by A. R. Wise
I was already holding my pistol, and I checked the chamber as I debated what to do next. I knew that shooting would alert every zombie in the neighborhood that we were here, but I wasn’t sure that mattered. The horde we’d already managed to attract was already too large for us to handle. We were nearing desperation.
That’s when we heard the Jeep start, and knew that Annie had made it. Harrison looked down at me with a wide smile and said, “You hear that? She did it.”
All we could do was listen as Annie struggled outside. Harrison couldn’t leave his post at the door, because the zombies in the hall wouldn’t give up their quest to devour us no matter how much noise Annie made. Harry kept chopping at our attackers as I tried to discern what was happening outside. I heard the Jeep’s gears grinding, and the angry screams of a mob, then a distinctive crash that I assumed was Annie driving over people. Finally, the tires squealed on the road shortly before we heard her honking to attract as much attention as possible.
“That kid’s a force of nature,” said Harrison with a giddy chuckle before he swung down at another hand that had sprung from the hole in the door.
“We’re going to have to jump out the window,” I said as I looked up at Harry. “We’re not going to make it through that hallway.”
“Yeah, I know,” said Harrison. “I ain’t looking forward to the fall.”
“You should go first,” I said. “I’ll stay here and keep the bed up against the door.”
“Yeah, yeah,” said Harrison. “But you need to be right behind me. Okay? This door ain’t gonna hold.”
“Trust me, I’m not planning on hanging out here for long.”
He cursed a few times, and then said, “I sure hope this works.” After a final chop at the invaders at our door, he leapt off the bed and headed for the window. He looked back at me, but his attention was quickly drawn to the door as he started to put one leg out of the window. “Ben, they’re getting in.”
Harrison started to abandon his escape to come back and help, but I yelled, “Go!”
The horde at our door began to rattle the small hole they’d already broken, and one of them was pulling his way through. The jagged wood stabbed at his midsection, but he was driven by bloodlust and continued to try and force his way inside. His fervor and the madness of the ones behind him caused his stomach to tear against the wood, spilling his guts out over the bed as he flailed at the comforter.
I turned in time to see Harrison drop down from the window, but I didn’t hear him hit the ground. The clamor of the creatures at my door drowned out nearly all other sound. I knew my chance of escape was fleeting at best, but every second I waited expounded the danger.
“Let’s get this over with,” I said just before bounding up from my position between the bed and the wall. The horde broke in the second that I moved. The bed was light and weak, and its legs squealed on the wood floor as it was pushed out. The door opened wide enough for the zombies to get in, and they wasted no time in their desperate search for food. I grabbed the gym bag of supplies off the bed and headed for the window. I sat on the ledge awkwardly and swung one leg out without even peering out to make sure the drop was safe. For all I knew, Harrison was in a bloody heap below being devoured.
The gym bag’s straps were over my right shoulder as I swiveled my other leg out of the window and then, without a moment’s hesitation, I dropped. Hands caught me as I fell, and I knew that the zombies in the room had reached the window. One of them had grabbed the bag, and as I fell the strap jerked at my shoulder, spinning me as the straps slipped out of my arm.
My fall was anything but graceful.
I hit the gravel on my side, and my head smashed down just after. I heard Harrison curse and ask, “You all right?” That, at least, was a comfort since I was fairly certain it meant he wasn’t being eaten by zombies that had been waiting below our window.
My only answer was, “Fuck.”
That’s when a hammer fell down and struck my knee, followed by nails that clinked against the stones beside me. I looked up and saw a zombie dangling from the window I’d fallen from, and my bag of supplies was now hanging from his side, the contents dropping down on top of me. Harrison grabbed my arm to help me up, cursing in a whisper the whole time.
As I stood, I grabbed the clawed hammer.
“Annie’s got a big group of them chasing her,” said Harrison as he helped me stand and walk towards the street.
It was getting dark out now, and I could see the Jeep down at the end of the street. Annie was there, honking to attract the horde, and at least twenty of the bastards had been enticed to follow her. The problem that faced us now was that the zombies in the house were beginning to leap from the window, and would be on our heels in moments. Ahead, the zombies that were chasing after Annie would likely see us soon. This was only a temporary reprieve.
Annie was stopped at a ‘T’ section ahead, and she was facing east. I pointed west and said, “Let’s head out that way. Hopefully she can draw the horde away from us and then come back around.”
“Surfing on maybes,” said Harrison. He was covered in the blood of the victims he’d chopped apart in that house and he looked ghastly even when he was smiling – especially when he was smiling.
We ran down to the end of the street, headed in the opposite direction that Annie’s Jeep was facing. She continued to honk and rev the engine, drawing the horde her way, and Harrison and I tried to sneak past. We rounded the corner and I waved my arms in the air, hoping Annie was watching, and then pointed down the street where I hoped she would come back around to pick us up.
Unfortunately, we weren’t safe yet. The horde that had been in our house were now on our trail, following behind slowly but at a steady pace. I looked back at them and saw that even the creatures that had been downstairs were now leaving the house behind. I knew that we could keep moving and avoid the horde, but whether or not Annie would be able to find her way back to us in a reasonable amount of time was uncertain. We were outside in the dark in an unknown area.
That’s when I saw more of the dogs appear at the door of the home. They’d been upstairs with the horde minutes earlier, but couldn’t chase us through the window. Instead, they’d gone back downstairs to try and find us, and they would be on our trail in seconds.
“We’ve got trouble,” I said as I readied the hammer.
“What?” asked Harrison. He hadn’t seen the dogs yet, and I pointed them out to him. “Oh shit.”
Annie was driving away, honking as she went to attract the zombies that were still unaware we were behind them. I looked back at the dogs and saw that they’d already covered half the distance between us and the house. There were two of them, and they were both sleek and fast.
“Get behind me,” I said.
“Fuck that, kid.” Harrison stood at my side, bravery masking any lack of confidence. He had his axe still, and spun it in his bloody hands. “Let’s do this.”
The dogs snarled as they approached, and I prepared myself for their attack. One of them focused on me as the other went for Harrison. I stepped to the side to get out of Harrison’s radius if he chose to swing that axe wide. “Come and get me,” I said as the dogs bore down on us.
The pinscher launched itself into the air and I tried to catch its throat, but missed. The creature’s jaws snapped inches from my face with my forearm pressed to its throat. I pushed it away and fell back a step before swinging the hammer. Either my aim was off or the dog managed to dodge because my swing only grazed the top of its head. The creature lurched, its hind legs high and its head low, and then bounded back at me. I barely had time to catch it with a backswing, and the clawed end of the hammer smacked its yellowed teeth.
I was about to try and swing again when I saw Harrison’s axe come down fast and hard on the dog’s back, nearly splitting the creature in two. He stood above it and pressed his foot down onto the dog’s ribcage as the creature continued to bite at the air. Then he used the flat edge of the axe
head to smash its cranium, silencing it for good.
“Thanks,” I said in admiration.
“Don’t mention it,” said Harrison as he wiped blood off his face with his arm. He didn’t do much more than smear the blood in the process.
Light illuminated the road and I looked off in the direction we’d been headed. A car was coming our way and all we could do was hope that it was Annie.
“Get in,” she screamed out to us as she came our way. Apparently she’d been able to loop back around to pick us up after drawing the horde away.
I laughed with joy and relief as she pulled up next to us. Harrison got in the front seat and I opened up the back, ready to get the hell out of this neighborhood.
“I can’t believe it,” I said as I slammed the door shut. “We did it!”
“God damn right we did,” said Harrison, equally cheerful. He slapped his knee and said, “That was a close one. That was too damn close.”
“Get us out of here,” I said to Annie as I settled in my seat.
“Gladly,” she said as we took off.
I glanced around and my smiled faded.
“Where’s Stubs?”
14 – Visitors in the Night
Annie Conrad
There was nowhere to go; nowhere to hide. At least nowhere that felt safe.
We drove through midnight streets, unwilling to stop until we navigated the maze of roads that drew a puzzle of the landscape. We had old maps, but they did little good as we continued to be detoured by wreckage and crumbling pavement. It was shocking just how many streets were interrupted by bridges that had disintegrated. We expected to be able to predict where bridges would be by keeping an eye on the map for scant streams and rivers that carved their way through this arid land, but that doesn’t account for the multiple ditches that had sucked the roads down as if it had been built on quicksand. The Jeep was formidable, but it couldn’t teleport us away from this suburban sprawl.
“Left here,” said Ben. His demeanor had hardened since learning of Stubs’ death, and I was positive he hated me. To his credit, he didn’t blame me. He was calm and collected as he tried to help guide us to safety.
“Where’s this go?” asked Harrison as he peered ahead.
The Jeep’s headlights carved through the night, revealing a thin stretch of road ahead that was overgrown by trees and bushes that had sprouted along its edge. The leafless limbs hung over the road like skeletal fingers, wavering with every gust of wind as if beckoning us in.
“A nature preserve,” said Ben.
There was a rusted gate barring our way. It had been yellow once, though only a scant few flakes of paint remained on its triangular shape.
“Let me see if it’s locked.” Ben opened one of the back doors, causing the light in the cab to click on and a beeping to commence that let us know he’d taken off his seatbelt. Harrison and I watched as he crept up the rocky path that led to the gate. This was a paved road, but the black pebbles had come loose over the years and scattered, allowing weeds to fill the gaps and roots to crack the pavement even more.
Ben lifted the gate from its mount and walked with it to the side, giving us access to whatever lay beyond.
“Not sure I trust nature anymore,” said Harrison from the seat beside me. “Those fucking zombie dogs.” He shook his head and grunted. “I don’t know what to think about that.”
We’d discussed it earlier, but our attempt to flee the area kept extraneous conversation at a minimum. Besides that, I was still thinking of poor Stubs, and how I’d felt his fur on my fingertips just before he was pulled away. I was certain Ben hated me for it, and I couldn’t stop worrying about it.
“We don’t know they were infected,” I said as I focused on the shadows that surrounded Ben. “They might’ve just been…” I didn’t have a good answer. “I don’t know. Fuck, Harry, I don’t know anymore.”
“They were infected,” said Harrison. “Trust me.”
It was hard to argue that fact. The creature that had murdered Stubs looked like it should’ve been dead. “What does that mean then? I’ve never seen a zombie dog before.”
“Me neither,” said Harrison as Ben got back in the Jeep. “What do you think, Ben? Those dogs were zombies, right?”
“Looked that way.” His response was distant and passionless, and I knew that he was still preoccupied with his loss.
“Then…” Harrison looked back at his friend. “Man, what the fuck does that mean? Dogs can get infected? There’re dog packs all over the damn place. If dogs can catch it… Shit, man. We’re fucked.”
“Let’s just focus on one problem at a time,” said Ben. “It looks like this road will take us up into the foothills. We can find a place to park and try to get some sleep until morning. One of us can stay up while the other two sleep. If anything comes at us, we’ll drive off. Sound good?”
“No, man,” said Harrison. “But do we have any other choice?”
Ben offered a tired, “Nope.”
“I’ll stay up first,” I said. “I don’t think I could sleep anyways.”
The road was rough, crumbling beneath us as we drove, but we were finally free of the urban labyrinth that we’d been stuck in for so long. The number of trees along the path lessened until we were crossing a prairie that sat unscathed except for this single road that shot across it. We decided it would be best to park here, instead of driving into the hills where we risked encountering a raider camp. They often liked to make homes in old mine shafts, and this area was littered with them.
It was a relief to be able to turn off the Jeep, silencing us and erasing the beacon our headlights offered to anyone that might be hunting us. Only moonlight illuminated the land around us, but it was murky and faint.
“Put the keys back in so I can roll down the window,” said Harrison, and I did as he asked. He rolled his window halfway down and then we all listened to the night, wary of what might be hiding out there.
Coyotes yipped from one direction, and another pack howled from the other, neither group sounding far enough away to be of comfort. I’d grown up listening to their nightly songs, but I hadn’t been fearful of them in years. Now they terrified me.
“Man,” said Harrison in a whisper. “I’ve got to pee something fierce, but I don’t want to go out there if we drove our asses out into the middle of a coyote free-for-all.”
“I’m sure you’ll be fine,” said Ben as he started to situate himself on the backseat in an attempt to lay down. “Just don’t wander too far away.”
“Don’t worry,” said Harrison as he opened the door. “I’m not going more than five feet out there.” He got out and sauntered only a few steps before relieving himself. He’d left the window down and I could hear his urine splashing on the hard-packed dirt.
I needed to apologize to Ben, and I knew this might be my only chance to do it alone, but I was leery to say anything. “Hey, um,” I struggled to speak. “I’m sorry.”
He knew what I was apologizing for. “Nothing to be sorry for,” he said as he squirmed on the faux-leather seats.
“I tried to…”
“Annie, don’t,” he said to stop me. Then he reached through the gap between the front seats and touched my arm. He squeezed gently and I set my hand over his. I brushed my thumb against his scarred knuckles.
“I tried to save him.” Tears welled up in my eyes so fast that it seemed like they’d been there all along. I took my hand off Ben’s to wipe my eyes. “I should’ve left him with you.”
Ben sat up so that he could reach me easier. He did his best to embrace me from the backseat and ended up putting his arms around my chest as he leaned over to press his cheek against mine. I felt the wetness of both our tears as he whispered that it wasn’t my fault.
Harrison had finished peeing and opened the door back up, causing the light inside to come on. He saw us, and then said, “I’ll hang out here a minute.” He closed the door and walked a few feet from the Jeep to give us privacy.
/> “It’s not your fault,” said Ben.
“Yes it is,” I said. “You trusted me. He trusted me, and I just… He fell and…”
Ben put his hand on the side of my face as he moved closer. He was positioned awkwardly between the seats as he said, “Annie, look at me.” He held my face and I looked down, ashamed as the tears continued to fall. “I don’t blame you. Okay? Whatever happened, I know it wasn’t your fault. Stubs had a good life; a hell of a lot better than most dogs like him could’ve ever hoped for.”
I looked into Ben’s eyes and said, “I let you down.”
“Are you kidding me?” He chuckled through the sadness that had reddened his eyes. “You saved my life. You saved both Harry and me. If it weren’t for you, we’d be zombie food by now.”
I tried to shake my head in disagreement, but he had a tight grip on me. “I know how much you loved that dog.”
He leaned forward and kissed my forehead. “Yeah, I did. And I always will. I’m always going to remember him, and his stubby little legs.” His voice cracked from sorrow, but he acted as if he were laughing. Perhaps he turned that sorrow into joy somehow. “And how he was such a picky eater.”
“And how he used to snore,” I said, doing my best to add to the fond memories.
“That’s right,” said Ben with another chuckle. “He used to snore so loud, and fart too. Oh man did that dog fart. Used to stink up the whole room.”
We both laughed, but my solemnity returned. “I should’ve tried to fight them. I should’ve fought to get him back; to save him from them.”
“Do you really think I’d want you to risk your life like that?” asked Ben. He waited for an answer that I didn’t offer. “Annie, I loved that dog, but I’d rather have you safe. I’d rather have you.”