The State Trooper Beta did not hear Alpha’s command. It directed the attack through the kitchen.
Diana found Connie trying to get Archer from under the bed where he hid, terrified by what went on downstairs. Little Stevie had retrieved the cat’s carrier and placed it on the bed.
“Leave the damn cat.”
“No!”
Diana stepped into the bedroom and grabbed Connie by the arm. “We don’t have time.”
“Aunt Alissa saved our lives.” Connie broke away from her mother and rushed back to the bed. “I’m not going to let her cat die.”
“Shit,” Diana mumbled. Going over to the bed, she helped her daughter retrieve Archer.
The cat would not budge.
Little Stevie laid on the floor and called to him. “Come on, buddy. We have to go.”
Archer meowed.
“It’s okay.”
Archer inched forward into Little Stevie’s hands. He gently pulled the cat toward him, lifted it into his arms, and placed it in the carrier. Diana slammed the top lid shut, scaring Archer, and locked it. She picked up the carrier and headed for the door.
Every time Nathan and Steve paused to reload, more deaders pushed through the front door, enough that they could not stop them all. Both men fell back, each grabbing a saddle bag of spare magazines.
The flood in the kitchen became too much for the women to hold back. The table pushed across the floor, allowing a few into the living area. Alissa and Kiera shot each in the head as Miriam attempted to hold the table in place. They could only delay the inevitable.
Diana reached Brian and pushed him down the hall.
“We have to get out of here—”
A dozen deaders had already forced their way into the house and were pushing the others toward the back deck. More entered as she watched, those from the kitchen closing in on the stairs.
“Come on.” Alissa waved for Diana and the kids to join them.
Little Stevie attempted to push past but could not get around Diana, who was frozen by fear.
The deaders from the kitchen reached the bottom of the stairs.
“Hurry or you’ll be trapped!” screamed Miriam.
Kiera broke free from the others and jumped onto the stairs. A deader, naked from the waist up and with one arm torn off, lumbered after her. Kiera placed the barrel of her shotgun against its face and fired. Its head exploded. Seven deaders followed as Kiera backed up the stairs.
“What are you doing?” Miriam seemed on the brink of losing it.
“I’ll take care of Stevie and the others. You and dad get to safety.”
Before anyone could respond, two things happened. First, Kiera shoved Diana back down the hall toward the bedrooms at the rear of the cabin.
Second, a pack of deaders surrounded Alissa and the others.
Chris ducked back into the Humvee for his AK-47 to go help those in the cabin when Shithead barked. Another fifteen or so deaders emerged from the left side of the cabin, heading toward him. He retrieved a full case of ammunition, climbed up into the mount, switched it out with the empty one, and pulled back the bolt on the machine gun. Nothing behind the pack would suffer from friendly fire, so Chris swiveled the machine gun toward them, raised the barrel, and squeezed the trigger. The rounds ripped apart the deaders, creating a cloud of blood and gore as the gunfire churned the pack into a pile of tattered flesh. Chris released the trigger. Nothing moved. Not much remained to move.
However, deaders from the pack in front of the cabin crawled toward the Humvee. Swinging the machine gun in their direction, Chris fired. The bullets chewed up chunks of body parts and organs, splashing them against the porch and cabin. When the belt ran out, all the deaders had been butchered except those inside. A pool of congealed blood oozed under the bodies and toward the access road.
Chris climbed back into the Humvee cab, retrieved his AK-47, and patted Shithead.
“You stay here, boy. I’ll be back.”
Jumping out, he closed the door behind him and ran across the compound toward the cabin.
Alissa slid aside the glass door to the back deck. “This way.”
Miriam joined her, taking a last glance at the staircase to see if Kiera was safe.
Alissa pointed to the opposite end of the deck. “See what’s down there.”
As Miriam rushed over to the rail and peered over, Nathan, Rebecca, and Steve exited the cabin, the former sliding the door closed behind him. They backed up, keeping their weapons trained on the deaders approaching from the other side.
“We’re not going to be able to hold them for long,” warned Steve.
Miriam scanned the area around the deck. “It’s clear.”
“Then let’s get out of here.”
Alissa sat on the railing, swung her legs over the side, and jumped the ten feet to the ground below. She hit the dirt and rolled. Groaning came from under the deck. Half a dozen deaders, the ones the female biker Beta had sent around back, lumbered toward her. She retreated into the woods, putting as much distance between herself and the living dead as possible. Raising her Mossberg, she took out two of the deaders before she ran out of ammunition. She had no time to reload. Swinging the shotgun around, Alissa braced herself to bash in the deaders’ faces with the stock.
The heads of the last four exploded in succession. When she looked up, Nathan, Miriam, Rebecca, and Steve stood by the railing, smoke rising from the barrels of their weapons.
“Thanks.” Alissa motioned for them to join her. “It’s all clear.”
Rebecca jumped first, tripping and landing on her hands and knees. Nathan climbed over the railing and dropped to the ground, then slung the FAL over his shoulder.
“Come on, Steve. I’ll help you.”
Steve sat on the railing, lifting his leg over the side.
The glass in the sliding doors shattered. A back of deaders pushed their way through and lunged at Steve and Miriam.
Kiera stood at the top of the landing, blasting apart each deader that ascended the stairs. Bits of flesh and organs and puddles of congealed blood covered each step, making the ascent difficult.
“Go to Aunt Alissa’s room. I’ll be there in a minute.”
Kiera paused to reload. The deaders pushed past the bodies on the stairs and swarmed onto the landing. Kiera raised her Mossberg and fired directly into the face of a deader in an Army uniform, its neck chewed out, revealing its ravaged larynx. Its head exploded, splattering Kiera and the walls in gore. She moved backwards down the hall, lining up her shots, taking down the approaching deaders one bullet at a time. When the Mossberg had expanded its rounds, Kiera gave the remaining deaders the middle finger and rushed into Alissa’s bedroom, closing and locking the door behind her.
Diana and the kids appeared on the brink of panic. Only Brian remained composed.
“What can I do?”
“Help me push the bed in front of the door.”
The two teenagers dragged the bed away from the wall. Little Stevie and Connie slid into the open space and, together, the four of them pushed the heavy piece of furniture against the door. Dead hands began banging and scratching on the other side.
“Do we have any other guns up here?” asked Kiera.
Diana shook her head.
“Shit.” Kiera reloaded the Mossberg and checked the bag. She had enough to reload once more. Then they were screwed.
Chris burst into the cabin expecting to find half his fiends dead, or worse, reanimated. Thank God he did not find that.
A swarm of deaders busted through the glass doors leading out on the deck and went after Miriam and Steve.
Moving to the side so his friends would not be in the line of fire, Chris raised the AK-47 and emptied the magazine, dropping or crippling a dozen deaders. A few turned and lumbered toward him, leaving only five still converging on his friends. Hopefully, they could handle that number.
A hand reached out and clutched at his hair. Chris jumped aside. He had not noticed the pa
ck heading up stairs. Seeing new prey, seven of them descended.
Retreating to the front of the cabin, he switched out an empty magazine for a full one. Taking careful aim, he took out the deaders one by one with head shots. Bodies covered the living room floor. Chris slipped on a chunk of lung, toppling over backwards. His shoulder slammed against the hard wood. Pain shot down his right arm but, thankfully, he had not broken any bones. Seeing its opportunity, an obese, topless female deader, its chest and breasts stripped of flesh and tissue, attacked. Chris fired six rounds without aiming. The bullets ripped into its chest, bursting open its abdomen and stomach. Undigested body parts slid from its ruptured stomach, dropping to the floor with a sickening plop. The deader slipped on the pile and crashed face first onto the hardwood, shattering its face. A God-awful stench of decay and bodily gases washed over Chris, making him wretch. Chris crawled to a clean portion of the floor and got to his feet.
As the others drew closer, he withdrew out onto the porch, firing at each that emerged in the open doorway. When his semi-automatic ran out of rounds, he retreated again, reloading in the process, then finished off the last of the deaders pursuing him.
Not realizing Diana and the kids remained trapped upstairs, Chris raced around to the left of the cabin to help those escaping off the back deck.
Alpha ground its decaying teeth. This attack had not gone according to plan. They should be feasting by now. These humans were not like the others they had encountered. These were heavily armed and fought back. It wanted to attack this one human and take him down, slowly tearing him apart and making him suffer for what he had done to the pack. However, self-preservation prevailed. Doing so would only get itself killed. It would deal with this human later.
Alpha headed into the woods and circled around to the rear of the cabin to coordinate the hunting of any humans who might have escaped, then organize another push to swarm the cabin.
The door to the bedroom cracked. Diana and Brian rushed over to the head of the bed and pushed against it with their shoulders, a futile gesture that would buy them seconds at most.
Kiera knew they had to find a way to escape. And fast.
She stepped over to the windows facing to the rear. She saw a small slanted roof six feet in width and running along the side of the cabin. If they could get out there, they should be okay. Unhooking the latches, she lifted the pane and pushed out the screen.
“Come on. We should be safe out here.”
Little Stevie and Connie ran over, the latter holding the cat carrier. Archer sat inside, hissing at everyone. Kiera helped Little Stevie out the window.
“I’m scared,” he said.
“You’ll be fine.” Kiera responded in her most calm voice which belied the adrenaline pumping through her system. “Don’t stand up and carefully crawl to the end.”
Little Stevie did as he was told. Kiera took the carrier from Connie and placed it on the floor. “Now you. Do the same thing. The deaders can’t get you out here.”
After Connie climbed out, Kiera placed the carrier on the roof, roof, holding the handle so it did not slide off, and pushed it toward Connie. “You two are going to protect Archer. Don’t let go of the carrier.”
“I promise I won’t.”
The weight of the deaders outside the door became too great. The door snapped open and pushed the bed aside a few feet, allowing the living dead into the bedroom.
Steve had been sitting on the railing getting ready to jump when the deaders broke through the sliding glass doors. He needed no further encouragement. He dropped from the deck, favoring his good leg when he hit so as not to do further damage to his wounded one, and praying he wouldn’t break or sprain anything in the process. Steve hit the ground and collapsed, rolling onto his back. His pump action shotgun slid off into the woods.
Alissa rushed over and helped Steve to his feet. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” Steve grunted as he stood. “But my shoulders will hurt in the morning.”
Once Steve had jumped, Miriam sat on the railing and swung her legs over the side. The EMT Beta lunged, hoping to catch the human before she got away. It grabbed her shoulder and wrist and bit down, locking its teeth around her upper arm, sinking deep into the leather jacket. Miriam involuntarily pulled away, falling off the deck and pulling the Beta with her. The two crashed onto the ground, knocking the air from Miriam’s lungs. The Beta rolled to the side, scrambled onto its hand and knees, and attacked.
Nathan ran up and kicked the EMT Beta in the face before it could bite Miriam. Several decayed teeth shattered and flew out of its mouth. The deader fell onto its side. As Alissa pulled Miriam to safety, Nathan raised the FAL to fire. The Beta crawled to its feet, ducked, and rushed Nathan. The bullets sailed harmlessly over its back. Its shoulder connected with Nathan’s chest. The two tumbled to the ground. Nathan had enough foresight when he fell to place the FAL across his chest and slam it into the deader’s neck, preventing it from falling on and biting him. The Beta desperately snapped at Nathan’s hand.
It would have succeeded if Alissa had not run over to help Nathan. Clutching the deader by the hair, she yanked its head back at the last moment. Its teeth closed on air. The Beta jerked its head to the side. Its hair came out in a clump in Alissa’s hand. As it attempted to bite Nathan a second time, Alissa grabbed it by the forehead, digging her fingers into its eyes. Nausea welled up in Alissa as her fingers plunged into the gooey orbs. At least she kept the deader’s head immobile. It howled and snapped its teeth, hoping to bite flesh, Alissa withdrew her Glock from its holster, placed the barrel against the EMT Beta’s right temple, and fired three rounds. Its head exploded, the only part remaining being the lower jaw and the portion of skull from around the eyes she clutched in her hand.
Alissa tossed the remains aside and knelt beside Nathan, checking his hand.
“Did it bite you?”
“I’m fine. Just a bit rattled.”
Alissa embraced him tight.
“Miriam, what about you?” asked Alissa.
Miriam pulled the leather jacket down over her right arm and examined where she had been bitten. “It didn’t break through.”
“Thank God,” said Alissa.
“We better get moving,” said Steve, pointing to the two sides of the house. Four deaders rounded the corner to their right and eleven more to their left.
The humans set off into the woods.
The State Trooper Beta heard the machine gun fire out front, followed a minute later by shots inside the cabin and then again out front. Something must have gone wrong.
Sixteen deaders had already entered the cabin and another eleven had staggered around back where more shooting had taken place. The Beta groaned, catching the attention of the remaining eight. It groaned again, pointing to the front of the cabin.
The pack staggered around the front, with the State Trooper Beta leading them.
Chris rounded the corner of the cabin and ran into a deader in a pair of Levi’s and a tattered Patriots sweatshirt. It snarled. Chris retreated several paces and fired a three-round burst into its face, shattering its head. The deader dropped, its neck oozing congealed blood into the dirt. Two more approached. Chris aimed and fired three rounds at the closest, ripping its head apart. The second, a female in a leather biker’s outfit, drew closer. He fired two more rounds, shocked when the deader ducked out of the way at the last moment. It continued toward him. Having expended his ammunition, Chris fell back again and switched out magazines.
Shithead’s barking caught his attention. Off to his right, nine more deaders came around the other side of the cabin and lumbered toward him. He would need more fire power if he hoped to survive.
Running back to the Humvee, Chris crawled inside, locking the door behind him, and climbed through the mount. Swinging the machine gun toward the pack of nine deaders, he squeezed the trigger. Nothing happened.
Shit, he had used up the case of .50 caliber rounds.
Kiera fired at each
deader as they entered the bedroom, taking out seven of them before she ran out of ammunition.
Diana had already climbed onto the roof and waited to help Brian. The young man stepped aside.
“You go first,” he told Kiera. “It’ll take me a minute.”
Kiera crawled onto the roof and moved aside, loading her last round into the Mossberg.
Diana waved to Brian. “Hurry.”
Brian climbed through, finding it difficult to maneuver because of the cast. He slipped and started sliding down the roof, catching his fall at the last moment by grabbing the sill with his good hand.
A deader, an older woman in a blood-soaked nightgown, reached the window and bit into his knuckles.
“No!” Diana punched it in the face repeatedly. On the fifth blow, the elderly female deader released her grip and snarled at Diana.
Brian pulled his hand away and slid down the slanted roof. Diana reached out for him and missed. He dropped off the end. A moment later, they heard a thud as he hit the ground, followed by snarls and his screams of terror as deaders tore him apart.
“Brian!” Anguish filled Diana’s voice.
The elderly female deader reached through the window, grabbed Diana by the hair, and pulled her back. Its teeth sank into her neck. Diana thrashed about, trying to break free, but its grip was too tight. A second deader reached through, clasped Diana under her left shoulder, and pulled her back into the house. Three others converged around her, each taking a bite out of the woman’s face and neck. Diana kicked her legs violently in a futile attempt to escape.
Kiera raised the shotgun and fired her last round into Diana’s chest, putting her out of her misery and ensuring the poor woman would not reanimate.
With no further resistance from their meal, the deaders dragged Diana’s body into the center of the room and consumed it.
Nathan led the way through the woods. Rebecca brought up the rear, looking over her shoulder every few seconds for any deaders in pursuit. None had caught up with them yet.
Nurse Alissa vs. the Zombies | Book 4 | Hunters Page 9