EYEHEARTZOMBIES

Seth’s tennis shoes gripped the slippery, trash-littered floor of the alleyway and pushed him forward down the narrow track. The creature was moving incredibly fast, lightspeed compared to him, he felt. It seemed to be gaining on him, two steps to his one. He glanced over his shoulder to see how close the monster was and saw it reaching out both hands to grab him with. He saw the hands, the snarling mouth, the empty sockets. He didn’t see the bags of trash in front of him, though, and sprawled out on the floor of the alleyway a few moments later.

Seth screamed and pulled an arm over his face, not wanting to see the end coming to him. He could hear the thing’s footsteps growing close at great bounds. The creature growled and slowed. His smell must be partially blocked by the garbage. Seth pulled his arm away from his face in time to see the thing slow to a stop and stand, sniffing the air. It stood shrouded by the shadows of the alley, hands out and feeling, nose twitching. He wasn’t sure why, but Seth felt that the speed it had moved seemed… wrong.

He had to think about that later, though. He remembered the gun in his hand. The pistol’s safety was on and he thumbed the switch as quietly as he could. The tiny click wasn’t enough to arouse the hearing of the undead creature standing not five yards from Seth’s sneakered foot. It took a step forward, then another, wobbly now that it had used up the energy it got from feeding. The sniffing continued, now lower as the thing bent over to sniff the ground. It fell forward onto its knees and started crawling along the ground like a dog, snuffling the wet pavement.

Seth backed himself up into a sitting position, still in the pile of garbage bags. The creature heard his rustling and looked up, sniffing the air in front of it again. Seth pulled his feet towards him, not caring if it made noise. He didn’t want to be found by this… creature. Seth raised the pistol and propped his arm on his knees. The thing’s head was just about even with the end of his gun. He closed his eyes and pulled the trigger.

The shot went wild. He had pulled his hand back when he fired and the bullet had flown over the creature’s shoulder. Its head had jerked around to follow the sound of the bullet, but turned back now, pointed intently at Seth. He could almost see a smile on its slackjawed face. The creature rose up into a crouch again, tensing its legs for a jump. Seth heard a car door slam behind him and feet running. Good, Ruth must be running away. He didn’t want thing to get her too. He closed his eyes again, confident in his death.

The creature was sniffing again, trying to find where he was more concretely, like a cat bobbing its head to locate its prey. Seth could still hear footsteps, running. They should be getting quieter. Unless –

Seth opened his eyes in time to see Ruth run past him. She had the tire iron in her hand, arm held down to her side and a bit behind her. “Fuck you!” she screamed as the metal bar connected with the chin and jaw of the creature, knocking it off its feet and down the alley a bit. Seth saw blood splatter into the air. Ruth slowed and stopped running next to the thing’s head. “Go,” she hit it with the iron, caving in part of its face. “To,” another hit, this time to the top of its head, the skull cracking and splintering. “Hell!” a final blow that caved in the chin and teeth, those that were left from the first hit. Ruth stood, bent over, panting. Seth got to his feet.

“Wow,” he said, walking up behind her. “That was…. Wow. Fuck.” He stood beside her, looking down at the thing. “I thought I was done for. Thanks. Thanks a lot. Uh, wow.” Seth looked down at the creature, checking its whole body for any movement. One of its feet twitched, and a finger wriggled, but it was still over than that. “I think you took care of it,” he said admiringly. “Jesus. Thanks. Wow. I thought I was dead. I — ” He was silenced by a tight hug from her.

“I — I don’t want you to thank me. I just — I just did what I had to do. You saved me earlier. You saved all of us. So — I had to help you. So, thank you,” she said, giving him a little kiss on the lips. They both looked at each other, the moment awkward from the kiss and the dead living dead thing on the ground beside them. They both “uhm”‘d and “ah”‘d for a few moments, trying to decide what to do next.

Ruth looked at the creature, then back down the alley toward the turn. “What did you see down there? I mean…. Are there any more we should worry about?” She was still scared, despite the bravery that had come out when she saw him threatened by the creature.

“No, no, I don’t think so,” he said. “This gu — THING – was…. Well, it was down the alley eating something. It heard me and came after me. I don’t think whatever it was… eating… would be able to come back, or whatever they’re doing. It looked pretty far gone.” He was worried now. What rules did he know for this? Nothing could prepare you for humans come back from the dead trying to eat you. Fuck all he knew about anything, it was no use. He scratched his head. “I really don’t know, though.”

“Well,” she paused, psyching her self up. “Let’s go look.” She turned to walk down they alley. He still hadn’t followed when she reached the corner, so she stopped and called to him. “Hey. Come on.” Seth came back to here and now and joined her at the corner. The light had brightened a bit, the clouds burned away by the sun, and they could make out the shape of the dead police officer very clearly. “Oh,” she said, taken aback by the gruesomeness.

“Yeah,” he said, “It’s pretty bad. That’s why I’m pretty sure he can’t come after us. I mean, he’s pretty far gone. I think they have to be more whole than that. I’m just amazed at how fast that other one could move. I — I don’t know why, but I don’t think of them as fast-moving or anything.” He scratched his head again. He didn’t feel like he could explain himself very well to her.

She chuckled. “I know what you mean. That… thing… took me completely by surprise when I saw him — it — chasing you down the alley. But, yeah, I don’t know why it did. I don’t have any experience with these things!” She looked down the alley again. “I think we should check him out, Seth. Make sure he’s completely gone and all. Maybe he’s got the shotgun from the car.” She started walking down the alley, which was littered with wooden crates from the furniture store it was behind. Seth followed after a few seconds.

The cop’s body was as ragged and torn as it had looked from the other end of the alley. Most of his stomach was gone and his head sat oddly flat on the floor. He was holding the creature’s eyes in his hands. He must have torn them out in the struggle. His name badge read “Gumbowsky” under the blood. His pants were ripped, too. The creature must have really worked him over. “Unless there’s another one,” Seth said. Ruth’s eyes went wide and she looked around slowly. She hefted the tire iron in hands and took a deep breath. “I don’t think there is,” he added, calming himself as much as her.

They stopped looking at the cop and started checking the ground around him. They didn’t find much other than trash and scraps of fabric from the store. An abandoned cushion had blood and bile on it. Maybe a sick homeless person? Seth didn’t want to know. Thrown against the store-side wall was the police shotgun. The clip had been emptied. “Did you see any shells in the car?” Seth asked after Ruth found the gun and showed it to him.

“No, but I didn’t really look. Probably in the trunk or something. Even if it’s not, it makes a better club than this,” she hefted the tire iron again, the lower six inches of it bloody.

He chuckled. “Definitely.” They walked back to the corner of the alley. Seth started down toward the car, but Ruth grabbed his shoulder. “Huh?”

“Look, down there,” she pointed at where the body was. Or rather, where the body had been. “Shit,” she hissed in his ear. Her eyes darted back and forth around the alleyway, looking for anything moving. “I don’t see anything.”

Seth started scanning the alley as soon as she had grabbed him. He didn’t see anything either, but he was worried. That thing had been on it him a matter of seconds and he didn’t want to go through that again. He pulled the gun out of his pocket again and flicked off the safety. He’d be ready this time.

They started down the alley again, Ruth a step behind Seth. She carried the shotgun in both hands, over her shoulder like a baseball bat. The tire iron was sticking out of her back pocket. They went slowly, expecting an undead ambush at any moment, but nothing moved. Not even a cat, this time. Seth sighed when they reached the relative daylight by the car. “OK, looks like it went away, wherever it went.” He sat on the front bumper of the police cruiser, exhausted from the attack.

“Yeah,” Ruth replied. “Well, get in, I’ll drive us down there. No reason to walk all the way now.” She walked around to the driver’s side door. “Wait, lemme check the back seat,” she called. They both checked, Seth having come around to the passenger’s door, then chuckled. “I hate when people don’t check stuff like that in a horror movie,” she said. She jingled the keys that she had taken out of the ignition while he was down in the alley. “I’m gonna check the trunk for shells, while I’m at it. You get in and sit down,” she went around to the back of the car and popped the heavy trunk lid.

Spare tire, bright orange rain slickers with black shields on them, road flares, cones, and tucked in a corner of the trunk, a box of shells. Fifty of them, according to the label. Looked like some had been taken out. The gun held several, so she guessed thirty or forty in the box still. She tucked it under her arm and closed the trunk.

Ruth popped open the driver’s door and sat down, shotgun and shells in her lap. “You have any idea how to reload this thing? I found shells.” She looked over at Seth who was staring straight ahead. She turned to look, but didn’t have to. Something large and bloody slammed into the hood of the car and started crawling up the metal front, fingers scratching up paint as it came. “Fuck!” they both yelled and Ruth slammed her door shut, tossing the box of shells and the shotgun into Seth’s lap.

She jammed her hand down into her pocket to grab the keys and couldn’t find them. The pocket was small, so they couldn’t be hiding. “Start the car!” Seth yelled. She patted herself down and started looking around her seat. “Start the car! Start the car! Start the fucking car!” His voice was panicked.

“I can’t find the keys!” she yelled back. The creature on the hood was still crawling toward them, moving slowly and dragging its legs instead of kicking and pushing with them. Its now-mostly-toothless mouth opened and closed haphazardly, the tongue lolling out of the side of its mouth. “I can’t find them!”

“Fuck,” Seth yelled again, then started loading the shotgun in his lap. Or trying to, at least. He fumbled with the large plastic clip that attached to the bottom until he found the release. It plunked into his lap and he reached a hand into the box of shells. “How many?” he asked, fishing them out one at a time. He loaded in two, three, four, then paused, looking at Ruth.

“I don’t know! Seven? How many will fit?”

He kept popping shells into the cartridge until he couldn’t fit in any more. “Seven. Good guess,” he smiled at her and set the box down between his feet. “Hold your ears,” he said. She slammed her hands against her head hard enough to stab her earrings into the soft flesh behind her ears. He pumped the shotgun, heard a shell click home. “Die, fucker,” he said, a small smile playing on his lips. He sat the shotgun on the dash of the car and pulled the trigger.