Undead

Chapter 1
The Hinderance

Chapter Description: Ed, a lone survivor residing in a zombie-infested mall, is attacked by a new enemy.....

No one knew how it happened. It just did. One day, life was normal. The next, everyone was struggling to survive.

Some of the experts that are left believe it happened during the night. The virus spread like wildfire. A week later, 80% of the world’s population was infected. The remaining 20% are the only ones capable of surviving this apocalypse. One, whose story ironically begins in a shopping mall, will eventually become legend.

His story begins with a towering obstacle.

Ed yawned. He rose out of bed in the LAZ-BOY store in the Metro Mall. Yawning again, he grabbed his shotgun and went out to get some food.

The food court was on the first floor, which also happened to be the floor flooded with zombies. Ed had blocked off the stairs and had locked the elevator so that it remained on the second floor unless it was accessed from that floor. He looked over the balcony.

Hundreds of zombies stumbled through the mall. Ed knew they desired human flesh, but did not hunger for it. Since they were technically dead, they didn’t require sustenance. They could live forever, if Ed let them, which he wouldn’t.

Ed hopped the barrier to the stairs and cleared a path through the undead. He raced through, shoving zombies left and right. He finally managed to reach a Burger King. He slid across the counter and shoved some food in the bag he had brought. He hopped back over and raced back to his sanctuary. Ed shot again with his shotgun before hopping the barrier. He sighed and headed back to the LAZ-BOY store.

Ed took a bite out of a chicken strip as he watched DVDs of Tom and Jerry, and other cartoons. It comforted him in this bleak situation. He knew that the food in the mall wasn’t gonna last forever. He just hoped that he could survive long enough to finish his escape route, an armored SUV fitted with a battering ram and armor. The engine was still not repaired, and the armor was incomplete, but Ed theorized it would be done in about two weeks or so. He hoped.

Ed was interrupted by a loud growling sound. He grabbed his shotgun and stood up quickly. He cocked the gun and carefully approached the sound. He reached the balcony. Ed slowly peeked over the railing.

Two unusual zombies leaped from below and landed behind Ed. Ed spun around.

The zombies’ limbs were loose, like a monkey’s. Odd goo dripped from their mouths. One of them hissed again and leapt at Ed. Ed dove to the side and attempted to shoot it. The zombie was too quick and jumped back before the spread could hit it. The second zombie lunged at Ed. Ed managed to shoot it before it reached him. The zombie’s head was bombarded with the spread and caused it to fall, dead.

While Ed was recovering from the shot, the other zombie managed to grab Ed. Ed cried out and he tried to escape. The zombie was insanely strong. The zombie then did something unusual. Instead of biting him, it latched onto Ed’s mouth and puked into his mouth. The goo flowed into Ed’s system. Ed managed to get his feet against the zombie’s chest. After being forced to swallow at least a quart of that stuff, he pushed off the zombie with force. He scrambled to his shotgun and picked it up. It seemed heavier than usual. Ed shot at the zombie, killing it. Ed sighed, glad that the attack was over.

Ed hefted the shotgun over back to the LAZ-BOY store. It kept feeling heavier. Ed set it down and reached for the gate in order to close it for the night. He was startled to find he couldn’t reach it. Normally, he could reach it easily. He jumped and jumped but he still couldn’t reach it. Ed jumped onto a nearby bed and then jumped to the gate. He managed to grab it and drag it down with him. Ed locked it and headed to a bed. He had to climb onto it. Ed was so tired that he didn’t even notice his jeans and underwear slide down. He didn’t notice that his shoes had dragged his socks down with them when he closed the gate. He had barely gotten under the covers when he passed out.