Thunderous yells woke Ehsan up some time in the early morning. He groggily straightened up, trying to make out the words outside as he regained lucidity.
“THEY’RE HERE! THEY’RE HERE!” he heard Mateo bellow outside.
DAY 6
SATURDAY, APRIL 8th
Ehsan and Fatima hastily put on their shoes and threw themselves through the door, their weapons ready. Fatima tucked her knife into her pocket with her right hand as she held her machete in the left. Down the hall they saw Mateo handling a group of five seemingly normal zombies covered in small cuts. Next to them Manuel emerged from his room with his gardening shovel. Seconds later, Sarah popped out of her room with her machete. The four of them ran over to help Mateo, easily dispatching of the five zombies.
“Where the hell did they come from?” Sarah asked Mateo as the last zombie fell.
“No idea,” Mateo answered, scanning the hallway. “Went to take a leak and they were here when I got back. I dunno-”
Before Mateo could finish his sentence, they heard plopping sounds at the end of the hall, as if sacks of potatoes had been dropped onto the ground. Ehsan looked over. Two more zombies, also covered in cuts. He looked at the wall behind them, which had barbed wire at the top. Their enemy had created zombies capable of climbing.
“Shit, another type of zombie?” Ehsan groaned. The five of them charged the two zombies. The climbers possessed no special abilities beyond climbing, which Ehsan felt thankful for, though he knew with enough numbers it wouldn’t matter. Another climbed over the fence, cutting itself on the barbed wire as it made its way over. Mateo waited for it and chopped it in the throat the instant it landed.
“We need to move,” Fatima declared. “Manuel, guard the doorways. Sarah, tell Julie and Emma to stay with the kids, then help Mateo take out any more that jump over. Ehsan, you and I will warn everyone else.”
Everyone broke to their assigned roles. Ehsan and Fatima ran toward the center of the school. When they reached the beginning of the blacktop, they saw Deon and Marcus running up the other side, by the row of classrooms with Marcus’s medicine rooms.
“THEY CAN CLIMB!” Deon shouted across the blacktop.
“WE SAW!” Fatima acknowledged. As Fatima shouted her response, Ehsan saw Josue and Cecilia fighting zombies near the lunch tables.
“So what do we-” A loud crashing sound from the back of the school, in the direction of the barren field, interrupted Ehsan. He glanced over to see the rear ends of three school buses jutting through the barricaded fence. The back doors of each bus opened and four zombies from each bus dropped to the ground. All twelve sprinted toward Deon and Marcus. Behind those sprinters trickled a stream of normal zombies. The invasion had begun. Ehsan’s head felt light while the rest of him felt abnormally heavy.
“So this is how the clinic fell. First climbers, then vehicles,” Fatima realized. She turned to Ehsan, her throat tight. “We need to help Deon and Marcus.”
“Right.” Ehsan took a deep breath and tightened his grasp on Dragon Hair. The terror verged on overwhelming, but seeing everyone else fight gave him strength. He saw Deon run ahead with his machete, grabbing the attention of the dozen sprinters barreling toward them on the blacktop, while Cecilia and Marcus picked off the ones that slipped past him. Cecilia used a long kitchen knife while Marcus clumsily wielded Ryan’s bat. Josue, meanwhile, fought those climbing over the front gate.
Ehsan and Fatima ran toward the back of the school to stem the tide of normal zombies. As they came within a few yards of the buses, however, Ehsan met a zombie’s gaze and saw the lucidity in its eyes. He scanned the zombies pouring through the back and realized almost a quarter of them seemed intelligent. His heart pounded against his chest.
“We need backup,” Ehsan gasped as more zombies started shifting their attention to the two of them.
Fatima shook her head. “We need everyone defending the kids to stay put, and those sprinters are blocking our path to everyone in the kindergarten area.”
“So what do we do?”
“Buy time. Pick off the normal ones, avoid the smart ones.”
“Okay.” The thought of only engaging the normal zombies mitigated his terror just enough to help him fight. They circled around the edge of the growing swarm, which now numbered somewhere in the twenties, taking pot shots at the less intelligent zombies. Ehsan focused on attacking their knees, making them fall and causing others to trip. He smiled after watching three zombies stumble over a tall zombie whose left knee Ehsan had taken out seconds before.
“Maybe we actually do stand a chance,” Ehsan said as he swung at another nearby zombie.
“As long as we remain focused,” Fatima countered, thrusting the tip of her machete into the neck of a nearby zombie. She hopped backward when she saw an intelligent one behind it.
“Food,” it grunted, pointing at Fatima. Ehsan’s palms instantly became sweaty, but he reminded himself he didn’t have to fight it.
“Ehsan, I’m going to distract it! Attack its legs!”
“Fatima, what are you-”
Before Ehsan could finish his sentence, Fatima moved in front of the zombie, just out of arm’s length. It reached toward her, its eyes and attention totally transfixed. Ehsan snuck behind it, heart pounding, hoping more than anything it didn’t turn around. He swung his shovel at its left knee. It fell on its back. Fatima started stabbing at its hands to prevent it from grabbing her. As she did so Ehsan swung at its face, splitting it through the middle with a sound somewhere between a crunch and squish. He swung at it again, and again, and again. It stopped moving. They had defeated an intelligent zombie all by themselves.
“Sorry you had to split,” Ehsan panted, elated by such a victory.
“Seriously, Ehsan?” Ehsan could hear the relief in her voice.
The two of them continued focusing on the normal zombies, picking away at them, occasionally coordinating against the smart ones only when circumstance allowed. The swarm in front of them continued to swell, though Ehsan and Fatima prevented it from growing unchecked. They killed zombies at only slightly less than the rate they poured out of the bus, the swarm now numbering somewhere in the thirties or low forties.
At one point Ehsan heard running behind him. Assuming it was a stray sprinter, he turned around to see Sarah. “They’re barely hopping the fence anymore. Mateo told me to help you while he and Manuel guard kids.”
“Perfect,” Fatima replied. She scanned the buses in front of them. “If we can close at least one of those doors, we can lessen the amount of zombies pouring in.”
Ehsan hacked away at zombie he had dropped seconds prior. “How?”
Fatima crossed her arms and rubbed her chin, studying the back of the nearest bus in greater detail. “Sarah, I need you to draw their attention. Ehsan, once Sarah has the attention of every zombie, you and I will sneak under the bus furthest away from her. Then we strike. You will attack the legs of the next zombie coming out, creating a momentary traffic jam. I will shut the door. This will require very precise timing, so be ready.”
Ehsan and Sarah nodded. Sarah ran to their right, in the direction of the blacktop, clapping to grab the horde’s attention, which had grown to almost fifty zombies. Ehsan and Fatima ran further toward the back of the school. A few zombies initially followed them, though Sarah made enough of a ruckus to eventually attract their attention, too.
Once clear, Ehsan and Fatima crept toward the nearest bus, crouched down, moving breathlessly until they hunched directly underneath it. Ehsan exhaled slowly, quietly, eager to get it all over with, trying to quiet the voice in his head that seemed certain the next zombie to step out would be an intelligent one. Ehsan and Fatima exchanged glances. She nodded.
Just as one dropped from the back of the bus, Fatima slashed the back of its knees and kicked it while Ehsan jumped up to attack the legs of the next one in line to exit the bus. Fatima jumped onto the back of the bus and they closed the door, Fatima bringing down the thick securi
ty latch to make sure even the intelligent zombies couldn’t open it. Ehsan used Dragon Hair to shoo away some of the zombies that’d turned around to face them as they jumped off the back of the bus. Sarah rejoined them seconds later.
“Nice thinking,” Sarah said to Fatima with a pat on the back. Fatima blushed. “Should we try it again, for the next bus?”
“Yes.”
Sarah ran off again so that Ehsan and Fatima could hide away once more. Like before, Sarah soon succeeded in distracting every zombie. Ehsan and Fatima snuck around, making their way under the next bus. The two of them exchanged glances. Round two.
Ehsan jumped up while Fatima attacked the zombie that’d just hit the ground. Mid-swing, however, Ehsan locked eyes with the zombie in front of him. It was intelligent.
“Meat,” it groaned. It raised its arms to block Ehsan’s swing. Dragon Hair lodged into the creature’s right forearm. It grabbed the head of the shovel with its left hand. Ehsan tugged in vain. Fatima jumped up and stabbed the left forearm of the zombie. It grunted and let go of Dragon Hair. Ehsan stumbled backward, almost falling onto his back, regaining balance just quickly enough to prevent being grabbed by a nearby zombie. He and Fatima fled the back of the bus.
“We need to try-” Before Fatima could finish her sentence, they heard screaming from the front gate. Ehsan looked over to see a wave of zombies pour through the now-open gate. Josue fought valiantly, swinging wildly at any who came near him, but the herd poured in like a raging river. A group of three sprinters descended upon him while he fought an intelligent one. Josue distracted the one in front of him long enough to take out the first sprinter charging toward him, but the second pounced on top of him. Josue threw it off, but not before getting bit four or five times by the third. He pushed it away and swung at its neck, followed by the neck of the third and final sprinter. His swings somehow became even wilder, and angry tears formed in his eyes.
“Marcus, the bite kit!” Cecilia shouted, though Ehsan doubted it’d work with that many bites. Ehsan watched Marcus turn around and run into Room 10, hobbling slightly along the way. Ehsan returned his attention to the swarm in front of him. It now numbered around sixty.
“We need to close the second bus door,” Fatima insisted.
Ehsan glanced back toward the front of the school. “But what about-”
“If we cannot stem this tide, they are in even more danger.”
Sarah moved away from Ehsan and Fatima to lead the zombies away, but before she could get far, Ehsan heard Deon’s voice. “Marcus! MARCUS!” Ehsan backed up from the swarm and looked to where Deon, Marcus, and Cecilia fought. The swarm from the front had reached them just as they finished off the last of the initial twelve sprinters that’d come from the bus. Now four intelligent zombies surrounded Marcus, swarming him, biting him, pulling him in different directions. His face contorted in horror as blood trickled from his arms.
“MARCUS!” Deon hacked away at the zombies surrounding his cousin with no regard for his own safety.
“SARAH, HELP PROTECT THE CHILDREN! FATIMA, EHSAN, KEEP MANAGING THAT HORDE!” Cecilia roared. She turned in the direction of the kindergarten area. “HECTOR, HELP WITH THE CHILDREN! KEN, KEEP PICKING OFF THE CLIMBING ZOMBIES!” Two intelligent zombies surrounded her with their hands up, while a sprinter zoomed toward her from behind. Cecilia turned around just in time to grab the sprinter’s arm and toss it over her shoulder. She planted her knee on its back and dug her knife into the back of its head, then pulled it out quickly to prevent the intelligent zombies from coming any closer.
“This is bad,” Fatima lamented as Sarah ran off to help Mateo and Manuel. They looked over near Cecilia to see Hector dart past her and Deon, who had somehow survived his offensive on the zombies surrounding Marcus, who now laid bleeding on the ground, still alive.
Ehsan returned his attention to the zombies in front of them. Even more had gathered. He attacked a zombie in front of him. Behind it waited an intelligent one, who reached for him. Ehsan hopped back and looked to his sister.
“How’re we gonna close the doors with only two people?”
“No idea,” Fatima admitted. She slashed at the intelligent zombie’s hands. “We should focus on containing them for now.”
Ehsan nodded and the two of them resumed picking away at the herd. They continued to avoid the intelligent zombies until they could coordinate a joint attack. Ehsan tried to avoid thinking about the amount of zombies in front of him. He kept telling himself to think only of the current zombie in front of him. He didn’t have sixty-something zombies to take out with his sister; he merely had the encounter in front of him, however many times he had to repeat it.
After defeating a zombie that’d once been a child, Ehsan heard loud stomping sounds from the blacktop. He turned to see seven sprinters rushing toward them. His heart felt like it skipped a beat. He glanced just beyond the incoming group to see Cecilia and Deon defending Marcus as he hobbled to Room 11, gasping and sobbing, no doubt preferring a peaceful death in his medicine room than to face any more zombies. Ehsan felt nauseous.
“Ehsan, we need to go,” Fatima decided.
“What about…” Ehsan stopped himself. He glanced at the front of the school. He could no longer see Josue. He heard Mateo in the distance give everyone by the classrooms orders to evacuate. His attention returned to the sprinters, now two thirds of the way across the blacktop. Their slower kind made their way onto the beginning of the blacktop, the fruit trees and bushes that Mateo, Manuel, and Deon had worked so hard to cultivate trampled behind them. Ehsan started to tremble. “Y-yeah, you’re probably right.”
Ehsan felt determined to at least help the kids evacuate. The two of them fled from the buses and incoming sprinters toward the library. They ran as fast as they could, across the field, trying to make sure the sprinters didn’t intercept them. As they got halfway across the field, however, a pack of ten or so zombies rounded the corner near their destination.
“What now?” Ehsan asked, breathing slowly to fight back the urge to vomit.
“We hop the fence and hope they all chase us.” Fatima motioned toward the playground to their right. The barricaded stone wall behind the playground hid their new destination: the backyard of the adjacent houses. The two of them sprinted as quickly as they could, the zombies now only yards behind them, a deep shame growing in Ehsan for not wanting to turn back and fight. They reached the playground. Ehsan heard the sand spraying behind them as the zombies chased them. They reached the wall. Ehsan threw his shovel over. Fatima did the same with her machete. They began climbing the barricade. A section of the barricade gave out as Ehsan put his foot on it. He fell to the ground as he heard the zombies only a few feet behind him. He groaned, but jumped up and resumed climbing. He smelled death and felt its fingers brush against his ankle, but he climbed out of its reach. He made it to the top just as more of the barricade gave out. He didn’t dare glance back. He finished his leap over the stone wall, landing clumsily on his feet, almost falling.
They’d made it.
“Shit,” Ehsan muttered.
“Yeah,” Fatima agreed, breathless.
The two sat in the backyard, hearing the zombies bumble through the barricade as they impotently searched for their prey. A moment later the noise subsided. Something else had attracted their attention. Relief flooded Ehsan. They sat for a moment, breathing heavily, still processing what’d just happened.
Then Ehsan processed what they’d just done. Horror came back as he wondered what- or who- had captured the attention of the sprinters.
“We need to help,” Ehsan declared.
“Ehsan, we have no-” Fatima stopped herself. Realization spread across her face. “Actually, yes, I know a way we can help. Give me a boost.”
Ehsan nodded. They walked up to the wall and Ehsan folded his hands together, letting her climb the wall so that she could sit atop it.
“HEY, OVER HERE!” Fatima bellowed. She looked down to Ehsan. “Hand me whatever y
ou can find to help me get their attention.”
Fatima kept shouting. Ehsan looked around and saw a pile of rocks around what had presumably been a garden at one point. He grabbed a handful of smooth white ones and handed them to her. She took them and threw them at the metal bars of the swings to make even more noise.
“Our plan is working,” she informed Ehsan. “The zombies near Cecilia and Deon are still crowding them, but I can see the ones by the library coming here. I can see Mateo, he…” She squinted. “Damn it. Ana and Estefanía are clinging to him. HEY, ZOMBIES, OVER HERE!”
Ehsan gave her more rocks. She continued to alternate between throwing them and yelling. Soon Ehsan heard shuffling by the barricade on the other side of the wall. Their plan worked.
“You okay up there?” Ehsan asked.
“Yes. None of them can reach me.”
Just as she said that, Ehsan heard plopping noises to his right. He looked over to see two climbers getting to their feet. Between Fatima’s yells he could hear more on the other side.
“Shit. We gotta go, Fatima.”
She looked over to the zombies that’d just jumped the fence. She nodded and jumped off. The two grabbed their weapons. A third zombie plopped down. Ehsan and Fatima walked over to take them out swiftly, not wanting to fight any more after these ones. After everything they’d dealt with, Ehsan felt oddly relieved to only be fighting normal zombies- or at least zombies not especially threatening in a fight. Though fatigue had started to catch up with them, they still disposed of the three rather easily.
“Alright, we need to rendezvous with the others,” Fatima decided. “I know they said the public library to the east is their safe house. We should hurry in that direction.”
The Human Spring Page 27