"The Horrors of Linwood"

By: Christopher M. Redden

Story Backround

Well, considering that most of you have no clue where Linwood is or even who some of the characters in the story are.  It's written as if you did know, so I figured I'd give you a run down.  Linwood is a small town in Pennsylvania south of Philadelphia.  Most of the Linwood described in this story doesn't exist, so you realy don't need to know about it.  So I will just move to the characters.(Every one of them lived in my house at the time, except for John and Matt)

Chris Redden - Well, duh...

Joe Redden - Yeah, you know him too

Bryan Redden - not realy in the story, but he is kinda.  He's my youngest brother who is 8 years old.(6 in the story)

Frank Blackburn - My cousin

Matt - Made up character.  In the story he's a friend of Chris'

Mom - my mom duh.

Dad - Self explanitory as well.

John - Made up character.  He is pretty much introduced into the story, so I don't need to explain him.

Leah - My cousin who lived with us at the time.

Little Billy - Leah's son.

This story was written when I was a Freshman in High School.  I got a perfect score on it, so it must be at least pretty good.   Anyway, it's been edited a little bit since than, and I hope you enjoy it.   Please give me anykind of feedback on it.  My Email

Enjoy....

    Chris jumps off the cliff, throwing himself into the fire below. Matt looks up to the others in shock as they hear the screaming of Chris at the bottom. All of the others return to their respected homes, most of them empty and left with the stench of death. A few of them were lucky to find a family to go home to, but Joe wasn't so lucky. Joe just watched another one of his family die right before his eyes. He walks home silent and with only one thing on his mind, he couldn't help but think about what he could have done to protect his brother. He couldn't stop thinking that it was his fault. Joe returns to his home in Linwood, Pennsylvania to find his house still stained with blood. Joe walks upstairs to see that someone was sitting on his couch with his hands covering his face. Joe stands in front of him, and the man removes his hands and jumps up and hugs Joe feircly.

    "Jesus! I thought you were all dead!," said the man grasping Joe.

    "W-w-we are all d-dead. I am the last one, Uncle Mike," Joe replies.

    His Uncle let's go of Joe and looks into his eyes, "How did this happen Joe? Please, tell me!" Joe nods his head in a agreemence and he takes a seat on a chair by the computer. His uncle regains his seat on the couch and begins to listen to what Joe has to say. He begins to listen to the reason as to why his family is no longer around, and why not many people survived this last day.

    "It's now exactly one week since school had ended. Chris left the house this morning to go and deliver his newspapers as he always does. He told me that while he was out there, he seen a group of people coming after him. Well, he said that they were going very slow, but they were following him without a doubt. He just continues to deliver his papers, and when he turned around to find that the group was no longer behind him. Chris looked around to see where they went, and he cursed himself for becoming so paranoid over something like that, but he shouldn't have. By that time, it had already occured. All of the destruction and pain you see in this house had already taken place. Chris returned home, but just as he turned the corner, he saw the same group coming out of our house. Chris waited for them to get out of sight, and he rushed towards the house. He opened the door and found me and Frank in the corner crying our eyes out. Chris yelled at us and asked me what happened. I couldn't speak, I just looked behind me and Chris followed my eyes. He looked at the foot of the stairs and saw why they were so afraid. Chris saw mom, dad, Leah, Bryan, and even Little Billy dead. Blood was everywhere and Chris stormed outside and he threw up on the ground. He re-entered the house with tears in his eyes and looked again at the horrors that laid before him. There was still blood spurting from their mutilated bodies, and dad's head was over in the sink. Chris managed to yell something at me. He yelled, 'Joe! Frank! Who where those people that just left the house!' We couldn't say anything, we were too frightened. So Chris ran over and grabbed the phone off the counter and called the police."

    "The cops arrived immediatly and picked us up. A bunch of them stayed at the house though. Anyway, when we were at the Police Station, they didn't seem to believe that none of us saw or heard any of what happened in the house. I was asleep when it happened, as was Frank. Chris was the only one awake at the time, but he wasn't even home. Frank and myself couldn't stop crying., but Chris couldn't bring himself to cry. He was just too angry to be sad. He wanted to get the people who did this so much, that he didn't even consider crying. There were two cops that questioned us. One of them was realy fat, and the other one was tall and young. They questioned us for about three hours when we heard a shot fired inside the building, but out of our sight. The two cops that were speaking to us got up and pulled out their guns. They slowly went towards the back and than the young one turns around and begins firing at us. We all duck and look behind us. 'That's them!', I screamed and Chris notices that it is the same people. The same guys that left our house that morning, but they aren't empty handed, they are holding something in their hands, and there is blood all over their mouths. Chris looks closer to see that the stuff in their hands resembled the intestines of a human. Chris' eyes widened as he looks to see one of them holding a severed head. The thing takes a bite out of the neck and we all nearly throw up. Just than, Chris yells, 'Let's get the hell out of here!'"

    "So we did. We all moved away from the gunshots and got behind the cops. Chris tugged on on of their arms and they followed us out of that room. They head towards the exit when they see another group of what looked like dead people. Their faces were dark and decayed and they walked very slow. Their eyes were blank and motionless. We all turned around and headed into the other direction, but they grabbed the fat cop and began to feast on his body. Chris looked back to see the man struggling to get free, but the people tore him to shreds. The tall cop just yelled, 'Just go! Don't look back!,' as he pushed passed us and began firing at the disgusting people. They've taken the bullets as if they were small gusts of wind. They just keep on coming and the cop finaly gave up and ran away. He caught up to us right away and we all ran upstairs and locked the door behind us. It was a small room, but roomy enough for all of us to fit. The cop yelled at us, 'What were those things!?' I tried to think of a reason, but all that came out was, 'Maybe they are cannibles!' Chris didn't want to believe that, he had another theory. 'Maybe not...', Chris said to us. Frank had taken exception to that and responded with, 'No Chris! No! That's only in movies! They aren't real!' At that point, the cop was just trying to figure out what the hell Chris was talking about. Frank looks at the cop and begins to tell him what he knows Chris is thinking."

    "'Chris thinks they are zombies, the living dead, but it can't be! They don't exist!', Frank said. Chris looked over to Frank, 'I hope so, but those things killed out family, and they will die. No one deserved to be murdered, especialy good people like that. I don't give a damn what they are, they will never make it another day still walking the streets.'"

    "The cop looked at Chris' angered face and he tries to comfort him by saying, 'And I'll make sure it gets done.' Chris just looked at him and smiled. He than said, 'What's your name?' The cop looks at Chris and extends his hand to him. Chris grabs it and they shake hands as the cop replied, 'John, John Stevens.' John shook all of our hands and I said, 'To be honest, I don't give a damn what they are, but I do care about us gettnig out of here.' John, completely ignoring me, said 'Well, if they are zombies, how do we kill them?' We all looked at each other, trying to figure out how. Chris just sat there with a very determined face, and in the calmest voice I've ever heard, he replied, 'Fire.' John looked at Chris with a puzzled stare. 'Why Fire?', he said. Chris rolled his eyes and explained to us, he said, 'Think about it, no creature can bite, walk, or even exist if his body consists of a small pile of ash. The real question is where are we gonna get enough fire to do that.'"

    "We all thought for a minute, until John came up with an idea, 'What about the boiler room? Would that work?' Chris looked at him and said, 'No, it is way to small. Who knows how many people are infected by now. WAIT!! I've got it, the cliff at the edge of town. It is completely surrounded by nothing but verticle hills. There is no way to get out of there without a rope. I would say we lure them down there and set fire to the whole thing, but I don't even think it's possible to get that much fuel for the fire anyway. So I guess we have to scratch that.'"

    "John stands up and heads towards the door, 'Well, we will figure that out later, right now we should worry about getting out of here.', he said. He looked out of the room and saw that no one was on the steps. He motioned for us to follow him and he pulled out his gun. He walked slowly down the stairs and peeked around the corner. He saw that no one was there and we all left the police station and followed John to a car. We all got in and John started it up. When I asked him where we were going, he said, 'My house, I need to make a few calls, and hopefuly we can get some rest.' So we got to his home and saw that it was a small building that looked more like a shed than a house. We got inside and there was a small couch and a bed. There was also a TV, but we didn't realy care about that. John looked at his watch and told us that it was eight o' clock already. He than told us to get some sleep while he looked out his single window. We all went to sleep, but I was told exactly what happend while I was asleep. John woke up Frank at eleven o' clock to take his shift at the window while John got some sleep. Than when Frank was about to wake me up at two like he was supposed to, Chris was already awake. He took my shift instead and watched at the window with his eyes fixated on the outside world. At about four-thirty he said he saw a man come out of the woods. He said that the guy was picking at something on the ground. And than that four other people came out of the woods and began doing the same thing. Well, except for one of them, one of them just kept his head down and kept holding onto something he had in his hands. The other's with him were smaller. One was a female teenager, the other was a young boy, and another one was... a BABY!! No more than two years old."

    "Chris woke us all up, and John looked out the window. He turned towards us and said, 'You stay here, I will go see what's up.' John left the house and went outside. We all swarmed the window so we could see them and we watched as John yelled towards them. They figures all turned around and Chris' eyes lit up. I couldn't tell who they were because my eyes were just adjusting to the dark. Chris yelled, 'Mom! Dad! It's them! Oh no, they are zombies now too!' Chris rushes out of the house and yells towards John who is already firing at them, 'Come on back John! It's my family, you can't beat them!' But it was too late, they had already caught up to John. He tried to run, but the little baby ripped into his leg like it was nothing. John kicked little Billy off and limped towards Chris. They get back into the house and lock the door. We all moved away from the window and got out of sight. We could hear banging on the walls and door. The window had been shattered, but when they figured out there was no way in, they left when the sign of life was no more. We all just sat there silent for about fifteen more minutes until we were sure they were gone. Chris looked at John's leg as he whimpered, 'I am gonna become one of them aren't I?' Chris grabbed a small hatchet that was hanging up on John's wall that he was using to chop wood, and he took a lighter from me. He wrapped his shirt around a stick from outside and lit it on fire and told me to hold it. Chris raised the hatchet in the air and said, 'This is gonna hurt a little bit.' Chris slammed the axe right below the knee of John, it sliced through to about the bone but didn't go any further. John screamed with pain as Chris pressed hard against the hatchet, it finaly went all the way through, and the leg was completely severed from John's body. Chris took the torch from me and burned John's open leg and John screamed even louder. Chris left the torch there until the wound was completely burned shut. Chris took my shirt and wrapped it around John's stub. 'This should keep you from turning, well, it worked in the movies anyway.'"

    "'It's just a shame I can't come with us anymore, you've got to stay here.', John said to us. 'Yes you can,' I replied , 'we will help you into the car.' Chris and Me helped John up and out to his car. Halfway there John asks, 'Do any of you know how to drive?' Than I quickly said, 'Frank does.' 'Alright then, you're up Frank,' replied John. We put John in the back seat and I got in the back with him. Chris and Frank sat up front and the car started up. Frank drove away from the home, looking in every direction, making sure nothing was following us. 'Give me my radio,' John said. Chris gave John his two way radio and John started to speak into it. 'Hello?! Hello!? Is anyone out there?! Come on!! Someone answer me!!' Than to our suprise, someone answered his call, 'John!? Is that you!?' John was already agitated, 'Yes it's me,' he screamed, ' Listen, I got something that you need to take care of. How many helicopters do we have down at the station?' The man on the other end replied, 'Only one, why?' 'Well, get that thing preped and get someone to fly that thing over to the cliffs, we've got a plan to destroy this things. I want you to get as much gasoline as you possibly can. I wan't you to transport it to the cliffs in cars, trucks, I don't give a damn... just get it there!', John yelled. 'Alright, but where are we gonna get all the gasoline?' asked the cop. 'Who the hell cares, raid the goddamned hardware store, I don't care!! Just get it!!', John tossed the radio in the front seat and we rushed the car towards the cliffs."

    "'No! We can't go to the cliffs yet, head towards the the intersection of Market and Ridge. And stop right in the middle of it.!', explained John. Frank looked back and yelled, 'Why!? What's the point!!' John was about to explain it when Chris came out and said, 'Because what is the point of a trap, that probably won't work anyway, if we don't have the damn zombies you moron. Now step on it!! So we sped off towards the intersection John told us to go to. When we get there, we open up our windows and begin to scream. 'Hey guys!! Come on out and get some fresh meat! Untampered red meat, still pumping warm blood through our veins!! Come on, you would give up such delicious meat! What kind of zombies are you!!', is some of the stuff we said. After about a half hour of screaming, a load of zombies began to show themselves coming from all directions. Well, at first there was only a few, but than they began to come out of every street. 'Alright, now Frank... go fast enough so that we stay ahead of them, but slow enough for them to still be able to chase us!' explains Frank. So Frank does just that, behind us was a huge swarm of zombies just waiting to eat us. Chris looked out his window and saw a kid running towards the car. He turned around and screamed, 'John, open your door!! That's Matt, a friend from school!! And look, he's brining a bunch more zombies from behind him!!' So John opened the door and the boy was able to catch up to the car and he gets in."

    "'Holy Shit!!', he screamed,'Speed this up, there is a crap load of those things following us!' Chris turns and says, 'Just wait, we are luring them to their death, just give it some time.' 'Okay,' said Frank, 'we are almost at the cliffs, get ready.' In about ten minutes, the car pulls up to the cliffs and we rushed out of the car. Matt and myself helped John out of the car and we are greeted by another cop. 'What the hell happend to you John!?', he screamed. 'I'll tell you later,' replied John. Chris went over to the cliffs and looked down below and sees the entire bottom is engulfed in flames. 'Good,' Chris said, ' you've already lit the place up. Maybe this stupid idea will work after all. But there is just one problem, we still need a way to get them', he continued pointing to the oncoming zombies, 'into the pit.'"

    "John looked over to the other side of the cliffs and he peered over to Frank and said, 'You got over to the other side and we will all hide. You call out to them and when they get out towards the edge of the cliffs, we will push all of those bastards into the cliff to a fiery death.' Frank follows his orders and he rushes to the other side and we all hide in the woods surrounding the cliffs. Chris kept saying that this would never work as we were hiding until I finaly slapped him upside the head. The zombies made it to the cliffs and Frank was heard on the other side of the cliffs yelling towards the monsters. The looked off in the distance and began walking even closer to the edge, their hunger for human flesh drove them to get closer and closer. When they were all huddled together, they still stretched for a long way, there must have been at least a thousand of them and only about one hundred of us. So when the cops gave us the signal, we charged the zombies using the police bullet proof shields and pushed the zombies over the edge. It took us nearly a half hour to get their rotting carcuses over the edge and into the flames below, but it was well worth it. John, with the help of me, walked up to Chris and put his hand on his shoulder and said, 'If it weren't for your idea, we would have never survived this. We all thank you.' Chris looked at him confused and replied with, 'But I kept saying it would never work, and the fact that it did still suprises me.' 'Never-the-less, it was still your idea, no matter how stupid you thought it was, we thank you,' John explained. Chris just put his head down and said, 'Well, thanks but... oh CRAP... ARGH!!!' We were all shocked to hear this, but we looked at Chris to see that a zombie had hung on to the edge of the precipice and manage to get back up. He was biting on the shoulder of Chris and Chris kicked him off the edge and screached in pain. He grabbed his shoulder and looks at all of the people surrounding him. John looked at him and said, 'Well Chris, looks like it's your turn to loose a body part, heh heh.' Chris just smiled and replied, 'No, he bit my shoulder... you can't cut that part off, besides, we don't have enough time to cut it off even if we could. None of you have a hatchet I bet.'"

    "Chris backed up and looked directly into my eyes and said, 'I guess it's time to say goodbye, I love you Joe, and you too Frank. This is the end, peace...' Chris jumped off the huge cliff, into the fiery pit below."

    "So Uncle Mike, that is what happened", Joe said as he finished his amazing account of what happened these past two days. His uncle looks at him and stands up.

    "They're dead, maybe we will never know why or how this all happened, but we will never let it happen again.", Mike exclaimed with great heart. He was definately saddened by the sudden and unwelcomed death of his entire family. His sister had passed, his brother-in-law is gone, and two of his nephews are now resting at the bottom of Linwood cliffs. Mike turns towards the steps and peers over his shoulder to Joe and says, 'Let's get out of here.' The two head down into the blood stained kitchen and Uncle Mike leaves through the backdoor, Joe is about to do the same, when he stops, turns, and looks at what he is leaving behind. He leaves the door open and exits.