The Dead among us - Author:Damian Nevarez, Illustrator: Carlos Romero (room on the broom read aloud .txt) 📗

Three days later I was still alive and they let me down from the roof, and nearly broke a leg in the process they shot the chain and it broke and I hit the floor from a seven-foot drop. The chair broke when it hit the floor, once I got over my pain I got up and tried to run but I didn't get very far since I hadn't eaten that much so I had no energy also the pain didn't help, Nomad grabbed me and he locked the door.

“There is no escaping from here kid,” he told me.

“When could I go home?” I asked

“You've been missing for three days and the police saw us take you, if they find you, they'll find our location and they will either arrest us or shoot and kill us, so we can’t take you home yet,” yelled Holt from another room

“Also it's dangerous out there more and more zombies keep popping up everywhere if you ran away you could get killed,” Nomad warned me.

That night I decided to take the chance to escape since these guys might kill me anyway, they tied me to a bed so I couldn't escape but I could fall asleep, but I stole a hunting knife from their armory earlier. For half an hour I struggled to cut the ropes and then I was free. I silently went to the locked door picked the lock with the knife the door swung open then I ran to find the first police officer I could find.

It was seven O'clock in the morning when I finally found one, but I was running from him, let me tell you why, when I found him his back was turned to me I tried to tell him what happened “Sir please you have to help me I was kidnapped by four men,” I yelled, a few people around me started staring at me, but the police officer didn't seem to be listening to me so I tapped him in the shoulder then he turned around and I saw him eating a human arm I yelled and the people around me started to scream and started running I started running too, but the zombified police officer pulled out his gun and started firing at people everywhere and started biting them while they were on the ground and pretty soon there were zombies everywhere.

One bullet almost hit me so I took cover, when he stopped firing I ran to find someone who could help me, the other people who weren't zombies got the same idea and I was almost trampled then an armored van appeared and U.S. army people started firing at the zombies but there were too many zombies and they soon where zombified too and started firing at the living. I ran as far as I could and I found there was army personnel fighting zombies all over the city. One soldier grabbed me and took cover behind a car,

“What are you doing out here kid?!” he yelled at me.

“Sorry” I answered “I was kidnapped for three days I just escaped,” I explained.

“Ok kid but you have to get out of here,” he yelled.

“Ok,” I answered but just then something climbed over the car we were taking cover behind “Zombie watch out!” I yelled, but it was too late the zombie landed on top of him and ripped out a chunk of his arm with its teeth.

I managed to kill the unarmored one with the knife I stole, but the soldier zombie was aiming its rifle at me. I braced myself for the pain that would come, I heard a click and multiple gunshots, but no pain came, I was still alive there were ten bullet holes in the zombie it collapsed to the floor I looked behind me, Nomad was there reloading his gun, never before was I so happy to see him, he lowered his gun and yelled over the sound of screams, gunshots and what sounded like collapsing buildings and grenade explosions.

“What were you thinking kid?!” “You could've been killed!” he grabbed my arm and took me inside a nearby building where I saw Holt, Griever, and Midas along with other people trying to hide from the zombies.

“What were you doing kid?” Nomad asked me “I warned you if you left you could be killed!” he yelled

“I'm sorry I thought you guys were going to kill me anyway” I replied

“Well never mind that now,” yelled Midas from across the room “We have to get as far from the city as possible.”

“Why?” I asked

“The U.S. army alerted everyone a little while ago,” answered Holt “there is a mass zombie outbreak going on here and the cities around us, they told survivors they have five hours to get very far from where they are going to drop two nuclear bombs to prevent the outbreak from spreading further” I remembered what the police officer said about the nuclear bombs being more powerful.

“How much time do we have left?” I asked.

“Still five hours but we have to move now!” answered Griever.

“Where do we go?” I asked

“Best bet to survive is to go out to sea, then to southern California land,” yelled Nomad, “Luckily we have a boat at the docks”

“Let's hurry we wasted enough time already,” yelled Griever

“Wait,” announced Nomad, He took off his backpack and pulled two guns out of it and handed them to me, the guns were an assault rifle and a pistol “That knife alone isn't going to keep you alive kid,” he told me “Alright let's move!” he yelled.

We left the building and hurried down to the docks everywhere we looked we saw dead bodies, cars on fire, soldiers and police fighting or running from zombies, people looting stores and breaking windows, even some collapsed buildings the army destroyed since they were filled with infected people and lots of buildings on fire, we had two hours left and the docks where in view but still pretty far.

We started running when we heard a voice yelled,

“Freeze,” we stopped I looked and saw a soldier three feet from Nomad aiming his gun right at his chest. Midas, Holt, and Griever where aiming their guns at the soldier “open fire and I’ll shoot him yelled the soldier” “Nomad you are under arrest for stealing and using military grade guns,” he told Nomad, Nomad said nothing he had his hands up, then he yelled

“Leave me guys, I'll go with him you guys get out here!” no one moved then the soldier put his finger on the trigger, I knew he was going to kill Nomad, then I held up the assault rifle Nomad gave me, the soldier looked at me and yelled “kid what are you doing put down your weapon!” I still aimed at him, again he yelled “kid put down your weapon!” then I pulled the trigger and put fifteen bullet holes right in the soldier's chest.

The soldier stared at me in shock then collapsed to the floor, he was dead. I reloaded my weapon, Nomad put his hands down picked up his weapon and told everyone to head to the docks, Midas, Holt, and Griever ran past and nodded in thanks at me, but as Nomad passed me he told me

“Nice shooting kid thanks” and he told me to follow him. We made it to the docks the boat was a motorboat, I wasn't so sure it could take us far enough but Holt told me it helped them get away when they were being chased once, Midas got the boat started while the rest of us held off any zombies that started coming. The boat's motor roared to life we had ten minutes left so we hurried, we were passing Alcatraz when I saw it, it looked like a flare falling from the sky but I saw that it was an atomic bomb, one of the two was coming down on San Francisco, we were out of time. I saw it hit the floor and the explosion that it created, the explosion did not reach us but the shock wave that followed mad the boat explode we were all tossed into the ocean, the last thing I saw was the mushroom cloud made by the nuclear explosion and a hand that I was so sure was death's, coming for me and everything went silent and black.

To be continued.

Publication Date: 03-02-2018

All Rights Reserved

Dedication:
this book is dedicated to my parents.