Living Amongst The Dead

Chapter 4

I spun around to see a zombie lumbering towards me. How had I not seen it when I came into the alley? It's arms were outstretched and it was about three meters away from us. Skin was peeling of its bald head and it had a nasty gash on its shoulder where you could see some bone. This was not something a child should be seeing.

I had to act fast. I couldn't use my gun because it was too loud and the last thing I needed was for more zombies to come after us. Then I saw it. Right by the dumpster, leaning against its rusty side was an iron bar.

I picked it up and charged at the zombie, swinging the bar as hard as I could. Crack! The zombie fell to the ground and was definitely dead. If there were more nearby then they would have heard the moans so I had to get myself and the kid out of there.

I reached out for the kid's hand but he just scrunched himself into a ball against the wall. I had to take a more gentle approach to the situation. "Hey," I said in a soothing voice, "My name's Susan, what's yours?"

He let out a choked sob before answering, "Calem," he whispered. "OK Calem," I replied, "I know your scared but we need to get out of here. Do you want to come with me?" He wiped away his tears before he answered, "Yes."

I held out my hand to him and pulled him of the ground. He looked quite fit so it was easy to walk or even run with him holding my hand. He was probably only eight or nine years old.

I took off down the alley in a brisk jog and headed for my building. He followed my lead and was keeping up with my pace. I could here snarls coming from the direction of the boy's house but went straight ahead.

I held the iron bar at my side just in case we ran into any trouble but the coast was clear until we got to the street where my building was.

I'd slid along the wall and peeked around the corner to see a zombie right in front of the building. I didn't want to kill it because it might attract more from the house. I needed to lure it away from the building so Calem and I could sneak inside and the only way I could think of was sound.

I searched around me for something to throw and spotted a chunk of concrete. That's when an idea hit me. If I could throw the rock hard enough into the post office window, the sound would surely get the zombie to walk over and give us the time we needed.

I decided it was worth a shot so I told Calem to stand back, then I hurled the rock at the window.

Glass shattered and the zombie turned around and stumbled toward the noise. The plan had worked and Calem and I slipped into my building without a sound.