by Raymond Lee
“Where we gonna go?” Damian asked, starting to breathe heavy.
“Somewhere,” Cruz said. “I just hope we find a place before these things catch up to us.”
They glanced back to see zombies crawling over the furniture and now overturned bookcases they’d used to block the windows. The monsters moved slowly, but that didn’t matter given the sheer number of them and the fact there was no where in the building they’d be safe now that they’d been infiltrated.
Damian stopped. “You guys go ahead. I’ll be right there.”
“What?” Cruz stopped but Damian ran off, racing down an aisle to the left of them like the boogeyman was on his heels, which wasn’t pretty far from the truth.
“We gotta go!” Elijah gripped Cruz’s shoulder, and tugged. “Come on.”
Cruz looked at the winded boy, seeing the fear in his eyes, then turned again toward the unholy terror approaching from the front of the store. Zombies shuffled toward them, hands reaching out as they groaned. It started with one then spread to the whole mass of them, a cacophony of noise promising death. The sound of nightmares they’d hoped to have escaped when they’d found this place.
“It was nice while it lasted,” he muttered, swiveling his head toward the direction Damian had ran off to, but Damian was gone.
“Come on, Cruz!” Elijah backed up a few steps, chewing the inside of his lip nervously. Cruz could tell he was about to leave him, desperate to save his own ass.
“Shit. Raven’s gonna kill us all if Damian dies. Come on!” He turned and ran, Elijah keeping up easily thanks to his long legs.
They reached the back of the building to find the others dressed for the elements, armed, and ready to go. Carlos ran to Elijah, coat in hand, ready to help his son.
“Where’s Damian?” Raven asked, eyes scanning the area behind them.
“He’s coming.” Cruz took the camouflage coat in Hal’s outstretched hand and quickly slid into it before taking the backpack he’d brought for him.
“What do you mean he’s coming?” Her voice raised three octaves.
“I mean he ran off from us and told us he’d meet us here and he was too fast for me to stop.”
“Did you even try?”
Anger flickered in Cruz’s chest as he wondered if she’d be as mad if it had been him to run off. Would she be looking at Damian now like she was about to drive her katana through his face?
“There wasn’t time,” Elijah said, pulling on the gloves and knit cap his father gave him as Cruz did the same. “We were all running full speed here and he just broke off from us. It was a surprise and the zombies were after us. We didn’t have time to grab him. We don’t have time now to wait for him. They’re coming!”
“Let’s go!” Carlos opened the door to the outside garden area, and they were hit by a blast of frigid air.
“We can’t survive out there,” Janjai cried.
“We have a better chance than in here,” Cruz advised. “There is nowhere we can secure ourselves in this building, not even the offices. We’d just be buying time until we ran out of food and then we’d be stuck, surrounded by monsters.”
“He’s right,” Hal agreed. “We have to have faith we’ll find shelter just like we found this one when it was needed.”
The cacophony of groaning, growling, hungry zombie noises reached them.
“That’s our cue.” Cruz looked Raven in the eye and hoped she’d understand. “They’re slow, but they’re numerous. We can’t outfight that number.”
“We can hold them off until Damian reaches us.” Her eyes pleaded with him.
“They’re coming,” Carlos said, pushing Elijah toward the door. “If he can make it he can. We can’t all die for him.”
“I can,” Raven said. “Even if I stand alone.”
Cruz sighed, shaking his head as he turned to face the onslaught he heard coming. “You’ll never stand alone.”
“Very true,” Hal said, standing tall at her other side. “If anyone wants to head out, go for it. We’re waiting for Damian.”
“So am I.” Elijah shook off his father. “I’m not going to lie. I’m terrified and may just crap my pants before this is over, but I can’t leave someone else to die.”
Carlos’s face fell. “Elijah.”
“No! I can’t do it again, Dad. You said it yourself. We all face God when it’s our time. How am I supposed to explain allowing people to die when I could have helped? How can any of us?”
Silence fell over them all as one by one they lined up, shoulder to shoulder.
“Guns?” Raven asked.
“Too many for blades,” Cruz replied, “and they already know we’re here so no point worrying about the noise giving us away.”
“No, but that’s a huge waste of bullets, dumbasses!”
They all turned toward their right to see Damian running toward them.
“I’m touched, guys, but I told you to get out. Move it! This place is about to get crazy!”
Raven ran to Damian, enveloping him in a hug, and Cruz laughed in relief as the zombies came into view, an entire horde of them that they wouldn’t have had a prayer of making a significant dent in. “Hell yeah. Everyone out this door so we can slam it in their faces!”
Carlos forcefully shoved Elijah out the door, quickly followed by the twins and then Hal, who’d stopped long enough to hand Damian his gear.
A thunderous round of pops and explosions erupted and Cruz looked up to see an indoor fireworks spectacular happening above the aisles in the center of the building.
“What the hell is that?”
“Oh, about a bajillion fireworks to grab their attention and a bunch of flammable shit that’s about to explode and fry the fuckers,” Damian answered as he ducked out the door, pushing Raven ahead of him.
Cruz followed behind, slamming the door closed.
“Sweet baby Jesus!” Damian exclaimed as the cold hit him.
“Put your coat on,” Cruz suggested as he took in their predicament. Several thuds against the door at his back indicated the zombies were piling up against it. A foot of fresh snow covered the ground and although the majority of the zombies that had filled the parking lot appeared to have followed the crowd invading the building’s inner domain, enough of them to be problematic still surrounded the gated garden area.
A large blast came from inside the building and debris rained down on them as the center of the roof gave way.
“What was that?” Hal asked.
“A bunch of exploding shit,” Damian answered as he pulled on his knit cap and zipped up the camouflage hunting coat. Fireworks shot through the air now that the roof had given way, lighting the dusk sky with multiple colors. “I’m not sure how big of a boom or how many explosions I may have triggered in there, but I don’t think we should stay so close to the building.”
“Not to mention we need to find shelter as soon as possible.” Raven shifted the pack on her back, careful not to harm herself or anyone close to her with the katana she couldn’t sheath thanks to her bulky coat. “Let’s get rid of these zombies.”
She walked to the iron fencing and rammed her katana through the head of one zombie then another. The others quickly whipped out their blades and did the same. As they took out the ones clamoring to get in the gated area, Cruz scanned the surrounding area. The zombies left loitering in the parking lot were spaced out enough they could get through, and they seemed to move slower than they had before the cold set in.
“I think they’re freezing,” he told the others. “They’re moving slower. Maybe they’ll eventually freeze all the way and this whole nightmare will be over.”
“Yeah, well, let’s not freeze to death with them,” Damian suggested. “I’d like to live to see this thing end.”
“Good idea. There’s less to our left. Let’s go that way.”
“Sounds good to me,” Damian said, pulling his blade out of a zombie’s head. “What kind of structures are that way?” he asked Elijah.
“How far until we get to houses?”
“If we tell you it will only break your heart and crush your spirit,” Carlos answered for him.
“Well, that sounds wonderful,” Raven said, looking at the heap of zombies they’d left lying outside the gated area.
Cruz shared a look with Hal as they walked over to the gate. “Zombies aren’t the problem anymore, are they?” He kept his voice low so the others couldn’t hear.
“They’re still a problem,” Hal answered, also keeping his voice low. “The elements are more dangerous to us now, but not the greatest danger.”
“What’s worse than freezing cold and hungry monsters?”
“When dying seems easier than surviving, people become their own greatest enemies.”
Those words weighed heavy on Cruz’s mind as he swung the gate open to let his people through.
II
Richards
Roughly three and a half months earlier…
Scott Richards sat at the bar nursing a beer as he used the mirror lining the wall in front of him to scope out the young woman bending over one of the pool tables along the back wall. Her skirt barely covered her cheeks as she lined up her shot, something he was all too aware she did intentionally. Their eyes had connected the moment she’d walked in and she’d “accidentally” brushed against him as she and her friends had made her way to the bar.
He’d let another group of guys fork over the cash to buy drinks for her and her friends, a cute brunette and a chubby blonde, who actually wouldn’t look so chubby if she wore clothes her size. Women like her didn’t care so much who bought the drink, they just wanted to end up in bed with a soldier.
Richards had never had trouble getting laid. Blessed with good lucks and killer charisma, women weren’t much of a challenge, except for ones already in relationships but he managed to get those too. Since enlisting in the army, all he had to do was look at one, if that. They saw the uniform, or on nights like this, they saw the dog tags and the military-style crew cut, and it was enough. He’d never been overseas, never been in actual combat, but the women still treated him like a war hero. It definitely had its perks.
The blonde in the short skirt took her shot and looked over her bare shoulder, grinning seductively as she met his gaze in the mirror.
Richards focused on the blue streak in her hair, his mind going back to another woman who liked that color. He whipped out his iPhone and accessed his Facebook app. He scrolled through his old messages, reading the last exchanges he’d had with the blue-haired beauty from his hometown. They hadn’t been good ones.
Raven Bleu was a complicated woman. Beautiful, smart, funny … but too much. He just couldn’t please her. She wanted all of him, and he just couldn’t give that at the time. But he still wanted her in his life.
Her Facebook profile had been deleted shortly after their last message so he searched her name and found she’d created another one. Her profile picture was her and her little sister, Sky. She’d cared for the girl since their parents died. It was some sort of accident but he couldn’t recall what had happened. He was sure she’d told him at some point, but he’d been too focused on what her responsibilities as the girl’s guardian meant for him. Maybe he should have just overlooked the girl. She was old enough to be mostly out of the way, especially during the school year. One thing was for sure, he hadn’t stopped thinking of her big sister.
Richards sent a friend request to the woman whose heart he’d broken, counting on his charm and good looks to save him once again. It had been his experience that women could never hold a grudge against him long.
“You know, I’ve been waiting all night for you to ask my name,” the blonde with the blue streak of hair falling over her eye said as she slid onto the barstool next to him. She propped her elbow on the bar and arched her back, as if the breasts barely contained by her spaghetti-strapped top weren’t already on clear display.
“What’s your name?” He pretended he didn’t already know it, that she hadn’t slept with at least five of his buddies already.
“Deena.”
“Nice name,” he said, flashing his charming smile before throwing some bills onto the bar and winking at the cute bartender. “Have a good night, Deena. Be careful.”
“That’s it?” she asked as he stood.
He looked down at her, arching an eyebrow.
“I usually don’t have to just come out and tell a guy what I want from him,” she said. “They usually want the same thing from me. In fact, they always do.”
“I can see why,” Richards said smoothly, ever the charmer. “I’m still married.”
Deena looked at the thin gold band on his ring finger. “Tony told me about that. The divorce proceedings have already started. Is it really necessary to wait and honor vows to someone who would just give you up?” She rose from the bar stool and pressed her breasts against his chest, looking up into his eyes. “Are you really going to deprive yourself because of someone who threw you away?”
Richards looked down at the band, images of the wedding flashing through his mind. Jen was great. She’d been young and trusting, a free spirit like him. Or so he’d thought. The trouble had started immediately after the ceremony. Suddenly she wanted every moment of his time, which was great when they’d started dating, but once you were married to a woman that should be her cue to back off a bit. Marriage was a man’s way of saying he’d chosen the woman he wanted to be with forever. Why did so many women think it meant a man could no longer interact with anyone else of the opposite gender?
Both his marriages had ended due to jealousy. Two failed marriages, and he was only twenty-nine years old. Why couldn’t he find a woman that wasn’t crazy possessive?
“Where’d I lose you to?” Deena asked.
“Nowhere,” he answered, flashing his charming smile. This was a woman who understood. She’d went home from this bar with a variety of men and never got jealous when those same men chose a different woman on their next visit. She was the type of woman to live life, have fun, and not make everything so damn serious. She was the type of woman he could use tonight. “Your place?”
Richards woke with a start. He looked around the strange room in effort to discern what it was that had awakened him in the early morning hour. He heard it again, a loud thump coming from another room. Instinct kicking in, he sat up fully and swung his legs over the side of the bed.
Deena’s hand wrapped around his forearm. “It’s Valeriya,” she mumbled, her eyes still closed as her head continued resting on her pillow. “I got a Russian roommate and she’s always bringing guys home and they’re so freaking loud. She’s a total slut. Married some old guy to get over here and left him the second the green card came in. Her room’s been a brothel since the moment she moved in.”
Richards did a quick mental count of how many men he’d seen Deena leave the bar with and shook his head before lowering himself back down onto the bed. Pointing out her similarity to the roommate she deemed a slut wouldn’t endear him to the blonde and an unhappy woman was too much effort and headache for him.
A couple more thumps came from the room down the hall.
“You sure everything’s all right?” he asked. “Sounds like somebody’s ramming against the door.”
“They’re probably doing it against the door,” she grumbled as she sat up, slipped into the robe hanging from her bed post and left the bed. “Don’t fall asleep before I get back,” she said, turning when she reached the doorway. “I’ve got plans for you.”
Richards smiled as she left, but it was more of a courtesy. What he could remember of the night before wasn’t all that impressive. What should have been an easy, quick lay ended up being a tell-all therapy session. He now knew Deena had two ki
ds with her ex, a man whose name was tattooed on her left breast twice, twice because there was a strike-through on the first one. He also knew that those kids were living with her mother because her ex was in prison and she’d been found unfit due to her drinking, which she swore was overexaggerated. The multiple bottles he could clearly see around her room left out in plain view said differently, but he didn’t care about the woman’s problems.
He debated leaving then before she had a chance to come back and tell him more about her life, but sex was sex, no matter how mediocre. Besides, he had a weekend pass and it was only Saturday. What would he do if he left, go home to the barracks he’d had to return to after moving out of his house, look at pictures of his son, and kick himself for not making his marriage work? Yeah, Jen was crazy jealous, but they had a son together. He’d wanted to make it work for him, to give his little guy a solid home.
“What the hell?” Deena shrieked from down the hall before letting out a bloodcurdling scream.
Richards jumped up and started for the door, then remembered he was naked. He quickly pulled on his clothes and slid into his shoes before leaving the room to find out what was happening.
He froze, taking in the scene down the hall. Deena was on the floor, blood pooling into the carpet around her as another blonde straddled her thighs while slurping on her neck. If not for the blood, the scene would have been pretty hot.
“Um, ladies?”
The roommate, Valeriya, raised her head, milky white eyes focusing on him as she continued chewing on the chunk of flesh she’d bitten out of Deena’s now lifeless neck.
Richards stood there trying to process what he was seeing. Blood gushed furiously from the large hole in Deena’s pale neck, her sightless eyes stared at the ceiling above her. Her roommate munched loudly on the human meat in her mouth as she stared back at him with eyes that looked to be suffering from extreme cataracts. Streams of blood trickled from the corners of her mouth as she stood.
“Valeriya?” he asked.