Zombieboy

Hours later Kyle heard Chuck moving the dresser out from in front of his bedroom door. Kyle knew it was Chuck, just as he knew it was 3:12 in the morning, far longer than Chuck had said he would sleep. Opening his eyes Kyle glanced at the small battery operated analog clock he had found in Katie's room. The time read 3:12, just as he thought.

“Kyle?”, Chuck called out, “You still there Kyle?”

Pulling air he no longer needed into his lungs Kyle replied, “I am here Chuck.”

“Everything okay Kyle?”, Chuck slowly came into the living room, a dull LED flashlight announcing his arrival. Katie's small form was behind him.

'Interesting', thought Kyle, 'I can't see the light at all, just the glowing bulb.' In fact if he had not seen Chuck holding the flashlight he would not have known how Chuck was able to see into the living room at all.

“Kyle? Everything okay?”, Chuck repeated.

“Huh? Oh sure, yeah, no real problems.”

“What are you doing?”

“Telling time, counting seconds and seeing how long I can keep my eyes shut and then opening them and seeing if I can get the time right or not.”

“What? I mean, why?”, Chuck asked perplexed, not understanding why anyone would do that.

Kyle shrugged, “I don't know, the power went out a little before midnight. I was getting bored.” Kyle didn't mention he had been practicing telling the time since about four o'clock the previous afternoon, he hadn't opened his eyes since six last night. He knew exactly when the power cut off, 12:04, because the refrigerator had stopped making noise then.

“Oh. Okay, well the power being out sucks, eh? Makes it harder for us to get around. I didn't mean to sleep that long you know, but I feel much better now. Any problems while we were out?”

“Some. Yeah, but I took care of them.”

“Oh? What happened?”

Kyle wished he had cleaned up the bodies then, he saw Chuck turn his flashlight towards the door.

“Jesus Christ on a crutch! What the hell happened?”

His light had played over the five bodies in the living room. 'Good thing he hasn't gone outside yet', thought Kyle, thinking of the three bodies outside Chuck's bedroom windows.

“Kyle I told you to wake me up if anything happened?”

“I know, but I couldn't get you to wake up.”, Kyle lied.

“You did this then?”

“With the bat, yeah, they weren't that smart, they usually tried to crawl over the table and get in, I just hit 'em hard in the head, like you said and they stopped.” Only the first one had seemed to be smarter than the rest, he had two of the three other zombies Kyle killed following him, be he had not expected Kyle to be there and after a couple tentative whacks Kyle had laid into him hard and he dropped like the last leaf in winter. The two other had started to mill about and were easy to knock over. Later the others had gathered around Chuck's window, while Kyle was clubbing them from behind the two remaining zombies had crawled into the living room. Since then it had been very quiet.

Kyle mentioned the flashlights weird behavior to Chuck, telling him he could see the light source, the bulbs, but not the rays of light they emitted, like his eyes were not working. It wouldn't matter much about not seeing the light light, though Kyle didn't mention it, they were both glowing. They had a delicious looking swirl that moved and rotated around inside their skins, it was most noticeable where they were not covered with clothing, their hands, faces, necks, bare legs, anyplace not covered emitted the glow. The visual effect was so strong it seemed to carry over into Kyle's other senses as well, not only could he see them, he could taste them and smell them as well. And they put forth a delicious presentation. Like being really hungry and going to McDonald's, seeing all the food items you could practically taste with your eyes. The livings glow could be seen through walls, barely and it was easier through windows, when Kyle had concentrated really hard he could see Chuck and Katie sleeping through their bedroom walls in the back. Probably that was what the outside zombies had seen.

It was a two way street though, Kyle could also see zombies pretty clearly, their colors seemed darker than the living colors, but Kyle had no difficulty seeing them through clothing, walls or even his closed eyelids. Even if he wasn't facing them. It was like he had radar now, only Kyle nicknamed it 'Zombiedar'. He had discovered this when the faster, tougher zombie broke through the door, Kyle had gotten turned around during all the batting and one of the slow zombies had come behind him. Kyle didn't think the zombie was going to attack him, but he just felt him there and when he turned around he was right. Since that had happened Kyle had tried to use his Zombiedar and during the process it had revealed the three gathering outside of Chucks bedroom window.

“Kyle, you sure you're okay?”

“Yeah, Mr Rand, I am okay, just kind of bored.”

Smiling Chuck said, “I can see why, sitting here with nothing to do all this time. Did anyone else try and get in?”

“Yeah a few out back. After I stopped 'em no more tried to get in.”

“Well you have been busy! Kyle, we woke up a little while ago and have been talking about what we are going to do. both our cars are gone, we looked in the garage last night, whoever took the car had to know where we keep the spare keys for it and that is a very short list of people. Two of those people are your mom and dad, so maybe they made it back and swiped the car, not knowing we were coming home. Your mom's car is probably drivable, but the battery has to be run down by now, and with no power to charge it up we'll have to get a battery from somewhere else...”

Kyle stood up and put his hands in his pockets, pulling out his mom's car keys. “I shut the door, the light was still on, when I got the keys, I mean. I think it still has juice.”

Chuck stared at him a second, “Well I'll be...why'd you do that? No, no wait, you had to get the keys to get into your house huh? What made you think to shut the door though?”

Kyle explained about his mom leaving the light on all night and making the battery dead, so he knew what to do. He felt proud that he remembered the keys and to shut the car door after he had retrieved them.

“Okay, then I think we should try and pull your mom's car into our garage, then we can pack it up and get the hell out of here. Go looking for Missy...and your parents Kyle.”

Going to the front window, Kyle looked outside, he didn't see any other zombies around, “I think it is all clear right now, I don't see anyone else right now.”

“Now? Ah, well how about Katie and I grab a bite to eat first, I am starving, you hungry Kyle?”, Chuck said without thinking.

Kyle turned towards him slowly and looked him in the eye and said, “I'm good Chuck.”

“Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean...oh well sorry Kyle. Let me know if it, well, if you start to get hungry okay? We'll work something out.”

Over a meal of cold cuts, still chilled from the refrigerator, Chuck asked Kyle how he knew no other zombies were out there.

“I don't, not really, I can see pretty okay, but if they were hiding in the bushes across the street or something I doubt see them. If they get close I can sort of know it though, like a spidey sense, its not like seeing human people.”

Pausing before his next bite Chuck asked, “What do you mean? Not like seeing human people?”

“Yer all glowy. Like lights and stuff, colorful.”

“Like how bright? Could you see us if we were a block away?”

“Oh yeah”, Kyle replied easily, “I could see you when you were sleeping even, I think if I were a couple houses away I wouldn't have seen you. I think that's why the zombie came outside your...What?”

“You could see us through the walls?”

Kyle nodded affirmatively.

“Really well?”

“Uh-huh. No problem.”

“What about if we were in the basement? Would that help?”

Kyle shrugged, “We could try it. I thought we were getting my mom's car?”

Chuck hesitated for a moment, “Well, yeah, but it would be good to know how to hide if we ever need to, you know? So lets do this first. Katie, c'mon, we'll go down into the basement and see if Kyle can still see us through the floor. Then Kyle you will need to go outside and see how close you have to be to see us from there too, okay?”

Kyle nodded.

“You aren't going to freak out going outside in the dark are you?”

Kyle shook his head from side to side.

“Good, that's my tough little man. Come on Katie.”

After Chuck and Katie went down the stairs Kyle kept tracking them, as he suspected seeing them through the floor wasn't that hard, when they went under the steel support beam running through the house, he lost them for a second, that was all. Chuck has positioned them right near the center of their 'rec' room and Kyle kept his eyes on that spot as he went out the front door.

As he moved away their glowing forms diminished, the walls of the basement seemed to make it more difficult to see them, or maybe it was all the dirt. After moving about one house away he could not see them anymore.

He took a step back towards the house when he heard someone yell, “Hey! Kid! You the fuckwad that took my people?”

Kyle was vaguely familiar with the word 'fuck' but 'fuckwad' was new to him, either way it sounded pretty bad, no one had ever swore at him before, not directly. Kyle jumped behind a bush as a shot rang out in the darkness. The bullet wizzed by Kyle's ear and he started running towards the back of the houses to get into Katie's back yard. Chuck would know what to do. More shots rang out and he heard someone say, “Damn he is fast, how many do you think he got?”

“Shut the fuck up Dan.” came the curt reply.

Kyle into the back yard, it was the Swanson's house, they were an old couple who lived next to Katie, like grandparents, only not quite that old. He was running full tilt and jumped for the top of the four foot fence, dodging to one side as he did so, ahead of him he noticed a hole appear in the fence board, just before he reached it. Kyle had meant to jump for the top of the fence, which was only slightly taller, at four feet, than he was. Instead he flew over the fence completely and landed in the mulch pile Mr. Swanson never quite got spread under all his trees every year. Kyle rolled and ran to put the house between himself and where he thought the people with guns were. Behind the house it was dark and his eyes, while seemingly much better, did not reveal the zombie waiting there until Kyle ran full tilt into him. Strength and agility Kyle had in abundance, but the laws of physics had not quite changed enough to allow his small mass to bowl over the larger one he hit. Kyle bounced, the large zombie grunted and sat down hard. Shaking his head clear, Kyle was up before the other man had even put his hand down to brace himself, in that hand was a gun. Lucky for Kyle the zombies first instinct was to get up, and not take a shot at the zombie boy. Thinking quickly Kyle made a snap decision, he was not going to get over the fence before the man shot at him. Not even glancing at the yard for potential weapons Kyle launched himself at the man. The man brought his hands up to try and ward Kyle off, to no avail, Kyle was inside his defenses and at his throat with his hands.

The sight of Kyles small hands trying to encircle the adult neck would have been comedic were it not for the fact that the zombie Kyle was fighting was struggling so hard to get the hands off of him. When choking didn't work Kyle resorted to grabbing and tearing, in this manner the man's head was soon torn completely from his body, Kyle picked it up and bashed it into the back of the Swanson's brick house, destroying the zombie for good. Kyle felt a rush and almost bolted for Katie's house. Instead he turned, picked up the gun the man had dropped and crouched near the edge of the home, waiting.

He didn't have long to wait either another zombie, judging by his colors, jumped over the fence to land in the same mulch pile Kyle had hit. Kyle aimed the gun like he had seen Chuck do and pulled the trigger, trying to hit the guy in the head. The zombie continued falling down into a heap on top of the pile and just beyond it, body still twitching traumatically. kyle glanced down the side of the house beyond the fence and saw no one, then quickly approached the still moving zombie.

Kyle's shot had taken it right in the neck and the neck was healing, the zombie was trying to get control over his arms, trying to bring his own gun, still clutched in his dead hand, up to shoot Kyle. In another few second he would have been able to, however Kyle didn't give him time, he stepped up, bent down, pressed his own gun against the things head and pulled the trigger. The zombies head moved sideways, the bullet didn't go completely through the things head, just rattled around inside of it, killing it quickly.

“You got him Dan?”

Kyle heard the young punk's voice call out from the other space between the houses.

Not hesitating, Kyle grabbed the mans gun and jumped back over the fence, heading back the way he had come. Pausing between the houses Kyle eyed the roof line eight feet above. 'How high can I jump?' he thought, then took a couple of quick steps and jumped for the roof as hard as he could. He cleared it by at least three feet and landed fairly quietly on top of the roof, a gun still in each hand.

Kyle knew the voice of the guy who had swore at him, it was the same one who gave Chuck and Katie food instead of helping them off the top of the old furnace behind the ice rink. He was a bad guy, not like Kyle.

Taking a few quiet steps towards the back of the house Kyle spotted the kid, still in his trench coat, bending down over Dan's body. The kid almost glowed, his color was stronger than a normal zombie, even as Dan's color had been stronger than the nameless zombie Kyle had first killed behind the house. Kyle wondered what his colors looked like. He hoped they were not so glowy, so he wouldn't give himself away. If he could have seen himself he would have been surprised to note that the colors once almost as bright as a normal humans muted considerably just at his unspoken thought that they do so. Kyle ducked down behind the roofline, keeping his head just high enough over it to watch the kid, who seemed to be checking Dan over carefully and muttering to himself.

“Neck didn't kill him, what the fuck?”, the punk said softly, then his hand turned Dan's head enough to reveal the small bullet hole, the kid bent down to examine it closely, “I'll be damned, head shot, sorry Dan. Don't worry I'll get the little shit for you.”

Kyle looked at the guns in his hands, which were pressed down against the roof holding him up, considering what to do.

“Kid!”, the punk yelled out, “I know you still gotta be close enough to hear me. Come out and we'll talk. You got a couple of my guys, no reason why we shouldn't wor together, right? You'd make a good replacem...”

In the middle of the punk's speech a shot rang out and Kyle saw him flung over the compost pile into the grass beyond. Surprised Kyle saw Chuck standing in his back yard, hands braced on his fence, gun directed at the punk still. The kid started to get up and he did it fast, flying into the air about five feet and twirling as he did so, however it was obvious he hadn't seen Chucks glowing form for he turned towards the back of the back yard, bringing his gun up and shooting several times in that direction. Chuck shot him again, knocking him sideways, that got his attention and as he turned towards Chuck supernaturally fast Kyle leapt off the roof, both guns blazing. Kyle didn't hit with most of his bullets, but the few he did connect with were enough to ruin the punk's aim at Chuck. When he landed beside and slightly behind the punk Kyle pointed both guns up at the punks head and pulled the triggers one final time. Pole-axed the punk fell over and didn't move again.

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This section was last updated on 28 May 2009

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