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Unlikely Hero
(© 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

Special Thanks: Many thanks to Biswapriya Purkayastha for his assistance with my pathetic grammatical skills. Thanks again Bill!



It’s a whole new world.  Since the Rottens came, I’ve been able to go anywhere and do anything I want.  I just need to be careful.   Always careful.  I do miss my family though.

Dad was always my favorite.  He would give me treats all the time, and he could make me feel loved even when I was scared or really tired.  I would curl up with him when he sat reading in his chair, and he always made room for me, stroking the back of my neck while he read.

Now he’s gone.  They’re all gone.



Eleven Days Earlier

My family had, for some reason, just put big boards on the windows, and nailed the doors closed. They moved a bunch of furniture around, and everybody looked scared.  I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why they were wrecking the house.   It was business as usual for me though, and I just tried to stay out of the way.

They were talking in hushed voices, almost whispers, and my curiosity got the better of me.  I walked over to them to see what was going on.  My Dad reached down and picked me up.  He stroked my head a little, and told me everything was going to be fine.  He put me down and I latched on to his leg.  He said "Not now buddy." and gently pushed me away with his foot.   I strolled over to the TV, it was on but there was only some man talking, not the action I really liked to watch.  The man on the TV looked scared, but that was nothing new, all the stuff on the TV had somebody looking scared when my Dad was watching it.

I got bored with the TV and decided to take a nap.  I wasn’t really tired, but there wasn’t anything else to do, and Dad didn’t want to play.  I climbed up on the couch and sacked out.

I woke to the sounds of pounding.  It sounded like there was a bunch of people thumping the sides of the house with their hands.  This was highly irregular.  People came through the front door after thumping on it, but nobody smacked the sides of the house.

"How did they find us?" asked my Mom.

"Quiet!"  Dad hissed back.  "They might go away if they don’t hear anything," he whispered.

Of course, I didn’t know what any of that meant, but the tone implied something bad was happening.  The pounding continued, and then there was a crash from the kitchen.   Splintering wood and breaking glass.

"Get upstairs Laura, and lock yourself in the bedroom!"  barked Dad harshly.

"I’m not leavi…" Mom started to reply, but Dad cut her off.

"Go!" he said and pointed up.  "If it’s only a few I can take care of it."  Dad had a hammer in his hand, and he hefted it a couple of times, checking the weight, I think.

Mom ran toward the stairs, and as an afterthought, tried to scoop me up.  I was having none of it, and squirmed out of her arms.  I hid behind the couch, and she tried to get me.  "What are you doing?!?" demanded Dad.  "JUST GO!"  he yelled.  Mom bolted up the stairs, slamming the door behind her.

That was the last time I saw her.

Dad said something under his breath, and I peeked around the corner of the couch.  Dad didn’t see me.  He looked into the kitchen and said: "Shit."  He backed up, and I could see a shadow in the kitchen move slowly toward him.  Then another shadow.  Then another.  I heard a weird moaning from the kitchen too.  Dad stood there and let the shadows come to him.  I could hear glass from the broken door crunching under the feet of the shadows.  Then a woman came into view.  She was dirty, and her clothes and hair were a mess.  I couldn’t tell what it was at the time, but there was something… off… about her.  She stumbled toward my Dad, arms outstretched, and Dad stepped forward and smacked her on the top of her head with the hammer!  The woman dropped to her hands and knees, blood oozing from around the wound in her scalp.  She started to get up, and Dad brought the hammer down on the back of her head.   The disheveled woman stopped moving, but two more people came lurching out of the kitchen by then.  Dad smacked one of the people on the head and the hammer stuck in the guy’s head.  Dad tried pulling it out, but the second guy grabbed Dad by the shirt and pulled him close.  The guy with the hammer in his head started leaning to one side, and stumbled into my Dad and the second guy as they were grappling.  They all went down in a heap, and my Dad started screaming.  The second guy had bitten Dad in the arm!  More people were coming in the living room through the kitchen, and they started kneeling down and biting my Dad.  My struggling father looked at me then with startled eyes and with his last breath he said:  "Run."

[ Continue to page 2 ]

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Genre:Living Dead
Type:Short story
Rating:7.59 / 10
Rated By:260 users
Comments: 28 users
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