“Do the Existing Dead hang around in the sunlight?”
“The what?” she asked, confused.
“The monsters, creatures, whatever you call them. Do they come out at night?”
She nodded. “They can’t get up here though. We’re safe.”
“Good, I want safe.”
“What’s with the luggage?” Kyle shoved a large forkful of beans into his mouth. “Going somewhere?”
“You don’t know?”
He shook his head as he chewed.
“Listen to this.” Jasmine took the small crank radio and began rolling the crank to power the radio. “It’s been playing since this morning. I hope it’s still on.” She stopped cranking it when the voice of a man pierced through the static. Kyle spit out the chewed beans when he realized whose voice it was.
“… Attention all citizens. This is Doctor Theodore Greenly, top researcher of the plague that has swept over our glorious nation. If you can hear this, I want you to know that there is hope. There is salvation. I have spent countless hours since the plague began and have finally developed a vaccine …”
Blood rushed out of Kyle’s face making him as white as the wall behind him. His heart raced as he remembered Greenly’s red eyes and fangs. He wondered if a scalpel to the neck fazed him at all.
“… If you’d like salvation, there is a little community just outside of Las Vegas. We have food with much room to grow. We need to unite and take back our country, then the world. We have the power to do that now. My vaccine works.”
Greenly continued but the power on the radio was slowly dying out. “Stupid thing,” Jasmine said. She placed the radio back on the coffee table. “I was thinking about leaving for Nevada tomorrow. Didn’t you just come from Nevada?” She smiled.
“We are not going anywhere.”
“What?”
“I said we’re not going anywhere,” Kyle repeated with a tint of anger in his voice.
“Why not? This guy has a vaccine, there’s a community of people that are ready to do something about this whole mess.”
“I was there!” Kyle screamed, his voice vibrating through the apartment.
“Shhh,” she said.
“I was there. I know what his vaccine is. I’ve seen it in action.”
“Does it work?”
“Yeah, if you want to become one of
“I don’t understand.”
Kyle took the next half hour to explain everything he learned about the Existing Dead.
“Oh my god,” Jasmine sighed. “Vampires?”
“That’s the closest comparison, but honestly, who knows what the vaccine and virus did to him.”
“What are we going to do?”
Kyle had never thought that far ahead. All he’d thought about was getting to Jasmine and making her safe. He never anticipated that she would actually
“I don’t know. Stay here until we can’t stay any longer.”
“I can’t do that, Kyle. I’ve been here too long. What do they call it? Cabin fever? That’s what I’m getting. I can’t stay in this place much longer.”
Kyle began to worry. Jasmine was losing control. He reached in and put his arms around her. “It’s going to be fine. Trust me.”
Kyle’s black shirt felt wet as it caught the tears that fell from Jasmine’s eyes. He held her for another minute until something outside caught his attention. Twilight was quickly approaching. Standing in the middle of the street, where Kyle had taken refuge from the friendly fire, was the figure of a person.
“What’s that?”
Jasmine backed away from Kyle and looked out the window. “He’s back.” She ran for her rifle.
“Who’s back?”
“If you would have stayed awake you would have heard about him.”
She put a pair of earplugs in and stuck the barrel of the gun through the opening in the window. She took aim. The crosshairs perfectly covered the figure. Kyle walked behind her and checked the weapons on the table.
“Cover your ears.”
Kyle dropped everything in his hands and covered his ears. The blast echoed in the room.
“Fuck,” she said. “I missed.”
She cocked the rifle again and took aim.
“What is all this shit? Where’s the ammo?”
“I ran out, I only have a few rounds for the rifle left.”
“You have about ten firearms here and you only have ammo for the rifle?”
“Shhh,” she said. “Cover your ears.”
Again the blast rippled the inside of the house.
“Dammit!” She cocked the rifle again.
“Let me. Before you waste the little bit of ammo you have left.”
Kyle took the rifle. He got an up-close view of the creature Jasmine had been shooting through the scope. She took the earplugs out of her ears and placed them into his ears. The creature looked nothing like the Existing Dead he encountered. This one was completely devoid of hair. Not even eyebrows were visible. He was pale, a dark shade of gray. He did not move, just continued staring up at the apartment. A large bullet hole was visible above his right eye.
Kyle took deep breaths. His hands stopped shaking, the only two things that mattered at that second was him and the figure. He took in one last deep breath. Jasmine knew this was the sign. She covered her ears. The rifle popped, blasting the bullet at eight hundred feet per second toward the creature. The center mass of the figure completely split open. It fell to its knees and toppled over. Dead.
“It’s the heart,” he said.
She peered out the window and looked at the creature on the ground. She sighed. With the creature dead, it felt as though a chapter from her past had finally closed.
“Who was that?”
“My ex-boyfriend. He’s the reason everyone died here.”
Kyle felt a sense of pride. Many men only dream about the day where they can take out their ex-lover’s new love. “What do we do with the body? There doesn’t seem to be anyone around. Are you going to move it?”
“I have to. For some reason, when they see one of their own dead on the ground, they come in bunches.”
She opened the door, and a pair of arms quickly reached for her. She screamed a bone-chilling cry as the arms pulled her out of the house.
“Jasmine!” Kyle yelled.
He grabbed the rifle and ran toward the door. Jasmine was struggling to pull free, but another set of arms reached out for her. “Let me go!” she yelled.
Kyle raised the rifle and took aim. Jasmine ducked just enough for Kyle to squeeze off a round without hitting her. He fired.
“Fuck!” he yelled and reached for the Glock. Jasmine ducked again and Kyle fired at the creature bear- hugging her. It staggered back. He fired two more times, hitting it on the shoulder with the first shot. The second shot sliced its cheek open. He pulled the trigger one more time, striking the being on the forehead. It staggered back and began to tip over the open railing where the staircase once was. Both the creature and Jasmine fell off the side. “No!” Kyle yelled. He reached his hand out, but it was too late.
Kyle grabbed the other creature by the arm and flung him off the side. The adrenaline pumped through his body. Leaning over the railing, he saw Jasmine on the ground facedown and motionless.
The ladder stared at Kyle and for that split second, he knew that leaving the ladder there was a mistake. A
