Chapter 4: To the Rescue
For what seemed like the hundredth time, Rachel looked at her alarm clock and wondered where Mark was. Glancing again and reading 10:13 am Rachel was half tempted to unplug her clock just to stop herself from watching the numbers click by. After Mark’s text she had checked again to make sure the door was locked before curling up in a corner of her room. She was tired, but her mind was racing, so it was a competition to see which one would win. She was still confused at what she had seen outside and inside her house. ‘Could all those people be people who were sick from the Zirus outbreak and they just hadn’t gone to the hospital? Or maybe there were to many people for the hospital.’ Getting nowhere in her thoughts and not coming up with any answers, Rachel had tried to doze off here and there but always woke up and usually in panic. Grrring in frustration Rachel got up and looked at her phone again. With no new text from Mark she really was starting to get worried that something had happened.
Rachel chided herself for negative thinking and said quietly to herself, “No he probably got some supplies and traffic is bad. Mark is capable, I just got to stay positive” and looking down at herself still in her pajamas “and be ready.” Crossing to her dresser she glanced at the door before slowly and gently opening her dresser. Rachel slipped out of her shorts and white tank top and traded them for some forest green jeans and a black t-shirt that said on the front “Sarcasm is my middle name.” Grabbing a light grey jacket Rachel slipped that on too before sitting on her bed. Not being able to sit still for longer than 5 minutes, she got up and made her bed. She was just about to start cleaning her room in hopes of forcing her mind to focus on something else when she heard a quiet rev coming from her street. Knowing the sound of Markus’s bike Rachel ran to the window and peered outside.
The first thing she noticed, besides it being considerablily brighter than the last time she gazed out the window, was there was nobody on the streets other than Mark pulling into her driveway. Sliding her window open Rachel yelled out Mark’s name in relief before remembering who, or what, was in the house. But it was too late, Rachel’s door started to be thudded against. Glancing at the door in panic and then back outside to Mark she yelled again “Hurry Mark it’s inside the house!” Rachel saw Mark had killed his bike by this time and his head turning to her as she said his name. She went to call out a second time but saw him put his finger to his lips to silence her. He looked around outside and then, hopping off his bike, he quickly drew a gun and ran into the house.
Rachel heard noise downstairs and then the thudding stopped. Waiting a couple seconds Rachel finally called out “Mark, are you there?” Suddenly the thudding on the door continued again but harder this time, scaring Rachel. She quickly scanned the room for a weapon to defend herself with. Seeing her softball bat leaning against the wall in the corner, she grabbed it and held it over her head ready to strike the first thing that broke through that door. After three more hard thuds, her door broke down and with it came Mark as well. A bit stunned Mark turned over and groaned slightly. Locking eyes with Rachel and then her bat still raised above her head, he said, “Is that how you greet the person who just saved you?” Still in slight shock, Rachel looked at Mark and then at her bat. Tossing it aside as she realized what he said she tackled him with a hug and said, “Mark you came.”
“Of course, I came, I told I would, didn’t I?
Pulling back from the embrace Rachel then turned angry and said “Why did you break down my door? I thought it was whatever was in my house!”
“I’m sorry, it was just a harmless prank” Mark said chuckling to himself. “The front door is broken so we can’t stay here, and I need the practice of breaking down doors in emergencies for the Fire department, it’s a win-win situation.”
“You’re an idiot you know that, right?” was the only response Rachel gave Mark.
“Yes, but you love me, and I just save your butt, so I think we are even. Let’s go eat, I’m starving” Mark said as he got up. Rolling her eyes Rachel got up as well and with Mark leading the way they headed down to the kitchen. As they ate breakfast, which was just some simple toast and cereal, Rachel took in the damage of her apartment. Pictures that use to be on the wall were on the floor crushed, her tv was gone and some of the cupboards where the food was kept were completely empty. Overall, her house was trashed, and she was embarrassed she had slept through all of it.
Noticing the look on her face Mark tried to quickly swallow his bite of toast and clearing his throat said, “Don’t feel bad Rach, I’m just glad your safe.” Lifting her head slightly up to meet his gaze, Rachel tried to smile and forced out “Thanks.” Finishing their breakfast Rachel asked Mark what was going on.
“To be honest Rachel I don’t have much of a clue myself. I heard on the TV that this might have something to do with the Zirus and from my encounters so far, I feel like these things are zombies. Like the ones in books and what not. I think our next step is-” Mark never got to finish his comment as it was interrupted by the rev of a motorcycle. Rushing to the door, Mark yelled in vain as he saw his motorcycle being stolen and throttled down the street by a hooded figure. Throwing his hands up as his motorcycle disappeared around the corner Mark shouted out “Come on man just because it’s the freakin apocalypses doesn’t give you the right to steal a dude’s bike!” Mark turned around as he made the walk of shame back into the house. “I knew I should have taken the key, just one more second and I would still have a motorcycle.” Flopping on the couch in the living room, Mark covered his eyes with his arm as he tried to get over the loss of his beautifully fine-tuned bike. Mark felt the cushion sag down a little more near his legs and Rachel’s voice confirmed she was sitting next to him.
“Mark I’m sorry about your bike. You would still have it if you hadn’t come for me.” Sitting up Mark looked at Rachel with a surprise on his face “Rachel, it’s a bike. Yes, I loved it but it’s just property. You can’t put a price on someone’s life. You are definitely more important than my bike.” Blushing slightly Rachel broke eye contact and pushing a few strands back replied slowly “Well I really am sorry you lost your bike. Thank you for coming for me, you really are a great friend.” Upon hearing the word friend Mark’s gaze dropped as well as did his heart. “Ahem yeah no problem Rach, by the way your sister didn’t leave her car by any chance, did she?”
Looking up glad that the moment had passed, she responded with “No, she took it to Arizona.”
“Well we are out of transport so looks like we are going on foot.”
Standing up Mark headed back into the kitchen to start grabbing supplies when both Rachel and Mark’s phones went off. Looking at Rachel, Mark pulled his phone out and read the message out loud.
“EMERGENCY MESSAGE! MILTARY FORCES ARRIVING AT 16:00 TO AIDE CIVILIANS. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.”
Sighing in relief Rachel looked at Mark and said “Well we don’t have to worry about going on foot anymore. The Government will be here soon, and all of this will get sorted out.”
Mark snorted and replied “Don’t trust the Government, it can’t fix everything for us. Today is proof enough. But I’ll wait for help to arrive, even I don’t want to be caught out there with those brain feeding idiots.”
Hours went passed as they waited for the promised help to arrive. Rachel and Mark spent the time chatting, taking turns on watch while the other tried to nap, and eventually 4 pm rolled around, then 4:30 went by as well.
“Face it Rachel something happened or they’re not coming. We need to gather supplies and leave before the sun starts to set.”
Rachel continued to glance at the clock and realized she had a bad habit of doing that in situations when she felt nervous or anxious. Digging her thumb into her palm and rubbing it back in forward she nodded and finally agreed with Mark. They set about going through the house for supplies. Mark kicked himself mentally for not thinking about doing this earlier as it was now a rush against time and sunset. ‘If I gathered supplies earlier Rachel might have thought I didn’t have faith in military rescues and probably would have worried even more’ Mark thought to himself. Putting the last can of tuna in his backpack and zipping it up, Mark looked at the clock and read 5:25 and started to panic slightly. The sun wasn’t gone but it was starting to lower and every second it would get darker. Mark figured with darkness falling that the chance of uninvited, dead guest arriving on the street and possibly in this house would increase.
“Rachel, we need to go.” Mark shouted as he walked to the front door. Slipping his boots back on, Mark took point outside while he waited for Rachel. He drew his pistol from his holster and, digging into his backpack, withdrew the silencer. He attached that as well, the weight familiar in his left hand. The echo from the gunshots in the store were still fresh in his ears and Mark knew that much sound would draw something to him. Mark stepped off the front porch and hugged the wall as he quietly stepped towards the garage. Glancing around the corner, Mark saw nothing down the street. Looking to his right Mark saw the side of the street clear as well. Rushing back into the house Mark called out again for Rachel and in response Rachel came down the stairs. Rachel had her softball bat in one hand and a backpack stuffed to the brim on her back. Rachel dropped her bat and crouched to put her shoes on. She asked Mark “How does it look out there?”
“Clear for now but we don’t have much daylight left and I don’t know how soon until those things will come out to play” Mark said as he turned from talking to Rachel to look back outside. “Now let’s go.”
Standing back up Rachel grabbed her bat and tightened her backpack straps as she followed Mark out the door. The weight of her backpack was a little heavy since it had clothes, food, toiletries, and other personal items. But Rachel wasn’t about to complain to Mark as right now really wasn’t the time. They had started walking down the street when Rachel pointed forward and grabbing Mark’s arm said “Look...”
Mark had been looking left, right, ahead, and behind them but with Rachel’s callout his head snapped forward; his eyes focusing on what she was pointing at.
“Are you pointing at the car, three houses down or those three ugly looking zombies emerging from the alleyway heading slowly towards us?”
“The car! The doors are open, maybe the key is inside.”
“Fine, but you get to deal with the zombies while I check the car out.”
Rachel turned in shock to Mark at his last comment “What!? No I’m not! You’re the one with the gun.”
Laughing Mark said “You should have since your face. I’m joking, I’ll go chat with our friends and you go check out the car. Be careful.”
Rachel gripped her bat tighter and took off in a jog towards the car. Reacting to the movement and noise she was making, the three zombies changed direction and shambled toward Rachel. Mark crossed the street and whistled grabbing the attention of the zombies.
“Over here gorgeous, I got something I wanna give ya.” Mark drew the knife from his hip with his right hand as he approached. Closing the gap between him and the zombies, Mark slammed his knife directly into the head of the closest zombie. The zombie buckled under the force of the blow and sank to its knees throwing Mark off balance. Quickly recovering his balance, Mark tightened his grip on the knife as he sought to retrieve it. His eyes flashing to the left and right as the other two zombies got closer and closer. In a final attempt to free the knife, Mark kicked the zombie in the chest and finally, with a sickening sucking noise, his knife came free. Dirty, dark blood flowing from his knife and from the now really dead zombie on the floor.
“Ewww gross!” Mark said in disgust as he flicked his knife multiple times in attempts to get it clean. Looking pass the zombies and seeing Rachel getting to the car, Mark focused on the still advancing zombies. The one on the left lunged forward, its right hand reaching out to grab Mark’s shirt. Quickly side stepping to the left and avoiding the outreached hand, Mark used the momentum of the zombie to allow him to stab the knife into the zombie’s upper back and shoved it to the floor. With a quick quarter turn to the right, Mark lifted his gun at the last standing zombie and squeezed the trigger. Instantly the zombie’s head snapped back in response before its body collapsed to the floor. Marked turned to the last zombie, it slowly raising to its feet. Closing the distance quickly Mark planted his left boot and sent the zombie sprawling onto its back its blank eyes staring at Mark, teeth gnashing as it tried to rise again. The knife drove home into the skull causing the squirming arms and legs to suddenly stop. Mark sighed in relief that the fight was over and retrieved his knife, making sure to wipe it as best as possible on his foes clothes before returning it to the holder.
“Well we are out of luck Mark” Rachel said from behind.
Mark turned a little startled that she had snuck up on him “Dang it Rach! Don’t sneak up on me.”
A sheepish grin broke out on her face before she continued “Sorry, there were keys for the car and supplies too in the trunk, but someone stole the battery. It’s not going anywhere.”
Mark pointed behind Rachel and said, “That’s not our only problem anymore.”
Wiping around, Rachel too saw the zombies but this time it was more than just three. It was a whole heard of them, at least fifty of them. For now, the horde hadn’t seen them yet but with all the undead heading their direction that was about to change.
“Run! We have to get off the streets!” Mark said as he grabbed Rachel’s arm. The movement of them running instantly attracted the many eyes of the undead and excitement erupted from the group at the possibility of fresh meat on the menu tonight. Hands reached out, steps quicken from a stumbled walk to a quickened shamble, while moans and grunts became more audible and increased in volume. The noise alone made Rachel and Mark look back, their faces starting to panic as the noise was attracting more and more zombies out into the open. Sweat started to trickle down their foreheads as the act of running and carrying full backpacks started to take their toll. But they could not stop, everywhere they looked more and more zombies were emerging from alleyways, backyards and from crashed cars. Glancing left and right, Mark looked for a house to run to but most either had doors broken in from looters or, even worse, zombies pouring out of them. Smashing a zombie to close for comfort in the head with her bat, Rachel panting looked at Mark saying, “Mark please tell me you got something, I’m running out of breath.”
Sidestepping another zombie and pulling the trigger, Mark downed another zombie before continuing to run and respond to Rachel “I’m working on it, most of these houses wouldn’t help us last through the night. But if we don’t go somewhere soon I don’t know much longer we will last.” Mark and Rachel continued to run dodging zombies here and there as more continued to pour out onto the streets. They both came to an abrupt stop as the way ahead of them was blocked by four overturned cars and multiple zombies. Looking back Mark saw the horde still coming their way. On the right and left were houses so maybe they could escape through one of the backyards into another street. Grabbing Rachel’s hand, he started heading to the left side of the street. Then out of the corner of his eye, Mark thought he saw a blind open slightly in the window of a grey house on his right. His head jerked to the house as he saw the blind close a second later. Knowing he wasn’t imagining it now Mark took a chance and ran with Rachel up to the front door of the grey house.
Mark pounded on the door and shouted, “Please let us in!”
Mark got no reply and as Rachel tugged on his arm, turned to face their threat. More than sixty zombies where coming towards them and with sadness in his heart, Mark had to accept that this is where he died. Smacking the door one last time Mark’s voice trembling said “Please. At least let her in.”
Shocked Rachel turned to meet Mark’s sad gaze “No Mark I’m not leaving you.”
“Rachel there’s no where for us to go and the thought of you living makes me happy” Mark replied. Lifting his gun, he shot the closest zombie, not 10 feet away. Pulling the trigger again and again, Mark took down zombie after zombie but after a few empty clicks the gun confirmed to Mark and Rachel it was empty. Zombies continued to close in on them with more on their way. Mark knew he didn’t have enough bullets for all of them, he had merely bought them a couple minutes.
“I’m sorry Rachel I wasn’t able to protect you” Mark said with his head and heart sank low. Rachel opened her mouth to respond when the front door of the grey house swung open. Looking quickly at each other and the zombies that were not more than 20 feet away, they dashed inside and slammed the door shut making sure to lock it behind them. Panting and breathing out a sigh of relief, Mark and Rachel leaned against the wall. They were in a front living room and the only light came from windows on the ceiling that were half closed.
“Drop your weapons and slide them across the floor” a voice called out in the darkness from across the room.
Stepping forward Mark said, “Please we need our weapons—” Mark was cut off from his speech by the thud of an 8-inch knife that had suddenly appeared in the wood floor not 3 inches from Mark’s right foot.
“I said drop the weapons and slide them over. Or you can keep them and go back outside, your choice…” the mysterious voice said with a bit of anger.
Putting his hands up Mark slowly put his gun and knife on the wooden floor and slide them across, both disappearing into the darkness of the other side of the room. After a moment, a figure emerged from the dark and Rachel gasped slightly as their savior stepped into the light. It was a young boy that couldn’t have been older than thirteen. Noticing that Rachel was staring at him in amazement he said, “You might want to close your mouth, you might catch a fly.”
This response made Mark smirk which he quickly hid as Rachel’s face instantly turned into a frown as she looked from the boy to Mark. Rachel refocused on the boy and said, “Sorry your just young, I guess I just assumed that someone older had saved us.”
Puffing up his chest a little, the boy thrusted a thumb to his chest angerly he said “I’m old enough, my parents aren’t home and at least I’m smart enough not to go outside especially at this time. Don’t you read comics? That’s when they have the advantage.”
Mark lifted his arms in an apologetic fashion to break up this argument.
“Okay, okay enough you two. Sorry we couldn’t stay where we were hence why we are on the street, and we have nothing against your age. Rachel was just surprised that someone so young was so courageous and kind to let strangers into their house. I’m Mark by the way, what your name?”
The boy hesitated for a second blushing at Mark’s compliment before replying “I’m Finley but everyone calls me Fin.”
“Well thank you Fin, we appreciate you letting us in. If you don’t mind me asking, where are your parents?” Mark asked hesitantly while thinking in his head ‘Please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead.’
“Umm…I don’t know…to be honest.” Fin said looking up at him and at that moment Rachel and Mark’s hearts when out to Fin. Tears where starting to well up in Fin’s eyes as his whole tough guy façade crumbled apart and Fin tried to silence his cries. Between sobs Fin managed to get out “I’m sorry, I just haven’t seen them in two weeks.”
Rushing forward, Rachel put her arms around him to try and comfort him while telling him to take deep breaths.
“It’s okay, everything will work out” she said, “why don’t you tell us what happened.”
Shaking his head slowly up and down a couple of times Fin wiped his eyes with the back of his hands before speaking.
“Mom got a really bad fever, I think like the one that was on the tv a couple months ago.”
“So, your dad took her to the hospital than to get her treated?” Mark said as he came closer as well.
“Yes and no” Fin replied. “Since Dad is a scientist for the Government he made special arrangements to have him and mom fly to the best hospital. He told me that he would be back in a few days and since I’ve been left at home before I didn’t think it was a big deal. But it’s been two weeks and I’m really worried now.”
“What kind of parents leave their 12-year-old at home?” Mark said. “I mean I understand your mom since she was sick but your dad, come on.”
“I’m 13” Fin said “and my dad trusts me, even though I don’t see him a lot because of his work, he taught me a lot of cool survival tactics and camping stuff. He tested me all the time saying I’ll be a man one day and he wanted me to be prepared.” Pointing at the knife still imbedded in the wood floor Fin said, “Knife throwing is one of the many things my dad taught me.”
Rubbing his shoulders to comfort him, Rachel said, “Well I’m sure they will be back soon.” Fin looked at her, with eyes that had a mixture of hope and sadness still there, Fin said, “I hope so.”
Clearing his throat Mark asked the important question he and Rachel had at the back of their minds. “Finley, would it be possible to sleep here tonight? We won’t cause a problem and we will leave right in the morning.”
Handing back Mark’s weapons Finley nodded his head and said, “Yeah that’s fine you guys can sleep in my parents’ bedroom.”
“Oh ah” Mark coughed embarrassed slightly as he ran his hand through the back of his hair. “That’s great, Rachel can use the bed I can just sleep on the couch.”
“Oh” Fin said as realization dawned on his face. “Sorry I thought you guys were together. In that case, Mark take my parent’s bedroom since your taller and Rachel can use the guest bedroom if that’s okay with both of you?”
Both nodding in agreement, Fin told them before he went to his bedroom that there was plenty of food in the house, so they could eat anything they wanted and that they could shower as well. Well past 9 pm at this point in the night, and exhausted from the lack of sleep combined with that day’s events, the pair quickly ate some fruit and sandwiches they made and showered before heading off into their own rooms.
Lying in a Cali Queen size bed, Mark tried to let his body relax. Even though his body felt exhausted; his mind was still racing with the events that unfolded today. The Zirus, people coming back to life as zombies, saving Rachel and almost dying; it was a lot to take in for one day. Tossing and turning to get into a comfortable position, Mark pulled out his ace and flipped the pillow over to submerge his face in coldness. Mark happily sighed as a result. Closing his eyes Mark prepared to shut off his brain and drift into sleep when he heard a soft knock at his door. Straining his ears to make sure he heard right, another knock came. This knock was a little louder and accompanied by a whisper “Mark are you asleep?”
Smiling to himself in the dark as he recognized the voice, Mark whispered back “Sorry Mark is asleep right now please leave your message after the beep. Beeeeeeeppp.”
“Mark you idiot call me back” came the reply from Rachel as she came into the room and shut the door behind her.
Coming to an almost sitting position in the bed, Mark could just make out the outline of Rachel. She was in a grey tank top that had white writing that said, “Sleep is for the wicked so Goodnight” and shorts that looked to good on her if Mark had any say in it.
“Can’t sleep?” He asked.
“No, my mind is just racing and with what’s outside right now, I just don’t feel safe.”
“Rachel I’m not going to let anything happen to you, okay I promise you.”
“I know, I do trust you Mark I…. can I sleep with you, just for tonight” she said, hurrying with the last bit.
A bit taken back at the request Mark hesitated and Rachel’s face turned red in embarrassment. “I’m sorry” she said “I didn’t mean to make it awkward, it’s just with everything that happened today, and my room is cold too I—”
Putting his hand up, he stopped her. “Rachel it’s fine I was just caught off guard a little bit. Of course, you can sleep here tonight.” and with that Mark scooted over to the right and lifted the covers on his left for her to get in.
“Thank you” Rachel said as she slipped into bed with him. Making sure there was space between them so that Rachel didn’t think he was trying to make any unwanted moves on her, Mark looked at Rachel in the eyes before saying “Goodnight Rachel.”
“Goodnight Mark” she replied before turning over. Trying to relax his body again, Mark scrunched up his pillow to give his head more support when he felt icy cold feet touch his legs. Mark jerked his legs back in reaction when he heard a soft giggle from Rachel with a response of “Sorry I told you, I’m cold.”
‘I feel like I’ve seen this in a chick flick before, she definitely wants to cuddle!’ Mark thought to himself, somewhat excited. 830Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb7Q527hCkb
“Ah well why don’t you come closer and I can warm you up better.” Then realizing he sounded cheesy Mark added “but keep those frozen feet away from me Satan.”
Rachel laughed quietly before scooting closer to him but there was still room between them.
“There’s still room” Mark said, and Rachel wiggled closer almost touching him with her body. Putting his arm under her stomach, Mark pulled her the rest of the way to him before releasing her. Rachel turned to look at Mark, a devious smile on her face because she knew she had won. Making eye contact with him she then leaned in and whispered in his ear “Thank you again for coming for me. I don’t know what I would do without you.” She then kissed him on the cheek before turning back over to fall asleep. She couldn’t see but Mark was smiling to himself and pulling the sheets up for them both, he put his arm over Rachel muster a sigh from her. Mark closed his eyes and allowed his body once more to relax when he heard a scream. Eyes bolted open as he and Rachel through back the covers and raced out of the room to find the source of the scream. Following it they both ended up in Fin’s room and found him sobbing.
Looking up as they entered, ashamed Fin said, “Sorry I, I had a nightmare.” Rachel crossed the room to come sit on the bed with him, so she could comfort him, and Mark felt awkward just standing there. Jerking his thumb to motion behind him Mark whisper to Rachel “I’m going to just make sure that all the windows and doors are locked up.” Rachel nodded in acknowledgment and with that Mark walked through the two-story house checking all the windows and doors. Everything was already locked, at which Mark had to admire Fin for surviving on his own for this long and making sure everything in the house was safe. After finishing checking the backdoor, Mark quickly climbed the stairs and headed to his bedroom to wait for Rachel. Mark opened the door to find Rachel sitting on the bed with Fin sound asleep under the covers. Walking over to Mark, Rachel grabbed his arm and whispered, “He was scared, and I told him he could sleep with us.” Rachel pulled him by the arm back down into the bed and both resumed their sleeping positions before falling asleep.
The next noise that Mark heard was the annoying sound of a fire alarm. Light streaming in through the windows indicated it was at least 8 am. Rachel and Mark threw off the covers from the bed to rush downstairs to see what the cause of the smoke detector was. Skidding to a stop as they entered the kitchen, they found the source of the problem. It was Fin, and he was attempting to make breakfast.
With a slightly panicked expression on his face, Fin tried to fix the eggs he was burning on the stove when he looked up as the two adults entered the room to help. “Morning” Fin said, “I wanted to surprise you with breakfast, but I…I don’t really know how to cook. I usually just eat cereal.”
Tussling Fin’s hair as he walked past Mark reached up and turned off the smoke detector before turning back and saying “We appreciate the gesture buddy but don’t burn down the house just for us” chuckling in amusement at the last bit. “You might want to hand the specula over to Rachel she’s the better cook out of all three of us. We might even get something edible.”
Rachel was trying to air out the smoke that had gathered in the kitchen with her hand but having no success with it. “Well I do know how to make some amazing French toast” she said as she moved to one of the windows in the kitchen “But first let’s open some of these windows to get some fresh air in here.” Moving to the nearest window, she unlocked and pushed it out to open it then went on to the second one, doing the same. Just as she let go of the lever a hand from outside grabbed hers, making Rachel scream in surprised. Her scream soon turned to horror as the sickly-looking hand tried to pull her outside.
Dropping the bowl of whisked eggs, Mark ran to Rachel and, holding her tight, tried to release her from the death grip the zombie had on her hand. Mark looked around him for a makeshift weapon he could use to attack the zombie. Rachel continued to scream in fear when suddenly a knife appeared in the wrist of the zombie and with a final tug, Rachel broke free. The force of the final tug made Rachel and Mark fall backwards onto their butts. Checking her hand and wrist Mark saw that Rachel was unharmed. Looking over to Fin, Mark said, “Nice throw kid.”
“You can thank me later” Fin said pointing to the windows, “Looks like the fire alarm and Rachel’s screams drew a crowd.” Sure enough a few zombies where smacking themselves against windows and doors.
“They are only going to draw more we better get going” Mark said getting to his feet and helping Rachel to hers. He put his hand on her left shoulder to try and comfort her, but they didn’t have much time for that right now, unfortunately. Turning her around to look at him he said, “Rachel I need you to gather our supplies and bring them downstairs okay?”
Rubbing her wrist Rachel nodded in agreement before taking off. Focusing on Fin, Mark then asked “Do your parents have a car here? Any weapons we can use?”
“There’s a car in the garage, but shouldn’t we wait for my parents to get back? And my dad collects swords if that helps it’s in the second study” Fin said.
The noise outside continued to get louder as more and more zombies became attracted to the noise of the other zombies. ‘This isn’t good’ Mark thought, ‘if this keeps up we might not even be able to leave’. Then they heard a cracking noise. It was the sound of one of the windows being pounded on and it was starting to crack, spiderwebbing from the center to the edges. Pushing Fin towards the upstairs Mark said “Sorry Fin we can’t stay here to wait for your parents, it’s just not safe. Grab clothes and food and meet us in the car quickly.” Fin rushed upstairs with Mark and they both went into their rooms. Mark quickly changed, made sure his gun and knife were in place, then ran downstairs to the study. At the same time, he yelled for Rachel to grab food from the fridge. Busting into the study, Mark looked at the weapon collection. Fin really wasn’t kidding about his dad having a lot of swords. Mark knew almost nothing about swords, so he figured he would just stick to his gun and knife. But then he remembered that Rachel took fencing during high school. Mark glanced around the room for a sword that would fit Rachel. Most were huge and heavy looking but in the corner of the room was two smaller, thinner looking swords. They looked perfect for her and he put both in their sheaths before taking them with him. Mark then rushed into the garage where Rachel and Fin were putting the last of the backpacks and duffle bags in a White 2016 Ford Explorer. Fin had a vest, with pockets full of at least 6 knives on each side. Seeing Mark, he tossed him the car keys and took the swords and said, “Just two of them?”
Catching the keys Mark replied, “They are for Rachel, she did fencing so they might work for her.” Pointing at his vest, Mark continued “You need a different hobby kid.”
Smiling at the remark, Fin hopped in the backseat while Mark and Rachel hopped in the front. Turning the key, the Explorer flooded to life. Making sure that the car had gas, Mark pressed the garage door button. The garage creaked up in response to the command and looking in the rear-view mirror Mark saw that the way was not clear. A zombie was already at the door and as the door raised the zombie quickly came into the garage and started pounding on the back of the car. Three more zombies were walking up the driveway to join their friend so not wasting any time, Markus pulled the emergency break and, shifting into reverse, he hit the gas. Instantly the zombie hitting the car disappeared under the car as Mark ran him over. Pulling out of the garage and out of the driveway he hit two of the three zombies. Mark shifted into drive and sped off. Not caring about stop signs or speed limits, Mark weaved in-between zombies and crashed cars and headed for the freeway to make the long journey to Idaho and his family’s farm. Soon they were out of the city and Mark sighed in relief at finally having some good luck. He had been able to save two people and now had transportation to travel to his destination. Rachel broke his thoughts when she read out loud a text message she received. “Rachel, I don’t know if you will get this but I’m sorry I’m not there to protect you. I love you.” Looking up from her phone she made eye contact with Mark and said, “My boyfriend is still alive.”
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