By: EladrinStarmist
We had been watching the news for days; zombies had overrun our city and there was nothing anyone could do about it except hide. No cure had been found. No reason had been given for their sudden appearance. I figured it was because of all the chemicals in the food. Ryan thought it might be part of some bizarre experiment gone wrong at the hospital, very 28 Days Later. Thankfully for us, the zombies were what I like to call crawlers; slow, hungry, not too bright and not super strong like some I'd seen in the movies.
When we finally decided to make our move, it was simple. Get Kelly, James, Mel and Jamie and then haul a** up to Ryan’s parent's home. It was fairly isolated so there wouldn’t be too many zombies about, the house had a solid steel front door and the backyard was fenced in. Crawlers wouldn't be climbing any fences or breaking down that door. Plus, the basement only had two windows, easily defended if they somehow made it into the actual house. It was only a matter of time before all the zombies froze to death outside anyway; we could wait them out a few weeks. Winter was coming and there's no stopping it once it hits.
Bright and early we called Kelly and told them today was the day. Mel and Jamie had slept over the night before and all was ready. There would be no mistakes, no dawdling, no friends of mine dying. I hung up the phone feeling confident. Everything was going according to plan. We had packed the van the day before; I would have preferred a more sturdy, younger vehicle, but the van had the advantage of seats. We could fit everyone in, plus food, keep up a good speed. Crawlers were easy to outrun, even for someone with basically no stamina such as myself, and dumber than toast, making them easy to hide from if you did get into a tight spot.
After checking out all windows from between the boards and determining the coast was clear, we grabbed the sword and staff from next to the bed and moved out to the van. I preferred the heavy weight of the gladiator style sword when dealing with crawlers while Ryan was more comfortable with his heavy oak walking stick. I hoped that Kelly and the rest had found suitable weapons as I spied my elderly neighbour Ron through his kitchen window. His dead, hungry eyes watched me through the glass as I made my way to the passenger door of the Astro van. I was tempted to go into the house just to finish him off and put him out of my misery but decided against it. I knew Ron had worked out when alive and didn't want to underestimate him.
Once safely on the road we saw few people; crawlers generally shunned such bright and sunny days as this one which is why we picked it to move. We weren't taking any chances on the weather and sunny days like these would be few indeed once it started to snow. Headed further west we passed by the great sleeping hulk of the steel mill, taking care to stay in the middle of the road. In a few minutes we'd reached Kelly's apartment complex. I hopped out and told Ryan to get the van circled around so we could get moving as quick as possible. I rang the bell once, twice, once again and waited. James practically leapt down the steps after he appeared, brown hair sticking up in all directions, a large heavy frying pan in one hand and a thick hockey glove on the other. I smiled and waved and he nodded then disappeared back inside to get his wife and the others. Jamie appeared wearing a battered backpack, heavy hiking boots and a thick winter coat, a baseball cap slung low over her deep brown eyes. She didn't say anything to me as she came out, just hugged me and kept moving, her baseball bat tapping on the ground softly as she went. Jamie knew how impatient I was. Mel was next, for once wearing sensible shoes, and carrying a heavy marble rolling pin. She flashed me a quick grin and got into the van next to Jamie. Kelly followed Mel, nearly stepping on her heels in her hurry to get going, dragging along a large dufflebag full of winter clothes and boots. Weaponless, she was most vulnerable and we always kept her in the middle; her wrists wouldn’t let her carry anything heavier than a pencil. Last but certainly not least James brought up the rear, locking his apartment behind him. He carried with him a cooler full of dry goods; flour, tea, sugar, the basics. I wasn't going to let anyone get killed by carrying silly things like chocolate chips or Doritos.
Safely piled back into the van we were about to set out when I saw four or five crawlers converging on the spot. We had gotten out just in time. If we hadn't been ready, hadn't been prepared, we might have gotten trapped. As it was, we bumped down the driveway, Ryan ran over one of the crawlers and we kept going. We headed north to his parents a few minutes away barely speaking, my ipod our only comfort. A favorite BNL song came on and tentatively we began to sing "If I Had a Million Dollars".
By the time we reached Ryan's parents’, we were all singing a bit hysterically. He pulled into the drive and cut the engine. The music stopped. All we could hear was our own laboured breathing and the caw of a crow in the trees. Ryan and I left the van, weapons at hand, and scouted the property. The house seemed sound; no windows were broken, the front door was still locked the way it should have been and the back patio doors didn't have any of the eerie smeared fingerprints on it that marked that the undead had been there.
I nodded at Ryan and stayed at the back door crouched low on the porch, keeping watch on the street. I heard the van side door open and the sound of booted feet on the gravel driveway. A moment or two later the patio door behind me opened and Ryan let me in, locking the patio behind me and drawing the curtains shut. We closed the rest of the curtains in the house to mask our movements and closed all of the bedroom doors. Thankfully there was a bathroom in the basement.
Everyone else was already downstairs. Ryan and I tromped down and took stock. We were all alive, we were healthy and well supplied. The freezer was full of meat and vegetables and the electricity was still on. One thing the house lacked was a fireplace but we honestly hadn’t been able to think of anywhere better to sit things out. The am/fm radio still worked and we knew what the emergency frequency was. We knew it would only be a matter of time before the army arrived or winter did. Either way, we won. I gave the group a reassuring smile.
"Alright, we're here, we're alive and we're going to make it through this. Why? Because I said so and because we've all watched the films. We know what to do and what not to do. We've done everything right. No-one knows we're here; dead or alive. We have a cellphone, radio, plenty of food and water and winter is on its’ way. If we sit tight and avoid cabin fever, we'll be fine. Just to be safe though, no lights on upstairs after dark and we'll stay down in the basement as much as possible. Four people will have a two hour watch every night. Nothing's going to sneak up on us while we're safe and cozy in our little den. The front door is solid steel and the backyard is well fenced. Crawlers don't climb fences so we're good there. Anyone have any questions?" I waited. No-one did. "Good. Who wants to play Smash Bros?"
THE END
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