midst of death

Chapter One

In the midst of death, life persists. ~Gandhi

~Alex~

The horde seemed to pour endlessly through the breach. It was strange to see that many undead, hard to believe that many people had lived... had lives, wives, husbands, kids, dreams, and futures. From the top of a five story building, I watched the destruction unfolding in front of me. They seemed to kill everything in their path. I watched with sick curiosity as the people ran, dying, through the streets. The horror seemed unreal, for there just seemed to be too much for a normal human to take in, the horde and its size especially. No one down in the chaos would survive with as many zombies down there as there was. I thought of Phyllicia, and how we were going to survive. It was going to be hard fending for both of us food-wise in desolate and bleak areas with hardly any resources. If we didn't die of thirst or hunger, the zombie virus definitely would. 

As the horde seemed to get ever closer, I began to get a small flutter of worry. I quickly slid down the steps leading to the small room we lived in, and stopped to see Phyllicia looking out the window at the horde. She already had her headphones wrapped around her neck, her brown hair was in a curtain around her face, and she had her machine gun slung over her shoulder. I smiled, because that machine gun was one that I had gotten for her just after the apocalypse started, when it wasn't as full fledged as it was now, and it was a nightmare trying to defend ourselves. But we managed to get by unscathed, an incredible feat in these dangerous days that we lived in now. It was hell trying to survive, but who the hell would want to die only to come back a flesh eating monster? Not me, I thought silently to myself. I was going to fight until I went down dead, or worse, a zombie.  

I began packing a small bag with our very few clothes, pulled the string together, and flung it onto my back. I grabbed the hip holster and yanked my machete of the wall and whipped it into the pocket. "You ready," I winked. "This is gonna get fun." I said slowly, letting her read my lips. 

She looked at me with an excited look in her brown eyes, and spoke with her hands. "Lets do this thing," she signed at me. "I wanna fight some zombie ass!" 

I laughed, and she joined in. I loved her voice because it sounded so powerful. Her voice was raspy, and she could talk fairly well, but she didn't like to use it. She had too many encounters before where people thought that she was stupid because she didn't respond to them because they spoke too fast for her to read their lips and they couldn't sign for her. She was a very strong fighter though, and she knew the best ways to kill zombies. She always knew different ways that were best in certain situations to kill them. She was amazing. 

We walked down the grand staircase of the ridiculously elegant house and she stalked up to a window, while I paced by the door. I waited as she watched through the dirty glass. She looked at me and rasped, "Nothing is out there." I nodded and took my machete out and gripped it in my hand until my hand was screaming. I inhaled and held it for a moment. The door opened and I put my head out the door. Nothing, just like she said. I stepped out and spun around, surveying the streets quickly. I signed rapidly, knowing she would see that better than my lips by a long shot. "Nothing, like you said. But remember, don't let your guard down." 

Just as I said that, I heard a moan from what sounded like only a hundred or so yards away. I swung around with the machete held far from my body, waiting for an undead body to stumble toward me. We were getting closed in on. "Fuck," I muttered. "Phyllicia, we gotta run, now." I signed frantically. She understood immediately. She looked for the best place to run and sprinted. I ran toward where I saw her last and caught up quickly. We ran for about three  blocks and stopped. The streets were strewn with bodies and dried blood. They did'nt manage to get that far then, and that was good for us. We at least had some time to get as far as possible, and it was very little. She came short of an intersection and stopped. There was cars crashed everywhere, blood on the upholstery and windshields. The glass was broken in in many of them. The sun beat down and I could smell the rot and gasoline in the air. I turned to see if there were any in decent condition that we could wire, and an ear-splitting shriek pierced the air. I whirled around and found myself staring at the most gruesome scene I had ever seen.

A girl around 17 was trapped in a Jeep, the windows busted and glass everywhere. Her head was laid back in the headrest. She was cut on her arms and face, and she was bleeding insanely. Her hair was blood matted and her eyes were staring right ahead. Her pink tank top was stained, but what was weird about her was that she was dead, and she was bleeding. Phyllicia walked up slowly, her machine gun pointed at the girl. She got the barrel of the gun close to the window and examined her closely. A split second went by, and the girl's head shot forward and glassy blue eyes stared longingly at Phyllicia. I realized suddenly that she was a zombie.

"Phyllicia, no!" I yelled, forgetting for a moment that she couldn't hear me. I ran forward as fast as my legs could carry me. Phyllicia took out her machine gun and shot at her, the bullet grazing the girl's shoulder. Phyllicia, shocked at the kick, fell back on her butt, and the girl started crawling out the window. "No!" I yelled, and flung my machete at the girl, slicing through her neck and severing her head. The now bloody machete landed with a thud in the leather seat, Relieved that my best friend was okay, I walked over and grabbed the handle and yanked it out of the seat. "What am I going to do with you? Usually you're really good with this," I signed. "I know that must've startled you, but remember, you have to be faster than them."

"I know, I know," she signed back. "It really did startle me though." She was still on the ground.

"That's okay, she's dead now so we don't have to worry about it." I held out my hand and helped her up. She looked at me apologetically and mouthed 'I'm sorry.'

"Don't worry about it, its fine. Just be glad I was there, I can't live without you, so of course I had to help you."

I brushed her off, and made sure she had no cuts on her or anything. Thankfully she didn't, so I signed "Let's go," and we made our way out of the city.