The Regulator (Complete First Draft)

Chapter 61: Anthony - Brothers

“Get inside, come on!” Annaliese shouted, wrestling James backwards into the cabin.

“We have to help the others!” Anthony demanded.

“You’re not gonna help them by getting hurt, come on!” She threw Anthony backwards into the cabin’s main room and slammed the door.

“They’re coming this way!” Anthony shouted.

“And we can keep them back if you don’t act like a complete idiot!” Annaliese shouted. Anthony looked around as the other boys began to strap their weapons around their wastes. Anthony quickly got up and did the same.

“How many are there?” James asked.

“Huge, like a lot. Like a lot a lot.” Anthony said.

“Where’d they come from?” Seth questioned.

“Dunno.”

“Listen” Annaliese announced, “We’re all going outside the cabin to start. James, you and I are gonna go down the stars and stand in front of the steps. Anthony, Niko, and Danny, you guys stand up on the front porch and defend the cabin from there. Jaxon, Seth, you guys go to the side porch but fire towards the front. Got it?”

“Got it.” They all said in unison.

“How many are coming here?” Anthony asked.

Annaliese loaded her shotgun, “As many as we can bring over.”

Jaxon gulped.

Anthony ran out the door with the rest of the group. He ran up to one of the sides of the front porch and looked out over the field. The horde was absolutely massive and was tearing apart the main cabin area, luckily leaving outliers like Andrew and Nick’s cabins almost untouched.

“Where ya think they all comed from?” Danny asked Anthony as they stood next to each other on the porch.

“Who knows, who cares. Just kill ‘em.” Anthony said, aiming down the field and taking his first shot. Even with just one shot, he could see the Walker’s attention was now turning toward their cabin as several lifeless, gray faces turned to face where the shot had come from. “Here they come!” he screamed.

Sure enough, with every shot Annaliese and the Boy’s took, a longer and longer stream of undead began making their way over to the cabin. At first, the horde was rather easy to control, but as the Zombies got closer and closer, Anthony realized a major, major problem. A problem they hadn’t accounted for during the rush to help defend the camp. “Annaliese!” Anthony shouted, “We don’t have enough ammo to take on all these guys!”

“Conserve!” Annaliese shouted as a young girl Zombie ran towards her. It was only about a foot away from grabbing her when Annaliese managed to shoot it in the face. Anthony watched as Annaliese reeled back from the bloody mess on the girls face, and then instantly fell onto the ground. She was facing down, looking like she was gonna puke.

“Annaliese!” James shouted, taking one more shot at a zombie before diving down to help her out. Anthony quickly pulled himself over the wall of the porch and dropped down onto the ground below. He rushed out in front of James and Annaliese and began fending off the approaching undead. One particularly large Zombie rushed forward, barreling straight at Anthony. Anthony shot it in the head, and spun out of the way as the lifeless corpse went flying past him. He looked back at the corpse and was shocked by something about it, something entirely unsettling. He recognized the corpse, it was Gavin.

“What the…” Anthony said, but soon his attention returned back to the approaching horde. There were many, many more of them now, at least twenty-five, barreling down on the cabin. Anthony looked over at James and Annaliese as James seemed to be helping her back inside. “What’s going on!”

“I think she’s in shock! She says the girl she just killed was one of her campers!” James shouted back.

“The dead are our friends! Gavin’s dead too!” Anthony shouted,“Everyone get inside!” All the boys rushed inside while he turned and focused his attention on the horde. He was pretty sure he had six shots left… or five. He’d taken three with the clip, that was for sure… but how many were left. He cursed himself, he should have paid better attention during Andrew’s lessons.

Anthony turned and fired off seven shots before his clip ran out, surprising even him. Only three of the shots hit zombies though, and only one died. Shaking from the stress and silently cursing the whole situation, Anthony ran inside.

Inside was some sort of organized chaos. James had managed to bring Annaliese to a bed and the rest of the boys were tearing apart the place in order to barricade the front door.

“How many are out there?” James asked. Jaxon and Danny rushed past him and Anthony, slamming one of the bed frames against the front door.

“A lot.”

“You didn’t get a number?”

“No… I was kinda fearing for my life and my brothers lives.”

“Yeah well, you could have gotten a number.” James said as Seth and Danny ran past the two of them with the bookcase in tow. Anthony quickly grabbed James.

“James, that horde is all people who were here at the camp. Fireside people.”

“It doesn’t matter, we have to survive anyway.”

“I know, but how do we do that when me and you are the only two who can actually shoot.”

“Jaxon, Danny, Seth, and Niko can help.”

“They can barely land a shot.” Anthony said, stepping towards James. “We need Ivan, and Gabi, and Annaliese, and… Andrew.”

“We don’t need any of them.” James said. The two heard a crash on the door and looked over to see the forms of many walkers smacking against the screen door. They quickly pushed their hands through the thin screen, but were still faced with the door itself.

“Hold them back!” Anthony shouted. The boy grabbed Annaliese’s shotgun and fired towards the window. the other boys formed around him in a circle.

“We only have one clip each.” Seth said, rather calmly given the circumstances.
“Yeah, and I only have half of one.” Niko added, checking his magazine.

“Use them right then.” Anthony demanded.

The boys fired on the small window in the door where the screen used too be, taking time to make sure they were actually shooting at something and not just wasting bullets. But, despite their efforts, they still ran out of ammo. And the dead were still coming.

“Quick, block the door!” James shouted. He, Anthony, and Jaxon crawled under the already in place barricades, and shoved their backs up against the door. They pushed with all their might too keep it closed and keep the dead out. Anthony looked up, and could see gray, dead, rotting hands reaching in through the window and trying to grab at his head, which was just a couple inches below.

“Get out! Get help!” Anthony shouted at Danny, Niko, and Seth as they stood around, seeming dumbfounded.

“How? There’s no where to go!” Niko shouted back.

With that, there was a kick at the door and Anthony, James and Jaxon fell forward. The door began to swing open, but Jaxon quickly jumped back and slammed his back against it. Anthony and James soon did the same.

As they struggled and pushed against the door with all their might, Anthony felt tears form in his eyes. Tears of sadness, anger, fear… he hadn’t felt a lot of these things in a long time. He’d learned how to block them out, something a lot of the other boys hadn’t. But now they were back. Anthony felt like he was close to dying, and he didn’t have anyone to help him. Everything was f***ed, and he knew it.

“Help!” Anthony heard James desperately scream. Niko, Seth, and Danny all came crawling under the makeshift barricades and slammed themselves up against the door as well. All six boys pushed with all their might to keep the monsters back. Tears were streaming down Anthony’s face now and blurring his vision as the undead pushed and pushed. And then, in one sudden moment, they broke.

The door flew open, and without even a moment to think, all six boys scattered under the barricades. The undead began to pour in as the boys ran to each of their beds and grabbed their knives. They turned around to the awful nightmarish sight of tons of bloody decaying zombies streaming into the cabin. With no where to run, and no way to fight them all off, Anthony got down bent down to the floor and put his hands up to his forehead, accepting his fate and whatever it may bring.

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG

Six shots rang loudly throughout the cabin. Anthony heard Jaxon yelp in surprise, and looked up to see a Zombie lurching toward him. It was big, mean looking, but surprisingly not decayed. Anthony recognized this zombie too. It was Brad. And just as Brad got close enough to grasp Anthony, he heard a slicing sound. Metal cutting through meat. Brad went limp as a blade protruded from his forehead. The blade got pulled backwards out of his head and there, standing amongst a pile of bodies, covered in blood, and holding his empty revolver in one hand and a bloody knife in the other, was Andrew.