Day 321 - Untitled Zombie Story Chapter 1.3 - (1,277 words)

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UNTITLED ZOMBIE STORY

By Wayne Webb

CHAPTER 1.3 

Then it did happen.

They thought they were alone, but they were not.

“You on the roof!” a voice boomed into the evening air through some kind of amplified audio device, a loud hailer or loudspeaker that had to be nearby, though they could not see anyone.

The milling bodies of the ravenous horde immediately turned to the east, and in that unerring detection there was at least something for the boys to look for and to see who was calling to them.

Still there was nothing, they stood and waved in that general direction hoping that whoever was trying to contact them would see. They knew better than to yell back, the conflicting noise would only do one of two things. Firstly it could split the attention of the horde and therefore put them in danger again, whereas now they were moving away to the source of new sound. Secondly it could get one hundred percent of their attention and then they would be no better off.

“Stay there and don’t move!” Came the voice, a small pause then... ”And don’t make any sound!”

The brothers looked at each other and rolled their eyes, like they were planning on doing that.

It was dark when the shuffling group of undead had moved out of sight, the last of them disappearing in the fading light of the evening and they were left alone again. They could not see beyond the corner to where the barricade had been, but with the rate that the undead had been exiting the cordoned off area in the center of the town, that barrier had to have been taken down.

“Should we go and check? Maybe put it back up?” James was musing out loud, and despite being almost alone apart from his brother he still kept hos voice low and the volume muted.

“Don’t know.” Derek rubbed his chin and looked into the darkening streets and could see nothing of use. They had depleted their batteries already; they kept some lights on the roof and used it to watch the perimeter. The zombies were attracted to the scent of flesh, and the sound of life. Light and movement did not bother them, you could hardly walk among them because they could smell you when up that close, but otherwise it was noise that got their attention.

They could have scavenged in the dark for more battery power, but that would get increasingly hard in the cloudy night and they could end up wasting the last light they had for no return. If they stayed on the roof, secure and with emergency back up lighting if required then they could try again in the day and not risk anything.

They were standing in silence when the gunfire started. A thunderstorm of bullets made the corners and walls of the town echo fiercely and from nowhere to hundreds of shots per second happened in the blink of an eye.

“Down!” James shouted and dove towards his brother, trying to collapse them both to the ground and save them from the inevitable rain of metallic death. Derek though saw his brother flying through the air and neatly sidestepped the maneuver, then jumping back to avoid the flailing arms desperate to save his life.

James landed with a thump and a crack on the floor of the rooftop, rolling into a crouch awkwardly and sitting up with his head ducked behind the raised edge of the roof, gesturing at his brother who stood feet away with a bemused look on his face.

“You idiot, they’re not shooting at us! What the fuck are you doing? Do you see any bullets hitting nearby? They’re shooting the dead … I hope.”

“Are you sure?” James was certain he had felt the bullets whizzing past his head while standing in the exposed open rooftop of the building, but it could well have been the echo. More than once they had thought they heard the shuffle of feet around them but it was just a curious echoing of sound from the walls of nearby buildings and the air moving in a particular way.

“Oh please, get up you fool. You’re embarrassing yourself, and me.” Derek was trying to hide the smile on his face; the situation was a bit ludicrous. On the other hand he did think that had the bullets really been flying towards them just then? The only survivor would have been James, and Derek would have been laughing in his grave, or worse be ready to kill himself to avoid the resurrection.

“We’re coming in. The coast is clear, stay on the rooftop! Do not fire. Repeat friendlies approaching, do not fire!” The voice boomed again through the metallic hollow sound of whatever it was amplifying the volume.

A spotlight bobbed into view as a small group of people came around the corner carrying weapons and swinging their various torches or beams of light into the streets and corners as they approached the building.  When they were close enough they stood at the base of the building and shone the light upwards and caught the two brothers in the beam, blinking and guarding against the bright accusation of the spotlight.

“Is it just you two?” A man’s voice yelled up from the street below, no amplification and not the same voice as the one that had called to them from the unseen distance.

“Who are you?” Derek yelled down, the suspicion in his brother’s eyes noticeable even in the half light.

“We…” The man below and his companions raised their guns and torches. “We are the mother fucking cavalry! Ow! Hey!”

One of the other people in the small group had leaned in and smacked the speaking man across the back of the head at the pronouncement of the ‘mother fucker’ and hit hard enough for the man who had raised his voice.

“Watch your language, there is no need for vulgarity at all Ben Johnson!” The person who had clipped the man across the ears came into view as ‘Ben’ turned and his torch lit up a middle-aged woman staring the young man down with a harsh look on her face.

“Sorry mom.” He said, just loud enough for the boys to hear from the roof with the odd acoustics carrying the conversation to them.

“You know I don’t like that term. It’s gauche and foul and I expect better from you Benjamin!” The woman was shaking her finger at the man who appeared to be her son.

“You know it’s not literal right? Mother fu…” the sentence was not completed as an open handed slap caught Ben by surprise and cut off his words with a crack.

“Jesus. Who are these people?” Derek and James just stared over the edge of the roof, thinking that their life could not get any more bizarre.

“Would you please come down now?” Ben sounded contrite and polite as he made the request, it sounded sincere and they knew somehow that they were not ‘required’ to leave the roof, they were being offered a chance to meet their saviors, but it was not mandatory.

“Give us a minute?” the brothers ducked behind the roof’s edge and looked at each other, the fading light was almost gone and the moon was not up and seeing the detail in each other’s expression was increasingly hard.

“Shall we?” Derek asked James and they managed a simultaneous nod before deciding to accept the offer.

“Ok we’re coming down.” Derek called softly over the edge, not wanting to telegraph their position even if it appeared that the zombies were gone and dealt with.