“Zack!” she whispered in panic, desperate for his input on what to do.
She couldn’t make up her mind. She couldn’t lose either one of them but it didn’t seem like she had an option that guaranteed both their safety. She considered tying the horse off to one of the shelves but Blue could panic and knock them down and get lose, or a zombie could come out of nowhere and devour him. Then, it would be almost impossible to get Gretchen to the lab to save her. It wasn’t like she could dangle a bone on a stick in her face like a dog in a cartoon and have her zombie sister follow her there.
“Zack!” she tried again, but it was too late.
The first one had arrived and made a lunge for him. He plunged his sword forward into the monster’s face and pulled it back out. The lifeless body, rotten and stinking, fell to the floor in a flop. The second creature stumbled over it as it made its way to the living flesh. Its teeth snapped at the air as it hissed and groaned. Little droplets of blood sprayed out from its mouth as it chomped at nothingness.
What do I do? What do I do? How do I save them both? Christine was in a panic.
“Chris!” Zack yelled over his shoulder as he sliced the head off the second zombie, only to have four more make their way to him in an encircling arc. “CHRIS!”
Christine’s heart raced so quickly she was sure it would burst forth from her chest. Her hands were sweaty and slipping on the leather of Blue’s reins. She tried to swallow but her mouth was so dry. Breathing was almost out of the question as her chest heaved up and down in tiny, quick movements.
“CHRIS! HELP!”
She heard the wet, slicing sounds of Zack’s sword hacking its way through the undead as more poured in through the open doors. Zack groaned and grunted with exhausting effort as he fought off the horde that threatened to engulf him. His own chest heaved, but in deep, wheezing breaths. Whenever he had a second in between slicing, he called out for Christine to help him.
Christine dropped the reins from her hand and removed the bow from around her shoulder. She grabbed an arrow and readied it as she rushed out of the aisle into the middle of the store. She couldn’t believe how many had found them in such a short amount of time. There had to be at least twenty or more pushing and shoving each other to get to Zack and his juicy flesh. Without hesitation, Christine released the first arrow to watch it land in the back of a short woman’s head, buried in her long, tangled, dirty, blonde hair. It was pulled back into a ponytail and if Christine hadn’t looked too hard she would have thought it was herself. The monster had on black jeans and black boots and a long-sleeved gray shirt, which now was soaked through with black blood. The zombie crumpled to the floor, face-down. A pool of ooze formed around its head.
Christine plucked another arrow and released it. It found its way into another zombie, this one a large male with dark skin and white glazed eyes. Instead of taking it down by landing in its head, it only pissed it off by traveling through its neck and out the other side. It turned and screamed, its mouth wrenched open to an impossible degree. Christine was shell-shocked for a moment, frozen in the horror-filled nightmare laid out before her, staring her right in the eyes.
As the thing turned and made for Christine, she released another arrow, this time waiting until the undead beast was close enough to avoid missing. With an arrow stuck between its eyes, it fell to the ground ungracefully, its legs sprawled out awkwardly.
Zack was still slicing and hacking away with no regard to where his sword landed. He was so exhausted from the effort that he knew if he took even a moment to catch his breath he would never raise his arms again. His muscles screamed in pain, his nerves burning. A pile of the dead had formed around him as a barrier, but the undead didn’t let that stop them. It only slowed them down slightly as they clawed and tripped their way over.
Christine continued to release arrows into the growing crowd. How could they be taking down so many of these things and still have them grow in numbers before her very eyes? It didn’t make any sense! As one would fall, three more would shamble through the doors and over to them. She wanted to shout out for retreat, but even that seemed impossible. There were too many on top of them and there was nowhere to go. She had no idea where the back exits were and one wrong turn could corner them with no way out.
She heard panicked nickering behind her, but she wouldn’t allow her mind to think about Blue, not even for a second. If she did, she would want to abandon what she was doing to check on him and her sister, and that could mean the death of Zack. Even with her help it was looking hopeless for the ex-comic book store owner.
“God help us!” Christine cried out as she released arrow after arrow into the swarm of the risen dead.
Zack cried out in pain, his arm falling to his side. To Christine’s horror, she saw an arrow sticking out of his right bicep. He struggled against the pain to raise his arm again and continue the fight for his life. Tears welled in Christine’s eyes but she ignored them as she ran forward to pull the arrows from her victims and release them into new ones.
“Zack!” she shouted as she snatched and released, snatched and released.
She didn’t know what screaming his name would do. He couldn’t stop to turn and look at her, and even if he did what then? There were too many zombies between to get to him. All she would do is distract him and possibly kill him. Even though one of her arrows had found its way into his arms, relief washed over her that it hadn’t found a more deadly home in his body.
Too close to the horde now, she had to throw down her bow and fight the zombies with nothing more than the tip of an arrow and her hands. She held her weapon firmly in her fist like an 80’s horror film villain ready to stab. Down she plunged the arrow into a soft and porous head and up she pulled to get it back. Again and again, she made her way through the massive crowd of moaning, groaning, shambling, clawing, chomping dead, each one falling to the ground in a heap at her feet, like a disgusting walkway laid out for a queen of the damned. She stepped on them, smashing in their skulls with the heel of her boots.
Blood ran down Zack’s arm to soak the sleeve of his shirt. Each time he raised his arm and tensed his muscles, the flow would become heavier, staunched only by the arrow still stuck in his flesh. He no longer heaved in exhaustion but cried out with each thrust of his sword. His movements became slower and with each zombie he felled he had to take a step backwards so the next one wouldn’t make a meal out of him.
Suddenly, Christine felt a hand tighten around her arm. She turned, ready to plunge her arrow into a head. Instead of there being a hulking mass in front of her as she assumed, she looked down at a hissing, rotten-faced child. It couldn’t have been older than ten and Christine really couldn’t tell if it was a boy or a girl in its life. Its hair was torn from its head along with the flesh to reveal skull and tissue. Its face was contorted into the stuff of nightmares, its jaw wrenched open and its eyes milky white and sunken. It snapped and hissed and howled as it tried to pull Christine’s arm into its mouth.
Christine shoved at the child’s corpse, knocking it backwards but not off its feet. She didn’t want to do this. She didn’t want to end this child’s life, even though it looked like it was most likely ended anyway. Even if a cure was made, there was no coming back from what this child had suffered. Still, she didn’t want to be the one to do it.
The sound of hooves echoed off the walls and around the whole store. A loud whinny sounded, and before Christine could turn to look Blue ran by in a streak and knocked the zombie child to the ground, his hooves stomping over its body in the process and pulverizing its skull into a bloody pile of mush.
Blue charged forward into the undead, rearing up and bucking, smashing in heads with the force of his hard hooves. Blood flew across the air with each kick. The stocky horse didn’t hesitate a single second and it continued its tirade through the mass. Zack ducked quickly to avoid being taken out with the rest of them as Blue reenacted a western rodeo show in the store.
Christine watched with wide eyes, sure they were about to lose the sturdy horse that had taken them so far on their journey. She wanted to rush in and help him, but she knew that would be dangerous with how recklessly he was kicking. All she could do was stand back in awe as zombies fell to the floor to be trampled and stomped to death.
Zack finally had an out with the zombies’ attention on Blue. He scrambled away on his hands and knees so as not to be kicked in the head, and made his way over to Christine. When he righted himself, he winced at the pain of the arrow shifting in his arm. Christine made to place her hands on him, but pulled back at the last second so she wouldn’t cause him more harm. She wanted to help, but she didn’t know what to do. She had no medical training beyond the CPR class she took in college.
With her face pinched in regret and worry she asked, “Do you want me to pull it out?”
He jerked his arm away from her. “No, we can’t. If you do that, the arrow will tear through my skin and make it worse. It has to go all the way through.” He reached up and held the arrow right where it connected with his arm in one hand and used his other to snap it off. “There,” he said matter-of-factly. “Good enough till I can find someone who knows what they’re doing to remove it.”
Christine threw her arms around Zack’s neck and squeezed him as tears rolled down her cheeks. “I’m so sorry. I never meant to hurt you!” she cried.
“You mean you weren’t aiming for me? Because if you wanted to take me out, that would have been the perfect time and way to do it. No one would have ever suspected you,” he said with a playful grin.
Christine cried harder. “No, never!”
Zack placed his hands on her back and held her tightly to him. “Okay, okay, calm down. I was just kidding. I know you didn’t mean to.”
They pulled apart from each other and Christine wiped the tears from her face.
“How about we finish off what Blue hasn’t already destroyed?” Zack said, stooping to lower his eyes to look right into Christine’s for encouragement.
She nodded with a half-hearted laugh and used her arm to dry the rest of her face.
XIV
Zack and Christine finished off the last three zombies together as Blue snorted and settled, trotting off down another aisle. She hadn’t noticed during the fight, but Gretchen was not on the horse’s back anymore. That sent her stomach plunging downward into a spiral of panic. Before Blue could get too far she jogged after him, speaking softly to calm him.
The spotted shaggy horse looked around wide-eyed, darting back and forth in a frenzy. His ears were flat against his head and hot breath came out from his nostrils in bursts.
“It’s okay, boy, calm down,” Christine cooed as she inched closer. She grabbed hold of his reins gently and brushed her hand softly against his neck. “See, it’s okay. It’s all over.” Christine stroked the horse’s face slowly. “You saved us, boy, you know that?”
Blue gave another snort, though deeper from his chest and drawn out, as if to sigh in relief or exhaustion. His coat was slick with sweat and his mane wildly tossed about on either side of his neck.
“Let’s find Gretchen, what do you say, boy?” Christine tugged on the reins and asked Blue to walk on with her as she searched the aisles for a thrashing tied up zombie.
“Over here!” she heard Zack call from the next aisle.
Together, Christine and Blue followed Zack’s voice. On the ground was exactly what Christine expected to see; her sister with her hands held together behind her back and her feet bound at the ankles, throwing herself around like a mad-woman, hissing and growling and spitting as she tried to right herself or break free.
“Let’s get her onto this horse and out of here before any more of those things stop us,” Zack said, lifting Gretchen up from under her arms to stand her up.
She still was trying to bite her way through the air and into his flesh. Christine wondered if Gretchen could smell Zack, hear his heartbeat, and if it drove her crazy with hunger.
“Hold on a minute,” Zack said as he darted off down an aisle after setting Gretchen down again. When he came back he had a dog bed cover clutched in his hands. “We can throw this over her head, make it harder for her to bite Blue.”
Christine looked at him with a furrowed brow.
“Look, I don’t like it either,” he assured her.
Finally, Christine nodded her head in agreement.
Slowly and carefully, Zack covered Gretchen’s head. Together they lifted the thrashing zombie onto Blue's back, face-down again. At first, the anxious horse resisted, trying to side step away from its dangerous cargo, but in the end he knew it was his destiny to carry it. He gave in and steadied himself, though he made sure his long and hardened face reflected how unhappy he was about it.
They left the store and stepped back out into the cool breeze and fresh air. The sun was still hidden behind a blanket of gray clouds, not ominous looking, not darkening into a storm at all, but still blocking out the only source of warmth they had on their journey.
“Only a little further up this road,” Christine said with optimism. “Less than an hour and we’ll be there for sure.”
Zack took his place at Blue’s middle next to Gretchen. She had calmed down with the rocking of the horse’s gentle slow gait and was only growling and snapping when Zack moved within her reach, or what would have been her reach if she wasn’t tied up.
They passed another Starbucks after thirty minutes, but Zack didn’t bother hinting at a stop this time. He was worn out and in pain, and all he wanted was to get rid of this journal so they can check it off their to-do list and go back to the bunker. He hoped everything was running much smoother there than it was out here.
“I think that’s it!” Christine practically shouted, sending Blue into a spooky side jump. “Sorry, boy,” she said absently. “Yeah, that’s it! Come on!”
She started to jog ahead with Blue trotting beside her. Gretchen bounced up and down on the horse’s back, throwing her into a hissing frenzy. Christine knew it had to be uncomfortable for her sister, but then again she didn’t know if her sister could feel anything right now besides hunger. Getting her better was all Christine could think about and that was worth a few bruises to her sister’s abdomen.
The building was not as impressive as either had been expecting. It was only five stories high including the ground floor. The entire thing was covered in windows laid out like a grid and reflecting the little bit of blue still found in the cloudy sky above them. Where there weren’t shining windows, the building was cold and gray, surrounded by young trees and parking lots.
Christine walked up to the door and stopped. “This is it,” she said, holding her breath.
She reached out and took hold of the door handle and turned it downward. When she pulled to open it, she was met with resistance.
“It’s locked.”
“Did you expect it to be open for business?”
What an idiot she felt like. Of course she didn’t expect it to be unlocked. But she had been so eager to get there, she didn’t want to deal with another roadblock in her sister’s recovery.
“What do we do then? We can’t shout for someone or the dead might hear us.”
Zack stood in thought for a moment, his hand hanging limply by his sheathed sword. Blood still ran down his arm to soak his shirt and drip onto the sun-bleached pavement.
“Let’s knock, I guess. Quietly. Doesn’t look like they have any cameras set up out here.”
“We do,” a far off voice said out of nowhere. “We’re just really good at hiding them.”
The soft sound of a lens zooming in and out could be heard once they froze in place and strained their ears.
“Can you let us in?” Christine asked meekly, not wanting to scare them off with how desperate she was feeling inside.
“Sorry, no can do,” the young man’s voice replied. “We can’t just letting every Tom, Dick, and Harry in
here, can we?”
“We’re not just anybody,” Christine said, panic rising in her voice. They didn’t come all this way to be rejected and dismissed. “We have something that might help you.” She paused and reached her hand out to Zack. Her fingers closed against her palm and opened again several times in urgency. Finally, he handed her Liam’s tattered leather-bound journal. “We have this.”
“What is that? Your diary?” the voice sounded as if he were on the brink of laughter.
“No,” Christine replied with a roll of her eyes. “It’s the answer to the cure.”
There was no reply after that. The camera had stopped moving and the voice they’d been talking to went silent. Christine still held the journal up, though her arm was starting to weaken. She lowered her arm and looked back at Zack. He shrugged his shoulders before she turned back around to face the doors.
With a huff of disappointment, she gripped the journal so tightly in her hand that her fingernails left marks in the brown leather. This wasn’t it. They weren’t defeated. They came all that way and it wasn’t for nothing. Something led them there, Christine was sure, and they were there for a reason. They had to save Gretchen and this was the way, it had to be!
Suddenly the front door opened.
“Come on,” the same voice they heard on the camera urged them.
With horse in hand and a zombie on its back, Christine and Zack walked through the doors of the Illinois Prevention Research Center.
“Sorry to give you the cold shoulder back there, but you know, times have changed. Can’t just let strangers in the house anymore, if you know what I mean,” the young man said.
He looked a little younger than Christine would have expected, even younger than Liam. There was no way he was a graduated scientist. It was possible the kid didn’t even work there, but was simply taking refuge. It was possible no one there would know what to do with Liam’s journal and all his notes.
Dead Soil (Book 2): Dead Road Page 22