zombie versus time

Chapter five

Jack Archer took another quick glance down at the screen of his phone as he drove. His son, Peter, was calling him again, for the umpteenth time.

He knew that his family must be worried as to why he still wasn home yet.

He couldn leave THE ZONE as early as he had wanted to. As always, some ”important issues that needed quick handling ” had come up.

And at the moment, he couldn pick up his phone to answer the calls. He needed to get home first and fast too. As it was, it seemed like that was an impossible goal.

The city had suddenly become strange to him. Jack wasn so sure if the problem was his mind. Or the people.

He was racking his brain, trying to come up with a logical explanation for the whole scenario before him.

It wasn Halloween, and the day wasn a kind of national holiday so Jack found it so hard to understand and deduce. Why were there so many people in bright green painted skin on the streets?

What he found most distressing was the speed at which some of these people were running along the streets. Some were even breaking into peoples houses.

”Maybe its just some kind of festival ”, Jack said to himself. Even though he certainly didn believe himself.

He pressed down on the gas pedal to increase his acceleration.

Jack only got a hang of what was happening when he got into his home district.

This road had more bumps than every other place in the whole of America. And consequently he was forced to drive slowly.

That was when he finally got a hook of what was going on.

In the shadows of one of the alleys, Jack saw a policeman with coloured skin grab a woman violently.

He had tried to turn a blind eye to all the craziness tonight, but this wasn getting away.

He braked down hard, causing his car to screech into a sharp halt.

Still in the car, he looked closer to see if the woman had done something worth the harassments that she was receiving.

He was ready to jump into action to help her if the need for it arose.

And yeah, the situation needed intervention because what Jack saw next made him open the door of his vehicle. Pulling out his Glock from its holster, he sprinted towards the assault scene.

The cop had pushed the woman to the ground. He was kissing her roughly, his hands holding her tight in position.

Jack was undoubtedly pissed. He had been trained to expect anything from anyone, but he never saw this one coming.

Why would a cop sexually take advantage of a woman? On the streets? In his uniform?

Pointing his gun in their direction, he screamed as loud as his lungs would let him. ”Get away from her, or Ill blow your brains out of your skill! ”

He had to repeat himself, louder, when there was no responsive movement to his words.

Jacks blood cuddled like milk when the uniformed man finally looked up at him.

The man was missing his left ear and he had blood all over his face. The darkness had shielded this grotesque appearance earlier.

The most distorting image was that he had actually been feeding on the flesh around the neck of the woman.

”Gosh! What in the hell is going on here? ”, Jack had exclaimed in the terror of the moment. He was totally shaken by the sight.

The flesh eating cop screeched, probably completely angered that his dinner time had been disturbed.

He bounded toward Jack at a frightening speed, covering distance with the agility that would have made any soldier panic.

But Jack wasn an ordinary soldier. He wasted no time in pulling the trigger, sending two lead bullets flying straight into the head of the savage beast.

”Are you okay? ” Jack asked as he ran to the woman after making sure that the cop was dead.

She was in a terrible state. She was losing blood so fast, it was a miracle that she was still conscious.

”Don worry. Youll be fine. Lets get you to a hospital quickly ”, he said, already lifting her into his arms.

”Thank you so much ”, she whispered, grabbing hold of his neck.

Something about her grip at Jacks neck didn feel all too good.

He looked down at her, wanting to say something, but no. His eyes widened in fear. He was already beginning to sweat even though it was cold.

Right there, in his arms, the womans skin was beginning to glow green. Her skin had also begun to ooze out some kind of slimy juice.

Slowly, and softly, Jack dropped her.

He had thought the colourings were some kind of custom or something, but now as he watched the woman transform before him, he was forced into conclusions that this was an apocalypse.

He took quick leaps backwards when the womans eyes turned to a shade of purple and then finally black.

He walked slowly towards the dead cop, not looking away from the woman. He was going to shoot her if there was a need for it.

Crouching low, he reached out to feel the skin of the man. He recoiled, retracted and hissed in disgust when his hand came in contact.

It felt rough. And yes, the colours didn come off. It wasn painted.

He broke eye contact with the woman to take a quick scan of the mouth of the flesh eating policeman. His hunch was right.

Long black canines! And a diseased black looking tongue.

He faced the woman again, and this time she was on her feet, staring intently at him.

Trying his best not to make any rash movements, he carefully picked out his gun.

”I really don want to hurt you, do please, if you can hear me just walk away. I won hurt you if you do that ”. He really did hope that shed just leave.

He watched her cock her head to one side like she was weighing her options but it seemed she didn choose right. Because after what seemed like forever, she roared loud and came running towards Jack.

Jack precisely shot at her right leg. He was really hesitant about killing another person.

The shot didn slow her down. Not one bit.

Jack closed his eyes and fired again. He heard the sound when the bullet pierced through flesh.

He opened his eyes to see the woman on the ground. A bloody hole in her chest.

Realization hit Jack!

All those other people that he had seen too were like the cop! They were turning people into more monsters!

He fumbled with his phone to quickly take some pictures of the people. With that done, he went in and slammed the door of his car shut.

He sped down towards home, praying to God that his family was still safe at home.