When the Dead Rise

Restless Night

2.

RIIIIIIIIING....

The sound of my phone ringing pierced the night, Rolling over i reached to answer it.

"Hello?..",

"John man are you ok?! Where are you?!" Mark hurriedly said down the phone sounding almost out of breath,

"wha- what are you on about man?, listen its late and i got work again tomorrow so could you cut the jokes for the night- "

"SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO ME JOHN THIS IS NOT A JOKE!" Mark screamed down the phone cutting me off.

"WHERE ARE YOU!"

"I-I mean im home, Mark whats wrong? whats going on?" i manage to stutter out, the hairs on my neck standing on end.

"Im coming round right now!.....listen John, this is a code 3 no bullshit"

The words froze the blood in my veins. During our younger years as friends and both being apocolyptic lovers Mark an I came up with numerous codes to refer to certain situations that might arise. They were however only ment to be for fun, i never expected them to ever actually be used for real...and code 3? is definitely one of the worst.

You're fucking kidding me....

"o-ok ill start getting ready, see you soon and be safe"

"You too John, ill be there as fast as i can". With that the call clicked off and nausea flooded my senses. Just walking across the room felt like i was in a dream. A scream from outside suddenly snapped me from my dreamlike state and this time i dont think its friends just joking around. Grabbing my backpack i began to stuff it full with items i might need.

Clothes?..check,

Food and water?..check,

A torch and batteries?..check,

Something to use as a weapon?...um,

The reality that i might actually have to defend myself flooded over me in an instant. Could i do what needed to be done if i had to? Another scream quickly silenced the thought and i rushed to the kitchen, quickly grabbing myself a sizeable kitchen knife and tucking it in my belt i noticed something in the corner of the room. My baseball bat from high school, perfect.

With my backpack full i started to load what supplies i could into some spare boxes i had laying around from moving in. After 10 minutes i was set.

Headlights flooded through the curtains and i jogged to the window to check if my ride was here. Through it Marks pickup truck came into view and then disappeared round the back of the house. Moving to pick up some boxes i soon heard loud banging coming from the back door.

Jesus Mark cant you keep it down?!

"Damn Mark knock more softly would yo-" as i opened the door my words caught in throat, standing before me stood my next door neighbour however half his cheek was missing, blood stained his clothes and his eyes both lifeless and cloudy instantly locked onto me.

..Oh fuck..

MWRAAAH! the half screech half moan slid from the creatures mouth before it lunged forward tackling me, cans of food from the box slid out hitting me collectivly in the face as we crashed to the floor. Before i could react it was on me again, loose cans being the only thing keeping its retchid appearance and gnashing teeth away from my face.

"Oh fuck.. oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck!" throwing both my hands around the creatures neck to keep it away was the only thing stopping it from enjoying the meal it so desperatly craved.

WHACK!

The weight of the creature was removed from my body. "Shit John are you ok?!" Mark said while moving to help me up.

"Yea yea i think so..." i replied while patting my body down, over to my right layed my former neighbour, his head now caved in and blood spilling across the floor. "I dont believe it, its a zombie isnt it? its an actual fucking zombie..." the words spilled from my shaking mouth.

"....yea i guess it is... come on we gotta go" Mark said almost in a daze while turning to pick up a box. Trying to ignore the fact I almost just got turned into a meal for one by my neighbour we moved quickly to get all the boxes into Marks truck. Outside in the night i now felt exposed as if i was being watched constantly. All around us both far and near, intermittent sounds of people screaming and yelling begin to emerge and before long it was nonstop. Peeking out onto the street from around the corner of the house all i could see was chaos.

People rushed out of their homes and scrambled into cars while their blood soaked loved ones chased after them. Others tried to fight the zeds but it wasnt long before they also became part of the buffet the street had turned into. One house fifty feet down the road suddenly had one of its windows explode outwards as a raging fire burst through it, a second later a shape fell from the window screaming before being silenced by the impact.

"Hey John come on! thats the last box lets get out of here!" Mark whispered loudly as he got into the drivers seat and started the engine.

"Yea you dont have to tell me twice" turning away from the scene i jogged the few feet back to the car preparing myself for what was about to come.

"Here we go.."