Zombie Files: Bartle Four

I try shifting my weight across the door to get a better look at the man lying across the room. Watching the man carefully I decide the twitching is just dying neurons sending their final signals because it is too soon for him to be changing. Black spots are dancing around my vision’s outskirts for every tiny movement results in excruciating pain. This bullet in my gut feels like a termite trying to burrow its way deeper into my internal organs but I have to be ready for when he changes. The thing that unsettles me the most about them, the Vacant, is the emptiness in their eyes. The Vacant appear as nothing more than a shell of someone from long ago that refuses to die. Endlessly shuffling from one place to the next consuming life and leaving a wake of death. They almost remind me of myself. I check my Jericho 941 F and see I only have three 9mm bullets left. Sliding back the chamber I flip the safety off and wait for my friend to come back from the dead with the one desire of eating me.

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The silence in the room was only disrupted by the soft pattering of sand bouncing off the broken glass loosely hanging in the windows. The room used to be a laboratory that researched methods of purifying water for third world countries. Now the room is nothing more then a graveyard for research data that would be invaluable to the survivors at Reverie.  Spades is fighting the urge of passing out when he hears the sound of nails digging into wood. The Vacant is stirring as if it just woke from a deep slumber groggily grasping the world around it. Spades steadies his aim at where he thinks the Vacant will raise its head. Only off by a few inches Spades painfully adjusts his shot and freezes. He catches the empty eyes of the monster, but only see his closet friend. The vacant was known as Diamonds mere minutes ago, but now he has been reborn a monster stumbling awkwardly as if learning to walk again. Sweat stings Spade’s eyes as his face contorts from the strain of trying to line up another kill shot. Diamond’s reanimated body is five feet away when the gun blast roars sending a bullet inches over his shoulder shattering the test tubes stored in the cabinet on the wall. Stumblingly forward Diamonds trips over Spade’s boots and falls right on top of the injured man. Pure adrenaline mixed with terror helped Spades catch the monster by its throat, keeping snapping teeth inches away from the flesh it desires. Looking into the empty eyes inches from his face, he placed the barrel of the Jericho against Diamond’s temple. “Sleep in peace brother,” whispered Spades as the bullet tore through the temporal lobe erasing Diamonds completely from this hell. Spades sat silently with tears striking down his cheeks when the door began to recoil from the others trying to smash through from the other side. There is only one bullet left now. 

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Three weeks ago:

 The young man leaned on the railing of the balcony taking in the view of Reverie in the distances. The five bio-domes that make up most of Reverie look like transparent hills nestling life on the horizon. Each bio-dome is especially designed to sustain an important resource necessary for the people living in the makeshift community to survive. The bio-domes were a scraped ecological experiment designed to test if life could be sustained in a controlled environment. The design was to have three bio-domes specializing in vegetation and aquatic life. The two remaining had one bio-dome designed for livestock and the other for people. Now the bio-domes are all that seem to stand between the survivors’ hopes for a tomorrow and the impending dooms looming over their heads. The most essential bio-dome has an indoor jungle of plant life supplying fresh air, fruits, vegetables, and the seeds necessary for spreading life again in this dying world. It has been ten years since the dead rose and now the world is in a state of decay. The water outside Reverie has become contaminated and it fares poorly with the dying plant life in the surrounding area. This once lush land is starting to become a desert with terrible dust storms making Vacant watches all the more difficult. The mile between the bio-domes and the young man’s house is filled with thousands of campsites. Those who were lost or found themselves alone came to Reverie to grasp the few straws of hope that still remain. The man stared at the bio-domes lost in thought when a boy passing by startled him. The boy, out playing with his friends, yelled up at the young man “Hey sir, you’re like the one who um built this place, right?” The young man smiled. “I didn’t build this place. I only established it as a harbor of safety from the worlds dangers.” The young boy looking very curious asked, “Well can you tell me about the Bartle Four then?”

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The young man invited up the curious boy and searched his cabinets for his last hidden stash of candy. He offered the kid a stale Snickers. “Why do you want to know about the Bartle Four?” “Well,” the kid shyly pulled at a string hanging from the chair. “I always heard these stories and umm I was wondering, well are they real? Are they really out there every night hunting the Vacant?” The young man sat across from the boy and with a playful smile responded, “They are as real as they need to be. Just know that every night you lay your head on your pillow there are men and women working hard at keeping you safe.” The kid, braver with excitement, begged for more. “So does that mean Diamonds, Spades, Clubs, and Heartless are really out there?” A knocking came at the door that rang with a sound of importance. “The heroes you ask of are merely legends. For any man to go through the hell the Bartle Four have gone through would drive him insane.” The young man opened the door to a middle age man with shaggy blonde hair. Eyeing the kids warily, he ran into the room looking for the miniature holographic projection system left behind by the scientist. They were used for recording their findings before the funding got cut on the bio-dome project. “Hey man, I have some bad bad news. You might want to ask your little friend here to leave, and do I have to stress how urgent this is?” The young man ruffled the boy’s hair.  “I will tell you about the Bartle Four at a later time I promise, but for now run along and play with your friends.” The boy slightly disappointed took the final bite of Snickers and ran back outside to join his friends. “Alright now what’s the problem?” The older man snapped the holotape into the recorder and a hologram of a beautiful brunette girl materialized before them both. “You recognize her?” Confusion washed over the young man’s face.  “No fucking way, she disappeared a year ago. How? What? When the fuck did you get this holotape?” The middle age man set the hologram on the table. “Look Spades, a boy came in town with a bite about an hour ago. He had this holotape on him and asked for it to be given directly to you. After we feed him his last meal we shot him in the head and burned the body. Reverie is still free of infection.” Spades reached out slowly and ran his hand through the hologram as if he could touch her. His mind raced with the possibilities of what this message could mean. “Heartless, look I know….” Heartless slammed his fist on the table shaking the hologram to the floor. “Look what she did happened a year ago but before you go all crazy just know this. She claims she has found a way to purify the water. This message leads to another holotape location. Apparently she didn’t want to be found that easily. Can’t blame her I guess.” Picking up the projection system, Spades ejected the holotape. “Just shut the fuck up already. Call the other two and tell them we have work to do. Go home and grab your armor and mask. It looks like the Bartle Four still have awhile until we retire as legends.” Spades slides a book on his shelf revealing a hidden safe. Heartless stands to leave the room and watches Spades pull out the mask with the symbol etched in the side. “Hope your ready for a little bloodshed my friend. The Vacant will be heavy where we are heading.” Spades slams the safe shut throwing his armor on the table. “Lets just go fucking find her and get this over with.” 

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-Chris