying? That my mom will be crazy, just like your ex-wife and Susie?” Victor sounded offended.
“I’m just saying that you need to expect anything. We could get there and your mom could be dead. Or she could be alive and well, but she might not be all there,” Kyle said, trying to prepare Victor for what lay ahead.
Victor stayed quiet. He had never really thought about all the possibilities. In his mind, seeing his mom again would make all the death go away. There was no telling what he would do if he made it home only to see his mother dead, or worse, as one of the Existing Dead.
