He climbed down and stood over Jasmine. Turning, he noticed the Existing Dead he had thrown off the side was back on its feet. Kyle raised the Glock and pulled the trigger three times. Pink blood spewed across the back wall as a small hole appeared in its chest.
He knelt and rolled Jasmine onto her back. Her head quickly rolled to the side as though her neck had been broken. He put his hand on her chest and began shaking her. “Wake up. Wake up!” he said. “Please wake up.”
She didn’t.
Kyle felt hollow inside, as though nothing were there. He felt dead, but alive at the same time. Just like the Existing Dead. There was no real explanation why he still existing after all of this.
Mary was dead. Eddie was dead. Susie was dead. Angel was dead. Chet was dead. Morgan was dead. Victor was dead. Albert was dead. And now, Jasmine was dead. The only one missing was Kyle.
Moans began to cluster behind him. Kyle turned only to see fifty Existing Dead coming for him.
He wasn’t going out without a fight. He holstered the Glock and ran for the maintenance room. From what he remembered, this was where the building manager stored the gardening equipment. Ramming the door open with his shoulder, Kyle began looking for anything he could use. The Existing Dead were close at hand.
To his left were three shovels, two spade heads and one squared. A pick axe stood at attention next to them, as well as a sledge hammer. He grabbed the hammer first. His muscles ached as he lifted it off the ground, but he didn’t care. This is where he was going to die.
Lifting the weapon high in the air, Kyle rushed for the first Existing Dead in his path.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Kyle smashed the face of an elderly woman. She fell to the ground as she lost balance. Kyle raised the hammer and brought it down onto her head. Gallagher and his watermelons was the first thing to come to mind. Her head exploded under the pressure, spraying the contents of her head all over Kyle’s feet.
Suddenly eight of the creatures surrounded him, looking like a pack of hungry wolves. He swung the sledge hammer like a bat, breaking bones and knocking others off their feet. One of the main things he had to remember was that speed was the key. Once trapped, the game was over. When there was a clearing, he ran.
He swung at another Existing Dead that was looking over Jasmine’s lifeless body. The blow hit it on the side of the head, dropping it instantly. He turned as two more were slowly creeping behind him. Their mouths fell open, exposing their fangs. He hit one of them in the chest with the top of the hammer and used the handle to slap the other one across the face. Both of them lost balance.
Something poking out of the grass caught his attention. It was a wooden spike, the same that are used for building a picket fence. He dropped the hammer and picked up the spike. He jammed it into the chest of a downed creature. It hissed as the stake pierced its heart. It stopped moving.
He ran back into the maintenance room to find more spikes. There were several of them laying on a pile to his left. He grabbed some and threw them out the doorway. Running back to the hammer, he grabbed it and smashed another Existing Dead’s head as he went by.
Several more monsters surrounded him, but he used the same tactic to find a way out. That was until the wooden handle on the sledge hammer splint and cracked in half. The hammer part flew into a crowd of dead, hitting one of them in the stomach. He looked at the end of the handle that had broken into a perfect point. Jamming it into an approaching creature, he felt the existence slowly leave its body as it fell limp.
They started surrounding Jasmine’s body, some were already on the ground biting into her, tearing away flesh and drinking blood.
Holding on to the same stake, Kyle ran toward them. He jammed it into the back of one that was kneeling down toward her. The creature didn’t die like the others had. It turned to face him and opened its mouth. This one had no fangs. Its brain was never destroyed. He pulled the stake out of its back and impaled it through the right eye socket. The creature fell to the ground, motionless. Kyle knew it was only temporary, but three more were creeping behind him, there was no time to put it down for good.
Kyle continued the carnage for as long as the twilight remained. He made a decision. He could grab Jasmine’s body and carry her to the second floor and give her a proper burial in the morning. Or he could lie down next to her and let them eat him. But Jasmine, the woman he loved, deserved a real burial. His mind was set.
Using his remaining strength, Kyle pushed the four Existing Dead huddled around her. Picking her up and over his shoulders was the easy part. Now he had to climb up the ladder with an extra hundred-plus pounds on his back. The area around the ladder was clear. He started for it. One by one, he took the steps to the top and heaved Jasmine onto the walkway. Her bloodied form rolled in front of the door. Kyle pulled the ladder up, swinging it around to loosen the grip from some of the monsters below. He placed the ladder on the ground.
He stared at Jasmine’s body. No tears fell from his face; there was nothing left alive inside of him. He lay down on top of her and kissed her forehead. He kissed her for the last time.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Morning came and Kyle remained curled up next to Jasmine’s body. No more noises came from below. The Existing Dead have retreated away from the sun, leaving the carnage behind.
His body ached. It felt as though he had run a thousand-mile marathon. He ignored his fatigue and placed the ladder back into position. Jasmine’s body felt colder than ice as he carried her down the ladder. He set her down on a patch of grass and headed for the maintenance room. He grabbed a shovel and began digging.
“This one too, Kyle?” Mary said. “I thought you were going to save her?” She and Eddie held hands as they stood on the only visible patch of concrete.
“Leave me alone.”
“Honestly, what are you trying to accomplish? Do you think burying her is going to make things all better?”
Chet, Morgan, Susie, Angel and Albert all materialized on the second floor. They watched in silence as Kyle dug the grave.
“Silent treatment?” Mary said.
“Just leave me the fuck alone!” he screamed at the top of his lungs.
“No.”
Kyle continued digging, ignoring everything Mary was saying.
He made the grave as deep as he could. After all, it had to be deep enough for two bodies. He grabbed one of the remaining spikes and headed for the maintenance room. There was a large cardboard box in the room. Kyle cut a large rectangular piece out and grabbed the black Sharpie pen sitting on one of the counters. He wrote something in large print. Big enough for someone to read if they were on the street looking at the apartment complex.
He used a small nail and hammer to nail the cardboard onto the wooden spike. Nothing was going on in his mind at the moment. Everything felt like it was a dream. Nothing in life mattered anymore. He took the sign and hammered it into the grass in front of the grave. He grabbed for Jasmine and gently placed her into the hole. Then Kyle slapped back into reality. Everything that had happened to him came rushing in at one instant. He stood inside the six-foot-deep grave and began to weep.
The ghosts of those killed because of him surrounded the grave. They knew what he was about to do and they were happy.
“Do it,” Mary said. “What are you waiting for? Do it.”
Blood squirted out of Eddie’s gunshot wound.
“Do it, you good for nothing waste of space,” Morgan added. “You couldn’t even look after my boy.”
All of them began chanting, “Do it, do it,” as Kyle cried incessantly. He reached for the Glock on his belt. Everything would go away in just a few seconds. A bullet to the brain and all the pain, all the sorrow would vanish. He slowly un-holstered the Glock, placed it to the side of his head, and pulled the trigger.
Epilogue
2 Days Later
“Hurry up! We need to get out of here,” Zoe said from the driver’s seat of the stolen Prius.
Shots rang inside the AMPM as Patrick pushed the glass door open with a bag full of chips, nuts and
