Dead Hunt

CHAPTER 13 – What I Always Wanted To Do

Lucy could hear the zombies below but forced herself to not to look. What she was hearing frightened her. As if hanging for dear life above a group of flesh eating zombies was not frightening enough, the sound of grunts and groans made it worse. Then she heard what sounded like furniture being moved. Her heart pounded in her ears. If they learned to move furniture, they would be able to climb up and reach her! She screamed and struggled against her twisted foot. She cried and screamed and begged and twisted and cried some more. That’s when she felt it. The hands. The hands reached up and gently touched her waist. So soft was the touch that she froze instantly. Her heart pounded so hard she thought it was going to explode, yet, despite her panic, her muscles had failed her. They would not move; she was frozen with pure, unadulterated fear.

She clenched her eyes tightly in frightened anticipation as she felt something move closer to her head. She could feel its breath in her ear just seconds before she heard, “Shhhhh.”

It took a moment for the sound to register; her brain was thoroughly busy watching her life flash before her clenched eyes.

“I got you,” the voice said lovingly as those gentle hands pushed her upwards.

Her brain was still swimming in confusion, but she managed to wiggle herself free as she pulled herself into the attic. She looked back and saw those same hands grab firmly onto the rafters, and with a grunt, the head and shoulders came into view.

“Michael!” she gasped breathlessly as she threw her arms around him in a crushing hug. “I thought I was the only one left.”

He tentatively put his arms around her to return the hug, and she buried her face in his chest and cried. He stroked her hair lovingly as she sobbed inaudible words. He looked around the attic space, noticing the daylight as it raced in from a giant hole in the wall and illuminated Lauren’s lifeless torso. Michael allowed himself to cry with Lucy.

Composing himself, he looked around again and asked, “Paul?”

Lucy finally raised her head. “He-he left me,” she sobbed.

Michael’s mouth moved, but she could not hear any sounds. Was he muttering some sort of curse,or was he simply left speechless?

Loud banging from below startled them. Lucy let out a small scream.

“Come on,” Michael said, leading her to the hole in the wall.

He stuck his head out and looked around, “This leads to a little roof a few feet below. It looks like you can jump to the ground from there. Just remember to roll when you hit the ground. The last thing you want to do is sprain an ankle. All of those things are inside the house right now, but I don’t think they’ll stay in here much longer.”

Lucy nodded.

“Take this,” Michael pulled the machete from his knapsack and handed it to her.

Lucy looked at the machete then to Michael, confused.

Michael passed her a bottle of water. “It’s the only one I have, so don’t drink it all at once.”

“Michael?” Lucy started to say.

“Now listen,” Michael said, holding her face in his hand, “keep on the road. They don’t move very fast, so you don’t have to keep running and tire yourself out. Just stay ahead of them. If some more come up the road, wait until the last minute, then duck into the woods…”

“Michael?” she repeated.

“Listen, this is important!” he said cutting her off. “Cut into the woods but keep close to the road. As soon as you get around them, go back on the road and run until you are far enough ahead of them. Do you understand?”

“Michael, I…”

“Do you understand?”

“No! No I don’t understand why you are telling me this. Aren’t you coming with me?”

“I can’t.”

“What do you mean you can’t? I can’t do this by myself. Michael, I need you to…”

“You can do this!” he ordered. “You have to do this!”

She started to cry.

“Lucy, you have to get off this mountain and warn people.”

“Come with me, Michael!” she pleaded

“I can’t go with you, Lucy.”

“Why not?”

Michael didn’t say anything at first; he just held up his hand and pulled back his sleeve revealing a bite mark on his forearm.

“I, I don’t understand,” Lucy sobbed.

“Yes, you do.” Michael forced a smile. “Have you ever watched a zombie movie?”

Lucy looked at him, confused.

“What happens when a zombie bites you?” he asked.

Her eyes opened in horror.

“You don’t know that!” she pleaded, but his index finger touched her lips, and she stopped talking.

“We don’t know that it won’t,” he explained. “And I can’t be around you if it does.”

Lucy looked outside, then back to Michael, tears now running freely down her cheeks. “What are you going to do, Michael?”

Michael looked around the attic and laughed, “I was thinking about maybe putting a hot tub over there…”

Lucy punched him in the arm. “That’s not funny!” she said with teary eyes.

“I’m going to do the one thing I always wanted to do,” he said, the smile now gone from his lips.

“And what’s that?” she sobbed.

“This,” he leaned towards her and kissed her gently on the lips.

Her eyes stared at him for the briefest of moments then slowly closed.

No more words were said after that; there was nothing more to say.

Lucy hugged Michael tightly in silent protest, but he pulled her arms away and without saying a word, begged her to leave so she could survive. There are times in people’s lives when words are not needed. If only people could communicate that well when their lives were not in danger.

They both knew what had to be done. She had to leave; he had to stay. They had already said their goodbyes.

Lucy climbed out of the hole, and Michael eased her down to the ledge below. Her tears were flowing heavy when she rolled on the ground and looked up to Michael.

His eyes filled with tears as he watched the girl he always loved leave that God-forsaken place and run towards safety.

“Be safe,” he whispered as she disappeared around the bend.

Lucy ran from the lab and down the steep road. She wanted to put some distance between her and the zombies. At least, that’s what she was trying to tell herself. The truth was, she just kept going because she didn’t know what else to do. She knew, if she stopped running away from the house, she just might turn around and run back to it, back to Michael. She’d been on the move for over twenty minutes when she saw more of those zombie things coming up the road towards her. She tried to remember what Michael had said, but it was all a blur. The only thing she could remember was his gentle kiss.

“Focus,” she commanded her brain. “What did he say about the woods?”

Her mind raced back over the events. She still could not concentrate, and the new mob of zombies was getting close. Not knowing what else to do, she turned and ran into the woods.

Night came much faster in the trees. She was gasping for air. Her small feet pounded in the grassy forest bed, snapping tiny twigs as she ran deeper into the impossibly dark forest. The quick snapping of twigs below her feet contrasted with the slow, heavy thuds of the dozen zombie things that methodically pursued her.

Where was the road? If only she could find it. She needed to get out of the dense bushes and back onto the road. The laces of her running shoe snagged a low-lying branch and yanked her hard to the ground. Her panicked scream filled the night air as she violently kicked at imaginary hands.

Her mind raced in fear as she kicked viciously at the empty air. It took her a moment to realize that nothing had grabbed her. She started moving once more and… tripped again. Blindly, she felt the ground for the machete and her bottle of water, and grasping them tightly, she climbed back to her feet, gulping in air. She was moving as fast as she could move in the dense brush, and they were gaining on her.

“They’re not tripping in the dark,” Lucy thought out loud.

She took a few more breaths to calm herself. Straying this far off the road had not been such a great idea. Taking another deep breath, she forced herself not to run and walked as fast as her tired legs could carry her. She felt twigs digging into her left foot.

“Shit!” she cursed in a frustrated voice.

Her shoe had come off. She quickly looked behind her but could see nothing. It was so dark. She could hear them coming.

“Fuck the shoe!” she said defiantly.

Prickly branches continued to slap at her tender skin; others pulled at her hair. She tripped over a fallen log and landed heavily on a large rock. It slammed into her chest with a vengeance. She tried to shriek in agony, but no sound passed her lips. The wind thoroughly knocked out of her, she protested in silence. Tears streaked her face. Panic engulfed her, followed by a feeling of complete helplessness. With no other response available from her exasperated brain, she curled up in a fetal position and began to sob like a small child

The sounds behind her moved closer, and she could hear their groans. She didn’t care anymore. Her lungs burned and her body shivered in the chilly night air. Her chest throbbed and her legs ached. She couldn’t run any further. She was beat. She painfully rolled to her back on the cold mossy carpet of the forest floor and stared up at a million tiny lights. How pretty the stars looked. How peaceful and serene.

Lucy screamed in horror as a putrefied hand reached down to grab her. Her mind snapped back into action and her body followed, refusing to die on this God-forsaken mountain. She screamed once more and kicked ferociously to escape the grabbing hands. She scrambled to her feet and then swung her giant knife. The sheathed blade bounced harmlessly off the zombies head. Lucy flung the sheath to the ground and swung the knife in a giant arc. The zombie creature never made a sound as its hands were severed at the wrists and dropped to the ground, motionless. Lucy snapped her leg forward, kicking the zombie. She swung the giant knife at its head. She missed the head, but the blade found its mark deep in the zombie’s throat. Blackish-red blood oozed from the deep cut as she yanked the blade free. She took a mighty, Babe Ruth swing as the zombie moved forward and collapsed. The blade missed the crumbled zombie, the force of her mighty swing flung her around like a child’s spin toy. She crashed to the mountain floor, her eyes staring up at the multitude of stars once again.

“Get up!” she heard Michael’s voice yell at her.

She sprung to her feet like a cat, her head jerking from side to side.

“Get moving!” she heard him again.

It was then that she realized the voice was only in her head.

“I think I’m losing my mind,” she said, but the voice of Michael ignored her. She heard bushes rustling. She didn’t need voices to tell her to get her ass out of there. She hastened her pace, hoping, praying, that she could keep from tripping, when she felt something hard under her foot. It took a few more steps to fully comprehend that the soft, springy floor of the mossy mountainside had turned to a hard, flat surface. She smiled triumphantly. She’d found the road.

With sunrise still a distance away, Lucy felt her way down the mountain road, her feet and hands warning her when she threatened to leave the road. It was a long, slow battle staying on the road, and the moonless night offered no help. Rocks were cutting into her foot, and it hurt like hell, but she limped forward.

She walked for hours, trying to ignore the chilly air and pushing past the pain of sharp rocks digging into her shoeless foot.

She struggled forward, and morning finally broke.