Zombie Exodus: Aftermath, scene 22

Continued from scene 21 

“We need those West Pointer uniforms and can’t wait for them to pass,” you say. “We have no choice but to kill them.”

Cameron shakes his head at you. “Why are you always voting against me? I’ve been your friend a long time, and you just—“He stops himself with a wince and grips his arm. “Fine. Let’s do this. No sense arguing.”

You, Cameron, and Portland all look through the area for weapons, which amounts to nothing more than shards of broken branches. Nothing fancy, but they get the job done.

While sharpening the end of your stick on a stone, Portland steps up to you. “Are you sure about this?”

“I’m never sure about anything, but we make the best decisions to fit the situation. Let’s just get this over with.”

As you turn, she reaches out to your cheek, leans in, and kisses you.

The ten gray zombies parade along the path through the forest, their twisted and decomposed bodies walking with jagged steps in their march through the wasteland. From where you stand, you can smell their stench, an acrid odor of rot festering through the days, months, and seasons.

“I’m ready over here,” Cameron says, holding up his improvised weapon in his good hand.

Serena checks her pistol one last time and nods to you. When you nod back, she fires her gun. A bullet tears through the head of the first infected, dropping him to the ground. Another shot drops the second gray zombie. As she positions herself to attack the others, they break from their parade and change their path, heading straight for your group. They break into smaller packs, and Serena breaks off to meet the rightmost three. Two of the faster ones race ahead towards Portland while Cameron heads to attack the one trailing the parade.

Shots fire and you hear the shouts of your companions as they attack. Two infected run to you, one wearing a West Pointer uniform. She takes the lead, and you run her around a thicket of bushes while the other hobbles to catch up. You time your attack and drive the end of the stick up through the bottom of its skull. As the zombie tumbles to the ground, the point of your weapon breaks off, leaving it blunt. As the second one rounds the bushes, you raise the wooden shard and slam it overhead onto the top of his skull. It staggers him, and as he tumbles, he swings and clips your cheek. Your eyes blur, you see black, and you disconnect from the world. You take two steps backward, regain your senses, and focus on the zombie who rushes at you. Swinging your stick, you crack it across the side of his head, adjust your grip on the broken shard, and jam it through his eye.

“I’m out of ammo!” Serena shouts. “I need some help over here.”

Stepping over the fallen corpse, you glance to the right of the trail and see Serena on the ground with a gray zombie pinning her to the ground. Movement from the left catches your eye, and you spot Portland struggling to hold down one of the infected as she raises her wooden stick. A dead zombie lies next to her.

“Why won’t you die?” Cameron yells from your left. He struggles to hold his weapon against the last of the infected.

Continue to scene 23