Expired Judgement

I awoke and looked over at the clock it was 3:34 A.M. This wasn’t the first time I’ve awakened in the middle of the night. For the past week I’ve been having difficulty sleeping which was nothing unusual. I think it’s partially stress related to work. I’ve been running behind on a project and the homeowner has been all over my ass about it. Tonight was different from the other nights. I felt a craving for something sweet. I walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge to find the last piece of leftover chocolate cake from my son’s birthday. Since my divorce I see him every other weekend. I told her I didn’t want a custody battle, but when do women ever listen? I grabbed a fancy silver fork from the drawer, one of the few things I got out of the divorce. It goes along with forty-seven other pieces to make a nice little set. “Priceless,” she said. I say they might as well be put to use because we never used them before. “Mother fuckers!” The banging of my trash cans being thrown against the house outside startled me. I looked out the window into the darkness. I was able to make out at least a dozen dark figures most likely defacing the neighbor’s house with eggs and toilet paper again, but I had never cared much for my neighbor anyways. My thought was if it didn’t involve me then there was no use in me getting involved. I had made my way back to bed and pulled the sheets down to crawl back in. The noise from outside became louder and sounded like the kids may have moved on to my house. Again I approached the window from my room and noticed a couple of them were running towards the front of my house. I rushed to the front door and insured that it was locked. Then I looked through the peep hole of the door. What I saw was unimaginable at the time. There was a man, but not just any man. His body was falling apart. His nose was gone. It was replaced with a crusted layer of blood that scabbed over his face. His eyes were black but appeared to glow white when the porch light reflected off of them. His clothing was torn as though he had just been mugged. As he turned around to leave my door I could see my sidewalk right through a hole in his chest cavity. This was some kind of creature that walked right out of a horror movie. Tonight wasn’t my night to die. I ran to my gun case and grabbed my Mossberg 500. It was a gun that no matter what your experience was you just had to get close enough to pull the trigger. A brief moment of silence was followed by unbearable screams from within my neighbors’ house. It sounded as though my neighbor and his family were taking their last dying breaths. I couldn’t do much about it now. I’m not sure whether it was the fear of dying, the thought that my neighbors might already be dead, or the fact that I didn’t like them anyway that stopped me from going out to help. Maybe a little bit of the three, but I had to do something. I reached for the phone and dialed 911. I don’t know for sure, but I do believe this was one of the first reports the authorities received about the creatures’ madness. “911 emergency.” “They’re dead! They’re all dead!” “Who sir?” “All of them!” “Sir, can you confirm your address?” “Yes, it’s 2214 Perish Court.” “Remain on the line sir. Help is on the way.” There was a brief pause on the line before the female operator began speaking again. “Sir, can you calm down and tell me what’s happened?” “They’re all dead, I don’t know how, but they’re here and they’re dead. My neighbor’s are being attacked and killed. They…are…DEAD! I…I don’t know how else to explain it. They aren’t human.” “Sir, please remain calm. Two units are on their way. Stay on the line until they arrive.” Three minutes or so went by. I don’t remember what happened once she told me to remain calm, but the sirens and the flashing lights brought me back to the moment. Creatures were now outside of my office window trying to get into my house a different way. Four officers came out of two police cars, assuming a stand off positioning, using their doors as protection from any possible threat of resistance. Their guns were drawn at the creatures and ready to fire at any unnecessary movement. The officer from one of the cars began to talk into a loud speaker. “Stand still and do not attempt to run. Drop your weapons, place your hands above your heads, and get face down onto the ground. I will not-” Before he could finish what he was saying the herd of creatures took off for them. The two at my window and the four in my neighbor’s house sprinted towards the men. The police opened fire. I’m not sure how many shots they fired into the crowd of monstrosities, but it was clear they had emptied their clips. I know this, because one of the officers was still pulling the trigger to his gun but nothing was coming out. The disbelief filling me had now consumed the police. None of the officers attempted to reload their guns. Of the six monsters that ran at them only one fell. The rest continued to charge aggressively with a crazed appearance. It didn’t take them long to overcome the police officers. It was a matter of seconds for the sounds of the night to fall mostly silent to the sounds of a slimy chewing. Flesh was ripped away from the bone with animal like instincts. Arms, legs, and heads were dismembered from their victims’ bodies. It was a suicide mission for the police. They just didn’t know it. I was in shock. I couldn’t move or respond, but only watch it happen. A moment went by and two creatures were back at my window attempting to get in. As I looked down at my gun, and thought back to what had just happened, I knew it wasn’t going to help the current situation I was in. I needed time to figure out what I was going to do and I didn’t have that luxury here. I went against the odds after grabbing my car keys and I headed for the door. As I opened the door the creatures finally managed to enter the window of my home. I slammed the front door behind me to possibly buy me additional time to get away, but it was no use. I was confronted by another human-like being outside. Our faces met eye to eye only inches away from each other. There was no air emitting from its face as I breathed in the smell of rotten meat. It exploded at me and latched on to my arms. At the same time it grabbed me it brought its head forward. However, the lack of the lower jaw missing from this one prevented it from chewing on me. My shotgun separated the two of us as I stared into a gaping black whole of nothingness that led down the back of its throat. It didn’t seem concerned about its jaw as it fixated on me and gripped tighter on my biceps. My shotgun quickly became leverage between us. I pushed and pried until there was some space between its body and mine. Miraculously, its left grip released and I reacted almost instinctively. The butt end of the Mossberg collapsed the matter behind the skull of the creature and it fell lifelessly to the ground. My feet continued to move without having time to think about what I should do. I pressed the button that released the door locks on my car. As the door shut I turned the key and looked up to see what had just happened.