The slightly-less-than three thousand souls within the bunker were faced with the hardest choice they would ever have to make at that point.They had come into the bunker running away from zombies on the prowl in their numbers, and it had offered safety for them until the so-called vaccine they had gotten to curb the virus rather turned the bitten victims among them into mutant zombies worse than what they had come in to escape.It was a dilemma over which was better for them to face. The five, big creatures here in a locked bunker, or the thousands that roamed all over their city.And different people made different choices with regards to this.No one knew who, but somebody opened the main door, deciding they had a better chance outside, and those who could flooded towards it in an instant, running into the starless night. That did not go without consequences, as several people fell to the ground and were trampled to death, everyone in too much of a haste to notice their pained crie
Stefan Kingsley had been a popular athlete in high school, winning several local races with shiny gold medals and coming out of several marathons in the top five, but all that had not stopped other people from outrunning him in a bid to get out of the bunker.A student away from the rest of his family living far off in another city, he had survived because he could outrun the zombies, and an old woman watching from her window rushed to open her door for him to get in as he ran from the walking corpses that followed him.The morning had begun for him with an early jog as was his daily routine, until everyone began to run helter skelter. Still, he stood still, confused, until his eyes saw two of those horrifying, walking corpses coming straight for him.Nothing could have kept him standing still after seeing that, and he ran off at top speed, with them rushing after him. Still, they had been gaining on him and he was losing hope, until he saw an open door and a woman screaming “Run in h
Not everyone had been as unlucky as Stefan Kingsley, however.For Laila William, she did not need to do much. With everyone shoving and pushing in an attempt to be anywhere but close to those things — those former, fellow residents of Middlestown turned into devouring beasts, she found it easier to let herself be pushed towards the underground bunker's entrance, instead of pushing herself and losing her energy.As everyone around her shoved and pushed, she was only careful to keep herself breathing properly and to not fall, and although it broke her to do so, she found herself stepping on fallen people to keep her head up above the smell of stale sweat and unwashed bodies that filled her nostrils.Soon, she was outside, in a freer place for her to breathe, and she began to run as fast as her legs would carry her, wanting to be anywhere but near those things.On and on she ran into the darkness, until she rushed into a thicket and finally, stumbled upon a stone. Her body crashed into a
While there were people who got out of the bunker without as much as a scratch, there were still those who made it out barely alive, others who survived by hiding in the bunker, and scores more that never made it out.Among all these was one particular, special one.It was fourteen-year-old Ronnie Chris.He had been riding his bicycle on that peaceful morning, unaware that his world was about to be turned upside down when he first set eyes on the walking corpses, and although his entire body shook in fright, he still managed to cycle his way past the several that came after him. He would even have escaped if he had seen the one that stood waiting for him in front in enough time to swerve past it.He did not, only seeing it so late he crashed into it, and together, they fell in the street. He picked himself up and ran as fast as his legs would carry him, yelling for his mother to save him out of instinct as they went after him in their numbers and without stopping.Ronnie's will wanted
Far away from the bunker, a military van containing two men was riding down Middlestown's deserted roads.The only word that could have been used to describe Middlestown for both Kevin Santorini and Max Johnson as they ventured out that second day was the word dead. There was an unusual silence all over, except for the sound of their vehicle’s engine as it drove down the tarmac.“Where do you think the helicopters evacuating everyone took them to?” Max asked all of a sudden, his hands gripping the steering wheel.“I can't guess. Maybe they were taken out of the town?” Kevin answered, absent-minded.“Maybe. They may also be somewhere within this town, because my best guess is that not one of us would be allowed outside so easily. We are the first town to be plagued with an incurable virus that turns us into zombies, and no one would want any of their citizens to catch it, no matter what. They would rather have us all dead.”“The Middlestown Bunker.” Kevin suddenly blurted.“Huh?” Max
Deciding that they did not have so much to do except to leave the area, just in case whatever had eaten the zombie was still crawling about, they filled the radiator with some water and drove away from the point where they had stopped, only resting when the moon showed high in the sky.The next debate for Kevin and Max came over how they were to sleep inside of the van, though this was far more friendly.“You could either choose to put down the front passenger's seat and sleep in it, or leave me to lie in the back while you stay in the more uncomfortable front.” Max made his point, laughing.“No.” Kevin disagreed. “Then we put down both the driver's and the front passenger's seats and sleep in them?” “No. What if you roll over and cuddle me in your sleep?” Kevin refused with a smile on his face. “In fact, I suggest we play rock, paper, scissors to determine whose decision we are to follow.”They did, and Max won, which meant that they would put the two seats in the front down and li
Not one of the two of them could sleep a wink for the rest of that night.The mouse had been horrible enough for them, and they remained quiet for the rest of the night, both dreading leaving the safety of the van, even if it was having a large slit in the roof while lying on its side. The former sleeping arrangements which a game of rock, paper, scissors, had settled now mattered less, because they were in odd, barely comfortable positions in an overturned van.They remained quiet for so long that even when the mouse had been gone for hours, they were still held under its spell, both too afraid to talk, and still yet amused that they had survived once again.Only Max mustered enough courage to speak when he saw the sky lighten up. “Kev?”“What?”“It's morning.”“I see it.”Max chuckled to himself, adjusting his body to recline better in the position of the car to free the blood trapped in his leg. “I might need a cigarette. I have to clear the image of that rat from my head.”“It wa
When Kevin brought the van to a stop after thirty minutes of driving, it was still early in the morning, the sun only hot enough to warm up Middlestown's emptiness.Max looked around in amazement, wondering where the bunker was. All along he had come expecting to see some tall, secure building, and not an old well with a wide area of damp sand around it sitting pretty while trees and shrubs stood around the edge, seemingly threatening.“Where is it?” He asked Kevin, who took out a pack of cigarettes for a smoke while sitting behind the steering wheel. “All I can see here is a well.”“There is no well.”“That thing there is Middlestown’s bunker?”“Yes. It is the bunker, and it is under the ground. I did tell you that it was an underground bunker, and you don't think that the people fighting the second world war would build anything that would stand high and welcoming if they wanted to escape fighter jets, don't you, Soldier?”“I get it now, Kev. I understand what you meant.”Kevin smil