Better off Undead

Chapter 22: Dead Alive

Eli stepped forward, and kicked the emergency exit door.

He didn't quite manage to kick high enough to push down the bar, so he was forced to step back and regain his balance. He tried a second time, and this time he had better luck. He managed to push down the handle and continued through with the force of his kick to send the door flying open.

He stepped out into the brightness of the early morning sunlight.

He had spent the night in the pitch black darkness of the store, hunkered down in the corner of a tiny office he had managed to find, waiting for something to reach through the darkness and get him. That something had never come, and so had awoken in the morning to find himself in a second-hand shop.

Amazed at his dumb luck, he had immediately set about gathering up supplies from the various sundry inside the store. His best find was a large canvas bag with a strong leather strap that allowed him to sling it over his shoulder. Into this he put all his food and water that he already had, and the various weapons and useful items he managed to find.

While he had slept, the area around the building had filled up with the undead, almost as though they knew he was in there and just waiting for him to come out. This time, however, things were different. This time, Eli was ready for them.

In one hand, he held a hockey stick, in the other, a replica samurai sword. He didn't have much faith in either weapon – especially the sword after what had happened in his apartment – but he figured they were still probably the best weapons he had found.

Though he had seen the zombies from up on the second floor, he had not realized just how thick of a mass was waiting for him until this moment. Somehow being down in the thick of it made all the difference in the world. Almost immediately the zombies noticed him, and began stumbling toward him.

Eli did not hesitate, and as the zombies approached he came out slashing. With a deft swing of his left arm the hockey stick cracked open a zombie skull and sent the creature tumbling to the ground. He swung his right arm and it had a similar effect, the blade being clearly dulled, and it broke the jawbone of one of the creatures. That zombie fell into the next nearest zombie, and the two tangled up and fell to the ground together. Eli swung his arms again and again, knocking over or back a zombie with each blow until, annoyingly, the sword cracked and shattered, breaking up into a harmless spray of shiny metal bits. Eli let out a cry of frustration and threw the now useless handle randomly into the oncoming crowd of zombies.

He took the hockey stick in both hands and swung it with full force in a wide arc. These blows had enough strength to knock over several zombies at once. Before long Eli had managed to clear a bit of space around himself, but he could also feel the wood splintering from the sheer force of the blows. When he felt comfortable that there was enough room around him to go for another weapon, Eli reached back and grabbed the first item he could find. Pulling it forth, he quickly discovered it was a crowbar. He frowned at it and considered going for a different weapon, but the numerous zombies closing in around him quickly changed his mind.

He shifted his hold to the bottom of the crowbar, to bring as much force from it as he could into play, and swung it with all his might at the nearest zombie. The creature's skull practically imploded under the force of the blow. The zombie immediately stopped moving and fell to the ground, now finally completely lifeless. Eli's eyes rounded out with surprise, but he did not have much time to stop and think about it. With renewed ferocity, he went back to swinging with a more wild abandon for the skulls of any nearby zombie, pushing forward as he did toward a metaphorical oasis he could spot not too far away. The crowbar proved surprisingly effective, knocking over or flat out killing zombie after zombie after only a single blow each time. Within a mere matter of minutes he broke free of the horde and stepped out into the clearing.