As the World Dies Untold Tales Volume 2

by Rhiannon Frater

  “Oh, Jesus, they’re coming!” the old woman cried out.

  The revolver fired twice as Ken got his legs under him and finally yanked his bag out of the back seat. Sweat pouring down his face, his breath ragged in his ears, he ran around the car, ignoring the growling zombie just a few feet away on the other side of the fence. Lenore was ahead of him, running with the big bag over her shoulder.

  As he came around the back end of the RV, he saw the zombies Tito had warned them about struggling through the unhinged back door and shattered windows of Mr. Thames’s house. The undead creatures fought with each other to get through the openings and to the humans trying to escape. Ken felt his breath catch in his throat as one of the zombies broke free from the tangle of legs and arms and ran straight for him.

  A bullet slammed into the zombie, knocking its head back with the impact. Its body flopped like a rag doll as it fell to the ground and tumbled to a stop.

  “Hurry up, boy!” Grandma yelled from the doorway of the RV.

  Lenore grabbed his arm and jolted him out of his frozen state. Together they rushed to the open door. Tito appeared in the doorway holding Grandma’s gun and fired a few more shots at the pursuing zombies. Lenore tossed the bag in then clambered up into the RV. Ken knew he was hyperventilating, but couldn’t stop it. He could barely see straight as he threw his bag inside and lifted Cher’s carrier up into his arms as he tried to get in. Tito’s strong hand gripped his shoulder and dragged him inside, firing into the face of a zombie about to take a bite out of Ken’s back.

  “Get him away from the door!” Tito ordered, taking another shot.

  Grandma grabbed Cher’s carrier as Lenore grabbed Ken’s shirt, yanking him away from Tito. The heat inside the vehicle was overwhelming and Ken felt like he was going to faint. He felt something grab his foot and screamed. A child zombie had reached in to grab his pant leg and was trying to climb. Tito kicked the kid’s head, knocking him back out.

  “Lenore, you gotta drive! I need to watch the door! I broke the latch getting in!”

  “Crap!”

  “You can do it, honey,” her grandmother assured her.

  Ken lay on the floor, Cher staring at him through the door of her cat carrier with an accusatory look. Struggling to breathe, he crawled to a nearby chair. He pitched into it as the RV took off with a mighty jolt. Tito braced himself in the doorway of the RV and fired the last shots of the revolver. He tossed it onto the counter nearby and grabbed up the crowbar. Some of the faster zombies paced the RV as Lenore drove down the alley.

  “Faster, chica!” Tito ordered. He shoved another zombie off its feet as it tried to make a dive for the door.

  Lenore’s grumbling was loud and angry from the driver’s seat, but the RV picked up speed. “Hold on!”

  The vehicle swung out of the alley far too fast and Ken screamed as he held on for dear life. Tito looked dangerously close to falling out of the RV for just a second. Another zombie took a swipe at him and Tito kicked it in the face.

  “Where do I go?” Lenore shouted over the sound of the wind whistling through the open doorway.

  “Not near downtown!” Ken wheezed at her.

  “Take this street straight out to the old farm road. Don’t slow down, Lenore. They’re thick out there,” Tito instructed

  Tito stared out into the chaos of the world, his powerful muscles tight under his shirt as he gripped the doorway with both hands. The crowbar glistened with blood. Ken couldn’t help but stare at the man with awe. He hated that he was falling apart. In his imagination, he had always believed himself to be stronger than this. Slowly, his gaze was drawn to the world beyond Tito.

  The small town was in shambles. Houses were on fire. Cars were snarled pieces of metal crashed into sign posts or each other. Screams of terror filled the air mingling with the groans of the dead. Boarded up houses were under attack by the undead as other living people tried to escape on foot or in cars. In the distance, he saw a man on a bicycle pedaling as fast as he could just ahead of a crowd of pursuing zombies.

  “Where are we going?” he finally asked. “We can’t go to another town.”

  “Into the hills,” Tito finally said. “Up into the hills far away from the towns.”

  “What about your family?” Ken swallowed hard, unable to imagine what Tito was going through.

  “I don’t know,” Tito said after a long pause. “I don’t know.”

  17.

  The Dead Are Coming

  Lenore’s hands were cramping. Her grip on the steering wheel kept slipping and she cursed her sweaty palms. Tightening her hold, she stared out the dirty windshield at the world that was slowly falling apart. The old RV was almost out of town, but they weren’t in the clear yet.

  Hordes of the undead were wandering the streets. The walking dead were attacking anyone foolish enough to be on foot. The gruesome zombies also charged cars and tried to break into buildings. Gunshots cracked through the morning air as smoke drifted over the road, briefly obscuring her view. It was like driving through a horror movie.

  Two zombies flailed at the RV as she passed, slapping their hands against her window. She gave a little start and muttered a curse, but she kept her eyes on the road and her hands steady. Freaking out while driving would not be a good thing. It would get them killed.

  Lenore wished she was still sleeping and that she would wake up in her cozy bed. Her mind snagged the idea and tried to cling to it. Shaking her head, she forced the enticing daydream out of her thoughts. It was crazy to hope for something that could never happen. She had to remain focused on what was happening right now. Frowning, she concentrated on the road.

  “You doing a good job, Lenore,” her grandmother encouraged her from her perch on the passenger seat.

  “I’m scared to death,” Lenore admitted as she swerved around a car that had crashed into a truck.

  A zombie lurched from the wreck. It was a man and he was chewing on what looked like someone’s arm. Bits of flesh and smears of blood stained his shirt. He let out a howl, stretching his hand out toward the RV as they sped by.

  Another block and they would be past the last few businesses and houses on the road and heading out of town.

  “Look at that,” Grandma said, her voice awed yet horrified.

  Lenore glanced to the side long enough to see a small crowd of zombies rocking a trailer. She briefly saw a man and woman shooting at the zombies from the windows. More of the undead were staggering or running toward the trailer, drawn by the sound of gunfire.

  “Just keep going, Lenore. Don’t do any sightseeing. It ain’t worth it,” Tito called out from behind her. “Just the same shit over and over again.”

  “Yeah, zombies. Lots of them...eating...people...” Ken added in a broken voice.

  The RV had almost cleared the last block when Tito shouted, “Hold up a sec!”

  Lenore mashed on the brakes, pitching forward. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

  “Gimme a sec!”

  Twisting around in the driver’s seat, Lenore saw Tito vanish out the broken side door. Ken scrambled out of his seat and snatched the bloody crowbar on the counter. Breathing heavily, looking far too pale, Ken guarded the door.

  “Ken, take deep breaths. Don’t hyperventilate,” Grandma ordered in her strictest tone.

  Forcing himself to obey, Ken dragged air past his trembling lips into his lungs.

  Craning her neck, Lenore tried to see what Tito was up to. She spotted him darting up a narrow dirt driveway toward an abandoned dirt bike. At the end of the drive was an old ranch style house with the windows broken in their frames and the door ajar. She wasn’t sure if it was abandoned or if it had come under the assault of zombies. The front yard was filled with discarded vehicles and appliances listing in the overgrown grass.

  “What’s that crazy Mexican doing?” Grandma muttered beside her.

  “Hurry up, Tito!” Ken shouted. He was still shaking, but had a little more color in his face and no longer a
ppeared on the verge of passing out.

  Tito was almost to the dirt bike when two zombies rose out of the tall grass in the center of the yard. Their faces and necks were slathered in gore and they were both chewing.

  Lenore began screaming just as grandma and Ken unleashed their own warning shouts, their voices mingling into a cacophony of incoherent words. Both zombies pivoted toward the RV before lurching into awkward lopes across the yard in the direction of the road instead of at Tito.

  “Oh, shit! They’re coming this way!” Ken gasped.

  Tito took hold of the dirt bike’s handlebars and yanked it upright. Casting a fearful glance toward the zombies, he began to run parallel to them, heading to the RV.

  Realizing that prey was much closer than the big metal beast on the road, the two zombies altered their course. One was mangled and barely human in appearance. It dragged behind, one leg twisting as it tried to run. The other zombie’s neck and shoulder was a ruin of flesh, but it was less mutilated and sprinted with terrifying sped at Tito.

  “He’s not going to make it!” Ken cried out in anguish.

  “Come on!” Lenore screamed.

  “Why’d he stop for that bike? Damn fool!” Grandma huffed. “Serves him right if he gets eaten.”

  “Grandma!” Lenore unbuckled her seatbelt. Grabbing the shotgun, she headed into the back. “Drive Grandma, but not until I tell you.”

  “You know they took my license!”

  “It don’t matter no more! Just drive when I tell you, Grandma!”

  “Don’t sass me!”

  Lenore shoved Cher’s carrier aside with her foot as she bolted down the short aisle. From the color of Ken’s face, Lenore could tell he had forgotten to breathe again. She pushed him away from the doorway. Her stomach rolled when she saw how close the one zombie was to reaching her friend. The muscles and veins in Tito’s neck and arms were straining as he ran alongside the dirt bike, pushing it with all his might.

  Raising the shotgun, Lenore realized she could not get a clear shot with Tito running just ahead of the zombie.

  “Dammit! Tito, I can’t shoot him!”

  Dropping the bike, Tito dashed to the RV. The zombie’s feet tangled in the wheel of the bike as he tripped over it in his pursuit of Tito. With a growl, it fell forward, landing on its side as it twisted in the air. Lenore gasped as Tito yanked the shotgun out of her hands, swiveled about, and aimed at the zombie’s head. The creature’s head disintegrated into a mass of raw flesh as it tumbled.

  The roar of the shotgun deafened Lenore and she ducked away, her hands flying to her ears. Stepping forward, Tito aimed toward the disgustingly-mangled zombie lurching across the lawn. The shot echoed around them and Lenore winced.

  “There’s more coming up the road!” Grandma was staring into her side mirror. “They’re coming!”

  Thrusting the shotgun into Lenore’s hands, Tito ran for the bike.

  “Are you crazy?” Lenore shouted after him. She again pushed Ken aside as she fumbled for the bag with the ammunition in it. Muttering, she struggled to get the zipper open.

  “Get out of the way!” Tito’s voice shouted.

  Ken jumped aside just as a dirty bike wheel bounced over the doorstep. Tito shoved the bike into the narrow space, cursing in Spanish. His hair hung in his face, shiny and slick with sweat, as his dark eyes darted toward the road. Lenore knew that look. The damn zombies were coming and she was stuck at the back of the vehicle.

  “Drive, Grandma, drive!” Tito called out, squeezing in beside the bike. He was dangerously close to the door and Ken thrust the crowbar at him. With a grateful nod, Tito snatched the weapon from his grasp.

  The RV lurched forward as the old woman in the driver’s seat struggled with the steering wheel. The gears squealed and the RV slowly rolled forward.

  “Go, Grandma, go!” Lenore screamed.

  “I know! I know!” Grandma shoved down on the accelerator.

  “You have it in neutral!” Tito exclaimed. “Put it in drive!”

  “I don’t have my glasses! I can’t see!”

  Shoving aside the curtain over the back window, Lenore wished immediately she hadn’t. A good size pack of mauled and bloody bodies, that should not be up and walking around, were rushing toward the RV.

  “A crowbar ain’t gonna do it,” Lenore whispered.

  “Reload the shotgun!” Ken shouted. “Do it.”

  “Grandma, get this thing going!” Tito ordered briskly, close to losing his temper. Lifting himself up and over the bike, using the counter as leverage, Tito dropped into the narrow space beside Lenore. He snatched the shotgun away from her then began to hastily rummage through the bag.

  “Oh, hell!” Lenore heaved herself up and over the small dining area in the RV, half falling and climbing as she made her way to the front.

  Ken picked up the crowbar and stood near the dirt bike jammed into the narrow space. It was blocking the open doorway, but it wouldn’t be much protection if the swarm of undead reached them.

  Looking over her shoulder, Lenore saw the first zombies reach the back of the RV. Their gory hands slapped against the window as they mashed their mauled faces against the glass.

  “I can’t get it to go!” Grandma screamed, shoving the accelerator down with one foot, the gear stuck firmly in neutral.

  Lenore leaned forward, grabbed the stick, and shifted into drive.

  The RV roared forward. Her grandmother gasped, but held onto the steering wheel. Lenore leaned over her to help steer.

  “Just keep your foot down,” Lenore instructed her grandmother.

  “Off! Off! Off!” Ken screeched.

  Lenore glanced over her shoulder to see a zombie clinging to the doorway and lashing out at Ken. Ken was swinging the crowbar at the creature while Tito struggled to get the shotgun loaded.

  “Push the bike out! He’ll fall!” Lenore instructed. Her throat was tight with fear and her heart hurt in her chest.

  “No! Don’t drop the bike!” Tito exclaimed.

  Ken squealed as the female zombie snagged his crowbar with a hand that wasn’t much more than bone and tendon. Her matted, bloody hair swung over a featureless face as she snarled. Pulling herself over the bike, using the crowbar as her line to Ken, her teeth snapped together.

  “Let go of the crowbar!” Lenore released the steering wheel and rushed to help Ken.

  Rising swiftly to his feet, Tito rammed the butt of the shotgun into the zombie’s face, snapping her head back and throwing her off balance. Her fingers slipped from the doorway and she vanished from view as she tumbled onto the road.

  Breathless, Lenore pulled Ken from the bike and doorway. “You should have shoved out the bike,” Lenore chided Ken. He clung to her, shaking as he dragged deep breaths into his lungs.

  “I told him not to,” Tito said as he reloaded the shotgun.

  “Why not?” Lenore demanded. “He could have died.”

  “Because I need it. As soon as we find a safe spot for you, I’m taking off,” Tito said in a firm voice.

  “Without you, we might die,” Ken protested.

  “No. I’ll find you a safe place to hunker down. But I gotta find my family,” Tito answered.

  Ken fell into a nearby chair as Lenore moved toward the driver’s seat. Her grandmother was silent, but she knew that the old woman was probably feeling much like she was.

  Without Tito, they were all probably as good as dead.

  18.

  Losing The Knight In Shining Armor

  The air outside was hot, humid, and heavy, but it was worse inside the RV. Tito, Lenore, and Ken were sweating profusely even with all the windows open. Even the breeze was hot. Grandma sat outside in a lawn chair, armed with her revolver, and watching out for any undead. Ken seriously doubted that any of the zombies would make it out into the middle of nowhere, which was their current location.

  Tito had made Lenore drive for hours on back roads, farm roads, and dirt roads before finally settling on a location near
the top of a hill with a good view of the surrounding area. There were trees for shade and shelter and a pond nearby that they could use for bathing, cooking and drinking. They’d have to boil the water before use, but it was better than nothing. They were miles away from the nearest highway with no towns within a thirty-mile radius.

  Ken’s heart pounded in his chest like the fierce beat of his favorite song. It really hurt and he wondered if he was having a heart attack. Forcing a deep breath into his lungs, he handed Tito another screw. His trembling hand gave his nerves away, but Tito didn’t seem to notice.

  Tito had snatched several pieces of wood off a lumber pile during their journey. Lenore held a thick L-shaped piece of wood in place next to the doorway as Tito used an electric drill to force the screw through the wood and wall, securing it. There were two brackets on the walls next to the door and one set in the middle of the door. Once their task was done, they would be able to brace the door using a two by four jammed into the four brackets. .

  “Are you sure this will hold?” Lenore asked doubtfully.

  “Yeah, I’m sure. But you shouldn’t wait around if they come. Bar the door, gun the engine and take off.”

  “We’re almost on fumes,” Lenore reminded Tito.

  “Yeah, I know. Go as far as you can. Hopefully, I’ll be back with my family in a few days and it won’t be no big deal,” Tito answered. “I’ll get gas then.”

  “What about that CB? Can you fix it?” Lenore asked.

  Tito sighed, wagging his head sorrowfully. “I’m not good at electronics. Besides, it might be that we’re out of range of anyone else. Or there ain’t anyone else out there.”