Joseph Talluto - White Flag of the Dead

I saw more corpses of our survivors as I moved towards the gym and commons. I didn’t see Duncan or Tommy, so I still held out hope they were still alive. Moving quickly I looked back over my shoulder and saw a steady stream of corpses from my old post. They tripped and stumbled over the bodies in the hallway, falling and getting up, never ceasing in their movement towards me. I realized I needed to keep them coming, so they wouldn’t try to get upstairs. I fired at the closest ones, dropping two and causing the rest to head my way. I backed towards the commons, and got my first look down the hallway by the gym that led to the outside of the building. It was choked with bodies, most of them zombies, although I could see a limb here and there that was not grayish in color. My God, I thought. Who’s left?

I didn’t hear any more shots, so I was fearing the worst as I opened the door to the gym. I was immediately assaulted by the smell of dozens of decaying bodies, and the coppery smell of blood that no one ever mistakes for anything else. There were corpses everywhere, and small pockets of men were making a final stand in several places in the gym. I could see Tommy and Duncan on a small stand in a little alcove in the gym, and they were elevated enough that they could stand and smash zombies that came to them without danger of being grabbed. I saw that guy Charlie standing with three other men, swinging his length of pipe like a medieval mace. Every time he connected with a skull it was caved in and the zombie went down. But I could see he was going to be overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of zombies that were reaching for him. I had to do something, or all of these men were going to die.

I raised my carbine and began firing. I killed ten of the zombies before the noise began to register with them and most of them turned my way. Oh, brother. I backed up a step and took aim at another Z. Click. I glanced at my gun and realized I was out of bullets. I quickly switched my 30 round magazine for a 15-round one, and again took aim. I fired ten more times, and dropped nine more zombies. The tenth round was a straight miss, and Duncan jumped as splinters flew from the furrow the bullet dug in the bleachers he was standing on. Whoops. “Sorry!” I shouted, as I lined up another ghoul. That one went down as well. I fired my remaining shots, then switched magazines again. I killed several more, then began backing towards the door.

“Finish the rest, then get out of here!” I yelled at the groups. “There’s a huge group coming in any minute!” I screamed as I fired, knocking down several more zombies. “I’m going to try and draw the rest outside! Head for that door and meet me outside!”

I spun around and ran back for the door, shoving it open and knocking down a zombie that was on the other side. I stepped out of the gym into a foyer choked with zombies. I didn’t hesitate, I just ran for the hallway, scrambling over the corpses and gagging as my foot slipped in something I would rather remain unidentified. The horde behind me howled and gave chase, stumping along in that rhythmic gait that never stopped. I reached the door and fell as something tripped me. I looked down and saw a greenish-grey hand clutching my pant leg. I pulled on it, but only managed to free a length of arm that was attached to the clawing hand. I pulled harder and managed to pull out the head of the zombie who was grabbing me. It had a bullet hole in its head, but it must not have been a killing shot. The decaying face moaned and tried to bend down to bite my leg. I kicked it in the face with my other foot, trying to dislodge it. No luck. My hands were slipping on the floor, and I couldn’t get away from the ghoul.

I was getting panicky, pulling on my leg and trying to get out, all the while a gang of undead was slowly making their way over the pile of corpses, moaning and tripping.

The zombie that had my foot was freed further by my struggles and started to bend down to bite at my leg. I pulled again and unholstered my SIG. Enough of this. I drew a bead and pulled the trigger, putting another hole in its head and causing a dark splotch to appear on the wall behind it. The hand relaxed its grip, and I managed to pull away, just ahead of the grasping crowd. I went outside, and glancing around, saw there weren’t any moving zombies out here. There were a great many lying around, but all were permanently dead. Cautiously looked around the corner and found myself kissing the barrel of Tommy’s gun. I backed up as he sheepishly put his gun away.

“Sorry, man. Thought you was a Z, you know?” Tommy shrugged.

“No troubles, brother. I’m glad I smell better.” I said looking at the men he had behind him. Out of the 75 that we had started with, at least 20 were missing. The good news was the remaining men were more battle hardened and would stand if needed. I looked at Duncan and said, “Take half the men and sweep around to the other side of the building. Hit this group from behind and deal with any outside. Keep moving, don’t let them bottle you up. Make them come to you, make sure you have an exit.

I motioned to Tommy. “I’m going to act as bait and stand out there.” I pointed to a spot on the grass. “Give me five men to place on the other side of that wall there, and put the other five over there by that wall.” I indicated spots out of sight of the doorway. “Get set, and hit them hard from behind as they come out. If your weapon sticks, let it go, next guy in line steps up. Got it?” I got several nods. “Okay, follow me.”

I headed out to the grass and immediately heard several groans and moans as the dead caught sight of me. They came stumbling out in twos and threes and we killed them in twos and threes. The ones on the left side were wiped out by the men on the left and the ones on the right were wiped out by the men on the right. The ones that came straight on or were too bunched together got dispatched by my carbine until I ran out of bullets, then I switched to the SIG. There were growing piles of zombies and I was amazed that they just kept coming. If they were on the roof, I bet they would just keep falling off if there was something they saw on the ground they wanted.

We lost one man to a zombie who came around the corner a little too fast and managed to get a bite out of his arm. We killed the zombie, but the man just sat on the ground staring at his arm. It was a death sentence, and he knew it. He looked at us and with a look of quiet dignity coming over his face, he raised himself up onto his knees and placed his hands in his lap. He stared out into the distance, and with a final look at me, nodded his head. I nodded back and moved behind him, drawing my SIG. I waited ten seconds and then put a bullet into the back of his head. The rest of the men just looked on and I saw some nods. I knew what they were all thinking. If something like that happened to them, they would want someone nearby to end it for them as well, rather than submit to being a zombie.

After ten minutes, we ran out of zombies. There were corpses everywhere, and from the sounds I heard coming from the other side of the building, there were many more. I reslung my carbine, hefted my crowbar, and started to move back through the corpses and back into the building.

Tommy stopped me just as I started back inside. “What are you doing?” He asked. “Why don’t we swing around back?”

I shook my head. “We need to hit them from behind while they are busy in the front. Surprise can get us ten zombies, easy.” I started back inside with several men following me. Tommy just shook his head and followed suit.

Back inside the building the stench was nearly overwhelming, but we pressed on into the gloom. There were signs of battle everywhere, with splatter on the walls and corpses creating a grisly carpet on the floor. At any second, I kept expecting a ghoul to come around the corner, snarling and biting. But none came, and we moved cautiously towards the next battle. I could hear the distant groans of the dead as they moved towards their prey, but I didn’t hear any screams that would indicate they had found any.