My Role in the Great Collapse.2A (revised)

A.

A week had gone by since the streetlight deaths and subsequent storm. I call them deaths but were they really? The bodies that fell were already dead. A full three days later as if the army had taken over sanitation, a small unit of a dozen soldiers appeared on my street and loaded the bodies into a huge truck with a low-bed. Two soldiers to load the corpses while the rest covered the area. I wish I could say the truck-bed was empty.
Mr. And Ms. Wilson across the street tried to approach the soldiers but the one closest to them pointed his rifle at them and ordered them back into their homes. I remember thinking Mr. Wilson was going to get shot right there. Even through the Soldiers Gas mask I could hear the tension in his voice. It sounded like he was afraid of the elderly couple. The couple reluctantly returned to their home and the truck slowly drove off at the same pace as the patrolling soldiers.
As soon as they were gone I noticed what had to be a Zombie coming to investigate the commotion. She was wearing a hospital gown and was missing her left hand. Only torn flesh and a gleaming white bone where her watch would have been. Under the gown I could see her grey naked body and thought it didn’t match her beautiful blond hair. I prayed she would leave the Wilson home alone and had no idea what I was going to do if she didn’t.
She walked in the direction of the truck and I thought that’s where she was going to go but suddenly she turned and headed straight for the Wilsons front door. She started banging her right hand and left bone on the door and throwing her body into it with pitiful abandon. I could only imagine what the Wilsons were going through.
I knew I had to help them. Calling the Police was out as the telephones stopped working two days ago. I had my fathers hunting rifle and I supposed I could hit her from here but if either of the Wilsons were on the other side of the door I’m hitting them too. Fuck! Why did they have to go outside?
As I stood there thinking that two more uglies arrived and began imitating their friend. “That’s three!! Three Zombies Ah! Ah! Ah!”, I thought to myself grinning like a madman thinking of Sesame Streets Count I wondered how Bert, Ernie and the Bird are holding up nowadays. I laughed both at the absurdity of my joke and the madness we’re now living in. If I go out there I have six shots in my rifle and I’m going to have to make sure and put down whatever else is out there too.
OK well seeing as how not doing anything I would never be able to look at myself again I made for the back door. I didn’t want whatever was out on the street to even notice my front door. Thank god I had removed the steps on both my front and back porches. I offered to do the same for Mr. Wilson but coming from a different time he firmly believed that the Canadian Government was going to make his safety their number one priority.
I had boarded up all of our windows and in addition to that covered the basement ones with gravel and he had thought I was crazy. We all had ample time as the news of the “problem” reached us a full week before the Dead made it here. This wasn’t the time for I told you so though. Neither could I stand here and wave my finger at them.
Peeking out the back window I saw that my backyard was empty. The six-foot cedar fence I put up last summer seemed to count for something. Exiting out the back door I quietly made my way to the front of my house .I knew we weren’t the only people still living on this street but you couldn’t tell that today. Peering around my corner I was pretty sure that these three were the only “freaks that came out tonight”.
I knew the house right next to mine was empty because I watched them bug out and head for god knows where last week leaving behind canned food and winter clothes and bringing DVDs and a video game system. You didn’t have to be a survivalist to see where they were heading. The house being empty maybe I can get on the second floor and pop one of them, then pop the other two while they followed the sound. Yea that’s the plan. I began to sneak my way into the next yard when I heard the door begin to crack and give way. With no time to waste I lifted my rifle and fired at the former patient with the dramatic manicure. I smacked her right in the back of the head and half saw, half imagined her face liquefying and then painting the side of the door that was still there.
One of the other two took notice of me and turned around. I realized in cold terror that it was the wise cracking cop I saw here a few nights ago. I fought the urge to throw the gun down and run in the opposite direction. Shaking like a leaf I pointed at the approaching dead guy. I fired then missed, fired again then missed again. I dropped the barrel and took a deep breath, I gathered my nerve only to have it vanish at the blood-curdling scream that could only belong to Ms.Wilson. I raised the barrel and by this time the Officer was within ten feet of me. I fired then cried out as I missed for the third time. I began to back up and he seemed to be walking faster. I was almost against my neighbours porch and the Zombie Cop was within five feet of me. I could smell the coppery stink of dried blood and almost forgot what I was doing as I stared into his milky white dead eyes.
I put them out of my mind and raised my rifle for what would be my last chance and fired. I remember seeing the bullet smash through the Wilsons living room window and thought to myself that I blew my last chance and now I was going to die. Then I realized as the cop was falling that I watched the window break through the giant hole my rifle carved through his rotting deadened head.
I took a deep breath to prevent myself from fainting right there and saw that the door to my neighbours house wasn’t closed anymore and there was no longer any Zombie trying to get in. I started to walk over to the house when I thought to check to see if the officer still had his pistol. I rolled him over and was surprised to see his gun was still in his holster. Then again I doubted that his partner was going to take his gun then send him off to go eat civilians. Him just being here meant that something went wrong with the police and if he didn’t have his gun I thought he most likely would have been wherever the bodies in the army trucks wind up.
I pulled it out of the holster and saw a little removable pouch attached to his belt, opening it I saw two clips that looked fully loaded. I grabbed them, slung my rifle over my shoulder and headed across the street. I had never held a handgun before much less fired one but had seen enough television to know you held it with both hands. I also knew there was a safety switch somewhere. There it is. Click that and pull the slide back. Now I’m ready to kill something. My nerve came back with the feel of the cold steel.
Putting my fathers rifle down on the lawn I got to the Wilsons porch and aimed my new found balls at the door. I climbed the steps and was about to ask for someone when I heard sounds I later became too familiar with, the sounds of teeth tearing into raw flesh and the distant moans of the barely conscious. Standing over the dead girl with no face I peered into the front hallway and saw the third Zombie with his back to me chewing on what I realized in horror were Ms. Wilsons innards through a giant hole in her stomach. Unceremoniously I fired a round into the back of it’s head. I walked into the house and saw that Ms. Wilson had died while I shot her attacker. Mr. Wilson was nowhere to be seen, I figured he was hiding somewhere inside so I walked into the living room.
“hello?’ I yelled out. Nothing. “Mr.Wilson?” I heard a noise though not from inside, it came from the front porch. I spun around and saw two more Zombies climbing up the steps. What the fuck did I get myself into? These two looked the part too, The one in front was once a woman but half of the flesh on it’s head was gone and I could see its skull had all these nics and grooves as if something(or someone) had been gnawing on it’s skull for hours. Her nose hung loosely and her jaw appeared to have been broken almost completely off. She sort of growled as she entered the house and the other one joined her in a chorus of misery that made me cry out in fear. Her partner had a giant hole ripped out of its throat and had not a face but a skull with strands of meaty flesh hanging off of it. Never again would I be so repulsed and terrified by the sight of such things.
I raised my pistol and fired I don’t know how many times. I did manage to drop the two but I’m ashamed to say I also peed in my pants. I stood there shaking uncontrollably when I noticed Ms. Wilson was sitting up. I began to cry then I shot her in the head too.
At this point I didn’t care where Mr. Wilson was and I wished that not being able to look in the mirror was something I thought I could live with.
I carefully peeked out the shattered window and saw that the street was empty. I got outside of the house and grabbing my fathers rifle on the lawn ran across the street then returned to my backyard. Somehow I still had the piece of mind to make sure nothing watched me as I entered my home. Tonya stood at the back door and taking one look at me knew that whatever I had seen was beyond words.