[Should we stop here, Liz?] the female automated voice- Kia, said inside her head, but she ignored it, instead commanding it to go into sleep mode for the next twenty-four hours. The system she encountered some years back when she woke up half-drowned by the side of a deep river.
Kia served as a great companion, especially when she had the rude awakening that the world is post-apocalypse.
Zombies? She always figured those were just sci-fi fantasy movies. Liz learned so much from the information she gathered from Kia and the two had a sort of odd friendship since sane humans were low.
Hours later three young adults stared at each other untrustingly, not even flinching when a loud booming sound was heard in the far-off distance. Three pairs of suspicious-looking eyes and dirt-covered bodies and clothing that had seen better days. Surprisingly all footwear- boots, were in good condition. The female, Liz, which was obvious, and two dust-covered, tired-looking men just outside her truck.
The two hazel-green-eyed men wore furrows on their foreheads and stared at her and she at them, her black eyes squinting in slight fight but not panicked enough to wake Kia. The system always woke when Liz’s distress was higher than what is considered normal.
"What do you want here?" the woman was obviously stupid to ask that, both men thought as they looked at her. What else could they possibly want? They were robbing her of the truck- duh.
The trio was crossed between happiness to see other humans; normal-looking humans and not some type of zombie breed- and survival mode. They were among the few survivors of a post-apocalyptic world. In this instant, savage humans were better to deal with because you can always talk your way out of a situation rather than the chaotic zombie mode where you would have no other alternative but to k*ll. Then you had that flash thought, “Oh my goodness, was that my neighbor?” Or perhaps, “Did I go to school with her?”
The sun-bleached brown, short-haired man was the first to answer, "We're taking a ride."
Elizabeth had been driving her no-doored van, in search of a new location of food when both men jumped in from both sides, seating themselves in the back. She immediately pulled a gun out and pointed it at them. One, the van might have been picked up randomly from the side of the overgrown weed road, but gas was rare to come by and two; she had three kegs full of it in the back. Her ‘honor’ was the last thing on her mind at the moment and murd*r the closest. She wasn’t giving it up.
Both men shrugged and pointed their own barrels back at her. Averting her eyes, a bit, looking at the weed-covered, dusty, empty dirt road- except for the few scattered overturned or abandoned vehicles that accumulated over the years, she turned back to keep her eye on them, still driving.
What happened to good old running in front of a vehicle and pointing your gun or whatever at the driver, forcing them to brake, the woman is thinking, watching the redhead one eying her gas by their feet, in the back.
The overgrown in length, unkept redhead one, eyed the man who had spoken- the sun-bleached-haired one. They weren't together but he saw what the other man was thinking. They could easily overpower her, throw her out, and then settle it like men between themselves. The thing is, she is pregnant and he didn't really have the set mind for that. He didn't mind the throwing her out part, it was the babe in her tummy part that played with his conscious. He thanked God for it. He was beginning to wonder if he had any humanity remaining…if anyone had their sanity now. K*lling was something that nobody normally would be doing, let alone k*lling many.
The brown-haired man didn’t even flinch, but he also turned his weapon at him.
Red was uneasy, for the man's gun was bigger than his. Not that he didn't think that the bullet size made a difference, but it was the size of the gun that bothered him. The barrel was too wide. He'd never seen anything like it before and that was a scary thought.
The blazing sun did nothing to calm the ferocious-looking woman. Not that he could blame her. She looked uncomfortable to him; in the get-up she was wearing. A heavy brown dress and a scarf hid part of her face from the dust. And a heavy pink, very soiled jacket. The only thing worse she could do is, wear black in this heat. Unlike the other two, she is wearing a hat.
She is scared. The red-headed man could tell, so he lowered his gun. Even this movement caused her to panic, and she almost ran off the road as she ducked when he raised his arm in surrender. Pressing hard on the brakes she turned back to them.The sun-bleached, one silently put his gun down too. "Hey lady, sorry if we scared you. I just need a ride as far as I can get it."
"You're not gonna k*ll-" she sobbed cutting herself off, relieved that she didn’t have to take a human life- a regular one that is. She k*lled them all the time- slicing their necks off mostly but they weren’t normal humans. They were sort of d*ad. Like und*ad or whatever.
Both men eyed each other, the redhead figured it was a hormonal thing that pregnant women go through. "No Ma'am. Randall and I would never do such a thing."
The woman ceased her crying and eyed the man who had just spoken. She swung her gun back at them both as she pulled the key out of the ignition. She ignored the familiarity in the voice that spoke, but she zoomed in on the very recognizable one- the brown-haired one- Randall. This is a hold-up. She was right. Her instincts were never wrong. Randall? He was a high school dropout who worked in the mechanic shop. And he was dangerous. Probably worse than the other, in this situation. She jumped out of the truck and took a footstep to the back, indicating with her gun for them to step out as well.
They complied.
So, who was the other one? His voice felt familiar too. Probably one of his workers…she’d been to his shop before, so the worker was known to her. Not surprising they both survived this far.
Both men slowly got out and she pointed again for them to drop their weapons. They did not but they did lower the Glocks. Everyone had weapons these days and the ones that didn't- well they did not live to tell the tale. More than a few billion people had di*d about six years back when a nuclear war happened.
"Randall?" she questioned the brown-haired one but eyed the redhead as if waiting for him to confirm who he was too but he just stared blankly back. Yes, she is intimidated for both men were tall and huge, but she was the one with the gun so- meh.
A chilled wind blew in then despite the afternoon sun. Weather is mostly unpredictable now when you have no weatherman to update you. A hurricane might be in for all they knew.
Randall looked at her with uncertainty and then he eyed the other man. She hadn't seen him in years. Not since she left here- and his hometown. Kia had informed her of the location earlier when Elizabeth trekked down the mountainous lands but is silent now because Elizabeth had put her into sleep mode.
"You know me?" Randall stuttered for the way she said his name, indicating she did.
"Yea *sshole. You took my money," she returned, and a growling sound had them all turning to look behind the vehicle. A figure was coming toward them, but it was slow. Seeing nothing to fear from it as yet as they recognized the slow dragging was that of a zombie and still, some distance between them and the creature, they continued with their discussion as if it was just an everyday occurrence. Which it was indeed. The nuclear explosion had left them accepting this, years later as the new normal.
"Take your- ay, I've never stolen anything in my life," Randall is quick to defend himself.
The other man was looking back and forth between them. He took out a bandana from his dust-covered jeans pocket and slapped it over his thigh before he wiped his face. The sweat just spread the dust around making a wet-streaked mess, "Dam Rand-"
"Ay, who the f*ck are you?" Randall cut the man off staring at him, taking Liz by complete surprise because she figured they were already acquainted. What a wild coincidence this is.
Confusion on Randall’s facial features because they had just met up on the road and had only acknowledged each other when they had seen the truck coming towards them in the distance. They hadn’t even spoken about taking the truck, it was just instinct to work on getting it together and they’d work in unison, well till now. "What? You're kidding,", the naturally red-haired man scratched his head as he waited for dark browned but bleached-in streaks due to the sun-haired man to say he was just joking. His uneven bitten-off nails, burning slightly at the nubs where his salty sweaty scalp had him dropping his hand, still waiting for the redhead to answer. "No, I'm not kidding. I can't see your face," the other returned, monotone. A slight furrow between his eyebrows now. The man wiped his face more trying to remove the dust. She pointed the gun at him as she muttered, "Water in back. Don't waste." "Gee thanks, lady," the bandana-holding man said, in mocked sarcasm. He mumbled as
"-between North Korea and Russia. Will America get involved? Citizens, although we are not affected in America, are asked to stay at home during the next three days. We are on standby as we wait for The President's response as we speak. Citizens are making queries as to whether this could be the start of World War three. Russia, India, America and North Korea, among others, are in talks of a nuclear conspiracy. All parties involved have since denied any claims-" Randall woke up sweating, covering his face with his hands in the dimly lit room. The memory of the last normal news he had seen, replayed over and over like an echo inside his mind. He kept hearing the alert in the somewhat scared-looking woman as she read the news out to them. He remembered how frightened she looked. Like she knew what was happening but was told to say something else. Or maybe she was just scared like the rest of them. That cute reporter died on the very same day, which was also the day the riots broke o
It was a bit awkward and strange...them meeting up like this. Coincidental or not, Randall was glad. He was so lonely. Having met Matt hours earlier on the road, he had cautioned him about the new threat but Matt had already known and was in hiding trying to move far away. When they had met up, they’d both been seeking shelter and had spotted the huge building miles away. How wild was it that Matt knew who he was and had assumed he had recognised him as well. It was hard after all, even Matt had changed as well- besides the puberty hitting him late in life, Matt had a roughness to his face just as Liz. Even he too had it. A permanent untrusting expression. They’d been heading to the houses behind the gigantic building when they ‘ran’ into Liz. Then they sought refuge in this house as it was at the far back plot, behind most of the houses in a private lot. This was the only one that looked as if the creatures had not bothered to ramshackle. They both looked at him and then at eac
Liz looked out the window into the darkness and back at her two companions. She knew the danger they were in, for they had the conversation last week. They agreed to; two would asleep while one kept watch. Then one that was awake would remain awake with the one that was asleep and so forth. [You do not need them. They will just hold you back] ‘Hold m back from what exactly. Kia?’ [Survival. Humans hinder each other.] Liz stared blindly ahead of her. Yes, that is a fact but nevertheless, human interaction is also important for survival. She would go crazy if she went on this way much longer- just killing and nobody to talk with. An A.I. would never understand that. They were built on facts not feelings. Sometimes facts can be untrue when dealing with emotions. ‘Switch off Kia.’ [Goodbye Elizabeth] The blue words flashed for two seconds then disappeared silently. They had to move as soon as possible for she had seen movement in the far distance earlier. She figured it wa
Matt They were running out of supplies at the house they’d called home for almost a month and had decided to venture out with caution. Extreme caution. They would have gotten supplies and come back here but it seemed that the new creatures were searching and for what if not for humans? Besides if they got a supermarket or somewhere near a pharmacy would be good. Medical supplies were always something to be near to. The next place a few miles down, the rations had lasted a bit longer than they’d expected but it had been a fully stocked house- as if the people that lived there had just stocked up, but no bodies were found on the premises. Most of the canned goods were expired and could not be consumed and some though expired were still edible. A nutritionist's nightmare is what it is when it comes to food in zombie-land. “Perhaps they had died when they went to get pizza,” Matt had joked, earning him a slight frown from them both when they’d first inspected the perimeter of the
Matt “Down,” Randall orders in the same tone. Not needing any explanation, they both dropped to the floor stooping, too. That lowered tone would mean something was near- too near. Could either zombies or any one of the two new groups they discovered; the uniformed and the ununiformed were out and about. Too near, by Randall’s movements and lowered voice, Matt thought, glancing at Liz, waiting for Randall’s next words, still somewhat worried that the conversation between him and Liz just now was loud enough to be heard from outside let alone Randall. Matt is worried that he heard him playing matchmaker. The uniformed ones might be intel or humans …maybe aliens for all Matt knew. The others were a different kind of war-like humans that spoke their own invented language. It was sort of English words with sounds of letters mostly. It must be an adaptation of the English language and lack of words according to Liz and both men agreed with her. Which means when the zombie outbreak trans
Zombie. As in one single one. Randall cautiously made his way into the medium-sized grocery, rolling behind an aisle, listening. A quick scan indicated the others had left and the lone creature alone remained. He released a relieved breath and waited for the rotted-fleshed individual to move along as they sometimes did when unbothered and no humans were in sight. He would shoot it, but the sound would attract the ones that just left. Unfortunately, he didn’t have a long blade with him where he could easily slice its neck clean out but…ugh- the reek. The work they would have to put in to get rid of the stench. It’s better to let it wander off and he would kill it if he comes across it again, he swears to himself. Places were scarce now and he was grateful that they actually had food and shelter for the time being. This was a treasure find as almost all places were already looted. The live decomposing woman raised her nose in the air and sniffed, turning her head at different an
Lieutenant Sharp “Sir!” the man saluted and turned away when Sharp nodded. “And where are they now?” the tall, handsome but intimidating man, questioned the boy that his junior ranked officer brought forward to him. Sharp blinked his eyes repeatedly but slowly for five seconds while he scanned the boy. The blue-lit words only for his visual, float in front of his eyes. The boy's heart rate was steady. He isn’t lying. His intelligence also showed that the boy’s temperature had not risen since picking him up. The boy reared back looking scared and Sharp heard his stomach grumbling- definitely human. No need to be tested, the man thought with a little humor. They were so feeble, no wonder Biomedical started to work on making them stronger. He twisted his mouth sideways just as he’d practiced, bringing his cheeks up higher than usual but not too much to scare the kid away. “Well, boy, speak up so you can go back to your food.” Sharp forgot the boy’s name because they had rescued so m