Last Dawn of a Horde - Chapter Five: The Reunion of the Stars 2 of 2

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.