Eddie's Tale: Part Four

Here's the last part of Eddie's tale. As I said to Fritz, it could meander on for quite a while, but sometimes the best thing to do is keep it to the bare necessities. Truthfully, Eddie's story is just one part of a larger one. A related story will be posted tomorrow. It was actually the first in the series. And yes, that means more are on the way.




PART FOUR: Thursday

Eddie started awake to discover sunlight coming through the skylights above. Two zombies stood silently on the opposite catwalk. One stared hungrily at him and Donna. The other watched the pigeons fluttering from beam to beam overhead. Down below was a pile of bodies. As Eddie watched, a hand twitched, so they weren't all dead. He shook Donna to wake her. She didn't respond. Only then did he notice how cold she was, and to his utter horror, her skin was light gray. He scrambled to his feet and snatched up the pistol. Donna never moved. Her head was slumped forward onto her chest, and as far as Eddie could tell, she wasn't breathing. He took a step toward her just as her eyes opened wide. For a split second, yellow pupils regarded him with hungry ferocity. She leaped at him then, her fingers like talons and her teeth bared. He fired twice. The first round hit squarely in the middle of her chest, knocking her down. Before she could get up, the second one went through her forehead. The pistol's slide locked open. It was out of ammunition.

Eddie started screaming, his wails a tangle of guilt, fear, rage, and despair. In the end, rage won.


The Present

In the first days, he'd killed zombies again and again, as heedless of his own safety as any berserker on a battlefield. But on this chilly, foggy morning, only a tiny ember of that all-consuming rage remained burning in his chest, a reminder of all he'd lost. They'd taken Donna. They'd taken Dog. Now they were going to pay and keep paying until his hate was gone.

He shifted into the big ring, grasped the machete tightly in his right hand, and prepared to attack.