To Save or Kill Them

Chapter two: Blind

The Present

Nathan bit back his tears and held his compound bow that he had gotten from when they raided a hunting shop, firmly. He couldn’t remember how many days had passed since the outbreak. All he knew was that he was alone, or so he thought. He held his breath as they stumbled past him.

They had remarkable hearing; a gunshot could be heard in the dead silence of this once lively city for miles. They could hear it clear across the globe if they had to, but they didn’t need to. The “government” had the “situation” under control. He held his bow close and slowly started to back away.

He had learned the hard way that you never wanted a gun for defense. The sound would attract them like flies to a barbeque. With his bow he could defend without being heard and if he played his cards right he could reuse the arrow.

Silently he slid the bow over his shoulder, but as he did so a set of hands grabbed him by the neck. He could feel the hair on the back of his neck stand on end as the figure pulled him closer. He did the one thing he could think of, he let out a blood curling scream. He flipped the figure over him and shoved a blade through its skull. He quickly retrieved the blade and terror pored over him.

They came from both sides of the alley, shoving each other to the side and stumbling over the weak. Terror and the urge to scream burned the back of his throat. This was it; he accepted the uninviting truth that it was in fact his time.

Something grabbed him from above, pulling him off the ground.  He flailed his legs kicking the dead below him as they reached for his ankles. He dropped flat on his back and stared up at the blue eyes of his rescuer. He knew he was safe, he knew those eyes. Yet he had seen those just months before.

Five Months Earlier.

They all sat bunched together like sardines in a can. Most had just completed their training, but none knew what they really signed up for. Not even the pilots. The six new victims to the governments’ playground of the walking dead all stared down at the clearing below them.

“You have to repel down!” yelled the pilot over the roar of the engine.

They all stared at him blankly. “General’s orders! Now go!”

Quickly they all hooked up their lines and dropped from the helicopter. Once their feet touched solid ground, they all stared at the chain link fence that surrounded them. People rattled the fence from the outside, large turrets were being fired from tall lookout towers on every side. People tried to climb the fence, but where shot down.

“They’re shooting innocent people!” Nathan screamed over the gun fire.

“B-but, they’re getting back up!” A soldier stuttered fearfully.

A man approached the fear struck group and scuffed, “You can’t kill what’s already dead.”

Startled by the sudden appearance of the man a boy began to choke on his water. “What do you mean already dead?”

“A strike through the head is the only way to kill a beast such as these.”

Alex could no longer bite her tongue, “You’re crazy! How could you kill and take away Innocent lives!?”

“Kill or be killed.” The man growled.

“Who do you think you are?” A boy yelled.

The man laughed, “I am your General. You can call me Mallet.” Mallet chuckled to himself, “Get to know the person at your side real well, your life depends on them now.”