The Dead Roaming

It Ends Here

"What do you mean 'revenge' Nate! How are we supposed to kill them! They'll outnumber us." Elijah stutters to me through each breath.

"Just do what I say and we'll be just fine." In all honesty though, I don't know what we're going to do. I don't have a plan. Should we hide and wait it out or do we hide and kill? Over the engines I hear something banging in the back of the store. I nod towards the back to Elijah and we begin to slowly crawl our way there. Glass shards stick into my palms and knees, each time drawing more blood that leaves a smeared trail behind us. We reach the door that the banging noise is at and I place my ear against the door. Moaning, go figure. I whisper to Elijah even quieter than before,

"When they get out of the vehicle and come up to the door, I'll open it up and let the dead one loose. That'll be our cue to pin ourselves against the wall with the door. It'll hopefully go towards the noise and our blood trail first." Elijah's eyes widen as he's trying to process the task I've laid out for him, knowing we're running off the chance of dumb luck. Just as fast as his head popped up, it bobbed back down with the blank stare we've all come accustomed to. I don't know which is worse, physically becoming the zombie with no control over yourself or mentally having all the control in your own hands and becoming this mindlessly blank corpse by choice. To me, it seems like some cruel joke God is playing.

I decide to tell Elijah to just wait in the corner for right now until I'm ready to open the door. Movement from beyond the glass catches my attention as it appears to be two men striding up to the door and ringing the bell just as I had done. The dead one behind this cracked silver painted door starts to come to life, growling as his patience is growing shorter of what's lurking in his domain. They walk in carelessly and start looking through the shelves. One of the men, short and stout, start to walk back towards where we were and I had just started to creak open the door with the dead inside. The man's friend calls for him and he turns around listening to what he has to say, pulling his brown carhart up a bit to scratch his forehead. By then it was too late for me to stop the door, the dead man crashes through and is instantly on the man's back, biting into his ear and neck. I close the door pinning us against the wall as planned. The man yells in agony for his friend to do something which in return is helped with a bullet to his temple. The monster never breaks contact with the meal I had just delivered him even after he goes limp and cold.

His partner begins to walk toward the door we have been using as cover and we hear his footsteps plopping in the pools of blood. All I can think about is how this reminds me of the sound of wet shoes squeaking, yet this was a deeper, suctioning sound. We hear him cuss under his breath for a moment and then he continues his way back. I tighten my grip around my pistol ready for anything. Before we know it he is standing on the other side of the door and we can hear his jagged breath. Elijah is in the corner and I can see the man pass through the door into the room from the sunlight peeking through the crack on Elijah's face.

I'm am faced with a decision to make. Do I kill the man that I don't know anything about or do I let him live. Do I slam the door behind him so he's trapped on the inside and can't get out or shoot him and leave him there anyways. I didn't have a problem with killing the other man so why should it be any different for him? I shake my head and suck in my own jagged breath. I'm not some coach that needs to be picking favorites, so I quietly push the door and step out from behind it. I face the man's back and take a few steps closer. I pull my gun up and load the barrel. The man turns around and I pull the trigger three times. All connecting with my target. He coughs up blood which splatters all over my face and he crumbles to the floor. I instantly put a bullet in his head so I know he won't turn. I turn around to find Elijah staring at me shocked.

"Elijah, you knew it had to be done, it was either him or us."

"I just can't believe you shot him like that."

"He shot your parents or had a part in it. Why does it matter if he was killed out of nowhere like that. He deserved it."

"Yes, but we aren't like them. You aren't like them. We don't just kill... "

"I guess I didn't think about that. I'll think about that next time. I just had to. It was either us or them Elijah. That could have been you." I explain, foolishly throwing my hands in the air and showing there is nothing to be afraid of. Elijah nods and we slowly trudge around the the dead still too hypnotized into his meal to even care about us. As I gaze off into the distance, I begin to see the outline of a truck forming.

"Let's take their truck, it probably has supplies and it'll get us around."

"Okay, where are we going after this?"

"Do you really want me to say?"

"Yes."

"The SuperMarket." I hesitantly say, expecting Elijah to fire back, "Are you out of your damn mind???" but that never comes. Instead, he just quietly followed like an obedient puppy and we take off in their truck. They won't be needing it anymore anyways.