Chapter 1
Ain't Fate a Bitch
"Holy shit! Shit man, what the fuck are we supposed to do? He's fuckin dead man ! He's fuckin dead!"
"I can see that you fat fuck! Now shut up and let me think!"
"Oh God! Oh God! It wasn't us man he hit his head it was an accident. " Fred had a point it was an accident, neither of us made the kid climb up on the rocks over looking Laurel Lake, and we sure as hell hadn't pushed him off. The formerly living young man was Jacob Johnson, a retard from the neighborhood that my mother sometimes insisted upon me taking with me when when I went swimming or fishing at the local lake. I didn't even want to bring the dumb fuck with me, but he had tagged along with Fred and being the soft hearted fool that Fred was he couldn't insult the kid enough to drive him away.
"We have to call the cops man." Fred, beside the fault of a soft heart was one hell of a conversationalist, with most of his brilliant insight followed by the closer "man".
"Fred, calm down we gotta get our heads on straight and our story down."
"What story Mike? It was an accident nothin else. We just tell the state police that and everything will be fine." Fred was also very stupid when it came to the police.
"Dude are you forgetting about the joint we just got done burning? Or how about those scuds. I don't know about you but I don't like the idea of explaining a dead teen to a cop while I can barely hold my eyes open. They'll prolly try and say we killed him ourselves or that we got him high, they'll hit us with manslaughter. Do you feel like doing ten years in Clay County or, or, even worse one of those damn little regional jails. Buck says its hell and I don't plan on going there for some fuckin retard."
Jacobs body suddenly gave a jerk, a spasm that nearly rolled his body back into the lake. I jumped back frightened by the sudden movement. Fred ran to Jacobs side saying "Oh my God! Thank you Lord!" over and over. "Jacob! Jacob, come on man answer me are you OK? Oh god man that cuts bad." Fred began to inspect for the wound, when with a speed the chubby Jacob never possessed in life he caught Freds hand and bit down with a force that crunched threw the bones loud enough for me to hear it over Freds screams. Blood poured from his right hand as he punched Jacob awkwardly with his left to no avail. Jacob clawed and tore at Fred with the fury of a wild beast. I finally regained my senses and ran at Jacob as fast as I could, kicking him full force in the head. It would have killed a normal man or at least knocked him out cold. I was lucky enough to dislodge him from Freds arm and buy him a couple of seconds to get up. It was his turn now. Before the bastard could get to his feet Fred blasted him with another kick to the head this one with his steel toed boots directly to the temple. We both heard the skull fracture and the boy was literally lifted up knocked back from the force of the kick from the 230 pound 17 year old.
The body twitched and convulsed violently, its teeth nashed in the most horrific manner. "Kill the fucker Fred! Kill him." Fred grabbed a nearby sandstone and dropped to his knees driving the dinner plate sized stone into Jacobs head over and over till it looked like an explosion in a brain factory. Fred nearly collapsed as the job was over. He was pale and the wound to his forearm still bled terribly. I ripped the sleeve off my shirt and quickly began tying off his arm. "Fuck, it's bad, oh shit man its really fuckin bad. I think I can tie it off though just set still man and relax I gotta make this tight as I can and its hard if your muscles tensed up. " I'm telling a seventeen year old who just bashed another teenagers brains in with a rock to relax. I almost laughed when I realized the sheer madness of it all.
"Mike, I think things are bad man. I've been hurt pretty fuckin bad before but nothing ever hurt me like this. " He scrunched his eyes together and gritted his teeth. Finally unable to hold in his pain anymore he let out a guteral growl. "Dude I need help bad. I think I can walk to the car just help me up. Then we gotta get to a fuckin phone. " He was panicked and sweating, all color had washed from his face but with tremendous effort he made it to his feet. He leaned heavily on me but we made it to the car and I deposited him on the passenger side of my Beretta. I loved that car, and I'll be damned if I couldn't drive the hell out of it.
Driving in eastern Kentucky for a teenage boy is like a video game. The curves are steep and banked at every conceivable angle. Dirt and gravel roads and hills are normal travel threw the mountains at even normal speed was fun for anyone who enjoyed really driving. I was not in the mood for fun, my friend was bleeding to death. I was scared and shaking, but my grip on the steering will was like iron and my foot was like lead. I took curves sideways nearly throwing Fred who was by now almost unconscious into my lap. I started to drive a little more carefully but I still was trying to get there as quick as hell. I was surprised by the traffic as I neared the exit to the hospital. Cars where jammed at every angle, people walked, ran, some where being carried to the double doors of the ARH Hospital.
"Hang in there Freddie if you fuckin die I'll kick your ass." He managed a a chuckle threw his clenched jaw. "Fuck this man. " I announced as I threw the red Chevy in reverse. By this time traffic had backed up behind me but I was able to just squeeze past the Jeep crowding me in . I nearly took off my front bumper as I jumped the curb and went onto the grass . The front wheels threw grass and dirt as I hammered the gas. I Slammed the brake and jerked my hand break to stop just short of a block generator building. "Come on man, we gotta get you some help."
I jumped out and was around the car helping him onto his feet faster than I think I had ever moved in my life. Fred was going downhill fast and when he asked me how bad I thought it was I nearly caught myself telling him the truth. "You'll make it man, its bad but I've seen worse, remember that wreck Bobby was in fuck man his leg nearly was ripped off and he lived, they even put a piece of his ass in his leg when they where rebuilding it. Fuckin rat bastard, I wish he had been made a gimp." This again drew a little chuckle from Fred. He didn't like Bobby either and knew that he was the reason that I had spent a year on probation.
"Your mom really fucked you up over that Hehe." He still had his sense of humor it gave me a little hope and I even managed a half smile.
The ER was a mad house. People where screaming and shouting at each other so much that you couldn't really make out what any one person was saying. It all sounded like a roar of noise. I remember thinking this must be what hell was like. A thought I would repeat several more times in the days to follow. People sat or lay where ever they could. Blood hardly a square smeared the floor so much so that hardly an inch existed that wasn't stained pink. Blood pooled under some patients as their wounds dripped threw saturated rags or towels. I was able to discern from bits and pieces of conversations that almost everyone there was the victim of an attack of some sort or another by a person who went mad suddenly. It was all beginning to click together in my head but I went into denial. Movies, zombie plagues where movie stuff. Great stuff but just movies.
So I was genuinely surprised when the throng of people suddenly went wild with panic. The rush toward the door was like the moving of a great beast. The people moved in mass, me and Fred where both pushed along the flow of flesh as it lurched violently. The people began to bottle neck as the weak fell and where trampled upon. I nearly lost my footing as I desperately pulled at Fred trying to hold him up in the mob. The childs body that had tripped me up was already smashed, there was nothing I could have done if he wasn't. The pressure to move from the back made you go forward while the resistance from the front made you feel like you where in the mosh pit at a Slayer concert. I don't know how but we made it onto the carport before Fred finally collapsed. I grabbed him under his arms from behind and dragged him onto the grass behind the bushes on either side of the hospital doors. People where still streaming out of the ER screaming and frightened as if the devil was right on their tail. He kinda was.
As the last of the people came out the I finally saw what they were running from. Two men and a woman emerged covered in blood most of it around their mouths and upper torso. An older lady was just a little to slow, she screamed with ear splitting intensity as they fell upon her and began to devour her. Another emerged from the doors within seconds, he was a big ole boy easily 350 pounds and he flung one of the smaller dead out of his way as he dove into the feast. Even in death there's a pecking order it seams.
I looked back to Fred. Freddie Dean Stacy was the only child of a single mother. He and I had met in the fourth grade when he moved to Knott County, and was put into Ms. Conleys classroom. For all intensive purposes, he was my best friend. Now he was catatonic, a cock hair from death, and when he did die he wouldn't be my friend, he would be a walking set of teeth. The rabbit in me was beginning to win.
"Tell mom I love her." He startled me as I spun to see him. "I know man, I've seen Dawn of the Dead." His breathing was ragged and labored. "I don't wanna be one of them man. Please, Mike, please..." Tears began to stream down my cheeks as I found my hands reaching for one of the large stones used as decoration around the bushes.
"Freddie you fat fuck. Why did ya have ta go and get bit like that. I know you told me you liked it when Beck did that to ya, but I think you've went to far this time." He chuckled one last time. As his eyes rolled back in his head I heard his bowels release and I knew he was dead. I didn't have long, maybe just a few seconds. Threw the blur of tears I raised the green stone. "Goodbye you fat fuck." The sound his skull made as I came down with all my force upon him wakes me up from time to time. It was a dull thick sound, as if a boxer was practicing on a side of beef in some 70's b movie. I only had to hit him twice, I put as much energy into each blow as I could, not wanting to think about having to beat him over and over as with Jacob.
The stone rolled out of my palm as I remained on my knees beside my dead friend. The sound of another scream, this time much closer brought me around. I was lucky that the entryway blinds had been shut but now they where being torn down as a woman was attacked and drove into the glass. The man was focused on her thankfully and didn't notice me just feet away on the other side of the glass. I began to make my way along the side of the building toward my car, staying behind the bushes and hopefully out of site. My mind raced in a thousand direction, I wish I wasn't bipolar. It makes dealing with such situations that much harder and much more dangerous. However I think this moment it saved me as hesitation could prove a disaster. The one thing a bipolar person very seldom does is hesitate. So I found myself darting from car to car before I had even made the decision to leave the cover of the bushes for the parking lot.
People where running in all directions. Cars bounced off each other like billiard balls, not caring about the damage they sped off dragging bumpers and trailing glass. My car, having been parked oddly and illegally anyway was luckily not blocked in. I jumped in and threw it in reverse flooring it as hard as I could cutting the wheel and using the front ends ability to spin itself around when going backwards. I slammed the car into drive and stayed on the grass as I rounded the corner of the building. For that reason I couldn't stop as a young woman ran out in front of me. She flew up onto my windshield then rolled off as I finally got the car stopped.
"You motherfucker! I manage not to get bit by my fuckin step dad and you run over me!" I was helping her up and into my car without even asking her. She wasn't turning me down either as she limped to the door. "Listen asshole, if you try anything I'll cut your balls off. If the world wasn't going to hell in a hand basket I'd never jump in a car with a stranger. Especially one who just ran me over." She said all this as she sat down and slammed the door.
"I'm sorry, I'm not gonna make excuses you already know why I was flying around the building. " I said as I took off again this time more carefully. " I think we'll be OK if we can get the hell out of this parking lot and to highway 80. Are you OK? You took a hell of a hit."
"Just bruised bad I think. Believe it or not I've done that before. Its a lot easier if your ready for it though. Hey watch out! " I nearly ran over a man who stumbled into my path, as I swerved around him i could see the massive wound on his back it reminded me of a deer who's back straps had been cut out before being thrown away by a poacher. I heard a thump as he hit the cars trunk with mindless aggression. "What the fuck is goin on. I mean, I know those are zombies and we're alive which means we're dinner. But how? Dead people can't come back, it's scientifically impossible. " She was talking fast, and the way she talked reminded me of myself when I went manic. "It's not magic, I mean even magicians will tell ya its all smoke and mirrors. So what the fuck how the hell are dead people walking around trying to turn us into a snack pack. " She was checking her wounds and wrapping them in pieces of her shirt she tore from around her waist. I don't think she had looked me in the eyes even for a few second since we had met. I couldn't blame her i had just ran her down with an old Chevy.
"Again uhhmm..."
"Brittany."
"Brittany, again I am so sorry I ran you over. You don't know how relieved I am that your ok and not one of those things."
"Zombies."
"Yes, zombies. I just have a hard time saying it, I know they are real and its happening but zombie just seams like such a generic played out name."
"Are you really debating the use of the word zombie because of its over use and current perception in society. All this while we are currently trying to find sanctuary in a world full of zombies. Well how about this, the vitality challenged, or the ex warm blooded mammals that currently thirst for flesh. Listen....."
"Mike."
"Mike, listen, I don't care if you call it your binky boo it's the same no matter what you call it. I just want to know why, and if like so many movies we are screwed and the world is doomed. I'm hoping for a Night of the Living Dead ending myself. I've never wanted to see gun toting rednecks so much in my life."
I think I love this girl.
More Chapters coming soon after some rewrites and such. I would like to thank one of my long time friends and wonderful artist , Lea Anne Cornett for the drawing of Jacob. Many of you will notice its the pic I used for my Facebook account for months and months, that will give you an idea of just how long this story has been on the burner. I hope everyone enjoys and please leave feedback, suggestions, troll if you like as long as your discussing it that's all that matters.
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