Last Dawn of a Horde

Chapter Four: The Outside World ~1 John

~John~

    I was too slow to react.

    But I was very thankful James was there to act for me. With a high, commanding voice, he yelled out with his might: "Run!"

    I was too sluggish to take my feet moving. Rich, even though he had been mad (that's what I think,) at me, he pushed me to life.

    I can't believe I was hearing my friend, Den, scream so hard and loud it curdled my blood, turning it into cold ice. After being with her for so many times of life's damn challenges, now I was actually hearing her die.

    Panic started and hell broke loose. I was speaking of it like it never happened before. How many times we were avoiding Death, but when we come across it, I can always say I'm not ready to see any more of us die. A natural death, maybe yes.

    We skirted through the waters as we no longer notice the abhorrent thoughts clouding our minds. I thank the adrenaline that was working on me now--it kept me on my feet.

    The undead tried to come after us as fast as they can, but when I had turned my light on them, they can't walk as fast as us on water. They were shrieking hungrily, and on the part where Den landed stood dozens of them--eating her.

    James pulled me by my arm, and I hardly followed. My eyes are so droopy they want to close now, but adrenaline kept me going. Now we're going down--three of us now dead. The fact didn't make me any more furious than ever.

    The endless sewer seems to lighten up. From small holes on the ceiling and everywhere, feeble lights filtered, and I shout out, "Turn the lights off! It's already morning!"

    Several torch lights went off immediately.

    "Let's go for the ladder again!" I said, ordering. I admit going back to the surface and the school wasn't a good idea, but being high enough will be good. We can aim the guns we got from Principal Guns' office, and the small hole we had used as entrance hours ago can give good vantage points.

    The remaining girls, Suzanne, Andrea, Jasmine, and Sophie, ran as fast as they can. On the other hand, Rich, Jimmy, Matthew, and James were beheading zombies that get close enough to anyone of us. We can't afford someone more to die.

    I was trying to have a plan B. Everything must have backups. I look cautiously and meticulously on the smaller pipes on the walls, and most of them had a glint of weak, morning light at their ends--indicating some of them are our way out of the sewers. Landing on grime or in the nearby river will do.

    There's a dozen of branching holes. Some of them seem endless. Some looked like we need to crouch down to enter. In this time, I don't need human errors.

    "James! Guys! We'll go here!" I yell.

    My voice bounced and echoed on the walls, and then it was followed by a multitude shrieks and groans. When Andrea opened her light again, I had a glimpse on the undead. And it didn't make me feel safe.

    Lined in dozens, their arms forward, they march slowly. Some broke the pattern, and they literally ran like rabid dogs just to get their heads off by just a swing of Rich's mop. Citizens of Faber City, they look. With different uniforms, corporate attires, and even house clothes, they were covered in blood, and their faces weren't something autopsies can study. Eyes dropping from their sockets, ears bitten off, guts swinging from a stomach cut--

    It hit me suddenly.

    "No! Stop!" I cried out. I went back to the boys who were using our only weapons to swing heads off.