ZI Chapter 26 -End-

Chapter 26- Finally, Finale

Seeing my backpack was only describable as surreal. My pack was like an alien from beyond, something I hadn't been with before, even though it was mine. It had anachronistic properties almost, a symbol of what life used to be like. Nevertheless, I put the back pack on like everyone else was doing around me and headed to the cache to get Sydney.

I was one of two people who were carrying blankets, my weak foot a huge concern. Everyone else had food or other little things like soap in their packs, which weighed a significant amount. The day before, Vanessa and Tom went into the Foods room and grabbed a few forks and can openers as well as a few pairs of scissors. Austin's back pack consisted mostly of nylon rope and a few butane lighters (which seemed like a bad idea to me) while Rob had dozens of water bottles in his. Terra was the other person who was carrying blankets since she'd keel over if she tried to carry a can of tomatoes.

"Nervous?" asked Vanessa who was standing in line to get her weapon too.

"Don't remind me." I joked, but I really was scared out of my mind. On a good day, sure I'd have a few butterflies in my stomach, but with a gimped up foot things were looking pretty bleak. Sydney was passed to me and I joined up with my buds on the outer fringes of the crowd.

"This is going to be awesome!" Kaitlin sounded like she was about to explode. Austin eyed her with worriment, leaning slightly away from her.

"You need to calm down..." he said slowly, watching Kaitlin.

"I wish I was excited as you." Daisy grumbled, Riley and Markie nodding at her side. Austin and I then switched our attention to them while Kaitlin trembled excitedly next to us.

"Aw, come on! It'll be an adventure!" I tried to convince the disapproving gang before me.

"In my pants!" Austin suddenly said. Okay, I walked right into that one.

"I don't want to get eaten by a zombie!" Markie looked at my wildly.

"That won't happen..." Kaitlin suddenly barged in in a clueless sort of tone, "Zombies only bite you or rip you to shreds if the sun's out."

"Not helping, Kaitlin! Not helping!" Markie put straight. Kaitlin just grinned crazily. Austin was about to say something when Matt's voice rang out.

"Everyone ready?" he asked. A loud shout of enthusiasm from a bunch of us answered that, and we started to head towards the door. Then, another voice rang out.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAIT!" Terra bellowed. I could hear Matt's frustrated sigh all the way from the back of the crowd.

"What now?"

"I need to say goodbye to Maxwell once more." She said quietly. A ubiquitous sigh ran through the group. Terra had stayed with that rotten zombie all night and had refused to leave him in the morning. Karen managed to convince her to at least put her back pack on, but Terra promptly went back to the dog house.

"He'll be sad when I'm gone..." she explained, but we were done listening to her excuses.

"Terra, he's a zombie. He has no emotions. He probably doesn't even recognize you." Dan grumbled.

"How do you know!?" Terra screamed, pointing an accusing finger at Dan, "You barely spend any time with him! No wonder he kept trying to grab you each time you walked by!"

"He tries to grab everyone, Terra." Matt groaned, looking exasperatedly up at the ceiling before looking back at Terra, "He's a zombie! That's what they do!"

"But he needs me to take care of him!" Terra continued to argue. She sounded like a little girl who had grown too attached to a wild animal. One who believes she has a special bond with it. To be honest, I never did figure out why Maxwell didn't mind Terra. I figured it was a sort of Stockholm syndrome sort of thing going on, but that seems too complex for a zombie to feel. Oh well, it'll be a mystery that we'll never solve.

"So you're saying you want to stay here, all alone, just so you can be with a zombie?" Matt clarified. This seemed to change something in Terra, but only for a second, because she quickly resumed her argument.

"No, I want to take him with me." Terra's rebuttal was weak, and she didn't even seem to have much faith in it.  

"He can't walk!" Matt pointed out, not so aggressive this time. Terra was now looking at her feet, her face not visible to me. Matt stepped a little closer to her and continued talking: "Look, he has a nice house to live in and he'll be sheltered from the weather in here. He'll sleep all day until, well, he doesn't wake up, and then his body will remain in his house forever." Terra hadn't moved the whole time, until she shouldered her weapon and looked up. She had a feeble grin, but it was still a smile, and Matt turned back to the door and opened it.

"Last one out get the lights." He called out to us just before he vanished into the hallway. Everyone in front of me started moving out the door too, and as I passed Maxwell he reached out and feebly batted my right shin, grumbling like a cranky old man.  I didn't stop as I looked down at him.

"Sweet dreams." I said to him with a slight grin. Maxwell replied with a gurgling snarl and glared at me. I'll take that as a zombie smile. Then, alas, the doors to the hall. This could be possibly the last time I go through these doors. The moment flew by quickly, and I found myself walking down the hall with everyone else, leaving the shop room behind. A loud click and I turned to see the door had closed. There was no turning back now.

We stopped short of the doors to the Gathering, and being in the back of the group, it was hard to tell what exactly was going on. Several people were blocking the windows with their heads, until Vanessa turned to us, revealing a perfectly framed zombie on the other side. It was headed towards us.

"There has to be at least twenty of them." Vanessa informed us before she looked back through the window, "Probably more by the pizza place."

"Let's go before they pile up at the door!" Kaitlin called from beside me. Everyone looked away from the window and at Kaitlin before exchanging glances. I saw Matt clench his jaw and reposition his hand on his spear.

"Stick together." Was all he said, swinging one door open in sync with Vanessa. As one, we swiftly moved into the Gathering, and the zombies were on us in minutes. Vanessa was right about the zombies being by the pizza place, because more were stumbling out from behind the stairs. To our right, along the library and down the hallway were more zombies and it didn't take long for one to confront me.

I was backing up, trying to avoid the zombie, and when I felt another person's back I knew I had to fight. Sydney crashed into the zombie's outstretched hands, making a terrible crunching sound. The zombie stepped back for a second before it went for me again, a friend in tow. I raised Sydney high and whacked the top of the first zombie's head, sending it buckling to the ground. Miscalculating how close the second zombie was, I didn't have enough time to raise Sydney for another attack and I was forced to swing him like a golf club. I hit the zombie perfectly in the jaw, making the rotten skin on the front of its neck tear from the force, but in doing so I shifted most of my weight to my bad left ankle.

I nearly collapsed, but I managed to stumble onto my other foot, incidentally making me duck out of the way of a nasty zombie hug. I watched out of the corner of my eye as the zombie missed me, but I then realized I had my back to someone this whole time, and they were going to be in for a nasty surprise. A scream met my ears and I immediately regained my footing and bashed the attacking zombie flat on the back of the head. Another hit, and it let go, falling to the ground a few feet away from us.

"Thanks!" Markie breathed, spinning around to face me. I nodded a 'you're welcome' and suddenly, Markie's eyes darted to something just left of me, and she thrust her sword past me, making a gross squelching sound. I spun around to see what happened just as she jerked her sword back, sending a zombie to the ground face first.

"Come on!" Markie shouted, suddenly running off. I tailed her, sporting an unruly limp as we ran through the doors just behind Tom and Daisy. Together, the four of us stopped short of the doors to the outside, for we were shocked at what we saw.

Before us, what looked like hundreds of zombies stood out there, some heading towards a massive fury just in front of us, some already in it. The group was scattered amongst this mayhem. Tyler was working up a sweat fending off four zombies.  Vanessa and Dan were fighting back to back with zombies advancing on all sides of them. Farther away by the bike racks, Ben was trying to help up a fallen Karen, all the while keeping the enemy away. The plan was to rendezvous and the Tim's like before, but by the looks of things we weren't going to make it there.

Beside me, Tom threw himself at a female zombie that was advancing on us, and Daisy ran off to help him. Markie and I didn't hesitate as we ran towards Tyler, who had a pile of zombies around him, some still making an effort to get at him. Markie ran her sword across one zombie's back while I hit its neighbour. I went for another, but I managed to hook my foot under a dead zombie and tumble into it, taking out two more in the process. A hand grabbed my shirt collar instantly and pulled me up.

"Nice one!" Tyler laughed, patting my back. He ran off before I could respond. Markie was busy killing the domino zombies I took down, and I turned at the sounding of a scream. Riley was pounding away at a zombie near me with her pipe, who had Kaitlin's hair in its mouth.

Before I could move a muscle, a blunt force made contact with my back and I fell to the ground. I barely had enough time to roll on my back to face my attacker before another one came at me. Together, two zombies met in battle over top of me, snarling and biting each other like wild dogs. Hoping the two brutes wouldn't notice me slipping away, I army crawled between the legs of one zombie and jogged off.

Taking a good look around me, I noticed that the battle had moved to the parking lot and I followed. Gimping down the paved way that lead to the road from the parking lot, I met up with Daisy once again who was taking on two zombies. I hit one of them, but it didn't fall, and before I could attack again Daisy spoke up.

"Go help Terra!" she shouted, punching a nearby zombie in the face with her metal knuckles. It didn't take long for me to catch on to where Terra was, for she was right across a green patch from us, with three zombies in pursuit. I leapt across the lawn and joined Terra in the parking lot. I swung Sydney at one zombie but he merely skimmed its back as the zombie stepped towards Terra. They continued to follow Terra as she back away, and I tried to call them off of her but they wouldn't listen. Luckily, Terra managed to slip between two parked cars and make a run for it across the grass, and all three zombies tried to squeeze in after her. I seized my chance to deal killing blows to all the zombies, and the last one finally turned and noticed me just before I whacked its head. Dumb zombies.

A loud yell from where Terra had run off to sent me in that direction, escaping a hind attack from a sneaky zombie as I ran between the cars. I ran across the grass and between two trees to see on the sidewalk before me Austin squirming underneath an ambitious zombie. It didn't take much for the zombie to die, as it was very old, and Austin was on his feet in seconds, running back into the parking lot. I was just about to join him when something caught my eye.

It was something shiny, just beyond the train tracks to my right, kind of like when a car drives by you and it reflects the sun in its windows. I turned to see what it was, and my ears picked up a grumbling sound. A diesel engine kind of grumble... My eyes widened and my mouth dropped open as I saw a city bus, white, blue and fuchsia, speeding down the road ahead of me. It didn't slow as it bumped over the train tracks, and I found myself thinking I was in a dream. There's no way this was happening. I had to be imagining this. The bus drove along, closer and closer to me until it was finally just a few metres away. Its breaks squeaked and it lurched forward, sending it to an abrupt stop beside me. Without another second, the door flew open, revealing a slim man at the wheel. His eyes were wide and his shout was strong, and I stood there absolutely stunned as he yelled at me:

"Get in!"