“Come with me!"Adam muttered as he got to her.He pulled her arm as he turned to run towards the side of the tin and brick home.He had already sported an opened window at the side of the barn-like house.He swore out loud when he saw her; it was one of those townhouse windows with burglary iron.“Shit!” he sneered as he saw more zombies lumbering towards them.He turned to face them but quickly remembered something.Hoping he was right, he turned the sword swiftly in his hands and turned it against the edges of the iron bars.The sword instantly heated.Then it started melting off the edges of the irons.“Well, glad that works. Now hurry up!” Layla said anxiously as she turned to shoot the approaching zombies.“Goddamn it! Look!” she swore with fright in her tone.Adam turned to look and he almost dropped the sword in panic.The barnhouse was on a slope close to the mountainous side that led to the lighthouse.From there, one could look down on the rest of the village.What Adam saw
“Mum! Mum? It’s Adam!”Lisa rushed to her parents’ tent with excitement dogging her footsteps.“Adam? Oh Lord! Thank you!” Marriane practically snatched the ringing phone from Lisa in happiness.She picked up the call and put it in her ears.“Hello? Adam? Hello?” Nothing.She removed the phone and disappointment filled her face that was so alive a second ago.“What happened?”Caleb asked behind her.“It is dead. Why did you not pick it? You should have just picked it up. What if we can’t call him again as we have been unable to?” Marriane bombarded Lisa with questions.With tears in her eyes, she stared at the phone like it had stolen something important from her.“Come now. Calm down. Just call him back,” Caleb said.He waved at the two men standing away from the group.“It’s fine. We would join you soon.”“Dial it. Dial it then,” Marriane said in agitation.“How can you all just tell me to leave when he is not back?” she muttered as the phone rang.And ranged.But it was not answer
Adam’s legs were cramping.The rotten smell of the zombie on him had penetrated his brain so much that he couldn’t recall what clean air smelled like.He wanted to distance himself as far as possible from everything that smelled of the dead.Still, the zombies move around the rooms.The early morning light cut through the windows and the broken door.Illuminating the four zombies who refused to get out of the house.While Adam and Layla lay underneath the zombies, the zombies came and went.They had all gone towards the dead figure sitting up in bed when they first entered.Then, with sounds of disappointment, they all moved away from the blown-up figure.That was when the frantic search around the room began.When they saw no living being, their agitation calmed down.Most of them looked around in confusion as they snarled, growled, and sniffed the air in turn like hounds.Adam was certain he would never get those sounds out of his head, no matter how long he lived.He wondered how L
With reeking, discoloured purple pajamas and a limping gait, Layla immediately rushed towards the figure on the bed.Adam could see the blown-out jaw of the man on the bed.There was not enough left of his face for Adam to guess his age.But he had a slight paunch made visible by his stained singlet that must have been white once.“See?” Layla said in a trembling tone as she suddenly stopped in the doorway, as if she were afraid to enter the room.“I killed him in his bed. The noise of our crash must have woken him up. I killed him before he could check it out. We broke into his home and I thanked him by killing him!” Her voice rose an octave on the last statement.Adam laid his hand on her shoulder and felt a tremor go through her.“I am a killer,” she whispered more to herself than to him.Her broken voice stopped what he was about to say.He looked over at the room over her shoulder again.Apart from the dead smell rising off him and her, there was another distinct smell too.Adam
Adam and Layla took what they felt would be of help on their way.Since they had no idea what they would be facing on the road, Adam suggested they move as quietly as possible.As much as he would have loved to give the man a befitting burial, all he could do was cover him up fully with the bedcloth.Then Layla lay the ragged doll atop the man.They closed the door on their way out.“You look silly in that,” Layla said quietly with a smile as they stepped out.Adam looked down at the tunic he wore.It looked like a shepherd's tunic.The roughhewn ankle-length shirt was the only clothing of the man that fitted Adam a bit.None of the man’s trousers would do either.So, Adam used the water he saw in the gallon to wash off the dead blood on the trouser he had on.He wrung it out till water was no longer seeping out, and he put it on like that.Ignoring how the linen material hugged his junk, he gave Layla a mock warning look when she wanted to talk.Layla was luckier.Though the women’s
He was waiting for them when they arrived.Adam’s family was so anxious on the three-hour flight that took them from the camp to the government shelter facility on the outskirts of Alagan.They did not get to see the facility, though.Just as the pilot gave them warnings about sitting in their seats as they were about to land, Marriane was already trying to peek out of the window as if she could catch sight of her boy from that distance.As the plane was descending, they could see the massive, white shelter where one of the men announced they were providing for survivors like them.The announcement was not so necessary, as the people could even see military men patrolling the grounds of the facility.Just before they got to the outskirts where the shelter was situated, they could see many dead zombie bodies at the barricade that led to the shelter.The city of Alagan itself was overrun with zombies.Yet, there was none miles from the shelter.The shelter disappeared from view and soon
Marriane’s anxiety grew as the journey seemed to take forever.“Please, where are we going? I thought my son was just around the corner from the facility." She asked anxiously.The driver did not respond.She wanted to talk again, but then Caleb calmed her down.“Calm yourself, my dear. I am sure we will be there soon.” Caleb said.Yet concern was evident in his voice as well, as they headed farther and farther away from the direction where they had seen the facility earlier.They were heading away from Alagan as well, not towards it.All they could see around them were vacant lands on the highways and no buildings.“Are we…Are we going to another city?” Marriane asked out loud again. “We are leaving Alagan? What about the others? Where is my son?!” she said with a bit of hysteria this time as she looked around wildly.Still, the driver said nothing.Caleb spoke up “Young man, I think you..."All of a sudden, they could see a majestic building up front.Away from the highway and alone
The church bell turned out to be type winded by alarm.There was no one there.Adam thought of disconnecting it, but he eventually let it be.That ghost settlement could do with a little bit of noise once in a while.Adam had a perverse satisfaction at the thought that zombies who came along would be put to stress by the bell, as well when they tore into the church, with the expectation of meeting someone there."I never pictured you for someone who would be satisfied with something so childish" Layla said when he told her why he didn't disconnect the alarm."That goes a long way to say that you don't know a lot about me, miss smarty" Adam responded before he swung the water container in his hand upward to have a drink."Hmm, that is quite true, you mysterious man," Layla said as she tried not to breathe harshly while walking behind him."I know quite a bit though," she said as she adjusted the church curtain they had each pulled down to protect their heads under the unforgiving sun.