Valley of the Dead III: Fiddler’s Green
Part One

Gotta get away. Must get outa here. He was gonna kill me. I hid in the shadows as the two men ran past me, their jacket hoods hiding their faces. I heard them yell out and shoot another zombies, killing it. I bolted and ran faster, trying desperately to get away.

Then, I heard it. A bullet shot out and snapped my brain stem. I feel, slowly dying as my heart stopped beating and my lungs stopped taking in air. One of them came and kicked me over, then lifted his hood. The last thing I saw scared the crap out of me.

He had hazel eyes, or rather, what looked like they were once hazel eyes. But, not from going blind, but looking like they lacked a soul. His hair was a dark brown, going down past his shoulders. He didn’t smile, but he did open his mouth to put in a cigar. His teeth were an off off white color. But it was the scar that got me. A large scar from the top left his face all the way down to the bottom right.

My killer was…me…

I woke with a start, scared and sweating. I was in our apartment, at The Quail in the city of Palm Desert. However, this wasn’t your usual Monday. There wasn’t the scramble to get off to the college down the street, the loud music playing, the few people who would lounge in the pool. None of that existed anymore. All that was out now were them. The zombies that destroyed life as we knew it four long years ago.

Since the day we got rescued from Justin’s complex, the sun remained dull. It would come out, but it was never a bright as it used to be. And, then there was the radiation. Before the government joined them, they launched nukes at large cities, trying to kill as many zombies as possible. The only city that was bombed anywhere after Las Vegas, however, was the Capitol. Some say the zombies did it. I could really care less. All I do know is that it permanently scared the world and the atmosphere. Now, clouds would stay in forever, the only hope of it clearing to be years of calm, which will never happen.

In the past four years, me and Jake had been saving people from these things. Now, the only somewhat safe place was the valley. There where still zombies walking around, but we took care of most of them. We were given respect, and no one bothered us. It was on one of these missions when I got my scar. Some sick bastard had tried a little bondage fun on a whore when this all started. We found him chewed up and dead, with her still in restraints. She couldn’t bite me, but that didn’t stop the bitch from scratching me good.

When Maria broke her leg that faithful day, it also damaged the nerve. She could walk, but not fast enough to join in on our fight. She still helps us a lot, mainly with what many would have called politically correct crap. Of course, now it is called survival. She will still snipe for us from a distance, but she will mostly stay in the apartment, caring for our wounds that we get. But, after that fiasco with the bondage freaks, we came to the conclusion that we needed another fighter. That is were Holly came in.

I had met Holly in one of the bars that were still open, more of a fortified area which just happened to have once been a bar. I had already had a name for myself when I saw her, showing off her gun skills. After buying her a drink, I told her about our need for another fighter. She accepted. Now, she fights with us, gets scratched and hurt with us, and will most likely die with us.

As for my sister Morgan, she is the one who keeps me alive all the time. It’s thinking of her and coming home to see her every day that keeps me alive out there. It’s also how I justify what I do. Every zombie I kill, every infected person I murder, I do to keep her safe for the future. I know I’ll go to hell, but if it’s for making the world safer for her and her future children, then so be it. When she turned twelve, she began her “cycles” as well. All I could say was I sure was glad that Maria and Holly were there to help guide her through it, or rather, to still be guiding her through it.

And then, there is the sexual tension between us. It had already been four years since me, Jake, and Maria lost the ones we loved. Though they would never admit it, I knew Jake and Maria had feelings for each other. Jake had told me to think about Holly in that way as well, but I couldn’t. Though I had nothing against her, my heart was still stuck on Dawn. No one would ever be able to replace that bond I had with her.

As I was sitting there, thinking about the past, a soft knock resounded on my door. “Sean, are you okay?” Holly asked, opening the door slightly.

“Yeah, just another nightmare.” I said, beckoning her in. She came in and sat down next to me, her nearly-sheer clothing leaving very little to the imagination. “Holly, what do you think of me?” I asked, fearing I might be a little too direct.

“You’re a good fighter, and a savoir to a lot of these people.” she said, giving me what she called her future text-book answer on my life.

“No, not like that. As a person.”

“Well, you’re nice, and after I got to know you, easy to get along with. And from what I heard, you were extremely nice to your late girlfriend.” she said, knowing it was a subject I would only hint at, but never get into for my own reasons.

“But there could never be anything between us, right.” I said, more of a statement then a question. She looked at me a confused look in her eye, one that asked the unspoken question. “I was just wondering if there could ever be something between us.”

“Well, there can.” she said, slipping out of her top. She pushed me down and started to crawl on top of me. She pulled off my shorts and then her sheer bottoms. “I know you wanted me, and I’ve always wanted you.” she said, lowering onto me, then stopped. “Say you want me.” she said, almost begging me to.

“Oh I want you!” I said, pulling her completely down onto me and kissed her hard. She started to playfully bite my lip, and let out a cheep moan like a zombie. We kissed hard, before she bit my lip again, this time painfully. “Ow! Damn it, what the fuck!” I yelled as she ripped my lip off, then looked at me. She was a zombie, and looked like she had been dead for years.

“You see, nothing has changed.” she said, her voice weak.

“Damn it!” I yelled, waking up with a start again. I felt my lip and checked my hand. Nothing. “Damn…I never want a dream like that again.” I said, getting up and looking in the mirror before my cheeks got a little red. “And I never want a dream like that to turn into a nightmare.” I said as a knock resounded on my door.

“Sean, are you o…kay…I guess you are.” Holly said, trying to suppress a grin as I turned red. She saw this and laughed a little. “I guess this is the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to you, huh?”

“Umm…yeah, most likely.” I said, embarrassed beyond belief. She nodded and turned around, leaving. She poked her head back in for a moment before speaking.

“Well, Sean, I guess you are alright.” she said with a grin before closing the door. I stood there a few moments longer before going to grab a towel.

“I need a cold shower…” I muttered, going into the bathroom. Needless to say, I could tell today was going to be interesting already.