Left for Dead

The familiar moaning and groaning of the undead wandering around outside awoke me from my forced sleep. Wincing, I sat up in the unfamiliar single bed I was laying in. Sharp horrid pains rushed through my head and down my neck. I've never passed out in my life before. Then again, I've also never slipped in something that once was human's blood causing me to smash my head off concrete flooring and black out. The room was dark, only lit by the moonlight that creeped its way through the spaces of the boards nailed to the window. I pulled the blanket off of me and slowly climbed out of the bed. This pain was unbearable. The worst headache I've ever had in my life.

"You're awake" Rochelle's voice called out to me as I peaked through the window. Could zombies climb? was there a reason why the second floor of the house had to have the windows boarded up. I nodded, knowing she couldn't see my reaction in the dark.

"There's a lot of them out tonight" I stated as I turned my attention in Rochelle's direction. She held a burning candle in her left arm and one of the bottles of pain pills we've been carrying around from the first safe house we all met at. She tossed me the pill bottle and smirked. "You might want to get dressed before coming downstairs to a room with three men in it." She suggested as she chuckled. I looked down and noticed I was in nothing but my bra and to my disadvantage, thong. I blushed all shades of red as I sat back down on the bed.

"Where are my--" I started.

"You were covered in hunter's blood and zombie brains... I removed them off of you so you didn't have to sleep in that. There's candles in the bathroom if you want to light one and have a shower. We're not risking attracting any hordes by keeping the lights on tonight. There's too many. Something tells me CEDA did in fact get overrun at the mall" Rochelle replied. I sighed. Told you so. CEDA is a U.S. government organization. Since 1988, the Civil Emergency and Defense Agency has protected millions of Americans from terrifying consequences of natural and manmade disasters and is responsible for responding to disasters and assisting in the recovery. The most recent disaster they are assisting in, the Green Flu epidemic, has appeared to overwhelm them, as no non-infected officials from the organization can be found.

"Where the fuck is CEDA?" I asked myself. Rochelle sighed and shrugged. She walked over to a dresser. "You're in luck... a woman around our size lived here" She stated as she dug through the drawers. She frowned as she searched.

"There's a pair of black sweat pants, a white wife beater and a black zip up hoodie". I shrugged. Not my style but comfy and free. At this point in life I wasn't about to refuse clean clothes.

"Hey Row! There's a smoker out there. You want it?!" Coach yelled from downstairs. She lit up like a child on Christmas day.

"Have yourself a shower. I have something to attend to. I mean... what's a girl to do for fun around here?" She joked. I shrugged. Fair enough. She tossed me a lighter and left the room. I stood up and picked up the clothes. The wife beater made it easy for those hot sunny days that I'll be slaughtering and running from the undead. The hoodie made it easy for the cold nights.

Tucking the pile of clothes under my arm, I quietly exited the room. Tip-toeing down the hallway to what appeared to be the bathroom. Finally! my much need shower awaits. I entered the bathroom and set my clothes on the sink. I began to light the candle when a familiar voice gasped in shock, startling me.

"Woah! I'm sorry!" Ellis exclaimed as I jumped back into the now closed bathroom door. The pain from my already sore head became worse. I winced before noticing Ellis blushing and turning his head. Blushing I grabbed the towel hanging on the towel rack and hid my partially nude body.

"I guess this is what I get for not lighting a candle when I need to drain the main vein" Ellis joked. I blushed and stared up at him. He stared back at me and cocked a smirk.

"Not that I'm complaining" He added, still smirking. Man could he make a girl blush 100 different shades of red.

"But I'm not one to disturb a lady" He said as he smiled and walked past me. I smiled back.

"You're totally checking out my ass aren't you?" I asked suspiciously. He smirked as he turned the doorknob, pausing, "More like appreciating it" he replied.

Luckily for me, the short shower I had surprisingly made my antagonized migraine turn into a headache, which was better than what it was. After I got dressed I began to search through the medicine cabinet. The typical q-tips, band-aids, denture wash and oddly a pack of opened cigarettes. Nice. I needed one of these. I grabbed the pack and using the lighter Rochelle had given me to light the candles in here, I lit a cigarette. As I inhaled I smiled, oh how I craved one of these after the day I've just had.

"The next CEDA evacuation is being held at Whispering Oaks Amusement Park" I heard Rochelle tell the group of men downstairs. I walked out of the bathroom, still pulling away on my cigarette as I made my way downstairs. Ellis turned his attention to me and smiled without realizing he was in fact smiling at my presence.

"Whispering Oaks? Shit I use to go there as a kid" Coach said as he moved over making a spot on one of the couches for me to sit down.

"Oh great, now we can die there as adults" Nick added sarcastically.

"How are we suppose to get there with all these god damn Zombies?" Coach asked. "We will be low on ammo by the time we make it half way there."

"That's it!" Ellis exclaimed in excitement. I turned my attention from the group to Ellis.

"What?" I asked trying to spark up conversation with Ellis.

"Jimmy Gibbs Jr was suppose to be at the mall!" Ellis exclaimed again, not really giving much information.

"Who the hell is Jimmy Gibbs, Jr?" Rochelle asked with a weird look on her face.

Ellis gasped, "Just the best stock car racer of all time. Try reading a book sometime. In these parts, he's as famous as... Elvis. Or the President."

Rochelle scoffed. Ellis stood up and walked over to the telephone stand, pulling out a flyer from a old newspaper revealing a picture of the infamous Jimmy Gibbs, Jr.

"Jimmy Gibbs, Jr. is the man. I mean I don't know anybody like that, man. But there was this guy I knew, he raced dirt tracks, not stock cars but open wheeled cars you know, and he was racing once and a goat... Okay. But there was a goat.

Jimmy Gibbs, Jr. is an American hero. That man is the pride of Georgia. That man is America's greatest natural resource. I would take a bullet for that man. If the laws of nature allowed it, I would bear that man's children." Ellis added.

"Really? Cause he looks like an asshole" Nick insulted. Ellis turned and glared at Nick, shaking his head.

Breaking the tension I quickly inhaled a drag off of my cigarette and stared up at Ellis, "What does he have to do with any of this?" I asked as I exhaled smoke out of my lips. Ellis sat back down and handed me the news paper clipping of Jimmy Gibbs. I read the article thoroughly. He was suppose to be at the mall with his stock car, one of the "fastest" stock cars around these parts. Suddenly it clicked in, Ellis knew that stock car was at the mall just waiting to be driven the fuck out of there. Judging by the looks of Ellis, he was a mechanic before all of this happened. He could start the car, even without keys and get us to Whispering Oaks.

"That car has to be in that mall somewhere and it'll get us to Whispering Oaks" Ellis explained to the group. Just as I thought.

"However, they don't gas those things up at things like that, you see? So we will have to make our way through the mall and use the leftover gas cans from the CEDA evacuation center and fill it up. Once it's full, we're on our way to Whispering Oaks" Ellis said as he lifted the ball cap off of his head and ran his fingers through his hair. Surprisingly nobody gave him any sarcastic comments about his sudden plan.

"Okay. So we get to the mall, hall ass to one of the safe rooms, reload and then what? We risk our lives to find jerry cans full of gas to fill up a fucking car?" Coach questioned with disbelief dripping from his tone of voice. I looked around to see the rest of the groups reaction. Nick shrugged and answered, "Yeah. Seems about the only option we got".

"I hate to interrupt but who is CEDA?" I asked. I knew who they were but I didn't really get the chance to do any research on them considering when Zac and I were watching the news and heard about CEDA setting up around the state to evacuate people to uninfected states, a minivan drove into our living room window followed by newly turned zombies piling in.

"Civil Emergency and Defense Agency" Rochelle replied in a matter-of-fact tone to her voice. I winced, still not knowing what the fuck she was talking about. Rochelle sensed my lack of knowledge and sat up, straightening her back out before going into great detail.

"You see Amber, I'm a reporter. Was a reporter" She started.

"CEDA have been involved in responding to the Green Flu epidemic. They have created advertisements alerting the public about the disease, tried to evacuate citizens from highly infected areas, and even researched the disease. Once they realized how powerful and virulent the Infection was, CEDA agents isolated themselves from the public in hazmat suits and decided to provide the public with face masks while trying to evacuate the public. Large-scale evacuations were called and required CEDA to bring in several Disease Emergency Assessment Dispatch trailers to help process people faster. " She explained.

I inhaled another drag from my smoke noticing Nick was eying my cigarette. Without saying a word I tossed him the pack I had found abandoned upstairs in the bathroom. With no further hesitation, Nick lit himself one before tossing the pack to Ellis. Ellis nodded at me motioning a "thanks". Ellis stood up and grabbed his empty shotgun and a few shells, walking over towards the door.

"At one point, CEDA began to inform the public on how to build safe rooms and where to seek shelter as well as "Safety Checklists," which instruct residents to barricade themselves in their basements and wait for help to arrive. Or wait for official instruction" Rochelle continued.

"Wait my ass" Coach laughed in annoyance as he crumpled up the news paper clipping of Jimmy Gibbs, Jr.

"Kill all sons of bitches... that's my official instruction" Ellis stated proudly as he loaded his gun.