Darlings of Decay

by Chrissy Peebles

  “If I didn’t think you could, little bro, I’d have left you in there with Jackie and Claire who are very ill prepared to live in the world we’re now faced to live in.”

  “Hey, your gun’s loaded, right?” I asked.

  “Yeah, but we’ve gotta save our ammo. I’ll only use it if I feel it’s absolutely necessary. Plus, we don’t want to attract the zombies with noisy gunfire. We can handle a few though. No worries.”

  We left the garage and walked down the long, straight driveway. I spun toward my brother. “I don’t see anything.”

  Just as my brother was trying to assure me that’d we’d have the upper hand, my jaw dropped. Something growled behind me.

  Chapter 5

  An unmistakable menacing growl erupted from behind me. Crap. I held my breath and turned slowly. My hand clutched the sledgehammer more tightly as I mentally prepared myself for the unavoidable.

  “Don’t try to be a hero,” Nick mumbled.

  Unfortunately, his words didn’t quite register in my brain as I raised my gaze at the disfigured human being before me. The gaping mouth, full of black, putrid, rotting teeth and oozing gums made me want to take a step back, but I had to prove myself—to Nick as well as to my own ego. I stood my ground and forced the bile back down my throat. Ugly blue veins stuck out from a shiny bald head. Where strong, healthy arms had once been, there remained only holes, flesh eaten away by bugs. But what scared me the most were the eyes: human, yet dead. I swallowed hard and shook my head slightly. In that moment, facing that thing, I realized that the naïve confidence I’d had before was not enough. No way was I prepared for a real-life confrontation with the undead. Yes, I’d originally been thrilled about the opportunity to kick some zombie butt, but seeing them in person again was a totally different story. For a minute, I was reminded of the Ferris wheel incident all over again. That was the very first night people had become sick and turned into zombies. I froze in my boots, but not for long.

  The creature began lumbering toward us. As it moved, thick, dark blood—something like motor oil—ran down its face, dripping off its rotting chin to the dirty shirt, the result of a recent head wound. The hole in its left cheek looked fresh, and clearly its last victim had fought back with a gun.

  With my heart thumping, I zigzagged left, away from the bullet-ridden zombie. I grabbed my weapon, but before I could put it to any use, Nick leapt forward and chopped into the zombie’s skull. The left eye socket made a suction sound as the eye propelled onto the ground. The corpse stopped dead and then fell backward onto the ground.

  I punched the air. Yes! My brother nailed it. He absolutely knew what he was doing, and he’d had plenty of experience. After all, he’d been out there fighting those things for a year now.

  Nick raced over to the downed zombie and jerked out his axe; I cringed, hoping the zombie wouldn’t spring back to life like they always do in horror movies. “Get ready!” Nick yelled. “More are coming.”

  “I’m ready.” I bolted down to the end of the driveway. As I looked over my shoulder, I saw two more zombies to my left. One was heading toward Nick, and the other had its sights on me. I needed more preparation, more weapons, and more tips from my brother, yet I knew there was no time left; the zombie wasn’t about to wait for me to get over my rookie stage fright. I knew I had to fight. Nick’s and Val’s lives depended on me.

  Dragging its right leg, the zombie inched closer and then swung its rotting arms at me. He fought like a small child. I knew I could easily take the monster on, especially since everyone knew zombies had an IQ barely above freezing, and they were slower than constipated turtles.

  It was such a grotesque foe. I stared into sunken white eyes with no visible pupils. It had green-tinted skin and dirty blond hair, and the red, exposed muscles around its mouth made me want to gag—or maybe it was the foul stench of dead and rotting flesh. He wore a dirty, ripped mechanic’s uniform, and his nametag read “Bob”. Poor Bob, I thought. How could this...this thing have been a human? Had he been in a Halloween costume contest, he might have won for his makeup application and most interesting contacts alone, but I knew it had nothing to do with elaborate Hollywood special effects. It was all too real, and regardless of what he’d been in his life, in his living death, Bob was an enemy, and I had to take him down.

  Bob hissed, flashing his black, sticky teeth at me.

  I was ready to give the mummified mechanic the biggest headache of his life. The sledgehammer smashed through meat and bones like they were breakfast cereal, sending a pang of pain through my upper arm as it reverberated from the impact. I pulled away and then slammed it into the creature one more time, this time with less thought and more power. The second time did the trick, and he dropped to the ground. Realization didn’t kick in straightaway, but as my breathing quickened and my eyes focused on the bloody mess at my feet, I knew I’d have to fight off nightmares for a while.

  For a whole second, I breathed out, relieved and thinking it might just be over. But barely had I had time to congratulate myself for surviving before the sound of footsteps thumped behind me, warning me of someone’s arrival. I spun around quickly, focusing my gaze on the tall figure hovering over me.

  “Your first zombie kill.” Nick slapped my back. “You did good, man! If the girls’ headcount was right, there’re about two left.”

  Adrenalin pumped through my veins. “Well, what’re we waiting for? Let’s go take down those slimy suckers!” I glanced around, and my senses went on full alert.

  Another goon advanced toward me. This one was missing an eye. Its decomposing leg was covered with thin, blackened and bloodied shreds of rotting flesh, and severed bone was visible through its torn, tattered jeans.

  I gagged.

  “You got this, bro?” Nick asked.

  I held my position. “Bring it on!”

  “Good. I’ll take the other one—the one coming from the right. The more we can knock out with the first strike, the better.”

  I wiped my brow with my sleeve. “Don’t worry! I got this.”

  A female zombie stumbled over like a drunken sailor, letting out a gurgling moan as she held out her arms, as though she were a long-lost friend aiming for a hug.

  “Sorry, honey, but you’re not my type,” I muttered. “Besides, I’m pretty sure you like me for my brains and not my looks.” Focusing on my target, I charged, running toward the zombie at full speed before I kicked it. As it fell on the ground, I swung my sledgehammer and dealt the final blow, crushing its skull. The zombie slumped into a messy heap at my feet, but I had no time to marvel about how easy it had been. As I glanced up, I noticed another one coming and another one after that. Crap! Where are they all coming from? The girls had told us that only a handful of zombies were after them, but there were far more than that. Nick was busy taking down one after the other, which meant I was on my own.

  Another rotting corpse headed toward me on unbalanced feet. I struck him, but then another one came right from behind. I swung around and struck him in the nose as I turned my hips into the blow. He stumbled back. I raised my sledgehammer and readied myself to take down the next zombie. Suddenly, something grabbed hold of my ankle and started to pull with a might that didn’t seem possible, especially from a dead thing. I fell backward on my butt, sending my weapon flying straight out of my hands. The zombie I thought I had killed wasn’t actually dead. Crap! Nick was right. Never underestimate these things. I kicked and flailed, trying to smash its face, but it would not release the death grip it had on my boot; I had forgotten that zombies were not capable of feeling—even pain.

  I assumed a combat fighting stance and immediately went for the closest zombie with scraggly black hair and a missing left arm. It was shirtless and flat out nasty. I wanted to gag at the missing chunks of skin that were missing from its bulbous stomach, and the ropes of intestine that dangled, dragging behind the man with every lumbering step. I struck it hard in the nose, sending the shattered bone up into the thing’s brai
n. The man slumped to the ground with a gurgling sound in his throat.

  Another one came. I swung. The sickening sound of shattering skull seemed to reverberate throughout the air. I watched it tumble forward, and then brought my booted heel down hard on its head.

  From a distance, ghouls staggered toward me in every direction. Their zombie moans made the hair on my neck prickle. “Remind me why I wanted to do this again,” I muttered. My brother didn’t answer. A zombie snapped at my boot like some kind of wild animal and bit me. Luckily, its teeth couldn’t penetrate leather. Or so I hoped.

  A shot echoed in the crisp morning air, and the zombie suddenly let go of me. Its brains seemed to explode from its head, painting the grass in a fresh coat of gore. Nick fired four consecutive shots and took down the zombies closest to me, but others kept coming.

  I jumped to my feet, scanning the grass for my weapon. A glint of light shone off to the left. I scrambled over and picked up the sledgehammer I’d dropped when the zombie had attacked me.

  After three more shots cut through the silence, Nick yelled, “I’m out of ammo!”

  My heart thundered against my ribs. I wanted to play action hero, but reality set in: I couldn’t do it on my own. We were outnumbered. “Nick!” I shouted. A zombie’s head flew off its skinny neck as Nick’s blade whacked through its throat. My heart almost burst through my chest as I watched a dozen zombies surround him. There was no doubt he was tough, but there was no way even he could take on so many at once.

  The rotting lady in the red dress sneered and growled as she moved toward me. The left side of her face, from cheek to throat had been ripped away. I had nothing but my wits about me. Well, that and a wicked sledgehammer. The decomposing woman half staggered toward me. I took her down in one quick blow.

  My fingers tightly wrapped around my weapon as one of those things growled behind me. I spun around. Black slime oozed from its mouth, and for a split second, I stared into its lifeless eyes. Moaning in a grotesque fashion, it inched closer to me, but I was ready. Before I even got a chance to swing, a loud crack sounded in the air, and the zombie collapsed in front of me.

  I glanced at the house. Val stood just outside the door, a rifle tucked into her shoulder as she squeezed out one shot after another, taking down the rest of the undead army like some kind of female gunslinger. If Nick had ever doubted her being our sister, she had just proven his doubts wrong. Without hesitation, I started pounding skull after skull.

  She smiled at me and then turned her attention to Nick, who looked stunned.

  “Camouflage gear and combat boots?” she asked. “You’re military all the way, aren’t you?”

  “You know it.”

  “I figured as much.”

  “Where did you find a rifle?” Nick asked.

  “There’s a false wall in the bedroom closet. It’s loaded with guns and ammo.”

  “That’s awesome!” I said.

  Nick flashed his famous white smile. “You’re as resourceful as me.”

  Val shrugged. “Well, what can I say? I’m the curious type.”

  “That was a compliment,” Nick said, slapping her shoulder slightly, “because I’m pretty resourceful myself.”

  A hue of red flushed across her cheeks. “Uh…okay. In that case, thanks.”

  Never much one for giving out words of praise, Nick rubbed the back of his neck, slightly embarrassed. “Uh…I didn’t have too much time to look around. You were passed out, and I was worried for everyone’s safety with all those zombies around, and—”

  Val grinned. “No need for explanations. We’re all on the same team. But if I were you, I’d go upstairs and get some more ammo for your gun.” She then reached down and threw me a handgun, which I caught in one swift move.

  She regarded me from under lowered brows. “You know how to use one, right?”

  “Yep,” I said. “I’ve been training at the shooting gallery for some time now.”

  “Good.”

  Nick put his gun away. “Thanks for saving our butts back there.”

  Her blue eyes twinkled. “Hey, what are long-lost sisters for?”

  We both smiled.

  “It’s nice to finally meet you, Nicholas,” she continued.

  “Please call me Nick. I-I don’t even know where to begin. I have so many questions. This entire thing has totally taken me by surprise.”

  She grinned.

  Nick ran up to her, hugged her tight, and spun her in a circle. “Dean told me a little, but not much.”

  “We’ll catch up later, huh?” she asked.

  He nodded, and then motioned around to the dead zombies on the ground. “I didn’t know I had such a tough sister.”

  I laughed and joined in on the reunion.

  Val held our hands as tears welled up in her eyes. “I’ve waited so long or this moment. I’ve met my biological parents, and now I’ve met both of my siblings. This is best day of my life! I couldn’t possibly let those monsters take that away from me.”

  My brother tucked his gun away. “Girl, we crashed in the middle of Zombie Land.”

  “It doesn’t matter. We’re together, and that’s all that counts.”

  Even though it had barely been a day, I already loved her just as much as I loved Nick. I knew how important it was for us, a family, to stick together through thick and thin. I did have to wonder, however, if humanity would even survive the cruel plague of reanimated cannibals. It wouldn’t be easy, but deep down, I felt we’d somehow make it. We had too; failure was absolutely not an option.

  “Hey, do you have that cure with you?” Val asked. “Now might be a good time to use it.”

  She wanted to use it because she was slowly beginning to change; I could see that much in her eyes. I thought about how I could break the news and soften the blow, but it would be like trying to hit someone gently with a battle axe. “I do, but I can’t give it to you yet.”

  Mistrust filled her voice. “Why not?”

  I realized I’d have to tell her delicately, so she wouldn’t flip.

  “You’re going to have to let the change occur first, become a zombie,” my brother chimed in. “I’m sorry, because it’s going to suck, but there’s no other choice. As much as I detest it, we’ll be there for you. When the time is right, I’ll give you the antidote.”

  Val’s jaw dropped, and various emotions crossed her features, from dread to disbelief, then back to dread.

  I elbowed my brother. “I was going to tell her in a nicer way than that,” I half-whispered.

  “There’s no way to sugarcoat it, bro. She needs to know the truth.”

  “But I…I can’t…I don’t want to turn into one of those things!” Val’s eyes brimmed with tears.

  “It’s the only way,” I softly said, rubbing my hand up and down her back, which was about all I could do. As much as I wanted to help, I was helpless. I couldn’t even find the right words to soothe her, if soothing was even possible at that point.

  I expected a fit or lots of crying. She did neither. She just spun around and headed toward the house, her long hair dangling behind her like a curtain.

  “Wait!” I shouted, running after her. “Where’re you going?”

  “I need to punch something, preferably a wall.”

  I looked at Nick. “Yep, she definitely has our temper.” Of course, if I’d have been faced with the same dilemma, I’d probably have wanted to start punching holes in things too.

  “C’mon,” Nick said. “Punching a wall will solve nothing. Trust me on that. I’ve only done it a million times. Some of the holes I’ve left aren’t pretty, and my knuckles weren’t either. Like I said, it accomplishes absolutely nothing.”

  She stopped and turned slowly, her eyes ablaze. “Fine! Then I’m going to give those chicks you picked up a piece of my mind.”

  “Geez. You should’ve just let her go hit the wall,” I mumbled.

  She threw her hands up in the air. “You two left me in the hands of complete and utte
r idiots. Had I not woken up, we’d all be dead!”

  I hated to admit it, but she was right. Even if the girls didn’t want to fight, they could’ve been our eyes and ears and let us know which way the zombies were coming from so we wouldn’t have had to worry about sneak attacks. Instead, they just hid inside the house after we risked our lives to help them find shelter.

  “You’re angry at us,” Nick yelled, “not them. You’re mad at the way the cure works. I understand, because I’d be pissed, too, but you can’t take out your anger on them.”

  “Who in the heck dresses fashionable in the middle of a zombie apocalypse anyway?” she said. “Look at me. I’m wearing blue jeans, a t-shirt, and some great running shoes to get me the heck out of Dodge should the need arise. Really, who are they trying to impress? You can’t turn on a freaking zombie, no matter how cute your outfit is!”

  “Maybe they have a thing for Bob.”

  “Bob?”

  I pointed down at the dead zombie in the mechanic’s work suit. “At least that’s what his name tag says.”

  She rolled her eyes, obviously not finding my joke very funny, and I really couldn’t blame her for being in a bad mood. We didn’t even know if the cure would work. If I was a nervous wreck myself, since the thought of losing my only sister scared me to death, I knew she had to be even more on edge.

  “Those little fashionistas hid in the house like a couple of scared mice,” roared Val before she slammed the door, beyond pissed.

  I certainly hoped those girls had found some weapons, because it seemed my sister’s wrath might be more fatal than any brain-devouring zombie.

  Chapter 6

  Nick and I hung outside for a few minutes, and I listened to his monologue as he went over our game plan. I tried to listen as closely as I could, but after a while, I couldn’t help but interrupt his train of thought.

  “Those zombies looked like animated corpses, like something out of a horror movie. It’s just…unbelievable.”