“Let’s get the hell out of here,
before more come. They can hear shots from miles away, and are attracted to
sound like moths to a light.”
“Where can we go?” Roger asked. He was still
in shock, watching the squirming corpses.
“The damn things don’t die. And they aren’t
stupid, either.”
“Things?”
“Mockers, everyone calls ‘em, because
they learn. By the way, what’s your name? I haven’t seen a living soul in two
days.”
“Roger Torrens, what’s yours?”
“Mason Barres”
+
“Patcorn is probably dead,” he said
to Richie, who nodded.
“But we’ll have to go in anyways; anything we
find in the damn place might be worth it.” Richie told him. All five soldiers
looked nervously ahead.
Suddenly gunshots rang through the
air, coming from behind and below the helicopter. Several bullets ripped
through the floor. One of the soldiers let out an “ungh…” and fell backwards
out of the doorway. Paul tried to catch him but was too slow. He knew the
soldier was dead anyways- for there was a bloody hole in his jaw.
“Evasive maneuvers!” Richie hollered to the
pilot.
“Missile incoming!”
Someone yelled.
+
Mason cautiously entered the convenience store. He stood in the doorway scanning the room, and then swore. The goddamn place was empty. The shelves had been cleared of all food, and everything else was scattered on the floor. Glass from the freezers was shattered on the floor as well. There was no blood, no rotting bodies, and no stench of decay. He lowered his axe and went to the first bathroom door.
He paused suddenly, and listened intently. He could hear, barely, some scratching and growling from down the short hallway. He carefully approached the last doorway, marked Employees Only. Written over the sign were two underlined words: STAY OUT!
Suddenly the growling got louder and banging came through the metal.
+
“As if it knows what we plan to do,”
Roger commented. He stared at the Mocker, studying the way it moved. It wasn’t
limping, but it wasn’t exactly walking either. It looked to Roger like it
struggled to take each step, like each movement required a strong will. It’s the virus, trying to control the body,
Roger thought. For a moment he felt sorry for the thing. He looked at its’
eyes, and noticed something…odd about them. As it got closer no more than ten
feet away, Roger realized what it was: the eyes were not bloodshot, or pearly,
or rotten-looking. In fact, the eyes looked completely normal. In all the
zombie movies Roger had seen, zombie eyes always had something wrong about
them. But this creature’s eyes looked knowing and, creepily, human.
+
“Why can’t we just fly east to Kansas
or something?” Paul asked, “There is no
infection outside Colorado is there?”
“Not yet I think. Not last night,
anyway. It’s spreading fast, though.” The pilot replied.
“Why are we looking for people here?
Why can’t we just fly as far away as possible?”
“Because the military isn’t allowing
anyone else to cross the state border, that’s why,” the pilot snapped. “They’ll shoot
us down on sight. No chance that infection can escape, they said."
“They wouldn’t!” Paul exclaimed.
“They wanted to evacuate!”
+
“I thought the military wanted to
kill me.”
“They do now, I bet.”
“I probably deserve it.”
+
“Oh my god!” someone yelled from the
back, “Those things are coming!”
The doctor could only watch in horror; once he
reached the front doors, as over twenty of the terrible creatures attacked the
crowd, spraying blood everywhere. A few people tried to rescue the ones being
killed, but got bit in the process. A chainsaw roared to life somewhere in the
midst of the crowd.
+
Time seemed to slow down for a
moment, as their eyes followed the rocketing explosive into the side of the
building, which burst apart. No fireball. Not, at least, until after the
structure had been blown into millions of pieces. Following the pressure blast was a wave of heat,
then nothing. Debris fell from high in the air.
“No afterlife for you,” Mason
whispered with a smile.
+
Taking aim, Richie said sadly; “Humanity forgives you,” and fired.
+
They had barely reached
the other side of the overpass when they saw them: hundreds, no-thousands
of Mockers, all slowly moving across the store parking lots.
=
"We’re doomed,” Roger
whispered...
Read the rest starting 10/31/12