Blood of the Dead

There's only one thing that a person like me wants from life. To kill. I can do it without emotion, without fear and without reserve...because everything I love has already been taken away from me.

I loaded my gun, the standard for police, and put it in my holster. What makes that unusual is that I'm a sixteen year old girl, not a cop. I haven't even been to school for two years. Another gun matched the one I'd just loaded on my other hip. A sword, sleek metal that goes through right about anything, was strapped to my back. A dagger was hidden under each of my pant legs and a bottle of poison was sitting in a pouch tied to my belt. The poison was for me. It would stop my heart in less than three seconds in any situation that required it. I was ready.
I slid my bedroom window open, careful not to wake my room mate sleeping in the next room. I would have loved to be rid of her but a person like me can't pay regular rent. I dropped down from my second story window and landed gracefully. I made my way down the dark streets toward the part of town people called the allies. My face was left uncovered, leaving my shoulder length blond hair free and my enemies able to track me down. The fact of the matter was that I didn't care if they tracked me down. I was never surprised anymore so it was just work coming home with me. They couldn't kill anyone I cared about because they already had. A black leather coat swayed about my ankles, hiding all but the handle of my sword.
I turned into the first of the unlit streets of the allies and continued on my walk. Just another block now and I'd be right at the heart of their nest. I should see some coming around the corner, jumping from the rooftops. Sure enough one stepped out of the shadows of a doorway and lunged for me. I dodged, drew my gun and put a bullet through its head. It twitched once and was dead. I crouched down beside it and lifted its head out of the dirt by its hair.
“Lousy git.” I muttered and let go. A blue cross marked its face. Outer ring zombie. There were hundreds of them swarming about the city pretending to be human but they weren't. When they went home at night they didn't kiss their wives and play with their children. They roved the streets looking for human flesh to devour.
There were four rings or classes of zombies. The outer ring was the fourth or just regular zombies. They were marked with a blue cross on their face. Then there was yellow, green and red. The higher rings ran the lower rings, keeping them in line with their unusual strength and wit. To me being attacked by an outer ring zombie was an insult. Sure they could keep their head on during the day but as soon as dusk hit they were completely driven by their hunger.
I continued on toward the main nest where the inner ring would be hiding. Now more and more zombies started coming out of doorways, dropping off of roofs, coming around corners.
I shot another outer ring, dodged a punch from a yellow cross and shot it in the head. The only way to kill them was to stick something in their brain. Blood spattered the wall as I shot more and more approaching, coming in for dinner. One grabbed me from behind and I elbowed it, ducked out of its grasp, turned and shot it.
“No way in hell are you eating me.” I whirled and shot three more.
I drew my other gun and began shooting while I handled the other, expertly reloading it. Soon shots were ringing off the walls, bodies were falling...and sirens were approaching. I turned to the wall, shot another blue cross and put away my guns. I leapt at the wall and bounded up it. I reached the top and went into a handstand. For a moment I tottered on the edge, looking down at all those hungry faces, and then I sprung into a flip and landed behind a zombie. It turned and I smiled as I saw the red cross marking it's face. An inner circle zombie. I drew my sword and swung it at its head but I saw something. The sharp metal stopped right before I could cut I open its skull and destroy its brain. I saw pale brown hair moving with the breeze around her face, covering and then uncovering light brown eyes. I saw pink lips curved in a familiar smile.
“Hello sister.” She spoke and my sword wavered. “Haven't seen you in a while.”
“Hello.” I choked back, trying to hold back a flood of tears.
She started to move forward and I just stood there looking into those eyes I'd seen a dozen times before. I just looked into those eyes and remembered the last time I'd seen them disappear. We'd been walking home from a movie. My sister, my mother and I and they'd sprung us. They'd ripped my mother's head off right in front of me. I'd been only thirteen but I understood death and pain and sadness in that one moment. Then another had taken my sister from behind and sunk its teeth into her neck. I'd thrown myself at it and kicked it and screamed at it then I took a stick up off the ground and hit it with it. I didn't mean to do it at the time but it sunk right through its eye and into its brain a moment later it was dead for good. It had been too late to save my mother. More and more zombies were coming in to feast on her corpse but I grabbed my sister's arm and tugged her along with me even as she stumbled on every footstep. She panted and yelled for me to stop but I picked up her twelve year old body just as I had done a million times before when we were playing and I ran with her until we were safe in our home. I'd stayed with her for two days through fever and tears until she rose one night and walked out of our home without another word.
“Remember when we used to play hide and seek in the back yard and I always hid in the tree house?” She asked and I snapped back to the present.
“That wasn't you.” I sobbed and swung my blade at her.
She collapsed onto the ground and I took my blade out of her head. I looked into those light brown eyes one last time as she fell forward and I let the tears come.
I walked shakily to the edge of the building and set all my weapons down on the roof then I looked down at those hungry faces and fell. The fact of the matter was that I didn't care anymore.

 

Reviews

[emma]

wow! blown away! so awesome...really i'm actually breathless after reading this! yay!

[Tai Ryens]

Emotional, nicely written, and a sense of history behind it. Kinda unusual that 16 year old girl would have a gun. Creative story too!