Tough Love: A Zombie ACRES Story

The screams and cries could be heard from as far away as the Saunders' house down the block. As Gee came around the corner of the garage she could instantly see why Alice was in hysterics. I suppose watching your mother eat your brother alive would screw with anybody. Gee felt terrible for having less compassion at a time like this, but she does have bigger problems to worry about - as soon as Alice is safe.

"Alice!" Gee started screaming as soon as she was within ear shot, not that she could be heard over the commotion in the backyard. "Alice! I need you to listen to me! Do exactly as I say!" She rips her red flannel shirt off, waving it wildly in the air.

Am I even reaching through to that little brat? Do I ever?!

Again, Gee felt terrible. How could she even be thinking such terrible thoughts right now? Just because Alice is not her blood sister, does not mean she deserves this. She knew she had to do something.

Georgia Marie was not a particularly fit girl, well not before this started, but she has learned to maneuver her small frame quickly; and being down to just jeans and a t-shirt will only add to this speed.

With her flannel shirt still waving about, Gee screams, "I'm coming to save you, but you need to calm down and listen to me!" At this Alice turned and met Gee's eyes, which were a steely, cold gray under her short brown hair. "Great! Thank you, Alice. Now listen carefully and do exactly as I say. Crawl under that table to your right, and go quick."

Luckily Alice did not see what Gee was seeing as she said this. Her mother...well the dead, rotting shell formerly known as her mother, was lurching mere inches behind Alice. A cold and sickly looking hand was creeping just behind Alice's long red hair.

"Alice, I need you to move faster." Gee tried to remain calm, remembering herself at Alice's age. Though it was only three years ago, it felt like a lifetime after the way her world has changed. There is no way I would have been able to make it through any of this at sixteen. With this new found respect for the strength Alice must poses deep inside, Gee decided to pull on her big girl panties and make sure Alice had all the time she needed to get out of this death trap.

As Alice was still crawling, Gee jumps into action, grabbing a lawn gnome and throwing it directly into the side of the zombie's head, only managing to daze the monster momentarily, but not before allowing it to knock over the table her daughter was crawling towards. Alice got up and ran behind the upturned picnic table. With her sister out of harm's way, Gee knew it was time finish this and get out of Dodge.

Gee looks around the backyard. Luckily there is only Alice's mom. I coulda taken her when she was alive. This thought actually made Gee laugh, which Alice must have thought odd. Finally a broken piece of fence board was spotted... by Alice.

"Alice! NO!" Gee screamed and tried to stop Alice as she ran full speed at her mother, sharp fence board at the rise.

She stepped onto a chair and leaped through the air. It was something out of an action movie. Alice flying through the air, weapon armed and aimed, targeted straight onto her mother's temple. Everything went along great - until the landing. The hit landed perfectly, but Alice hit her mother's head with her arm and flipped backwards onto the electric grill. The hard hit knocked Alice unconscious and left her lying crumpled on the ground.

Gee ran over to Alice, praying she's still alive. With tears streaming down her face, she scoops her sister's limp body into her arms and checks for any signs of life. After finding a pulse and breathing, Gee felt better and was able to think clearer. Her first priority was finding a safe spot to rest and help Alice heal enough to move on her own again.

There was a small abandoned house not too far from here where Gee would go to get high after school. She hoped it hadn't been overrun by zombies, or worse, survivors. Past experiences have proven that people on the edge and scared out of their mind, can actually be worse than any undead threat.

Having been through this enough recently to know one thing for sure, Gee pulls the fence board out of Alice's mom's head, and finds a sick gratification at the squishing sound it makes, and heads for her step brother.

Gotta make sure he's dead... For good.

She stands over her little brother's body. Tears start pouring out of her eyes, too emotional to even attempt to stop them. She waits. Nothing happens. Still better safe than sorry.

Gee grips tightly onto the fence board, bracing for what must be done. Taking a deep breath, she composes herself. Quickly, she lowers the sharp wood through her brother's head, falling to her knees, sobbing as she does.

As she rises to her feet, wiping tears and blood from her face, Gee surveys the devastation that used to be her home life. Anger swells inside her and she cannot resist one last kick to the side of her stepmother's head.

This would be more gratifying if she could feel it.

Gee digs deep for her strength and decides it is time for them to move, but Alice is still unconscious on the patio. She picks her up and carries her inside the house, shutting the broken, glass patio doors behind her with her foot, more out of habit than protection.

Setting her sister down on the kitchen floor, Gee starts searching for some necessities for the road. Luckily, most of the items she needed were right there in the kitchen; flashlight (with extra batteries, of course), hammer, few cans of food, and some bottled water. There was one more thing, but she had to run upstairs to her room to grab it. She looks out the window while she is upstairs and notices that her stepmother was not just an isolated incident in her neighborhood.

Just what I need right now.

Gee turns around and makes for the door, grabbing her weed kit along the way. She gets back to the kitchen and Alice is still out. She can't very well carry her and all the supplies on foot. She walks to the garage only to find a bike with a Burley kid trailer attached.

She looks up at the sky and realizes it will be dark soon. With no time to be picky, she scoops up Alice and lays her in the trailer, gently kissing her forehead and wiping her red hair from her eyes. After grabbing the supplies and setting them alongside her sister, Gee hops on the bike and takes off towards the only refuge she knows right now.

The house seems eerily quiet when they get there, though these days, any silence seems eerie at night. Gee stashes the bike, along with Alice's trailer, in some bushes near the house. Grabbing the flashlight and crowbar, she starts looking inside the windows.

I don't see anyone, alive or dead, but that doesn't mean much. I'm surprised there isn't more activity, now that I think about it, especially considering it looks like somebody has actually bought the place in the last couple years.

She tries the front door, which is unlocked. Searching through the whole first floor, nothing seems too disturbed; no looting or destruction. It isn't like there was much to take. The front room and dining room had a few random pieces of furniture, most of which would be too large to be practical on the move. The kitchen finds the same, but with drawers thrown on the floor.

I'm glad to know I haven't fallen into the Twilight Zone at some point. Somebody was here and took what they needed. Maybe they haven't left...

With this thought, she starts towards the staircase at the front of the house. Quietly moving up the staircase, Gee steadies herself, ready to attack at the first sign of movement - whatever it may be. Reaching the top of the stairs, she see there are only two bedrooms and a bathroom along a dark hallway.

She easily clears bedroom one, considering it was completely empty and didn't even have a closet. Heading a little further down the hall, she starts to smell something. It's an all too familiar smell. After searching the bathroom, she starts towards the bedroom at the end of the hall. The wind outside picks up, and on it comes that pungent odor.

Most people would have vomited and run as fast and as far as they could just from the rancid smell, but knowing it was the smell of death would have made even the toughest man wet himself - even if just a little. Flashlight in one hand, crowbar in the other, Gee slowly opens the bedroom door with her foot, heart pounding with the fear of what she may find.

As soon as the door creaks open, the smell slaps Gee in the face. Once inside, her nerves calm, even if her stomach does not. Near the window, in a couple of armchairs, sit the bodies of an elderly couple, both with gunshot wounds to the head.

Poor couple. Murder-suicide. Looks like the wife was bit, which makes the husband the gunman for both.

Gee walks out of the room, wondering if she would have been able to do the same if she were in the husband's place. As she gets downstairs, nighttime is fully upon them. She needs to grab Alice and bring her into safety, even if it is just for the night.

After setting a makeshift bed up out of some old, and only mildly disgusting, blankets and lying Alice down, Gee goes about boarding up the first floor windows. The furniture that was too heavy on the go, is perfect to secure this place up.

After what seems like an eternity, the first floor is secure enough for the night. It's not like I'm gonna be sleeping anyways. Sitting on the floor, holding Alice, and just trying to absorb everything that has happened since she started searching for answers, Gee just loses it.

She begins screaming and sobbing, rocking back and forth; holding her little sister in arms. Gee's body was shaking so much from all the emotions that she didn't even notice Alice start moving at first.

" Alice! You're awake!" Every single thought left Georgia Marie's mind in an instant. The tears came on worse than they ever had, but they felt different - almost good. "No matter what, I will protect you from this point on.... I promise!"

Gee hugs Alice tightly, holding her against her chest. As she was brushing some dirt off Alice's arm, Georgia Marie's mind once again went instantly blank...

" No... How... You were fine... Maybe the scratch isn't from your mother." Gee hurriedly rips her sister's shirt off, examining the scratch on Alice's arm. Just as she feared.

Only a scratch. I have a little time before I have to... Well, before it's time to say goodbye.



Read the other Zombie A.C.R.E.S. stories at ZombieACRES.com

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Always and Forever: A Zombie A.C.R.E.S. Story