World Memorial

by Robert R. Best

  “Oh,” said Maylee, realizing.

  "Yeah."

  Carly turned the wheel to the right. The camper banked hard, skidding in the snow as it changed direction. It righted itself and charged forward as Carly gunned the engine.

  They were racing straight for the wall.

  "Well damn," said Maylee, bracing herself.

  * * *

  Angie and Park were about twenty feet from the porch. The guards and townsfolk who’d followed her were already there, firing into corpses as they poured into the square and crushed toward the house.

  Park turned into the corpses and fired as Angie stepped painfully up onto the porch. The corpses were growing near. They didn’t have much time. Angie hoped Maylee and the others had gotten the kids safely away.

  She looked to a large metal plate set in one beam of the porch. West had installed it. It triggered the Failsafe. She recalled what West had said: Don't wanna use that unless you're so fucked you'd rather be cornered than dead.

  They had no choice. "Everyone get on the porch! And don't move!"

  They did. Angie gave the eye to the guards then stepped over to the plate and raised her hand.

  She stopped, hearing a new voice yelling over the groans. Maylee.

  She looked and saw her and Dalton run in from a different passageway and into the square. The corpses nearest them saw and turned toward them. Maylee and Dalton ran past, heading for the porch.

  “What the hell are you two doing?” yelled Angie. “You were supposed to stay with the others!”

  Maylee and Dalton kept running past the corpses. When one got too close, Dalton would let out a short flash of light. He winced when it happened, but didn't break his stride. He was learning to resist, Angie realized. He was getting stronger.

  “I said,” repeated Angie, “What the hell…”

  “She insisted!” yelled Maylee. “We couldn’t stop her!”

  “Who…?” Angie started. Then she heard Lilly screaming close behind.

  The little girl was running behind them, yelping and letting out small flashes of light as the corpses reached for her.

  "Owwww!" she yelled as she ran across the square, following Maylee and Dalton. "Fuckers!"

  "Dammit, Lil!" Park yelled. "Get back with the others!"

  "Fuck them! I'm with you!"

  “Shit!” yelled Angie. “Hurry, then!”

  Maylee, Dalton and Lilly complied. They raced past the corpses as they filled up the square. The corpses reached for them and stumbled toward the porch.

  Angie held her hand over the plate. Maylee, Dalton and Lilly raced along.

  “Hurry!” yelled Angie. The corpses drew near.

  The trio reached the porch and leapt up onto it. As they did, Angie smacked the button.

  For a few seconds all they heard were the groans of the corpses crushing toward the porch. The guards fired. Corpses stumbled up the steps.

  “Come on, West…”

  Then it happened. Thick planks of wood, hidden under the snow, fell away all around the house. The corpses groaned and toppled into a deep trench as it opened up underneath. Park and the guards shot into the corpses who had made it to the steps. They toppled backward as bullets tore through their skulls. They fell away, down with the others.

  The house was completely cut off from the square. The corpses kept coming, reaching for the house and tumbling into the trench.

  Angie looked around the square, impressed that West’s device had worked. She hoped he was still alive to tell about it. She suspected otherwise.

  She turned to Maylee, Dalton and Lilly. She looked over the three of them. They seemed okay. "Dammit, Lilly. You were all supposed to stay there.”

  “Fuck that jackass shit,” said Lilly, stomping over to stand next to Park.

  Angie just shook her head and looked back to Maylee. “Everything ready?"

  Maylee nodded. "The kids are safe. The fallback point is ready."

  “All the kids except two,” Angie said, giving Dalton and Lilly a hard look. “But let’s get inside.” She took one last glance at the mob of corpses outside the house. Despite the large number who had fallen into the trench, there were still more. Many many more. And they kept coming. She knew they would eventually overwhelm the trench and reach the house. She just hoped they’d thinned their numbers enough to hold them off. She doubted it.

  She bit her lip, reminded herself luring them here was her idea, then turned and followed the others into the house.

  Twenty Five

  Angie limped hurriedly into the living room and slammed the door. Guards and townsfolk were ready with boards and hammers. They looked to Angie.

  "That's everyone."

  The ones with boards rushed to the door and started nailing them across it. The mats and cots in the room had been pushed aside. Anything wooden or sturdy had been broken and nailed across every ground-level opening. Park was checking one of the windows. Maylee and Dalton were peering between the boards covering another one.

  “Okay everyone,” she said to all who could hear. “Let’s fortify the house, then wait until the sisters show up. They’ll find a way in eventually. And if we’re lucky, they’ll come here first to look for the kids.”

  Angie limped to the door as the ones who'd been hammering stepped back. She pulled on one board, testing it. The guards rushed off to check other spots.

  Park motioned his head toward the boards and looked to her. "You feeling like we should have done something along these lines when all this started?"

  "No, bad idea,” Angie said. “It would have been a death trap."

  "So what's this then?"

  "There's a reason it's plan B, Park."

  "Whoa," came Lilly's voice.

  Angie and Park turned and saw Lilly standing on her toes, peeking between the boards covering a side window.

  "What is it?" said Angie, limping to the center of the room and stopping. The townsfolk and guards wove around her, securing boards and clearly trying not to panic.

  Lilly peered out the window. "The dead ass-snots are piling up in the holes!"

  Maylee rushed over and peered out over Lilly's head. She looked back to Angie. "She's right. There’s so many of them they're filling up the trenches. They're starting to climb over the others. They’ll be at the side walls soon."

  “Dammit,” said Angie. “I hoped there’d be more time…”

  A loud slamming noise came from the kitchen. Everyone turned to look.

  "Sounds like an animal," said a guard.

  "I'm on it," said Maylee, rushing toward the kitchen. Dalton and a small contingent of guards ran with her.

  * * *

  Maylee raced into the kitchen, bat in hand. Dalton and the handful of guards ran in behind her. The side door, already boarded up and blocked by a tall set of shelves, was rattling.

  A second hit came from outside. The door shook violently, rattling the shelves.

  "Hold that!" said Maylee, pointing at the shelves. The guards ran over and braced themselves against it.

  "Come with me," she said to Dalton.

  They rushed to the kitchen table. Maylee heard corpses groan outside. They sounded close, telling Maylee they had filled up the trench on this side of the house. They pawed at the door and the window above the sink, reaching up to it from below. The window had been left unboarded, as it was too high for a corpse get through.

  She and Dalton dragged the table across the floor toward the shelves. The guards stepped aside to give them room.

  Something rammed the door for the third time. The shelves toppled, stopping at an angle when they hit the far wall. The door broke open, slamming against the back of the shelves.

  A boar rushed through the opening. Its face was bloody and its eyes were wild and enraged. It gored the first guard it came to, ramming its tusks into the young man's stomach. The man cried out as blood leaked from his mouth.

  Corpses crowded into the opening. They reached inside, pawing at the shelves and door
. They moaned and bit at the air.

  The boar kept goring the young man. It thrashed and dug its tusks in deeper. The man fell limp, clearly dead. The remaining guards unslung rifles from their backs and fired. Bullets slammed into the boar, tearing through fur and flesh. The boar bled and grew sluggish, then slumped to the floor. The guards turned their fire to the corpses. A few fell back as bullets rained into them. But not nearly enough.

  "Get the shelves back up!" yelled Maylee. She, Dalton, and a few guards ran to the shelves. They grabbed hold as the rest kept firing.

  Maylee and the others hoisted the shelves up. They made slow progress. The corpses crowded further in, blocking the way.

  Dead hands closed on a guard on one side of the opening. He screamed as a corpse leaned in and bit him on the cheek. The dead hands pulled and tore at him. The corpses crowding the opening pulled the man toward them. The others fired at the corpses and one bullet tore through the man's throat. He coughed and bled. The corpses tore into his insides, ripping apart meat and viscera. Hot red gore slipped to the kitchen floor and ran across the linoleum. The corpses pulled him behind the shelves. Maylee could hear the corpses eating.

  The guards kept shooting, thinning out the corpses enough for the shelf to make more progress. "Keep pushing!" yelled Maylee.

  She, Dalton and the guards pushed as hard as they could. The shelves creaked in protest, then straightened. They shoved it against the door, pushing it closed and the corpses back outside. The guards grabbed the table and pulled it into position behind the shelves. They wedged it between the shelves and the wall. The shelves stayed put this time.

  Maylee stepped back and the others followed. The corpses outside pawed at the door to no avail.

  "Good work everyone." Then she frowned. "Surely everyone in the living room heard all that? Why didn't they help?"

  In the now-quiet kitchen, they could hear screaming and shooting coming from all over the house.

  "Shit," said Maylee, moving toward the door. "We gotta—"

  A panther leapt through the window over the sink. It flew inside, sending shattered glass everywhere. It landed, its claws scraping across the floor.

  * * *

  Park raced into the side room. Panic was spreading through the whole house. Despite all the securing they had all done, the sheer number of corpses was just too many. People had scattered to various rooms, trying to plug holes as they opened.

  His eyes adjusted to the dark room. Cans were everywhere. Food storage. Park looked past them and saw dead hands reaching past the boards across a broken window.

  He rushed to the window and peered closer. The dead hands completely filled the openings between the boards. There was no space to shoot through, to clear them away from the window.

  A second window sat further down the wall. It was also boarded up and appeared unbroken. No corpses appeared to be at it just yet.

  Park ran over to the second window and peered between the boards. The glass was intact, and beyond it he could see the corpses crowded around the first window. They stood atop the mass of corpses clogging the trench beneath them.

  "Fuck me," said Park, scratching his beard and removing his rifle from his shoulder. He didn't want to break the intact window to shoot at the corpses, that would just be asking for trouble when other corpses found the opening. Maybe if he could get their attention, get them over to the intact window, he could reinforce the other one.

  Park pounded on the walls. "Hey fuckers!"

  Some of the corpses noticed the sound. They turned their dead eyes to Park's window and began to stumble his way, climbing over the mass of corpses underneath.

  Lilly ran in the door behind him. "What're we doing?"

  Park ignored her, keeping his attention outside. He pounded again. "Over here fuckfaces!"

  "Hitting things and cussing!" said Lilly, rushing over to Park. "My fucking favorite!"

  "Get back, Lil!" said Park.

  "I want to help!" Lilly pounded on the wall and tried to see over the windowsill. "Hey! Over here ass bags!"

  Park peered through the boards. Most of the corpses were on their way over. The broken window was now clear.

  "Okay now," said Park, "get back from the window and I'll—"

  A corpse appeared directly in front of their window. Close and sudden. It groaned through the glass. Lilly shrieked as bright white light flashed out from her. She fell back into a corner and slumped to the floor.

  "Fuck no, Lil!" yelled Park. He ran over to her. His chest was tight, pounding. He ignored it, kneeling and shaking her. "Lil!" His chest grew tighter and tighter as he shook her. She remained limp and still. He thought of his daughters dying at the zoo. He thought of how he'd failed them. And how he’d failed this one.

  "Lil!" he screamed a third time, shaking her hard. His chest was killing him. He was pouring sweat despite the cold.

  Lilly opened her eyes and blinked. "Huh?"

  Park sat back on his heels. "Oh thank fuck." He looked at her woozily. His chest was so tight he couldn't breathe.

  He fell over backward and everything went black.

  * * *

  Beulah punched Sharon in the stomach. Sharon doubled over and rammed her head into Beulah's chest. Beulah slid back, wincing.

  They paused, staring at each other. They were both weakened. Beulah was straining to hold all her outposts back. She could tell Sharon was strained also, controlling her forces inside World Memorial.

  Behind them the town was in ruins. Walls were punctured and falling. The corpses were all inside. Animals raced to and fro, furiously looking for anything that looked human. Beulah wondered where the humans had gone. Retreated somewhere, she figured.

  It was too late to pull the children to her. To do it now would require releasing her other towns, who would then perform the sacrifice she had set in motion. The rest would go off too early, and without the children of World Memorial in the chain, the reaction wouldn't work.

  "What're you thinking about, sister?" said Sharon, panting and smiling. "Thinking about how your plans are falling apart?"

  "Yours fare no better, sister," said Beulah, her body slowly healing. "If you lose control of your monsters and they set off the children, all I have to do is let go."

  Sharon glared at her. Beulah did her best to look resolved. But the truth was she saw no way out of her position.

  Roaring with anger, a bear raced past both of them and toward the town. Both Sharon and Beulah watched as the bear crossed the barrier of blood that kept them out. The bear slammed into one of the few remaining sections and the wall creaked and split apart. A long wooden beam fell and shattered, shards of wood bouncing out across the snow.

  Several shards landed in the moat of blood, large enough to break the flow. Blood collected on either side of the shards. The barrier was broken.

  Sharon looked to Beulah and Beulah looked back. They both knew what this meant.

  * * *

  Park drifted in a woozy darkness, the pain in his chest distant and dull. His own ragged breathing was muffled and distant. He knew he was slipping away for good.

  He remembered his wife leaving all those years ago. He yearned to change it, but it was long done. He remembered the look of disappointment in his kids’ eyes. He remembered them dying at the zoo. One in his arms. She'd told him it was okay. It wasn't.

  He cursed himself and waited to die.

  He could hear a young girl crying. Distant, but growing louder. The darkness shifted and he could see light again. His vision was blurred and the pain in his chest was throbbing and insistent.

  His vision cleared. Lilly was pounding on his chest with her tiny balled hands. And she was crying.

  "Stop, Lil," he said. "Stop."

  "You stop!" said Lilly, crying big open tears. They ran down her cheeks as she pounded on his chest.

  Park sat up, the pain subsiding. He rubbed his head. Lilly sat back and stared at him, still crying.

  "Damn, Lil," said Park. "You should ha
ve just let me die."

  Lilly slapped him across the face. Surprisingly hard.

  "Fuck you!" she screamed. "Don't you die! Don't you fucking dare!"

  Park stared at her for a second. He rubbed his face. "Okay, Lil. Fuck. I don't quite see the point, but fuck it."

  "Okay," said Lilly, sniffing. Her tears were subsiding. "Just take it easy, okay? Don't fall over like that again."

  "I'm not much of a father figure, Lil. You'd be better off elsewhere."

  Lilly wiped her wet cheeks and looked at him. "Well, I think you're pretty great."

  They looked at each other in silence for a moment.

  "Okay then," said Park.

  "Okay then," said Lilly.

  A loud crash came from the living room. Park hopped to his feet.

  "Don't strain yourself!"

  "For fuck's sake, Lilly, I'm fine!" Park rushed to the broken window and used the butt of his rifle to hammer the boards back in place.

  "Come on!" he said. Lilly stood and the two of them rushed from the room.

  * * *

  Maylee, Dalton and the guards raced from the kitchen. The panther roared behind them as they rushed past the French doors.

  "Shut it shut it shut it!" yelled Maylee, rushing over to the doors. She, Dalton and the guards slammed them shut. They held them in place. The panther growled behind them.

  "What is it?" said Mom, limping over on her cane.

  "Panther," said Maylee. "Window. Bad."

  "Shit, that is bad," said Mom.

  A few guards and townsfolk were still with her. Maylee surmised the rest had rushed to other rooms to plug leaks. "Everybody! Get something to block the doors!"

  Maylee, Dalton and a few guards held the door shut. Maylee could see the panther rush toward the glass panels in the door. It rammed them. The glass was breaking.

  "Hurry!" yelled Mom.

  The panther hit again, shattering the glass panels and splintering the surrounding wood.