LAST DAWN OF A HORDE
Chapter Five: Reunion of the Stars
2 of 2
~Jules~
Rolcene closed the heavy
main door with himself. "Go kick some zombie ass for me!"
Once we are all outside,
we immediately headed off to the woods next to the warehouse. I led the task,
and John finally saw where we had gone through when we rescued him. After turns
and turns and turns, we managed to avoid some SWAT team carrying long armalites
walking the roads. Before we can move on, they spotted a zombie walking yards away
and they ran for it.
We ran past their base at
the middle of the road.
About three choppers flew
overhead, and when we were hidden in the trees and tall grasses opposite the
path where the warehouse was, I got the opportunity to warn the others.
"Listen," I
whispered. "We are going down here, and whatever happens, crouch down
until you see me stand. These SWAT will shoot us the moment they see us."
Stanley said, "Roger
that!"
"Ssshh," Gray
shushed.
We move downwards. I was
the first to go down, and when I found out that the land was safe to step on, I
whistled to the others. That's the time Miguel alerted me that the SWAT are
marching back to their base, increasing our vulnerability. I am very sure the
zombie they had taken down was already bathing in its dirty blood.
J.D. was the last to go,
and a few more steps we hear water gushing down from the falls. Yes, we are
finally near the Blue River. John looked excited and he went next to me,
delight sparkling in his eyes.
Following the water, we
landed on the edge of the river. On the other side of the river stood a huge
stone wall with a single hole fit for a human to crawl in.
John stepped forward.
"That's where they got out," he said. "But where are
they?"
I didn't know this place.
Surely, inside the stone wall was the great underground sewer system and on the
other side of it was where we found John.
Then a stench welcomed us.
Human things—spears, ashes of firewood, tiny bones I recognize that was from
squirrels, nut shells, mango peelings, and drying woven clothes—were around.
What really surprised me is a lying body of a bloody girl with an arrow struck
on her stomach and on her chest. She's dead, for sure. Double dead, I
mean. But she looks familiar, though.
John went to the pile of
human knickknack remains. He examined it thoroughly and said, "T-The other
girls wove this!"
I joined him while the
others are checking the dead girl lying unconsciously near the river. From the
way she looks, she must have been a zombie—her skin was so pale and transparent.
So...dead. And surely the Josephites wouldn't shoot arrows to their
classmates, would they?
Katie pleaded her
classmates J.D. and Jet not to touch and observe the girl. Suddenly I began to
think I know her—the girl had this long hair running down to her waist...
"No, Jet! Maybe that
one is still alive! Maybe it's a trap!" Katie pleaded.
J.D. said, "Oh come
on, it's already dead."
Katie didn't look
convinced. But I was convinced.
I turned to John. "Do
you think they were here?"
John nodded, as he touched
the wooden arrows our classmates possibly made. Seeing these things made me
believe so good that my fellow friends are still alive and seeking help.
Help. That's what I will
give them firsthand.
"That's Andrea,"
John pointed positively to the shot girl. She was wearing her uniform, and now
I believed him—that's my friend's long hair James and he used to pull.
"How can you be so
sure?"
John sighed. "The
last time I saw her, I had guessed she was infected."
"How did you
know?"
"She had been bitten
on her navel's side," John beamed. "But I doubt she didn't kill
anyone."
John pointed nearby.
Beside Andrea was a pool of blood, and it dripped until it reached the river. I
can only make something up—Andrea must've attacked someone and the others
dragged it to drown on the river. As far as I have observed, zombies are really
brainless—they can't swim, talk,—but they can run, kill, eat, and...dance. Now
that's the joke.
"We should go,"
I announced. I figured out there's no more use of speaking in a low voice—I'll
be really impressed for the police and the SWAT if they can still see and hear
us from down here. After getting useful things like firewood, arrows and
untouched fruits and nuts, we walked deeper into the trees. The hill was
sloping down, and I don't even have an idea where we will end up.
No, actually, I know.
Downtown.
When you hear the word
downtown and uptown, you admit you're thinking of something else. When you say
uptown and downtown, take it literally. Now you'll consider the St. Joseph's
University as one places in uptown.
I've never been downtown
for the last weeks. I live a few blocks away from school, and I had been
downtown last time when we watched Titanic 3D. Using the main road to travel
going downtown seems to be a better idea, but if you want to live at least a
day longer, avoid the main road, the zombies, the shooting helicopters, and the
SWAT.
I feel like we're getting
near—getting near something I don't know. But I get that feeling sometimes;
when I got this sensation, it was telling me I was near my goal.
Near.
Chopper blades cut the
air, and as we all try to hide under trees, I bet the police had a lead that we
are here. Violent air circled us, but I asked everyone to keep calm and
try to conceal themselves. At the point of time where the sun is up, shining
brightly on the sky, it will be hard to stay hidden.
And then the chopper was
gone. I heard someone speak in megaphone, but it was barely audible because of
the muffling air inside my ear canals.
I mouthed Let's go!
and we got on our feet. Another quarter of a mile of sprinting made my feet
stiff and tired, but when I gripped my katana tight, I felt like I was
getting stronger. I don't know how this will help me, but thanks to my dad who
taught me how to fight with a stick sword when I was nine.
I handed Adrian and Geno
the arrows we picked up from the site where we guessed our other classmates had
rested. From their sheath bags, the two of them pulled out a bow for each of
them. Jimmy, Adrian and Geno are just one of my classmates who are learning
Archery from our class. Like John had told me, I sucked in that subject—I
prefer sword fighting. It was much more intense, challenging—and deadly.
They load their arrows,
and Geno said, "Wow, I know the only person that will bother to sharpen an
arrow like this."
"Jimmy," Adrian
mused.
That's the spirit.
We moved on.
Unfortunately, Jet, having the clearest eyesight of perfect 20-20, warned us,
"Zombie ahead, twelve o'clock!"
That's for directions. The
zombie, alone and wearing tattered clothes drenched in blood and some kind of
green liquid, was marching far away I can barely see it. Nice job, Jet. It
surely didn't hear us, but it was climbing up while we were going down.
I approached Adrian.
"Can you shoot it from down here?"
He nodded, but he didn't
look like he wanted to shoot it. "But of course, we are checking for other
zombies. Maybe that one's not alone."
I agreed. Then I went to
John.
"See zombies
around?" I asked.
He shakes his head.
I called for Adrian and
Geno. "Shoot!"
Two arrows flew instantly
right after I spoke. I followed its trail, and they hit the zombie
excellently—Geno's arrow to its head and Adrian for its chest.
Jet and Stanley patted the
two archers on their backs. "Nice shot, Geno!" Stanley says.
I was about to go near
them when one girl suddenly screamed.
I'm betting my hat it was
Katie, the only girl in our group.
"Shit," muttered
J.D.. "I had second thoughts about letting her come..."
We boys ran to where the
sound came from. Avoiding slippery land, we sloped down to see Katie struggling
with a buff zombie bigger than anyone of us.
Before I can give
initiatives, Adrian released an arrow shooting the zombie's head. I hate to say
these two things to you: First, I wanted to slice zombies so bad with my sword,
and second, I saw the zombie was wearing St. Joseph's University uniform.
Miguel stepped forward. He
looked sullen over a sudden. "That's Peter, a junior. One of my junior
players."
"Why is he way
too—buffer than you?" I asked.
John answered, "That
boy's the oldest of the players. Even older than Miguel."
I nod, and we all go a
little more downwards to rescue Katie. Bathing in the zombie's blood, Katie
broke into tears.
"Katie! Don't cry!
And don't open your eyes!" I warned her. I learned the lesson of the
infection the hard way.
Katie contained herself,
and when Jet reached her, she hid her face on his chest as she went on crying.
Jet was clearly scolding
her, but at the same time, he was comforting her. "I told you! Curiosity
kills the cat!"
He wiped off the blood
from her face, and he took her in his arms. If Leo will see them like this,
that guy will unleash his—her—fury.
I came to the bad part.
"Observe her," I tell the others. "If she started to act strange
and submit symptoms...tie her up."
That didn't make Katie
comfortable. The thought of somebody telling you you're infected is like
denoting they'll kill you later.
We all rose, and on our
way down, Jet had Katie on his side. I didn't like it—it makes one of our great
assets and fighters vulnerable. But I kept my mouth shut.
We weren't half a mile
near downtown yet, but to count, we already encountered five zombies in all. I
want to eat already, but it will be foolishness. A picnic here in the woods
with zombies around is like eating inside a hungry lion's cage.
I sliced the head of the
sixth zombie we came across, and actually, I had fun—especially on the part
where I removed all its limbs. We met the seventh zombie just before we reached
downtown road, but before I can swing my katana, Adrian had shot it on
its chest. Fountain of blood spurted out of the damage, and John called me.
“They can move without
brains if they’re infected long enough,” John explained. “But I think they
still have blood in their systems.”
“And it can still infect,”
I said dryly. It made no difference, but at least he had given us info to cut
time on deciding where to shoot infected zombies.
~John~
The first thing I asked them is why we had gone so far from uptown.
Jules answered me
professionally. “I’m afraid, my friend, that we need to postpone the trip of
rescuing them for a while.”
My nostrils almost flared.
“You what? You say you’ll postpone?”
Jules backed up. “Look,
there are a lot of zombies up there. Since we are here downtown, we just need
to venture out here, find supplies, and then get our butts out of here—“
We hear a gunshot. My head
darted to where it came, and I almost gasped if it wasn’t for Jules who pulled
me away once more.
Daniel, one of my classmates,
was shot on the head by a distant SWAT sharpshooter—for their good. We run, and
several bullets whizzed past my ear. Lucky I still didn’t get a bullet through
me, and I can even hear Jules cursing.
“Damn!” he exclaimed, as
we skirted past tall, massive trees. When my body suggested we have already
gone away for a good distance, we stopped, leaving all of us panting.
Geno slammed his bow onto
one tree. I guess if it was one of us, it will leave a red gash on his or her
skin. “I told him don’t go yet!”
Jules tapped Geno to cool
down. “It’s okay, no more use for crying over spilt milk. At least, you have
given him some chance to escape gruesome fate
of being infected.”
I still want to punch
Jules right to his perfectly curved nose, but I simply can’t. When everyone
stopped panting, I stood up.
“Come on, we will return
uptown,” I demanded.
Stanley and Jules
exchanged looks.
“Damn it!” I blurted out.
“That’s our purpose for being here, right?”
I guess that brought life
back to them.
Katie sighed. “Oh, God. I
never thought I’ll see you guys fight. Look, Mr. Wakefield, Mr. Eddington’s
right. We must not revert out from the original plan.”
Wakefield was Jules’
surname, making him extra cool for the girls. Who wants Eddington
anyway? It sounds funny.
J.D. sighed too. “Who’s up
on going to the deadly roads?”
I didn’t like the way he
said deadly, but I raised my hand. Only he and Katie didn’t raise their
hands. We will go.
Jules had let me lead,
insisting I ‘know’ some clues where the others had been when actually I know
nothing. But don’t get me wrong—I didn’t regret on staying with Rich until the
end.
Five minutes later on our
way up again, we encountered our eighth zombie. This time it wasn’t a student
anymore—but it was a guy wearing bloody yellow overalls that we concluded he
was a fireman. Period. Jules hacked his head and sliced him away that divided
him in half horizontally on the stomach.
Stanley started on
suggesting that we should’ve gone on downtown for news, or somewhat in his
voice—to loot and find some things very useful.
“We’ll go downtown
tomorrow,” Jules said. “If others in the base are willing to go.”
It was imperative.
~James~
There was one thing I had
known after I woke up—I was now in a different place.
I crept for the others,
but unfortunately I was alone. Coldly alone. I sat upright, and found myself
sprawled on the grass. I had thought it was night, but it was already morning.
In fact, the sun was so high in the sky I have a guess it’s about noon.
I was no longer on the
vicinity of the Blue River, but I felt its cold breeze brush up my hair. The
trees around are the same with the ones we had seen outside the sewer hole.
Yes, I even remember that.
But when I looked around, it seems like someone dragged me around. What amazed
me is my discovery—that I must’ve been out for at least a day. The last thing I
remember was…
Oh no.
I looked around, and lucky
me didn’t see any zombies around.
I raced from tree to tree,
checking any signs of a human crossing it. My heart pounded harder, and I
didn’t dare to stop.
Not until I find the
others. Jasmine was dead. And I’ll do whatever it takes to ensure that the
three people with me are still alive.
I walk around. Damn it,
I’m starting to see traces of blood infused with something green.
Before I knew it, one
infected zombie came out from the trees fifteen meters away from me. It was
roaming, and I tell myself, “Run.”
I backed away slowly, trying to take my steps back. One stupid human being
left a glass dripping with blood out here in the woods, and unfortunately, I
had stepped on it—crushed it into thousand shards, making a distracting noise.
The zombie darted his
bloody, transparent face. He scowled at me, and lunged hungrily towards me.
Then I ran for dear life,
not knowing where to go, with a goddamn zombie chasing me.
