In the Desert
finally got around to copy one of my longer works from one of my scrap books... and GAH! Was it time consuming! i think this baby took me about a month to convert. and i'm glad its over with. please if you read it comment! i need that stuff!
go ahead and enjoy the gore and zombie lore
if you dare to come stare,
please be sure the mind will be kind
to the logic of my zombies in the desert!
____
In the remains of Phoenix, Arizona, in the sweltering heat, a small group of people could be seen running past old abandoned passenger jets on their way south towards the Salt River. All four of the figures seemed distressed as they ran under an outwardly large 737. Several hundred yards away, a much larger group was dashing after them, that crowd appeared to border along the lines of a riot, and a general uproar of screams and incoherent yelling preceded them. They ran full speed towards the four seemingly tirelessly. The slower members of the mob being trampled to a pulp and left behind as the faster elements sped over them, yet even then they still attempted to follow the small group. Some picked themselves up and continued the chase; others were only able to pathetically crawl.
One member of the small assembly of people, a black wolf by the name of Haluam, seemed to be the only one roughly at ease. He ran with a determined set to his golden eyes, staring straight ahead. The other three were in separate states of emotional strain. The youngest, a small tabby cat barely thirteen years of age, was silent, mainly because he spent all his energy running and crying at the same time. The eldest was an aged army veteran, but he wasn't anything but outright panicked. The old lizard's eyes were forced wide open with adrenaline, but he was seeing only the past, flashbacks of his time in Vietnam. The next was a young female rabbit who displayed a mixture of emotions. Her face had a determined set to it, but was marred by the tears streaming out the sides of her eyes. She ran like a track star, pulling the young kitten behind with a single hand; the other clutched a bloodied crowbar like relay runner's baton. They all followed Haluam's lead across the abandoned international airport, hoping to reach the fence and soft soil of the dried riverbed before being overrun.
The mob's screams were louder now and the renewed crying from the child behind the dark lupine told him that they were losing ground. Haluam lips curled back and he growled loudly, almost a snarl. He spared a glace over his shoulder to see the advancing mob almost a football field behind them.
"SHHIIT!" he exclaimed as he looked forward towards the edge of runway. He knew it was going to be an extremely close call. Their goal, the high fence at the edge of the airport was less than two hundred yards away. The chain link fence was eight feet tall and was fastened to the loose and rocky soil by concrete anchors ten feet deep. He hoped that they could climb over the fence to escape their pursuers, but he also hoped that the dry gravely earth would slow the uncoordinated ghouls' progress if they managed to break through.
"DAL! What's the plan!?" the shout was chocked full with a desperation that only came when one knew the situation was nearly hopeless.
Haluam glanced to his left and shouted, "We need to get to the river! The loose ground should slow them down at least! But we'll still have to climb the fence!" The rabbit couldn't find the breath to reply, so instead she simply ran on with the child in tow. Both groups were close to their respective goals; zombies now less than a football throw away, and the four survivors sprinting through tall, browned grass as they slammed into the black painted stainless steel of the fence. Haluam wasted no time grabbing the small pre-teen away from the rabbit by the scruff. Then, without wasting a breath, threw the light weight tabby cat over the barrier, and, true to the stereotype, he landed on his feet. The grizzled lizard spent little time as well, as he practically vaulted the fence. Haluam jumped up and started to swing himself over as a faint thud distracted him. He looked down as he sat with one leg on each side of the fence. It was the rabbit; she simply was too exhausted from the run to climb over the fence without help.
"JOY! Get up and I'll pull you over!" Haluam exclaimed to the female scrambled in the grass for a second before standing back up. "Come on! Hurry up!" Haluam yelled again. The short rabbit jumped towards Haluam's outstretched arm.
As she grabbed a hold and was hauled upwards by the wolf, the first and fastest of the undead reached them. She was only half way over the fence, stomach resting on the top with her feet dangling perfectly for the zombies to grab. The force of the ghouls impacting the fence knocked Haluam off balance. He teetered on the bar for a brief instant as cold dread griped his chest. He fell towards the river and landed face first. The last thing that registered in his rapidly dimming mind was the high pitched scream of absolute terror as Joy was pulled back over the fence by the undead. At first there were only two who pulled her to the ground, but as the rest caught up, Joy's scream turned into a gurgle and disappeared among the countless moans and hellish yells of her assailants as they tore into the soft flesh of her body.
The lizard grabbed the small teenager and started to run away when he noticed Haluam's unconscious form lying just out of reach from the zombies. The old reptile tugged the kitten to stare face to face with him before speaking slowly, "Jonson, you take ch'our self and everyone one else to the rendezvous, I'll help with wounded!"
"But... but my name isn't..." the kitten weakly tried to protest.
"Not now son! Get ch'our ass move'n! I'll catch up with you!" the old lizard turned around to pick up Haluam off the dirt. The kitten looked confused but obediently scampered away toward the loose soil of the dried riverbed of the Salt River. The army veteran quickly slung Haluam onto his shoulder in the typical fireman's carry. He turned to walk away but paused; looking back over his shoulder he gazed blankly at the swarming mob straining to break through the fence. With a sniff, the lizard hocked a large amount of flem and spat it expertly into a particularly familiar rabbit's face. "Traitor..." he cursed venomously as he shifted the limp wolf into a more comfortable position before marching in the same direction the kitten had fled.
*
Kyle Calkins stood on his tip toes as he gazed out the dusty warehouse window. His ears and tail were a flurry movement, never resting from their scan of his surroundings, even as his eyes stayed fixed on the two slowly approaching figures. By now the wolf had regained his senses but was still dizzy from the fall. He was leaning heavily on the grayish lizard as they approached their safe house. With every step, Haluam was better able to hold himself up. As the two reached the small steel door, the dark lupine stuffed his hands into his pockets looking for the keys, but he stopped as the door swung open to show the interior of the cargo crate filled building with the feline Kyle holding onto the door handle.
"Thanks..." he managed to mumble as he walked heavily into the stifling dry heat of the warehouse.
"Are you alright Mr. Dal?" came from the worried kitten, "you weren't bitten were you?"
"No... I wasn't bitten Kyle," he answered flatly, and after a couple seconds added, "I'm going to need some sleep."
Kyle opened his mouth as if to say something but was stopped by a scaled hand on his shoulder. He glanced up at the old veteran but, returned his gaze to the wolf as he stumbled into a nearby cargo container. "I think we should hit the sack as well, son... It's gon'a be a long night." The old lizard walked passed the teenager, heading towards his own container to rest in. With a start, Kyle realized that he didn't know the old guys name.
"Uh...sir?"
"Wha'cha need?" the veteran paused and turned around to face the kitten.
"Umm... I, I don't really know your...umm... your name?" Kyle asked meekly, trying to hide his cheek with his shoulders.
"Wha?..." the lizard looked at the tabby cat as if he were crazy, "HA! That explains a lot! HAHAHAhahaHA!" he laughed as if he were about to go insane in front of the youngster. "Well any how, tha name's Sergeant Major Dexter Burns, but don't call me any thing other then Dex. Ya hear? And if you want some history too, I retired from the army about a week before this all started. I was ready for a rest by that time. How ironic." He chuckled lightly before looking at Kyle questionably. The feline in question looked as if he were on the edge of running away.
"I haven't heard anyone laugh in weeks, Dex." The look on Kyle's face sobered Dexter immediately. "How can you possibly laugh when Joy..." his voice cracked suddenly, and the kitten fell to his knees. He didn't cry. Kyle didn't want to cry in front the stoic lizard in front of him. Dex sighed and made his way to the small kitten. Taking a knee himself, Dex scooped up the hiccupping Kyle and took him into the container that he used to share with the rabbit.
"Now look here." He told the small feline as he set him down on her old cot, "You see this picture of her here?" he removed a small Polaroid taped to a wall and handed it to Kyle.
"Ye... yes sir." was the whispered response.
"I want you to look at her face." Dex paused to see if the kitten was following his instructions, "Nononono! Open your eyes and look at it, son!"
"I can't!"
"Yes you can, son. You need this." The old lizard didn't wait long as Kyle relaxed his eyes and opened them. Dex sighed and started again, much more softly this time, "Now this picture isn't her, but it will represent her. Understand?"
"Mm-hm." Kyle's eyes were now fixed on the picture clutched in his own out stretched paws.
"What I want you to do is now memorize her face, every single detail, right now."
"Ok, I think I've got it now."
"Good." The lizard reached out and quickly snatched it from the little feline's paws.
"HAY! What was that for?"
"You'll see, now com'on and follow me." Dex stood up and marched out of the container. Kyle sat stock still in surprise before jumping to his feet and racing after the old soldier. The lizard was climbing a ladder up to the roof of the warehouse before he managed to catch up.
"What are we doing, Dex?" the kitten couldn't help but be curious. What did he have planned? And whatever it was how could it help the young tabby cat?
"Just hurry up and get ch'our ass up here." Dex glanced away from the kitten as he squinted his eyes against the heat and bright light of the roof. He waited patiently for Kyle to finish climbing up latter to the sun baked roof of the building. The lizard relaxed as he scanned the roof quickly, his sharp eyes passing over idle air-conditioner units and pipes laid out all over the place. "Now listen up, I'm going to teach you something very important. You need to learn how to deal with the world, 'cause we are practically living in hell on earth. What you're doing now is dwelling on the past, and that can get you killed very easily. You, Kyle, need to be able to focus on what important." The old lizard paused to wipe some annoying grit off his snout. He cocked his head to the left and examined the kitten closely. Kyle stood nervously and shifted from side to side still wondering where Dex was taking the conversation. "I need you to listen to every word I'm about to tell you. Don't just hear me out, you need to focus on every single word. Imagine the scenes in ch'our mind! Memorize them because you need to!" Kyle was trying to be enraptured by the words that came from the retired soldier.
"Back in Vietnam, nothing was easy; nothing came without its price. Hell! In all, I think eight of my best friend died in three years, yet only one of them died from a bullet." The mental image of a camouflaged soldier with a bloody hole in his neck flashed across Dex's mind. He allowed himself a shudder before continuing. "The rest were slaughtered by a wide assortment of diseases, booby-traps, and improvised explosives." His eyes narrowed on the stunned kitten. "Can you imagine Haluam picking up a soda can, and seeing the grenade hidden inside exploding in his hands?"
The gruesome image seared its way across Kyle's brain, and, with a choked yell, exclaimed, "N...NO!" The heat was starting to affect the kitten. Its vicious rays were preventing him from focusing on anything other then what was being told to him.
"Well, I can, because... I've seen it happen. But this isn't Vietnam. This is Phoenix Fuck'n Arizona! It's practically a warzone here! And instead of fight'n commies for God-given Democracy, we're fight'n hell hounds and demons for God-Damned Survival! We need to live so we don't end up like those dead folks back at the airport. That includes Joy." With a growl, Dex forced his emotions back under control and grabbed the shell-shocked tabby by the arm. The grey lizard pulled the stuttering kitten towards the edge of building's cover. The perimeter of the roof was surrounded by a waist high wall, and as the two approached it, Dex brought out a pair of high powered binoculars from his dirty grey cargo pants. The old veteran lay down on the hot roof and slid towards a drain hole in the wall. He scanned through the tiny porthole towards the not so distant airstrip.
The zombies were still vying to break through the chain link fence, dozens of bodies shaking and tearing at the stainless steel. Dex scanned through them until he saw her. The individual once known as Joy was a bloodied mess; most of her flesh had been ripped away from her body, face, and arms. Her ears were chewed away leaving her barely recognizable. The lizard felt a surge of anger flow over him as he saw the condition their former companion was in. His breath was coming in ragged gasps as he gnashed his teeth together. He tried to calm himself, but he couldn't. He knew what he had to do, yet the task seemed impossible to him. Dex let the binoculars fall from his face, "Kyle... you need to see her as she is now. She's in the middle of the group; don't look away until I get back."
He rolled over and gave the binoculars to the kitten, letting the smaller figure take his place. Dex waited until he knew that Kyle was following his directions before crawling away and backing towards the ladder. He knew this was hard for the poor kitten; Joy was the closest thing he had for a mother since this whole thing began. Haluam and Dex had found Kyle and Joy together stranded on top of a store, slowly being surrounded by the ghouls. They rescued them easily enough by simply distracting the zombies until the two were left alone. Dex had thrown diesel Molotov's at the undead until most of the muscle had been burnt off of them, leaving charred husks in their wake.
The grizzled lizard slowly climbed down the ladder, contemplating what he was going to do. He landed solidly on the dusty floor, and wiped the sweat off of his brow. The stifling heat of the warehouse made it hard for Dex's mind to stay on the task at hand. He thought about maybe taking some Molotov's to the zombies and disposing of them that way, but he discarded the idea just as quick. It was too risky getting that close in to the undead; it left no room for any error. He was still thinking what he should do when his feet stopped walking for him. He glanced around the cargo container he found himself in. It came with all the personal touches that a wolf could perform on a plain steel box. The old grey lizard found himself staring down at a black lupine snoozing softly on top of a simple cot. Haluam has a good shot doesn't he? Dex shook his head gently; he couldn't ask Haluam to do it, could he? The old soldier brought a wrinkled hand to his scaled head and thought about how to word it to the wolf, but nothing came to mind.
As Dex fought internally with himself, his gaze started to wake Haluam from his sleep. The dark lupine first stirred in his sleep, snapping Dex from his reverie. Haluam shifted onto his back before he opened his eyes to stare at the old reptile. As his mind caught up to his body, Haluam sat up to face Dex, wrapping his arms around his knees and yawning widely. Not quite remembering what had just happened not even a half hour before. "How long have I been asleep?" he mumbled tiredly.
"Not long I'm afraid." Dex stood there awkwardly for a second before trying to continue, "If you feel up to it... I was kind of thinking we could...umm..."
Haluam chuckled lightly at Dex's attempt to talk, "Come' on Dex, spit it out already! Tell me what's so important!"
The old lizard frowned again, and decided to tell him, "As I was trying to say, do you want go shooting on the roof with me and Kyle? It's time to show off those marksmanship skills you don't brag nearly enough about."
Haluam's ears twitched in silent laughter, "What are you talking about, I don't brag!"
"Paah! You've only told every listening ear in the city about how you got a zombie from five hundred yards!"
"It was two with one shot! And you and Joy are the only ones I've told. You were there! You're the one who brought the subject up in front of her."
"My point exactly! You're bragging right now!" he paused to let a smile grow on his face, "Now are you going to come with me or are you going to need to get more beauty sleep?"
The dark furred wolf let the smile climb up his face, "It looks like you're the one who needs the beauty sleep, you ugly bastard!"
Dex roared his laughter out loud, letting it reverberate in the steel cargo container. The lizard turned around to leave, knowing that Haluam would follow. "I'll see you on the roof Hal, bring your rifle!"
"Will do!" the lupine smiled as he watched Dex leave to head back onto the roof. Haluam Dal sat sill a moment before letting go of his knees to stretch, reaching his dark hands up towards the ceiling and arching his back. The instant he relaxed was when the left over laughter from the brief exchange with Dex broke from his muzzle, and he laughed out loud heartily before resting again on the cot. Recovered from the fit of laughter, Haluam rolled over to pull the high-powered rifle from under the stretched out tarpaulin of his cot. He stood up and looked the rifle over, examining it for any flaws in the oiling of the barrel or firing mechanisms. Content, Haluam grabbed a box of fifty rounds of ammunition off the floor before slinging the rifle over his shoulder. While sauntering towards the ladder that led to the roof, Haluam wondered what kind of challenge that the old crazy lizard had in mind.
As Haluam approached Kyle and Dex, he noted how quiet the young tabby cat was. "About time you got here; was wondering if you went back to sleep." Dex spoke out in a hushed and much more serious voice. Time for play was over with the grey scaled lizard, its business from that point on.
The late afternoon sun beat down on Haluam's black fur, making him feel uncomfortable from the heat that his fur absorbed. "What'cha got planned?" Haluam whispered as he settled himself on his back in between Kyle on his left and Dex on his right.
"Nothing too much of a challenge. Just one target from that mob we got chased by." Haluam suddenly felt chilled as the cold realization of what Dex wanted from him became paramount.
"Is...I...shit, its Joy isn't it?" It was more of a statement to confirm what he knew than a question.
"Yep." was the bitter answer.
Haluam sighed as he thought about it, rolling the feelings over in his mind, weighing the ethics against the empathy that he felt towards the newly undead friend. He knew without a doubt that she wouldn't want to exist as such an abomination. Haluam smiled as he remembered an old political battle that related closely with his current situation. "Hand me the binoculars, will ya Kyle." The small kitten jumped slightly beside the wolf, surprised that he was remembered at all while being so lost in his own thoughts.
"Umm... here." came the numb reply to Haluam's request as the binoculars were handed over. With a simple nod to the head in thanks, Haluam gently took them from Kyle's hand.
"So I take it that you'll do it?" Dex asked the lupine
"Yeah, I don't really see any other option right now. We can't let her wander off, and she wouldn't want to be able to do so either." Dex breathed a sigh of relief at Haluam's declaration.
"Thanks Dal, I came to the same conclusion earlier. And I couldn't bear to do it myself. Plus I think it might be for the best if Kyle watched it happen." The old lizard took a deep breath as he finished his quick, but hard to say, speech. Haluam's ears twitched as he raised an eyebrow in curiosity at Dex's logic.
"Umm... If you say so, Dex, but let's move to a different building first. I don't anything discovering where we sleep." The dark wolf's fur felt as if it were burning his flesh.
"Alright then, let's get moving." Haluam and Dex shifted to crawl away from the wall, but the kitten stayed put, arms hugging his knees as he stared blankly at the roof below his feet. Dex sighed and threw a small pebble at the kitten to break his reverie. "Com'on son you need this!"
Kyle looked up, but instead of answering Dex, he looked towards Haluam and whispered, "I don't know if I really can watch her die, Mr. Dal."
Haluam froze, he wasn't at a loss as to what to say, but was surprised that the kitten still thought that she was still alive. "Kyle..." the wolf started, "have you seen her?" All the kitten could do was nod slowly. "Then how can you still say that she is still alive when you witnessed what happened?"
"I...I...I Don't Know!" the cry tore itself from the kitten harshly, "I just don't know!" for emphasis the teenager punched the roof as hard as he could, leaving small brownish dots where the rough surface had broken the skin on his knuckles.
"Think of it this way, if that was you out there, unable to think, unable to reason, biologically dead by all scientific means. Would you want to be able to spread that to us?"
The Kyle's ears fell as he thought about it from that perspective. He shuddered violently as the mental image of the undead Joy was replaced by his own visage, with entrails dragging on the ground lunging hungrily at Haluam and Dex, only to have their flesh fall from his ripped open stomach. Kyle tried his hardest to blink the tears away, shaking his head violently. The thought repulsed him, and made him queasy. Kyle hated it, and so tried to thrust it away from his consciousness, to bury it among the turmoil of his thoughts.
Dex smiled approvingly as Haluam easily finished what the lizard tried to accomplish. Haluam watched as Kyle's face slowly began to relax as the emotion of his mental battle began to recede. The small kitten's face became impassive again as he quickly hid the feelings he felt behind the mental barriers that Dex and Haluam helped erect. "Are you ready to go yet, Kyle?" came from the reptiles muzzle softly.
There wasn't an immediate answer from the diminutive feline, so they waited. Eventually there was an answer, but it came so softly that neither of the adults could hear it, "She really is dead after all." Haluam glanced to his side to see if Dex heard what Kyle said, who responded to the silent question with a shrug. They both turned back towards the kitten to see him walk past the two of them and wait besides the ladder. Kyle spoke again, but this time in a much stronger voice, "What are we waiting for? Let's get going!"
Dex smiled broadly, "A'da boy! Way to get going!" He looked at Haluam, who also allowed a grin to break his features, and asked slyly, "Which way should we go to get to Hell, Old Fiend?"
The reply came automatically to his muzzle, "Why, we should go with a tailwind on the smoothest trail, that way we'll make it into the Fires in no time at all, Dear Fiend!" They both burst into laughter at the misquoted lines from a long ago forgotten play. It was their way of relieving the stress that any bad day would cause. It started when they first met in an old theater in Albuquerque, both seeing the building as a temporary refuge from the swarming undead. Out of boredom, they both decided to act out one of the scripts they had found in a closet.
Kyle looked confused by the two's exchange, and voiced it accordingly, "What are you talking about? I don't get it."
Haluam chuckled a little and explained, "Don't worry your self over it, Kyle. It's an inside joke between Dex and I, from when we were in Albuquerque." The wolf glanced at the other standing around, and exclaimed with arms in the air, "But hey! What are we standing around for? Let's go!"
Dex and Kyle jumped both as their thoughts were interrupted by Haluams outburst. The kitten went down first, followed soon after by Dex. The lupine walked towards the hole in the roof and stared down at the silhouettes below. Shaking his head softly, Haluam readjusted the hunting rifle and slid down the ladder to join his friends.
*
"So Haluam... what are we going to do about that cargo we lost back at the airport?" the gray lizard inquired as the three figures darted from an empty store to a well lit alleyway. They had been moving as fast and as quietly as possible since leaving the security of the warehouse.
"I don't think we should try that again. I mean unless we're more desperate than we are now for food, we shouldn't risk uncovering another mob." Haluam paused to get back some breath as he swept his eyes and ears around in search of anything out of place. "Yeah, I know it took some work and all for us to convince whoever it was to give us a supply drop, but from the looks of it, that airport is a mine field of zombies. When we managed get those generators working for Joy to use the radio, those things popped up from baggage claim like they were waiting. Come'on, let's keep moving."
As Dex thought about it, it made less and less sense, "Do you think there's a collector out there in the city? 'Cause I'd hate to find another one of those sick freaks here in Phoenix. That's why we left Albuquerque in the first place. Most of the gangs there were collectors for some reason, and I..." The lizard stopped suddenly.
"Get back!" hissed Haluam as he grabbed Kyle, who started walking past him, and threw him to the ground.
"You saw it too, Dal?" Dex whispered. As he, too, dropped to his stomach.
"Yeah, keep an eye and an ear open, we might have gotten ourselves surrounded." The lupine followed through a few seconds later by whispering, "Let's back up back into the ally, to lower the field of vision."
"Mr. Dal? I didn't see anything, what's going on?" Haluam brought a finger to his muzzle and shushed the small feline gently. Dex was slowly backing up towards the alley they had just left when he saw exactly where the solitary ghoul was. The undead skunk was across the street, near an intersection, pacing from one edge of the street to another.
"Haluam. I don't think it's seen or smelt us yet. We should go around so it can't warn any others that might be lingering around." The grizzled lizard murmured to the lupine, "or we could turn around and go back before evening arrives. It'd be bad if we'd have to spend the night in the city somewhere." Dex waited for a reply, but none came. He was about to repeat himself when Haluam started signaling with his hands towards the direction that they came from. The retired sergeant major followed the direction of the gesture to see another undead silhouette down the street. Dex's breath caught in his throat. There were bound to be more somewhere nearby. "Hal!" he hissed as loud as he dared, "Get ch'our ass back here in the alley! It's a dead end, but I think I can see a ladder somewhere in the back. We can hide on the roof until they wander off!"
"Can't move right now, Dex. You go ahead and hide on the roof." Haluam stayed perfectly motionless as he spoke, "Kyle you're kind of being hidden by my body, so start sliding towards Dex... slowly. And take the rifle with you."
With a jerk of his head in acknowledgement, the diminutive tabby flattened himself even further into the pavement and pushed himself backwards towards the alley, bringing the high powered rifle with him. Dex grabbed Kyle by the legs and tugged him smoothly into the alley with him, as he backpedaled towards their escape route. Haluam's eyes shifted constantly between the skunk and the other indistinct undead figure, watching them for any sign that they have seen him. He watched the two zombies amble about the street, both looking deceptively clean and un-bloodied from his perspective. His gaze focused mainly on the one ghoul stumbling ever closer to the wolf's position, leaving a blood-smeared road behind it. Its arms hung, forgotten, along the matted fur of it's now apparently naked body. As it stumbled towards Haluam, it walked though a large pile of debris, scattering the refuse everywhere and generating enough noise to attract the attention of the undead skunk.
The ghoul's head whipped around towards the source of the disturbance, as its body followed suit and staggered towards the other zombie, as well as Haluam. The lupine's plan was set out before his mind's eye; once the undead noticed him, he was going to run like hell. Of course it was a little more complicated then that, he would need to find an elevated platform such as a car or a staircase to slow them down while he knocked them over the head with something heavy. The skunk was approaching ever closer to the dark wolf's prone form. It continued moving down the middle of the street until it kicked a glass bottle, sending it clinking and spinning away, right for Haluam. He watched it spin ever closer down the gentle slope of the pavement until it hit and cracked against the curb, right in front of Haluam's nose. Cold dread gripped Haluam's dark chest as he stared past his muzzle towards the motionless glass bottle. With a gasp, his eyes darted up towards the two perfectly motionless zombies. His golden eyes locked on their blind, bloodshot orbs as he tensed up, adrenaline all ready pumping throughout his body.
Time seemed to stop. Every minute detail and memory about the surroundings jumped to the forefront of Haluam's mind. There was a rusty tire iron fifty paces to the left, an old handicap parking sign laying on the ground thirty-five to the right. The skunks matted and painfully twisted tail lay under foot of its undead partner, it would either trip itself or sweep the feet out from under the other ghoul. A cloud of flies hovered around the two. There was a trash bag floating upwind from the scene, it could possible fly into the face of one of the undead.
Something flashed in the background of his vision, a small yellowish dot flying swiftly towards Haluam's direction. Moving fast even from the stand still of the lupine's perception. It was the size a bumble bee, and the air seemed to waver around its body along its unnaturally straight flight path. Small tendrils of vapor followed behind the brass colored object, all the way to the point of origin, the air traffic control tower. With a burst of recognition, Haluam catalogued it as a bullet fired from the airport, and realized it was headed towards the one indistinct zombie in front of him. That final recognition seemed to end the moment. Haluam lay still as the scene gave the impression of accelerating beyond what was normal. The skunk's motionless arm started to rise from its side, slowly- almost imperceptibly- until the gangrenous appendage pointed towards the motionless wolf. Its bloodied maw opened to reveal broken and cracked fangs that would be any dentist's nightmare. A single moan bubbled forth from the throat of undead skunk. The bullet seemed to accelerate as fast as motorcycle from its position from behind the zombies. It followed the straight line of its flight path towards the back of the head of the apparently feline zombie.
The bullet's nose passed through the back of the thick bone of the ghoul's skull as if it were simple cardboard. The heavy, streamlined round generated not even a whisper as it sliced though the cranium of the zombie. As the round passed through the other side of the zombie's skull, it started to pull the cerebral matter along with it. The bullet skimmed across the small muzzle of the feline ghoul scraping bone as it started to tumble. Flesh pulled through the small hole ripping bone along with it as the supersonic shockwave generated by the round cracked and fractured the rigid and inflexible skeleton. Stagnant and coagulated blood exploded from the gaping wound tearing all semblance of a face along with it. The globs of dark scab pelted the flies, killing some and simply scaring away others. All of the debris from the feline's skull pelted the skunk and splattering it with a new layer of blood. The bullet, now tumbling erratically, slammed into the pavement below and shattered into thousands of pieces of shrapnel, each flying in separate directions. The now thoroughly dead zombie simply stood still seemingly defiant of the fate delivered by the distant sharpshooter. Finally, it fell; it surged forwards as the strings that made the puppet move were severed. The faceless feline fell forwards as a crumpled ball of rotten flesh, fur, and limps towards its ghoulish compatriot. Haluam gawked at the scene incomprehensibly; his eyes and ears perceiving nothing but a God-sent miracle. The miracle being, of course, a much better chance of survival now that half of the problem had been solved for him. A resounding crack from the direction of the airport broke Haluam from his reverie. It was the latent and slow moving sound from the guardian angle's rifle.
To Dex and Kyle huddling quietly on the nearby rooftop, it was the sound of a thousand hopes both dying and being born at the same time. Kyle tried to jump to his feet to see what happened, hope driving his response more than reason. Where as Dex, recognizing the sound for what it really was, held the kitten in place in order to prevent him from doing something incredibly stupid, running directly into a sniper's crosshairs. The kitten struggled against the reptile's arms in a vain attempt to break free from the older and much stronger Dex. "Stop being such an idiot! There's a sniper out there! We don't know if he shot Hal, or if he's shot those zombies! Could be that God-damned collector for all we know!"
Kyle continued to thrash about, trying desperately to escape from the vice like arms that held him, yet instead of struggling for the sake of hope, the diminutive feline thrashed about for a fear that it was his role model was injured. "But we have to see!" he cried out.
"Keep your voice down, Kyle!" as if he himself were shot, the kitten settled down in Dex's arms, "Thank you!" he continued; "Now if it were Haluam who got shot, he'd be finished by those damn zombies. But if it were one of the zombie's that were hit, then Haluam's job would be that much easier if we didn't start poking our head's out at every small little clatter we hear. He can hold his own against one of them, he's pretty good at that. But two or three is pushing it." He sighed and decided on a whim to turn this into a lesson, "Listen up, those things don't behave like you or me in any way shape or fashion, except that we all walk on two legs." Dex relaxed his grip on Kyle as he felt the teenager relax ever so slightly, "but that where everything else goes up in flame. If you fight with a real person like me or Dal, we'll dance around for a while, sizing you up in order to find the quickest way to bring you down with minimal damage to ourselves. The dead folk, on the other hand, will charge at you as fast as their muscles will allow them. And that depends on how long they've been a zombie. The longer they have been dead, the slower they are, and vice versa. But they won't hesitate for a second to beat you into a living pulp if they can't bite ya." Dex paused as Kyle started to giggle conservatively. He glanced over at the kitten with a questioning look on his face. "What's so funny kiddo?"
The tabby cat got himself under control quickly, "Nothing Dex, it's just that if they run so fast at you. It's kind of funny...because... well, I don't really know why!" Kyle almost burst into laughter again, but he remained content with a simple smile creasing his muzzle.
Back on the street, Haluam watched the still animate zombie stagger as the newly made faceless ghoul fell into the back of its legs. The skunk moaned as it was thrown forwards with its arms flailing to prevent itself from falling, but it remained standing on its own two feet. As the undead skunk regained its balance, its gaze became fixated on Haluam. Both stared at each other, one in trepidation, and the other in a steadily growing desire for flesh. The wolf watched the skunk with an anxious calm, waiting until the zombie moved before initiating his revised plan. In that instant, both pairs of eyes became locked in the gaze of the other, searching for the moment that they would attack. Haluam saw it first. The zombie's eyes flicked towards the ground and then slammed shut as an unworldly scream ripped itself from the putrid muzzle, flecks of spittle flying erratically out. One arm reached frontward toward the lupine as the opposite leg twitched in a step. The other arm joined its compatriot as the additional leg swung up and ahead of the ghoul. The skunk propelled itself forwards in such a way that would make any track coach proud, if they put aside all of the gore that was slung from the flailing limbs. In that instant, Haluam shoved both of his hands down into the pavement to launch himself up and forwards as his darkly furred legs scrambled for purchase on the dusty sidewalk. He slipped and fell back to the pavement. But the lupine finally found purchase with his feet, and, with a growl, sprinted full speed at the oncoming zombie. Neither deviated from the beeline drawn between the two as the distance linking them rapidly approached zero. To Haluam, everything began to slow again as his mind started to process his senses much more efficiently than what would be normal. The dust kicked up by the undead skunk seemed to linger in the air longer, and the gore that coated the ghoul appeared to float in the air as softly as a light reddish snowfall. He rapidly calculated the distance between the two: fifty yards, twenty-five, then ten. His vision narrowed, eliminating his unnecessary peripheral vision, allowing Haluam's center of focus to be only on the skunk in front of him.
Their feet slapped the ground, one leaving only boot prints, the other, flakes of blood. The lupine's plan flashed in his mind once again, but this time it was to be followed out physically. The zombie didn't hesitate as it sped within arms reach of Haluam, and neither did Haluam. Rotten, clawless fingers with exposed bone and flesh came within inches of his face as the wolf shoved them out of the way. The lupine's right arm shot forwards toward the zombie's neck as his left was brought up from his side. The motion almost looked like he was trying to check the time on a wrist watch, but instead of looking down; Haluam jerked his head backwards and to the side as his left arm shoved the putrid limbs past his body. The wolf dug his claws into the back of the skunk's neck to maintain his grip as the pair's considerable momentum took its effect on them. Haluam gritted his teeth at the effort it took to maintain his grip as his feet left the ground and swung around to the back of the skunk's body. There was nothing the ghoul could do as both it and Haluam spun in a dizzying circle. As they completed one full revolution, the wolf shifted his weight slightly, causing the supportive zombie to over balance and crash to the gritty pavement flat on its stomach with Haluam resting his weight on top of the skunk's gore covered back. Quickly, the lupine released the zombie's neck with his right arm and instead brought his left around to place it in an extremely tight choke hold around the skunk's neck while its maw snapped silently, futilely attempting to feed on the lupine in any way possible. The undead thrashed about noiselessly as it tried desperately to find a way to either bite or pummel the wolf on its back. Its hands bashed and slapped the pavement in frustration, with the exposed metacarpals of the fingers clawing the concrete in a frantic pace, effectively grinding away its hand. Haluam sighed calmly and gently placed his right hand on the small of the back of the skunks head. The left ear between his thumb and index finger, and the right resting just on the outside of his pinkie. He took a deep breath, and began to push his palm forwards, exhaling slowly, but letting a hiss take its place. He pushed softly at first, but increasing the pressure little by little. He continued to amplify the force of his hand on the zombie's head even as its extremities systematically ceased to function. Haluam persisted until the skunk's neck started to creak, and then, suddenly jerked forwards with a muffled thunk, and the ghoul was calm, becoming nothing better than the corpse it so resembled. The wolf remained on top of the carcass while he slowly let the remaining pent up breath out of his lungs, whispering a barely audible, "Hoo-yeah..." as he rested on top of the lifeless zombie.
As Haluam disentangled himself from the lifeless zombie, he rolled away to rest on his knees facing towards the building where he knew Dex and Kyle were hiding. But before he moved to check on them, he glanced over toward the air traffic control tower where the life-saving marksman fired his round. And just in case the sniper was watching, the wolf raised his right arm and waved. Haluam watched the tower for a few seconds just to see if whoever it was could, in the unlikely event, respond some how. His gaze lingered for a few seconds, and before he was about to turn away, something caught his eye that made him focus back onto the overlook. It was a surprisingly bright green light that caused such an intense glare that it hurt his eyes to look at. Haluam moved his hands to shade his eyes from the light in order to get a better look, with a smile touching his muzzle, the lupine realized that it was a high power laser pointer. His ears perked up and he waved again as the beam shut off. His gaze lingered on the building to see if he could spot any movement, but the spots in his eyes caused by the laser prevented him from discerning anything important.
Haluam took another deep breath, this time in an attempt to revitalize his adrenaline shot body, and turned around back towards the alleyway that his friends disappeared into. As he climbed on to his feet, the lupine patted himself down, brushing away stray pieces of flesh and debris before lightly jogging past the two lifeless zombies and into the alley to rejoin Dex and Kyle.
"Hey Dex! You still alive up there?" he called out softly as he came to a stop by the ladder. Haluam waited for a moment or two as he heard the old lizard shuffle his way over to the edge.
As his head emerged from over the ladder to peer down at the relaxed looking wolf, Dex cursed softly at him, "Fuck'n hell Dal! You scared tha SHIT out of mm... Kyle with that stunt!"
"Rrrriiight...you sure you weren't scared yourself?" he smugly waited for the answer.
"Me? Scared? Never! You should try getting into a firefight with some commies! Then you'll be bone on scared!"
"Next time we see some Vietcong, we'll take some shots at them!" Haluam laughed under his breath. "Anyway, can you see that zombie mob from up there?"
The grey scaled reptilian head jerked up and swiveled towards the nearby airport as his eyes squinted to make out if the undead were still at the fence. "Uhhh... looks like some of them are still there, but from the looks of it; most of them have wandered off." Dex let a frown cross his features before letting his head fall back down to the wolf and voicing his question, "Think she'll still be there?"
"Dunno... good chance that she is, though, with the way she was torn apart, it would kinda be a surprise if she wasn't."
Dex's brows furrowed as he considered what Haluam had stated, "True, but there's only one way to find out for sure." The lizards face relaxed as a new smile broke his features, "You still up for a shoot out, Old Fiend?"
"Always ready for a potshot or two, Dear Fiend!" Haluam called out.
"Good, then get ch'our ass up here! I want to get back to the warehouse as soon as possible, looks like sundown is in an hour or two." Dex informed the wolf as he disappeared back over the edge.
Haluam let the smile hang onto his muzzle as jumped up to grab a hold of the bottom rung of the ladder. As was standard with most commercial buildings, the access ladders to the roof were bolted about eight feet off of the ground. When the lupine had scrambled up the rusty rungs, Dex and Kyle were waiting patiently by an air conditioning unit. The small tabby cat held Haluam's rifle, which seemed ridiculously large and heavy in his arms.
At the wolf's approach, Kyle strained to left the heavy rifle in order to let Haluam pick it up more easily. "What happened down on the street, Mr. Dal?" the kitten wondered aloud as the lupine easily lifted the scoped weapon.
"Nothing you should worry yourself over. There's a sniper in the airport's tower over there." He gestured with a toss of his muzzle towards the not quite abandoned air traffic control tower while he looked for debris in the rifle, "whoever it was has an excellent shot. And they took care of one those things down there; probable saved my ass." Haluam hefted the rifle to his shoulder and checked the bolt and firing pin, pulling the trigger with nothing chambered, "We should make this quick."
The wolf leaned forwards and rested the .45 caliber hunting rifle on the air conditioning unit. He reached down into his pocket and pulled out a bullet, twisting it between his fingers to examine it for any flaws in its copper and brass casting. Satisfied that there were none, he gently placed the round in the rifle's breach and slid the bolt home. Before he lowered himself to peer though the sights, Haluam paused to wave at the air port tower and point at the zombie mob that had congregated at the fence. His golden eyes searched for any sign of life from the hexagonal building. After a while, Haluam shrugged and leaned forwards over the rifle, lifting it up to place on his collar bone. The lupine tilted his head forwards until he was eye level with the scope. With both eyes open, he peered though the heavily magnified tube in order to gauge the environmental factors. Through the scope, he could see the shimmering of heat rising off of the riverbed and noticed the way it moved to the right. "wind is one knot..." he muttered to himself, "and crossing both ways..." The dark furred wolf didn't make any adjustments on the scope's windage as Haluam's world narrowed once again to encompass only himself, his .45 caliber rifle, and the potential target down range. "four hundred fifty yards..." he muttered as he clicked the altitude on the scope twice.
With the rifle sighted in, the lupine adjusted himself into the warm sun-baked metal and wood of his heavy firearm. He closed his left eye, in order to focus on his target. His right index finger moved from trigger guard to click off the safety switch in front of the trigger. His chest expanded and then slowly shrank as Haluam took deep breathes in an attempt to slow his still racing heart. It was all too noticeable to him, the rifle bobbed almost imperceptibly to the beating of his heart. The blood rushed through Haluam's ears as, slowly but surely, he slowed his heart rate to a manageable level. The lupine glassed the fence line, searching for the target, using the slower pace of his heart to measure off the area into sectors.
With another deep breath, Haluam ceased his scanning. The crosshairs rested directly in the middle of the gruesome crowd that lined the fence. The lupines hackles twitched as he surveyed the crowd from his position, he couldn't see her yet. If the rabbit could still move, she had been hidden by the rest of the zombies. Haluam shifted the crosshairs to scan around the crowd, in order to see if she had stumbled someplace else. He scrutinized the area behind the mob and could barely discern couple of figures ambling across the tarmac, and towards the air traffic control tower. One of them could be her, but the wolf wasn't sure, "Hey Dex, what does she look like?" he asked calmly while he continued to scrutinize the wayward ghouls through the rifle.
"Pretty bad. You couldn't recognize her unless she had on a name tag. Arms and legs are eaten to the bones almost, and entrails are dragging." He paused as he tried to recall anything else, "oh, right... she's miss'n an ear too."
Haluam didn't move as he muttered a quick thanks, while still scanning the runways and taxiways for the lapin. Joy was proving to be a difficult rabbit to catch a glimpse of, and it made the lupine try all the harder to find the lapin. He slowed down on his scanning and started to scrutinize each silhouette for any resemblance to Dex's description. One after another, Haluam sorted through the zombie's. Entrails dragging on that one, but it still had a feline tail. That rabbits missing an ear, but it was other wise intact.
With each ghoul he examined, Haluam became less and less motivated to keep searching. The gruesome sights he was forced to focus on were beginning to distract the lupine. Each undead individual was a painting that told its own story of how it died. This mink is missing a foot, so it must have been dragged out of hiding by close friend who recently passed away. That equine's arm is broken and bent at a very unnatural angle with chunks of flesh missing, so it have tried to box with the undead and was caught. The dead skunk on the pavement below is missing all of the flesh on its finger tips, so it must have been dragged while trying to desperately crawl away from its hungry assailant. Each had a history, and each was a story that imbedded itself like bur into the wolf's mind.
Haluam gritted his teeth as realized his mistake, he was searching those who could still remain standing. With a muffled growl, the dark wolf shifted the rifle to scan across the dried grass and pavement for the undead friend. It surprised him at how quickly he found Joy. It was just an educated guess, if she couldn't move, then the lapin must be near to where she was killed. So, while looking over the crowd still congregated by the fence, Haluam noticed her laying flat on her back. Still breathing and twitching, but still unable to move about none of the less.
The wolf shifted his grip on his rifle, tightening his left hand about the forestock, pulling the rifle tighter onto his shoulder. The wind had started to lightly buffet Haluam as he adjusted the sights once again to correct for the wind. One click to the left and he was all set to place the small chunk of lead into the side of Joy's head.
Haluam starts smiling and relaxes his body, but begins to tighten his index finger: one pound of tension, then three. It takes five pounds to end the filths life; five pounds of effort to set this wrong right.
Four pounds. His breathing has finally slowed to a productive level. Time was running out for Haluam, the sun was setting along the horizon; he needed to end it now.
All five pounds. Haluam's finger jerks back against the trigger guard. The tension caused the hammer slams down on the firing pin, placing a dent on the primer. Pressure causes it to explode, igniting the high quality gun powder and sending the copper wrapped hunk of lead out of the barrel at over three thousand feet per second. The force of the chain reaction causes the bullet to break apart the sound barrier and leave a resounding crack as it flies towards the prone figure.
Haluam tenses up his whole body, squeezing his eyes shut against the pink mist that has exploded around the rabbit. Seconds later he relaxes again. Haluam opens his eyes, and just look at her. Her head has been roughly severed from her body. That of which has ceased all pretense of life, and lay still, unmoving, and most important of all, wholly dead.
All strength suddenly left Haluam's body, and, with a whimper of surprise, the rifle slipped from his grasp to clatter on top of the air conditioning unit while his body fell backwards to lay on the warm gravel and tar roof. His mind seemed slightly detached from his body as the throbbing in his shoulder faded away. Haluam idly examined the color laced sky of the sunset. He smiled warmly as he faintly noticed that the clouds looked like the pink mist of Joy's head exploding.
The smile faded away when two shapes appeared to obscure his view of the disturbingly beautiful sky. "Took ya long 'nough, Dal. Now com'on and get ch'our ass up. We need to get back to the warehouse ASAP."
Haluam mumbled under his breath as the shock left him as suddenly as it seized control of him. "Wha...? Oh! Right! Sunset!" he sat up suddenly, "We need to get back! Let's get going!"
"A'tta way Hal." The lizard smiled as he extended a hand, that of which the wolf grabbed a hold of eagerly and used it to haul himself to his feet. "Well Haluam, you're cutting it pretty close this time"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, start complaining in the morning." He looked at the sun resting inches above the horizon, "but right now... we need to hurry!" Haluam let the smile take control of his muzzle again as he jogged towards the ladder.
It was and quick and uneventful run for the trio, nothing popped up suddenly at them and nothing tried to slow them down. Everything coming up roses. As Haluam, Dex, and Kyle finally made it to their warehouse, Dex had to ask, "Do you ever think about what it's going ta be like if the world decides to help us?"
Haluam paused in the doorway and starred at the lizard. "I don't really try to, Dex." He said bluntly, "Now the world has always despised us... but nowadays, they have a tangible reason to." Haluam spoke quietly and glanced back out towards the red crescent that was dipping below the concrete horizon. "If we get any foreign aid, I think it will just be a quick death by a bomb."
"Umm, Mr. Dal? Shouldn't we be...?"
"I know Kyle. You go ahead and get ready for bed. Dex and I'll lock up." The kitten nodded slowly and walked towards the cargo containers. Haluam took one last look at the now violet clouds and closed the door gently, expelling his lungs of air as he did so. He paused, he leaned forward and rested his head on the thick steel door, and brought his darkly furred fingers to inter lock around his muzzle.
"You goin' ta be alright, Hal. Tamorrows' a brand new day. And we still need to get that supplies from the airport." Dex said supportively as he turned around to check if all the other doors were securely locked in place.
Haluam's arms began to shake, and he shoved himself violently away from the door. He stormed away towards his cot in the large cargo container, but not in anger, or frustration, but in a deep depressive attitude that could result in the former emotions. He sat down on the stretched tarpaulin and leaned back and slumped into the cold steel of his habitat. He stared at the roof first, then the walls, and tried to avoid looking at the vacant area of the container. The lupine finally rested his eyes on the floor, or tried to. He ended up staring down the barrel of his hunting rifle. It didn't register to Haluam what he was doing as he idly studied the barrel's rifling. His body sat up while his head drifted down to rest his forehead on top of the muzzle break. The wolf's hands drifted down to the bolt and before he could open it, his arms began to shake. Minutely at first, starting with his wrists, before moving to consume his elbows and shoulder. With a gasp, Haluam shoved the rifle away from his face and slammed his eyes shut. Cradling the weapon as if it were a small child.
Dex approached Haluam's container to say that he would take first watch but stopped as one combat booted foot touched the dry, heat warped wooden floor of the cargo crate. He didn't say anything, just simply stared at his shaking friend. The adrenaline withdraws raking his extremities. With a sigh, Dex glanced towards the ceiling then back towards Haluam. "I'll take first watch Hal." He stated as he walked forwards to crouch in front of the shaking wolf. The golden eyes were tightly squeezed shut and the fur around his muzzle damp from the tears. Dex reached out and grasped Haluam's shoulder in a comforting gesture. They remained like that for a minute, maybe an hour, but if it helped the lupine, he didn't show it. "Get some rest Hal, your watch starts at midnight." Dex murmured as he collected the rifle and ammo from Haluam's grasp. He walked back to the entrance to the cargo crate and slid the oiled doors shut on the mourning wolf. Leaving him to his own thoughts, dreams, and nightmares that would plague him in the warm steel confines of his little cargo container.