Jack and the zombie continued their macabre waltz across the room.
The zombie growled and sank its teeth into Jack’s upraised arm. Jack screamed in agony. A second later, Archie plowed into the zombie at full speed, knocking it loose from Jack and sending it sprawling against the wall. A half-chewed chunk of Jack’s forearm flew from the creature’s mouth upon impact and landed on the floor at Ryan’s feet with a meaty plop. The zombie scrabbled toward Archie and was about to seize him when the report from a large caliber handgun exploded in the room. The monster’s head disappeared in a fan of black and gray chunks. The body crumpled to the floor.
The smell of cordite filled the room. Ryan turned and saw Luke standing in a perfect shooter’s stance. The boy’s arms shook uncontrollably, and his eyes were wide with fear.
Archie struggled to his feet, kicked the door closed, and threw the deadbolt.
Megan rushed to Jack’s side. “Oh, my God! He’s bitten!”
Blood gushed from Jack’s arm and splattered on the floor. Jack’s gaze met Ryan’s, and Ryan saw the stark realization of what was to come in Jack’s eyes.
Ryan felt weak in the knees. His gut heaved without warning, and he vomited all over his feet.
***
“Jack! Oh, my God!” Megan took his arm in her hands, taking care to avoid the blood gushing from the ragged wound in his forearm. Jack’s blood had become poison, as even the smallest drop could infect her as well.
Jack grimaced and sank to his knees. “I’m sorry.” A tear ran down his cheek. “I’m so sorry.”
Megan shook her head, and through her own tears, said, “There’s nothing to be sorry about. Nothing at all.”
“I don’t have long,” Jack moaned. “You have to do it fast.” He fumbled for his pistol.
Megan shook her head. “No! There’s got to be a way!”
Jack shuddered in her grasp. He closed his eyes and sank the rest of the way to the floor.
Megan’s mind raced. She looked around the room frantically. Luke was with Ryan. Archie stood a few feet away, watching them, his face a mask of horror.
She had an idea. “Archie! The locker. I saw a propane torch in there!”
Archie stared at her as if she were speaking Chinese. Then he sprang into action.
She pointed at a fire axe hanging on a bracket beside the desk. “Ryan! I need that axe!”
Jack whimpered like a wounded animal.
“Hold on,” Megan murmured. She gave his upper arm a squeeze.
She heard the sounds of the equipment locker being emptied, then Archie’s shout of excitement. He came back holding a tall blue cylinder of propane in one hand and a lighter in the other. “You’re not going to do what I think you’re going to do, are you?”
Megan gave him a grim nod.
Ryan appeared at her side holding the axe.
She needed one more thing. “Luke! I need a stick, something about this long,” she said, holding her hands about a foot apart.
Luke gave her a thoughtful look, then went to the desk and yanked open the top drawer. After a few seconds of rummaging, he held up a wooden ruler. “Will this work?”
Megan hoped so. “It’ll have to.”
Jack’s strength seemed to flow out of him all at once. Megan didn’t know if it was shock or the zombie virus already taking hold, and she didn’t care.
Reaching over her shoulders, she shucked off her long-sleeved shirt. She wrapped the arms of the shirt around Jack’s upper arm and tied them in a slipknot. She tugged it tight until her arms burned. Then she held out her hand. “Ruler.”
Luke slapped the wooden stick into her hand.
Megan laid the ruler on top of the knot, then tied a second knot in the sleeves. She twisted the ruler until the blood stopped pumping from Jack’s forearm. After a few seconds, his arm began to turn blue.
She looked up at Archie. “Grab that other raincoat and use it to tie the ruler in place while I hold it.”
Archie didn’t hesitate. Once he had got the arms of the coat tied tight enough, Megan stood and grabbed the axe.
“Oh, my God,” Ryan said, his hand going to his mouth. “You’re not going to—”
“She is,” Archie said.
Jack’s eyes opened wide. “What are you…”
Megan put a clean finger to her lips. “This is going to hurt.” Jack looked down at his arm and his eyes grew huge. “It won’t work. I can feel it inside of me already.”
Megan refused to believe him. “It has to.” She glanced up at Ryan and Luke. “You may not want to watch this.”
Ryan nodded and put his arm on Luke’s shoulder. He looked green. “We’ll be in the back.”
“It hurts,” Jack moaned. “It hurts so bad…”
Megan met Archie’s eyes, and he gave her a subtle nod. She lifted the axe, weighed the heft. Archie moved to the other side of Jack and put his arms on his shoulders, pinning him to the ground. Megan slid Jack’s arm away from his body, making room. She raised the axe over her head, and then swung with all her might.
The axe crunched into Jack’s arm a few inches below his elbow.
Jack’s eyes flew open, and an inhuman shriek burst from his lips. His back arched, and his legs shot straight out. Archie lay his full upper body on Jack’s legs.
Megan wiggled the axe free, only to discover the cut hadn’t gone all the way through. Fuck! She raised the axe over her head and hesitated a moment. She knew she couldn’t miss the cut she’d already made. She steadied her hands and swung again, putting every ounce of strength she had into the blow. The axe sank through the remaining flesh of Jack’s arm, and a piercing clang rang out as it impacted the concrete floor. Jack’s dismembered arm flopped loose from his body.
Jack writhed in pain. Blood sprayed from his stump, splattering across Megan’s chest. She forced thoughts of infection from her mind.
“Hold him still, damn it!” she bellowed. She grabbed the torch. Her heart sank when she noticed the canister was nearly empty. She turned the valve. Gas hissed. She struck the lighter. The torch gave a feeble sputter, and then a sharp blue flame spit forth from the end.
Working as fast as she could, Megan passed the cone of fire over Jack’s stump, cauterizing the wound and hopefully burning away any remaining traces of the zombie virus. The smell of cooking meat permeated the room. Flesh bubbled and popped as she cooked the stump to a charred black mess. Her stomach threatened to revolt with each passing second, but she managed to swallow back the bile and keep herself together.
Jack fell limp again, the shock finally too much for his system. When she was done, she untied the tourniquet slowly, waiting for the bleeding to start again.
Jack’s eyes fluttered open. An animal moan built from deep inside him, and tears streamed from his eyes.
“I need something to cover the wound,” Megan said.
“Got it.” Archie ripped open his backpack and pulled out a clean t-shirt.
Megan took it from him and tore off two strips. As gently as she could, she wrapped the remainder of the shirt around the suppurating stump and then used the strips to secure it. It wasn’t the best solution, but it would hold until they could find something better.
The front door rattled under a vicious impact.
Ryan raced into the room. “Guys, we’ve got a problem!”
“Not now,” Megan hissed.
“Yes. Now. We have to go. They’re everywhere!”
Archie looked to the ceiling. “Fuck me. Where are they coming from?”
Megan already knew. “They were inside. They were here all along.” She gestured at Jack. “Help me with him.”
Megan and Archie got Jack to his feet. He wobbled like a drunk, but he didn’t pass out again. The front door shook with another impact.
Megan looked at the plate glass window. They didn’t have much time. “Let’s go!”
She and Archie stumbled toward the rear of the building, guiding Jack between them. Ryan gathered up their backpacks and fol
lowed. Megan could barely make out Luke’s form in the dark as she went through the door. He was at the window, looking out at the darkness.
“Is it clear?” she asked.
Luke shook his head ominously. “No. Anything but.”
***
Megan’s hopes for a quick escape crumbled as they pushed through the emergency door and into a scene out of her worst nightmares. The undead had encircled the building and were drawing inexorably closer. Everywhere she looked, she saw rotted bodies in motion. “Go! Go! Go!” she screamed as her heart thundered in her chest.
The zombies flashed on them like a school of piranha.
Megan frantically scanned the approaching pack, searching for a way through. There! She spotted a gap where the net had not yet tightened. “This way!” she shouted, waving wildly at the corridor a few yards to their right.
Luke’s pistol boomed twice as he put down two undead who made the mistake of shambling into range.
They ran. The rain made it impossible to see where they were going. With Megan on one side and Archie on the other, they hustled Jack along as if running a macabre three-legged race at a company picnic. Luke and Ryan brought up the rear, their guns cracking repeatedly as they picked off any zombies that got too close.
Archie skidded to an abrupt stop and cursed. Megan was about to ask why when she looked down and saw water lapping at a pebble-strewn shoreline a few feet ahead of them.
Jack groaned and clawed at her. The next thing Megan knew, Archie was pulling them along the shoreline.
He pointed and yelled, “There’s a boat ahead! Hurry up!”
“A boat? Where?” Then she saw it. Not ten yards ahead, a small craft materialized through the shifting sheets of rain. A rusting outboard motor hung from the transom. Then it was gone, stolen from her view. Digging deep, she summoned the last of her strength and raced ahead.
When they reached the boat, Ryan and Archie tore Jack from her grasp and dumped him into the bow, splashing him onto his back in six inches of standing water.
Archie pointed at the boat. “Get in!”
Megan and Luke climbed in and moved to the stern to make room for Archie and Ryan.
“On three, push!” Ryan shouted from the bow. “One! Two! Three!” He and Archie bent over and shoved.
The boat ground across the asphalt with a terrible screech before slipping into the water with a hollow thump. Archie jumped in. Ryan tossed him the backpacks and then followed. Using their hands, they paddled from the shore. Progress was slow at first, but they picked up speed as the current grabbed hold of the flat-bottomed skiff and began to drag it down river. Filthy water sloshed at Megan’s ankles. Rain hammered her head, muting the world, blinding her. They rode dangerously low, but at least they were away from the shore.
Megan and Ryan exchanged places so she could be closer to Jack. Archie remained in the bow. Luke and Ryan began to bail, flinging handfuls of filthy water over the side with their cupped hands.
Jack mumbled something and tried to sit up, but Megan held him in place. She couldn’t imagine the pain he was experiencing. She was surprised he was even still conscious. She turned to Ryan. “Do you still have your medical kit? We need painkillers. And antibiotics if you have them.”
Ryan stopped bailing and dug into his pack. He pulled out a small bag and opened it. “God damn it! I can’t read these labels in the dark!”
Megan put out her hand. “Here. Let me try.” Ryan passed her the bag.
It took her a few minutes, but she eventually found what she was looking for: Vicodin for the pain and Amoxicillin for the wound. She counted out two of each and fed them to Jack.
Twenty-Two
Several Hours Later
On the River
“God damn it!”
Megan turned on her seat, alarmed at the uncharacteristic vehemence in Archie’s voice. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
Archie slammed the engine cowling shut and threw up his hands in disgust. “I can’t get it started.” He gestured at a dangling loop of black rubber fuel line. “I think the gas is gelled. It smells okay, but I can’t make it flow.”
Ryan motioned at the motor. “Want me to give it a try?”
Archie tossed his head back and let loose a manic laugh. “Be my guest. But it’s not starting unless we can find a gas station with a working pump and clean gas.”
Ryan’s shoulders sagged in defeat.
Megan was gripped by a sudden numbing sense of helplessness. With no power and no paddles, they were at the mercy of the wind and the current, a position only marginally better than being on land with the undead. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly.
Archie fixed her in his gaze. “Don’t be. It’s just the way it is.”
A chalky flash of lightning illuminated the river, and Megan felt her hair stand on end. Before she could even blink, thunder roared, the intensity of the noise vibrating her to her very core. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to imagine herself in a better place. Her throat tightened, and she tasted salty tears mixing with the rain on her lips. Slipping from her seat, she moved to the bottom of the boat and nestled herself into the empty space beside Jack, pressing against him. He was dozing, the narcotics having finally having taken effect. Rain pelted her, each drop stinging like an angry yellow jacket.
She closed her eyes and wept.
***
Megan awoke to a hand shaking her shoulder. When she opened her eyes, she found Archie hovering over her, his face only a few inches from her own.
She yawned and stretched. “How long was I asleep?”
Archie tilted his head. “An hour. Maybe two. We’re about to hit shore.”
Megan sat up with a start. “Shore?” The first thing she noticed was that the rain had stopped. She wasn’t dry by any means, but she wasn’t quite as soaked. “Where… where are we?”
“No idea, but this is the closest we’ve gotten to shore in hours.” Megan looked, and sure enough, a low, weed-choked shoreline lay only a dozen yards beyond the bow. Ryan and Luke were paddling with their hands, trying to guide the boat to land.
She looked up at the sky as lightning flashed in the distance.
Archie followed her gaze. “I think we’re in a lull.” Thunder rumbled, as if to underscore his assessment.
They reached land a few minutes later. Luke and Ryan leaped into the water when the metal hull struck bottom and shoved the boat out of the current and onto dry land.
Jack was either asleep or unconscious. Megan couldn’t tell. She remained beside him the entire time, speaking in soothing tones, touching his face, comforting herself by comforting him. Her unexpected nap had recharged her, but she feared that as soon as they started to move again, she would be right back where she had started.
Once the bow was firmly grounded, Ryan and Luke splashed back into the water along the starboard side.
Ryan held out his arms. “Quick! Let’s get him out of there.”
As he reached forward to take hold of Jack’s shoulder, Megan caught a flash of movement in the water behind him. Ryan suddenly pitched forward, his face jackhammering into the gunwale with a sickening crunch. A jet of hot blood spurted into her face, drenching her. She screamed and reached for him, but he was gone. The water boiled furiously a few yards off the stern and then became still.
Luke scrambled for his gun, drawing it on the now-empty river. His hands shook, sending his pistol in wide, unpredictable arcs. His breath hitched in ragged gasps.
Archie rested his hand on Luke’s shoulder. “Easy, son.”
Luke shrugged him off. “What? What happened? Where’s my dad?”
Megan tasted bile in the back of her throat. She swallowed, choking on the burn.
“Alligator,” Archie said. “Get out of the water, Luke. Get into the boat. Now!”
Luke took a step toward where his father had disappeared. The water rose to the middle of his thighs.
Megan yelled, “Luke! No! Get back in the boat!” Her eyes roamed t
he water, expecting the alligator to return at any moment.
“It took my dad,” Luke muttered in a numb voice, waving his gun back and forth. “It got—”
“Luke,” Megan said in her most commanding tone. “I’m sorry about your father, but we need to go. Now. There’s nothing else we can do for him.”
Luke nodded absently, still staring at the spot where the alligator had disappeared with Ryan. “But…”
Megan exchanged an uncertain glance with Archie. Panic welled inside her. She climbed from the boat and waded to where Luke stood. Her feet plunged deep into the gelatinous river bottom with each step, the mud and muck sucking at her legs as if trying to lay claim to her body. “Luke,” she said when she reached him. “We can’t stay here.”
She put a tentative hand on his shoulder, and Luke began to shake, trembling uncontrollably as if he had been doused in ice-cold water. He turned to Megan and threw himself against her chest, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling himself to her. Sobs of despair exploded from within him, brutal waves of existential agony and longing that Megan feared would shake his very body apart.
Sensing she had an opening, Megan gently guided Luke back to the boat. With Archie’s help, she got him aboard. Once his feet crossed the gunwale and he was safe and secure, she scrambled out of the water herself.
“Guys?” Archie’s voice was full of barely disguised urgency. “We should go now.”
Megan sucked in a lungful of air, relieved to be out of the water.
She nodded at Archie, then looked at Luke, who lay curled in the bottom of the boat crying to himself. “Yeah. Let’s go.”
Slipping from the seat, she moved to Luke’s side.
Twenty-Three
Galveston, Texas
Elements of the Undead - Omnibus Edition (Books One - Three) Page 30