Foray (© Rich Restucci) This contribution is part of a series:- 1. Unlikely Hero (16-Apr-2010)
| Assistance is always welcome when the living dead come stumbling. | 2. Run! (14-May-2010)
| Runs alongside Unlikely Hero with new characters, and some you might remember. A man and his daughter head for safety when the undead plague hits San Francisco. | 3. Debbie (11-Jun-2010)
| A flight attendant holes up in a school with some kids and one of San Francisco’s finest. Runs alongside of Unlikely Hero and Run! | 4. Novocain (13-Feb-2011)
| Sometimes the living dead aren’t the only pain. | 5. The Rock (15-Jan-2012)
| The survivors on Alcatraz get some new friends... and new enemies. | 6. Crossing (28-Apr-2013)
| Rick, Dallas, and a team of Navy SEALS traverse an infected United States to meet up with some scientists who just might have a vaccine for the plague. | 7. Foray (10-Oct-2013)
| A trip into fallen San Francisco reunites some survivors with an old friend, and old enemies. |
Page 1 "I just...I don’t think... darn it. You’re just
not getting me. He was a bunny is all. A bunny. I mean no matter how
you dress him up or if he flies a plane or outwits Fudd, or sings a song, he’s
still a bunny. Bunnies are cute. Kids love bunnies. I mean the original was
a mouse, but he was all old and stuff. Like from the forties or something.
Outdated. Bugs was new, and sarcastic, and didn’t have that stupid high
pitched laugh that the mouse had. The stuff that rabbit came out with!" The thing reached for him again, but stopped
when he stopped talking and tried to meander off. The man put a hand on its shoulder and spun
it to face him. It almost went over, but staggered and stood erect. Well, as
erect as it could with one foot missing. "Oh, am I boring you? Would you rather
discuss making lemonade out of lemons? The ramifications of the undead on the
stock market?" The creature looked past him, searching for
the source of the sound, and again tried to lurch away. "Rude." The man looked at the creature as it
shuffled by him. The thing moved slower than others because of its missing
appendage, and the nub of bone protruding from the bottom of its left leg made
a scraping sound as it moved across the black and white floor of the abandoned
pizza joint the two were in. Having only one foot the thing had a pronounced
starboard list. A wicked smile crossed the face of the young
man, then he began to chuckle, "Eileen!" he shouted, "I’m gonna call you
Eileen!" Proud of himself, the man beamed and nodded. The dead woman turned again and came at him
with her dead arms forward. He sighed and let her pass by, moving deeper into
the small restaurant. Others had heard him shout and were pawing at the
smashed front window, lacerating their arms. Dark fluids rained from the cuts
and ran down the shards of broken plate glass as they climbed through. The man removed a bolo machete from a sheath
on his hip. He gripped the worn polypropylene handle with one hand, the other
balled into a fist inside a canvas work glove with brass knuckles wired to it.
He had a pistol on each hip as well, and a pistol grip pump shotgun slung on
his back. The door to the shop had a broken lock, and
a few creatures staggered through it searching for the source of the sound.
They had just entered a restaurant looking for a bite to eat, which some months
ago would have been the model of normalcy. Now the scenario had a more
sinister implication. The bites would be taken from a living human being if
the creatures had their way of things, although said food was becoming scarce. The man didn’t tense even slightly as seven
more former humans entered the building. He swung his weapon in a vicious
sideways arc, taking the top of the head off of the gray skinned debutante that
tried to walk by him. He dispatched five others in a likewise manner, but the
last was wearing a motorcycle helmet, complete with face plate. The man rolled
his eyes, "Now how are you going to bite anybody with that on? Duh." He
rolled his left sleeve up, careful not to get any of the infected fluids which
coated his machete on him, "Go for it there genius, take a nibble." He thrust
his bare arm out but the dead biker shuffled past him like all the others. "Son of a..." The man shook his head, "Let me
help you with that." He snagged the dead man by its tattered shirt, the fabric
giving slightly as the thing tied to continue on its way. The living man
pulled the helmet off of the dead one, scalp, skin, and an ear coming with it. Scrunching up his face, the man looked
disgusted, "Ick." He swung the machete overhand and it went neck deep through
the cranium of the dead man. He put his boot on the back of the thing and
pushed, extricating his weapon. The re-killed biker fell forward, "Eight
hundred eighty eight." Turning, he noticed the crippled creature
staring at him, "Eileen! Tell me kiddo, when there’s a swarm of you dead
folks, racing to get some vittles, do you always lose the race by a foot?" He
looked dejected, putting his palms up, "Nothing? Really? Ok, Eileen,
whatever. Be that way." He decapitated her with the blade, her head rolling
next to his boot. [ Continue to page 2 ] |