Categories > Original > Horror > Zombie Apocalypse
Weeks passed while John and Max deliberated over where to go. Residential houses were never a permanent safe haven; they were too exposed to the elements and the living dead. A military base was their best bet. First, though, they had to figure out where the closest base was. Sarah managed to find a map of the city they currently resided in and its surrounding areas. That, combined with information Max had picked up while on his own, proved Fort Cape, just on the other side of the state line in New Mexico, was their destination. The distance was over one hundred and fifty miles and would likely take near a hundred hours, accounting for any and all reasons the group would have to stop for. The most direct route took them out onto the highway, far away from convenience stores and therefore supplies and shelter. That’s why John had Sarah running retrieval missions into town every day to stock up on provisions.
Two days before it was time to head out, Sarah was sent on one last scouting expedition. The sun had only been up for an hour when John requested she run into town. The bags were full of food, drink, and weapons, but severely lacking in medications.
“Do you remember where the pharmacy is?” John asked as he handed Sarah her shotgun.
Sarah loaded the shotgun and flung the strap over her shoulder. She hung the backpack over the other. “I remember.”
“I’m going too,” Noah added. He cocked his handgun and grabbed a duffel bag for himself.
“Be careful,” John warned.
Sarah and Noah rolled their eyes, but promised anyway. They hurried down the porch and sprinted down the street. John sighed as he watched the pair leave. Max joined him in the open doorway, a wistful expression on his face.
“Those two became friends pretty fast,” he said.
“Neither one goes anywhere without the other,” John agreed laughingly.
Sarah and Noah slowed their pace as they entered the heart of the city. They were both breathing hard after scaling a rather tall brick barrier to avoid using the main road. Overhead the sun beat warm on their backs. It was mid July and the heat was only getting worse. The only thing Sarah feared more than dehydration was the impending winter. What if the military base was destroyed? What if it was overrun with zombies? John and Max hadn’t planned out an alternate destination on the off chance that the base was a failure. It was far easier to cool down than to keep warm.
“Sarah?”
Noah’s voice broke through her reverie. He nudged her with his shoulder, a concerned look on his face. Sarah forced herself to smile and move on. They stopped at the corner of Davis and Creek—the pharmacy was just down the street. Sarah peeked around the building and scanned the area.
“We’re clear. No movement,” she muttered.
Sarah lifted her shotgun into position and dashed across the intersection, swinging her head back and forth, expanding her vision to encompass everything in front of her. Noah followed close behind. His eyes swept over Sarah’s blind spots.
The front door of the pharmacy was locked and multiple aisle shelves were piled against the transparent glass. That meant one of two things: there were humans hiding in there or there were zombies lurking inside. As daft as it sounded, Sarah hoped there were live, uninfected people. Experience said otherwise. When it all began, most people that turned didn’t even know they were infected in the first place. The virus had to start somewhere which meant, at one point, it was airborne. Sarah was no doctor, but she hypothesized that the people left alive and well were immune to the airborne strain. Pushing her thoughts aside, she motioned for Noah to take the left side while she went right to search for other possible entrances. A faint bird call a minute later told Sarah that Noah had found one. She rushed to the other side just in time to see him scrambling through a broken window. He turned around once his feet found a solid surface—the top of a shelf—and stretched his hands out to her. Sarah shouldered her gun and used a car run up on the walk to boost herself to reach Noah’s hands. His grip was firm. He pulled her the rest of the distance into the pharmacy. Sarah put a finger to her lips. Now they had to clear the building.
Jumping silently from shelf to shelf, Sarah and Noah remained unseen by anyone on ground level. After clearing the main area and finding no one, the pair had to resort to dropping to the tiled floor and going into the back room. The door was labeled with a sign that read: EMPLOYEES ONLY.
The glass at the broken window was scattered all over the top shelf without a single shard out on the concrete. The window had been broken so that someone could get inside. That lowered the possibility of finding healthy people exponentially. Noah could see the disappointment in her eyes. He loved that Sarah always hoped for the best possible outcome no matter the situation. It left her with a lot of unmet expectations, but it kept everyone else in high spirits. With a nod from Sarah, Noah kicked down the door.
It crashed to the floor, sending of plumes of dust in its wake. The sound echoed inside the smaller room. Light was next to gone and the air had a stale taste to it. If they were to find anyone, they’d be in here. The door hadn’t been opened for months. Rust had corroded the hinges and made the door easier to knock down. Sarah went in first and took the left side this time. The moment her entire body was in darkness, she heard it; a crunching, swishing sound. She knew it all too well. It was the sound of human flesh and organs being devoured. A pit formed in the bottom of her stomach and her heart leapt into her chest. Her lungs seemed to shrink and breathing didn’t come easy. Sarah scolded herself for being so terrified. She’d killed hundreds of zombies and still she feared them.
To get its attention, Sarah kicked over a stack of containers at her feet. The cans toppled over one another, clattering to the floor in a ruckus. The crunching sound stopped and Sarah glimpsed the shine of bloodshot eyes as a dark figure at the far end of the room turned around. A bloodcurdling moan erupted from the zombie’s mouth as it lunged at her. Sarah hoisted her shotgun and pulled the trigger once. She heard the satisfying crack of bullet on skull and the splat of brain matter on the wall. She heard the thud of the body hitting the floor. She smelled the stink of freshly spilt blood. Next, for precautionary measures, she shot the zombie’s victim. And then once again, the room fell silent.
“Noah?” Sarah whispered.
It was rare, but sometimes a zombie got a jump on a human. By some miracle, it would bite right into the jugular and the human would die and begin to turn without making a sound. As the room returned to its noiseless state, Sarah feared that was exactly what happened to Noah.
“Noah!” Sarah whispered, more forcefully this time.
Biting back a sob, she walked in the blackness. She heard nothing. She saw nothing. The barrel of her shotgun ran into the hard wall, startling Sarah to a stop. Where was Noah? It was useless to spin around, but she did anyway. Everything looked the same. Her heart started beating a mile a minute. It was beating so hard she thought it’d burst right out of her chest.
“Noah!” Sarah dared raise her voice this time.
Something reached out and grabbed Sarah’s shoulder. It spun her around and for a split second, her finger was poised on the trigger. Then her skin registered the warmth of the hand on her shoulder and Noah’s familiar chuckled rang in her ears.
“You trying to wake the whole town?” He teased.
“Why didn’t you answer me?!” Sarah hissed, glad that in the darkness Noah couldn’t see the tears welling at the edges of her eyes. With a quick wipe of her hand they were gone.
“I was too busy finding this…” An object clicked and a beam of light momentarily blinded Sarah. Noah laughed and lowered the flashlight. “Oops…sorry.”
“Did you find any…one?” Sarah asked.
“No,” Noah replied. “I heard you found two, though.”
Sarah frowned. “Yeah, well, let’s just sack this place for everything it’s worth.”
Sarah and Noah spent over an hour at the pharmacy, stuffing their backpacks and duffel bags with medication, bandages, and other medical necessities. On the lefts side of the store, near the cash registers, there were shelves of assorted other items like DVDs and toys. Sarah drifted over and absentmindedly rifled through them. She smiled at the movies she recognized, wishing she had a working portable DVD player. She loved watching movies—the special effects, drama, and magic of it all. Her favorite genres were that of fairy tales. The escape from reality it provided was a solace Sarah feared she’d never get back.
The walk back to the house was tense and quiet. Once she’d gotten to know him better, Sarah felt comfortable talking to Noah. However, she wasn’t ready to spill her heart out to him; to voice her every thought. Especially because that would mean admitting she cared about him. It was ridiculous how normal Noah could make her feel. He could make her laugh and for that tiny point in time, she’d forget that flesh-eating creatures were roaming the earth. A simple touch of his hand comforted her when she was scared.
“Hey, space cadet, would you like to come back down to Earth?”
Sarah blinked as if stepping out into the sunlight for the first time. “What?”
“You’ve been standing at the door for—like—five minutes now. Are we going in or what?” Noah faked a fatigued whine. “I’m tiiiiired.”
“Do you see this?” Sarah teased, rubbing her thumb and forefinger together. “It’s the world’s smallest violin playing My Heart Bleeds for You.”
Two days before it was time to head out, Sarah was sent on one last scouting expedition. The sun had only been up for an hour when John requested she run into town. The bags were full of food, drink, and weapons, but severely lacking in medications.
“Do you remember where the pharmacy is?” John asked as he handed Sarah her shotgun.
Sarah loaded the shotgun and flung the strap over her shoulder. She hung the backpack over the other. “I remember.”
“I’m going too,” Noah added. He cocked his handgun and grabbed a duffel bag for himself.
“Be careful,” John warned.
Sarah and Noah rolled their eyes, but promised anyway. They hurried down the porch and sprinted down the street. John sighed as he watched the pair leave. Max joined him in the open doorway, a wistful expression on his face.
“Those two became friends pretty fast,” he said.
“Neither one goes anywhere without the other,” John agreed laughingly.
Sarah and Noah slowed their pace as they entered the heart of the city. They were both breathing hard after scaling a rather tall brick barrier to avoid using the main road. Overhead the sun beat warm on their backs. It was mid July and the heat was only getting worse. The only thing Sarah feared more than dehydration was the impending winter. What if the military base was destroyed? What if it was overrun with zombies? John and Max hadn’t planned out an alternate destination on the off chance that the base was a failure. It was far easier to cool down than to keep warm.
“Sarah?”
Noah’s voice broke through her reverie. He nudged her with his shoulder, a concerned look on his face. Sarah forced herself to smile and move on. They stopped at the corner of Davis and Creek—the pharmacy was just down the street. Sarah peeked around the building and scanned the area.
“We’re clear. No movement,” she muttered.
Sarah lifted her shotgun into position and dashed across the intersection, swinging her head back and forth, expanding her vision to encompass everything in front of her. Noah followed close behind. His eyes swept over Sarah’s blind spots.
The front door of the pharmacy was locked and multiple aisle shelves were piled against the transparent glass. That meant one of two things: there were humans hiding in there or there were zombies lurking inside. As daft as it sounded, Sarah hoped there were live, uninfected people. Experience said otherwise. When it all began, most people that turned didn’t even know they were infected in the first place. The virus had to start somewhere which meant, at one point, it was airborne. Sarah was no doctor, but she hypothesized that the people left alive and well were immune to the airborne strain. Pushing her thoughts aside, she motioned for Noah to take the left side while she went right to search for other possible entrances. A faint bird call a minute later told Sarah that Noah had found one. She rushed to the other side just in time to see him scrambling through a broken window. He turned around once his feet found a solid surface—the top of a shelf—and stretched his hands out to her. Sarah shouldered her gun and used a car run up on the walk to boost herself to reach Noah’s hands. His grip was firm. He pulled her the rest of the distance into the pharmacy. Sarah put a finger to her lips. Now they had to clear the building.
Jumping silently from shelf to shelf, Sarah and Noah remained unseen by anyone on ground level. After clearing the main area and finding no one, the pair had to resort to dropping to the tiled floor and going into the back room. The door was labeled with a sign that read: EMPLOYEES ONLY.
The glass at the broken window was scattered all over the top shelf without a single shard out on the concrete. The window had been broken so that someone could get inside. That lowered the possibility of finding healthy people exponentially. Noah could see the disappointment in her eyes. He loved that Sarah always hoped for the best possible outcome no matter the situation. It left her with a lot of unmet expectations, but it kept everyone else in high spirits. With a nod from Sarah, Noah kicked down the door.
It crashed to the floor, sending of plumes of dust in its wake. The sound echoed inside the smaller room. Light was next to gone and the air had a stale taste to it. If they were to find anyone, they’d be in here. The door hadn’t been opened for months. Rust had corroded the hinges and made the door easier to knock down. Sarah went in first and took the left side this time. The moment her entire body was in darkness, she heard it; a crunching, swishing sound. She knew it all too well. It was the sound of human flesh and organs being devoured. A pit formed in the bottom of her stomach and her heart leapt into her chest. Her lungs seemed to shrink and breathing didn’t come easy. Sarah scolded herself for being so terrified. She’d killed hundreds of zombies and still she feared them.
To get its attention, Sarah kicked over a stack of containers at her feet. The cans toppled over one another, clattering to the floor in a ruckus. The crunching sound stopped and Sarah glimpsed the shine of bloodshot eyes as a dark figure at the far end of the room turned around. A bloodcurdling moan erupted from the zombie’s mouth as it lunged at her. Sarah hoisted her shotgun and pulled the trigger once. She heard the satisfying crack of bullet on skull and the splat of brain matter on the wall. She heard the thud of the body hitting the floor. She smelled the stink of freshly spilt blood. Next, for precautionary measures, she shot the zombie’s victim. And then once again, the room fell silent.
“Noah?” Sarah whispered.
It was rare, but sometimes a zombie got a jump on a human. By some miracle, it would bite right into the jugular and the human would die and begin to turn without making a sound. As the room returned to its noiseless state, Sarah feared that was exactly what happened to Noah.
“Noah!” Sarah whispered, more forcefully this time.
Biting back a sob, she walked in the blackness. She heard nothing. She saw nothing. The barrel of her shotgun ran into the hard wall, startling Sarah to a stop. Where was Noah? It was useless to spin around, but she did anyway. Everything looked the same. Her heart started beating a mile a minute. It was beating so hard she thought it’d burst right out of her chest.
“Noah!” Sarah dared raise her voice this time.
Something reached out and grabbed Sarah’s shoulder. It spun her around and for a split second, her finger was poised on the trigger. Then her skin registered the warmth of the hand on her shoulder and Noah’s familiar chuckled rang in her ears.
“You trying to wake the whole town?” He teased.
“Why didn’t you answer me?!” Sarah hissed, glad that in the darkness Noah couldn’t see the tears welling at the edges of her eyes. With a quick wipe of her hand they were gone.
“I was too busy finding this…” An object clicked and a beam of light momentarily blinded Sarah. Noah laughed and lowered the flashlight. “Oops…sorry.”
“Did you find any…one?” Sarah asked.
“No,” Noah replied. “I heard you found two, though.”
Sarah frowned. “Yeah, well, let’s just sack this place for everything it’s worth.”
Sarah and Noah spent over an hour at the pharmacy, stuffing their backpacks and duffel bags with medication, bandages, and other medical necessities. On the lefts side of the store, near the cash registers, there were shelves of assorted other items like DVDs and toys. Sarah drifted over and absentmindedly rifled through them. She smiled at the movies she recognized, wishing she had a working portable DVD player. She loved watching movies—the special effects, drama, and magic of it all. Her favorite genres were that of fairy tales. The escape from reality it provided was a solace Sarah feared she’d never get back.
The walk back to the house was tense and quiet. Once she’d gotten to know him better, Sarah felt comfortable talking to Noah. However, she wasn’t ready to spill her heart out to him; to voice her every thought. Especially because that would mean admitting she cared about him. It was ridiculous how normal Noah could make her feel. He could make her laugh and for that tiny point in time, she’d forget that flesh-eating creatures were roaming the earth. A simple touch of his hand comforted her when she was scared.
“Hey, space cadet, would you like to come back down to Earth?”
Sarah blinked as if stepping out into the sunlight for the first time. “What?”
“You’ve been standing at the door for—like—five minutes now. Are we going in or what?” Noah faked a fatigued whine. “I’m tiiiiired.”
“Do you see this?” Sarah teased, rubbing her thumb and forefinger together. “It’s the world’s smallest violin playing My Heart Bleeds for You.”
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