Kenn Crawford - Dead Hunt

“But once the host dies, doesn’t the glucose and negatively charged oxygen die with them?”

“You are very perceptive, Mr. Buffer. It is true that the zombies have no way of producing the basic building blocks of life and this is where their cannibalistic nature comes into play. They need a constant supply of living blood cells for the conversion process to cycle. We do not know if it is by nature or by design, but by limiting the hosts to only being able to perform the most basic motor functions with practically no brain function, it drastically reduces the amount of energy used, allowing the zombie creatures to survive for a longer period of time between recharges.”

“Recharges? You make it sound like we are nothing more than batteries.”

“To the walking dead, that is exactly what we are: batteries.”

“Well, folks, you heard it here first. The undead walk the earth and we are the new Duracell. Once again, that was Doctor Bajeet Chopra with his fascinating explanation of what, and how, these zombies came to be. Thank you for joining us, Doctor Chopra”

“You’re most welcome.”

“Up next, the weather with Jimmy MacIntosh… Batteries. Amazing!”

Robin’s computer screen flashed a series of camera views then stopped at the main door.

“Father?”

Robin’s voice startled Lucy. Her tired eyes tried to focus on Robin’s monitor. When she saw what was displayed there, she screamed.

“Robin! No!”

Lucy’s scream drowned the rumbling of the steel security doors as they noisily opened.

“What’s going on?” Michael said as he jumped to his feet.

“Look!” Lucy yelled, pointing to the monitor, her hand trembling uncontrollably.

The screen showed a man wearing a lab coat walking through the open door. Before the mysterious man disappeared off screen, Michael noticed two things about him that sent a cold chill down his spine. The man was covered in blood, and he looked dead.

“Oh, shit,” was the only thing he could think of saying.

“Robin, seal the lab,” Paul ordered.

Robin ignored him.

“Robin, close the doors now and seal the lab!” Lucy demanded, but Robin did not react.

Robin’s face appeared on the screen and announced, “Father’s home.”

“Upstairs!” Paul yelled as everyone scrambled for the door.

Paul and Lucy stopped at the bottom of the stairs, realizing Emma was not with them. They turned to see Emma frozen with fear.

“Emma! Run!” Lucy yelled but it was no use.

Emma’s eyes were fixed on Heslin, her feet paralyzed in fear. Heslin’s putrid hands reached for her.

“Paul, do something!” Lucy pleaded.

His eyes widened in horror, but he did not move to help her. Lucy tried to run to her friend, but Paul was holding her firmly.

“Do something! Emma! Run!” she screamed, but neither of them moved.

Emma did not run, nor did Paul help.

“It’s too late,” Paul yelled as he pulled Lucy up the stairs.

“No! We can help her!” Lucy pleaded as Heslin pulled Emma towards him.

Emma screamed as his teeth sunk deep into her neck. Lucy screamed as blood gurgled out of Emma’s throat when Heslin ripped a huge chunk of flesh free. Lucy tried to run to her friend, but Paul still held her back, dragging her up the stairs. She struggled and screamed and cried, but it was no use, Paul was too strong. Lucy watched as more of those zombie things appeared and started ripping into Emma’s flesh.

Emma’s screams were deafening; then they suddenly stopped.

Lucy was crying and fighting to help her friend as Paul forced her up the stairs. They tried the first door they came to, but it was locked. Paul threw his massive shoulder into it, shattering the frame. As splinters shot across the room, Lauren screamed and started to climb out the window.

“Lauren, wait!” Lucy yelled. “It’s us!”

Lauren paused on the windowsill, tears running wildly down her cheeks, and ran to Lucy.

“I saw,” Lauren whimpered. “I saw what happened to Emma.”

Paul looked out the window. Those creatures were still outside, but they were headed towards the house, and soon they too would be upstairs.

“Here!” Paul shouted, pointing to the ceiling. “We can get into the attic. They won’t be able to climb up there.”

He jumped and punched the hatch out of the way. He jumped again and slowly pulled himself up into the tiny opening in the ceiling, then reached his muscular arm down.

“Give me your hand, Lauren!” he ordered.

She reached up and he effortlessly pulled her up through the hole.

“Lucy, c’mon!” he yelled, but she didn’t reach up. “Lucy, give me your hand!”

“Where’s Michael?” she asked, looking back towards the door.

“Fuck Michael! Give me your hand,” he barked at her. “C’mon, Lucy! Michael can take care of himself, so get your ass up here!”

Zombies started to pile into the room, and Lucy jumped for Paul’s outstretched arm. One of the zombies reached for her, its decomposing hand grabbing tightly around her ankle. Paul pulled harder, yanking the zombie off its feet and almost into the attic space with them. Its grip slipped, and it crashed to the floor.

“Ok,” Paul said, breathing heavily. “We’re safe for now.”

“We need to find Michael,” Lucy told him, barely able to catch her own breath.

“No problem,” Paul huffed, “we need to be very careful up here. This attic is not much more than a crawl space, so we need to stay on the boards and on the frames. If you go off the boards, you’re going to fall through the ceiling.”

“That’s not good,” Lauren said in a terrified voice.

“No,” Paul said with a tiny smile. “That’s not good. Ok, Lauren, you head towards that light over there. It’s some sort of opening to let the heat out.”

Lucy wiped the sweat from her eyes. “It’s not doing a very good job.”

“Attics get real hot,” Paul explained. “And if we don’t get some air in here, we’ll dehydrate in a matter of minutes.”

“What do you want me to do?” Lucy asked.

“Look for another vent,” Paul suggested. “And when you get to them, kick them open. Do whatever you can to let air in.”

“What are you going to do?” Lucy asked.

He wiped the sweat from his eyes and smiled. “I’m gonna find Mikey.”

The girls slowly started crawling, Lauren towards the light, Lucy trying to find another vent in the opposite direction. Paul tried to follow the power lines in the dimly lit attic. He knew each cluster of wires meant the junction box for an overhead light in one of the rooms below. When he got to the first cluster, he punched a hole in the ceiling. The heat was getting to him, as sweat poured down his forehead and stung his eyes.

“Mikey,” he called, barely louder than a whisper. “If you can hear me, whistle.”

He listened intently but heard nothing. He crawled to another cluster of wires and punched another hole.

“Mikey, you there?”

Nothing.

“Arrgghh!” Paul heard Lauren scream. “Help me!” she screamed again.

Paul crawled along the beams as fast as he could go, sweat pouring down his face. As he rounded the huge, brick chimney, he saw Lauren’s head and shoulders poking up through the floor, her arms flailing like someone who fell through ice

“Fuck!” he yelled.

“What is it?” he heard Lucy shout, but he could not see her in the dim light.

“She fell through!” Paul replied as he reached Lauren and started to pull her back up.

“Damn, you’re heavy,” he grunted as Lauren continued to scream and claw at him. “Stop squirming!” he ordered, but she wasn’t listening. Her screams were deafening. “You’re too heavy when you’re squirming like that.”