The Dead Have Risen

Chapter 3: A World on Fire

Hey guys! Just letting you all know that this part will be a bit graphic and there will also be some hints at sexual assault. Please take care of your mental health and I hope you enjoy! Don't forget to leave a like and a vote! I appreciate you all!

_______________________________

I stood there feeling frozen as I saw the zombie trying to go toward my girlfriends throat. Then when I heard her scream my name I finally snapped out of my frozen state and grabbed the ax away from Chase. I ran forward and sunk the ax so deep into the zombies skull that I couldn't pull it back out afterwards. I pulled the zombie off of Angela then grabbed her and immediately pulled her into my arms. She was shaking and covered in blood, "you're okay Angel, I'm here," I said in a soft soothing voice as she hid her face in my chest. "Th-thank god you're here, that thing was going to eat me," she said shaking so badly that she could barely talk. I pulled away and looked down at her trying to manage a small smile when she looked up at me, "it's okay now, it's dead," I said as I gently started wiping blood off of her face and started checking her for any wounds. Amazingly there were none which calmed me down quite a bit. "We need to gather supplies and see if we can board up the windows. It's not safe to go outside anymore," I told everyone as I stood and helped Angela to her feet, "I know you're both pretty shaken up but could you both gather food and anything we can use for self defense. Chase and I will see what we can do about the windows and doors," I said looking between my mom and Angela as I spoke. They both nodded and started walking away talking softly with each other. My mom knew and like Angela from the very beginning of our relationship, which was good because it wouldn't make this whole situation awkward for any of us.

I sighed softly running my fingers through my hair then looked up realizing that Chase was staring at me, "what? Is there something on my face?" I asked him wondering why he was staring at me so intensely. He blinked a couple of times then looked over at the dead zombie shaking his head a bit, "nah...that was just, pretty bad ass," he said and I looked over at the zombie as well and realized I had sunk the ax so deep into the things skull that it basically cut its head in half, "it must have just been the adrenaline," I explained before going over to work the ax free. As soon as I got it free I looked back at Chase and motioned toward the door with my head, "come on, let's go see if we can find some wood to board up the windows and doors,"I told him as I walked toward the door. Chase nodded and followed close behind me. I opened the door cautiously and looked up and down the street to make sure there were no zombies around that's when I realized that a lot of the houses in our neighborhood were on fire. "This is insane I knew so many people in this neighborhood. I used to help Ms. Myers down the street with her groceries. There's no way she can survive this," I said starting to realize just how badly this was affecting our small town. Chase came up from behind me and placed a gentle hand on my shoulder, "hey man, calm down. I know all of this is extremely overwhelming, but we're all together and we're going to get through this, because we have eachother, plus, you're an amazing leader," he said softly and I looked up at him feeling grateful to have my best friend by my side through all of this craziness. "Thanks Chase, I'm glad to have you here, let's go find some wood. Maybe if we find an abandoned house we can take apart some furniture. We should be able to get some wood planks from some of the furniture we rip apart." He nodded and we started walking toward the first house we saw that wasn't on fire and seemed to be abandoned. We walked into the house across the street from mine and looked around cautiously, I held the ax at the ready just in case one of the zombies came out of one of the rooms. Chase and I checked the house then when we were sure the house was empty we started walking through the rooms choosing pieces of furniture we could start taking apart to use for wood. We started with the beds in each room. They were all wood framed beds so that gave us quite a bit of wood to use, then we moved on to couches and chairs. Taking the upholstery off of them proved to be a challenge but between Chase and I we were able to take them apart and pull the nails and screws out and use the wood of those as well.

We were in the middle of pulling apart a chair when the front door slammed open and three guys stood there in the doorway staring at us. They were definitely much bigger than both of us and dressed in all black. Chase and I looked up at them and froze seeing they were all carrying guns. I didn't think I'd need to bring the guns we stole off of the other guys we'd killed. We were sorely out matched in this. The larger of the three guys, who had a large scar over his eye and mouth, looked at us and smirked, "oh, it's just a couple of teenagers. I thought we'd have to fight the dead, looks like we got off easy boys." I stood up slowly and held the ax tightly in one hand, "look, we're not looking for a fight...my friend and I just came to get some wood, that's all. Just let us take this wood and you three can have the house," I told them, knowing well that Chase and I could not take the three of them alone. The larger male looked at me then looked me up and down then cracked a wicked grin, "ya know kid, that's a very tempting offer, however...my friends and I just broke out of the slammer and it has been years since we've talked to anyone, especially not someone as cute as you. So, how about you and your friend there stay a while and we can all have some fun then we will talk about how we can split things up in this house." I looked up at the man then glared and gripped the ax tighter, "we're not interested in doing anything with any of you. We just came to get wood...we're leaving now. Chase grab that stack," I told Chase looking at one of the neat piles of wood we'd made in the corner of the living room. Chase looked at me then walked cautiously toward the corner to start picking up the wood. Suddenly before I could react the larger of the three men, the one I'd been speaking to grabbed me and started ripping the ax from my hand. I tried desperately to hold on and kicked the man in the shin. Meanwhile the other two smaller men had gone for Chase. One of the two, Chase was able two fight off easily because he was short with a wirey frame, the other however, a short brute of a man with a large scar on his neck and black beady eyes, grabbed Chase from behind in a headlock. "I don't think you understand kid, there's no option here where you get out of this," the large man whispered in my ear. He ripped the ax from my hand then threw it aside then used the butt of his gun and hit me hard in the side of the head. For the second time that day I fell unconscious.