by Joseph Zuko
Her legs kept turning. She wasn’t ready to give in. The pep talk got her feet to move faster. With a few lightning fast steps, she put some distance between her and the creep.
Sara was doing a full sprint by the time she hit the end of the block.
I can’t keep this pace for long.
She had to find a place to hide. Get another weapon and finish this prick off for good.
Shawna ripped her limbs from the clinging children and spun around. Her arms were like cooked noodles. As if she’d done nine hundred and ninety-nine pushups, but she had one more to go before she could call it quits.
Her fingertips found the barrel of her rifle. She yanked at the gun and got it around to her chest. Her arms were so weak the weapon was like lifting a truck tire. The four zombies were only feet away. Stinging sweat was in her eyes. Her vision, untrustworthy. Her limbs shook like a dog after a bath. The distorted faces of the wretched creatures grew near. Red teeth snapped. Soulless black eyes. They walked headlong toward Shawna’s raised rifle.
Boom!
Chapter 9
At this distance Shawna didn’t have to aim. They were right on top of her barrel. The first shot cleaned the creep’s clock. With a slight twist of her waist she snagged the next two. The high-powered assault rifle rearranged their features before they tumbled to the ground. She blasted the fourth zombie in its mangled face. Its body crumpled, and she had to jump out of the way to keep herself from getting knocked to the ground by the flailing corpse. The rest of the pack were still a hundred feet down the road. She slung her rifle, turned around and lifted the girls onto her hips.
Shawna huffed, “We’re okay!”
Am I talking to them or myself?
Both. She figured.
It wasn’t much of a rest. Less than ten seconds if she had to guess. The searing sensation returned to her arms and back.
“The place is… right around the corner.” Shawna could see more of the two-story farm house. The girls were slick with her sweat and holding them was getting even more difficult, which Shawna didn’t think was possible. She did a quick adjustment and got the girls higher into her arms and locked her wrists together again.
“How… many cars… would you say sweetheart?”
Valerie cleared a tear from her eyelid and looked. “Five?”
“Okay, five is good.”
Robin coughed and said, “Down!”
Shawna figured it meant the little one wanted to be let go. She vomited the words in one fast sentence. “I know honey. I want to put you down too, but not until we get to that house, okay?”
The little one dropped her head onto Shawna’s shoulder.
“When we get there… and we’re safe… I’m looking for ice cream.”
This perked the girls up.
“You guys… like ice cream?”
“Yeah!”
“Me too.” It was difficult for Shawna to see through the sting of the sweat in her eyes, but she was sure she spotted a black car a mile down the road. It was upside down and in a field. Then it dawned on her.
That’s Ryder’s car. She thought to herself. This info didn’t change her situation. She hoped he was dead inside that wreck and not at the house.
Oh, please God don’t let him be in that house. Prayed Shawna, unsure if the big man in the clouds was still listening.
“How many cars, now?”
“Three?”
Why does it have to be so close? She questioned her bad luck.
A large barn came into view once she passed the tree line. Shawna was close to the property’s driveway.
“When we get… close… you girls scream for help… okay?”
“Why?” asked the question box.
“If someone’s there… they… will open the door.”
“Two cars!” cried Valerie.
Shawna transitioned from the painful asphalt to the slightly less painful gravel road as she entered the farm.
“Start screaming!” wheezed Shawna.
The girls let out an eardrum piercing shriek and yelled, “Help!”
Shawna got to the steps of the porch, but she was gassed. The porch might as well have been Mount Fuji. She wasn’t going to climb them with a girl in each arm. She set the children on the second step and they raced the rest of the way on their own.
A cramp in Shawna’s thighs seized the second she lifted her leg for the first step. The agony threatened to drop her on the spot. She reached for the handrail and caught herself. Her morbid curiosity got the better of her and she looked at the approaching horde. The mass of zombies filled the driveway. She had seconds before they would devour her. The handrail was her lifeline and she yanked her sore body up the last few steps.
The girls screamed and pounded at the front door. A woman, brandishing a hunting rifle appeared in the entrance. Once she spotted the stampeding horde of biters she seemed to go catatonic.
The cries of the children pulled her back to reality and she ushered them into her home.
Shawna got to the top of the mountain as the zombies stormed the stairs.
The woman waved her on. Panic embedded in her features.
Shawna passed through the entrance as the woman slammed the door shut. A large window made up the top third of the door and they pressed their disgusting faces against the glass.
The woman flipped a few locks, backed away from the door and said, “That won’t hold them for long.”
Between deep breaths Shawna asked, “You gotta place to hide?”
The woman pointed to the second floor. “The attic?”
Of course, the only hiding place was two flights of stairs away, thought Shawna as she massaged the cramp in her thigh.
Bodies slammed into the side of the house. Fists and elbows crashed against the door. The window cracked under the pressure.
“Let’s go,” Shawna motioned for the girls to move.
“I’ve got to get my boy!” Cried the woman.
“Get up the stairs!” Shawna commanded the girls.
The little ones zoomed to the second floor as Shawna followed the woman into the living room. The front door cracked, and the window gave way. Shards of glass scattered across the hardwood.
Shawna saw the boy the woman was talking about. He was tied to a chair.
The woman went to release him.
Shawna yelled. “Stop! He’s one of them! They won’t hurt him!” She exited the living room, ducked under the reaching zombie arms at the front door and forced her legs to carry her up the stairs.
Either the woman believed her, or self-preservation took hold because she was right on Shawna’s slow-moving heels.
The little ones clung to each other at the top of the steps. Shawna joined them and kept them moving as she looked for the entrance to the attic.
Down the hall, between the two bedrooms was a rectangular door in the ceiling. The woman raced for her room where she grabbed a pole with a hook on the end.
The front door crashed open. Bodies spilled into the foyer. Sloppy feet hit the bottom of the steps.
The woman hooked the attic door and pulled it down. She quickly unfolded the ladder and helped Robin to make the climb. “See the light switch,” said the woman as she pointed to the toggle in the attic. “Hit it when you get up there.”
Valerie was right behind her sister as they scurried into the dark space above the house.
The dead bodies were getting closer. Shawna reached for her gun and yelled, “Get up there!” to the woman.
Shawna dashed to the stairwell and opened fire on the leaders. Black blood exploded across lath and plastered walls. The zombies she riddled with bullets dropped to the steps. The monsters behind them struggled to pass the carcasses. This gave her a few seconds to make her move.
Shawna turned and ran.
She got to the ladder, leapt onto the third rung, and scampered the rest of the way. Once inside the attic the woman yanked a draw string that pulled the door up to the ceiling. As the entrance
closed, Shawna spotted a bloody mess of a woman rounding the hallway corner. Its limbs reached for her. Shawna swore she saw sadness on the thing’s face after it realized it wasn’t going to take a bite.
The attic door sealed shut.
Shawna collapsed onto the plywood floor of the attic and panted. “Thank you,” she said to the woman.
Years of smoking caused the woman’s lungs to rasp. She nodded at Shawna and said, “No problem, I’m Beth, by the way.”
Shawna ran her hands through her blood coated and sweaty hair. “Shawna.”
Beth turned to the girls. “What are your names?”
Valerie wiped away her tears and held her sister close. Through snorts and hiccups, she said, “I’m Valerie and she’s Robin.”
The ceiling had a steep pitch to it and at its peak was only five feet high. Moving boxes were jammed in every corner. Some marked X-mas, others Halloween. There were old decorations, mirrors, and paintings leaning against the joists. It was a complete apartments worth of old crap stored in this space. Beth remained stooped over as she found an old stool and took a seat. “You girls are very brave, I can tell.” A calming grin eased across her lips. “Did you carry these two all the way here?” She asked Shawna.
“Yeah,” she huffed. Her normal breathing slowly returned.
“You girls have one strong Mama to carry you for that long.”
“She’s not our Mama,” said Valerie who was already checking her environment on the hunt for something cool to play with.
Beth raised an eyebrow at Shawna.
“It’s a long story, but I’m looking after them until I find their parents.” Shawna sat forward and slid the gun strap over her head. She laid it on the floor next to her and let her backpack fall from her shoulders. “There’s no other way up here, right?”
“Correct. No way out, either.” Beth placed her rifle across her lap. She pointed at a few boxes in the corner. “Hey, girls. My son’s old toys are in those. Why don’t you make yourself useful and find something fun to play with?”
The girls didn’t have to be asked twice. They jogged to the boxes, cracked them open and ooh’d and aah’d at the cool retro boy toys they had never seen before. Robots, cars, guns, and action figures as far as the eye could see.
Shawna noticed a cone of natural light hitting the floor behind her. She got to her feet and walked toward the octagonal window. It sat two and a half feet from the floor and was a yard in diameter. Beautiful stained glass filled different sections of the window. A rainbow of colors danced across the plywood.
“My husband and I found that at a place in Portland that specialized in recycled parts from old homes. They guessed it was from the late eighteen hundreds. They didn’t put dates on things like that after all. It cost a tiny fortune, but I had to have it,” said Beth as she reminisced about the past.
A large lock and two massive hinges held it into place. Shawna carefully tugged at the lock and opened the window. Spring air filled the musty attic. She poked her head through the window. The full front yard came into view. From this angle she was able to see the true size of the horde that hounded her and the girls. It was twice the size she thought it was back on the bus. Hundreds of shuffling pale and blood-drenched bodies clambered below.
Shawna rubbed her forehead and blurted out, “Fuck!”
“Bad word!” said Valerie.
Sara darted across the front yard of a house. She checked behind her. Ryder was a full block away. She was running out of steam and needed to catch her breath. The door was ajar, and clothes were scattered across the walkway to the garage. Someone had left in a hurry. Sara raced into the house, shut the door, and locked it. This house had two deadbolts and a chain.
That should keep him from coming in this way. Thought Sara as she put her back to the door and waited. In the last two days, she had entered enough houses to know not to go stomping around and get caught off guard by a hiding zombie. It was better to let the noise of the door shutting bring them to her.
Seconds ticked. The house was silent. The place was dark. The power was out on this block, too. She moved with purpose for the kitchen, her head on a swivel, checking behind furniture and corners before committing to enter the room.
The kitchen was a disaster. Every cabinet flung open. The fridge and freezer doors were both opened as well. The dark caverns held undesirable condiments and useless ice trays. The food that didn’t make the trip was tossed everywhere. Next to the range sat the block of knives. She reached for one at the back of the block. It was long, sharp, hefty, and polished to a mirrored finish.
Ryder crashed into the door. The wood didn’t budge. His body ached. The fresh cuts on his face and hands stung as sweat poured into them.
Goddamn, I hate running. Why is she so damn fast? Ryder contemplated as he rested his forehead against the door.
“Are we playing hide and seek, Red?” he hollered as he kicked at the entrance, but it didn’t give.
There was a large window into the living room. He was tempted to smash it. On the flip side he couldn’t stand the idea of getting cut again. He snorted. “I’ll find a way in Girly Girl!”
Ryder headed around the side of the house. A throbbing ache pulsed from his groin. He grunted to himself. “I’m gonna give her butthole the same size opening as a Mason jar for what she did to my balls. It’s against the rules to hit a man there. Doesn’t she know that?”
From the next house over Ryder heard shuffling feet. They were picking up speed. Ryder peeked through the fence. A damn zombie convention was happening in the neighbor’s backyard.
“Shit!” cursed Ryder. A body collided into the thin wood fence that separated the two properties. Then another and another. Black ooze spurted through the gaps in the fence.
Ryder hobbled and pleaded, “Don’t lock the back door!”
Sara crouched below the windows and snuck to the rear of the house. She found a door to the yard. It was shut, but not locked and there were decorative windows that would take no effort for him to get through. Still she flipped the bolt into position.
I didn’t need to make it easy for him. Thought Sara as she plotted her next move.
Ryder’s boots kicked through gravel as he raced along the side of the house. Sara spotted a hallway. A doorway was wide open that led to the garage. She slinked through the house, entered the garage and closed the door behind her.
The room was dark. The only light came from the two tiny windows on the far wall. Out of habit she tried the light switch, only to be reminded of the cold fact that the power was out. On one wall sat a workbench with tools sparsely placed about. There was no car. An oil stain in the center of the concrete was the only evidence the vehicle ever existed. Under the windows hung yard tools. One deadly looking item called to Sara.
On the way across the room she snagged a roll of duct tape from the bench.
Ryder cruised through the side yard, rounded the corner, and found the rear door. Lengths of lumber fell from the fence as zombie after zombie struck the thin barrier. At the rate the monsters were moving it wouldn’t be long before the whole thing landed in the yard.
Ryder twisted the knob. Locked.
“Damn it!” He stepped back. Noticed the door swung outward. There was no smashing it in. Four-inch-wide panes of glass filled the top half of the egress.
An infected body plunged through a gap in the fence and tumbled to the grass.
Ryder found a rock with a rose painted on it in the flower bed. He pitched a fastball at the little window. Chunks of glass remained in the section. They looked like a row of clear teeth waiting to take a bite.
Ryder’s arm dove through the opening. The top chunk of glass shaved the skin off his middle finger.
He belted out in pain and blindly searched for the lock.
The infected was on its feet and heading his way. More of them poured through the broken spaces in the fence.
His bloody fingers found the bolt and unlocked it. He swung the door ope
n and tore inside. The monster’s fingers danced around his collar. Ryder threw an elbow and demolished its nose. The impact sent the beast to its knees and gave Ryder enough space to make his escape. The rest of the monsters trampled their zombie buddy as they scrambled after the big man.
Behind one of the doors in the hallway, Ryder caught the faint sound of duct tape ripping off a roll. He smirked and headed for the entrance.
Sara secured the last length of tape around the handle of an edge trimmer. The head of the tool was a sawblade shaped disc of metal which held fourteen sharp spikes. The knife stuck from the end of the implement like the head of a spear. The weapon appeared as deadly and mean as she hoped it would. Ryder rushed into the garage.
Sara aimed her brutal spear at the maniac and hissed. “Don’t you fucking come near me!”
He closed the door quickly and kept his shoulder against the metal surface. “Look, Red. I’d love to do harm to that sexy little body of yours, but we have to work together if we want to get out of here alive.”
She spit the words, “What are you talking about?”
A zombie flung itself into Ryder’s barricade. Another body thundered into the other side of the door. Then another.
Chapter 10
Troy stared out the passenger window. The vibrant green of the countryside zoomed by in a haze. Inside his mind, however, he was reliving the moment Ryder appeared, hit him with the shovel and attacked Sara. The trauma played on a loop. He repeatedly witnessed his failure in excruciating detail. His face ached, and he was sure Ryder knocked a tooth loose, but his pride received the most damage.
How could I let him take her?
You froze up. The second you heard that bastard’s voice you should have swung at him, Troy scolded himself.
Ryder induced an extreme level of fear in Troy. One he had never experienced before and when Ryder arrived in Desiree’s backyard, it was like Satan had climbed out of hell.
The guy is evil in its purest form. Troy told himself. The things he threatened to do to Sara made him sound like a maniac that reveled in other’s pain. Troy’s mind went to the question he had been trying to avoid since they got into the van.