The Zombie 5,000 is a short story that is exactly 5,000 words with the undead as the subject matter. The story is ten chapters so each one has five hundred words (minus the chapter titles) in it. This story is only available to read on Needless Things! Every Saturday in the month of October, a new installment will be released with the conclusion happening right here on the last Saturday of the month!
Below is the third installment of The Zombie 5,000. If you missed the previous installment don't fret just CLICK HERE to read the second installment!
Meet The Warden
As they stepped off the bus, people
from all around ran up to greet them. Ray was used to this because of
his life as a professional baseball player. What he wasn't use to was
the fact that the attention wasn't to him or his teammates. It
embarrassed Ray a little because he didn't think of the obvious
reason the bus got attention. It was friends and family looking for
their loved ones. With the day going the way it was, people didn't
give two shits about baseball.
Ray exited the bus while scouring the
crowd for Betty and Jason. Up ahead he saw them looking around
nervously. They ran to each other with no words, just the warm
embrace of family.
“What do we do now,” Betty said.
“Well I think we are in a good place
for now. They have weapons here and are at least able to help protect
us. It looks like they sort of have a system going so I say we all
just try to blend in. Help out where needed and just watch out for
each other,” Ray said.
Betty started crying while Jason was
looking more and more upset. “Look, everything will be okay as long
as we stay here. This is our best bet without knowing exactly what is
happening, I am sure of it.”
Ray didn't think this helped but both
of them looked to be calming down. Hell, it was understandable. He
was freaking the hell out but he just couldn't let it show. Always
the leader, he had to step up to the plate.
About this time, Mustard had exited
the bus looking like he had something important to say. There was a
sudden burst of gunfire which cause him to shout. Seems like thats
all Mustard had done previously as well. Shouting must be a common
thing with him.
“I'm gonna head back down but I
wanted you to meet the leader up here. He seems to be the one that
took charge first which is better than anyone else did. It seems as
if he's a good guy, not sure on his background so far, but hes been a
big help.”
They walked over to a crowd as it
dispersed with only a gray headed man remaining. He looked like he
had lived a life time with wrinkles on his forehead that told
stories. Mustard began introducing the two men to each other.
“Ray Conner, this is Frank Warden, he
is the man that's been instructing the group for the past few hours.”
Each man stuck they hand out, both
gripping a little tighter than the other.
“Well, look what we got here, our
very own celebrity.” The gray haired man said. He had a grizzled voice
that would of scared Ray if he hadn't been scared shitless already.
“I don't want to be treated any
different.”
“In that case, Hollywood, do you even know
how to shoot a freaking gun,” Frank laughed.
Over The Hill
It was obvious that Frank knew who Ray
was by calling him Hollywood. Not exactly accurate but Ray did appear
on a few commercials back in the day. A stupid nickname was the least
of his worries right now.
“Well, yeah I've shot a gun before,
don't know how good a aim I am though.” Ray said. He didn't like
Frank, the man seemed like an old, crotchety, asshole. He also looked
like the type that would love to be called that as well.
“Son, around here you don't need
aim, you just need bullets.” Frank said in a grizzled voice. “And
we got plenty of those around here.”
They walked over to a trailer that had
no truck connected as people gathered around. There were two guys in
the trailer handing out ammunition and guns as well. Almost as if it
was candy to small children. Frank walked up and didn't even have to
say anything. One of the men handed him a hand gun along with
bullets.
“Well, we are about to see how good
your aim is now, just pretend its a baseball will ya. I am about to
show you something which will give you a better understanding of why
we are supplying everyone with weapons. Oh, and I can see by your
boyscout look that you are about to ask how we got all the guns. Just
trust me son. You don't want to know right now. We got bigger fish to
fry.”
Ray hated that the man was right
because he was about to ask that exact question. It was a serious
amount of fire power but hell Ray was glad he was on their side.
“What about my wife and son,” Ray
asked. He watched them in the distance as they looked like they were
about to go to work.
“Don't you worry your pretty little head,
Hollywood, your son will be on our building crew while your wife will
be on the cooking crew.”
Oh she will love that, Ray
sarcastically thought.
“Like I said we got some real
problems around here. We’ve got this area covered,” Frank said.
He pointed toward the entrance that Mustard used which the man was
now headed back down. “But our big problem is going to be over in
this area.”
Frank pointed as they began walking
over to the far end of the dump, where roughly thirty armed men were
already standing. The closer they got to the edge of the hill, the
more the answer to all of Rays questions came. As they stepped close
to the edge Ray saw that the dump overlooked the entire city. It was
a crazy sight because the town had already, in a matter of hours gone
apocalyptic. Fires and even riots could be seen from atop the dump
when something else caught his eye.
At the bottom of the hill there were
hundreds of zombies stumbling their way up the steep hill using the
trees as leverage.
To Be Concluded
Come Back Next Saturday For The Final Installment!
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