Kenn Crawford - Dead Hunt

Paul grinned at Michael, “Getting a little frazzled are we, Mr. Cloak and Dagger?”

Michael ignored his comments and slumped back down on the floor.

“Hey, Emma?” Paul said.

“What?” she replied weakly.

Paul looked at her for a moment. He could tell she was really frazzled by all this. They all were, but Emma looked a mess. Now was not the time for silly blonde jokes.

“We’re going to be all right,” he said with a smile as he sat next to her and put his big arm around her shaking body. “You hang in there, okay?”

She nodded with a sob and buried her face in his chest. Lucy sat on her other side, rubbing Emma’s shoulder to soothe her.

“Thanks, Paul,” Lucy whispered as Paul stood up to stretch his legs. He nodded a smile as Lauren took his place to help comfort Emma.

As the hours passed, all sense of time eluded them. In today’s modern world of cell phones and text messaging, wrist watches had become all but obsolete,; a relic of a not so distant past, worn more for nostalgia than practicality. A relic worn by none of these teens. Their trusted cell phones and Blackberries sat somewhere in the smashed-up van halfway down the mountain.

A loud bang, like a gun shot, startled the teens to their feet. Another bang sounded as they ran upstairs to find Paul aiming a rifle out the window.

“What the hell are you doing?” Michael yelled.

“Testing your theory,” Paul answered.

“What in the hell is that supposed to mean?” Lucy asked him.

“Boy genius here said these things are like zombies.”

“What does that have to do with scaring the hell out of us?” Lauren asked.

“Mikey said all we have to go on is what we know, right?” Paul explained.

“And…?” Michael asked.

“And, what do we know about zombies?”

“What?” Lauren asked.

“In the movies the only thing that kills them is a blow to the head. So I shot one of them fuckers right between the eyeballs.”

“You shot him? Are you insane?” Lucy said disgustedly.

Paul ignored her. “It dropped him like a sack of shit.”

“Can you please refrain from your colorful and juvenile descriptions and get to the point,” Lauren ordered.

“Second shot was a chest shot. The impact dropped him, but he got back up. The headshot guy didn’t get up,” Paul explained.

“Interesting,” Michael thought out loud.

“Interesting?” Lucy said in disbelief. “He’s shooting people and all you can say is ‘interesting’?”

Another shot startled Lucy, and she spun to watch Paul reload.

“Stop it!” she yelled. “They are still people!”

“Those zombie mutha-fuckers are not people. They are the reason Wade is dead!” he yelled back at her. “They ain’t human.”

“Neither are you,” Lucy scolded and ran downstairs.

The other girls quickly followed. Michael stayed behind.

“Where’d you get the gun?” he asked.

“I saw this old 4-10 shotgun hanging above the door in the kitchen. It looked like it was in good shape, and there were some shells in the drawer, so I thought I’d test it out.”

“On zombies?” Michael asked.

“Didn’t see any rabbits running around. Did you?”

“Point taken,” Michael said as he looked out the window.

He scanned the area until he found the zombie lying on the ground with most of its head missing.

“Powerful rifle,” Michael thought out loud.

“What? This? Not really,” Paul informed him. “Good for rabbits or pheasants, but not much else.”

“Sure made short work of him,” Michael nodded towards the downed corpse.

“Yeah, I guess they can move around, but the body is still decaying.”

“Interesting,” Michael said more to himself than to Paul as the sun peeked over the horizon, signaling the start of another day.

“What’s the range on that?” Michael asked, nodding towards the gun.

“Not sure. The pellets will travel kinda far I think, but accuracy ain’t worth a shit,” Paul informed him. “They spread out the further they go.”

“I see,” Michael said as he looked out the window. “So, where’s the other one you shot?”

“Oh, he’s around somewhere. Hard to tell because they’re all covered in blood.”

“See that group over there?” Michael asked, pointing towards a group of a half dozen zombies staggering around the outskirts of the property.

“Yeah.”

“Try for a headshot,” Michael suggested.

“Which one?” Paul asked.

“One of the ones in the middle.”

Paul aimed the rifle and squeezed the trigger. Michael was expecting the shot, but it still made him flinch. Three of the zombies went down, while two of them barely flinched from the impact of the pellets. One of the downed ones stood back up.

“Two for one! Not bad,” Michael said…

“So, what’s that prove?” Paul asked, not sure where Michael was going with this little experiment.

“The pellets spread far enough that it hit five of them. Nice shooting by the way.”

“Good shooting,” Paul corrected him.

“Huh?”

“Good shooting. There’s no such thing as nice shooting.”

“That’s kinda profound for you. No offense,” Michael said with a smile.

“Heard it in a movie.”

“Really? Which one?” Michael asked.

Paul looked at Michael and grinned, “Land of the Dead.”

Michael blinked.

“Land of the Dead? Are you kidding me? You’re quoting lines from a zombie movie?”

“What can I say? I’m a huge Romero fan. Would you prefer I quote Shakespeare?”

Michael laughed as Paul leaned out the window and yelled, “Oh, Romeo, Romeo, where for art thou, Romeo?”

“I see your point,” Michael laughed. “You’re a disturbed individual with a morbid sense of humor. You know that, right?”

“Yeah.”

They both laughed.

“So,” Paul reminded him. “The shots?”

“Oh, yeah. That was a good distance away and five of them got hit. You said earlier that the impact knocked one down but he got back up. I’m guessing he was fairly close.”

Paul nodded and Michael continued, “At the longer distance, the impact was minimal, but the head shot still dropped them. Therefore, it doesn’t have to be a massive blow to the head. So maybe a baseball bat will be just as effective as a gun.”

“Just like in the movies,” Paul smiled.

“Just like in the movies,” Michael agreed, “So, if you were in a George Romero movie and you were stuck in a secret laboratory surrounded by zombies, what would you do?”

Paul thought for a moment and smiled. “Well, first I’d fuck all the girls, then I’d throw the nerdy science geek to the zombies to distract them while I made a run for it.”

Paul laughed, but Michael did not.

“It was a joke,” Paul explained.

“What? Oh, yeah I know.”

“Oh, damn! There he goes again.” Paul leaned the gun by the windowsill, “I’m heading downstairs to get a drink. Try not to shoot yourself.”

Michael nodded.

“And watch out for those little, green men with purple afros,” Paul added.

Michael nodded again.

“Yep, Mr. Cloak and Dagger is off to never-never land again,” Paul said as he headed downstairs.

“Where’s Michael?” Lauren asked as Paul entered the lab.

“Upstairs, having wet dreams about George Romero.”

“What?” Lucy asked.

“Nothing. He’s working shit out. You know Mikey, once he goes deep in thought, you girls could walk by him naked and he wouldn’t even notice.”

“Wanna try?” Lauren laughed.

“If you do, I’m going with you,” Paul laughed until Lucy punched him in the arm.

“I can’t believe you guys would joke at a time like this.”