Grueberfest '08: The Nest (560 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.91 on 13 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Tardleby the Scrivener (View user info) at 2008-09-28 18:08:43 EDT
I can smell the smoke from the pyres. They are using gasoline to burn fresh bodies in the park, just to be safe. The bullets are long gone and nothing else can keep the dead from chasing you. They say you have to destroy the brain of the zombies or they'll just keep coming. Zombies can't keep coming if you've burned their bodies, brain or no brain.
A group of us were making our way toward the old fallout shelter where there was radio noise about windowless steel rooms that could keep out the walking dead. There supposed to be supplies of food to last for months. I'd barely been able to make it out - the words didn't make much sense but I got the gist of the message. I gathered the others and we headed out, ready to make sure we were as ready as we could be in case we ran into any of them along the way.
Making progress is slow. We stay together because there's safety in numbers and some of us are too old to move fast. We've learned to hide in daylight and stay out of the firelight at night so they can't see us. We know to be quiet when we move so they can't hear us. Sometime they find some of us anyway - children make noise or wander off sometimes. When that happens we have to forget it. Thee days, forgetting the loss of a group member is easy.
I can just make out the old radiation symbol in the side of the building, with the CD of Civil Defense on the sign. This is the place, and no indication that they'd seen us approach. I tried the door as the last of the group caught up. Locked. I put my ear to the door and I could hear some noises from inside. I beat on the door, rhythmically so anyone inside would know it wasn't the zombies. "Let us in! We're not infected!"
There was no answer but the noises inside almost stopped. There was a click and the door opened slightly. A hand reached out and I saw it was missing a finger. No blood flowed from the wound.
"Run! They're inside!" I screamed as the hand grabbed my shirt. Our group scattered and I felt pain as my shirt pulled against my neck and started to tear. I ran toward the darkness and away from the rotting abominations that had once been people. I made a vow to burn the place so no one would be drawn there to die again.
I knew that the group would reassemble in our previous hiding place, known as The Nest, so I stealthily made my way toward the old brick building. There were locks on the doors and steel bars on the windows so no one could get in without knowing about the old coal chute. It was hidden behind a trash dumpster and it ran from the street to the sub basement. You could slide down it but you had to crawl up. If you didn't know to stop your slide before the end of the chute you'd end up impaled on the sharpened rebar we'd placed there. We'd caught a few zombies and looters on those.
As I got close to The Nest I saw a three people near the dumpster. From their movements it was clear that they were undead. Three is too many to take on even with my machete, so I hid in the shadows and watched. They didn't seem to lose interest for several hours as I waited. Suddenly I remembered it'd been over a day since I ate or slept, so I ate some stale bread I had in my pocket and immediately started to nod off. The bread must have been moldy because it was making me ill. I felt like I had a fever. Every time I woke I saw the undead, still moving around the dumpster, like they were waiting for something. Were there more of them? I drifted to sleep again.
When I awoke it was daylight and had been for several hours. I was foggy and couldn't think straight, but I knew I was hungry and there was food in The Nest. There was no movement around the dumpster at all. I watched the area for a few minutes and then just walked across the street toward the dumpster. Ducking down behind the dumpster, I found the coal chute. The door was open. I dropped into it and slid down. Grabbing the handhold I stopped before the trap, moved off to the side, and stepped onto the floor.
The group had allowed some zombies in. Dozens of them lie skewered on the rebar and more had simply rolled off those onto the floor where they'd been attacked by the uninfected. There were smashed skulls and chewed flesh all over the room. Some of the uninfected had fought to the last to keep the door out of the coal room closed. Blood and meat covered the stairs but none was seen on the door handle. The uninfected had won. There was some movement near the stair and I saw it was a severed head, missing an eye and biting at nothing.
Looking around at the carnage, I knew I needed to get into the safe haven of the building. I lifted the latch and opened the door, not knowing what to expect. The hallways and stairwells were empty. I listened for any indication of someone alive in the building. As On the top floor landing I thought I heard the sound of crying coming from an apartment. I opened that door and walked into the living room. The crying got a little louder.
In a bedroom I found her, a little girl hiding in the closet next to the bed. On the bed were the bloody remains of her mother. In her hand was an old pistol. Two undead lay on the floor with their brains blown out. One still had a handful of the uninfected woman's intestines in it's fingers.
Turning, I heard the girl scream and saw her trying to bury herself further into the closet. I reached for her hand and pulled her from the floor. I was hungry and she was fresh food. Tasting the salty warmth of the flesh on her arm, I began to feast.
User Reviews
Submitted by sage104 (user info) at 2008-09-29 15:55:44 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by stucker (user info) at 2008-09-29 14:15:21 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Way to keep true to your roots by down-rating your competitors, Jack.
*shits brick*
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2008-09-29 14:11:51 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
I'm sure everyone will shit a brick when I rate this with less than a +2, but I have to be honest. This was a very good read... but as I said in the OTHER zombie story posted in Round One, there is nothing really new here, especially after all the twists and turns we saw in the multi-contributor Pandemic series.
A good story, but not a +2.
You may hate me now.
Submitted by monkeyswithguns (user info) at 2008-09-29 11:33:34 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Nellypaal (user info) at 2008-09-29 06:03:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Nice.
Submitted by Desz (user info) at 2008-09-29 03:31:53 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by UnknownEntity (user info) at 2008-09-29 01:46:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by kaos-king (user info) at 2008-09-28 22:09:43 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Gyro_Gearloose (user info) at 2008-09-28 21:46:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Doodles (user info) at 2008-09-28 20:37:40 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
You don't seem to be TOO retarded.
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2008-09-28 20:14:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by NintendoCzar (user info) at 2008-09-28 19:08:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by gonefiguring (user info) at 2008-09-28 18:14:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I can't believe I missed that grammar error. I tried to proofread like crazy. Hell, I'm leaving it.