Before Dawn
(c) 1998 D. Walt. All rights reserved.)
Simon Stoltz was at Monroeville Mall, in the Brown Derby bar at six p.m., guzzling a Pabst Blue Ribbon. The mall, one of his favorite places to be. He was a security guard at the mall. He was sitting next to Bruce, another security guard, he was a real pig, never treated women with respect. He looked like a Grateful Dead reject; he had a beard and a mustache and smoked pot every time he got the chance. A good pal, though. The bartender had the TV on. They were watching an episode of Star Trek. When the Enterprise fired its phasers at the romulans, the show was interrupted by a reporter who looked frantic.
"This just in from the Pentagon....the bodies of the recently dead are returning to life. Reports from the Pittsburgh area have shown that these creatures seek human flesh. Also, in the Pittsburgh area, there has been an outbreak of this......plague. A large mob of these creatures was seen in one of the suburbs of Pittsburgh."
Bruce and Simon looked at each other. "Oh shit." Bruce said.
The reporter spoke again, "The mob of these corpses has been seen in...Monroeville. All residents of Monroeville. Take caution."
Bruce and Simon were horrified. Simon then remembered the firearms they both possessed. Revolvers.
Simon got up, "Common, Bruce, let's keep the peace."
Bruce saw he was bearing his revolver, .38 police special.
Bruce replied, "Alright."
When they exited the Brown Derby, scared shoppers were running all about. Simon and Bruce stood there, looking for any signs of the zombies. None. While they were standing there, a young white-trash boy came up and grabbed Bruce's gun right out of the holster.
"You little son of a bitch! Get back here!"
Bruce ran after the junior redneck, and since he was his friend, Simon followed. They chased the little hick all the way to the back end of the mall, until they came upon the public rest rooms. There, the hick's father was waiting for him.
"Daddy, daddy, them men tried ta' hurt may!" the little boy said in a southern accent. The big fat redneck, came close to Simon and Bruce. He smelled like crap. Trying not be rude, Simon and Bruce winced in the most subtle way possible. The fat hick with the green teeth and the checkered jacket spoke, "I don't take kindly to security folk chasin after ma' son."
"Daddy daddy," the baby hick spoke up, "that man called me a son-bitch," he said this while pointing his finger at Bruce.
All Bruce saw after that was a fist coming towards him.
Fists did fly. Ribs were kicked. Bruce got the shit beaten out of him. Simon tried to intervene but the little boy was holding the gun on him.
After daddy redneck was done with Bruce, he stood up and said, "Let's go, sonny boy."
As they were walking away, Simon pulled out his gun, pulled the little lever on the top of the gun back, and the click was loud enough for the hicks to hear. They both turned around, and were startled.
Simon warned, "Give us back the gun or else I'll blow your brains out."
The kid pulled the revolver out of his pocket, pointed it at Simon and almost shot him, but Simon shot first. The kid's chest had been blown open.
Daddy hick came running towards him, with the intentions of killing him with his bare hands. Simon pulled the trigger again and again, dropping the fat redneck like a fly. Simon had never killed anyone before. He was horrified with himself.
Bruce looked up at the skylight to see that the dusk had turned into night. Scared shoppers were still running around.
"Bruce, take your gun back."
Bruce ran up to the dead kid lying on the floor, and retrieved his gun. "Simon....don't beat yourself up, you had to do what you had to do. There's not one man in the world who wouldn't have pulled the trigger on a little kid if a little kid was about to pull the trigger on him, not one man."
Simon didn't say anything. Most people in the mall were frantic, but a good many were still shopping in the mall's stores, and did not hear anything about the dead coming back to life. Many shoppers had already left. It was time to make an announcement.
Simon and Bruce stood on the balcony of the mall, Simon with a megaphone. "Everybody calm down. We have just heard on the radio that rescue stations have been devised. We ask you to leave in an orderly fashion, and make your way to Monroeville rescue station."
Bruce looked out of the entrance windows, and saw dozens and dozens of figures stepping out of the darkness and into the brightness of the parking lot lights. Zombies. "I'll get the keys from the security office."
"Hurry back," Simon replied, "we don't want those things getting in here."
Simon looked out into the parking lot as the zombies got closer to the mall. A simple God help us was all he could say after that.
He then heard a disturbing report from the radio, "Anyone who dies during this phenomenon will resurrect, I repeat...."
He remembered the rednecks that he killed. He had called the paramedics to come get the bodies, but they never came.
"BRUCE!" He yelled. "BRUCE!" But he could not be heard over the frantic shoppers' screams.
When Bruce turned the corner to go into the long brown hallway that led to the security office, he was confronted by the rednecks. They had turned into those things. He was paralyzed. The zombies attacked him. They bit him in the face, arms, and neck. Blood soaked his shirt. He felt stupid about just leaving the rednecks' bodies there. They were both so involved with that little confrontation that they forgot about the crisis at hand. He drew his revolver, pulled the trigger twice, shooting them each in the chest, but this did not work. He aimed higher, and pulled the trigger twice again, the bullets going right into their heads. That brought them down. The radio hadn't announced that yet.
Simon heard gunshots go off. He couldn't leave where he was, he had to stay and defend everyone. He had been keeping a close eye on the approaching zombies. All of a sudden, someone grabbed him from behind. It was Bruce, full of bite marks and blood soaked.
"Simon," he said, "In order to kill them, you gotta......shoot 'em in the head. The rednecks......... they........bit me. I heard on my hand held radio.....somethin' about gettin bit makes you die......and come back....it's all over for me..............take my gun, I'm going to go die. I will......die in the security office.....goodbye......."
Bruce started to walk off.
"Bruce, let me kill you, get it all over with." Simon suggested.
"No, you can't, save all your ammo, one bullet will make a difference." Bruce continued to walk off.
The zombies outside were now closer than ever. Simon sounded the megaphone, "Everybody, hold the doors shut! Now!"
The men in the mall ran up to the doors, and barricaded them with their bodies. The zombie mob came upon the entrance, battling to get in. But the men had successfully held the doors shut.
Simon noticed that the zombies at the door were frequent shoppers at the mall he had seen before. Strange.
Simon spoke into the megaphone again, "Alright, anyone who's not doing anything, grab any piece of furniture from a nearby store, something strong enough to barricade the entrance!"
Whoever was free to do the task left, looking for a big enough piece of furniture. Simon was halfway down the stairs to help barricade the doors, when he heard screams, painful screams. More zombies had come in from the south entrance. They were feasting on the shoppers. Simon began emptying rounds. Killed many of them. But he soon ran limited on ammo, he had but six bullets left, and there were a good forty coming his way. It was futile to open fire.
He called to the men barricading the doors, "Everybody, get the hell upstairs!" The men left the doors, and ran up the stairs as fast as they could.
There was one entrance out on the top floor, that's where they were going to go. They ran and ran, it took a long time since it was such a big mall. When they were about to run past Robinsons-May, a whole slew of zombies poured out of the store's entrance, they had gotten in through the bottom floor.
Most of the men, who were all behind Simon, were killed by the zombies, and the ones who were not killed stayed and fought the zombies off their friends who were being attacked.
"Get out of there!" Simon yelled, but no one listened. By now, everyone was bitten. They were goners. Simon ran on as the zombies who had pursued the group up the stairs and the zombies who came out of Robinson's-May drew closer. He finally saw the exit.
It grew bigger and bigger as he ran on. He felt like he was running with glory, like some dramatic movie where the main character runs to the place of survival.
The doors kept growing larger and larger, until finally he came up on them. He swung the doors open with relish, and ran out into the parking lot, where he saw crowds of zombies making their way to get into the mall.
He was doomed. He knew it. But he saw headlights. As the automobile grew closer, it looked like a van or a truck. It was the paramedics that he had called earlier.
Monroeville Mall was getting more faint as the paramedics van sped away. They finally got to the mall, and with perfect timing. The mall was dead, Bruce was dead, innocent shoppers were dead. But Simon feared something: would he have to go through more experiences like this? Well, he didn't worry about it, as long as he got through this one, he would live another day.
-THE END-