Million Dollar Zombie 2-2

[...Posted by Ted H]

...Personally, my favorite part is always when I get to write where a situation irreversibly hits the fans in a big way.

BGI is taxing me for some reason. Apparently transferring v2 and making it all coherent in v3 involves a bit more effort than I wanted. Writing Ted and Aaron hanging out before it all went down was fun...Kristen getting killed by zombies was a blast...D talking to his superiors and worrying about his task at hand came easy as well, but none of that happened in any prior version. Ted dicking around with an electric fence and the other two major characters he encounters on the way back to the school both were in the previous version and are the ones taking me the longest. Those parts are slow but once the story proper gets rolling I'll be able to pound out v3 much more efficiently. For now I just need to drop my head and plow through. I just need everyone to get back into the school, then I can do this much easier.

Until then we have our other story where 5 greedy jackasses are getting attacked by the undead...
...And Anthony's story about a guy (Chinese? I'm only saying because he ate a cat and my brain can't help itself) in a different apocalypse, which is very good so far (And you can trust that endorsement because the voices in my head don't praise all that much)

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[Million Dollar Zombie 2-2]

            The snow had stopped, but the others were too far ahead for Jack to see. He got out anyway since he wanted a cigarette. It had been snowing hard for a while but thanks to the wind, little actually stuck to the truck. Still, it would pick up again and Jack didn't feel like busting out a snowbrush in the middle of a alleged zombie attack. Just to be safe, he reached back into the truck and retrieved a brush alongside his dads magnum that he "borrowed" for the little adventure.

            He quickly brushed the light snow off of the side windows as he made a circle around his truck. "Done and done," he said as he tossed the brush into the truck bed, then quickly stopped to listen. He thought he could hear shuffled footsteps. "Fucking crazy," he said as he approached the door. The snow was still out of the way but there were no streetlights on or anything to give much visibility.

            Jack reached in and turned his lights on to reveal a half dozen stumbling figures approaching. "Oh...That...That can't be..." Jack started but stopped when the closest of the approaching figures let out a long moan and reached out. "Yup, time to go," he said as he jumped back into the truck and fired up the engine. He knew the plan was to sit in the dark quietly and let the others lead back a zombie, but the zombies found him and he was going to make a change to the plan.

            Jack shifted gears and backed the truck around again. The first of the undead had just reached the truck when he shifted into drive and drove off after the others. The storm was picking up again as the hoard of six grew larger and together they marched after the truck.

 *******

            "Alright," Marko said as he aimed his gun at the approaching people "What now?" Jerry was at a loss for words and could only stare at the approaching. None of them were dressed for the weather and their faces looked pale and discolored. Some were partially devoured in places and all were covered in blood, especially around the mouth. All of them groped the air in front of them as they encircled the men.

            "Jerry!" Ted screamed "Tell me you planned for this!"
            "I..."Jerry started but couldn't bring himself to focus anymore.
            "Jerry!" Ted screamed again as he grabbed the man by the shoulders and shook him. "Fuck it, we lost him."

            "You got a plan then?" Marko asked as Ted pulled the gun out of Jerry's hand, then pointed it at the closest approaching person.

            "STOP!" Ted barked out "I will shoot!" He fired a shot overhead to show the gun worked then pointed it back, but the approaching took no notice. "I'm warning you!" he yelled again as even more figures stepped out into view. Ted hesitated a moment longer before he pulled the trigger again and put a round right through their head. The persons head knocked back as they slowly fell over and didn't move again.

            "Holy..." Jay started and pointed his camera but stopped himself, unsure if he wanted a picture of what just happened "This...It's real..." The gunshot snapped Jerry out of his own head as looked at all the other approaching continue on unfazed from the headshot. "They don't even care," Jay called out.

            "Back to the truck!" Ted yelled as the storm strengthened "Shoot a path, Marko!" Ted and Marko led the way as they shot the closest in their way, Jerry and Jay stayed close behind. Jay held up a moment to get one more picture as the undead converged where they were standing before, then he took off after the others. They had just run into the intersection when headlights pierced through the storm and Jack drove in.

            "Look out!" Marko screamed as he and Ted dove forward and Jerry and Jay dove back just as Jack drove his truck between them. He then hit the brakes as slid to a stop. Without waiting, Jerry ran for the truck as Jack came out. "You guys ok?" he asked as Jerry ran up pointing to Jack's left. "Incoming!" he yelled as Jack turned to see a zombie approach.

            Jack immediately held up his magnum and yelled for it to stop. "They're real, just fucking blow it away!" Jerry screamed as Jack hesitated. Real or not, Jack had never fired a gun before and found it difficult to pull the trigger. "Jack!" Jerry screamed "Kill it!" Jack continued to wait, shaking his head as his aim waivered. "I'm...I'm just here to drive," he said to himself as Jerry pulled the gun from his hands.
            The zombie was close enough to reach out as Jerry pulled Jack back and extended his arm to aim. Jerry squeezed the trigger and the gun jerked out of his hand as the top of the zombie's head disappeared and it fell backwards. "Oh shit," Jack said as Jerry picked the gun up and pointed it at other approaching zombies. "Get that thing in the truck," Jerry said as he shot and missed at another zombie.
            Jack went to pick up the body and observed all the things wrong with it. The top of the head was the only injury the magnum caused but this man was defiantly dead long before. They were barefoot and only wearing jeans and a torn shirt. Where the shirt was torn, the man's chest had been torn into with skin missing all the way up to their face. Despite the wounds, only the head injury was yielding blood, and even that seemed to produce little in the way of liquid.
            "Come on, Jack!" Jerry screamed as he squeezed off another round; the shot striking a zombie in the chest, but otherwise doing nothing to deter it. Jack hesitated a moment, then grabbed the man by the remains of his shirt and pulled him up so he was sitting up. He then threw his arms under the corpse's and dragged it up. This wasn't supposed to be his job, prompting him to ask Jerry "Where are the others?"

*********

            Jack couldn't hear them over the storm, but Ted and Marko were only twenty feet away. After diving out of the way, they were quickly overtaken by zombies and they had to scramble away to avoid being eaten. They had taken temporary refuge on someone's front lawn.
            "How's your aim?" Marko asked as both men aimed into the closing zombies. "Paintball count?" Ted answered as Marko fired three shots and dropped two zombies. "Good enough," Marko said as he continued to fire.
            "I can't see Jerry," Ted said as he struggled to see through the storm then spun around and fired at the zombies who were coming in from behind.
            "We need to move!" Marko screamed as more zombies approached, forcing the two to retreat away from where the truck was. "Jerry!" Ted screamed before shoving his gun into a zombie's face and shooting.

 ***************

            "I need help, Jerry!" Jack yelled as he struggled to push the corpse over the top and into his truck-bed. Jerry fired off another shot, blowing through zombie's neck and severing its spinal cord. He quickly turned and grabbed the corpse by the belt and pulling up, helping Jack flip it into the truck. "Go go go!" he yelled as he fired a wide shot and sprinted to get to the other side.
            "Ted! Marko! We're leaving!" he screamed as Jack threw his door open to block some zombies and jump in. Jerry strained to listen for the others but could only hear gunfire that seemed to be so far away.
            "Help me!" someone else screamed, turning Jerry around as a cold sweat washed over him. He lost track of Jay, and unlike the others, he was alone and unarmed. Jerry took off to where he remembered diving away from before, shouldering away a zombie and knocking it over. Jay was on the ground and trying to kick two zombies off of him. Others were making their way to him as well as Jerry aimed and shot the head right off of one of the zombies on Jay. The body fell over on top of Jay as Jerry quickly aimed for the other and pulled the trigger, only to find the magnum was out of bullets.

 ************

            "We're going the wrong way!" Ted screamed as Marko reloaded his gun. "I know!" he screamed back as the approaching hoard kept pushing the two backwards "But what are we gonna do, ask them to let us through?" Ted and Marko continued to fire as they retreated back into the street but still in the wrong direction.
            "I'm out!" Ted yelled as he constantly pulled the trigger to no effect. "How is that possible?" Marko shouted as he fumbled a new clip out and tossed it over. Both had been conservative with their ammo; only taking sure headshots. It wasn't until later that Marko realized that when Ted took the gun from Jerry, he never bothered to take any of the spare ammo Jerry had on him.

            Marko had only one spare clip, and Jerry just screamed something inaudible from the truck. Whatever it was he was screaming, they needed to get back fast. "This is fucking ridiculous," Marko screamed as he fired two more shots "They're swarming from everywhere!"
            "We gotta risk it," Ted finally said as he took one final worried look at Marko, then charged into the hoard where it was thinner.

 ***************

            Jack had to push off a zombie that was pulling on his door, but he finally closed it. The engine still running from before, he shifted into reverse and drove to where he saw Jerry disappear to. Through the wall of falling snow he saw him, pushing a zombie away while trying to pull Jay out from under another zombie.
            "Holy shit," he breathed as he sat helplessly and watched as zombies began to pound at his door trying to get in. He watched as Jerry jumped back as he avoided a lunging zombie while the original zombie fell on top of Jay and bit into his shoulder. "No!" Jack screamed as Jerry kicked the zombie back off of Jay, while another crouched down behind Jay and grabbed his leg.

            Jerry wasn't going to give up though as more and more zombies began to pound on the truck while more approached Jerry and Jay. Jack realized, on top of the fact that he couldn't hear any more shooting from wherever Ted and Marko were, that if anyone was going to leave alive, they needed to leave now.
            Ted and Marko were gone, and it became pretty clear that Jerry wasn't going to be able to help Jay as the zombie bit right into his calf. Jack pushed his hand into the steering wheel, sounding the horn which grabbed the attention of everything, living and dead. With Jerry's attention, Jack waved furiously for him to get into the truck.

            "Come on you idiot, he ain't gonna make it!" he screamed as he beat the horn while Jerry made one final effort to pull Jay away but gave up when too many zombies got too close. Jack drove back a little to push some zombies off of the truck so Jerry could reach the passenger door.

            As soon as Jerry's door was shut, Jack shifted and sped out of the immediate area, knocking everything aside as he drove. "No!" Jerry screamed "What about Marko and Ted?"
            "I don't know where they were. I don't think they made it either," Jack said as he clenched the steering wheel.

            "We need to go back."

            "If I waited any longer, we die. If we go back now, we die."

            "We could've saved Jay."

            "He was fucked."

            "You don't know that!"

            "Jerry, do you even realize what just happened?"

            Jerry didn't say anything. "Yeah, you do," Jack said "And believe me, I do too. We can't go back. We shouldn't have even bothered."