Army of the Undead

We stand on the freeway overpass as a united front. An Army of the Living and a force to be reckoned with. S.W.A.T. teams, US Military Forces, Police Officers and Civilians. We all came together to face our undead enemy. We stand behind T-72 Tanks, Humvees, Abrams tanks, and automatic weapons at the edge of the city looking over a quiet skyline. You can still hear the sound of birds chirping. It was a while before we began to ask the question "where are they?" Then a rumble from within the crowd can be heard and we suddenly realize...

Our enemy was coming from within!

Suddenly droves of the undead begin to emerge from our stronghold. The living are stepping on one another and throwing each other aside to escape. Chaos ensues and I take off on foot. We all do...in all directions...knowing full well there is really no where to go.

At first I follow everyone else's lead, running back toward the city, looking for an exit and a place to hide. I begin to understand as we, one by one, begin to get picked off by the surprisingly swift zombies that I am just a stupid gazelle drinking from a pond waiting to become my predators' next meal.

 
I look below the freeway at the river flowing beneath. With no other immediate options I choose to make my exit via the water ways. I dive into the cold river water and just focus on swimming. I swim as hard and fast as I can, not really bothering to look for anything besides boats. Eventually, my strokes begin to make contact and...bump into things (fish?)...I take a break to investigate. When I lift my head out of the water and survey the (rather vast) river around me...

All I can see are bodies...as far as my eyes can see...floating bodies!

These are not just a few bodies here and there...bodies are clustered so close together that you would never know you were looking at a river unless you happened to be swimming in it...


I determine to make my way back to shore and, since I can't hope to swim through the sea of decaying flesh, I begin to just start climbing over it. Slowly, I crawl on to the poor soul to my left and, just as I get my knee up out of the water....

The corpse begins to stir...

There's something about a zombie stirring that somehow sends a signal to its otherwise still and peaceful comrades to suddenly animate.

Fuck it.

I fling myself on top of the stirring corpse and resolve to stick to my original plan. I run as fast as I can across the bodies, jumping over and dodging their grasping hands and chomping teeth. All the stirring and movement broke up the solid pathway, however, and just before I reach the shore my feet find a flaw and I am submerged once again. No matter, I can swim and zombies cannot. I dive a little deeper just to put some distance between me and the floating hoard and continue towards the shore. Then I feel something grab me and pull me back.

Oh, good. Zombies CAN swim. Fucking great news.

I wrestle with the Zombie to free myself, but panic sets in. My opponent can do this forever, what with not needing to breathe and all, but my lungs begin to hurt for need of oxygen. I don't have a weapon. Fuck.

I'm not really sure how, but I'm suddenly standing at the shore, watching a sea of zombies climb out of the water and stagger to their feet.

RUN.

I run back in the direction of the overpass and follow it into the city. I run through the edge of the woods hoping to find some cover. Suddenly I realize where I am...I'm standing in front of my boyfriend's house. I run inside to see if he is okay and find the place riddled with Zombies. Zombies sitting at the dining room table playing cards, zombies relaxing on the couch, zombies milling around with no direction. They all look up at me, but make no moves. I back away slowly and close the door behind me. It's dark now and I just need to find a place to hold up and close my eyes for a little while. I climb quietly up to the roof and lay down next to the chimney. I hear no noises, no stirring, and see nothing of note. I let myself drift off to sleep.

I'm suddenly awakened by grunting noises and see that I've been discovered. I leap to my feet and begin running again. I know that for some reason if I can make it until dawn I'll be fine. I just have to keep running until dawn.

Deeper into the woods I run, and as I round a corner I see a small Cessna parked in a clearing, loading passengers aboard. I ask the crew, "what gives?" and they tell me that Hawaii has been declared an official Zombie-free zone. I ask if they have room to take me with them, and since they do I get in line. I look down and see that I'm suddenly holding my little dog...in fact, everyone has dogs. I look behind me and see the leaves rustling as a heard of some sort approaches. I turn and step onto the plane.....

fin

Teresa Taylor