Snippet #2224303

The sound stayed steady as the sun rose above the Farland city skyline. He sat there on the roof of the west wall listening to the city breathing. It was echoing, erratic, and vast like the sound of an ocean shore. The sound grew louder as the sun rose stirring up the sounds source below. James sat there on his stool hunched over slightly in his hooded leather jacket. The silver duct tape wrapped around his forearms and lower legs he made for protection glistened in the sunlight. He tried to focus on the sun raise but couldn’t shake that sound. He looked to the horizon and watched the smoke from destroyed building covered parts of the lost city. Where he sat was the Fine Art Center(FAC), one of the few buildings left standing. He bent further to look over the edge of the roof to see the reason for the destruction. The source of the sound. Just outside his fortitude was what was left roaming the city. Below wondered the undead.
It was a mixture of breathing, grunts, and groans from the undead that engulfed the city. The sounds came from all around and never really stopped. The sound bothered James of course, being an eerie white noise, but he preferred it from the sounds of screaming he heard from the start of the outbreak. He tried to escape in the evacuation when it first started but the outbreak hit so hard and so fast in his area all he could do was hide. James held up here in the cities college campus in the sculpture rooms of the art building, and managed to make it safe for the night by using all the tools he found in the room. As the days past he pushed his fortification outward to the rooms that conjoined to the sculpture room. Using the tools he found he managed to fortify the Studio room, where the Juniors and Seniors of the Sculpture Department were allowed to work and stay in. The students had put in a small fridge, coffee maker, and microwave that no longer worked due to the lack of electricity, but a mattress that was used by late night working students like James. As well as a clay room that had potters wheels, a clay chemistry lab, large canvas tables, and three electric Kilns and one gas Kiln. And lastly the Court yard, that was used for wielding, the gas kiln, cutting metal, and any other hazardous tools. It was a walled in outdoor area with only two doors. One door entering the sculpture room, and the other entering the clay room. There is a covered walkway that covers half of the court yard from the weather. On one wall is a 20 foot wide 15 foot high metal gate that allowed professors and students to park in the courtyard and drop off heavy materials into the studio. Jay now uses it as a parking place. James put up a wire near the top of the gate that stretches from one side of the gate to the other, and has draped a green tarp across it to keep him out of sight of the undead, even though they could not break that gate down.
He never wanted to stay here, but do to the amount of undead roaming the city, and with the conditions of the roads he has been forced to stay. He spends his day gathering what food he can (mainly vending machines from the campus), and working of his fortification. Now, this was the safest place for him, and at the rate he has been working on the fort its being to look like a plausible home.
James stood up and walked back to the edge of the wall facing the inside of his gated court yard. He went to the ladder propped against the wall and climbed down into the court yard, which was hidden from the undead eye. He went through the large double doors located in-between the court yard and the sculpture room. Upon entering the sculpture room he looked around and checked his barricades. Fixing anything that needed it and moving through each room making sure it was secure. Since he had been held up in the FAC he had tried to keep himself working. James loved to work with his hands, and loved to be creative with them even more. He put together some weapons with the tools he had on hand. He cut some sharpened tips of half inch thick rebar into knives and spears, wielded nails and one of his rebar knives onto a metal pipe making it a spear and mace, carved out wooden knuckles and drilled 4 inch screws into them, and made the belt he uses to carry all these weapons with out of duct tape. Anything that he finds, James tries to make good use out of it. It saves him from having to risk his life try to find already made weapons when he is able to forge his own.
James grabbed his gear, a galloon glass jar from the clay chemistry lab, and a rubber hose. Today he planned on going out to find some more medical supplies and food because he was running low on snacks. But to do so he needed gas, and his Camry was dangerously low.
Going back into the court yard he saw that it had begun to sprinkle. He pondered for a moment if it was smart to scavenge during a storm but figured that if he went fast enough he could beat the rain. He pulled a wire hanging from his tarp the covered the gate. Like curtains, the tarp opened up revealing the city outside the metal gate. He peeked through the bars and saw only a few undead roaming the streets yards away. He went to the center of the double door gate and unlocked the padlock chain wrapped through the gates bars. Placing a precautionary Rebar Spear he kept near the gate he ventured outward into the city shutting but not locking the gate behind him.
He walked west down the street heading to the car he had yet to siphon. Crouching behind anything he could find and slowly making his way down the street. He hunkered behind one car and waited for the undead to walk past him on the other side. He peaked through the car windows as it past and grabbed hold of his screw knuckles, and slid his fingers through the holes. As the roamer came around the corner James cocked his hand back and was about to attack when something pulled him down.
A half of a man from underneath the car and yanked on James’s right leg and tripped him down making him let out and unfortunate yell. The Undead thing attempted to bite through his ankle but couldn’t penetrate the jean and duct taped he wrapped around it. James bent over to try and strike the thing with his spiked knuckle but couldn’t reach well enough under the car. That’s when the roamer from before piled onto James after hearing his yell. James placed his left arm above himself to attempt to defend himself, and the roamer grabbed and bit at his arm. This roamer couldn’t bite through the leather and duct tape wrapped around his wrists either, but both of the undead had begun tearing away at the duct tape.
With his left leg he kicked the half man off and pushed against the car with his free legs to get some distance. With the roamer pulling and biting at his arm, James fought back trying to let out the least amount of noise as possible. He thrust his arm up into the roamer, throwing it off balance, and then yanked the roamer to the ground. James sat up as the Roamer sat up with him and began to reach and grab for his face. James managed to grab the roamers collar and dug his spiked fist into its skull. By now the half man crawled its way up to James, but could not grab a hold of him before James sent a barrage of jabs into its head, leaving 9 mangled holes in his wake.
James quickly stood up and found that the fight lured a 3 more undead his way. James ran to the car he hadn’t siphoned yet a used his rebar knife from his belt to pop open the gas lid. He throw the gas lid to the side and slid the rubber hose into the tank. He made a quick turn to face an undead just seconds from him, and drove his rebar knife into its skull. The other two undead where approaching quickly screaming and grunting for James. This caused more undead to pop out around nearby alleys, and from behind buildings.
James quickly sucked out the gas from the tank and gagged and coughed as the gas entered his mouth. Gas poured everywhere before he attached in to his gallon jug. Letting the jug fill on the ground, he went to face the nearby undead. He unlatched the Pipe mace from his belt and wielded it in his right hand and in his left was the spiked knuckles and rebar knife. With a huge swing he sent the mace into an approaching undead woman, and kicked down her undead friend. Mounting the second undead, he slide his rebar knife through her chin and the tip poked out of the skull. Standing up quickly, he grabbed his mace from the first undead head and drove the spear tip into the next undead that approached.
More and more came out of the woodwork as James fought them off. The street started to get too packed for James to handle and after thrusting his fist into another undead skull he went to grab the, now over flowing, jug and hose. He put a cork into the jug and sat it on the car next to him. He sent his knife into another undead head, but couldn’t free it from the skull. Quickly he left the knife behind, knowing he had more, and grabbed the jug with his left hand. He sprinted back to the Gate of his fort and ran across car tops to try and distance himself from some undead. Making it back to the gate in a matter of seconds he placed the jug down to fight off more undead.
Punching and swinging his mace around killing off one undead after the other. He tried to kill off the close undead so he could safely enter his fort, but the horde had grown to fast. He grabbed the jug and made his way through the gate. Quickly he grabbed his spear he placed near the gate from before and pushed out an undead that tried to follow him inside. He Closed the gate fast and with trembling hands latched the pad lock back on the chains. The undead crashed against the gate only moments after, but the 4 Undead on the other side couldn’t knock the gate down.
The bars of the gate where very narrow, and most large undead couldn’t fit their hands through the gate. Those that could reach, could not grab James through the gate. All of them however pushed their faces against the holes of the bars and bit ferociously at James.
James sat on his cars trunk inside the court yard and tried to catch his breath. He examined his torn duct tape guards and found that he was unbitten. Once he caught his breath he went up to the gate and pulled the tarp shut. Now the undead couldn’t see him, and he hoped with some time they would forget and leave him be.
He picked up the gas jug and placed it on top of his trunk. Getting ready to open the gas tank lid he was stopped when one of the undead pulled down the tarp from the right wall, revealing James once again.
“DAMN IT” he shouted. “LOSY SON OF A BITCH!” He quickly went and grabbed his rebar spear and yelled “FUCK YOU, YA PIECE OF SHIT! AHHHHH!” and drove the spear through the culprits head.
He was beyond pissed at this moment. Being scared to death and almost eaten alive was bad enough but for some reason ripping down his tarp made him furious. He began screaming with each thrust he sent into the skulls, one after the other. Through a woman’s eye, then an old man’s mouth, a child’s forehead, a teens cheek. One after the other, and more and more came.
As he speared, his yells became more like whimpers, and eventually into a cry. He fell to his knees and began to bawl into his hands. He looked unto the pile of dead he created, and watched the undead horde walk on top of them. Reaching and biting for James. Never stopping.
“..Damn it…” He spoke softly with a hurt voice. James felt that he was losing this fight. Safe in these place, but trapped within the city. He feared he wouldn’t last long on his own.
He tried to calm himself down, and stay focused. He looked up the hole in the wall left from the wire on the pulled down tarp. He saw something that needed fixing, and suddenly got the focus he needed.
Grabbing a measuring tape, hammer, and nails, went to fix the wire. He propped up the ladder unto the wall, and climbed up onto the roof dragging the wire and tarp with him. Once on the roof he measured the length of his arm and then bent over the edge to measure the same distance away from the gate. Adding on a few inches he made his mark where the nail was needed. He hammered a nail through into the wall, and attached the wire and tarp to it. While doing this it had begun to rain. He carefully climbed down, and moved the ladder to the opposite wall to adjust and move the other end of the tarp. He couldn’t climb on the roof for this side so he stood on the ladder and measured the same distance from before away from the gate. He hammered a nail into the wall where it was needed and moved the wire to the new hook.
“Easy fix.” He said softly. From the top of the ladder he looked over the tarp at the undead on the other side of the gate. There had to be around 6 by now, pushing and reaching for James. “The gate will hold.” He said to himself and began to climb down.
The rain made the metal steps of the ladder slippery, and with a gasp James’s leg slid through a hole in between the steps and sent James plummeting below. He landed on his back next to the gate, and his head whipped down onto the concrete.
He looked up to the rain and saw the faces of the undead press against the gate as his vision went black…
…
… he began to fade in and out of consciousness with the rain pouring harder and harder on to his face. Barely seeing the hands reaching for him.
…
… Hands shoving and grabbing him, he thought of his mother trying to waking him up for school…
…
the Sounds finally woke him up.
He came to and fought off the hands reaching for him. Standing up he saw the crowd he had drawn. There had to be near 30 or more pushing and fighting their way to him, pushing the gates to its limits. Quickly James got into his car, and backed in up against the gates and pulled the parking brake trying to barricade the gate.
He moved back into the covered walk way, looking in horror to the hoard, and then ran inside the sculpture room. He shut the doors and placed a plank of wood across the doors to secure it. He wasn’t sure how long the gates would hold and might have to hold up here.
He felt the back of his head and found blood. He ripped off some of his plaid shirt under his jacket and tied it around his head as a bandage.
James sat and listen in the dark room to the sounds of the hoard outside. He waited to hear the loud breaking sound of his padlock and the rush of the hoard coming to devour him. Minutes passed by and the sound hadn’t come. Instead he could hear the distant sound of gunfire. His heart stopped as the undead suddenly became quiet. He and the hoard listened carefully. Bang bang. More gun fire in the distant. The undead weren’t quiet for long, but their voice began to fade away.
James moved the plank and opened the sculpture door. He went outside in the court yard and found the gate was still standing. He also found that the Undead were no longer at his gate, but were instead heading to the source of the sound.
“Oh thank God.” He said, feeling somewhat safe. Then it hit him. Whoever is making that noise is going to have a hoard of undead heading their way… A hoard he created…