Chapter 1

A Chapter by callofgaming

Ezekiel along with his family come across some shadowy people...

Ezekiel sometimes asked himself how something like this could have happened. Something that a while ago was just fiction, now swapped into reality. Just a while ago he spent eight hours stuck inside a small office, pressing the buttons of a calculator, checking reports, making efforts to do mental counting, all of it to verify that the money of a small enterprise went to the right places and that all of the expenses were paid in due time. Being an accountant never really came across as his dream job as he secretly hated Math during his early school years, but somehow it had happened.

However now he had a life where a tomorrow wasn’t guaranteed.

It was only two weeks ago that everything happened. That everything changed. Unknown to them, days became as cold as the ones nowadays; the Earth was covered in a layer of ice so thick that it was capable for someone to get his or her foot dug in it; the fog had an immense density that made it impossible to see things beyond five meters and the bursts of snow crashed violently against the trees, that were clouted in stalactites. Canadian people were already used to the low temperatures, so perhaps that’s why nobody noticed it.

But the worst wasn’t the cold. It was when the dead reanimated back to life and starting feasting on the living. Nobody knows exactly how it happened, but the day it swept through Canada the news channels were crammed with rich hosts telling people to stay away from those ‘infected people’, to stay inside their houses, to drink clean water and proper rations, a bunch of survivalist non-sense. The military swept through, creating quarantines, which only increased the fear of the people. But the media kept quiet, no, they didn’t take the time to warn the population of what was going on. And that’s why towns started being overrun.

Ezekiel had some close calls back at his hometown, but he was quite familiar with the creatures. They were nothing but decomposing bodies, yet they had the ability to walk. They did not feel anger, sadness, pity, fear, happiness, anxiety, pain or any kind of emotion. They were driven by a single instinct, which was munching people. The military didn’t manage to protect the civilians, and a state of anarchy quickly installed itself all around the country, and perhaps even in other countries. The main issue was that they couldn’t be stopped; a gun to their heads wouldn’t frighten them and since they didn’t feel any kind of ache, they would keep coming even if their limbs were torn off.

He had left the city just as everything had started. There wasn’t any kind of electronic communication; cell phones and Internet were useless since they didn’t function. The fire department and the police weren’t operational. Civilization seemed to have fallen and he wasn’t sure if the government was doing anything about the outbreak, if it still existed. The only solution Ezekiel had seen was to pass by his cousin’s house to get her and her husband Dave.

Ezekiel found himself in the driving seat of a station wagon with third-row seats, a Ford Explorer, accompanied by his cousin Ashley and Dave. That vehicle didn’t belong to them, after all Ezekiel was all alone and Ashley’s family had two members, counting her. They had found it a week ago, when the cold wasn’t so bad as right now, with the keys in the ignition and the doors flung open in the parking lot of a mini-market. Seeing that the van didn’t apparent to have an owner, they took it since traveling on foot wasn’t very safe; they could freeze to death or get ambushed by those reanimated corpses. They also took the chance and scavenged as much food as they could, since they didn’t had much time to take supplies with them when they left town. They had found lots of good loot, although they only took what was necessary, such as a huge variety of canned food, bottled water, batteries, flashlights, some useful tools among other nitpicks.

The world was reduced to this now. Just steal everything. Ezekiel didn’t appreciate all the robbing they had done in the past few days, but survival was their priority right now. To be honest, their little group still didn’t have an idea of what to do now. They just drove and walked, trying to find someplace safe from the Snowmen (That’s how they decided to call the zombies.) and just endure and survive.

They actually had been pretty good at it up until now. They had their third row seating abundant with canned food, bottled water, juice boxes, cereal boxes and some basic kits of medical supplies for emergencies. Dave possessed a pair of guns that he had brought just for safety: a semi-automatic handgun M1911 and a Remington Model 798 hunting rifle. He’d bought the tinier pistol for quotidian protection and the rifle belonged to his father, who fancied hunting trips. Dave sometimes departed before the dead rose with his already old dad to camp and hunt in the woods. Their arsenal also had two Glock 17 and a Mossberg 500 shotgun that they took from a police car that had two dead officers inside. They really only used firearms when necessary, because they had the need to spare the ammunition they had, that wasn’t a lot. They just used either the machete, or the crowbar or even the hammer they brought in their packs. Luckily, snowmen had deteriorated senses, meaning that even if they heard a noise, they’d be too stupid to detect its source.

Ezekiel tightened the steering wheel tighter, so he wouldn’t lose control of the car. They were lucky to find the car with snow chains, but even though Ezekiel was optimistic, he was afraid that their luck would end soon. Amid the snow drops coming for above, through the windows of the vehicle, he could discern sometimes the disastrous migration movements of the Snowmen, who reacted once they detected their car passing by.

He drove slowly, since the fog and the layer of ice made it hard to see the road, if they were still on the road. Dave carried his Remington between his legs. Those guns can only port a bullet at once, so he kept the weapon unloaded to prevent accidents.

“Any idea where we might be?” Ezekiel asked, seeing Dave was inspecting a map.

“Nope.” He admitted before releasing a long sigh. He eventually gave up so he folded the map and tossed it on top of the dash. “I can’t see any landmarks to tell us where we are. Looks like we’ll be driving blindly for a while.”

Ezekiel glanced at the rearview mirror and saw Ashley napping along with some Snowmen who were following their car, but who quickly vanished into the fog. Ezekiel let out a silent chuckle; his cousin always had been a hard-sleeper. She was a blonde woman, who had the tendency to blush a lot just like now. She wore a fuzzy white fur coat warming her up, yet some wrinkles started to appear in her face from her age.

He focused again on the road. He swept his eyes over the fuel counter and saw that they were a trait away from having to make a stop.

“Crap, we’re gonna have to refuel.” Ezekiel announced, always concentrating on the road.

“S**t.” Dave muttered, as he bent over and saw what Ezekiel was saying: the fuel needle was almost hitting empty. They probably should have noticed this earlier, but they were too absent-minded about everything going downhill around them. “We don’t have any spare gas. How much time until we stop?” Dave inquired lowly so he wouldn’t to perturb Ashley.

“I don’t know. Half an hour, an hour maybe if we’re cautious.” Ezekiel guessed with a grimace.

“We won’t find a gas station nearby.” Dave instructed as he pitched in frustration his nose bridge, already having a plan in mind. “If we come across a house, we stop. I don’t want to take our chances.”

Ezekiel thought they were back on the road, because a couple minutes ago he had to do complicated maneuvers to get between trees but now he was driving frontwards with no problems. He still kept a slow speed, nothing higher than thirty-five kilometers per hour. The ice as slippery as all hell and a car accident was the last thing they needed right now.

“Anyways, go flipping through the radio stations.” Ezekiel demanded over to Dave. “See if there’s anything out there.”

“I doubt anyone’s still out there, contacting.” Dave said, as he turned on the radio and switched through each station, simply to make Ezekiel happy. He already knew what was coming: an unsettling and eerie static each time he would change onto a new station, so he didn’t even bother to pay attention to them.

Ezekiel narrowed his eyes as if in an effort to see the road clearer, but it was useless. The landscape in front of him remained the same; a white blur, in which he could identify the tiny flakes of snow falling over them. He could hear a muffled sound every time one of them crashed with the roof of their vehicle. Sometimes he would perceive a patch of brownish and grey colors; probably trees who weren’t still one hundred percent covered. He yawned lazily, before he spotted two shadows on the road.

Ezekiel instantly reacted. He leaned as much as he could over the steering wheel, to zoom in on the image that his eyes were transmitting. He blinked a couple times to check that his brain wasn’t playing tricks on him from the tiredness, but they didn’t disappear. The two silhouettes seemed to be moving; walking more precisely. One of them was taller than the other one. They were probably Snowmen, although he wasn’t sure, but anyway he would have to stop since they were marching in front of the car.

“Hey, we got company.” Ezekiel whispered, tapping Dave’s elbow. He stopped toying with the radio and looked down the road.

“It’s just two Snowmen. Can’t you run them over?” Dave proposed with a hoarse voice.

“We shouldn’t risk a car accident.” Ezekiel reasoned. Plus, if they turned out to be people, he didn’t want to run them over mercilessly. “And they might be survivors.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” He agreed, wondering how come he hadn’t thought about that before. “Pull over.”

Ezekiel gently stepped on the brakes. The car gradually lost its speed, and the rubber of the tires making a deafening screech sound from the drifting. Ezekiel and Dave looked down the road again as the car came to a stop. The two figures were a bit closer now, and they had stopped in front of the car. Now they had the confirmation it was a person; a snowman would have ran in their direction even if they drove over it. They couldn’t distinguish their anything about them due to the fog, except for their body outline.

“Alright, off we go.” Dave muttered as he cocked a bullet in his rifle.

“What’s…what’s happening?” Ashley asked as she cracked open her eyes, awakening from her slumber.

“It ain’t nothing darling.” Dave reassured her. “It’s just a couple people we found. We’re gonna see what they want.”

“Are you guys gonna be okay?” She asked as now she looked completely awake, scooting in her seat to be nearer to her husband Dave.

“Of course.” He said as he and Ashley exchanged a quick kiss. “Let’s go, Zeke. But let’s not trust these people just yet.”

“What’re you insinuating?” Ezekiel asked as he arched his eyebrows whilst turning off the ignition to save the gas they had. The motor immediately went silent, and so did the ambience around them.

“All I mean is, there is no more law or order.” Dave elaborated. “If these guys wanna do something bad to us, they will and they can. We should take some time to know these people before trusting them.”

Ezekiel sighed, before putting on his hoodie and exiting the car, and Dave imitated him. Once they were out of the car, their hearing was obstructed by the harsh sound of the wind blowing, pushing the snow against them. Both Dave and Ezekiel closed shut their doors, to avoid ice getting in and to keep the warm temperature inside. He investigated his surroundings, and spotted a couple of snowmen lurking towards the East, along with a third one who seemed to be stuck in the snow up to his waist. The latter was wriggling to get unstuck, as he heard the sound of human activity. The other two basically did the same, actively looking for the human flesh they so intensely desired.

“Hey! Who is there?!” Ezekiel shouted. Dave, who also had put his hoodie on, verified his gun, elevated his arms and aimed it at the strangers.

For a couple seconds, there was silence, apart from the two people, who seemed to be chatting with one another in a low tone. After a while, the tallest figure took a step forward, just as the smaller one. “Hello?!” They heard him speaking. He was certainly a man due to his voice that was thick and firm. He took a couple steps closer and revealed his appearance. He was of African-Canadian ethnicity it seemed like it. His dark facial hair seemed to have grown a bit out of proportion, and he wore a white and blue striped hoodie shirt, along with resistant boots and black jeans. Ezekiel saw something weird about him, though, he was wearing sunglasses. And he became nervous once he saw that he clutched onto a handgun, a M1911.

“My…my name is Spencer. This here’s Dennis.” He greeted, as he pointed to the silhouette that was shorter, who gradually paced forward and showed himself.

Both Dave and Ezekiel were shocked to see he was a kid. He was probably around twelve or fourteen, considering he looked to be halfway through puberty. He had dark brown hair that seemed short enough, some pimples adorning his face, and donned a grey coat. Just like Spencer, he had a backpack over his shoulders and carried a Makarov pistol. Ezekiel didn’t really think that giving children guns was a good idea, but he wasn’t his kid to look after. But now that he noticed, Dennis seemed to be simply of Canadian nationality due to his light skin color, meaning that those two probably weren’t related.

“I’m Ezekiel and this here is Dave.” He presented himself and his friend.

“You two guys all alone?” Spencer demanded.

“We have someone else inside the car.”

“So…what brings you two here?” Dave interfered, not knowing what else to say. He kept his finger hovering above the trigger; he now had become more cautious seeing Spencer and Dennis were armed.

“Just survivin’. Like everybody else.” Spencer admitted in a rather impatient way, shelling his eyes with his hand.

“We’re…we’re just…passing through alright!” Dennis talked, as if in correcting Spencer.

“Going anywhere particular?” Dave interrogated.

“We were heading towards the West. Supposedly there’s a military outpost there, and they’re taking in people.” Dennis declared, causing Spencer to turn his head around toward him and blurt out something they couldn’t understand.

Ezekiel and his friend both wobbled their eyebrows in surprise. This was probably the best news they had gotten in this past weeks! Perhaps it wasn’t true, maybe it was simply a fake rumor that had spread itself rather quickly, but at least now they had a purpose, a destination, an objective.

“How do you guys know it isn’t just some big lie?” Ezekiel enquired. He had to know if this safezone was real; he didn’t want to start a ghost hunt.

“We heard it on the radio!” Dennis explained. “They are emitting directions to get there. And they update their message every day, meaning that they still exist.”

“It’s a nasty snowstorm out here!” Dave obviously disclosed. “Where are you guys gonna take shelter?”

“We’ll find something.” Spencer bluntly replied.

“You wouldn’t happen to have a couple of extra seats back there, would you?” Dennis quizzed them, as the freezing snowstorm intensified.

Ezekiel and Dave looked at each other. They had to give them a ride. They would probably freeze to death in the current storm, and they had enough seats. And even though Dave was more cautious, he too wasn’t going to allow letting a kid die, plus they could show them where this military camp was. Dave and Ezekiel kept staring at each other, like they were doing telepathy between them.

“So…what is it gonna be?” Dennis hysterically enquired. “We have food, even I can help you killing the dead dudes, I’m on my way to become a crack shot! We won’t make it much longer!”

“You guys are welcome to come with us.” Ezekiel gave them the green light and Dave lowered his gun to demonstrate his good intentions with a smile. “However we don’t have much fuel with us.

“That’s fine.” Spencer grunted somewhat with anger. “Beats freezing to death out here.”

“But it comes with a price.” Dave intervened as his smile faded away. “You’ll have to hand me over all of your guns before coming with us.”

Spencer kept a neutral face, although he didn’t seem to be very pleased by Dave’s words. “Spence, we gotta do this. I don’t want to die out here.” Dennis essayed to convince him.

“D****t.” They thought they heard Spencer sputter. He paced towards Dave hurriedly, with Dennis lagging right behind him. Once he was close to him, he gave him the handgun he had.

“Thank you, sir.” Dennis politely thanked Dave and Ezekiel, whilst passing Dave his very own gun. He immediately put their safeties switched on to prevent incidents.

“Yeah…don’t worry about it.” Dave murmured, as his brain was stormed with questions. Where were this kid’s parents? Who was Spencer in relation to him?

Ezekiel pulled the handle of the driver’s door, triggering it to open. He quickly sat inside, hearing a delicate creak as he obliterated some snowflakes that had found their way into his seat. He glanced the rearview mirror, glaring at Spencer who shut tight his door. Ashley inherited a confused expression, seeing Spencer and Dennis sitting right next to her, and noting Dennis, such a young kid in these horrendous conditions.

“Ashley, these are Dennis and Spencer.” Ezekiel presented them.

Ezekiel turned on the engine just when he spotted a snowman that was passing in front of their vehicle, one of the duo he had seen earlier. “I got him.” Dave volunteered, raising his rifle.

He looked down the scope, examining the snowman’s movements. He wore a torn tuxedo; this guy must have been on a party when everything started. It was missing an eyeball and its nose was broken beyond oblivion. He battered his jaws, showing putrid and dirty teeth. It limped towards Dave, tripping on his own legs like a toddle toppling on his own shoe laces. Dave lined up his head with the cross, aimed a little higher to compensate for gravity and wind, and fired. Ezekiel and Ashley flinched a bit, hearing the shot, but the bullet went clean through the snowman’s skull, combining the red-tinted blood with the white-crystal snow.

“Let’s go.” Ezekiel whispered, as Dave got in the car and shuttered his door.