The Long Winter: Part 2
[I'm not really a writer, I've never tried to be, but I love post-apocalyptic/zombie...
[I'm not really a writer, I've never tried to be, but I love post-apocalyptic/zombie based stories and I thought I'd give it a try to come up with my own story. It's certainly not original, since I utilized ideas like making it a solo tale like I Am Legend and utilized zombie/monster ideas from things from Left 4 Dead. This is nothing more than me having fun and trying to come up with a fun setting. There's bound to be spelling/grammar errors, so no need to point anything like that out unless there are serious problems. I hope you enjoy.] The Long Winter Part 2 "Jan! Shut off that damn alarm clock! Tired of you letting that thing run for so freaking long!" Maxon yelled out, getting no response. The horse groaned, realizing where he was. He wasn't back in Washington with his roommate Janick, he was in Colorado in the refurbished missile silo that was his current home for the past three years.. That alarm was no alarm clock either, it was the motion sensor warnings he had installed on the surface. After last nights long haul in the snow after his truck died on him, he had taken the decontamination shower and fallen asleep in his underwear in the living room. Maxon stood up, rubbing his eyes, his legs stiff and sore. He wasn't use to long walks like that in so long. Hurrying out of the living room and into the security room, he flipped on the three security monitors, looking carefully to see hat wandered into his neck of the woods. Maxon looked close, the morning foggier than usual, but he could make out the definite shape of a shambler. He sighed with relief. Maxon sat down into the chair, leaning back and watching the pathetic creature walk along, swaying some, seeming to have no real purpose other than to move. "Thank god it was just the one. Wonder if he somehow followed me during my trek. Could've walked that whole way here from Larkston...wait...the hell?" He leaned forward, squinting some. There was another mass in the fog, a ways off from the zombie, but it looked twice it's size. From the position of the camera, it was a good 100 feet away from it, but closed that distance in a matter of seconds. Maxon watched as the mass rammed the zombie, tearing it's head off from it's body, it's spine dangling as the creature chomped into the guts of the zombie. After taking out a chunk, the creature tossed the corpse which landed not to far from one of the cameras, skidding to a stop. Just as quickly as it shoed up, it disappeared into the fox and blowing snow. "FUCK. A mutant. Big son of a bitch too. Must be 500 pounds. I have seen one around these parts in over a year. Did he follow me too? Why the hell is everything following me today?" Maxon was abit nervous, his knee bouncing on it's own as he just stared into the white blizzard, his mind wandering to every possibility of such a creature hanging around the area. If it managed to find the entrance, could that massive door hold him back? That door had to be near a foot thick, but had heard on the radio a while back of people watching these over-muscled mutants flipping cars. He could probably out run it in the car once he gets the snow tires and chains on, but he still has to get out of the car, put the code in, and then get back inside. He would've stayed there staring for longer, if not for his stomach growling. It was about ten in the morning and he didn't even get to dinner
before collapsing in that chair. Groaning again as he stood, he sluggishly made his way to the kitchen, putting behind his fears for now, stepping onto the beautiful tile floor that didn't shine as well as it did when it was first installed by the horse himself. Three years of not polishing it had taken it's toll, but it was nothing the stallion cared about. He popped over to a cupboard, looking through all the canned and packaged goods. "Am I out of cereal? Shit...these are grim times when I can't even have a bowl of cereal anymore. Eh, guess it's for the better. I never did like that canned milk too much. Well, guess it's time for lunch." Grabbing a box of wrapped up Mac n' Cheese, he poured some water from the filtered jug and set it to boil, leaning back as he stared at a spot on the ceiling. Nothing was there, but it seemed to be just the right thing to look at now. Staring intently, his mind wandered off to times when he did have cereal, too when he didn't have to worry about creatures that wanted to eat him or were the size of compact cars...To when things were normal. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Years Ago... "Hey, don't you scratch that flooring there, mister. I wouldn't want to have to fire you." Mr. Charles laughed as he came up to the horse who was taking some boxes of tile out of the back of truck who turned and smiled at his employer. "I wouldn't want that to happen, Mr. Charles. I'd hate to see you who would find to replace me. Not that anyone could refurbish a structure like this to your standards like I would, or could do all the work himself without hiring a half dozen different guys for three times the price." Maxon smirked as he made his way past the opening of the huge door, setting the tile down next to a bunch of other boxes and equipment, all of which was centered on an elevator. "Damn straight, Max. What you've done here is a miracle. When I came to you, I had no idea what kind of deal I was getting, but you are worth every compliment Ron gave you." Mr. Charles pat the horse on the back, the well dressed bear smoking on a cigar, wearing a pair of slacks and dress shirt, an airforce leather jacket on him, and fancy italian shoes. He was only five foot five, portly, with a thick build and gray hair. A big guy for his size, but still almost a foot and more smaller than the horse working for him. "Remind me to thank Ron. Haven't seen him in almost a year." Grunting as he set another batch of tiles, Maxon wiped his forehead as he tried to remember where it was he saw his platoon buddy last. Some sort of military showing, but they hung out that entire week together. Lots of parties...Most likely the reason he has trouble remembering too much from that week. "Damn straight you should. He's a good man. Helped out my
son when he went over there for his first tour in Iraq. Speaking of Mark, he should be back soon from his time in Afgahnistan. Good timing also with this nasty flu going around killing people." The bear rolled his cigar around his lips, taking a long drag. "I don't think you should worry about any of that, Mr. Charles. It's just more media hype like the Swine Flu and Avian Flu. It'll pass and we'll all go about our business, never remembering this mess till the next flu comes out. Swear I'm gonna punch a reporter if the next one ends up being called the Horse Flu or something like that." Maxon laughed as he stood up and went back to the truck, loading up some more materials. "Course I'm not worried about anything. I have a business associate over on the East Coast who says they are already working on a vaccine for this. I'm gonna be first in line for this damned shot and everyone will be dandy. You should get one too. Wouldn't want you getting sick and unable to finish this place. I paid good money for this secure silo and I want to call it home as soon as I can. Nothing will be safer than this, when either North Korea or Iran or China or whatever country hates us next wants to try and blow us sky high." Mr. Charles dropped his burnt out cigar, blowing out the heavy smoke in the air as he smothered it out under his expensive shoes. "Well enjoy your placebo shot, Mr. Charles. I'll be fine. I've had the flu twice in my whole life. Pretty stout guy, so I think I can take anything this Burning Flu can dish out and not miss a day of work. Not every day you get to work on a place like this. If I start saving now, I could probably afford to call a place like this home in about 40 years." Maxon laughed as he walked through the huge door, pushing the button on the elevator to go down four floors underground to unload his equipment to continue working on making this old silo a real home to live in that would withstand for 100 years if it wanted to. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Present Day Maxon snapped out of his daydream at the sound of boiling water, pouring in his noodles to make up his first meal of the day. Soon after, he was eating his cheesy noodles at the counter, enjoying it more than he should, even with using that damned canned milk, but he was too hungry to care. He tossed the empty contents of his plate into the sink to be cleaned later when the motion alarms went off again. Maxon groaned as he made his way back to the monitors, turning them on, expecting to see that mutant from earlier skipping around the meadow like he owned it, looking for something to rip apart like the Hulk on a bad day. He didn't see the mutant, he didn't see much from the low lying cameras. What he saw on the screen with the camera located in a tree turned the brown horse pale. Zombies as far as the eye could see. Possibly hundreds of wandering corpses, making their way across the surface of the underground silo. "No. No, no, no. It can't be a horde. Why the hell would they wander through here? This spot? This one spot in all of god damn Colorado?" A horde was just that. Zombies in mass. Hundreds or more. Basically just zombies wandering that would drag along more zombies, bumping into more that would follow them till it was a moving hornets nest of death. He had heard about them, but never ever wanted to meat up with one or be caught in the middle of it. It was nothing a single person or even a large group of people could fight off. This one seemed smaller than the thousands he would hear about around cities, but there was enough that some could make there way to the entrance of the silo, maybe catch his scent, or just stick around and cause trouble when he wanted to leave. His fears were realized when a good couple dozen were lodged into the underground entrance, the whole cement overhang filled with them, the small camera above the keypad seeing zombies clambering at the metal door, frozen skin peeling from their boney hands as they clawed away for whatever reason they had. Maxon knew he had to do something. His supplies were dwindling, even with his recent trip that could last a few weeks, but he had to get more and restock from the surrounding towns. The stallion gripped onto the chairs arm he was sitting in, knuckles tight as he had to figure out a plan to fight off all these zombies without attracting that muscled abomination also. He was gonna have to go outside and take them all out by himself.