The Dead Chapter 4

Book 1: The Dead

Chapter 4

My heart stopped when Wendy was attacked. It may not have been smart but I had trusted all of my hope on my friends, in a second that hope was shattered as the dead gripped Wendy and went to bite her. Time stood still as I reached for her, but I was too far away. Then time rushed back into motion as the deadman's head exploded as Todd emerged from the house and reacted faster than I thought possible. Wendy was safe for now but we all stood for several silent moments, Todd and Wendy covered in blood and me wearing the dried remains of my previous kill. And the deadman hanging from Wendy’s leg which he still had in a death-like grip.

We were snapped out of our horror by Caleb emerging from an abandoned house shouting, ‘what happened? I heard’-he stopped as he say the scene and began to retch, moving behind a car to throw up. Todd was the first of us to speak, ‘we gotta get that off of you,’ and he went to pull the corpse’s hand off of her

‘Wait,’ I managed to get out before he acted, ‘their strong and Wendy’s covered in blood, if you break her skin, she might be infected’

‘Right, right,’ Todd still looked shocked. We stood there for a few more seconds, Caleb emerging from his hiding spot and me scratching my head trying to come up with something smart. But Wendy finally got fed up and with a perfectly calm expression turned to Todd and said, ‘give me the axe’

‘What?’ Todd looked as though he just remembered he was still holding the blood-soaked axe

‘Give me the axe!’ Wendy said in an increasingly louder voice. Todd handed Wendy the axe trying to not look and the corpse. Then before any of us could stop her Wendy swung the axe and cut the deadman's arm of at the mid-forearm. Caleb, Todd and I stood stupefied as Wendy, with no change of expression hopped off the bonnet, the corpse falling to the ground, pealed the hand off her leg and threw it beside the corpse. ‘Good,’ she said looking at us, ‘was that so hard?’ then she fainted.

We drove on, Caleb driving (he at least had a license), Todd in the back cradling Wendy’s head and me in the passenger seat. ‘So where are we going now?’ Caleb asked, stopping at an intersection. That’s the million dollar question, I thought, should I keep going on my previous plan? To gather people I trust and want to protect? Is that really the best thing to do? Right now we were just 4 people in their early twenties, one unconscious, armed only with a pole and two axes. At least I got a change of clothes and some spares for Todd and Wendy. ‘Will?’ Caleb was staring at me. For some reason he trusts me, I have to make a decision fast. ‘We’re going to Nicole’s,’ I finally answered, ‘she’s a good friend of ours, her family lives around here right Todd?’ I turned to look at him back he was still staring at Wendy. I called again, ‘Todd?’ He finally hears me and looks up, although he still looks out of it

‘Um, yeah, sure,’ Todd shakes his head, looking more focused, ‘yeah just left up here.’

With Todd’s help we make it to Nicole’s street without seeing any dead. We didn't see any of the living either. I don’t know whether this made me more confident or more afraid. As we approached her house I was almost given a heart attack as Todd shouted suddenly, ‘stop! Stop!’ Caleb stopped the car, we turned and saw that Wendy was finally waking up. I got out of the car and helped Todd put Wendy on the ground as she started to open her eyes. ‘Wendy, are you okay?’ Todd asked, Wendy propped herself up and looked around

‘Where are we?’ she asked, still out of it, ‘What happened?’

‘You fainted remember? We’re at Nicole’s.’ Wendy suddenly remembered what happened and what was going on, ‘Is she alright?’ But then I saw a sight that broke my heart. I had always loved Nicole’s family, they always seemed closer, happier and friendlier than mine, so to see the door to their family home broken down made any illusion I had of the world returning to normal disappear.

‘Oh no,’ was all I could say, Todd and Wendy stood up and followed my gaze, Todd just stared but Wendy gasped and put her hands to her mouth. Caleb checked out the others houses as the three of us approached the house slowly, not wanting to see but knowing we would have to check. But all our inhibitions and hesitations went out the window as we heard a quiet crying sound coming from inside the house. I almost re-broke the door as I hastily made my way into the house, and though it wasn't what I had hoped to see it was what I didn't see that made me smile. No blood, no bodies, just Nicole sitting in the middle of the living room, crying. The house became eerily grey as the sun began to set, I walked up to Nicole and put my hand on her shoulder. She jumped at the touch and span around, but then hugged me fiercely and began crying all over again.

It was getting late so we decided to stay the night at Nicole’s and plan what to do next. Todd and Wendy had found a map and were mapping out were they could go next, Caleb was still scavenging from other houses. I think he still felt uncomfortable here, but I couldn't blame him, he didn't know us and it’s not like our situation inspires trust. When Nicole calmed down, which was relatively fast for the amount of crying the situation should require, I asked her what had happened, ‘where is your family?’ she was on the brink of tears again

‘I don’t know,’ she replied, I had never seen her like this, ‘I was coming home from work when I heard what was happening, I got a call from my dad but when I picked up no one was there. I came home and the door was broken, no one was home, and I found this.’ Nicole opened her hands and I saw a phone in  her hands, I assumed it was her dad’s. I took a deep breath and put my worries and questions out of my mind, I had to focus, ‘The four of us are going to try and gather as many people as we know or find that can help us, are you going to come with us?’ She paused, looking at me with her mouth half open

‘I don’t know,’ she replied her breathing returning to normal, ‘I’ll think about it, I’m not sure I want to leave here’

‘Alright,’ I stood, ‘we’re staying here for the night, we can talk more in the morning.’ Caleb returned with a large pile of possibly useful clothes, bags and medicines as well as the keys for another car. He, Todd and I decided on a watch schedule. Caleb took the first shift and I settled down and waited till my shift. I wasn't getting any sleep tonight.