Dawn Of The Undead

Chapter 7: Lost and Afraid

Date: October ~Unknown~

Time: Unknown

Location: Unknown

I woke up with a sharp pain in my back. I could barely open my eyes, and everything was blurry. The pain was unbearable, but I managed to roll myself off my back and onto my stomach. 

"What the fuck happened?" I gasped for air as I pulled myself together. Dust and smoke heavily filled the air as I looked hazily around. Unknown of my location, I slowly examined the surroundings. The smoke cleared up, and I realized that I wasn't in the comm. towers basement. It felt as if I was in a small house, roughly the size of mine.

"Jeff!? Jennifer!? Brandon!?" I reached for my HT to call Robert or Jeff.

My HT was gone. I suddenly realized that along with it, my weapons and haversack were missing. The worst thing I could do was panic, so I moved toward the small window. Seeing that I was in a basement wasn't any much of a relief, although I couldn't seem to hear any signs of someone or something home. I took a look around, and saw empty canisters of smoke grenades and debris.

"First things first, I have to get out of here." I said to myself. I looked around for a believable exit. The window to my right was covered in spider web, and bars covered the window. There was a small workplace to my left, and an old couch to my rear. No tools were on the workbench, only nails and used screws. I slowly limped over and picked up a paperclip. Shaking the bench, I noticed that there was something inside, so I grabbed a sharp nail and went to work.

A few years ago, I picked up the skill of lock picking. At the time, I was a junior in high school, and only used it to get stuff out of lockers and desks. Now it was for my own survival. At about the same time that the lock jarred loose, a huge clap of thunder rattled the ground. I jumped a little as the bit of lighting given to me was blown out.

"God dammit!" I whispered as I opened the drawer. I felt around and finally grabbed a hammer. Pretty small, but it would work for now. I then began to use the back of the hammer to pry open the next small drawer to the right of that one. I ripped apart the desk as I reached for something to help me get out. Some rope, then nails, then a flip phone. A lighter, a food canister, a half drank bottle of vodka, and a few drops of lighter fluid. Then, out of the corner of my eye I saw a propane tank, stored behind a large barrel. I moved the barrel, took the tank, and filed through my mind trying to come up with an idea. The walls were all cinder block, except for the wall beside the door, and the ground was pure concrete.

"I could tie the rope to the propane tank and light the closer end with the lighter. But that would cause a loud explosion, which could lead to either whoever kidnapped me being alerted, or a whole bunch of zombies coming my way." I pondered the idea for a bit, going through multiple scenarios like: "What if I waited until someone came down and then lit the rope causing the explosion? Or maybe I could break the vodka bottle making it a weapon? Or I could simply create a Molotov using the bottle and the rope." I whispered through many situations during the course of a few minutes. I had to get moving soon. I had to find the others. I had to get out of here.

A few minutes passed by, and I gathered my thoughts and created my plan. Though very different than what I had planned before, it would work as a quick escape. My plan went like this:

1. Move the workbench to the corner of the room in front of the small window to the left of the door.

2. Tie the rope to the bars on the window and tie the opposite side to the work bench.

3. Throw back the workbench in order to pull the bars on the window off or to a small crack.

With my plan set, I put it in motion. If it failed, I would alert anyone or anything around me. The idea was risky, but it was either sit here and do nothing, or do my best. I began to tilt over the workbench, but nothing would budge. I pushed, pulled, even kicked the bench, but the bars nor the bench itself would move. "Why isn't this working?" I questioned myself. Stopping what I was doing, I went over a backup plan in my head. Of course, it wasn't the best idea nor was it safe but, I had to escape wherever I was and find my way back to the others. 

I untied the rope and hooked it to the propane tank. I moved the workbench to the corner of the room, and broke the vodka bottle to use as a weapon. Simultaneously, I lit the rope which began its trip to the tank. I dove behind the workbench as I waited for the worst. Seconds later, a huge explosion occurred, startling me and sending smoke and debris into the air. I began to crawl out and realized that the explosion had alerted the whole neighborhood of zombies. Fire stood ahead of me blazing as I began to sprint towards it. Diving through the fire and smoke I quickly rolled on the floor of the small home to extinguish the flames.

"I've gotta get out of this place!" As these words left my mouth, I noticed 3 men sprinting towards the house armed with weapons. Immediately, I ran upstairs and took a left down the small hallway. I threw myself into a room slamming the door shut, as the voices of men began to shout and get louder. Quickly getting up, I locked the door, grabbed what looked to be a miniature safe, and threw it into the window, breaking it into hundreds of pieces. Gunshots entered the door, ripping apart the door itself. I ran towards the window to escape, but I was stopped by a bullet to my right leg.

"Shit!" I shouted as I fell to the ground. The door was about to be busted open, and my leg was in so much pain I could barely move. With the last amount of energy I had, I threw myself out the window, just enough to grip the outside of the window. The men then entered the room. Suddenly, I lost my grip and fell to the ground. My vision got blurry and distorted as I regained myself.  Here I am, laying on the ground, possibly breathing my last few breaths. I rolled over and attempted to crawl away. All until a voice came from behind me.

"You really thought you could escape didn't you Dakota? You thought this was going to be easy huh? It's about to get a lot worse my friend."

The man grabbed me by the collar and pulled me to his face, smiling at the fact of my suffering.

"You thought you could just escape that easily huh? Well, you thought wrong." He smirked like a maniac.

As he tossed me to the ground, I heard an explosion from behind the house. Then two gun shots, and the screams of the men behind me. The man that had me at his grip fell beside me, bleeding horribly from his forehead. Scared and confused, I cautiously rose my head and looked at my surroundings. A young woman appeared as I recaptured my consciousness.

"Get up. We're not safe out in the open."

The woman talked in a demanding tone, and I didn't like to take orders from unknown people. But never the less, I listened. As I leaned myself against her shoulder, a sheering pain shot though my leg. Bleeding horribly, the women leaned me against a fence near the house and pulled out a med kit. Before I knew what was happening, I passed out. Who knows what was gonna happen to me...