The Adventures of Mr. Dirge & Lady Freckles [ Part II ]

The Army of Amphibious Zombies

Parts: [I] [II] [III] [IV] [V] [VI] [VII] [VIII] [IX] [X]

At times, I would be driving down the highway —usually headed north— I would look at the seat beside me and i would see her there. Her face and her freckles used to steal me away for a second that seemed like eons of recurring dreams of freedom. But it seemed the universe had other plans. It seemed freedom was fleeting.

…

I called out for her; she came running down the stairs. She had felt the urgency in my tone but she couldn't have imagined what she would see once she had gotten to my side. Screams and shouts and people attacked by other people… by other creatures; weird looking and weak looking, but they were fast and they hit hard; with their entire bodies. Their teeth were triangular, sharp and serrated; you could see their teeth pushing out of their mouths, as though they did not fit. Their jaws were ridiculously massive and bloated. They've no hair and their skin is blue and glistening with some sort of wax. They looked human but they were definitely not — human.

She stood there on the balcony; the sun was setting behind the sea. The view from there was astounding; the entire valley below us, the highway and the mountains to our left. Yet her eyes were fixated on the red asphalt below and on those blue monsters. She noticed something and looked at me as I turned around and ran upstairs to get my shotgun, my glock and my Hatori Hanzo.

Night was falling, and for some reason those creatures disappeared. As though they went into hiding from the night. I packed a bag; some clothes, some food and some ammunition -as much ammunition as I had, which by my calculations and from what I saw wasn't nearly enough. I turned on the ignition and drove, my mind still lingered on Charly. Before I had left, I had let her loose in the woods next to our house. She knows these woods very well; she had spent most of her time there chasing make-belief rabbits around trees. I know she could keep herself safe for now; I was going to come back for her later. I had to get out of the mountains because at the time I had thought -falsely it seemed- that the monsters, those weird zombies, were dwelling in the mountain area.

We reached the Batroun sea side; I headed straight towards a wooden lodge on one of the Batroun shores. Everything seemed calm and silent there, the lodge was empty; she picked the lock and we got in.

“You must be having a field trip …” she said jokingly as she walked out of the shower. A couple of days before we had a conversation about how the world would end. I had assured her that it would definitely be a zombie apocalypse, like the one in the movies and video games. “Not yet” I smirked and said as I walked towards her. I wrapped my arms around her waist instantly undoing the towel she had rolled around her body. I closed the bathroom door and pulled her closer to me; only to throw her on the bed and on her back. I crawled on top of her, kissing and licking, upwards until I reached her neck. I pushed my right hand behind her neck and slid my left hand down her thigh -always. She slid her arms around my back and dug her nails deep. What followed was a frenzy of skin rubbing skin and moans that rippled out waves into the sea facing us. Every time her mouth would get close to my ear to nibble, I’d grab her waist and I’d push harder. Her lips would soon fail her and her lungs would spit out breaths only to be played out a moan by her throat; and I’d only push harder.

It was dawn; my right arm was extended to my side and it was growing numb. I opened my eyes; to my right, the windows let in a ray of sunlight that bounced off her freckled white skin, lying beside me and over my arm. I kissed her as she opened her eyes and a smile instantly drew itself on her face. She jumped up and flipped me over, she got on top of me —naked and eyeing me vigorously. Our early morning was an echo —a shadow— of the night before. A glorious start to the day, I’d say. I was lost between the goddess on top of me, and the worry that had been dwelling my mind since the day before. Her lust always won my thoughts though. Just as she came, I pulled out the Glock that was glued to my right hand and hiding beneath her pillow, as it was all night. I aimed for the door and shot. It took one bullet; the fucker got it between his eyes and dropped.

This had been the closest we had seen any of those zombies. We didn't panic, though. She got off of me and gotten into her clothes; I wore my pants but couldn't find my shirt. We had to get out of there fast. Before we left, I examined the beast that had rushed into the lodge. “Shit, ” she said, “I had noticed something before but didn't think too much of it; but now I understand!”. She pointed out two interesting facts about the beasts —the zombies. Firstly, they had gills stretching from their necks down to their backs; secondly, they had some sort of connective tissue in-between their fingers. We thought the shore was safe, but it turned out to be their hiding place.

We started running towards the car as we heard sounds bubbling up from the sea. I grabbed her hand and ran in the other direction, towards the woods instead. The woods that lead to the valley. I figured we would not be able reach the car as it was on the other side of the shore, we didn't have that much enough time.

As we walked into the woods we saw a hill on the left with a huge tree on top of it. We climbed up to settle for a while, we needed to rest. The hill had a view of the shore, but I had to get a better view from a better vantage point. I took apart the shotgun and replaced the muzzle with a shorter one; I also replaced the shoulder rest with a hand grip, to make it lighter for her to use. I swung my katana around my back and wrapped the ropes attached to the sheath across my chest; stuck the Glock on my side and climbed up the tree. Half way through, I heard rushing footsteps coming from behind us. “I got this” I heard her shout from below. She shot twice, at the beasts running towards her. One shot missed, another shot took one of the beasts’ head right off; but then the shotgun jammed. I crawled to the branch right above her and as the beasts closed in, I pulled out my gun and blade, and jumped. I Put two bullets in one of the fuckers and landed the tip of my blade onto and into the skull of the other. I fell to the ground, my weak foot had failed me—the one I have had a surgery done on after a bad free-falling accident. She rushed over and kissed me. With my back to the ground, my eyes stared unblinkingly into the noon sun. I got up and shook it off. I looked at the three dead beasts around me; I grabbed her, kissed her and hopped onto the tree again.

When I reached the top of that tree, I saw. I saw the doom we were about to witness rising steadily and firmly from out of the sea. Armies of amphibious zombies marching, organized, towards the cities. I knew we had to rush deeper into the valley, if they needed to stay close to the sea; we needed to stay as far away as possible.

We ran along the trails, until there were no more trails. We kept on running…