Rotten Mind (short version)

Dylan wakes up, felling like something's wrong, then it turns out to be zombies! (Prequel to a story which can be found on Kent & Katie's co-authored stories page.)

Rotten Mind

A story of death and un-death

 

 

            Dylan woke up one morning and had a terrible feeling that something was wrong. That something horrible was on its way. He went downstairs but everything seemed fine. Same boring routine of breakfast, last minute preparations, and heading out. His girlfriend, Stacy, met him at school like normal, with her beautiful black hair tied back, her perfect lips a deep red from lipstick, and her outfit was stunning. A white T-shirt with a black rose going down from shoulder to hip, black skinny jeans, black and white Converse on her feet, and a leather jacket to top it all off.

            It was in chemistry that his feeling of dread was confirmed to have a reason.

            It started off like any other day, with the occasional late-brain coming after the door’s been shut. But the late-brain this time, wasn’t your average stoner. He seemed to be even lower on life than if he had used narcotics. He also seemed to have a bite wound on his left forearm. He didn’t seem to mind it, because he just kept walking right up to the teacher. And when the teacher looked up, he went nearly as pale as the boy in front of him.

            “My goodness, kid,” he scream. “What happened to you?!”

            Not one second after the teacher said that, the boy grabbed the teacher, pulled him over the desk, and proceeded to sink his teeth into the teacher’s neck, ripping out a big chunk and eating it! Everyone scattered to get out of the room, to get away from the boy who had become a cannibal! Everyone, that is, except one person.

            Dylan’s instincts guided him to run into the hall, break the glass case concealing the emergency fire tools, and grab the axe! He then charged back into the room, now devoid of students, to confront the monster of a boy. He found him on the ground, still chewing the teacher’s throat.

            “Hey!” shouted Dylan, catching the creature’s attention. “You do know there are tastier options than that old geezer, right?”

            The creature then stood, revealing various stab wounds to the torso. A quick glimpse at the now dead teacher revealed that he had tried to defend himself with a pen. But the being seemed unaffected by the damage dealt to it. This raised a theory in Dylan’s mind, but he couldn’t be sure. Not yet, anyway.

            Dylan charged the creature, swinging the axe forward. He didn’t aim for a none-vital spot. Au contraire, he aimed for the most vital spot of all. In one swift swing, Dylan decapitated the creature. His theory was now confirmed. Dylan was now in the middle of a zombie break-out!

            He rushed home immediately after killing the first zombie, axe still in hand on the chance that he might encounter another. When he got to his house, he noticed the door ajar. Cautiously, he entered, axe at the ready. After chemistry, he was prepared for the worst. But he was met with only two pools of blood.

            From behind him, he heard the scraping of shoes. He turned around as fast as he could to see his zombiefied parents coming down the stairs, the blood on their mouths told Dylan he was now an only child. He turned to the door, ready to make a run for it, when his zombiefied teacher stepped through it. He knew then that he had no options but one. If he wanted to get out of this house alive, he’d have to kill his parents and teacher to do so. A shame, really, because Dylan had a deep respect for his teacher and loved his parents deeply, which made killing them even harder.

            With a hefty sigh, Dylan brought the axe up again and chopped down his three opponents. With a nauseated stomach weighed with guilt, he left his house. He busied himself with another task. He had to make sure his girlfriend was safe. He headed back to where he left her. Back at the school!

            But he didn’t have to go far. He saw her running towards him with four or five zombies chasing her!

            “Stacy, get behind me!”

            She did as he instructed her to and he started to hack away at the oncoming zombies. When the last one fell to his axe, he was breathing heavily. It was much harder to swing these things than it looked, let alone behead someone with it! But he had managed to master the skill in no time. He gained his breath back and turned to Stacy.

            “Are you okay,” he asked her, his voice full of concern.

            “I’m fine,” she replied, “just really freaked out right now. What’s going on here, Dylan?”

            “I don’t know,” he said with a sigh, “but I do know that I’ll keep you safe!”

            With that, he took her hand in his and guided her through the streets. It wasn’t long before they came across another horde. They managed to avoid it and carry on. Dylan knew that if they could get out of town, they’d be safe. But then, Stacy started screaming.

            Dylan turned to see a zombie latched onto her arm! Dylan made quick work of him with only a single swing of his axe, splitting its head in two! He then proceeded to check Stacy’s wound, hoping beyond hope she wouldn’t turn.

            “It’s too late, Dylan,” she said. “Just kill me now so I don’t become one of those…things!”

            “No! I won’t do it!” he shouted. “I won’t take your life. I don’t have the strength to!”

            “Dylan, you have to!” Stacy countered. “If you don’t, then I’ll die, come back and try to kill you!”

            Dylan looked away, fighting back tears. He didn’t want to do this. He would choose his own death over having to do this! But Stacy was right. He had no choice but to do the one thing he dreaded most. Killing the one he loved.

            Making up his mind, Dylan turned to Stacy and raised his axe above his head.

“I love you, Stacy,” he said to her.

“And I love you, Dylan.”

With that, Dylan brought the axe down, hard and fast, decapitating Stacy instantly. He dropped the axe, and started to sob harder than he ever had before. He sobbed because he had killed his other half, his love. He sobbed for his parents, his teacher, and the countless others he killed. He sobbed, and sobbed, and sobbed.

 

After an hour, Dylan came up to the edge of town to discover a military blockade.

“HALT,” called a voice from a megaphone. “PLACE YOUR WEAPON ON THE GROUND, PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR, AND MOVE TOWARDS US SLOWLY. ANY SUDDEN MOVES AND WE SHOOT!”

But Dylan didn’t care about their instructions. He didn’t care about who they were. He didn’t even care about himself! He hefted his axe up and proceeded to charge the men ahead of him, screaming out in rage!

The last thought in his mind before the bullets rained down on him and took his life, was the way Stacy looked the morning all this began.

The End

 

Author's Note

Will come out with longer, edited version soon.

Reviews

[Death Girl]

NOOOOO! THAT CAN'T HAPPEN! Why did they have to die. really kent just really dude. It is good but I was shocked that they died. I thought that they would have lived why couldn't they have lived. The ending it is just to sad.

[Kent Clark]

I'm going to elabarate on that in the novel version. I just have to come up with ways to develop it further, that's all.

[chaotic katie]

a very sad piece, but very interesting. i liked it.