1 Dead Eyes

She stared almost transfixed into cold-dead bloodshot eyes, Erica knew that the person it had been was gone. This dead thing was no longer her boyfriend. The man Steven Johnson; secret drug dealer and all around fun guy, was gone. This thing left in his place was nothing but a blood dripping, flesh eating, living-dead Corpse.

Within the next twenty-four hours, many like him would be the same overrunning the city.

They'd been waiting, for three hours, for some rando dude to show up. It was supposed to be a last minute deal for some extra cash. Seemed like bullshit to her now. She felt herself becoming more and more agitated. She cursed like a sailor and hopped out to light up, what she had hoped would be a relaxing cigarette. She stood smoking outside her truck taking giant puffs, letting the burning scent drift up to tickle at her nose. She crossed her foot over her ankle a few times when finally the guy showed up. His car was making horrendous and painfully loud popping sounds. He'd pulled in and parked diagonal from them across the parking lot.

The vehicle was a shitty car and looked like he'd driven it right out of a dump. The poor thing looked like it hadn't seen a mechanic for at least five or so years. Looking at the piss poor tires she made that number a fifty. How had this jackass not been pulled over? Way to be discreet dude. Nothing screamed "up-to-no-good" like a shady ass car falling apart from the inside out.

Head shaking, she let out another cloud of smoke.

"There he is. I'll be back babe." Stevie said kissing her.

"Tell him next time to drive up in a go cart, that would be way less suspicious." She said sarcastically.

He turned away laughing and sauntering over to the guys car door. He kept looking about, checking for police cars. He'd never been a paranoid person, but after a shit ton of their friends got locked up, they'd both become more cautious.

The guy rolled his window down rather slowly (talk about old ass car) and they proceeded to talk. The man was a serious hard-core drug addict. He looked like he hadn't slept in days, the bags under his eyes sagged low. He could have been in his early twenties, but based on his profile, he looked to be in his late thirties. He was sweating profusely and seemed like he'd been on the verge of coming down off his last high. Poor piece of shit. He was in luck though, there was Stevie to help the bastard out.

She leaned against the truck and looked around. No one was at the park today. Kids weren't in school. All private and public schools had been shut down for about a week already. All kinds of news reports stated there'd been a massive and deadly flu going around. So many people were getting sick they quarantined many areas. Trying to stop the spread. Many had even been reported dying. Some real scary shit. Not to mention the rumors.

The virus worked out for the brats though, she thought. Kids all over got time off to fuck around with no homework in their foreseeable future. Even teachers were given time off. Parents however, got a big dose of worry to go with their already hectic lives.

Kids seemed like such bummers. Thank God Stevie always wore a cap, she thought.

Taking a long drag she looked back over to the car. He was usually pretty good about being quick. Faster you made the sale the less likely you got caught. They'd been chatting for an unusual amount of time, when the dude in the car he'd been leaning towards, made a kinda strangled sound. Stevie being a naturally kind person, looked back at her worried.

He didn't seem to know what to do and she couldn't see what happened to the man, for the next couple of minutes it was like he went onto some kind of seizure. She had made a move to go help but when the shaking stopped, she figured it had passed. Maybe the seizures explained the guys dead ass look. Suddenly the dude reached through the window and grabbed at Stevie. He gripped and pulled Stevie forward by the front of his shirt.

"The hell!" She had heard him say, before hearing a horrific ripping and slashing noise.

Stevie had tried to pull back out of the car. "AHHHHH!" he'd screamed and fell down onto his back.

She flicked the cigarette out onto the ground yelling, "Steve what's going on?"

Before she could take a step closer towards him, the guy in the car made a  leap out through the window. He looked like a dangerous wild animal his face almost inhuman. He landed heavily on top of Stevie. She heard a quiet slurping noise and the blood froze in her veins.

"What the fuck man!" She'd yelled.

The thing must have heard her, it turned it's fevered eyes on Erica. Almost instinctively she began backing up real slow, away from the crazy guy. His eyes followed her eerily, as she heard more screaming. It came from the east just down around the block toward Hemingway Park. A second later more could be heard in the opposite direction, toward Black Forest High School.

She hadn't even tried to look in either direction. The guy with Stevie's blood dripping down the front of his nasty pus and mud covered shirt, began inching forward in her direction his feet shuffling oddly. She'd barely turned around when she heard his awful gibberish yelling.

"Gbrrrg!" It spittled.

Reaching up to get into her truck, she grabbed the door and yanked it open. She quickly pulled herself in and slammed the door shut behind her. She hurriedly shoved the key into the ignition, then turned it rolling the windows up just in time for the man's bloody fingers to get caught. Screaming and looking at the glass, Erica watched as it rose and cut three of his fingers off. They fell down onto the floor. His middle finger, however, had landed on her lap. She brushed it off fast and gagged.

Gripping the steering wheel, she thought at least if the man was over here, he'd be leaving Stevie alone. Or so she had thought with silent short lived relief. She'd tried to look around the guys figure, to see if Stevie was still on the ground.

THUD. THUD. THUD. The guy hit on the drivers side window three times. Blood oozing from his stubby fingers greased the window, making it harder to see. She could just make out that Stevie's body was...gone.

She turned her gaze to the spot where he had been not seconds before, and wondered were he'd disappeared too. Was this some kind of a prank him and that drug addicted prick were pulling? She heard a loud SMACK, against the passenger side window and turned to see Stevie standing out there.

She had been about to reach across to open the door, when something stopped her. Dead eyes glared hungrily at her. The bottom half of his jaw was crooked and some of the bone had been visible, popping outside the skin. His throat was bitten raw and beyond repair, it reminded her sickly of ground beef. She felt bile at the back of her throat. His eyes were just as fevered as the blood dudes. Her boyfriend was dead, and in his place was this thing. She started trembling.

Oh my god, she had thought, is this really happening? This wasn't a prank? What was she going to tell his mom and brother?

Stevie smacked against the glass again. SMACK. SMACK. SMACK. She gazed into his eyes searching for her loving, sometimes irritating dork. He wasn't anywhere in that body, not any more. She could hear the glass, the other dude kept banging on, getting louder and louder. Behind her, she heard another giant THWACK. She turned around to stare into the eyes of another person's missing face.

Erica blanched and shrieked loudly, fingers gripping the steering wheel so hard her arms shook. Her heart pounded in her ears. Where skin should have been, was now blood and bone. He looked like someone had gone all Chainsaw Massacre on his ass. His left eye was missing but his right one looked at her ravenously. He clawed at the window with one hand. He was holding and chewing on something with the other. With horror, she realized he was eating a persons decapitated leg. At least the remains of one, much of the meat and skin was gone. It reminded her of the commercials you see, where someone is shown chewing happily into a piece of chicken. Suddenly she understood vegetarians.

As the pounding against the glass got harder, she started the truck intent on getting away. She didn't want to find out if they would be able to break in. Or what they'd do if they were able to.

Stevie and the dudes body fell away as she lurched backward. She nearly hit the crossing sign as she pulled out. A loud THUD behind her told her that Mr. Stranger person was still there. She didn't know what to do, so in her frenzy, she slammed on the brakes hard. She heard the body smack against the glass. She looked back to see him pull himself back to his feet. She slammed on the gas, then breaks, then gas again and heard scraping. With another look back, she saw as he'd fallen backwards, he'd flipped out over the back of the truck. She swerved with lightning speed onto the street, barely missing each vehicle she drove by.

She glanced back in her mirror, to see Stevie's teeth sinking into someone's throat as they screamed and shoved at his body. She looked away in shock. Driving on she saw many more bloody sights.

She saw parked cars and vans with blood sprayed across windshields. There were people out on sidewalks, many screamed as they were being eaten. They all ran, trying desperately to get away. Entrails and organs were ripped from the dead, and not so lucky alive. Some who had fallen and partially devoured, were starting to move again. Body parts were missing, insides on the outside, and they began to attack those who'd come to help.

There was no discrimination. The dead didn't see religion or race. They didn't care if it was man or women. They didn't seem like they could feel anything all they did was eat. They ate whoever they could get their hands on. Men. Women. And children.

A few people made it into their homes. Some screaming came from inside the buildings, she didn't want to think to much about that. There was nothing she could do. Erica drove on.

She grasped that she'd gone East and was passing by Hemingway Park. Her stomach lurched and nearly drop kicked her bladder, when she saw the next horrific scene. This was one that would haunt her till the day she died. Moms and dads were running with little kids, and babies in their hands. They raced for vehicles in a frenzy, it didn't seem to matter whether they got into their own car out not.

One woman was yanked back by a blood covered, one armed, dead man. He'd snatched her back by her shirt. She fell down and became a human shield to the child in her arms. Erica looked away before she saw what happened to the little kid the woman held.

There were so many dead mixed with living, it was heard to tell what was what and who was who. She kept her foot on the gas until someone ran out in front of her. With a quick stomp on the breaks, she stopped centimeters away from hitting the person. She looked up into the clear blue fever-free eyes of a small teenage girl. She was dressed in a sports uniform; the number 13 printed big and bold on her chest. Her blonde curls, dislodged from her ponytail, were in disarray around her freckled baby face. She was clutching a small baby in a blanket. Her arms shook. From behind her, Erica could see a torn up older version of her, stalking behind them along with two other women.

She would never know what possessed her to help some random kid, especially in such a dangerous situation, but she motioned the girl to come. In the girls fright, she ran to the drivers side. Erica didn't think, just reacted and threw open her door to yank the girl in. She heard a small sound when the girl stopped midway and came face to face with a dead guy. He must have come around without her notice, hunting like a lion for the girl. He was skinny without much weight, he lurched forward and using her muscles Erica kicked him backwards. He hit the ground hard.

Silently hoping she didn't hurt the kid, she gripped the girls arm and practically manhandled her into the truck. Shooting in after her, she slammed the door shut. Pushing her trembling deep down inside herself, she stomped on the gas pedal. As the truck shot forward, she knew they had hit someone. It didn't take a genius to figure out who they'd hit. The kid said nothing while she became intent on getting them somewhere, anywhere safe.