The Unexpected

by Marco Romero
(Riverside Ca)

They’re running faster than expected, it’s like they were in some track sport or something. I’m running out of breath, it’s probably because I have been running for a while and I don’t know how long I can last. There it was, I can see it in the distance. I was almost there, but like all those movies, I tripped. I was expecting the worst, that’s when I hear it, my ears start to buzz in the inside. I was pretty confused, I thought I would have been a man-wich to those monsters. I look up with shock on my face, could it really be him. I was questioning it until he asked me if I was OK. I asked his name and he replied with the name I was hoping for. I asked if he remembered me, but he said no. I felt kind of sad but I didn’t stop there. I told him that I was his son, then he said my name in disbelief. We both had tears in our eyes, but before we could indulge the moment of seeing each other once again, we heard more of those groaning from a distance and we both agreed on putting distance between them and us.
We ended up at his place where he stayed. It looked like an abandoned workshop that kind of looked like a plaza, but it looked pretty crappy from the outside, but don’t let that fool you. Before he showed me the secret entrance he told the most shocking thing ever, that if I ever show this to anyone, that he would have to kill me. We enter and I couldn’t believe my eyes. There were about four other people there and they were all family, then from the corner of my eye I saw another figure on the bed, I slowly turned around to be wide eyed again, it was my wife.
We got settled, and I greeted everyone, everyone asking questions and joking around until we all heard it. It was a loud crash outside. We were all confused and scared, we didn’t know a such thing could make a loud noise and make the ground shake. My dad said that he was going to go check it out, but I couldn’t risk losing him, again, so I volunteered to go with him. We went out another exit and we looked up in the sky, it was a weird color of red. We went back in to tell them that we don’t know what it was but for some reason we both turned around to see it. It was all black and pretty tall, about seven to eight feet tall, it was a huge fellow. We both ran back to the safe house to warn the others but before we could run, it had spotted us.
I started to shoot at it recklessly because I was really terrified at the beast in front of me. Then my dad started to shoot, I looked at him but before I could shoot at him again, I feel a great pain in my ribs. I see black and hit something hard. I look and realize that the monster hit me. I get up pretty slow. I look and see the monster eating my father. I was so hurt and angry that I pick up my gun and shoot at the beast. I remembered that zombies die with a bullet to the brain. So I shot the beast about ten times in the head till the monster died.
I go back inside and they all jumped at me and asked me what had happened and the question that hurt me the most was when they asked where was my dad. I started bursting in tears. They started to get worried. All I said was that he was killed by a monster like no other that roams the earth. It took me a good while to pull myself together. Then they said not to let that get to me, but then I thought to myself, I shouldn’t worry because I remember before all this happened, my dad was diagnosed with brain cancer. It took me the rest of the day to forget about what had happened.

I woke up with something tapping me on the shoulder and my instinct told me to ask what time was it and I heard a familiar voice say one in the morning. I look next to me to see my wife cuddling me. I hugged her and kissed her like I have never done before. I was so happy to see my lady once again. We stayed up talking about what we both missed out on. It soon got too late where we both agreed on going to sleep cause in this new world, you have to get your sleep because if you don’t, you will suffer great consequences.

I woke up to gunfire and screaming, I look next to me and I see my wife gone. I look around and I see zombies and monsters all over the place, there are bodies everywhere, both human and unhuman. I grab a gun but before I reach it, there is something on my back. It’s a little zombie riding on my back and with a swift twist, it goes flying off of me. I pick up the gun and start shooting. I was aiming at this one zombie when I realize that it was my wife. I didn’t want to believe it. I started to cry, but I hear my cousin tell me that she is one of them and that she can’t be saved. I just wanted to tell him that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. I ran up to her and hugged her, a couple of seconds later, I felt a sharp pain on my neck. I pull back and I see flesh in her mouth, I put a hand to my neck and see blood all over my hand. I shoot my wife in the head and she goes down. I walk towards my cousin and he says, “I’m sorry” and aims his gun at me and pulls the trigger.