Death By Dawn

➽Chapter 11

The air was foul.

The stench that was once trapped, now barged out to invade his sense of smell, breaking through the blue cloth barrier that covered his face. Alex scrunched his nose and despite the searing sting that shot through them, his eyes continued to rummage over the four corpses.

By the looks of it, it was a family. The parents were seated in the front seats and two young children occupied the back.

Their limp sags of flesh were a brownish-black and the skin was tightly wrapped against their bones. Packets of flesh had been devoured and scraped away from the bodies, evidence that maggots once feasted on them.

Arachnids built fortresses around the family, painting the interior with webs of white. They crawled all about the bodies, leaving no bit of flesh- whatever was left of it - untouched.

An old trail lined their faces, starting from their eyes and running down their now sunken cheeks.

A brown stain now, no longer red as time passed on, just like their souls.

"Seems like they died of the first strain." A voice said from behind Alex.

Alex mentally sighed at the sight. The lever that opened the trunk had been completely blocked off by a castle of webs and an orphanage of babies, leaving one last alternative; the keys.

He searched for the keys and only spoke when he saw the brass object in between the two front seats. "Yeah Scott, that's how it all started huh?"

The keys were splattered with splots of blood and rested against the black carpet. It was soiled, the dark patches holding a dried liquid so dear to their hearts.

Dust and dirt were scattered across it, like towns on a map; small, and undisturbed.

"Rock, paper, scissors for who has to get that?" Alex joked, looking over his shoulder to see Scott standing tall, two metal baseball bats in hand, and his head rotating as he scanned the streets for any sign of the undead.

"Get the keys so we can check the trunk and stop playing around Kane."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm on it."

Alex positioned his body over the father's corpse. The head was directed upwards, hinting at the father's last unanswered prayer.

Alex tried his best to avoid coming into contact with its rotting form by slowly maneuvering around its slouching figure. With his thumb and index, he pinched the keychain attached to the key. He tried lifting it from the carpet but it put up a slight struggle, the dried blood underneath it acting as a glue.

Alex squeezed it tighter between his two fingers and ripped it from the carpet, the sudden jerk being enough to send the decaying head flying down, its lips only a few centimeters from his skin.

Alex gulped, retracting his hand slowly.

Almost out.

Almost.

Suddenly he heard a crash, causing him to drop the key into the lap of the decomposing father.

Dammit!

"What the hell was that?!" Alex jumped.

"Just a cat. Don't get your panties in a bunch." Scott laughed.

Alexander slowly blinked twice, folding in his lips.

Well just bend me over and-

You know what, let's just get this over with.