Happy Birthday (Part two)

11:40. Still enough time in the day for my life to be ruined. I see K sleeping soundly in the cot next to mine. I don't want to wake her. One thing I've learned over the past few months is that a tired K is about as dangerous as an angry zombie. I consider taking the gun, but like I said, I don't want to wake up K. And I probably won't need it anyway. I take the metal bat from its place against the wall and slip outside. The cold air hits my face and I'm happy that the cabin is so well insulated. The light of the sky is enough to see the glow in the eyes of at least a dozen undead. Uh-oh. I silently walk over to one, its face blank, probably not even seeing me. With a loud smack it's head turns halfway around. Another hit and the twitching body is motionless. But the sound of that draws the attention of the others. Shattered skulls and broken bones are all that is left of them after a few minutes. I wipe sweat from my forehead.

Another sound, slightly further away. One more, I suppose. The... thing, that now comes out of the darkness of the edge of the forest is the largest of its kind I have ever seen. Probably seven feet tall and as wide as two of me, it thunders slowly across the thick grass, about ten or fifteen yards away. I feel like I'm so small in comparison to this towering beast. I knock loudly on the door with the bat.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" She's an angel, that girl.

"K... get my gun..." I say, trying not to show the fear now building more and more as the thing gets about twenty feet away.

"What do you need it for? Why can't you get it, I mean-"

"I said get my effing gun! I'm not kidding! Get the hell out here right now." It's getting closer now, and I'm pressed against the wooden siding so hard that my back is starting to hurt. She's grumbling something about me being lazy as she opens the door and hands me the pistol. When she sees the, whatever it is, she shuts up so fast I would probably have laughed if I wasn't about to piss my pants. Carful aim, And I nick its ear. Great.

If someone set off a bunch of fireworks near a jumbo jet with heavy metal blasting in their ears, it wouldn't be as loud as the roar of anger that fills the air after that shot gets fired. It covers the distance between us in a single stride, crashing against the house, and I jump out of the way with a second to spare. K is on the ground, knocked unconscious. The thought of the thing hurting her snaps something inside me. I fire off another shot into its back. It doesn't budge. Again and again until I'm out of ammo. It starts to reach down for her.

"NO!" I jump on its back and hit its skull with the bat as hard as I can. I twists around, trying to throw me off, but I stay on. I hit it repeatedly in the side of the head until I feel like I can't anymore. It stumbles around for a second and finally, with a crash, falls over. I jump off of its back and walk over to the face, or what is left of it. I kick that, probably breaking a toe, and hit it another thirty or so times with the bat until it is just a pile of pink and green pulp connected to the neck.

I have never sprinted so fast in my life. I bend over and look K in the eyes. I touch her face lightly with the back of my hand.

"Did, you, kill, the elephant son of a bitch?" She asks weakly, a smirk spreading across the beautiful face.

"Are you alright?" I don't even try to hide my concern for her in my voice.

"Yeah, just knocked around. I've been better, but I've also been worse." I laugh, and pull her up. I open the door and we walk in, me half-carrying her. As I place her lightly on her bed, I glance up at the clock.

12:01AM on November sixth. Happy birthday to me.