Zombie Exodus: Aftermath, Scene 5

Continued from Scene 4 

You sit on a tree stump next to Portland and rest. A gentle breeze blows through the forest, and night will bring the cold. Jesse takes off one of a boot and stretches out her foot, while Cameron lies on a patch of grass.

“I say we take a break for a few minutes and then we head north,” Jesse says.

Cameron lifts his head up and places his plastic bag of clothes under it to use as a pillow. “I heard there’s a new settlement northwest of here. Run by farmers.”

“Do they have any security?” Portland asks. “They won’t last long if they can’t fight off the Reds and West Pointers.”

Cameron shrugs. “I hear they are raising pigs and chickens and lots of vegetables. I don’t mind going where the food’s at.”

Portland lifts her head and tilts it to the side. “Hear that?”

You rise from the stump and look around. Though you don’t see anything, you can hear brisk movement through the forest coming from the south. “I hear it now. We better go.”

The four of you stand and head northwest. Jesse hops along as she puts on her boot. You move as quickly as the dense forest allows, with you in the back to listen for anyone following. Portland takes the lead, ducking under branches and skirting around fallen trees. You travel for a few minutes until you come to a narrow creek stretching east to west. She stops abruptly and puts up one fist — sign language to tell you all to stop. Before you can even see it, you hear the gnashing of teeth on bone.

You move alongside Portland and see a body lying half in the water, its upper body on a slope of dry land rising up the northern bank. On all fours, a zombie perches over the body and eats from it like a dog at a bowl. Its long teeth chew at the shoulder, pulling off thin stretches of stringy meat.

Jesse takes out her revolver and points it at the creature. You step up next to her and place your hand on her forearm. “No,” you whisper. “Too much noise.” You reach for your to-go bag to look for something useful and quiet to use on the zombie.

You hear a sneeze and turn to see Cameron rubbing his nose on his sleeve. The zombie looks up, and with a howl bursts across the water. Jesse raises the revolver but you shove her arm.

“What the hell?” she shouts at you.

“There are four of us. We can take out one zombie without using a bullet.”

Without time to go through your pack, you grab a thick fallen branch off the ground the length of your arm and raise it like a samurai sword over your right shoulder.

Portland nods to you and claps her hands. She looks at the zombie and shouts, “Don’t you look hungry. Come on, over here!”

She scurries backwards, keeping the zombie in her sights, which chases her in a full burst. It splashes through the water, rises up the incline, and runs in a straight line, arms straightened and jaws wide. It’s clothed in animal skins with thick wrappings around its feet and ankles and has a messenger style bag around its shoulder which bounces as it moves. Portland keeps moving and ducks beside a tree. The creature chases after her, ignoring you.

Jesse holds out the revolver in both hands now and looks between you and the zombie. You can see indecision on her face, her eyes darting back and forth, and her arms shaking. As the zombie rounds the tree near Portland, Cameron dashes forwards and slides across the ground a short distance. His feet catch the back of the zombie’s legs, which collapse. The creature falls to the ground face first, and you take a running leap and bring the branch onto the back of its head. Its cries are muffled as you wail over and over onto its head. Cameron throws his own body onto the zombie’s back to pin it to the ground.

“I got it,” he shouts.

You turn the branch in your hands and use it like a spear to slam the tip into the base of its brain, once then twice and then through its skull. The zombie stops moving, and you toss the branch to the side.

“That’s what I call teamwork,” Cameron says with a smile. He leaps from the zombie’s back and dusts off the front of his clothes.

“Y’all are nuts. Should’ve just let me shoot it. You burned a lot of calories,” Jesse says.

Portland steps out and leans over the corpse of the zombie. She pulls the messenger bag over its bloody head and checks through it. “Maybe we should do a gear check. We need to know what supplies we have as a group and things we’re going to need to scavenge.”

“Damn girl, that’s the first good idea you had since I met you. Can we do it on the go?” Jesse asks, already crossing the creek.

As you follow her, you look through your to-go bag. Inside, you find clothes and a spare pair of sneakers, a bar of soap, and a roll of toilet paper. You also find­…

Continue to scene 6