Shadow of The Undead

Chapter 5

They spend the next few days preparing for the hunt. Thomas sharpens the stakes and Ellie cleans and reassembles their guns.

When the day finally comes Thomas and Ellie head back to the graveyard. It isn't long before the zombie finds them again. "What are you doing here?" it hisses bitterly.

"To finish you off," Ellie responds slyly. She charges it and knocks it to the ground. It lets out an angry yelp. "Thomas, quickly shoot it!" she yells. Thomas takes aim and is about to shoot, but before he can Ellie lets out a distressed cry. "OW!

The zombie takes control of the fight, it presses Ellie against the ground, smashing her windpipe. It continues to crush her windpipe as it puts its knees on her ribcage. Ellie struggles for air, she starts to roll to and fro trying to get it to release her windpipe.

The zombie is so focused on Ellie that it forgets that Thomas is there. "Hey, freak!" Thomas shouts, "Eat this!" His gun goes off. The bullet flies through the air for a few seconds before crashing into the zombie's skull. It releases Ellie and plunges to the ground. Thomas runs to Ellie, who is gasping and coughing. "Ellie! Are you okay?"

"I'm (cough) (cough) fine. I just (cough) need (cough) (cough) need air." After several minutes of coughing and gasping she stands up. "Come on," she says tiredly, "let's get this over with." She walks over to the zombie's unconscious body. She picks it up and starts to drag it to its grave.

"Hey, let me," Thomas says quietly, "you can carry the shovel." She takes the shovel from him and he takes the body from her and continues to drag it toward its grave.

Once they're at the grave Thomas flings the body onto the ground. "Here," Ellie says as she hands him the shovel, "I'll watch the body. Make sure it doesn't wake up."

Thomas begins to dig. Ellie stands by and closely watches the zombie's body. Ten minutes pass before anything happens. The zombie regains consciousness and tries to ambush Ellie.

She and the zombie begin to tussle around on the terrain. "Thomas!" she shouts, "Hurry up would you?" Eventually the zombie overpowers Ellie and starts to bash her head on a grave.

Thomas hits the coffin with the shovel. He throws the shovel out of the hole and hoists himself out. He grabs the pry bar and hops back into the grave. It takes him two minutes to force open the coffin. He climbs out of the grave and heaves the pry bar at the zombie's head.

Thwack! The pry bar hits the back of its head. It sits there, stunned. Ellie manages to pull herself up and drag it into its grave.

At the last minute, the zombie pulls Ellie in with it. "Thomas!" she yells.

Thomas jumps into the hole and forces the zombie off of Ellie and onto the ground. "Ellie!" he shouts, "Get the stake! It's in my backpack!"

Ellie's perspective

Ellie crawls out of the hole and to Thomas' backpack. She grabs the stake and drops it into the hole.

Her head throbs and her vision starts to blur. She hears Thomas yelling, but can't make out his words. There's a loud thuck and then Thomas is beside her. She can hear him calling her name. It's the last thing she hears before passing out.

Thomas' perspective

The stake drops into the hole. Thomas picks it up and yells "Die, you son of a bitch!" before stabbing the stake into the zombie's heart. The zombie stops thrashing about and is still. Thomas hoists himself out of the grave. His eyes scan the area around him for Ellie. He spots her laying barely conscious on the ground, blood surrounding the area around her head.

He runs to her. "Ellie!" he shouts, "Ellie, can you hear me?" She doesn't respond, instead, her eyes roll into the back of her head and she starts to seize on the ground. "Come here, let's get you to the hospital."

He shifts and runs to Julia's house with Ellie on his back. Once they're there, he calls Julia. "Julia? It's Thomas. Ellie, her head..."

"What about her head?" Julia asks.

"Um, she hit it again...on a tombstone...several times..."

(sigh) "Thomas, what happened?"

"Well, to shorten it a bit, I shot the zombie in the head with a silver bullet. It lost consciousness. I dragged it to its grave, dug a hole and then it woke up and attacked Ellie. Bashed her head against a grave."

(sigh) "You can bring her to my house, so I can take a look at her."

He takes a deep breath. "Um, I'm kind of already here." He hangs his phone up and walks up to the porch.

Julia

Julia's at home enjoying her day off when suddenly her phone begins to ring. She rolls her eyes and picks her phone up. "Hello? Thomas? Ellie? Her head? What happened? (sigh) I guess you can bring her to my house, so I can get a look at her head. Wait, you're already here? Okay, hold on, I'll be there in a minute."

She gets up, walks over to the door, and opens it. Thomas stands outside, gently holding Ellie. "Julia!" he says in a panic, "Hurry! She's losing blood!"

Julia leads him to the living room where there are towels laid out on the couch. Thomas carefully puts her down.

Blood quickly seeps onto the towels. "Shit!" Julia says. She turns to Thomas. "Thomas I need you to go grab some things from the kitchen for me."

"Okay," he responds, "what'd you need?"

"There's a first aid kit on the right side of the kitchen in the last cabinet to the right. That should have everything I need in it."

Thomas disappears. As he's looking for the first aid kit, Ellie's eyes open. "Julia," she stammers, "what happened? Where am I?" What..." Thomas comes back into the room with a first aid kit in hand.

"Ellie," he says gleefully, "you're awake."

"Thomas?" She tries to push herself up. "T..Thomas what..." She slumps back down. Her hand immediately goes up to her head. She lets out a soft moan.

"Ellie, just relax. Julia's going to look at your head and your face."

"Sweetheart, hold this on your nose, okay? It'll help stop the bleeding." Ellie takes the damp cloth from Julia's hands and gingerly holds it up to her nose.

"Thomas, will you help her sit up? I need to get a better view of her head,"

Thomas tenderly pushes her up and holds her there. Julia pushes her hair out of the way and shines a light onto the back of her head.

(sigh) "Sweetheart, you're going to need stitches." Julia stands up and walks out of the room. She returns a couple minutes later with supplies. "Alright, love, sit still for a few minutes.

Five minutes later, Ellie is lying down again. Her eyes are close and her breathing is soft. It doesn't take long for Thomas and Julia to realize that she's asleep.

"Sorry, to go and wreck your day off," Thomas says guiltily.

"It's fine," Julia responds quietly. She looks up at him. "You know I would do anything for the two of you, don't you?"

"I do, and I can't thank you enough for what you've already done for us."