The Long Walk Home

by Keen, A. M.

  After a moment to collect himself, Bucky set his foot forward and began the walk into the darkness once more. The shrill wailing of the infected sailed through the air. Bucky prayed that his friend remained safe. The White Witch had vanished, at least to his ears. Bucky guessed that some of the screaming could have expelled from her, but the sound of her scythe dragging across the floor had ceased.

  As Bucky looked to his left, he froze. A faint, white figure wandered by in the distance. The White Witch. She had lifted the scythe from the ground. Bucky stood silent as she moved by, slow and methodical whilst stalking them all. When she vanished from sight, he moved onward. Two zombies had passed him by already. He toyed with the idea of dropping the boots and sprinting to the end. The law of averages told him that in a factory this size the odds of him bumping into the other infected were minimal. But seeing how fast Snitchers had sprinted across the factory to the boots, there would be no way he could out run him. If Snitchers gave chase, he’d be dead.

  Bucky continued into the darkness, past the tracks and pallets until he stumbled upon a mountain of stacked boxes all wrapped in industrial film. To his right, they ran toward a white wall. He stood motionless behind them for a moment, listening for any signs of life. Nothing. The zombies had fallen silent. A pin could drop within the factory and cause an avalanche. In the silence, he noted his breathing and how loud it now sounded. He stopped drawing in through his nose, instead drawing and expelling through his mouth. After another moment, he stepped out from the boxes. Smiler stood hunched a few feet away. Bucky froze, holding his breath. Smiler cocked an ear, much like Snitchers did, as though catching a sound on an imaginary breeze. He gurgled and croaked as black liquid dripped from his mouth and splattered down on to the floor. Even in the poor light Bucky saw the zombie’s dirty teeth and skinned flesh. His heart pounded once more. At the most inappropriate time, Bucky thought he may die from a heart attack instead of being a zombie’s meal.

  Smiler took a step forward before stopping, this time turning his body to the tracks on their left. He then turned, facing Bucky only a few feet away. Smiler took a step toward him. Bucky stared as the zombie entered his comfort zone. They stood together, as close as he had stood with his friends. Smiler’s breath expelled from a blackened mouth, stinking of decay as it wafted onto Bucky. Bucky did nothing as the zombie gurgled and swayed. It peered right through him. Any other zombie, any other time, and he’d have been gutted by now.

  A thud emanated in the distance. Smiler hissed. Bucky side stepped as the zombie ran past and into the darkness, leaving him alone. Bucky relaxed, but knew one of his friends must have made a sound. The clank of metal echoed through the darkness. A muted cheer erupted from the offices above where Seth and his cronies were watching them on a screen. Bucky’s heart sank. Something had happened. Shrills and screams wailed through the darkness.

  Intuition kicked in. Bucky kicked one of the metal track runners, causing it to rattle. He sprinted from the area. The shrieks emerged again. His heart sank. They had not happened behind him. They happened in the area ahead. Smiler bounded back, screaming and wailing as he descended upon Bucky. Bucky dropped the boots as the zombie’s clawed hands shredded through the air in his direction. Bucky ducked as a hand came down, whistling past his head with great ferocity. Smiler turned and immediately swung his other arm.

  Bucky stepped back, evading the attack. More cheers emerged from the offices. Smiler hissed and launched through the air, grabbing Bucky’s shoulders and smashing him to the ground. Bucky took a grasp of his throat and pushed the attacking teeth upward. Above him the zombie squirmed. Bucky pushed the torso away with his left knee, placed his right foot into Smiler’s stomach and pushed him away. Smiler rolled forward and hit the floor. Bucky stood and scoured the area. Nothing else had joined them. Smiler lurched to his feet and screamed. Bucky stood upright and froze. Smiler hunched forward, his head leading as he searched for Bucky by sound. The zombie swayed from left to right. Bucky remained solid. Smiler gasped and drooled. The zombie had lost him.

  After a moment, Smiler turned. Bucky reached down and took one of the boots he had dropped. Without looking, he launched it over his head as high and far as he could throw it. It clattered somewhere. Smiler dashed in that direction, vanishing into the darkness.

  Bucky released his breath, gaining his thoughts as he did so. He’d been stupid. Sound had played a trick on him, making him believe that the ruckus came from behind, not the front. It had almost cost him his life. No more stupid mistakes, he thought to himself before ghost walking into the darkness once again. He wandered on, hoping that the infected had gone from his immediate area.

  Every step took a decade as his methodical and quiet approach moved him through the factory. He heard nothing, not a sound, not even from the infected. This gave him hope. No screams may have signalled that his friends were okay, too, at least for the time being. That clatter, though, the one he’d heard before Smiler attacked, had sounded like it had happened in anger. He pictured the White Witch swinging her scythe down with the curved metal striking the ground. If that had happened, then one of his friends had been discovered. If that was the case… Bucky shook the thoughts from his head. He didn’t want to think about that. Not now. He’d walked so far in this damn factory he had to be coming up to the key soon, he just had to be.

  He stopped. A safety light shone a poor shaft on top of him. Something caught his attention in the darkness. A noise emerged, strange yet oddly familiar. His heart sank. Somewhere near, somebody sniffed. Bucky took a breath once more and stood silent. From the darkness to his left Snitchers emerged, crawling on all fours. He sniffed at the ground, tracking the scent he’d been given from a shirt. Bucky’s shirt. As the gangly, erratic zombie approached, Bucky looked around for something, anything, he could use as a weapon. The area stood empty. Only the metal frame of a machine stood there. Snitchers stopped, taking a deep, whistling breath through his nose. Bucky stood silent and motionless. The pulse in his wrists moved his hands with every beat.

  Snitchers placed his feet on the floor and stood upright. He was awful to set eyes upon with tacked eyes and missing lips. Flight or fight kicked in. Bucky knew the attack was coming. He recalled Smiler and how he had launched through the air. Snitchers had displayed similar aggression whilst attacking the boots. An idea formulated in his mind. Bucky stepped in front of the machine and jumped. Snitchers launched through the air. Bucky dashed from his spot as Snitchers crashed into the machine and tumbled to the floor. The zombie wailed and flapped as it stood upright having smashed head first into a solid metal frame.

  He gasped and hissed, staggering through the darkness like a drunk stumbling home on a Saturday evening. Bucky watched as Snitchers stumbled away. Black liquid had been left on the machine’s frame. Snitchers had been hurt. The ferocity with which he lunged must have caused him some major damage. A broken nose would be nice, Bucky hoped before continuing his journey. From behind, the growling vocals of the infected approached. He didn’t turn back, just continued with one step after the other, as silent as he could make them.

  From somewhere in the factory, the muted sound of metal dragging across the floor emerged. The White Witch had come back into play. She was around that area somewhere and had been the only one not to trouble him so far. Bucky continued onward until a strange shape caught his attention. Just ahead he could see a figure, limping along through the dim light. It wasn’t a zombie as it wore a dark jacket. Bucky picked up the pace. As he approached, Lacey turned. She screamed. Bucky rushed over to her.

  “It’s just me,” he whispered.

  An infected sprinted from the darkness. Bucky grabbed Lacey and pulled her body tight against his. Smiler appeared once more, again perplexed by a sound that had vanished. Less than three feet away the zombie stood, swaying from side to side. Bucky held his breath, recalling the viciousness in which Smiler had attacked him only a short time before. S
miler snorted and hissed, his frustration apparent. As the zombie stood still, Bucky noted a tape measure sat on top of a cardboard box beside them.

  He reached down, taking it without a sound before launching it into the depths of the factory. It thudded onto the hard floor. Smiler growled and dashed toward the noise, leaving Bucky and Lacey alone. After a moment, Bucky stepped away from her. She pointed to her right thigh. In the poor light, he noted something out of the ordinary. She’d been hit. Blood appeared over the combats. Lacey gestured that a weapon had been used. Bucky knew which one. He remembered the sound of the scythe hitting the floor. That must have been the attack that caused this.

  Bucky placed an arm around her back and threw her right arm across his shoulders. They moved together at a steady pace, both taking time and care with each step. Clanging metal echoed through the factory. Whoever, or whatever it was that had caused it may have bought them some extra time.

  Bucky put a foot down on something soft. It popped. “Shit,” he whispered. Bubble wrap. A scream emerged from the darkness before a scythe sliced the air, smashing against the floor and blocking their path. The White Witch wailed, her arms outstretched as she lunged at Bucky, dropping her weapon. They both clattered to the floor. The pale skinned abomination fell on top of him, snapping at his face with darkened teeth. The foul stench of decay expelled from her mouth and across him as she lunged down.

  Bucky placed two hands around her throat and pushed back, forcing her away as he had done with Smiler. She shook and trembled as the fight ensued, unable to get to him. Black saliva dripped on to his face. He rolled to the side and kicked the witch away, standing in an instant.

  “Bucky look out!”

  Bucky turned as Snitchers launched through the air toward him. He stepped back and took the scythe from the ground, swiping the bladed edge toward him. Snitchers fell to the floor. His disembodied head rolled across the ground.

  “Guys?” came Johnny’s voice. Both he and Aaron ran in from the darkness.

  “What the hell?” Aaron asked, noting the decapitated body and witch who could not stand.

  “One dead, one down,” Bucky informed them.

  “Where’s the other?” Johnny asked.

  “I don’t know, but we’ve got to do something. Lacey’s been hurt…”

  Gunfire erupted through the offices above. Bucky peered upwards to see the intermittent flash of light explode with every shot fired.

  “What’s that?” Lacey asked.

  “Gunfire. Something’s happening up there,” Aaron replied.

  “Now’s our chance. Let’s make a break for it,” Bucky ordered.

  “Where?” Johnny asked.

  “I don’t know, but let’s take a look around. There has to be a door or something around here somewhere.”

  “What about the other one? The other crazy in here?” Lacey asked.

  Bucky wandered back across and supported her again. “The gunfire will keep him occupied. Let’s go.”

  The kids moved throughout the factory, checking for an emergency door or some other kind of way out.

  “There. Look,” Johnny said, pointing to a fire exit just ahead of them. The wall exploded with bullets. An arc of cracked debris appeared by the door. Their escape route shattered into splinters.

  “No!” a voice ordered from behind them. They turned to find two clowns stalking their way. One had blue hair on top of the dirty mask. Bucky recognised him from back on the road. The other one was new. Face paint, armless fur jacket, carrying a shotgun… it was Grout.

  “Whatever you do, don’t make a sound,” Bucky whispered. “We don’t want to speak or make any noise, if you know what I mean?”

  Grout clunked across the factory toward them, his firm boots thudding with each foot step.

  “We finally caught up to you. Do you know how hard it was to track you?” Gunfire erupted from the darkness. Grout turned. “Make sure you kill every last one of them!” he shouted across the factory floor. Screams echoed throughout the work place.

  “We got zombies in here, Grout!” a distant voice shrieked.

  “Then kill them!” More screams and gunfire emerged. Grout turned to the blue haired clown. “Go. Clean it all up. I’ve got a bone to pick with the cadets here.”

  The clown nodded and dashed into the darkness. Controlled bursts of gunfire from an automatic weapon popped through the air, four at a time.

  Grout placed a hand between his shoulder blades and withdrew a sword from its sheath. Bucky recognised it in an instant as the sword he’d taken from Stank and subsequently relinquished at the gates of the football stadium.

  “Recognise this?” Grout asked before dropping it to the ground. The rattle echoed between the walls. “Of course, you do. It belonged to my younger brother. You met him back on the dual carriageway a few days ago. You took it after you murdered him, remember?” The kids stood in silence. It had been murder for self-protection, but Bucky somehow believed this clown would not accept that. Another scream bellowed from the distant end of the building.

  Grout stood there ignoring the carnage. “Now, I know my brother was something of an ass. I knew it for years, but the fact remained that he was still my brother, my only flesh and blood after Day Zero occurred. Now, well, I have a bunch of morons who can’t take care of a handful of zombies even with a goddamn gun!” he shouted, wanting his men to listen. “So, the fact remains that one of you has to suffer the same fate as my brother did.” Bucky closed his eyes.

  They stood in silence again. Finally, he turned and looked toward his friends. They peered back. “Now, it’s not going to be easy, that’s why I’m gonna let you four make the decision. Someone dies, the rest come with me. Simple. Make a decision, you don’t have much time. If we get to a point where no decision is made, I’ll kill you all. Now, I’m a busy man. I need to be gone. Tell me, who is it going to be? You have thirty seconds.”

  Bucky looked at them. Aaron shook his head. Johnny looked away. Tears welled in Lacey’s eyes.

  “I’ll go,” she whispered.

  “What? You can’t!” Bucky replied.

  She pointed to her leg. “The bitch got me good. I can’t walk. I’m gonna slow the rest of you down.”

  “Correction, my dear. They’re not going anywhere. They’re coming with me,” Grout stated. “Don’t let that influence your decision.”

  “Take me,” Lacey ordered, hobbling away from the group.

  “Lacey!” Johnny said.

  Lacey stood defiant in front of the clown. “Come on, you ugly asshole. Do it. Put me down right now.”

  Grout grinned. “As you wish.” He lifted the double barrel shotgun and placed it against her forehead. “Shit happens,” he said to her.

  “Damn right it does. Here, I brought you a present.”

  Grout lowered the gun. Seth appeared behind him, pressing a revolver into the base of the clown’s neck. He had been covered in blood. Streams ran down from his hair and across his face. The gangster dropped a white object at Grout’s feet. It turned on impact, facing the kids. The blue clown had been beheaded.

  “Smiler, my resident zombie assassin did this, and you know something? I had to kill that poor freak. He went for me, after all I did for him, you know, feeding him, keeping him safe. I killed my own creation because a group of uninvited street entertainers showed up at my party and pissed in the punch bowl. You clowns are unbelievable. What did you think was gonna happen, marching in here with your knives? Have you never heard of that saying, you know? The one that goes, never bring a knife to a gunfight?”

  Grout grimaced. “I thought the tank would intimidate you.”

  Seth chuckled. “Christ almighty. You had a tank and what? Parked it outside before you broke in? Why the hell didn’t you ram raid the front? I guess common sense is not your strong point?” Grou
t snorted. The attack on his intelligence had not sat well. “Why don’t you let me tell you what your little stunt has caused for my business. I was on course to make a million pounds from the game I had running until you idiots showed up. I was made. After this evening, I’d have been jetting off to the south of France with all that money sat in my bank account. I was going to enjoy life, you know? Go straight. Spend my days relaxing in some chateau in the countryside. You screwed it up for me, man, you really did.”

  “I don’t give a toss about your money or you,” Grout snarled. His head exploded. Blood and tissue splattered across Lacey. Seth pushed the fallen body to the side then pointed the gun toward Bucky.

  “That was an amazing game. I’ll give credit where credit is due. You played it out well and kept us entertained. You’ve done more than any adult we threw into this situation and for that you have my respect. Including you, moron,” he said, addressing Bucky. “You got knocked down twice and twice you stood up. You used sound to your advantage instead of avoiding it. I’ve never seen anyone play the way you did. You kids are strong and I’m impressed. I wish I’d have been like you back when I was in my teens. Maybe I wouldn’t have turned into the rotten bastard you see before you now.”

  The White Witch screamed, hammering the scythe down into Seth’s skull. He shook and jolted as blood spurted from his head. Bucky watched as Seth’s eyes rolled back and he dropped the gun.

  “Now’s our chance!” Bucky shouted. Aaron and Johnny rushed across to help Lacey. Bucky smashed the remainder of the door with a kick before revealing an escape route out and into the dying sky outside. “Look! The wasteland! The school!” They could see the silhouette of their school standing against the sky some half a mile away. “Come on!”