[Note: This is part two in a three-part series. To read part one, go here. To read part three, stay tuned!]
The following is a theatrical retelling of a Humans vs. Zombies event, hosted by UVic Urban Gaming. During these events, the last of the human race fights off the zombie horde with everything NERF at their disposal, accomplishing missions as they try to survive.
The tank turned over the train as we escaped, ripping it to pieces. A few zeds shambled after us, but once we cleared the crowd, it was a straight shot to the woods. We ran for what felt like hours.
The train out of sight, we could still hear the tank roaring in the night, crushing the iron hull with its bare fists. We didn’t stop until we no longer saw the flames of the station licking at the night sky. Deep in the woods on the outskirts of town, we took refuge in a tree for safety. Of course, that was days ago, and we’ve been circling the town ever since.
I managed to hold on to my six-shooter when we fled the wreckage, and Rene kept his rifle. So we weren’t entirely unarmed, but our only ammo is what we’ve scavenged since. I picked up a bat along the way, although not sure I expect to survive long if I need to use it. Rene found some rebar and sharpened it into a spear, and has already killed half a dozen zeds with it.
At this point, having me around is a liability to Rene; why does he still travel with me? Can’t shoot, can’t fight, and freeze up when things get too crazyÉ I have to wonder why? The only reason he hasn’t taken off on his own that I can come up with is that, even in the apocalypse, friendship is still worth something. Not being alone is still worth something.
Then again, Rene’s hearing isn’t so hot, and I’ve been the one to call out most zeds as we rummage around. I’m also a better climber, scouting up in trees so we can get an idea of what’s around us. So maybe I am at least a little useful and not just some company.
“We should set up camp soon, what do you think, Patty?” asked Rene.
“None of these trees are going to do us much good to sleep in, but I saw some hills in the distance last I looked above the tree line,” I responded. “If we go there, we’ll be able to see anything coming up on us, and have the high ground if nothing else.”
“Sounds good; lead the way.” Rene motioned for me to walk in the front.
We walked for another hour or so before making it up the hill, the sunlight starting to fade away. I pointed out to Rene that we hadn’t seen any zeds in quite a while; he figured they don’t wander too far from the city. Nothing this far out to pull their attention.
We made a small fire and set up for the night. From here we could see the town, and the odd light flickering. Some looked like lights where there must still be power, others were unmistakably fire. We’d been skirting the town for a few days now, instead of setting off in another direction. I knew why we weren’t moving on, but sometimes I wonder if Rene himself knows.
I looked through the crackling flames, Rene on the other side; he seemed hypnotized by the night sky. I turned my head to the stars, as well. “With everything blacked out, you can see so much more of the sky!”
Rene didn’t respond.
I thought for a minute or two, trying to sort my words, but ended up just blurting it out. “Do you think we’ll find her? Alive, I mean.”
“No” he responded, with hesitation.
“We never saw them get her, though. She made it up the tower at least, and crossing from one roof to another shouldn’t have been too difficult for her.”
“She’s dead. Forget about it.”
I failed to bite my tongue, saying, “Then why haven’t we just fled the town? If Jazz is dead and you know it, then there’s nothing here for us! I know it’s easier to convince yourself she’s dead than to get your hopes up, but I know she might be alive. And you do, too.”
Rene didn’t respond, but at least now I know for sure that’s why we’re still here.
I sat up and looked in to the fire, speaking more softly. “To me, you and Jazz come as a package deal, so as long as I’m with you, I’ll be looking for her.” Rene still didn’t answer. “Mope all you want, I know you believe she’s alive, and I’m going to help you find her,” I said, as I collapsed back on to the ground, hands behind my head.
Some hours passed; a few zeds shambled up the hill during that time. They aren’t much good going up slopes, it seems, making it easy to spear them in the heads near the crest of the hill. One had a few matches in his pockets, but not much else of use; too bad, but I suppose only videogame zombies drop ammunition.
A zed let out a loud moan as it lumbered towards me. As it reached out for me, I drove Rene’s rebar spear deep in to its skull, pinning it to the ground. I put my foot on its chest and jerked the spear out, and walked back towards the fire.
“You’re getting better at that, Patty. Not hesitating as badly, more power in your strikes, too.”
“Practice makes perfect… although, never thought I’d be practicing this,” I replied.
“No, I guess not,” said Rene, with a slight grin. Looks like his mood has lightened up a bit, at least.
I dug the spear in to the dirt near the fire, and laid back down, once again staring up at the stars. With no sound but the crackling of the fire once again, my mind wandered.
“Say, Rene.”
“Yeah, Patty?”
“Do you think they know who they are? The zeds, I mean. Do you think, even if they can’t control themselves, they’re aware of what their body is doing?”
“Doubt it, but if they do, all the more reason to put the poor bastards down,” replied Rene.
“Do you think some people are immune? Not everyone gets back up after they die, and some take longer to turn once bit,” I asked, entranced by the stars above.
“Who knows? Some may resist it, I guess; better immune system or something. Most everyone who gets bit seems to die within a day though. Why does it matter?” asked Rene, puzzled.
“I dunno, just musing, I suppose,” I responded. “Maybe some can resist it, and feel themselves change, and be in control… or at least at first. Could you imagine turning in to a spitter, or a tank?!”
“You’re nuts, Patty.”
“I prefer the term ‘delightfully eccentric.’”
“Haha, alright, man. If you turn, I’ll give you a chance to let me know it’s you inside before I blow your head off.”
“That’s all I ask,” I responded, both of us chuckling. It’s good to laugh again, even over something so morbid. I tilted my head back, closed my eyes, and dozed off to the sound of the fire.
**
As I slept, I had strange dreams. Nothing made sense, and I could hear Jazz and Rene calling to me: “Hey, Pat! Patty!” The gentle call slowly getting louder, and more panicked. “PATTY!”
I sat bolt upright, drenched in sweat, gasping for air like I hadn’t breathed in hours. Looking around in a panic, Rene was pinned to the ground by a zed, its teeth wrapped around his rebar spear and clawing at him. I grabbed my bat and ran towards them, performing a golf club swing across the things skull so hard its neck twisted and snapped.
Rene rolled the limp body off of himself and hurriedly climbed to his feet. “Nice to see you awake, sleeping beauty; now we gotta go!” Rene yelled. I looked around still dazed and confused from my dreams, but as I came back to reality, I realized there was a horde of zeds coming up the hill.
“What happened? What drew this horde towards us?! We haven’t seen this many zeds since the train!” I yelled, panicking as I grabbed my gear.
“I heard gunshots and yelling down the bank, closer to the treeline by town. I think a group of survivors must have trained them this way, and we got stuck on the tracks,” Rene answered.
We grabbed our gear and shot off down the hill. Running full sprint downhill, we were struggling to not go tumbling down as the horde birthed the top of the hill, shambling after us. “Run run RUN!” I yelled, nearly doing summersaults down the hill now. Making it to the bottom and back in to the woods, we heard gunshots and a shrilling scream of a girl. We both thought the same thing.
Sprinting in the direction of the scream, we came to an opening in the trees, a grove of grass and flowers, with the sun shining through the trees, illuminating what would be a serene place. Instead, the river ran red with the blood of the torn-open corpse. The visceral scene made me want to vomit, but my attention was quickly torn away by the hulking zed barrelling on a man sobbing on the ground, bleeding heavily with his leg twisted unnaturally.
Rene and I both popped shots off at the hulk, quickly causing it to turn and charge us. We rolled out of the way as it blew past, obliterating a tree as it crashed. We shot what bullets we had loaded in our guns to no avail, the hulking mass of rotting flesh turned on us again, this time charging only Rene. Without a moment’s hesitation, he buried the dull end of his rebar spear in to the ground, angling it towards the hulk, and dove to the side, skewering the hulk on the spear as it ran past.
Seemingly unfazed, the beast began to turn as I took aim, and shot my last bullet, piercing it through the neck. Fully enraged, the hulk charged me. Frozen in fear, it swiped me with its massive arm, sending me through the trees and brush, skipping across the ground like a pebble.
Engrossed in pain, I stood up dazed and feeling my vision slip as the goliath charged at me once again.
Everything seemed to be in slow motion, and I felt as if I were dreaming again. Sound faded away; all I could hear was my heart slowly pounding. The hulk’s massive arms closing around me, I was no longer in control of my own body; my right arm twitched and tensed up as I felt a bestial roar erupt from my lungs, letting loose a right hook in to the hulk’s face.
Reality seemingly coming back in to play, the hulk was knocked to the ground with a great force. My vision blurred as consciousness slipped away; I struggled to stay on my feet. Rene came crashing through the bushes, freeing his rebar spear from the hulk’s massive body and piking it through the head, ceasing its movement.
“Patty, are you okay?!” exclaimed Rene.
“I think so, just… a bit dazed is all,” I responded, somewhat wobbly still.
“No kidding; you’re lucky to be standing at all with the hit you took! Good thing it fell over or this may have gone very differently.”
“Y… yeah, you’re right,” I said hesitantly, realizing Rene didn’t see what happened.
Re-entering the grove, the man had clawed his way closer to the mangled corpse on the riverbed.
“She was my daughter; we were drawing a herd away from our base. Then that thing showed up. We couldn’t outrun it, and…” The man’s speech tapered off.
“We’ll get you back home, just tell us where to go and we’ll get you there,” I said hurriedly, seeing the amount of blood he had lost.
The man shook his head, tears running down his cheeks “I got bit; no one lives for more than a few hours after that. I know it’s a lot to ask but… please, I don’t want to turn…”
As Rene clutched his rebar spear preparing for what had to be done, he asked the man this: “Before that, did you have anyone else with you? We’re looking for someone named Jasmine.”
The man nodded. “That name sounds familiar, although there are lots of people at our base.” Our eyes widened as he spoke. “They’re at the old church on the northwest side of town, ask for Marco, and tell him Ned and Stacey say goodbye. Now, please…”
Rene breathed in heavily as I looked away, my eyes closed tight; I only heard the sound of a body falling limply to the ground.
**
“Come on, we don’t have time to hang around,” said Rene, in a somber tone.
“Yeah, just give me a second,” I said, looking at the body on the ground. Rene nodded, and left the grove. Certain he was out of sight, I rolled up the sleeve and inspected the upper portion of my right arm. The area where the flesh had been torn away had finally stopped throbbing.
“This isn’t healing right, but it doesn’t look infected, either,” I thought to myself. No scabbing over like an injury should, and the veins around the bite were puffed out and enlarged. “Why hasn’t this killed me yet; why haven’t I turned?” I thought. “Could I possibly be immune? If so, it should be healing by now, but it’s been days since the train when I got bitten and it still doesn’t seem to be getting any better.”
We have a lead now, though, so it doesn’t matter. I won’t die and leave Rene alone in this world, not without finding Jazz first.
To be continued…