Un-Dead World Book One: Dead Men's Game

Chapter Two

    I think I screamed, or at least I tried to. It felt as if all the air in my body had been sucked out and though I felt my vocal cords, pushed to their max, I had no air left in my body to make a sound. I vaguely felt a hot pain shoot through my shoulder, but all I could focus on was trying to breathe. Wildly pushing against Carson, I gasped in a full breath at last. With the joy of oxygen came the searing pain of human teeth tearing into my flesh, as it dawned on me that Carson was attacking me. I know, I'm a bit slow today. This time when I screamed there was sound. An earth shattering shriek poured from my throat as I began to fight back. the shock was gone and self preservation had kicked in. I reached up and tried pushing Carson off of me, but he wouldn't budge while his teeth were locked firmly into my shoulder. Human teeth aren't very sharp, so he would bite down and begin sawing his head back and forth, trying to tear off chunks. I felt every single movement and it was absolutely the worst pain I had ever felt. I waited until he raised his head once again and pushed against him as hard as I could, lifting my hips to knock him off balance. I was successful with this attempt and he rolled onto the floor like a sack of potatoes. I scrambled backwards, crab style until I had room to surge onto my feet. 

    I could hear Carson getting to his feet as I turned to run into the kitchen. My gun was nowhere to be found, falling somewhere in the initial attack. If I could just get to the knife block, I had a chance. I glanced behind me and the full image of Carson finally hit me. His shirt had seemed dark red initially, but now I could see the spots of pale yellow peeking through the blood stains. Dark red and black blood mixed in splatters all over him, his stomach was a black mess and as his foot came forward I saw something, that almost looked like intestine, hanging down from his midsection. I reached the island in the kitchen and snatched the large butchers knife from the center of the block, turning to face the man I had spent the last two years with. 

    "Carson! What are you doing?" I shouted at him as he clumsily made his way towards me. I circled the island, keeping it in between us, the knife extended towards him. "Carson, I think you have a fever and you're confused. Please just go lay down and we can talk about this. I can get some medical attention and so can you." I tried to speak in a voice that didn't relay the panic I felt inside. He lunged across the island towards me, snarling in an inhuman way. I screamed and swiped the knife at him, cutting his forearm. He didn't even seem to notice the cut and I watched in horror as black, thick blood barely oozed from the wound. I looked into his face and it was like he was in a trance, there was no recognition in his eyes. His lips that had seemed bloody before, were now very obviously gnawed off and his eyes had bloody patches inside of them as if the blood vessels had burst. His once vibrant blue eyes were now a dull gray color. It was like I was looking at a stranger. 

    Carson lunged at me once more, moving around the island towards me. "Carson, baby, I don't want to hurt you." I cried out in a final attempt to stop this insane turn of events. He simply continued to stumble towards me, lunging with sudden bursts of energy and coordination. He grabbed my arm and with an incredible strength, he began to pull me towards him. I shakily brought the knife up and quickly plunged it into his chest. He didn't hesitate for even a second. I couldn't believe it, here he was with a giant butchers knife sticking out of his chest and its like nothing even happened. 

    "This is impossible." I said out loud before I began to frantically pull my arm away from the strong grip he had on it. Balling my other hand into a fist, I began to punch and kick at Carson. All the while, yanking on my arm. Though I wasn't loosening his grip, every tug was getting us closer to the front door and hopefully safety and help. I glanced towards the door and saw somethin glint underneath the potted plant I had sitting in the foyer, the gun. I began to furiously pull against his hold, trying desperately to reach that handheld salvation. I was so focused on the gun that I failed to notice the bunched up rug leftover from the first tussle on the ground. My feet however, did not fail to find it. I fell sideways pulling Carson with me, though this time he did not land completely on top of me, only across my legs. I rolled onto my stomach and proceeded to use my arms to drag myself out from under his dead weight, struggling against him as he grappled me trying to pull me closer. I felt my left leg break free and turned to look down towards my feet, kicking him in the face. A satisfying spray of blood erupted form his nose at this action and yet he still didn't stop for a second. 

    He did seem to give up on trying to get closer to my head area though, because the sudden visual of him grabbing my calf and sinking his teeth into it confirmed this. I could feel his teeth pushing at my skin and muscle, even through the jeans I was wearing. I screamed and tried to pull my leg away but this time the pain was almost unbearable, I couldn't take any more. It seemed like my vision was starting to go when I suddenly heard the sweetest sound. Footsteps running into my house, accompanied by shouting.

    "Grab my hand!!" A mans voice shouted. This snapped me back into myself and I reached out to find a calloused hand extended down towards me. I wrapped my fingers around it and blinked, trying to see who my savior was. The sensation of Carson's teeth breaking through my pants brought my eyes back down to him before I could find them. The man stepped forward and planted a steel toed kick square into Carson's jaw, sending his head rearing back, a chunk of my calf going with it. Carson laid on the floor, chewing on my flesh as the man began to drag me backwards, towards my open door. Keeping an eye on Carson, and fighting the urge to pass out. I watched in absolute horror as Carson swallowed the last bit of me and regained his footing. We hadn't gotten to the door yet and I knew he was gonna reach me again before we could get away, I didn't think I could even try to run right now. Carson was almost on us as we passed my potted plant and I remembered the gun. Reaching out with my left hand, I grabbed the pistol and raised it up towards Carson. It was like time slowed down when the sight was hovering over his face, I could see all the moments over the last two years, flashing before my eyes. He began to drop down, going for my legs once again and I knew I had no choice. With tears filling my eyes and flowing down my cheeks, I pulled the trigger.     

    My rescuer flinched as the gun sounded and I saw Carson drop instantly. Headshot. My grandpa had always taken me shooting growing up and I was a damn good shot. One shot and it was all over. I clutched the gun to my chest as we crossed the threshold, not looking away from the spot I'd just seen Carson fall. I heard the door slam and still I stared, like I could still see him through that door. I was aware that we had stopped moving and that there were several people around me, but I just stared at the door. Someone shaking my injured shoulder snapped me back and I flinched away from the touch, whimpering slightly. 

    "Hey, look I know that was probably someone really important to you and I know that nothing makes sense right now but we gotta go." I looked up and finally saw the face of my rescuer. He couldn't have been more than twenty-five, with brown hair and light brown eyes. He had a goatee that had both dried and new blood soaked into it. You could tell he wasn't a very tall man, but he was well built and obviously strong. With full lips pressed into a straight line, he was obviously as stressed as I was. there were two other people crowded around us but they had their backs to me, so all I saw were jeans and camouflage jackets. "We have to go, can you try to stand? Our truck is in the next yard over." He extended his hand once again and I nodded almost imperceptibly and grabbed a hold. He slowly pulled as I put all of my weight on my  left leg and stood. He quickly led my right arm over his shoulder and barked some kind of order to the other two people, who I still had not seen. They quickly moved, one in front of us and one behind us, as if they were used to this. I could see now that they were both armed with handguns and knives that may have qualified as small swords. We began to make our way to a full-size truck parked in the front yard of the house next door. I surveyed the neighborhood and couldn't believe what I was seeing. What looked like dead bodies, littered the yards and streets. Though there were people moving around. Some moved slowly, clumsily, like Carson had just now. Others were running or driving haphazardly down the streets, hitting anything in their way. I wasn't sure what was going on, but I knew that there was no way I could survive it alone. 

    As we neared the truck, I heard the person behind me shout and the strange man swept his arm behind my legs. I cried out at the sudden movement of my calf muscles and he rushed to open the back door of the truck. The person that had been in front of us, was now behind us also and I could hear some sort of struggle. I was shoved into the truck quickly and painfully, the door slamming as soon as I was in. I just laid there, confused and defeated. The drivers door burst open and the strange man jumped into the seat, the truck roaring to life almost instantly, gotta appreciate push to start. A split second later the passenger door flew open and one more body boarded. "Go! Go! Go!" I heard another male shout, and the tires began to spin as the accelerator was pushed all the way to the floor. 

    "What about the other guy?" I heard myself ask confusedly. A sad look and a single shake of a head was all I received in the rearview mirror. I sat myself up and leaned against the door, staring out the window at the chaotic scene around us, still in shock. As we turned a corner, leaving behind my neighborhood, I saw someone in a camouflage jacket stand up and stumble away.