Red at Day

Rose, Angel, Jackie, and I turn on our flashlights to look around. James uses the glow of his computer to light some things up.
“You know, this whole situation reminds me of a song.” Carter says, clearing his throat.
“Two lovers, forbidden from one another
A war divides their people
And a mountain divides them apart.
Built a path to be together.
...Yeah, and I forget the next couple of lines, but then it goes...
Secret tunnel!
Secret tunnel!
Through the mountain!
Secret, secret, secret, secret tunnel! Yeah!” Carter sings. Everyone laughs as they dance to the song. When it ends, growls can be heard.
“Everyone, we don't know what we're getting into. We need to be quiet.” Rose says. We all nod and try our best to be quiet. Jackie walks over to the side of the boat and points her flashlight into the water. She waves us over and everyone, except Carter, walks over to Jackie. She points to the water and we all look down. We see several zombie eyes looking right at us. Their hands are up, trying to grab us as they jump towards the surface.
“Oh, my god.” Carrie mumbles.
“Look on the other side.” Jackie orders. Angel hesitates but walks to the other side of the boat and points her flashlight at the water.
“It's the same here.” Angel mumbles.
“But why?” Rose asks.
“I think it has to do with the pole,” James says “almost like they know that if someone succeeds at putting in the kill code, they'll all be gone for good.”
“Do you know that as a fact?” Jackie asks.
“Nope.”
“So would it be instincts running this or...?” I ask.
“Well, I think a few gathered here by mistake but some just felt like they had to come here.”
“What about the ones on land like in Canada?”
“Annabelle, I don't really have the answers. I'm guessing here.”
“Well!”
“I think we need to get our shit together.” Honey says, her voice shaking.
“Didn't we do that?” Kasmira asks.
“We did, but even more so now.” As Carter continues to steer the boat, everyone runs downstairs to get what they need. We're covered in warm winter gear but that can't be enough.
“We should have brought magazines and duct tape.” Reed says “It would act kinda like armor.”
“Guys, grab your bags and put as much ammo as you can in it. James, Jackie, I want you two to carry guns with you just in case.” I order.
“Why?” Jackie asks, a little offended.
“Because if you get tired or something happens, I want you guys to have a backup.”
“But we won't.”
“Please, just listen to me.”- I place my hands on her shoulders, squeezing lightly- “You may say that you won't need it, you might not even need it, but I would feel so much more safer with you holding a gun in the back of your pants.”
“So you don't feel safe with me?” Jackie asks, an eyebrow raised.
“No, I'll know you're even more safe than before. You're strong, but you'll be even stronger.” Jackie looks deep into my eyes and half smiles. She gives a weak laugh and looks down.
“Yeah, okay.” Jackie says. I smile and sigh with relief. I wrap my arms around her neck and she hugs me back, her arms around my waist.
“Please, please be safe. I need everyone alive for this. I need everyone safe and to make it. I can't have anyone else die.” I whimper.
“We will, darling.” Jackie says, petting the back of my hair “We will.” Jackie and I pull apart from each other after a minute and I look around. Everyone's in their rooms rapidly getting ready. They're filling their bags with the ammo that is left.
“Guys, keep a knife in your pocket, too. I'd rather use guns as a last resort. If there aren't many zombies, I don't want to take a chance at attracting more.” I say.
“Yeah, like that one time at Wal-Mart?” Jackie asks.
“Totally like that.” I say with a smirk.
“Guys, look at this!” Carter says from upstairs. We all drop our things and rush up.
“What is it?” I huff after running up the stairs.
“There's a tunnel.” Carter says, pointing his flashlight forward. We all turn our flashlights on and point it to where Carter's pointing his flashlight. Ahead is what looks like a cave. To the right is a little dock but it's not a regular dock, just ice and a wooden pole to tie a rope to. Looks like we walk up there and go threw the tunnel to get to the pole.
“There's a tunnel inside of a tunnel?” Rose asks.
“Secret tunnel.” Carter laughs.
“Shh!” Angel hushes. The growling and moaning can easily be heard now. It sounds like it's coming from the cave.
“I want everyone up here with their weapons and bags of ammo before we land!” I whisper “Angel, I know you're trying to get some of Carter's stuff together but I need you to focus on yourself. Honey, take over for Carter as soon as you're done so he can grab the rest of his stuff.” Everyone nods and continues to run downstairs again. I dump my backpack of all useless items and fill it with my very much needed ammo. I check how many bullets are in the gun I have now. Three. I put three more bullets in my gun and put the cartridge back into the gun. I stash the gun in the back of my pants, throw my backpack over my shoulders, and hold my knife with a great grip. I look over at Jackie and she did the same thing with her gun. Her bag is on her shoulders and her sword is sheathed around her waist.
“Don't let them grab your sheath.” I say.
“They won't be able to.” Jackie smirks. We head upstairs and see Carter trading positions with Honey. Carter runs downstairs and two people run up the stairs. It's Kasmira and Reed. Everyone needs to hurry up. We're going to be docking soon. James comes running up.
“Someone get the rope ready!” Honey quietly orders. Angel and Rose come running up. Jackie lassos the rope and throws it around the wooden pole. The boat comes to a complete stop and everyone jerks forward. At this point everyone's flashlight is on and swinging around, trying to get a glimpse of everything. Carter comes running up. I look around and everyone's ready. Our bags are halfway filled with ammo and the bags are securely on our backs, both sleeves around both arms. Everyone's hiding a gun in the back of their pants and holding a knife in their writing hands. Wow, we actually haven't written in a while. What if we just wrote a book about these zombies and how the only cure are these poles. Nah, no one would read that.
Carter and I roll the ramp onto the ice. No one really has any idea if the ramp will fall because, you know, it's ice.
“It's going to fall. We probably need something to attach the the ramp to the boat or have something on the ramp dig into the ice.” James says “Do we have any more ropy?”
“We can grab some bed sheets.” Reed says.
“But we also have to take them off so zombies don't get onto the boat.” Jackie says.
“I think we can risk it. They're all dying if we succeed.” Honey says.
“And if we don't, anyone else that comes here can't go forward.”
“They can just tie a rope to our boat and jump across. You guys can use my bed sheets.” James says, walking downstairs to get it. Jackie sighs but says nothing else. She's only looking out for the best of us. What if we do have to come back and there's twelve zombies on the boat?
James comes back with his bedsheets and ties the ramp to the boat multiple times so it doesn't come loose. I look around and look everyone over one last time. All their faces are a mix of fear and adrenaline. They're prepared but they're unsure of how it will end. It's a never ending battle of opposites.
“I have a big request, guys.” I say. Everyone looks at me with anticipation. “Guys, if you're bit, I need you to continue fighting. Even if you're taken down, I need you to fight.” Everyone smiles and nods. They all hold out their pinkies. I smile back and we take each others pinkies.
“We promise,” They say “and if I lie, I promise to swallow a thousand needles.” When we all let go of the group promise, I take everyone into one big hug. I tear up a big but don't allow myself to cry.
“Thank you.” I whisper. I hear a few people hiccup from crying but we only hug tighter. “It'll be okay. I love you all.” There's a combination of “yeah” and “I love you too.” We break apart and carefully walk down the ramp one by one. I make sure to go down first in case something goes wrong.
Once we're all down we hear constant growling and groaning. We look at each other and nod. I walk forward, into the cave, with a flashlight in one hand and a knife in the other. I keep my flashlight down so the zombies don't see the light waving around. Besides, it's not like they can crawl on the ceiling or anything. The snow and ice crunch under my feet with every step. I pray that the zombies don't hear me walking. My eyes continually scan around looking for zombies and my breath shakes. Little puffs of smoke come out of my mouth with each exhale. Someone taps me on the shoulder and I look over for a second, not wanting to take my eyes off the road ahead. Jackie's right behind me and she's pointing forward. We all stop walking and I turn off my flashlight. Crunching can be heard ahead and it's moving towards us. I can't tell how many zombies it is but quite a few. Eyes can suddenly be seen ahead. They glow in the dark like a cat's eyes. The three zombies ahead snarl at us and launch forward. Before they can reach us, Jackie runs toward the zombies and sticks her katana up a zombie's head, the end of the katana reveling itself from the top of the zombies head, immediately killing it. Another goes after her and I pierce my knife into the back of its head. The last zombie is James'. He uses his battle ax and cuts threw the zombie's eyes, decapitating it it's head rolling to the ground. All the zombies fall, spewing rancid blood everywhere. Half of a brain slides around, unable to stop.
“Sick.” Reed says, but quickly cover's his mouth. An echo goes down the tunnel and the moans become vicious. I glare at Reed, turn on my flashlight, and run forward, the others quickly behind me. As we run towards the zombies, the zombies run towards us. The first one is seen sprinting towards us and I stick my blade into it's flesh rotting head. I dodge two zombies and hear the others silence them. Every three zombies I kill, making sure not to stop.
I bright blue-ish light can be seen ahead and I turn off my flashlight, being able to see. Most moans can be heard from there. We continue ahead and entered the final room. Inside, the room is a dome with a a large see-through tube in the middle which leads outside. There's electricity flowing through the tube in long surges, causing the blue light. We walk in and look around. There's machines all around the room covered in a thin layer of frost. James is the first to continue into the room. He goes up to the pole and looks around.
“I don't have any money, James.” Reed says. James glares at Reed for a bit then continues to look around.
“I need you guys to look for a little hole that can fit this exact cord.” James says, holding up a small white cord. Each of us look around the machines, trying to brush off the snow to see clearly. More groaning can be heard from our only exit.
“Reed, Kasmira, and Jackie, I need you three to help me guard the place while everyone looks.” I order.
“I'm helping, too!” Honey says.
“You can't do that. I need more people searching for the hole than fighting.”
“I'm not some side character, Annabelle. I'm tough and I'm a great zombie killer. I'm short and I'm a girl, that doesn't mean you give me the weakest job you can find.”
“I'm not saying yo-”
“Annabelle, they're coming!” Reed says. I look at the cave and see a cluster of shadows making their way into the cave. I look back at Honey and narrow my eyes.
“Fine, fight. But remember that it'll take longer to find that hole.” I say. Honey nods and the five of us get into position.
Six zombies come into the cave. All of them are rotting and have holes somewhere in their body. We all tighten our grip on our knives as they lunge forward. I stab my knife into a zombie's eye and blood spews onto the side of my hand. Reed plunges his knife into the top of a zombie's head, grunting as he does so. Talk about a soft spot! Honey and Kasmira both go for the zombie's temple/side of the head. Honey bites her lip and checks behind her to see if the team has found the hole. No such luck. Jackie slices off a zombie's head and sticks her sword into another zombie's ear. When she pulls out of the corpse’s head, she curb stomps the growling head on the ground.
“Are we golden?” Reed asks.
“We're still in the gray.” Rose replies.
“Fuck!” Kasmira mutters. More growls can be heard coming.
“Here it is!” Carter yells. James runs over to the machine and put his long cord into the hole.
“Alright! It's good! I'm going to do what I can!” James says.
“Thanks, man! We'll be sure to keep you safe!” I say.
“Greatly appreciated!” Angel, Carter, and Rose join us up front. We're going to do this. The zombies can't win.
Zombies pour into the small room from the exit. It seems like thousands of them formed a disorderly line and began running down the tunnel to see if there was a meal there. We don't even have time for words, just fighting.
“Oh fuck!” James says in the background. Well, maybe two words. The first zombie I see I make sure to sink my blade into his boney face, blood splattering all over me. As my knife slides out of his head, dripping and red with blood, another zombies tries to grab at my throat. I kick her in the gut, free my knife, and puncture the roof of her disgusting mouth.
“Annabelle!” Kasmira yells. I turn towards Kasmira and two zombies are right in front of me. I can feel their breath on my face as they lurch forward and snap at my nose. I kick one of the zombie's knees, making a loud snap noise. The zombie falls over and my knife enters the other zombie's head right between the eyes. The zombie on the ground crawls towards me and grabs my feet. I stomp oh his head, making a miniature blood volcano. I hear a scream to my left and see a zombie holding Angel. I take my gun out of my pants and shoot the zombie. I immediately regret that decision because the gunshot echos threw the room ten times louder than the average gunshot. The team falls to the ground covering their ears, some screaming.
“We... are never fucking doing that again!” Jackie screams as she stands back up. The zombies seem immune to the pain of the noise. Right, zombies can't feel but that loud ass noise will bring at least fifty more zombies in.
“How are you doing?” I ask as I kick away another zombie.
“Halfway there!” James replies “How about you?”
“Living on a prayer!” I hear James laugh in the background and I look over at Jackie. She slices the torso off of a zombie and then crushes his head as she slices a zombie's head in half. A zombie from behind my hair and lifts me into the air. He falls to the ground and I fall on top of him. I look up and smile.
“Thanks, Angel.” I say.
“No problem.” Angel says, quickly helping me up before going back to fight. I run back into the fight and thrust my knife into a zombie's eyes. I pull the knife out, along with several chunks of brain, and stab upward into the jaw of another zombie.
“Hey, guys!” James yells “I'm almost done!”
“Fucking Jesus! Thank god!” Reed yells. James smiles and laughs. You hear one click of him pressing the enter button and everything becomes quiet. The electricity in the pole shuts off and everything goes dark. Everything around is moans and groans. The zombies stop attacking us and walk aimlessly around, sniffing the air. I shiver as a zombie breathes on my neck. He grunts in my hear and walks away. No one bothers to talk, thinking they'll attack if we do. Some people whimper but no other noises are made.
The pole suddenly lights up and a large snapping noise is heard. We look around at each other, freaking out a bit, and see James with his arms up yelling “It works! It works!” Suddenly all the zombie's heads explode, covering every inch of the room with darkened blood. We all stand in shock for a moment. Kasmira, Reed, and Jackie throw up which mixes with the snow and blood.
“Oh.... oh god this is fucking disgusting....” Carter says.
“Yeah, I know!” James laughs.
“You fucking knew!?” Jackie yells.
“Yeah!”
“Hey wait! We all lived!!” Kasmira yelled.
“Oh my god we did!!” Honey yells.
“Imagine when we get back three people will die.” Rose laughs.
“Yeah, imagine.” I laugh.
“Hey, are you still going to tell Bart about Jack?” Jackie asks, letting James's shirt go.
“Yeah, I have to.”
“I hope he'll be cool about it.”
“He will. I think I can call him dad even.” I smile “Are you guys ready to go back?”
“Yeah.” Reed says, looking a bit green. I can't wait for a nice shower and to burn these clothes. But we did it. The zombies of the norther hemisphere are all gone and if any zombies from the southern hemisphere enter, they'll die just like these did. We get to travel back to Bart and Ruby, go back home, and reunite with our people. There's also the fact that we have to go to the southern hemisphere but we'll cross that bridge when we get there. All I care about is how they're gone here. People from the south can come here and seek protection. We can rebuild civilization. We can save the world.