As the World Dies: Untold Tales Volume 1

"So we couldn't get out once it went bad. The Sheriff had the keys and he was the first one down when those…those…"



"Zombies," Eric offered helpfully.



Sean looked at him and Eric could see the disbelief in his eyes at the sound of the word despite all he had seen. Slowly, he nodded. "Yeah, zombies. The soldiers from the crash and some of the rescue guys were mauled by one of the…we thought he was just crazed from his injuries…one of the survivors of the crash. They were being treated in the main room of the community center and the Sheriff was questioning the pilot when suddenly one of the soldiers just got up off his bunk and bit into the Sheriff’s face."



Stacey grimaced at the memory and checked the wound. It was still bleeding. "It went bad fast."



"Real fast," Sean agreed. "About half those wounded guys started getting up and attacking people and those people started attacking people."



"And we were trying to get out but the doors were chained."



"So my Dad and another guy started herding everyone toward the doors to the office area. It was a mad crush and…" Stacey faltered. She shrugged and continued to press down hard on her flinching brother's arm.



"How many got into the office area?"



"Twenty-three," Sean answered softly. His dark eyes glittered with tears. "Two died of wounds and…"



"Got up. Coop bashed their brains in with a fire extinguisher."



"Your dad?" Eric swallowed hard thinking of the strong older man who had sacrificed himself at the house.



"Yeah. Everyone, even us, called him Coop. He's the town football hero and the coach of the Blazing Riders high school football team," Stacey answered. "Or…he was."



"He gave his life for us to get away," Sean said to his sister and laid his hand over hers. "He held them off on the stairs so I could get up to the fire slide. He was brave until the end."



"I know." Stacey blinked and tears fell down her dirty cheeks. "I know. But I'd rather have him here than gone."



Sean nodded and was unashamed of his own tears. “He just wanted us to live.”



Eric looked down at Pepe who was sniffing around the edge of the trailer. "I…lost someone, too."



"Yeah, well, we lost the whole damn town we grew up in," Stacey answered him pointedly and gave him a hard look. "The whole damn town."



Her brother reached out to calm her and she sniffled loudly.



Eric felt sickened by his own selfishness and sat down on the edge of the trailer. "I'm sorry. I am.” He looked at her apologetically. “I know seeing so many die is horrible and…”



Stacey shook her head. “I’m sorry. I have no right to snap at you. We’ve all lost so much.”



Eric let out a slow breath. “I didn't know anyone was alive in the community center. If I had known, I would have tried to rescue you."



"How could you know we were there?" Sean shook his head. "Don't feel guilty."



"When did it all go wrong?" Eric stared at his dirty fingers and tried not to think too hard about Brandy.



"The first night we were in there, believe it or not. The Sheriff rounded up everyone that had not left town into the community center," Stacey answered. "But the wounded got up and started eating us up like we were a buffet. And like Sean said, we barricaded ourselves into the offices, lived off the vending machine and the lunches the staff had brought and put in the refrigerator in the lunch room."



"Coop…our dad…kept trying to get us out, but the Sheriff had us locked in real good. All these heavy damn storm doors chained shut. Super thick windows… We started on one of the windows and it took forever to chip through that stuff."



"Built during the cold war. I think they thought it was A-bomb proof." Stacey rolled her eyes. She peeked at Sean's arm and looked satisfied. Reaching out for the First Aid kit, she gave Eric a slight smile.



He felt she was trying to apologize for earlier and he smiled back.



"We were almost through when those things finally broke through our barricade. We locked ourselves in the office where we were busting out the window and it was a race to get the glass broken out in time. Once the opening was big enough, we started evacuating. The plan had been to go to the high school and get into a school bus, but it was just a crazed scramble at the end." Sean winced and made a terrible face as his sister began to dress his wounded arm. The deeper wound was no longer trickling blood and the smaller wounds seemed to be closing. "The football players tried to hold the door shut."



Eric flashed back on the mad pursuit up the hill. The fastest of the undead had seemed very fresh and looked like football players. "Oh. Wow."



"Yeah. We evacuated the old people, the women and the kids first. But those things got in and were already…" Sean lowered his head and rubbed his eyes. "They were…"



"Coop realized what was happening and shoved me out the window. Sean was trying to help and our dad told him to get out just as a bunch of them busted in through the damn wall! Some add on modern wall made of cheap materials. Their weight must have done it in." Stacey's hands were a shaking as she slowly wrapped her brother's arm.



"Dad and I were the last ones out. Some of them grabbed for me and I did this crazy dive out the window and fucked up my arm." Sean shook his head. "We got outside and Coop was trying to get everyone rallied together when those fast ones started coming out the window after us. Coop shouted for everyone to run. And those still alive…"



"We ran," Stacey said in a tremulous voice. "We ran. But they ran us down. The fast ones. The new ones. The ran down the old folks, the kids…the…the…" Stacey let out a strangled sob and turned away from Eric and Sean. Her shoulders trembled and she sniffled loudly as she tried to regain her composure.



Sean reached out to stroke her back gently. "It just…we tried…there was really nothing to use as a weapon. I tried to shove a few of them off this one…kid." He shook his head as more tears flowed. "Coop always made me and Stacey run with him every night. We used to do sprints for fun. He got us into marathon running. Hell, Stacey was a college track star. That's the only reason we were able to keep ahead," Sean looked at Eric with a tormented look on his face. "But we couldn't do anything for the rest. We just ran."



"Coop told us to run to Mrs. Waskom's place. So we did. Then we saw you," Stacey began to run her hands lightly down her brother's leg he had hurt leaping from the window. "And you pretty much know the rest."



"I'm sorry about Coop," Eric said in a low voice. "He seemed so strong."



"He was," Stacey said in a steadier voice. "He was the best."



Sean winced and let out a small cry as his sister's hands examined his leg.



"I'm guessing a couple of fractures. Which you probably fucked up more by that crazy sprint," Stacey lightly chided Sean.



"Yeah, but I’m here, ain’t I?" Sean grinned then grimaced again.



Suddenly Pepe's head shot up and his ears perked. He let out a tentative "woof".



"I think its time to go," Eric said.



Stacey nodded and shoved the First Aid kit back under the tarp. "Sean, you hold on tight," Stacey ordered him.



"Damn bossy twin sister," Sean grumbled. "Just cause you were born first by two minutes…"



Eric could tell it was an old argument, said in love, and Stacey seemed to relax a little at her brother's teasing.



A human howl of hunger sounded down the road.



"They're following," Eric said and swept his growling dog into his arms.



"Dammit," Stacey cursed and climbed onto the ATV.



Eric quickly got on and felt her arms come around his waist as he shoved Pepe back into his jacket.



"You guys! Hurry it up!" Sean shouted as down below several of the faster things broke into view. "Seriously, let’s go. Those things bite hard!"



Eric shifted gears and the ATV roared louder and sped down the other side of the hill toward the county road in the distance.



"Where are we going?" Stacey's voice was close to his ear and he could feel her body pressing against his back.



"A construction site in Ashley Oaks is being built into a fort. They said they planned a safe way to approach it and I'm gonna try and find it." Eric looked into the rearview mirror and saw the bloodied dead following them down the hill. "Dammit. Those guys do not give up."



Stacey looked back over her shoulder and her arms tightened around him. "Just keep going. At the rate their going they're going to blow their joints at some point. That'll slow them down."



"Trust me," Eric said in a resolute tone. "I'm not stopping until we're safe."



"Or out of gas," Stacey added.



"Got spare gasoline in the trailer," Eric assured her.



She was silent for a few minutes and he felt her head rest on his shoulder again. Finally, her voice said, "Coop liked to be well-prepared. He would have liked you."