Dead Cold (5 page)

Crystal had been wearing her seat belt and still had her head slammed against the passenger side window knocking her unconscious. Thankfully Roland had tied down the cargo so as the Jeep came to a grinding halt and his head smashed up against the windshield and every thing went black nothing in the trunk had moved.

The first thing Roland noticed when he came to was the warm blood covering the left side of his face, the second thing he noticed was the hand wrapped around his leg pulling him through the shattered driver's side window. Still dazed from the crash Roland tried to open his eyes, his left wouldn't open and he didn't know if it was still there.

With his right eye he saw that Crystal was unconscious dangling from her seat belt her black hair stained red with blood on one side. Another hard tug from his leg reminded him of the big hand trying to pull him out of the Jeep. “Crystal.” His voice hoarse and strained.

His legs were outside the vehicle now and Roland grabbed the steering wheel with one hand and began looking for a weapon. His HK rested against the back window and he could find no sign of the hunting knife. As his hand slipped off the steering wheel Roland remembered the Desert Eagle in his jacket pocket. Reaching the pocket on his duster Roland wrapped his hand around the big gun's grip just as the hand on his leg gave another strong tug pulling him the rest of the way out the vehicle. Blinking his right eye Roland got a good look at what had been pulling on his leg, it was a man in bright blue coveralls.

Roland pulled the big gun out of his pocket amazed at how big the creature was; he must have been at least four hundred pounds. Half of the creature's face had been torn off, it's lidless eye a bright yellow. Shocked at the creature's appearance Roland squeezed the Eagle's trigger the big gun roaring and nearly bucking out of his left hand as the slug tore into the creature's chest. The big .44 tore a massive hole in the creature's chest but had almost no effect as the big man fell onto Roland almost crushing him and knocking the gun out of his hand.

Teeth closed inches from Roland's face and he could smell the massive creature's rotted breath. The monster was too big for Roland to push off so he put his gloved hands on the creature's throat doing his best to keep them away from the creature's teeth. “Crystal!” His voice was back now and he looked towards the overturned Jeep.

Help came in an unexpected form as something knocked the obese creature off of him. Silently thanking whatever had saved him Roland rolled over searching the snow for the big black handgun while the creature shrieked trying to right itself. Roland's fingers closed on the gun's handle as the monster righted itself and started pushing itself up.

Standing as quickly as he could; he felt a large amount of snow fall down his shirt as Roland aimed for the monster's center mass and started firing. The big gun barked four times and four more holes materialized in the blue coveralls; the creature jerking with each impact.

“
What the hell is going on?” Roland backed away, one bullet left in the Eagle.

A loud bark came from somewhere to his left distracting the creature giving Roland the chance to catch his bearings. Thinking back to the other two times he’d faced the creatures, it came to him; the head, he needed to aim for the head. Bringing the big gun up to bear Roland centered the sites on the monsters massive forehead and exhaled, squeezing the trigger. A hole materialized in the monster’s head as it was tipped over backwards; a marionette with its strings cut.

Ejecting the spent magazine and loading a fresh one, Roland cocked the big gun and took a deep breath in an attempt to slow his heart rate. Feeling a little calmer Roland remembered the barking that had distracted the monster and walked to the back of the upside down Jeep looking around as a white and black Husky with bright blue eyes trotted up to him looking him over before pressing it’s nose against his empty left hand.

Smiling Roland knelt and began petting the dog. “You’re a good dog, you probably saved my life. You know that? How did you end up outside in hell on earth anyways?” The dog had a collar and a tag that said her name was Eve.

“
Well Eve I guess I’m lucky you were still here.” He scratched the dog behind the ear and she started panting.

A sudden and ear splitting scream from the other side of the Jeep cause both Roland the dog to jump, the dog raising her back and Roland the big Desert Eagle. Stepping around the passenger side of the Jeep Roland’s heart raced and adrenaline surged through his veins, one of the creatures had Crystal’s arm and was biting into her exposed hand. Roland guessed the thing had only been a kid before it died, a boy of twelve or thirteen dressed in blood soaked Transformers pajamas.

He looked normal except for the grey skin and a chunk of flesh torn out of his tiny neck. Roland could hear Crystal struggling inside the Jeep; still trapped in her seatbelt. Before he knew what he was doing he had brought the Eagle up and was aiming at the small boy’s head. The creature looked up at him with a pair of yellow eyes just as he squeezed the trigger and its head disintegrated into red mist, the small body almost buried in the snow. Crystal was still struggling with her seatbelt and moaning in pain when he opened the door, the dog standing beside him. “Well don’t just stand there looking stupid! Get me out of this thing.” She said looking up at him.

“
Glad to see your attitude survived the crash.” Roland said reaching across and unbuckling her seat belt making sure to hold her up as he did.

“
Well maybe if you knew how to drive, this wouldn’t have happened.” She snarled and Roland seriously considered dropping her but decided against it.

“
Whatever I don’t care, we need to get moving and do something about your hand.” He let her down on her back and stepped away letting her stand up.

“
Forget my hand its nothing, what about your eye?” She adjusted her jacket, as she looked at his face her eyes staring intently.

Reaching up he realized in the excitement he’d forgotten about the injury and quickly felt around with his hand. The entire left side of his face was caked in blood and he could feel a gash that ran from the middle of his cheek through the middle of his eyebrow stopping an inch above. He couldn’t feel any damage to his eye and using his fingers to pry his eyelid open he realized he still had the eye it was just completely coated in blood. “Its fine, now come on we’ve got to get going before more of those things start showing up.” The unmistakable moan was coming from somewhere nearby and the dog started to bark.

“
Whatever, where did the dog come from?” Crystal followed Roland to the back of the Jeep the dog sticking close to Roland.

“
Don’t know. She just saved my life though.” He opened the hatch as far as it would go and pulled out the black duffel bag handing Crystal one of the Brownings and retrieving his HK from the roof of the Jeep. “We’ve gotta move, where is your brother?”

It might have been the brighter light but Roland thought her eyes looked a little more sunken than before and her skin was getting paler. “What the hell am I supposed to do with this? Never mind, it’s this way through the park.”

Crystal started walking through the parking towards a row of houses and after slinging the duffel over his back Roland followed suit, the dog staying beside him every step. He found it odd the dog wouldn’t go near Crystal but he didn’t take her for a dog person and she didn’t seem to care about the dog so he let it go.

The storm was thinning out and the wind was dying down so Roland did his best to keep his guard up but he couldn’t stop his mind from racing; wondering about all that had happened and how it had happened so quickly. He’d gone to sleep the day before and the world had been normal and today he wakes up to find the dead up, walking around and attacking people. He was just wondering why there were so many dead people and what had caused them to rise in the first place when Crystal started running rounding a corner before he could catch up.

“
Shit, this chick’s gonna get us all killed.” He cursed looking down at Eve who just turned her head to side.

Chapter 8: Death Bites

He rounded the corner in time to see Crystal dart in a house up the street; a big Hummer in the driveway, more importantly though he showed up just in time to catch the attention of the five monsters that had exited the house directly to his right. Turning their heads in unison the five; three female and two male, shrieked and started shambling towards him arms outstretched. It was at least twenty-five feet between him and the creatures and Roland brought up the HK aiming at the creature on the far left a male, well built and also completely naked.

A little stunned at the creature’s lack of clothes Roland took an extra second to sight its forehead and squeeze the trigger. The creatures were only twenty feet away and Roland quickly dispatched the next three leaving only one female, she was naked as well and at ten feet Roland recognized her as one of his ex girlfriends. Letting go of the HK Roland pulled the Desert Eagle out his pocket; the big black gun glistening.

“
I’ll see you in hell, bitch.” His face expressionless; Roland squeezed the trigger and watched as her face disintegrated only five feet from him.

Roland was about to go after Crystal when something stopped him; a big black Dodge Ram sat in the driveway of the house the creatures had come from and he was pretty sure he knew who owned it. The dog surprisingly had stayed beside him the entire time and even now followed him as he headed to the house.

“
Hello, is anyone here?” He called out receiving no reply as he stepped through the doorway and looked around the house. It split upstairs and downstairs at the entranceway, the basement looking dark and ominous while the upstairs was brightly lit and open.

“
I’ve seen this movie.” Roland said to no one before heading upstairs; the Desert Eagle leading the way and the dog right behind him.

Reaching the top of the stairs Roland looked left into the living room; there was a big screen TV, a recliner, and couch. The couch had a bloodstain on one of the cushions and a first aid kit sat on the coffee table. Eve started growling and Roland spun around just as the creature that used to be his friend’s boyfriend lunging towards him like a wild animal. It happened too fast for Roland to register as his arm brought the Desert Eagle up and squeezed the trigger, the big gun roaring twice.

The first round tore through its shoulder, and the second ripped up and through its neck severing it. The two brass cartridges clinking down the stairwell as the creature’s head and body squished to the floor, the disembodied head still chomping its teeth. Disgusted Roland stomped down hard with his right boot the shattering bones giving a resounding crack. As the ringing in his ears ceased Roland became aware of a quite sobbing coming from down the hallway where one of the white doors was damaged, the paint scratched away in places and indentations in others. Stepping over the body that now filled the hallway his boot making a disgusting noise every step he knocked on the door. “Are you okay?”

The door flung open and Emily’s skinny arms wrapped around Roland’s chest. Caught off guard Roland put his arms around the skinny girl; her red hair tickling his neck as she sobbed into his shoulder. Feeling Emily put more weight on him, Roland slid the both of them slowly to the floor until they were both sitting; Eve nuzzled up against Emily’s side with a soft whimper as the girl continued to sob.

“
Emily, Emily, I need you to tell me what happened.” He lifted her away looking into her large blue eyes.

Emily took a deep breath and steadied herself. “We were at the bar last night waiting for a cab when some crazy guy bit Jeff. Jeff managed to push him off and we drove home, I tried to bandage his arm but the bleeding wouldn’t stop and he refused to go to the hospital.” She stood up her eyes deliberately looking away from the corpse on the floor. “I thought he was just sleeping but then he stood up and his eyes were all yellow and he tried to attack me so I hid in the bathroom.”

Roland wiped her cheeks and looked down realizing she was only wearing a pair of booty shorts and a tank top. “It’s over now Emily but I need you to get dressed, we have to go.”

She nodded and went into the bedroom coming out five minutes later in jeans, a hoody, and leather jacket. Roland had moved the body; head and all into the kitchen and out of the hallway. Pulling the other Browning out of the duffel bag he handed it to Emily while explaining his theory on the creatures. Suddenly the biggest problem he’d had was solved, the bites, that was how there were so many dead people and how it was transmitted whatever it was. “We gotta go!” He said and all three of them rushed out the door.

“
Wait, shouldn’t we take my truck.” Emily was more herself now, strong and smart.

“
Actually we’re gonna take the Hummer down the street; that’s where we’re going now.” He was moving at a quick jog now.