Excerpt: Once We Were Kings

Ruth walked the empty streets of the town, gazing in at the abandoned stores and broken windows. No one else was around, and her stomach began to start jumping around nervously in the silence caused by the absence of other life; she became cautious about looking around corners. Every lamppost she passed was decorated with a piece of paper advertising for the return of a loved one, Mary Sue’s aunt, Ellen’s father, or George’s dog. The names and faces littered the deserted storefronts and rained down from the iron balconies located above the commercial businesses.

“Hello?” Ruth croaked. She cleared her throat and tried again. “Hello?” This time her voice echoed through the dark side streets and alleys. “Hello? Hello?” she heard her own call directed back at her.

“Please!” Ruth whirled around, looking for someone, anyone, to show her the way out of the empty place. The animal inhabitants of the town didn’t seem to be around either; not even the pigeons, who were known for their fearlessness with humans, especially because they had learned that those humans usually had food. Finally, Ruth saw a dark shape dart across the road. Her body relaxed, and the expression in her eyes softened.

“I think that was a cat,” she thought aloud, starting to walk towards the alley into which it had disappeared. “It’s nice to know I’m not the only living person or thing around here.” The alley had a sign labeling it a dead end; Ruth could see that from her position about 100 yards away. She began to whistle softly.

“Here, kitty.” She stooped slightly, keeping her eyes fixed on the entrance to the little road. “C’mon, boy, I won’t hurt you.” Approaching the turn to the alley, she heard a loud crash behind her. She quickly turned her head. A trashcan, previously leaning precariously against the side of a building, had blown over, revealing more missing person flyers that were now blowing around in the wind. Ruth looked down at her feet, and was surprised to see that she wasn’t wearing shoes – ‘How did I get to town without any shoes on?’ she thought. ‘I can’t have walked all the way here.” A piece of paper blew against her foot, and she bent down to pick it up. Ally’s face beamed up at her from the middle of the page. Ruth let it go and watched the wind carry it down the street until it landed on the ground again.

“Ruth!” she blinked. That couldn’t have been Ally’s voice. Of all the people to show up in a deserted town, Ally was definitely not who Ruth would have expected.

‘I don’t even know where Ally is,’ Ruth thought bitterly to herself. ‘She can’t be here.’

“Ruth!” It was definitely Ally’s voice coming from the dead end alleyway. Ruth tried to look down it from her position ten yards away, but the angle was such that all she could see was the brick wall lining the far side. Her steps shortened as she got closer to the small opening between buildings.

“Ally?” she asked hesitantly, “Are you down there?” The wind blowing straight down Main Street, but Ruth could see another piece of paper flying out of the darkness of the alley, keeping an almost straight path in its course to her. Upon catching it, Ruth could see that is was another one of her sister’s ‘missing’ posters.

“Ally! Come out!” She was getting impatient. “Are you okay? Are you hurt? What happened?” Ruth finally saw movement at the end of the alley, and took one last step and squared her shoulders so that she could see what was coming. Something large flew at her and knocked her off her feet. After landing on the pavement several yards away, Ruth gingerly moved her limbs. Everything still worked, but her long sleeved shirt had a hole in the left elbow. She got to her feet, looking around, trying to see what had hit her. “Ally?” she asked again. She turned back towards the original side of the alley that she had been watching before and screamed.

Ally stood at the entrance to the dead end alley, grinning manically. Her head lolled to the side, a vast bloody cut visible across her neck just under her chin. The blood dripping from it had stained her hair, leaving red streaks in the dirty blond ponytail. Her left arm hung at an odd angle, bent backwards instead of forwards, and when she moved towards Ruth, she did so with a stiff-legged gait, keeping her legs straight.

Ruth tried to back up, but only managed a couple steps before bumping into something solid behind her. She whirled around again, and saw her mother, dismembered similarly to her older sister. Both bodies turned as she walked backwards in the direction she had come from, not taking her eyes off of the hideous sight in front of her in fear that they would attack the moment her back was turned. More bodies, people that Ruth knew, started appearing out of both sides of the alley and turned towards the 14-year-old girl. Ruth recognized the rest of her family, Mr. Warren, and his daughter Nicole before she finally turned around to start sprinting up the street.

It was only when she did that she noticed the people coming out of other alleys and making their way towards her. Blood dripping down their faces and hands, all of them were dead and wore the same lifeless grin as they approached her. It started to snow; white paper flyers rained down on Ruth in a blizzard so thick that the zombie-like people were all but hidden from view, though she knew they were close. When their hands started making their way through the paper snowstorm and trying to touch her, Ruth crumpled into a ball on the ground.

“Help me!” she screamed as they all descended on top of her. She couldn’t see anything anymore; she could only feel, feel the slimy hands of her dead friends and family touching her, trying to get her to go with them. Almost completely buried in flyers that were looking for missing people, she lay on the cold ground in a ball and sobbed.