Invasion of the Undead

     Nicole stood against the tall tree. Her long brown hair pulled back in a slightly messy ponytail. Her hazel eyes were fixed as she looked around to make sure she had outrun the zombies for the moment. The forest was eerily quiet, as she stood catching her breathe and listening for any sound. The air had a chill in it and the moonlight crept thru the breaks in the trees. She reached up and adjusted her ponytail. All the sudden someone touched her shoulder. Startled she pulled out her knives and whipped around to confront the person. The young man jumped back to avoid getting cut. His shoulder length brown hair fell in his eyes and he quickly pushed it back. His brown eyes met hers. "Whoa, Nicole." he said, " It's just me." "Aaron." she said, "Don't sneak up on me like that." "Sorry." he said, "Your really fast." "You kinda have to be when your running from zombies." "True." "So how much farther to the meeting place?" "About a mile." he said, " The others should be there." "Well, let’s get going." she said, as they started walking. As they were walking they suddenly found their path blocked by six wild eyed zombies who stood only a few feet away glaring at them. "s**t!" she said, as she pulled out her knives Aaron pulled out his shotgun, but to their surprise the zombies remained still. "What are they doing?" said Aaron, "Why aren't they moving?" "Because I told them not to." said a voice Nicole and Aarons eyes darted around as they searched for the owner of the voice. Then a man with dark brown hair, dark eyes and ghost white skin stepped from behind the trees. He smiled as he looked at Nicole. "Hello, Nicole" he said, “So lovely to see you again." "Brandon?" she said, "What are you doing here?" "You know this guy?" said Aaron "Oh, have you not told your little friends about me." he said, as he walked towards her "There's nothing to tell." "On the contrary, I think there's plenty to tell." he said, as he ran his hand across her cheek She recoiled at his touch and said, "What do you want Brandon?" "Nothing more than to expand my territory. I plan to make this city mine." "We aren't gonna let that happen." said Nicole, holding her knives at the ready, "Leave now or I will end you." "I always loved your spunk Nicole." he said, with a smirk "I'll leave you in peace for now. I have an army to assemble." "We won't let you take the city." Aaron chimed in "And how are you going to stop me?" "We will stop you." said Nicole Brandon just laughed and seconds later he was gone along with the zombies. "Who was that?" said Aaron "His name is Brandon." said Nicole "He's obviously not a zombie." "No, He’s a vampire." "How do you know a vampire?" "It's a long story." "Give me the short version." "OK. He and I were together. I dated him." "You dated a vampire?" "I didn't know he was a vampire when I first met him. Then one night he tried to turn me. I fought him off and I ran. I moved here to get away from him." "We have to tell the others." "Yeah,It sounded like he plans to build an army of zombies and possibly even more vampires." "Sounds like we are in for a fight." "Yeah,but we have to save the city. Let's go meet the others." The sun was just starting to rise when they arrived at the meeting place. It was so nice to see the tents and the fire pit. It was the closest thing to a home they had had since the zombie apocalypse began. As they walked into camp they were met by the other four survivors. There was Leeann. She was short but strong with piercing green eyes and flowing blonde hair. Then there was Hannah. She was taller and slender. She was definitely tougher than she looked. She had shoulder length red hair and hazel eyes. Then there were the guys. James was tall and slender like Hannah but his short hair was brown and he had deep brown eyes. Last but not least there was Mark. Mark was average height with light brown hair and hazel eyes. "We were starting to worry." said Leeann, “What took you so long?" "We ran into an old friend of Nicole's." said Aaron, “Looks like we have more than just zombies to worry about." "What does that mean?" said Leeann, her green eyes wide with curiosity "Go ahead Nicole. Tell them." "There's a vampire named Brandon. We believe he's putting together an army of zombies and vampires to try and take the city." James ran a hand nervously thru his short brown hair and his brown eyes had a serious look when he said, "That doesn't sound good. Wait. Who was this old friend of Nicole's?" "Brandon" said Nicole, “I’ve run into him before." "She dated him." said Aaron, with a smirk "You dated a vampire?" said Leeann, as she tucked her flowing blond hair behind her ear. Iou"Yes, but that's not important." "She's right." said James, "We need to focus on the problem at hand." "Right!" said Aaron, "Time to prepare for a fight." "Brandon, wont be able to come out till after sundown. So lets take this time to prep, rest and be ready to go at dusk." With that they all split off to do what they needed to do to prepare for the night. Nicole headed to her tent. Once inside she sat down and began polishing and sharpening her knives for the upcoming battle. As she worked on her weapons her mind wandered back to when she first met Brandon. It was five years ago and she remembered it like it was yesterday. Brandon had seemed so perfect that first night. He was so handsome. She had noticed that he was pale-skinned but she had assumed he was just descendant of pale people. When he smiled at her it had made her heart flutter. When he walked up to her that night at the bonfire she had felt like she was gonna faint. His dark brown eyes had captivated her. "Hello there." said Brandon, " My name is Brandon." She had giggled and said, "I'm Nicole." "Nice to meet you." he replied, with a smile That first night had been a dream. He always seemed to know just what to say. Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to last, for a few short weeks later he had told her what he was. She had assumed he was joking until he tried to bite her. She had fought him off and ran. The next day she had moved to this town to get as far from Brandon as possible. She never would have thought he would follow her here. "Nicole." Aarons voice pulled her mind back to the present. "Yeah," she said "You ok?." he said, " You looked like your mind was miles away." "I'm fine." she said, "Just old memories coming back." Aaron nodded, "OK. Well, sundown is in about two hours. Everyone is gathering at the fire pit. See you out there?" "I'll be there in a minute." With that Aaron left the tent. A short time later they all met down at the fire pit. Nicole stepped forward to make a speech. "Now we have been fighting to survive for the last 6 months. We have defended our home from zombies, but now we face a new threat. A vampire who is using zombies as an army and probably has more vampires with him. I know we can defeat this undead army. We are strong. So as we head out tonight remember we are a family and we will not let these undead take our home or our lives. Let's do this!" When she finished they all cheered. Then they all got to there feet loaded up and headed out. "Alright,guys! Stay close. We have to watch each other's backs." said Aaron, as they headed out into the night. As they emerged from the woods and headed down the old park trail they heard footsteps not far away. "Keep your eyes open they're close." said Nicole A few moments later several zombies emerged out of the woods. Blood dripping from there lips. Their eyes wide and wild. "Weapons out!" Aaron exclaimed With that everyone brandished there weapons and began fighting and killing the zombies. "Aaron! Duck!" Nicole yelled, as she raced over Aaron dropped to the ground as Nicole threw a knife right between the eyes of a nearby zombie. "Nice one." said Aaron, as the zombie fell with a loud thud "Thanks." said Nicole, as she helped him up "So we meet again." said Brandon Nicole turned around to face Brandon, as he stepped out onto the trail. She noticed several zombies and vampires behind him. "We won't let you take this city." said Nicole "You really think YOU can defeat ME!" "No I know WE can defeat you." With that she pulled her knives and ran at Brandon, but his army of zombies and vampires jumped into the fight. It wasn't long before they had taken down all the zombies and vampires. Brandon couldn’t believe they had defeated his army and he glared at Nicole with a fierce anger in his eyes. "This isn't over!” he exclaimed and then he disappeared into the night. The next morning.... Nicole stood at the end of the mini pier in the Gazebo looking out on the marsh. The sunlight sparkling off the water. The frogs croaked and the birds chirped, for the moment the world seemed almost normal. Nicole’s mind carried her back to a time when there were no zombies. She sighed to herself as she remembered all the people she had lost since the beginning of this zombie apocalypse. Her whole family was gone. Aaron walked up and stood next to her. "You OK?" he asked "Yeah. I'm good.“ she said "What's wrong?" "Nothing's wrong." "Nicole, I know you. I can see it in your eyes. You have something on your mind." "It's nothing really. I just wonder if we will ever kill all the zombies and vampires and get the world back to normal." "I think we will." "But we'll never be normal." "Normal is overrated. I'd rather be weird any day." Nicole smiled "So we'll get thru this zombie apocalypse and then we will have everything we want." said Aaron "Kids?" "If you want." he said, with a smile She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him and he hugged her back. She was happy to have Aaron. He was the only person she still had from before the world had gone crazy. "And of course I'll teach our kids how to shoot a g*n and you can teach them how to throw knives. So we'll be ready for the next zombie apocalypse." She laughed and kissed him. "You always know how to make me laugh don’t you?” "That's why you love me." he said with a smile, "So you ok now?" "Yeah, much better." "Good. We should get back to the others." Nicole nodded and hand in hand they headed off the pier. As they stepped into the meeting area everyone looked up. "Hey guys." said Leeann, "Y'all ok?" "Yeah, we're good." said Nicole "So what do you think?" said James, "How long do we have before he comes back with a new army?" "It will have to be at night.“ said Nicole, "We just need to be ready." “When we were out scouting and looking for supplies this morning we found more survivors.” Said James "How many more did you find?” Aaron asked “Two.” “Where are they? I wanna meet them." said Nicole "Follow me." They walked to the other side of the clearing to the tents. In front of the tents sat a man and a woman. The man had short blonde hair and blue eyes. When he stood up he was only slightly taller than Nicole. He looked like a strong man with his muscular arms. The woman had curly brown hair and hazel eyes. When she stood Nicole noticed she was the same height as her. "This is Jason." James said, as he pointed to the young man with the short blonde hair. "HI.“ said Jason "Hello, Jason." she said, “I’m Nicole." "Nice to meet you." "Are you ready to help us fight for this city?" "You bet." "And this is Lexi." said James "Hello, Lexi." said Nicole, "Are you ready for a fight?" "Ready and waiting.” she said "Good. It's almost sundown. We need to be on guard. Nighttime is when Brandon will most likely attack." "Will do" said Aaron A little while later Aaron was on guard. Aaron sat holding his shotgun. Nicole walked up and sat down next to him. "Strangely quiet?" said Nicole, “Don’t you think?" "Yeah " he said, "I think we should move tomorrow." "Yeah. If we get too comfortable we may lose our edge." "So we are in agreement. We move at dawn." "Yeah, I'll tell the others.“ said Nicole, as she stood up and headed back to camp. The next morning....... They packed up the tents and all there supplies. They split everything up evenly so everyone could help by carrying something. Each person was also equipped with a weapon of there choosing, because even though they didn’t have to worry about Brandon attacking in the daylight there were still zombies out there. As they headed down the trail they kept their eyes up watching for any movement. Suddenly, Aaron spotted movement in the trees. "Weapons out!" he yelled With their weapons at the ready they waited for something to emerge from the trees. But nothing did. "Maybe someone should check it out." said Jason "I'll do it." said Nicole She slowly approached the area where they had heard the movement. With her knives drawn she approach a nearby tree. As she got closer she saw a figure hiding behind it. "You there!" She said, “Show yourself!" A young man with short brown hair and green eyes slowly peeked from behind the tree. "Don't hurt me." he said "We're not gonna hurt you.” she said, "Come on out." He slowly walked out onto the trail. "What's your name?" asked Aaron "Shawn.” he said "It's nice to meet you, Shawn." said Nicole, "Are you alone?" “Yes, I was out looking for food and supplies." he said, "The others are in our hiding place." "There are more survivors?" said James "Yes." said Shawn, "We thought were the only ones." "Take us to them." said Aaron "Ok." said Shawn, "Follow me." It wasn't long before they arrived at the place Shawn and his friends had been staying. It was a two story Victorian house with a huge front porch. It had probably once been a beautiful place but now it was ragged and run down. The windows were all boarded up. The front door was red but a lot of the paint was peeling off in chunks. Shawn pulled out a key and unlocked the door then led them into the house and shut and locked the door behind them. When they walked in everyone looked up. A young girl with brown hair and dark eyes ran up and hugged Shawn. She was short statured and skinny. She was one of those people you knew was more of a nursing type rather than a fighting type. Nicole assumed she had survived by sticking close to stronger people and bandaging them up when they got hurt. "Shawn, I’m so glad your back." she said, "Who are they?" "It's ok, Kelly." said Shawn, "They're survivors like us." "Well, introduce us to your crew." said Nicole Shawn nodded and introduced the rest of his group. Besides Shawn and Kelly there was another girl named, Liz. She was small statured like Kelly and also looked like the non threatening type. However, she had short blonde hair and emerald green eyes. Then there were two guys. Edward, was tall with slick brown hair and blue eyes. He had several bandages on his hands showing he was obviously a fighter. Then there was Jacob, he was tan skinned with jet black hair and dark brown eyes. His arms were large and muscular.  "It's good to meet you all." said Aaron, "I'm Aaron." "Good to meet you Aaron." said Kelly "This is our group. Nicole, James, Jason, Mark, Lexi, Hannah, and Leeann." he said, as he pointed to each of them. "It's so nice to know we aren't alone." said Liz "This place you have is nice." said Nicole, as she gazed around the old house "Yeah,we lock it down good when we need to sleep." said Shawn "Y'all should know that there are more than zombies out there." said Aaron, "There are vampires too." "We plan on taking them out along with the zombies to take back the city." said Nicole "Can we count on y'all to help us fight for this city?" said Aaron "Yeah." said Edward "No doubt." said Jacob "Hell yeah!" said Shawn "We'll help any way we can." said Kelly "I'm not very strong." said Liz, "but I'll try to help." Aaron smiled. "Well do y'all have any weapons?" said Nicole "Yeah." said Shawn, "I'll show you where they are." Then he lead Aaron and Nicole into another room. As they entered they saw that the room was set up for efficiency. On one side was a table full of guns. The guns were laid out by size. On the next table were blades of all sizes. "Nice." said Nicole, as she looked over all the blades "Very good." said Aaron, "We need to be prepared. We are going out tomorrow at nightfall. We're gonna take out these vampires and the zombies. It's time to take back our city." "Hell yeah!" said Shawn That night for the first time in a long time Nicole and her crew slept in beds. The other survivors had managed to deck out the old house and make it very homey. They had gotten several extra beds in hopes of finding other survivors. They had even managed to get the electricity in the house working. Apparently, before the world crisis Edward had been and electrician. Finding these new survivors made Nicole feel like the odds were on there side. They were gonna make it thru this and make the world a better place. The next day..... Nicole spent the day prepping everyone for that night. As nightfall approached everyone was ready. Liz and Kelly had decided to stay in the house and be ready to treat any injuries. "OK." said Aaron, “Stay close and watch each others backs. Everyone nodded. "Lets go." said Nicole, as she opened the door They all filed out the door armed and ready for a fight. There was a chill in the air that night. They all walked slowly with there eyes up searching for any movement. Then out of nowhere Brandon appeared in front of them. "Hello, Nicole." said Brandon, "I see you've brought some new friends." "Shut it, Brandon" "You never were one for small talk. Very well, let the battle begin.", with those words his newest army of vampires and zombies came at them. "Take 'em out!" yelled Aaron With guns and knives they fought the zombies and vampires. As the fight went on Nicole lost sight of Aaron and the others. When she killed all the zombies near her she started searching for the others. After a few minutes she found Jason,Lexi,Shawn and Mark. "Where are the others?" "Not sure." said Jason, "We got separated." With the four of them following her she continued to search for the rest of the group. A few minutes later they found Leeann,Hannah,James, Jacob and Edward. They all looked tired and had cuts and bruises from the fight. "Where's Aaron?" "We tried to help him but there were just too many of them." said James, as Leeann held a clothe against a wound on his head. "Is he dead?" "No, the vampires took him." "We have to rescue him. We have to find Brandon’s hideout." "Its almost daylight. We have to rest and regroup." said Jacob "We have to go now." "Nicole." said Jason, "Aarons a strong guy. He’s gonna be ok." "But we cant desert him." "Yeah,but we cant go after them unprepared." said James, " Then we'll all die." "Your right. Alright, we rest, we prepare, and then we find their hideout and rescue Aaron. Agreed?” “Agreed.” They all replied together. Then they headed back to the house so Kelly and Liz could bandage up the wounded. Meanwhile, in Brandon’s lair Aaron is chained to the wall. Brandon walks up to him. "Hello, Aaron." said Brandon "You'll never take this city." said Aaron "You really think your friends can defeat me." "I don’t think. I know." "But will your friends have the guts to kill you if they must." "They will do what it takes to save the city." A young looking female vampire with long brown hair and intense brown eyes walked in. "Hello, Bella." said Brandon "You called for me master." she said, as she looked longingly at Aaron "Yes dear one." "He smells delicious. Can I play with him?" "Now Bella, We don’t play with our food." "Yes master." she said, with small frown on her face “Oh, I can’t disappoint my best girl.” Then Brandon snapped his fingers and two more vampires entered the room. "Unchain him and bring him over for our young Bella." "Yes, Sir." Bella smiled. As they were unchaining him, Aaron decided to attempt to escape. He fought his way out of their hold and raced out the room. "Catch him." yelled Brandon Aaron raced towards the door, but just as he was about to escape something hit him in the back of the head and he collapsed to the ground, unconscious. Back in the woods, Nicole is sitting on a log looking out into the woods. Jason walks up and sits down next to her. "You ok?" Jason asked "Yeah, I just hope Aarons ok." said Nicole "You guys are pretty close, huh?" "Yeah." she said Jason nodded, "Well, Lexi and James just got back from scouting and they said they have news “ “Well, bring them over and let’s hear it.” Jason nodded and motioned for Lexi and James to join them. They quickly walked over and sat down. "We believe we found Brandon’s hideout." said Lexi "Yeah, we were scouting out on the north side and we came upon this old abandoned house.” said James "What makes you think its where he's hiding?" "Well, all the windows are blacked out like they are trying to keep sunlight out." said Lexi "And the place is surrounded by zombies. Its like they're guarding it." said James " That has to be it. How much longer till sunrise?" "About an hour." said Jason "Have everyone ready in an hour. We're going on a rescue mission." "You got it." An hour later they headed out to attempt to rescue Aaron. Lexi and James led the way, as they were the ones who had discovered the location of Brandon’s hideout. It wasn't long before they were there and as they had expected the place was surrounded by zombies. "We need to take down all the zombies to get to the house." said Nicole "Maybe, we should split into groups and take sections." said Jason "Good idea. Kelly, Shawn, and Mark you take the right side of the house." "Got it." said Shawn "James, Hannah, and Lexi you take the left side." "No problem." said James "Jason, Jacob, and Edward your with me and we're taking the front." "Hell yeah!" said Jason With that they split up. Nicole pulled out her knives as she walked towards the front of the old rundown house. Jason was close behind her with his guns out and ready. Behind him was Jacob and Edward. They fought their way to the front door and Jason kicked it down. They rushed in weapons out. It wasn't long before the others had joined them in the house. They found themselves in a long hallway with a door at the end. They hurried down the hall and thru the door. As they entered the room they saw Brandon sitting in a throne like chair in the midst of several vampires and another line of zombies. "I knew you'd come." said Brandon "Where's Aaron?" said Nicole "He's here, but I don't think he's gonna wanna leave." "Let him go, Brandon." "He's free to go wherever he likes." said Brandon, with a smile, “Bella, my dear will you go get Aaron." "Yes master." said Bella, as she left the room Moments later she returned with Aaron. "You called for me master." said Aaron "We have some company, my young one and they wish to see you." "Aaron?" said Nicole, " What have they done to you?" "Hello, Have we met?" "What did you do to him?" "I made him one of us. I do apologize he got quiet a bump on the head when he tried to escape. I'm afraid it affected his memory." "She smells delicious master. Can I have her?" said Aaron "Patience, my young friend." "I'll kill you for this." said Nicole "Not if I kill you first." said Brandon "We wont go down without a fight." "Damn right!" said Jason "Very well then, enjoy your last moments." said Brandon, as he snapped his fingers sending all the vampires and zombies to attack them. Nicole and the others fought hard against them. It wasn't long before Nicole was confronted by Aaron. "You smell delicious. I bet you taste even better." he said, as he lunged at her Nicole dodged him. "Aaron, please you have to remember. Your not one of them." He lunged at her again. This time he succeeded in knocking her down. She fought off his attempts to bite her and threw him off. Then she quickly got back to her feet. She could feel her heart breaking as she pulled out her knives. She knew he was gone and she had no choice but to kill him. She awaited his next attack. When he lunged at her again she thrust her blade straight into his heart. He collapsed to the ground, motionless. Nicole dropped to her knees. The memories of the last two years rushed thru her mind. Her heart ached knowing she had just had to kill a man she loved for two years. The only person she had left from before. The dreams of their future shattered in her mind. Her whole body shuttered as she sobbed.  "I'm sorry, Aaron." she said, as the tears streamed down her face Seconds later Jason was by her side kneeling next to Aarons body. He touched her shoulder and she fell into his chest, sobbing. He wrapped his arms around her and let her cry. A few moments later the rest of the group was there. "Did anyone get Brandon?" asked Jason "No, him and a couple of his lackeys escaped thru a secret passage." said Shawn Nicole wiped her eyes and turned to face everyone. "We have to go back to the house, rest and regroup. Will y'all help me take Aarons body back so we can bury him properly?" "Of course." said Jason Jason, Jacob and Edward pulled together a makeshift stretcher to carry Aaron back to the house. The next morning just after sunrise they buried Aaron. Jason stayed by Nicole's side the whole time. Afterwards, she disappeared into one of the upstairs rooms of the house. Nicole laid in the bed letting the tears role down her face. She couldn't believe Aaron was dead and that she had killed him. Then she felt someone sit down behind her. She turned over to see who it was. "Hi, Jason." she said "You ok?" he asked "Yeah, I'm fine." she said, as she wiped the tears away "You're a really bad liar." Nicole laughed, "I'll be ok." Jason wrapped his arms around her. Surprised, but touched by the gesture she hugged him back. As they pulled apart their eyes met. Nicole could feel her heart starting to race as Jason gazed into her eyes. In the next moment Jason pulled her close and kissed her. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him closer. Her heart pounded in her chest. It seemed like forever that they were locked in this passionate kiss when they finally pulled away. "I'm sorry." said Jason, "I know you just lost Aaron. I'm sorry." "No, don't be sorry." she said, "I think I needed that." "Really?" "Yeah." "I hope I'm not being too forward, but I really like you Nicole. I just wanted to tell you that." "I like you too." Then she pulled him closer and kissed him again.