Last Dawn of a Horde

Chapter Ten: The Showdown ~3 Jules

~Jules~

I pulled the man away from Sam. He looked beleaguered—clearly he didn’t expect me to come. Then I recognized the two other girls with her—our friends and classmates Stel and Karen.

The man wasn’t dead yet. I took his hood and pulled him over the wall, where I had driven his head relentlessly until I felt he was already dead.

I dropped him dead on the floor, and that’s when Sam rushed out of their dingy cell and my arms embraced her as tightly as I can—as if I never wanted to let her go.

Karen and Stel went out too, but they grabbed some of their things. Karen grabbed a belt of shuriken with her, and Stel got some tissue to her pockets.

Sam and I felt their eyes boring at us, so we let go, our faces had gone red.

“Tissues?” I asked.

Stel sneezed. “I’m getting allergic to zombies.”

I nodded, and then I took Sam’s warm, soft hand. Then we ran outside.

The undead welcomed us, and no matter how excited I was to interrogate the girls with my irrepressible questions, I kept myself. Stel found an axe on the wall behind a glass, and even though Sam didn’t want me to punch to glass, I got it broke and got the red axe out.

“Where is your katana?” Sam asked. I can’t tell her how much I missed her sweet, soothing voice.

“Some sons of a bitch took it,” I said, and then I smiled. “Don’t worry, I can still take them.”

She would’ve smiled too, but zombies were attacking now. Mutated zombies were around, too, carrying deadly weapons like hacksaw, and then I realized I couldn’t keep my word. We ran and ran until we reached the elevator where I had been moments ago.

I punched the oddest button, which was colored red, and assumed it would get us to the surface. The door closed, and the zombies were no more.

The elevator’s motion tugged my gut, and I figured out we’re going upwards—a good, positive thought. Sam wrapped her arms around me and she leaned her head on my chest, as if she wants to hear my heart beating. Those beats are for you, I thought.

The elevator opened, and we were on a wide hall. Across were glass doors and windows, and seeing a chance, we staggered and finally we were inhaling fresh, outside air.

“Where are the others?” Sam asked me calmly. “You’re alone.”

“I-I don’t know,” I mumbled. I looked around, and cars were parked along the road. Fires were starting from everywhere, and the sun was rising from the east. “I-I-I was left. I saw you on the cameras, and so I went out to find you.”

Karen didn’t look happy. “Guys, we need to ride something. We can’t stay here a little longer. Look.”

She pointed to the very left, and the road contained a multitude of countless zombies. They were walking absentmindedly, and from my estimate, they’ll see us sooner or later.

We went to the phone booths nearby, and for every three booths that still had their phone set intact, one was working. But even though they were working, I’m not sure if they can still contact, seeing some line posts on the streets down.

I found Leo’s digits on my pocket, and fished out a coin from my pockets. I punched his number, and while hoping it still works, Sam was holding my hand.

Stel sneezed so loud that the sound bounced everywhere.

The line’s finally ringing. My heart was pounding harder, and that’s when I turned my head back to the road. And it wasn’t nice.

“Come on, Leo, pick it up!” I murmured. The zombies were getting curious where the sound came. Stel apologized, and she grabbed Karen’s arm as she readied her shurikens. I was wondering where she had gotten those, but it’s good that she had something to protect herself.

The line kept on ringing. This will be my last coin, and I was about to curse Leo until he finally picked it up.

“Who’s this?” Leo’s obvious voice said. “Sssshhh, shut up, Stanley! A zombie can’t possibly call and talk to me. Hello, who’s this?”

“It’s me Jules!” I blurt out. “Hey, you’ve got to help us here, and—“

“Guys, Jules is alive!” Leo yelled from the phone. The background sounded festive and happy, as if hearing my voice was a miracle. Their screams and cheers almost deafened me, and the zombies were already near. “You heard that, Mr. Niggins?”

Mr. Riggins would’ve said “Hey!” but then I spoke.

“Listen!” I demanded, and obviously I failed on keeping my voice low. “We’re stuck outside the terrorists’ base, and I don’t know where you are!”

Leo got a hold of himself. The call timer ticked to thirty seconds.

I began to sweat.

“Just follow the right road, and drive as fast as you can,” Leo said after three full seconds. “You’ll eventually find a choice for the roads, go for the right. Drive straight, and we’ll be waiting on the tall iron gates. Just don’t do anything, honk or something, because it will just—“

The call ended.

I searched my pockets for more coins, but it was the only one I had. Sam looked at me hopelessly, and Karen started throwing shurikens to zombies.

We run in stealth, and found a small trailer truck. We hid inside, and thank God the inside looked like a small, compact house. There were two beds on the end of the truck, a small kitchen, some closets, and a small bathroom with a clean potty. The gas meter was full, but it was the dead body sitting on the driver’s seat that made me jump. It had a dried, wrinkled face, its skin parched.

I tried to push it away, but it wasn’t dead.

It tried to wriggle away and reach out his arms to grab me, but Karen had already driven a shuriken through its head, much to my surprise. It slowly came to silence, and then after throwing it out of the truck, I told the girls to sit down as I manned the steering wheel.

“Hold on to your seats girls,” I said, looking at each of their hopeful eyes. “Jules Wakefield is at your service.”