Death By Dawn

➽Chapter 6

In such a short time, it had covered most of the distance, only a few inches away.

Alexander turned his body, coming face to face with the intense hunger of the zombie, its quick movement laid bait to many questions but he had no time to search for answers.

From between his legs, he grabbed the wooden baseball bat as the zombie lunged onto him, pressing his body against the cold dirt in an instant.

Cap aimed his gun at the creature but it was too close to Alex, any blood splatter could lead to infection if it came in contact with his mouth, eyes, or managed to find its way into his nose.

"Dammit!" Cap snapped, holstering his gun and running towards Alex.

The zombie, with but one objective, attempted to bite deep into Alex but the wooden bat prevented the unwanted meeting of teeth and flesh due to Alex's quick reflexes. Alex had used it as a barrier between him and the savage by laying it horizontally above him with both hands as support beams.

Its jaw shifted its tight clench to a frenzy of snaps, its teeth digging deeper into the bat over and over, the quick jerks causing the blood from its eye and gunshot wounds to splatter onto Alex's cheek. It refused to use its hands, almost as if it couldn't.

In hopes of preventing infection, Alex closed his eyes tightly along with his mouth.

Cracks began to form within the wood of the baseball bat, its infrastructure starting to crumble at the sheer strength of the zombie's enamel. The chatter grew louder and faster, the cracks becoming more pronounced than before. The wood began to tremble in Alex's grip, painfully yearning to remain in one piece, not for its sake but the sake of its wielder, sadly its limit was long surpassed.

Any moment now.

Any second soon.

Any...moment...

Now.

No fight left.

For the final time, the mutated zombie opened its jaws wide, much wider than before, and with one quick closure, the bat snapped in two causing the zombie to fall towards Alex's neck.

Alexander felt the split, the last ounce of strength draining from the bat. His eyes flew open and his hands, covered with leather, in hopes of protecting his life, aligned themselves with the path of the zombie's mouth.

As the zombie was about to dive its teeth into the leather protection, Cap's body slammed into the abomination, flinging it a few feet away from Alex.

"You okay?", Cap started, outstretching his arm to bring Alex to his feet. "Don't let any of the blood into your eyes, mouth, or nose."

Alex looked at the two pieces of the bat for a moment, his mind puzzled at how the undead had done such a thing, with only its teeth to be precise. He wiped the blood from his face, dragging streaks of a dark midnight across his face before repeating the action until they faded into the sleeve of his shirt. "What the hell is that thing?".

The zombie rose to its feet once again, growling. Its neck spasmed, uncontrollably it seemed, and its teeth gnashed against each other, each row grinding away at the one opposing.

"Kane," Cap formed a fist with his left hand and used his thumb to signal behind him. "Get going. Now!"

Alex turned around and began to sprint away, doubt in each stride he took but he knew his presence would only burden the giant of a man that had ordered his retreat. It was safer to obey than object.

Should I really leave him by himself?

What kind of person does that make me?

Unholstering his gun was a simple task for Cap, muscle memory. In less than a second, his right arm had been raised in line with the head of his target. With two releases of the trigger, the bullets traversed the distance, penetrating the skull of the undead creature and making its way deep into its brain.

The uncontrollable twitch stopped.

So did the gnashing of its teeth.

Everything stopped.

The silence filled the air.

Its body came to a complete standstill, the black sludge oozing from its forehead.

It fell limp.

Slowly its head fell backward and the body seemed like it was about to follow.

"ARGHHHHHHHHH!" it groaned loudly and its head suddenly snapped forward. The crackling of bones followed, both of its eyes now oozing the black substance.

The gnashing began again, this time much faster. The horrible grinding was unbearable to the ears, a sound worse than nails against a chalkboard tenfold. Faster and faster...until...

It sprung forward, its speed from before seeming now like a casual stroll in comparison.

Its teeth sunk deep into the leather on Cap's arms as he formed an X-like stance with them to shield him. The leather suffered greatly from the strength of the creature's teeth and was about to completely give away when another gunshot was heard.

Smoke rose from the muzzle of Alex's gun. The creature's blood, its midnight color, stained Cap's hands, and a few splatters smeared his face.

"You good Cap?" Alex, with a mixture of confusion and concern in his voice, asked, slowly walking towards Cap. "Is it...dead?"

Cap thrust his hand forward with force, knocking the zombie onto the ground, its teeth still engraved into the leather however. "It seems that way. Thought I told you to get out of here." his voice stern but holding some restraint.

Alex chortled. "Can't leave a man behind now can I?" shaking his head and cracking a slight smile. His tone changed now that he stood next to Cap. "I thought zombies couldn't run. What the hell was that?"

Cap stood quietly for a moment, analyzing the corpse that laid before them. "This is the first time I've seen this." he conveyed, carefully removing the leather's straps from his forearm. A great deal of seriousness overtook his face, his dark eyes fixated and his jaw clenched, only highlighting his well-defined jawline more. He squinted his eyes and his thick, black eyebrows arched upwards. After removing the leather from his arm, he rolled up the black long-sleeve and inspected his arm for even the slightest scrape. "They're mutating."

Alexander's eyes stuck to the corpse, these words startling him. That explained what towered above him earlier when he was trapped in that building.

"Wait a second, I've seen this before. The black blood, the variation from the others." Alex turned towards Cap, the encounter recurring in his head. "There was a big one. Bigger than you. It was hard to kill just like this one."

Cap turned around, showing his back to the mutated corpse and began walking away. In his hand was the leather, the teeth still perfectly latched onto it. "Let's get moving. We fired several shots and since those bastards rely on sound, they're gonna flock here. Our return trip might be a little more...difficult. Really wish I still had that silencer." He paused a moment, stopping as he did.

His neck rotated to meet with Alex and he nodded as if to show a sign of gratitude. "My guys are gonna head in our direction after hearing those shots. Let's go meet em." he finished, proceeding to walk once more.

Alex shook his head and smiled once again before following Cap, massaging his still-ringing ears as he did. The ringing soon faded and so did the smile, leaving thoughts to roam about in his mind.

That girl Olivia is bad luck...

First I was robbed, then surrounded, almost died, knocked out, held hostage, and now mutations?

It's like my creator hates me or something.

I swear..

Things can't get any worse.