Max only stood and watched the duo, not knowing what to say.For him, it seemed as though Kevin was struck by how pretty Pearl looked. Even for him, he almost could not believe that a woman so magnificent was here with them in an abandoned Middlestown, but his friend was moving in to speak to her so quickly and smoothly, like a seasoned Casanova would, that there was hardly any time to warn him to be careful as she was a stranger unknown.“So you're somehow riding a bike through an abandoned wasteland like this, Pearl?” He asked, going to lend his scrutinising voice to the conversation. It was not the fairest description for the place, as at least bushes could still grow all over, but without humans, it was still a wasteland.“You think I'm a zombie? Like those horrid, disgusting things?” She asked, turning a pair of beautiful blue eyes upon him.“You thought we WERE zombies. It's fair to return the favour.” He said, laying emphasis on the ‘were’.“Max,” Kevin spoke quickly, pulling o
Left alone, Gloria started to go through the supplies with her.Everything she would need for comfort was packed for her, and she appreciated it, but for the first time, it struck her that she did not know how exactly she was supposed to find the Allfather.That had been when she came to a hard decision.Essentially, she would be turning herself into a bat with her plan. What she needed was a place to hide during the day, where she would sleep for hours upon hours. Then, by nightfall, she would move as silently as she could by foot, making use of thermal imaging to detect any signs of heat. The Allfather had to be a man, a warm-blooded animal after all.Finding a place like this became the next challenge, until she found an abandoned cabin, and moved her bike and everything else she had brought with her before sitting on the floor.For some reason, the cabin was almost empty, save for her large bike that stood within. Obviously, people had stayed here, and it could have been full at s
She refused to believe what her eyes read.“No… no, ” she moaned, taking out the battery from the device and putting it back before switching it on. It came alive again, but this time, with a different message:“YOU'LL LOVE IT HERE. PLEASE MAKE YOURSELF COMFORTABLE. SENDING LOVE FROM —THE ALLFATHER.”Again, she threw the device onto the ground, this time breaking it before running back into the cabin to look for something else she could use to reach out to anyone that could get her out of this place. Any device at all…Her scrambling hands found a small phone, and she pressed the power button, relieved to see the pixels on the screen come alive and display her wallpaper — an image of herself and Dr. Elizabeth. With shaky hands, she unlocked it, and was about to seek the app icon that would be her salvation when the screen went blank, and a new string of letters started to appear. They read:“YOU CAN RUN, BUT YOU CAN'T HIDE. YOU ARE NOW TRAPPED HERE. WITH LOVE, —THE ALLFATHER.”Her
It turned out to be a tree.A tree should be an ordinary thing, indeed. It doesn't move, or make any sound, or feel, or do anything to remind one that it has life even when science claims that it does, but this one was different.The roots were pulled up from the ground, moving like small worms before her. The bark was, just like the appearance of animal zombies, peeling off, and the leaves were brown, but not dry.What made Gloria scream was the head that stuck at the top of this tree, exactly like the head of a Venus fly trap, only that it was almost fifty times bigger, and the branch that reached to curl itself about her as the tree bent to catch her.She rolled away from the reach of the grasping branch just in time so that it harmlessly waved over where she had been only a moment before, and made the mistake of underestimating the tree, because the branch simply extended and pinned her where she was. The smaller branches attached to that branch made her captive with how they wra
The scene that met their eyes took the fight out of their minds.Their large helicopter was being torn apart by as many as five trees that kept going at it like boxers pummelling at their opponents. With each blow, a part of the aircraft fell away, and by the time they saw it, one of the blades was already crashing down.Frozen, they watched helplessly, without knowing which they were more afraid of. The size of the trees — which made them stand twice as tall as the usual, or the heads sitting in the middle of the trees, just on the point where the branches spread from the body of the tree, or the fact that these trees were moving like animals, pulling up their roots from the ground as they did, or the fact that they were now trapped in this place, with these things.Whichever way, there were those who started to run.The General refused to back down. His only move was a backward step which he allowed himself for his horror, before barking his order.“Shoot.” The man yelled, and leadi
Kevin Santorini sat in his old but still running car— one of the only good things he had in his possession while eating a sandwich he had just gotten and listening to the news on the radio. He was still a struggling artist, and few things gave him joy except for his art, the car, his girlfriend Gina, and the house they co-owned after he had saved up for months on end to buy. It was quite shabby, but he liked it and was proud to say it belonged to him. With an exhausted sigh he reached for the knob, just about to change the radio station when a new headline came in. “Breaking News. The Institute for Health Research in Middlestown has announced the escape of a new virus called the Q-21 Zombie virus from one of its laboratories earlier this morning. Everyone is advised to stay indoors until the virus can be controlled.” Laughing at the news, he took the final bite of his sandwich. “Sounds like the gamer's dream come true. Nothing real.” He said to himself, throwing the paper it had b
He fell back with the ladder into the attic where the zombies were reaching out to grab him. For a moment, he gave up on life and living, his heart broken from being betrayed twice in less than an hour. His back hit the floor and he reeled from the impact. All around him, the zombies were jostling to reach him, and he kicked at them in panic, flailing his hands in a feeble attempt to keep them away when one of them touched something. It was a brand new chainsaw he had very recently purchased. With all the effort he could muster, he reached out to pull it towards him when he felt a zombie bite into his leg. Holding the chainsaw with both his hands, he swung it with all the force he could muster, sending a few of them off and cutting into the head of the one biting his leg. Another swing gave him some space to stand, and he started the machine. It buzzed, alive and dangerous, the sound vibrating over the whole room. The zombies began to shriek and yell and rush towards him, obviously
“They cannot… they cannot touch me.” Kevin Santorini whispered to himself in realisation, his breath coming out in excited huffs from his nostrils. The feeling in his chest was a healthy mix of joy and wonder as he watched them try to reach him without success, held off by this barrier that even he could neither see nor understand. Now, he even dared to look them in the eyes, staring into the rotting, ashen faces. He could not believe his good luck when for the second time that day, the zombies left him alone. Still, he remained where he had woken up, convinced that there was something about that place protecting him and afraid to leave its safety. He checked the bite on his leg and saw that it had healed, leaving ashen scars. Was he dreaming? He wondered to himself, feeling the scars on his leg and pressing his fingers on them. There was absolutely no pain, no itch, and nothing to remind him that a zombie had bitten him there except for the scars, and even they seemed perfectly n