by Mark Tufo
“Is that anyway to talk about your blushing bride?” Dianna asked.
“Love you, honey.” Ned blew her a kiss.
“Let’s hope for all our sakes, theirs included, we can find enough of their tasty tidbits to bring back to the boss. That way his revenge is completed, we don’t get shot at, and these poor bastards don’t have to be tortured,” Sedgwick said.
“Dear brother, are you going soft in your old age?” Dianna asked.
“I’ve done what I’ve had to in order to get through life, Dianna. Some of it – okay, most of it – unsavory, but I do not take enjoyment from the brutality of torture. That’s Icely’s thing, not mine.”
“Yet you work for the man,” she taunted.
“Like I said, I’ve done some unsavory things. I told mom she should have gotten you checked out.”
“Before or after she started smoking meth?” Dianna asked.
“Hilarious…and it was crack,” Sedgwick answered her.
“Kids, kids,” Grumper said, “let’s just do this.”
“See, Dianna, I told you he wasn’t just another pretty face,” Ned said about Grumper and his shock of red hair.
“I will shoot you.” Grumper told him.
“Alright, let’s check the houses, two to a house. Me and Grumpy will start on the right. Dianna, you and your boy toy to the left,” Sedgwick said.
CHAPTER FIVE
“They’re splitting up.” Mia said, making sure to stay low and out of sight. “Shit! Two of them are coming this way!” She ducked down.
“You see movement?” she heard one of the men ask outside.
Within the span of a few seconds there was a heavy knock on the door. “Open the fuck up!” one of them yelled.
“What do you want?” Koala shouted through the door.
“Census survey.”
“One, now piss off,” Koala said.
“We’re looking for somebody!” the voice shouted.
“I just said ‘one.’ And if you’re looking for me, I’m not interested,” Koala replied.
A loud shot rang out, I heard a metal bee crash into the door.
“Steel core door.” Koala turned, smiling at the shocked face of Jess. She was entirely too scared to enjoy in his mirth. “Gonna need a bigger gun!” Koala shouted.
“Windows bullet proof too, asshole?” the man from outside asked.
“Shit. Gonna need some help, Jess,” Koala said quietly. He pointed to a slot halfway down the door. “Need you to open that, okay?” She nodded.
Koala got down on one knee, he put the large fire stick up to his shoulder. “You ready?” he asked her. She looked sick, sort of the same color green I’d seen She-Alpha wipe away from Zach’s rear end. Mia got behind Jess and placed her hands over the younger girl’s ears.
“One...two...three.” The slot opened with a noticeable squeal. Koala stuck the front part of the stick through the door and pulled the trigger. I whined; the explosion in the house was so loud. That was soft in comparison to the shrieks of agony that poured forth from the man that had been stung.
“My leg, my leg!” he was screaming.
I took a peek through the small slot before the fire stick came back in and Jess let it go. I didn’t know which leg the man was crying about, the one he was using for support or the one two steps down on the small porch.
“Sedgwick!” the woman screamed.
Metal bees peppered the house, glass all around us shattered. Holes appeared on the opposite side of the room with loud ‘thunks’. Furniture was being torn up way worse than Ben-Ben could ever hope to accomplish. Fake lights were shattering. The house was being destroyed. All of us, including Jumper who had expended so much energy to be standing, were as low to the ground as we could get.
Light streamed into the house from the many holes in the material that had covered the outside viewer and from the outside walls as well. If the woman kept shooting she would eventually be able to make her own entryway.
I could hear the woman approach, she was shrieking so loud. “Get a tourniquet on him!” she screamed. Their voices lost some volume as they pulled the injured two-legger away from the steps.
“Is there another way out?” Mia asked.
“The back door,” Koala said sadly looking at Jumper. “My car’s in the garage in back, but it’s dead. Haven’t bothered to get a new battery. Never figured on leaving, not on this plane anyway.”
“Why are they shooting at us, Riley?” Ben-Ben asked, a puddle spreading underneath him.
I understood his fear, but couldn’t he at least scoot forward a few steps to get out of the wetness?
“We’re going to have to stay and fight,” Jess said, looking at Zach who she had shielded in her arms.
“Pistols against machineguns isn’t a very fair fight,” Koala said as he inched his way back towards the front of the house.
He carefully pulled himself up so that he could look out the bottom of the viewer. “He’s going to die,” Koala said to no one in particular. “Never killed anything.”
“Not even a zombie?” Mia asked incredulously, coming up alongside.
The hairy man shook his head, which I knew meant ‘no’. I came up alongside them; there was a heavy trail of blood leading from the steps to the wheeler the people had come in.
The lone female among them stood to the side watching the house as the two males tried to stop the vital fluids from leaking out of the injured one.
Patches about had me add my own puddle as she fought for room next to me. “See it?” she asked me.
“See what?” I asked back.
“Death,” was her one word reply.
My fur bristled, I saw no such thing and I was happy for it.
Her tail switched back and forth in a jerky manner, I knew this meant she was agitated. Who wouldn’t have been?
“It is gone and has brought the man with it. They will seek vengeance now,” Patches said, dropping down and moving away from the viewer.
I saw one of the men stand and shake his head, the one that looked like his hair was on fire. The woman screamed ‘NO!’ I saw her put something into the bottom of her fire stick. Koala pulled Mia and me down as the metal bees once again flew.
“What had it taken, Patches?” I asked; the man was still lying there.
“I’m going to cut your fucking head off!” she screamed.
“Does she mean me?” Koala asked, rubbing his hand on his throat.
Jess had gone into the food room and then into the small room beyond. “There’s zombies out here,” she shouted over the bees.
“Zombies out front, too,” Mia replied. “They’re either going to have to try to get in here in the next minute or fight the zombies.”
“Or leave,” Zach gurgled.
“Wouldn’t that be nice,” Patches said. “Highly unlikely though.”
“I don’t really like it here,” Ben-Ben moaned.
All was still for a moment as the crazy woman stopped shooting. Dust swirled heavily in the air making it difficult to breath.
“This isn’t over!” she shouted, sending another spray of bees our way. Or at least we thought that until no new holes showed up.
We all heard the car drive off, and some more bee-fire, but they were using it to clear zombies from their path. I had crept back up to the viewer to watch their departure. The wheeler we had come in was destroyed. Holes were punched in it all over the front. Vital fluids leaked out from the bottom of the wheeler worse than the male that had lost his leg.
“They’re going to get Icely,” Mia said, resignation ringing in her voice.
“We need to leave...we all need to leave,” Jess said.
“No car and close to a hundred zombies, we’re going to have a hell of a time getting through them with .22s,” Koala said, looking around what remained of the viewer covering.
He backed up quickly as a zombie arm shot through. I smelled excrement – that was Ben-Ben. Patches hissed and mewled loudly before jumping
on to the couch. More hands and arms thrust through and became entangled in the shade maker. I backed away from the viewer and started barking when zombies approached my spot; once again arms and even torsos were thrust through the new opening. The viewer on this side of the house was lower due to the ground outside which sloped upwards; most of the zombies here we could see down to their waists.
If their brethren weren’t pushing so hard from behind pinning their legs to the house, the ones in front would most likely just have fallen into the house. I barked when I heard glass in the back of the house break.
“The back door!” Koala said before heading that way.
Jess had Zach in her arms and was shielding him. Mia had come up to my side and started firing her short fire stick. Zombie necks whipped back as she sent metal bees into their heads.
“There’s too many!” Mia cried out.
Glass was breaking all around us as the zombies fought for ways to get in. Then shots began to ring out from the kitchen. “Gonna need some help! Door is going to give!” Koala shouted.
I could see that Jess was torn. To shoot, she would need to put Zach down and she just did not want to do that. I went in to the kitchen to see if there was anything I could do. The door was indeed giving. I could see light coming from a crack as the zombies pushed on it. Koala had his back against the wall and his legs kicked out in front of him to brace the bottom of the door to keep it from opening. Zombies had broken through the top half, which was made of small outside viewers. When they saw him they struggled even harder to get in.
Every part of me wanted to bark at them, to show them how ferocious I was, and that they should leave before I attacked, but I’d seen enough of them to know that they didn’t care. Even if I started tearing into them they would still advance.
“Help me!” Koala screamed again. His legs were shaking from exertion. I heard creaking as the door was taking more force than it could withstand.
Jess ran in--she had placed Zach down on the floor of the kitchen.
“Riley, I don’t want to be here,” he said to me.
“That makes two of us,” Patches said, coming in.
“How many is that plus me?” Ben-Ben asked, tail tucked firmly between his legs. Another puddle sprouted from between his legs when Jess shot her fire stick.
Koala squalled, I thought he had been bit. “Hot brass, hot brass!” he was bemoaning as he brushed shiny things off the top of his head and face. I smelled burning flesh, it was not unlike—
“Bacon?” Ben-Ben asked, braving the fighting to see if his favorite food in the world was somehow being prepared in the heat of the action.
“Face,” I told him.
“Sorry!” Jess yelled as she moved slightly to keep shooting. Her shots were effective, but as a whole ineffectual. The zombies in front were dead, but the ones behind kept pressing forward. The door was starting to splinter.
“Get out of here, Jess!” Koala said, beads of sweat forming on the top of his head and cascading down his face. “I can’t hold this much longer.”
“I can’t just leave you. Come with me.”
“What do you think is going to happen if I move?” he strained to ask.
Jess shook her head, but I think more in denial than in not knowing the answer to the question. Even Ben-Ben would be able to tell that as soon as he moved, the door would slam open and zombies would come streaming in.
Water was coming from Jess’ eyes. “Where should we go?” she asked.
“The basement--the door is made from the same stuff as the front door. Should hold for a long time.”
“Long enough for Icely and the others to get back,” Patches said.
“One thing at a time,” I said to her.
“Oh that’s right, dogs can’t multi-task. That means do more than one thing at a time if you needed an interpretation.”
“Is now the time for that?” Zach asked.
“Babies that shouldn’t be talking should not be telling me what not to do,” Patches said exiting the room.
A dead zombie was bent over, half in the house, the tips of his fingers brushing up against Koala’s pants. Thick blood flowed from it to him. He kept trying to shift to avoid the sticky stream. Didn’t much matter, the zombie was being jostled from those behind him, the loose arms swinging back and forth pretty much covering the entire small room with their blood offering.
Zach was in the middle of the floor and Jess was putting more bees in her stick. Ben-Ben had turned away from me. I heard his low growl and, before now, never heard such a sinister noise from him.
“Holy biscuits, Ben-Ben, what’s the matter with you?” I asked, turning. He was bristled, his small canines were flashing as his lips pulled back savagely.
A zombie stumbled in, its milky eyes fixed solely on the baby down by its feet. A fresh head wound by its ear oozed blood. It looked like the bee had scraped against the side of its head leaving an exposed skull that shone a sickly swirl of colors. Ranging from deep reds and purples to the gray of an exposed brain where the bee had dug in a little deeper. Ben-Ben launched himself as the zombie bent down to get at Zach who was attempting to crawl away. Ben-Ben latched on to the zombie’s nose. The zombie’s arms were still outstretched reaching for its food. Ben-Ben had pulled it close to the floor; his back feet were scrabbling on the shiny surface of the food room trying to gain purchase.
He was growling as he shook his head vigorously back and forth. When the zombie couldn’t see the baby anymore it started grabbing at Ben-Ben, I think it meant to make a meal of him if it could.
“Let go, Ben-Ben!” I shouted, just as the zombie’s hands wrapped around his small midsection. The zombie was pulling him in closer as it began to stand. I caught as much speed as I could get in the close distance and crashed into his leg joint. I heard something break from the force, but it cared little as it fought to bring Ben-Ben into its blackened, diseased mouth.
Ben-Ben had let go of the zombie’s nose and now had his front paws braced on the zombie’s forehead and his back paws against the zombie’s chest. He was struggling to keep himself out of its jaws. I got behind the zombie and tore at the tendon in the back of the man’s ankle.
The tip of it smacked wetly against my nose as it snapped back. It stung for a moment, but I had bigger things to worry about as the zombie was falling backwards; there was not much room to maneuver and I didn’t have enough time to get myself out from under it should I get pinned down. The thing had completely fallen on its back, but as of yet had not yielded its prize. Ben-Ben screeched as the zombie bit into him. I struggled to get towards the zombie’s mouth as I saw fur and skin being pulled taut. Blood began to drop from Ben-Ben as he struggled to get away – his eyes nearly all white he was so afraid. I tore at the side of the man’s face, skin sloughed off in my mouth. I spit out his chewed-up ear.
I had pulled off enough skin from his cheek that his teeth were exposed. Ben-Ben had a paw pressing up against its nose, the zombie’s tongue kept flicking up trying like a snake to coil around it and bring it into those dangerous teeth. Every piece of the thing I grabbed came away in my mouth. Patches came up on the other side, I caught a glint of light off her razor-sharp claws as she plunged it into the zombie’s eye. It popped like those funny things the two-leggers call balloons. White and red fluid leaked out from it and still the zombie pulled on the small dog. Ben-Ben’s blood was now dripping on the zombie’s face. I felt a hand sweep me away, I slid on the slippery surface as a fire stick went off. All was still for a moment.
“Ben-Ben, are you alright?” Jess screamed. She had put her small stick up against the thing’s head and sent a bee deep into its brain.
Ben-Ben was howling and panting heavily. Jess scooped up Zach.
“Riley, Ben-Ben, come on!” Patches shouted to me as Jess headed for the door that led to the inside cave.
“Mia!” Jess shouted. There were zombies everywhere. I could not see our traveling companion through the lot of them.
; Ben-Ben had rolled onto his side and was drawing his paws in.
“Not yet,” I told him as I grabbed the scruff of his neck. I half dragged and half carried the small dog, following Jess.
Jess opened the door that led down. I could smell the coolness and the safety the cave afforded. I could hear her footfalls as she went down the stairs. I had kept the door open with my nose long enough for Patches to get through and to drag Ben-Ben onto a small landing. Just as quickly as she had gone down, Jess had come back up – this time without Zach.
“Thank God,” I heard her mumble when she saw the three of us at the top. “You guys stay here. I’ve got to help them, watch out for Zach.”
“I’ll watch Ben-Ben and Zach,” Patches told me as I looked from them to Jess who had just exited the door. I nodded to the cat and darted out before the heavy door could close. Almost immediately Jess was shooting, but she wasn’t the only one. Mia had fought her way to the back door and was trying to help Koala. He was holding a zombie at bay with his arms locked out in front of him. The zombie had tried to descend on him while he was holding the door. I made my way in and around legs trying to get to him.
Jess shot a zombie that had stopped and was reaching down for me. I jumped over it as I headed for Koala. His arms were shaking from the strain of holding the thrusting zombie from getting to him. I watched as another one latched on to Koala’s leg and tore a ribbon of meat from him. The man did not so much as cry out as the zombie dove down for more. I charged into the eating zombie; we both fell over and onto Koala who grunted from the added weight. I seized the zombie’s throat in my jaw and ripped all the way down to its spine. I shook my head violently back and forth making sure as much meat would come loose as possible when I tore free. The zombie’s head fell to the side when I let go, there was nothing left there to hold it in place. And still the mouth opened and closed endlessly. I grabbed the top of its skull and pulled it off of Koala. The damage had been done, though, as I looked at the festering wound on his leg. The stench of death was already about him.
Jess got as close to the other zombie he was holding away from him as possible. The thing turned to look at her, its tongue dancing around wildly in its mouth. Its nose was twitching quickly as it sensed the new source of prey. A look of shock and surprise creased its features as she placed a bullet through his upper lip. Cartilage, blood, and brain sprayed over Koala and me. Jess reached down and dragged Koala free from the door. As she moved him, the door moved as well. It got hung up when it pressed against the two dead zombies in the small room.