Jolt

I had never given much thought into how I would die, running face first, fist pumping into a stampede of the undead hadn’t ever crossed my mind. I guess I should take you back, back to the last semi-normal day of my life.

Getting up at seven in the morning for work like any other typical day. I remember awakening with goosebumps spread all throughout my skin, not thinking much besides it was a chilly December morning. The streets were empty, the silenced screamed and that strike me as uncommon but not weird. My car slid off the ice that had formed a home on top of my driveway, I sipped my black coffee and scratched at my beard and crusty not fully awakened eyes. The last I can remember is a human- like figure jolting itself in front of my two thousand Toyota Camry. I whipped my car around so fast that there wasn’t time for any form of traction to grip onto the bottom of my tires. I slid, and I slid far. I awoke to my car flipped onto its side in the center of the back road. The high pitch ringing swallowed my entire head. I managed to crawl out onto the sharp icy road.

Turning around I could see that thing begin to stand up from where he had originally smacked the front of my car. He didn't stand humanly. His two legs both pointed in different directions and his hand was missing most fingers. The skin of this thing was rotted, and parts had fallen off into the street. I do not remember much of this time during this day but I do remember his eyes, black and cold, they were soulless. I walked backwards, never looking away from its face.

In a matter of seconds he ran, not just ran, he dashed into the direction my flightless and full of fear bodied stood. “Move”! I shifted my eyes to the left and saw a redheaded woman standing there screaming something at me that my brain couldn’t seem to process. “ I said move”! Something in me sparked and I listened, I moved. Two gunshots now rang loudly throughout the streets, she had a semi-automatic shotgun.

I sincerely thought the force of the gun would have blown her back but she stood, straight and ready to fight. It wasn’t until I watched its head fly off that it’s lifeless body soon follow that I knew he wasn't getting back up. “We made too much noise”, she said. “We have to go Persidus”. Nobody besides my mom knew my full name, she died late last June. “It’s Dus”, I called out. She gathered a look of confusion and rolled her eyes.

I followed her into the side door of an old movie theater that had been abandoned for years. She moved slowly but yet kept a steady pace. “What was that back there?” I asked. “Remember those old movies, about the undead coming back, it’s happening and not just here, everywhere within the last twenty four hours”. The undead coming back to kill had always made for a classic movie, but not for a real life death. “There's a safe place where the government is set up, they won’t come to get us but if we can make it there they will keep us.”

I took a seat on the old ticket stand of the movie theater's bar and stared in her direction.

“What kind of safe place umm?” “Karma, my name's Karma, and I don't know to be completely honest with you, all I know is that we get there, we live, we stay here and we die.”

We left the abandoned theater and headed north, there was an old military base we both were familiar with. Where there's a military there's a government. After about two hours of walking we had finally made decent progress, a radio call had come in and we could tell we were heading into the right direction. Her red hair tied up blew in the cold December wind.

“So, Karma, where's your family?” “I don't have any family she replied. “Okay, where's your mom?” Karma kicked a piece of frozen ice and glared hard, “she died when I was seven, she had a stroke”. I touched her shoulder and explained how we had more than just fighting the undead in common.

She wore a black heart shaped locket around her neck. “Was that your moms?”, I asked. She nodded her head and I went to grab her hand. Our fingers glided and we heard a loud grumbling sound. We looked into the forward direction and there stood a swarm of the undead.

We both moved quickly and ran into the west direction of the woods. They followed and we seemed to slow down and they seemed to speed up. Karma turned around and took three shots into the swarm. I screamed at her to catch up and run but she yelled that she could hold them off and told me to keep running north. Karma eventually caught up with me and together we sprinted with the undead close behind. We both knew we couldn’t out run them forever. “They will stop for one us, Dus.” “No!” I screamed. “Go, I’m the one with the gun.” I looked head on at the swarm and their soulless eyes matched mine. I ran, while Karma stayed behind. I heard six shots before silence, Karma died that afternoon saving my life.

A day later I made it to the government base. They fed me and gave me a full medical exam. When I went to take off my jeans something fell out of the pocket, a heart shaped necklace shined on the floor next to my feet. Karma had snuck her necklace into my pocket, when or how I could never figure out, but a piece of her was with me again and tears stung my eyes.