Lakewood Memorial
Page 16
Park rubbed his stubble, looked at his rifle, then back at her. "I got an idea."
* * *
All around Maylee and Dalton was dark. The moon was gone. Maylee could hear corpses surrounding the car. She could smell them. They groaned and scraped at the metal of the car.
Dalton clung to Maylee. "What are we going to do?"
She blinked away tears. "I don't know."
* * *
"Are you insane?" said Angie.
Park shook his head in the pale blue light from the cell phone. "Listen, I do two things. Three if you count jacking off. Cars and guns."
"The ambulance isn't a car, Parker," said Angie.
"Close enough," said Park.
The lights came back, dimmer than before. The fire alarm started blaring again.
"And there's the generator," said Park, grinning and standing. "Come on."
Angie stood. The smoke was thick. The corpses groaned from the emergency room. They were running out of time. "We're both going to die, Park. You know that, right?"
"I know no such thing," said Park. "Make some noise!"
Park ducked around the corner and entered the emergency room.
Angie sighed and ran in after him.
Corpses groaned and turned to Park. Angie started screaming and waving her hands.
"Hey!" she yelled. "Fuckers! Over here!"
Some of the corpses groaned and came for her.
"Hurry!" she yelled and the corpses closed in around her. She was cornered.
* * *
Park looked around the emergency room as he entered. Angie started screaming and waving her arms, drawing some of the corpses away.
He looked at the ambulance. He was facing the front of it. He could see the crushed head of the dispatcher under the front wheel. He was looking for something. Which side would it be on?
He took his best guess and ran for the remains of the dispatch desk. Several corpses reached for him but he knocked them aside. He leapt up onto the smashed desk and looked at the ambulance.
Fuck yeah, he thought. Gonna see my girls yet.
He leveled the rifle at the side of the ambulance.
Or more specifically, at the gas tank.
He pulled the trigger.
* * *
The force of the ambulance exploding threw Angie against the wall. The corpses surrounding her were knocked forward, falling into her. The fireball flooded their backs and set the corpses alight. The corpses groaned and scattered.
It looked like the whole world was on fire. Thick smoke choked her as she stumbled forward, looking around. Corpses were still groaning and scattering, all of them more concerned with the fire than with her.
“Park?” she yelled.
The fire grew around her. The fire alarm shrieked. Smoke and the smell of burning flesh surrounded her.
“Park?”
Nothing.
* * *
Maylee and Dalton clutched each other in the darkness. Dalton was crying. Maylee was too, but she was fighting to hide it. The corpses were close now. She could hear them groaning and scratching at the car.
She looked up at the sky. It had gone from black to just a hint of dark blue. The sun was coming up.
Great, she thought. Just in time for us to see the things eat us.
Then the front of the hospital exploded. Flame shot out into the parking lot, dousing most of the corpses. The corpses groaned and scattered. Away from the fire, each other, and the car.
Maylee let go of Dalton and stood. “What the hell?”
“Who cares?” said Dalton. “Let’s go!”
Dalton climbed off the car and ran for the hospital.
Maylee hopped down and followed.
Thirty-Three
Angie looked around one last time for Park, then turned to run outside. She heard movement from behind the smashed remains of the dispatch desk. She stopped and looked. Park’s form emerged from behind the desk.
“Park?” she yelled.
Park lumbered forward.
“Shit,” said Angie, turning to run.
Park coughed. “Wait for me, dammit!”
Angie sighed and turned back. “Say something quicker next time!”
“Mom!” came a voice from outside.
Maylee.
“Maylee?” yelled Angie. She rushed out of the hole in the wall. The cool morning air hit her. Flaming corpses were scattered around the parking lot. Maylee and Dalton were running toward her.
“Mom!” yelled Dalton.
Angie ran forward after them.
They met and Angie hugged them both as tight as she could. “Are you both alright?”
“Yeah,” said Dalton, nodding. “But man do we have a lot of crap to tell you!”
“Me, too,” said Angie. Park stepped up behind them, brushing off his hunting jacket and looking around.
Angie looked at Maylee. She looked tired. Dirty, bruised and tired.
“You sure you’re okay?” Angie said.
“Yeah,” said Maylee, nodding.
“You did good.”
Maylee smiled and nodded.
“Damn,” said Park, looking around.
Angie looked around too. The lot was scattered with corpses, some of them still moving.
Beyond that, she could see a few corpses stumbling down the road.
Beyond that, corpses wandered the woods near the hospital.
And beyond that, she could see the faintest dots of corpses stumbling on the horizon.
She gripped her kids to her. Tightly. “Well, shit.”