Seeking Refuge: One Nightmare After Another

A Story by lyndsey

Imagine coming home to a mass zombie epidemic happening right in your own neighborhood…what would you do and how would you defend yourself? Read this story and find out...

Chapter #1: Gone without a Trace

It was just another ordinary day for 17-year old Rachel. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and she had just gotten out from another boring day of high school. Humming idly to herself while listening to her favorite Backstreet Boys song on her iPod, the teenage girl walked home by herself, her house conveniently located just a few blocks away. There was no reason to suspect that anything was wrong. In fact, everything actually seemed to be moving along more normal than ever. She had just finished texting her boyfriend, Matt, when she finally looked up to see a large crowd congregated around 50 cars all piled up on top of each other in what seemed to be one big, terrible accident. There were several police cars surrounding the area, among them, a few ambulances with medics trying to load people onto the stretchers as the police continued to survey the area, trying to get a figuring on what exactly happened there. Taking off her headphones, Rachel could hear several sirens going off, the jumbled gossiping of the crowds, and the voices of men shouting to try to hurry things along. 'Hmm…I wonder what all the commotions about…must have been some crazy accident. It was probably caused by another one of those drunk drivers or something…' She thought to herself as she continued to walk by.

Not wanting to get involved, she turned the corner off of 42nd street. Moving out of earshot of the accident down Bloomfield drive, she suddenly noticed that the streets were completely empty�"no cars running by, no people to wave her on as usual, no animals being walked, nothing. It was completely silent. Regardless, Rachel continued walking, still believing that nothing was wrong, unsuspecting to the great dangers that lied ahead of her. Finally reaching the end of the block, she turned the corner once again, arriving in her own neighborhood. Rachel suddenly stood horrified to the extent of the condition she found her beautiful neighborhood. Cars scattered, broken glasses, almost every house standing literally in ruins, as she continued to look on to find bodies everywhere. "What on earth happened here?" Rachel voiced aloud, her eyes widened in shock. Suddenly fearing for her family's safety, Rachel quickly rushed to her house to find that her parent's car was still parked in their driveway. A relieved look fell across her face. Maybe her family was okay after all…

Fidgeting for her keys in her bag, she reached into it and pulled out her heart-shaped chain of five keys. Knowing exactly which one to use for the front door, she plugged the key in the key hole, opened the doorknob, and walked into the two-story house, closing the door behind her. It was completely dark inside the house. The front door led immediately into the kitchen so she flicked on some lights in there so that she could see. Laying her things on the kitchen floor, Rachel proceeded to call for her parents and her little bro. "Mom, Dad, Pete, I'm home!" She yelled.

No response.

"Mom?" She asked, now venturing into both the dining and living rooms. "Dad?"

No response.

"Did you hear me? I said I'm home!" She called out.

She ran into the den. "Pete?" She yelled, waiting for a response. But there was still no answer. 'That's strange…their car's still parked in our driveway. And I know they wouldn't leave without it.' She thought in confusion. She walked upstairs to her room, closing the door behind her. She flicked on the lights, fishing in her closet for more comfortable clothing. Pulling out some blue jeans and a blue shirt, she changed into her clothes before chilling on her bed for a few moments. 'I wonder what happened here…' She thought to herself.

Suddenly she heard loud barking echoing throughout the house. Rachel quickly sat up in shock. "Spot?" She called out from her room. She was answered with more barking. "Spot!" She exclaimed excitedly, jumping out of her bed and opening her bedroom door to reveal a black Rottweiler. Horrorstricken, Rachel was surprised to see a bloody arm in the dog's mouth.

"Spot? W-what's the matter, boy?" She asked, backing away slowly. The dog let out a heavy growl, dropping the arm on the floor. The dog's eyes glowed red as it began foaming at the mouth, charging directly towards her. Screaming, Rachel quickly ran in the other direction towards her bedroom, shutting the door quickly behind her, and locking it. Just as she shut the door, she heard a loud thump on the door, indicating that the dog was attempting to break it down forcefully. She heard it continuously, the door shaking every time the dog pounded into the wooden door. Rachel slowly backed away from it, making it to the window.

Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Rachel turned around quickly to find her zombified mother behind her. Rachel shrieked in surprise. Eyes red and mouth bloody, the zombie quickly tried to sink her teeth into her flesh, but Rachel quickly managed pushed her away, her mother quickly recovering, and rushing towards her. Grabbing the closest thing to her, Rachel grabbed a metal lamp pole and whacked her hard with it, but the zombie wasn't bothered by it and grabbed the pole, much to Rachel's horror. The zombie tried to pounce on her, trying earnestly to eat her flesh, but Rachel once again managed to barely push her away, knocking the zombie on the floor. Suddenly, the door burst open, the Rottweiler jumping up towards Rachel. Rachel grabbed a sharp metal pole, sticking the dog with it in its belly. To her horror, the dog quickly got up again with the metal pole sticking in its belly and growling. Suddenly, something grabbed hold of her leg. Rachel screamed, seeing the zombie's teeth. She kicked the zombie in the face and stomped on her arm, causing the zombie to let go, but the Rottweiler was on her in a second, causing Rachel to fall down.

The zombie slowly inched towards her, while Rachel grabbed hold of the pole in the dog's stomach and smashed it and the dog into the window with all her strength. The dog was knocked out temporarily as she dropped it on the floor. Quickly, Rachel went through the window and onto the roof. She watched as the zombie managed to get up, but by that time, she was already at the edge of the roof. Much to her dismay, she slipped, sliding down the roof. She managed to grip hold of the edge of the roof, looking down at the car beneath her. She looked up to find her zombified mother slowly making it on the roof. Seeing Rachel, the zombie raced after her, almost managing to grab her, but in that instant, Rachel's grip slipped, landing right on top of the hood of the family car. Rachel slowly opened her eyes, in pain, looking up at her mother looking down at her. She slowly got up, shocked to find her zombified brother crawling up the roof of the car. She screamed, especially when she saw her zombified mother jump off the roof, landing on the roof of the car with her. She slid down, barely escaping the clutches of her brother before running as fast as possible, the dead bodies suddenly coming to life around her.

'This is crazy! I can't outrun them all!' She thought, running as hundreds of zombies chased after her. The number kept adding up as she continued along for a few blocks. However, once she got to the site of the accident, many zombies deviated to chase after the crowds of civilians, now running for their lives. Rachel just kept running, not looking back, pushing past all the crowds of people. 'I might actually get out of this if I run faster than everyone else.' She thought, too afraid to stop and help the people behind her who fell victimized to the zombie attacks. By the time she ran to the city, she only had a few zombies following behind her. She felt so tired now, barely able to keep up speed and once again, the zombies closed in on her. She quickly came across a row of cars; luckily for her, the first car door was open. She jumped in, shutting the car door barely as the zombies began pounding on the glass feverishly. Scared out of her mind, Rachel screamed for help, beeping the horn continuously. Cracks started appearing in the glass as the zombies continued trying to get to her.

Hearing a horn being beeped continuously, a black-haired man in his early twenties came with a shotgun towards the noise. He saw a blue car with three zombies continuously beating on the glass with a young lady trapped inside. He shot all three, one by one, in the head and they collapsed to the floor, unmoving. The man opened the door to let out the girl.

"You alright?" He asked, worriedly. Rachel nodded slowly, before everything faded into darkness. Her body flopped over the two front seats. All she could hear was the man's frantic shouts. "Hey! You sure you're okay? Miss!"

© 2011 lyndsey

Author's Note

So how do you like this chapter? Good or bad? Please leave a review and let me know. Thanks for reading!! ;-)

In the Next Chapter: Rachel has it in for herself when she wakes up in a hospital to meet a group of survivors in the same boat as her. Only problem: A hospital may not be all that it’s cut out to be for protection…