Two Page Shorts by Nick Venom (story read aloud TXT) 📖

the broken doors and approached the cashier’s counter, raising the iron sights to meet his eye level. With one eye peering through the sights, he approached the table. He peered over the counter, seeing a corpse laying on the floor. A clear bullet hole was where the corpse’s brain was.

He took his attention off the dead cashier, turning to his left. He focused on the trail of corpses leading to a back closet. He followed the trail, carefully walking around the corpses. He wasn’t sure if they were all dead or playing with him. He had encountered some corpses that came back, even against the odds.

He reached the end, poking his head into the back closet. Two corpses snuggled closely together, doused in blood. There were both young girls, unfortunately, taken down by corpses. One of them wore a school polo and a gray three-foot skirt. Her long black hair was knotted and tangled up. Her skin, which was pale as snow, was stained with blood and bits of guts. She appeared to be a high schooler. 

The other looked to be a toddler, about three-years-old. She was dressed in a brightly pink onesie with the words “Mother’s favorite child!

There were no clear bullet wounds or bite marks on them. Even so, he had to be sure that they were dead, or, at the very least, put out of their misery. He raised his gun and, with one long sigh, pointed it at them. He put his finger in front of the trigger, about to press it. His brain gave the order, but his finger didn’t move. It lingered over the trigger, hoping an unrealistic thought that they were alive.

“Sorry, hope you have a-”

One of the girls raised her hand, not to attack the man, but to shield her eyes. Her vision was impaired by the blood.

The man recognized the action as “human-like”. He lowered the gun, pointing the barrel away from her. 

“D-Don’t h-h-h-hurt me,” she muttered. Her voice was small and meek. She had lost her strength and energy. “I-I-I’m a hu-human.”

“Are you okay? What’s your name? Are you bit?” He asked her, his voice coarse. He hadn’t talked to anybody in a while.

“G-Gwen. W-We’re not” She remarked. The girl next to her began bawling, noticing the gun. She was frightened of the killing machine.

“Quiet her. She’ll attract the corpses.” The man barked, peeking out of the closet and towards the front door. Corpses were waking up from the streets, turning their heads towards the gas station. They picked themselves up and began limping towards the dead-end building.

“Okay, Gwen, follow me. I’m going to get you two out of here. Follow my orders to the letter.” He ordered. The girl nodded as she pressed her hand to the girl’s mouth. She covered her cries.

The man grabbed Gwen’s arm, picking her up. He then grabbed the girl, placing her in Gwen’s arms. “Stay close to me.”

The man led them to the entrance, raising his gun and looking down the iron sight. He focused his sights on the closest corpse, pressing the trigger lightly and firing off a single bullet. It hit the corpse, killing it instantly. It collapsed onto the floor, being trampled on by corpses standing behind it.

He pushed the corpses out of the gas stations with quick and clean headshots. He gave Gwen and the child some time to escape the gas station and breathe in the fresh air. No more oxygen and blood combination.

“Let’s go,” The man said, motioning for them to follow him. He dug through his pockets for something, being disappointed by the aftermath. “Damn, no grenades.” He turned away from the corpses, walking alongside the tired Gwen. She was barely keeping up.

He glanced over his shoulder and noticed that the corpses were treading farther away from them. A stray cat had attracted their attention, giving them a small break.

They soon came across an apartment complex farther down the road from the gas station. The man instructed Gwen and the child into the complex, diving into the first decently cleaned apartment they found. He quickly swept the apartment for corpses but found none. 

“We’re good here. You can rest here. Take the bed and I’ll-” He went to the sliding doors that separated the bedroom and living room, closing them. There was a door on the side of the bedroom’s walls. He then turned around and approached the couch, stripping it of its cushions and pillows. He pulled out something from the couch, revealing the pull-out bed. “-sleep here.”

Gwen nodded, not speaking a word, heading into the bedroom with the child in tow.

The man passed her, approaching the bathroom on the left side of the apartment, next to the bedroom door. He went to the shower, twisting the knob hovering over the faucet. It croaked out dust before water flowed through. At first, the water remained cold but slowly rose in temperature. It reached boiling. 

“Gwen, there’s a shower here for you. Take this opportunity to get washed. I’ll check and see if I find clothes for you in the other apartments.” He said. 

She popped her head into the bathroom, startling him. “Jeez, give me a warning.”

“Sorry,” She muttered. She stared deeply at him, tilting her head. “What’s your name?”

“Aaron,  a hunter.”

“Hunter?” She questioned. “Like hunting animals?”

“I guess… similar.” He turned away from her. “Anyways, take a shower. I’ll be back.” He exited the bathroom and headed to the door. He opened it, peering through the eerily darkness of the hallway. He turned to Gwen, who stood in the doorframe of the bathroom. “Don’t worry, I’ll be back.”

***

Aaron closed the door behind him, stepping into the dark hallway. The window next to the main entrance lit only so far as it could before giving up, leaving most of the hallway in darkness.

He crept to the next apartment, brandishing a pistol from his holster. He had five bullets in the pistol, wasting most of them before reaching Lost City. 

He quietly opened the door, taking advantage of the pistol’s flashlight attachment. He turned the light on, entering the room. He snapped his head to every dark corner in the apartment. It had the same layout as the one they were staying at.

  He moved farther into the apartment, flashing his light on every part of the room. He cleared the small kitchen and living room before moving to the closed-off bedroom. He opened one of the sliding doors with one hand while the other was holding the pistol.

As the door slid open, a corpse launched itself towards Aaron. He jumped back, pressing the trigger multiple times. He pumped the corpse with lead, falling to the ground as the corpse fell nearly on top of him. He pushed the corpse off him quickly, shooting up. He turned the light on the corpse, seeing an infected teenage girl laying in a puddle of her guts.

Aaron turned around and found a teenage boy dead on the boy, his body ripped into by the girl. The two looked to be teens that ran off together, deciding to live in this apartment complex. Unfortunately, God had plans that weren’t so advantageous to them.

He turned away from the dead teen, sifting through their backpacks. He grabbed both bags before turning to the refrigerator. He stole the supplies and went back to his room. 

He entered the apartment they were staying at, approaching the bathroom door. “Gwen, it’s me. I’m back and I got you some clothes.”

“Thanks,” He heard her mutter. Her voice sounded better than it did earlier.

Aaron dropped the girl’s backpack by the side of the bathroom door before going to the refrigerator. It was empty. Nothing aside from a bag of water. It used to be a bag of ice.

He sat down at the pull-out bed, sitting down on it. He rested his head on one of the couch’s rough pillows. 

Gwen turned off the shower, opening the door ajar. She noticed the bag and brought it inside. A few minutes later, she came out wearing black jeans, holes at the knees (a weird trend), and a sky-blue tee-shirt. She found a brush in the girl’s bag, untangling her hair as she approached Aaron. “Why did you… save us?”

“You looked like you needed saving,” he said, “it’s not that you remind me-” He stopped himself, closing off a memory. He didn’t want to remember that person.

"What do you want?” She asked, her eyes tightening and focusing on him.

She doesn’t trust me. She believes that I have bad intentions, he thought. He gathered his thoughts before speaking. “I don’t want anything, believe me. I-I-I,” He stammered. He took a deep breath and allowed it to leave. “I became an orphan when I was six. I moved from family to family before I struck it out on my own. That was three years ago,”  He dug through his bag and took out a small dirty photo. He handed it to Gwen. She took it and examined it. 

The photo displayed an orphanage in the background with the words “Heaven Gold” hanging over the main entrance. The main focus showed three kids with the middle one extending its hands over the other kids' shoulders. The photo was too dirty for Gwen to point out any features aside from the hair colors of the children and their genders. A redhead female, a black-haired boy, and a blonde-haired girl. 

“I’m the kid in the middle with the black hair. The others are… Were my friends at that orphanage.” He said. Gwen softly nodded and flipped the photo over. On the backside was a message, but the writing was illegible. She handed the photo back to Aaron. He took it and stuffed it into his bag.

Gwen looked around and noticed a lonesome chair nearby. She grabbed the chair and turned it around so the chair faced away from Aaron. She sat down. “I wasn’t alone at first. A guy, Greg, met us during the first hours of the apocalypse.” Tears bubbled at the corner of her eyes. “He helped us survive while on the road. We would sleep in hotels, motels, inside cars, and everything in between.” She looked away and stared off into space. “That was our first supply run that the three of us all took part of. It was supposed to be easy and quick. Well,” She chuckled. “You saw how that went.” She stood up and bid Aaron a good night before retiring to the bedroom to sleep. The child was attached to her hip. 

Aaron simply nodded and went to the window in the living room. He taped blankets to the windows and barricaded the only entrance. He didn’t want them barging in during the middle of the night.

He looked out of the window seeing that the sun had left, leaving the moon in its absence. The night sky was lit by the moon’s rays.

Aaron grabbed his sporter and stuffed it under the pull-out bed. He took off his jacket and took out a hunting knife that he concealed in his jean pocket. He tucked it under his pillow. The pistol was put on the side of the bed, available if needed.

He rested his head on the pillow, ready to drift off when a sudden thought hit him. He didn’t check for bites amidst the blood staining their skin. He jumped up and approached the bedroom door. He knocked on it. The door opened, revealing Gwen standing on the other side. “What’s wrong?”

“How is the child?” He asked.

“Why?” She asked, defensive.

“She won’t turn will she?” Aaron asked. Gwen jerked her head back.

“Why do you say that?”

Aaron looked around. “It has happened to me before,” he whispered. Gwen shook her head. Aaron let out a small sigh before nodding. “Are you okay? You had a lot of blood on you.” Gwen nodded her head.

“Is that it?” She asked. It was time for Aaron to jerk his head back.

“Yeah,” He said. He walked away and headed back to his couch, getting pissed at Gwen’s attitude. He got into bed and tucked