Back to Paradise

Chapter 1

Paradise Ranch

Garret

Sweat trickled down his brow as he strained to push at the hunk of metal blocking his way. He could hear screaming, feel hands pulling at him, but he ignored them. When someone got too strong and managed to tug him a few steps back, he roared with frustration and shoved them off and turned back, throwing all of his weight against the gate.
“Garret! Stop! Please.”
He didn’t answer.
“She’s gone!” Hands grappled at his shoulders, “Come on, they’re coming.”
“No,” he shook his head and pressed his forehead against the gate, his fists clenching into tight balls. He could hear their heavy breathing as they all hovered around him, waiting when they should have ran. Farther out he could hear the undead getting closer, their moans and groans in the air, the stench of their rot.
“Garret, they’re coming, we have to go.”
“Fuck!” He slammed his fists on the metal gate and let Jackson pull him backwards. His eyes were stinging and he didn’t know if it was the sweat or if he was in tears. “We can’t just let them take her.”
Jackson was inches from his face now, blocking his view of the gate, “They took our horses, we’re on foot, and the dead are coming. We’ll get her back, I swear, but we can’t right now. You’re not good to her dead!” Jackson shoved him. “Go!” He shoved again and Garret nearly lost his balance before he whirled and started running. The group of four that was with him turned and fled, a loose circle around him. The undead were closing in on all sides and he internally kicked himself. One bad decision could cost his friends their lives and they’d stupidly stayed behind to make sure he didn’t get killed beating uselessly on a gate.
One of the undead got too close and he slowed down, but Jackson plowed between him and Veronica and knocked the zombie backwards. It made a sickening splat on the ground as its skull popped, the bone too degraded from years of decaying to withstand the impact. A couple more were in their way and as Jackson knocked back his second one, while Garret got his head back in the game and elbowed the next one out of the way.
The group followed them through, pushing back any that drew too close and they kept running. They had little choice. They’d lost their weapons, their horses, and one of their people in the skirmish with the True Survivors. Garret hadn’t been this fucked in years, when he was still new and experienced with life outside the walls of Paradise Ranch.
By the time they were clear of the swarming horde enough to slow down, he was sweat-soaked and heaving for breath, and they didn’t have long to recover. The dead weren’t known for their stopped pursuits, but rather their endless pursuit. They would continue chasing you for as long as they could find you. Luckily, they weren’t always the brightest and if you hid well, they’d walk right past you. He also considered it luck that none of these were runners.
The fresher they were, the smarter and faster they were. As they decayed, they got more sluggish and the working parts of their brain decreased bit by bit. If they managed to feed on fresh human flesh, however, they would have renewed strength and vigor. Feasting on human flesh seemed to somehow revive them and they seemed to progress from their deceased state, their skin growing back, their eyes appearing less glazed and foggy, and their semi-intelligence returned.
The wildest one he’d seen was a rotted zombie with half of it’s ribcage missing. They’d seen a fire from the lookout point inside Paradise Ranch and realized it was one of their neighboring communities. They’d gone to investigate and found the place torn apart, most of the occupants dead or missing. The undead that had made it inside and helped wreak havoc had feasted greatly on several people and the one with the missing ribcage had a beating heart.
“What just happened?” The short outburst came in small, gasping breaths from Veronica and he finally lifted his head to look at everyone. He saw Jackson checking behind them but nothing was catching them up just yet.
The desperation in Veronica’s voice cut him to the core as he glanced around at everyone. Four. There should have been five. As if it needed to be said, Ethan spoke up, “They took Sky!” He grabbed his lengthy brown hair, fisting his hands in it. “Garret!”
“I know.”
“How are we supposed to go home? We can’t go home without Sky. What do we tell Mason?”
“I know, okay, I know!” He said with exasperation and turned away, storming off several steps, breathing hard. Veronica had her arms around her center, but she looked pale like she might throw up and Enzo just stood there like he didn’t know what to do or say.
Jackson was on the move, nudging everyone’s shoulder as he walked by. “Stop it. We’re going home. We’re going to get Mason, we’re going to get everyone. They took one of our people,”
“They didn’t just take her!” Veronica cut him off. “They stripped us of everything.”
He eyed her coolly, “We still have our lives. They didn’t break anything. I can stand. Can you?”
She made a noise in the back of her throat that suggested she couldn’t quite comprehend what he said but Garret finally turned back, “He’s right. We have to get her back.” There was no other option. He glanced back and saw the first sign of the undead still following them, maybe fifty yards back.
“They could’ve killed us all.” Veronica whispered.
“But they didn’t.” He replied, but he’d be lying if he said his brain didn’t flash on a dark memory, maybe only an hour ago. They’d been out scavenging for resources for their community. There was a junkyard across the bridge that they frequented for parts anytime the need arose. Paradise Ranch was almost entirely self-sufficient, but there would always be a need to venture out and their community trained for this. He should know, he and Sky had been running it since they were old enough to, just like she’d been running his heart from the moment they were old enough to see each other in a different light.
The bridge had been an ambush.
The True Survivors were back in town.
Garret gave a gruff sigh, running his hand down his arm. There were minor abrasions on his arm and torso and a throbbing in his head. He mulled over everything he knew about the True Survivors. Their leader, their tactics, their people. They didn’t fight fair. They used people, they took what they wanted, and only one man had ever gotten away from them after being forced into their ranks.
“We gotta go home,” Garret said, “I need to talk to Abel.”