making his muscles more efficient for what he was about to do. He was going to find Chet and make him pay for everything. Pay for drugging him, pay for stealing from him and pay for raping a poor defenseless boy,
Kyle turned to face the counter and saw a pair of scissors nestled into a dark corner near the employee work station. He grabbed them by the pointed edge and tested the sharpness by rubbing his thumb against one of the blades. Not as sharp as he would have liked, but better than nothing. He put the scissors into his back pocket and jumped over the counter.
He didn’t know how long ago Chet had left, but rain was still gushing down from the heavens. His muscles began to tense up as he thought about Eddie, Mary, Susie, Angel and Victor. Then the image of the zombified version of Chet pressing Victor against the sliding glass door and raping him right in front of Kyle snapped into his head. Anger raced through him as he sprinted for the door. He turned right down the outside pathway until he reached the parking lot. He was quickly engulfed in rain, and his vision was no more than a few feet in front of him. Looking around, Kyle began sprinting up the road as quickly as he could. There was no telling how much time he had before Chet was gone forever.
He ran for what seemed like many miles but in reality, was only about one. As he reached a sign that read
Kyle did notice something as he continued running; there were no other figures on the streets besides him. He saw this as a sign of luck. He wouldn’t have to deal with the Existing Dead, and could continue on his mission of finding Chet.
As he ran, the road split into two directions. Kyle stopped, trying to catch his breath. He wasn’t sure which direction he should go, but one sign did catch his gaze: it read “Las Vegas” with a pointing arrow.
Kyle took in one last gust of air and continued running in the direction of Las Vegas. He remembered that’s where Chet said he was heading before his car stopped running.
The sound of his feet smacking onto the pavement grew louder now that the rain was no longer there to muffle the noise. He began running uphill, causing his legs to tire more quickly. As his head peeked over the small hilltop, he saw a figure roughly one-hundred yards away. The form was too far out to be recognizable, but he did recognize his Toyota pick-up truck. Two cars were parked parallel to each other on the middle of the road. The person was moving items from Kyle’s truck into a small Ford Fusion.
Kyle ducked his head and ran right toward the railings. There was plenty of trees for him to move undetected closer to Chet. Kyle took the scissors out of his back pocket and slowly began to walk through the green toward the inhuman monster.
He moved quickly and quietly, trying very hard to not be seen or heard. He wanted the element of surprise to work in his favor. Not that he needed it. Chet didn’t look like he had any weapons on his body.
Kyle was finally a few yards away, and Chet still did not know that he was being stalked. The pedophile picked the robot backpack out of the truck and tossed it into his car. Kyle watched and waited for the perfect time to strike and just as if God were listening to his thoughts, the perfect time came.
From the other end of the road, four figures emerged. Their slow and jerky movements instantly told Kyle that they were Existing Dead. They were a hundred yards away, and Chet had not yet noticed them. Kyle watched as the dead slowly approached. It wasn’t until one of them moaned that Chet noticed the danger he was in.
“Ah shit,” Chet said, reaching into his car and bringing out Kyle’s Winchester. “How the fuck do you load this thing?” he asked himself, in a panic.
Chet found the shell loading compartment and then began loading it with shells from his pocket. When no more would fit, he pumped the shotgun and pointed it toward the figures.
Kyle waited until the figures were a bit closer. They were forty yards away now. He slowly crept out of his hiding spot with the pair of scissors in his hand, the piercing end pointed to the ground. Taking one footstep at a time to minimize his noise, Kyle was moving closer undetected. Chet held the shotgun with the stock on his shoulders. He stood motionless pointing the barrel at the advancing dead with his finger on the trigger, ready to fire at any moment. But before he could fire, Kyle wrapped his hand around Chet’s chin and raised it into the air. Then he put the sharp end of the scissors against the side of Chet’s neck.
“Hello,” Kyle said in a mocking tone.
“Kyle, I was just on my way to get you,” Chet said, no longer speaking in a British accent.
“Drop it,” Kyle ordered.
“But they’re coming closer. We need to take them out before they kill us.”
“I said drop it,” Kyle said, forcing the scissors a little further into his throat.
Chet didn’t protest any longer and released the weapon. The shotgun went hurling down to the ground. The sound of metal and wood hitting pavement clattered around them.
“Now, get to your knees,” Kyle ordered.
“Please, don’t …” Chet began, but was cut off by Kyle.
“Get to your fucking knees!” Kyle yelled, kicking the back of Chet’s legs and sending him crashing to his knees. He quickly lifted Chet’s chin again and put the scissors back on his skin. “Good. Now wait.”
“Wait for what?” Chet muttered, almost in tears.
“For them,” Kyle said motioning toward the four lumbering dead that were only a few yards away now.
“Please, don’t do this, there’s still enough time for you to grab the gun and take them out,” Chet said.
“Shut the fuck up,” Kyle replied. “This is what you get, you sick fuck.”
The dead began to moan in anticipation of their meal. Kyle stared into their eyes and noticed that none of them were looking at him. Their glossy eyes were locked onto Chet, the easy prey.
“Look at them, Chet,” Kyle said. “You’re going to be one of them soon.”
“No,” Chet said as he smacked Kyle’s hand out of the way with lightning-fast speed. Kyle was not expecting Chet to get out of his grip. Chet reached for the shotgun and grabbed hold of the pistol grip. He wrapped his finger around the trigger and pointed it toward the dead. But before he could fire, Kyle lunged for him, bringing the piercing end of the scissors down on Chet’s right shoulder. Chet yelled as blood began to spray onto his clothes. Kyle knew he had hit an artery; there was too much blood around. He opened the scissors and twisted them until the handles broke, leaving the blades inside of Chet’s body.
The firearm fell to the ground again as Chet put his left hand over his wound and screeched. Kyle took a few steps away from him as the Existing Dead began to swipe for Chet. His shrieking grew louder as the first dead sank his teeth into his cheek. The remaining three piled on top of Chet and each other, biting any piece of flesh they could.
Kyle searched the ground for the Winchester, but it was nowhere in sight. He finally caught view of the firearm’s stock, poking underneath the pile of bodies in front of him. There was no way he would be able to get to it without risking getting bitten. He ran toward the truck and looked inside; his Glock had to be somewhere nearby. Searching the truck carefully, Kyle couldn’t find it.
The screams continued behind him, the noise helped steer the Existing Dead toward Chet. Kyle was glad that Chet was still putting up a fight; he wanted him alive but infected. He had more plans for the piece of shit, but if he didn’t hurry the dead would continue eating until there was nothing left of him.
Kyle ran to the Fusion and began searching the car for the Glock. He found it on the floor of the passenger side. He bent down to grab it and quickly ejected the magazine to see if there were still ten rounds loaded.
“Fuck, three,” he muttered.
There was no more time to wait. He had to do something to save Chet before the dead consumed him.
Kyle pushed the magazine back into the Glock and turned. Sneaking up behind him was one of the Existing Dead.
Chapter Fourteen
The screams began to fade into the wilderness. Chet was not going to be able to hold on much longer. Kyle rushed into the dead body stumbling toward him, knocking the beast off balance. Forgetting about it for the moment, Kyle ran toward the dog pile. A large pool of blood surrounded it as Chet continued to thrash and claw his way back up. Kyle was surprised that Chet was still fighting the way he was. The pervert was tougher than he thought. He raised the pistol and pointed it at one of the monsters’ heads. The weapon discharged, sending a bullet through the air. At this range, there was no way Kyle was going to miss. The bullet entered the side of one
