See Emily Slay part IV (Apocalypse Year II)
As Emily looked down at the blood seeping through Jewels fingers, she felt like it was her that had been shoot. Jewels had become a huge part of their small family over the last year. Besides becoming her father’s lover, the former EMT had all but adapted Emily and her younger brother.
Emily
Spence lost it at once, audibly crying as tears poured down his flushed cheeks. “Dad, dad, what are we going to do?”
Always being a fast thinker, their dad flew into action. “Emily, get over there and help Jewels apply direct pressure on the wound. She’ll help you do it. Spence, SPENCE, listen to me! I need you to go grab Jewels’ first aid kit and give it to her.”
Emily looked over at her father as her silent tears mixed with the blood below.
He drove a fresh magazine into his rifle while he scanned the hills below for the masked shooter. “I lost sight of him,” He crouched down near her. “Em, I know you’re scared, but Jewels needs your help. It won’t do us any good, if this guy sneaks up behind us while we’re helping her. I’m leaving you in charge here.”
“Wait, dad, no.”
“No waiting. You’re in charge, Em, I’m going to try to lead him away or at least flush him out.” Then, without another word, he rushed off into the desert chaparral.
“Oh no, oh no, oh no,” she began to chant like a mantra.
“Emily,” Jewels tried to smile up at her, but the girl could tell she remained in a lot of pain. “I’ll be okay. Just try to relax. You can’t help me and your family, if you get too upset.”
Emily struggled to control her breathing as Jewels moved her hands so they covered her wound better.
“Keep the pressure here. Spencer, look into the side pocket of my bag and get those big bandages out of there.”
Emily jerked when shots rang out. They didn’t come from her father’s gun. She feared the worse, but then heard her father return fire and hoped that was a good thing.
Blood Bath Zombie
Spencer held up some four inch by four inch pads. “Are these the ones? What should I—ahhh.”
Emily looked over while horror froze her face. A zombie had Spencer by the hair and was pulling him back into a cluster of wait-a-minute bushes.
“Spence, Spence your gun!”
“I’m okay,” Jewels hissed, “go help him.”
But Emily had bigger problems because two more zombies had emerged behind the first one.
Her rifle felt large and clunky in her hands as she hurried to rise up the barrel. The first zombie had leaned in to take a bite and its head was dangerously close to Spencer. She had to take the shot, but if she missed…
The shot rang out and the zombie fell away.
Spence wasted no time getting on his hands and knees. He was about to crawl for her, but then headed back toward the other two zombies.
They reached for him.
In her panic, she missed with the first shot.
Spencer’s wide eyes met hers somehow as he snatched up the fallen bandages.
She nodded, aimed, and put a bullet through the center of the next one’s skull. The last one she dropped with just one shot. “I am getting better at this.” Thanks dad.
After scanning the area for more zombies, she dropped down, joining Spencer near Jewels.
Spencer looked up at her. “Oh no, Em, she’s passed out. What are we going to do?”
In the distance, she heard more shooting, but it seemed further away. Much closer at hand, more zombies could be heard moving up the hill.
“I’m not sure Spence. I’m not sure.”
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Spencer and Emily
See Emily Slay Part III (Year Two)
“What do you mean he might want me?’ Emily asked as they kept moving higher into the foothills of the Catalinas.
Her dad stopped. “Well honey, there were bad man out there long before this mess started. We only have to imagine that the terror and isolation will just make things worse.”
“But I’m only thirteen. Wouldn’t he want Jewels instead?”
The former EMT looked her way and brushed a strand of dark hair behind her ear. “Maybe not hun, because he knows I’d bite his-”
“Jewels!” her father said in a loud voice.
“Will you guys quit arguing,” Spencer said. “I think we got some real problems.”
Emily heard something, once familiar, but almost forgotten…the barking of dogs.
“How many?” he father asked while joining her brother on a rise.
“Looks like three,” Spencer said right before the noise of shooting competed with the barking.
Her father grabbed Spencer and all of them dashed behind an outcropping of stone. “Looks like German Shepherds, which means they might be trained. This guy could even be a former cop.”
“Why would he release his dogs and shoot as us if he wants to capture me?” Emily asked.
“We don’t know that for sure,” he answered. “He might think we’ll be back every other day trying to steal his crops. Hell, he might want to eat us.”
“Gross,” Spencer said, while putting a round in the chamber of his forty-five.
“This whole world is gross,” Jewels mumbled.
Her father grew serious. “One thing we do know is that this guy is an idiot. He heard us shooting, so he knows we’re armed and he’s coming after us anyway. All this shooting will draw in zombies, but we’ll be safe from them up here and we’ll have a better vantage to shot him down.”
“What about the dogs,” Spencer asked as they saw the three canines running up the hill toward them.
“Again, idiot. I’m not sure why he kept three dogs alive through a year of the apocalypse just to have us waste a few bullets on them.”
As if to drive the point home, the dogs drew close.
Her father spoke again. “Okay, everyone but Jewels get on your stomachs and get ready to shoot those mutts. Jewels, draw back, and be ready with your pick, just in case one gets through. Emily, far left dog. Spence, far right.”
Emily took aim at the dog racing toward them. In the past the idea of shooting a dog would have filled her with dread and she probably couldn’t have done it. But after shooting former humans in the head for a year…
The dog gave one yelp and its body bent double right before it crashed into a cactus.
Her father took the other down with ease, but Spencer appeared to be having trouble and the last dog was only yards from him. Emily took aim and put a bullet through its head.
“Hey, I would have gotten it. You should give me a chance.”
“We did give you a chance.”
“Kids, this in not the time. We-”
A loud voice from below interrupted him. Emily caught a quick glimpse of a man in full riot gear before he ducked behind the side of a building. “You assholes!” he yelled before spraying the mountainside with bullets. Dirt and chips of rocks flew around them. “You’ll all die slow for what you did to my dogs.”
“What a dumb ass,” Spencer said. “What’d he think would happen?”
But then something attracted their attention. Emily heard a moan from behind them. At first she thought zombie, but it turned out to be much worse. Jewels lay on the ground clutching the right side of her stomach. Pool pooled under her hands. She’d been shot.
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Eternal Aftermath, A Zombie Apocalypse 