Alissa kept pace with Steve and Miriam, the former limping because of his wounded leg, the latter walking with a grimace of pain and her hips arched forward.
She moved closer to Miriam. “Are you okay?”
“I hurt my back when I fell off the deck. It didn’t help that the deader fell on top of me.”
“Any internal pain?”
“No. At least, not yet. My back will be sore in the morning.”
“If we make it to morning,” added Steve.
“Don’t worry.” Nathan glanced over his shoulder. “We’ll make it.”
“Where are we heading?” asked Alissa.
“When Chris and I set up the perimeter fence, we ran out of barbed wire and had to leave a portion incomplete. There is more than enough room for us to crawl under it. We’ll be fine once we make it to that point.”
The National Guard Beta hovered in the woods thirty feet from the barbed wire fence. It stood out of sight, using a tree as cover, while ten members of the pack gathered behind nearby bushes. As instructed by Alpha, it and the sheriff’s deputy Beta had circled around the compound, leaving a deader behind at intervals to warn the others if prey approached. Most of the fence had been well constructed, making it difficult for any living thing to pass through. Yet at this location, the fence had not been completed, leaving a gap along the ground that would be easy to pass through. A gut feeling told it the humans would try to escape at this point.
If they did, National Guard Beta had an ambush waiting for them.
The State Trooper Beta watched Chris enter the Humvee and climb through the mount to the machine gun. It recalled a similar vehicle and weapon wreaking havoc on the pack a long time ago. A frontal assault on the human would be deadly. It quickly adapted its plan.
It moaned, attracting the attention of its pack, and pointed to the front of the Humvee. The deaders surged forward, surrounding the hood. The State Trooper Beta circled around, planning to attack the human from the rear.
The female biker Beta noticed what the other Beta had planned and headed for the rear of the Humvee, allowing its single deader to join the others in the frontal assault.
Kiera sat to the right of the window, her back against the cabin and holding the Mossberg. On the other side of the roof, Connie sobbed, devastated by watching her brother and mother being devoured by deaders. Little Stevie leaned across the carrier, trying to comfort her.
A deader in a FedEx uniform stuck its head out the window and, upon seeing the children, snarled. Kiera repeatedly slammed the stock of her Mossberg against its head until the skull caved in. Brains and chunks of skull dripped onto the roof. The body fell back inside the bedroom.
Kiera executed the same move on the next few deaders that stuck their heads through the window. A male teenage deader with half its shirt torn off peered out. Upon spotting Kiera, it snarled and reached for her. Kiera moved away from the window. Stepping on the pile of corpses inside the bedroom, it hoisted itself over the sill and crawled out.
Chris grabbed a full case of ammunition and switched it out with the empty one. Eight deaders gathered around the front of the Humvee, scratching at the hood. They were too close for him to lower the machine gun. No matter. Reaching back inside, he picked up his AK-47 and took them down one by one with single shots to their heads.
Focusing on the immediate threat and with all the noise from the battle, he did not notice the two Betas crawling onto the hatch and climbing up the Humvee behind him.
“There it is.” Nathan ran ahead to the fence and scanned the area on the other side for danger. He saw none. Dropping to the ground, he scurried through the gap in the barbed wire and stood when on the other side, providing cover for the others.
Alissa went through next, helping Miriam and Steve who found it more difficult to negotiate the gap due to their injuries. Once they were through, Rebecca joined them.
The National Guard Beta waited until all five humans were through then groaned. As one, the pack emerged from behind the bushes and attacked.
The Beta raised its head like a wolf and issued a loud, prolonged moan, telling the others prey had been located. The sheriff deputy Beta and every deader along the line broke ranks and stumbled toward the call, converging on the humans.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Fuck!” Alissa raised her Mossberg and fired. Caught by surprise, her aim was off. The rounds torn into the hunter deader’s chest, peppering it with buckshot and blasting a hole out its back that covered those to its rear with gore. The deader staggered back for a moment and resumed its assault.
Nathan stepped in front of her.
“Reload while I take care of this.”
As Alissa loaded more shells, Nathan aimed the FAL at the hunter deader and fired at its jaw. The round punched through its open mouth and obliterated the limbic system. It dropped to the dirt with a sickening thud.
Rebecca moved to the other side of Alissa. The two performed single-round headshots on each deader, waiting until one had dropped before switching targets. By the time the pack had been eliminated, other deaders from along the perimeter stumbled into the area.
“Should we make a run for it?” asked Miriam.
Alissa shook her head. “We don’t know how many more are out here. Our best bet is to get on the other side of the fence where we can take them down without getting eaten.”
“Just to let you know,” said Steve, “We have company on this side of the fence as well.”
The deaders from the cabin that had been chasing them had finally caught up with their pray.
“I’m out,” said Nathan.
Alissa stepped forward and took out the closest deader as Nathan reloaded.
“What about those?” asked Miriam, referring to the deaders closing in from the rear.
“I got this.” Rebecca fell prone, rolled under the gap in the fence, and climbed to her feet. She fired at the nearest, an overweight male whose stomach strained against its shirt. The first two rounds slammed into its abdomen. It burst open, spilling decayed intestines onto the ground, the nauseating stench of decay and feces filling the air. Rebecca vomited.
Nathan slammed the new magazine into the FAL and turned to Miriam and Steve. “Both of you get on the other side of the fence while you have the chance.”
Miriam slid under first followed by Steve. The latter rolled rather than crawled. Three strands of barbed wire dug into his shirt and skin.
“Damn it, I’m caught.”
Miriam crouched to help her husband get free.
Deaders closed in from all sides.
The teenage deader had crawled halfway through the window. Kiera scooted over and kicked it in the head as hard as possible, disorienting it. She grabbed its belt and yanked, dragging it out. It slid on the congealed blood, tumbling down the roof and falling to the ground below.
Before Kiera knew what had happened, another deader, a female with its blonde hair in a disheveled ponytail, reached through the window and grabbed her by the hair.
Chris had brought down the living dead in front of the Humvee when he heard Shithead barking toward the rear of the vehicle. A snarl came from behind him. He spun his head in time to see the State Trooper Beta crawling up the hatch, only inches away.
He dropped back inside, barely missing being bitten. The deader centered itself in the hatch and climbed in after him. Chris withdrew his revolver and fired six rounds into its head. The first four tore it apart, covering Chris in fragments of skull and brains. The last two sailed harmlessly through empty air. Its dead weight dragged the female biker Beta inside the vehicle where the body fell onto Chris. Shithead had enough sense to jump in the back, avoiding getting hit by the corpse. Chris screamed, shoved the body off him, and exited the Humvee.
When he did, the female biker Beta jumped off the roof, landing on Chris’ back and knocking him to the ground.
Rebecca wiped the vomit from her mouth with the back of her hand. A second deader lunged at her. Rebecca ki
cked it away. As it struggled to regain its footing, she fired three rounds into its head, dropping it. She switched fire to a third and took that one out as well.
In the meantime, Steve had panicked, digging the barbs deeper into his arm.
“Hold still,” yelled Miriam.
Steve calmed down.
Miriam grabbed his arm with one hand and the strand in the other then ripped. He winced as the barbs tore three pieces of flesh from his arm. Once free, Miriam lifted the strand and Steve rolled to the relative safety of the inner compound.
The smell of blood drove the remaining deaders into a frenzy and they pressed home their attack.
The National Guard Beta emerged from behind the tree and closed in for the kill, hoping the humans’ attention would be drawn to the rest of the pack.
Alissa and Nathan continued their assault. Neither wanted to abandon the other and be caught vulnerable while on the ground trying to escape. Both stood their ground and gunned down anything that got close.
Alpha emerged from the woods to witness the last stand of the humans. It felt a sense of satisfaction. The assault on the cabin may have failed but the ambush had succeeded. The deaders it had sent around back had caught the humans trying to escape. They were surrounded. In a few minutes, the pack would feed.
Alpha approached the carnage, using the woods for cover.
Kiera jerked her head forward and rolled to the side, pulling the ponytail deader through the window onto the roof. It started to slide. Kiera felt a wave of terror rush through her as she thought she might be pulled off the slope with it. The deader released its grip at the last minute, using both hands to stop its sliding.
It noticed Little Stevie and Connie in the corner and climbed toward them.
Kiera scrambled over to help the kids. Another deader in a camouflage hunting jacket emerged through the window, snarling and clutching at her, and blocking her path to the children.
The deputy Beta drew nearer to the ambush. The gunfire continued, so it had not missed out on feeding.
Ahead of it, two humans were on this side of the fence fighting a last-ditch battle to prevent the inevitable. Three more were on the opposite side, their attention focused toward the cabin.
Moving into the woods so it could approach undetected, the deputy Beta moved waited for its opportunity to move in for the kill.
Chris could not move. The female biker Beta had him pinned to the ground. He closed his eyes and waited for the deader to bite his neck.
A growl came from behind him and he felt the deader’s body shift. Chris glanced over his shoulder. Shithead had jumped out of the Humvee and bitten down on the deader’s belt, pulling it off his master. The Beta switched its attention to the animal, swiping at Shithead and trying to brush him away.
Chris backward kicked the deader twice, shoving it off him. Once free, he got to his feet and spun around.
“Hey, asshole.”
The female biker Beta made eye contact with him.
Chris kicked it twice in the face, knocking out several teeth and dislocating its lower jaw. It issued a gurgling snarl and tried to stand, but the weight of the dog prevented that. Chris kicked it two more times in the face, cracking its skull and dislodging an eye from its socket. The Beta’s head fell to the dirt.
Chris stomped on its head. On the third strike, its skull fractured into several pieces. He stomped again. The female biker Beta’s head erupted like a rotten melon, its brains bursting through the skin. Chris stomped on the brain several times until the deader stopped moving.
Shaken by the near-death experience, Chris fell against the front fender of the Humvee and slid down the side. Shithead raised a leg, pissed on the remains of the Beta’s head, then ran over to his master and licked his face.
“You’re a good boy.” Chris hugged the dog. Shithead’s tail wagged.
Gunfire came from behind the cabin. This fight was far from over.
Standing up, Chris dragged the corpse from the Humvee, retrieved his AK-47 and bag of ammunition, and shut the door.
“Come on boy. We have to help the others.”
“Alissa,” yelled Rebecca. “To your left.”
She turned into time to see the National Guard Beta approaching. With the humans concentrating on the deaders along the fence, it had moved toward the gap between them, hoping to take them by surprise. It would have worked if the female human had not issued the warning.
Alissa fired. It ducked to the left, the pellets punching into its chest and shoulder. A few caught it in the face, penetrating its right eye. Oblivious to the pain, it moved in for the kill.
Alissa pulled the trigger again, but her Mossberg had run out of ammunition. It stepped forward, clutched her by the collar, and leaned its head forward to bite.
Seeing what was about to happen, Nathan shoved the barrel of the FAL into its mouth. It glared at him, realizing it had miscalculated. Nathan fired. Its head exploded, covering Alissa’s face and chest in gore. Nathan withdrew the weapon and the National Guard Beta’s lifeless body fell into the dirt.
Connie screamed and cried as the ponytail deader approached but she refused to go down without a fight. She waited until it had crawled to within two feet of her. Raising her leg, she kicked it in the face. Once. Twice. Three times. The deader released its grip on the roof to grab her leg. Connie kicked it in the jaw, sending the ponytail deader sliding down the roof and over the edge. Still screaming, Connie held the carrier for dear life. Little Stevie reached out with his left arm and wrapped it around her shoulder.
The hunter deader in the window managed to grab Kiera’s arm and drew her close. She had only one option left. Kiera stuck her thumbs into the deader’s eyes and shoved them back as far as they would go. It howled and released its grip. Kiera scooted to the opposite corner of the roof, wiped her thumbs on her pants legs, and vomited in her lap.
The hunter deader remained in the window, flailing its arms in a desperate attempt to find its prey, and blocking the others from getting to the roof.
Chris and Shithead ran around to the left side of the house and into six deaders. One lay on the ground, its head at almost a ninety-degree angle to its neck. He assumed it had somehow broken its neck since the body did not move but the head snarled and snapped at him. Another crawled along the dirt, its legs broken. Four others stood by the wall, clawing as if they wanted to climb it.
Shithead barked.
“Shit.”
One of the deaders clawing at the wall was Brian. His abdomen and left arm had been devoured, exposing his internal organs and spine. The four stumbled toward him.
Chris raised the AK-47 and took down each with a shot to the head. Withdrawing his revolver, he stepped over, double tapped the two immobile deaders, then double tapped Brian.
“Who’s there?”
“Kiera, is that you?”
“Uncle Chris, I’m so glad to see you.”
“Where are you?”
“Up here. On the roof.”
Chris moved away from the house and saw Kiera, Little Stevie, and Connie pressed against the wall of the cabin.
Kiera waved. “We’re trapped by a bunch of deaders inside. Can you help us?”
“I’ll be right there.”
Chris and Shithead circled around front and went back inside the cabin.
Alissa and Nathan took out the last of the deaders along the fence line. Neither had much ammunition left. Another few minutes and they would have been overrun.
She listened. There were no more moans, only the furious chirping of birds agitated by all the noise.
Alissa heard gunfire coming from the cabin. “We need to check on the others.
Nathan crouched down and started to pass through the gap in the fence. As he did, Alpha emerged from the woods and charged, clutching Alissa’s shoulder from behind.
Entering the cabin, Chris found seven deaders wandering aimlessly on the first level. He took them out quickly. Switching out his magazine with a full one
, he and Shithead made their way through the mass of corpses, watching each carefully so as not to be attacked, and headed up to the bedrooms, carefully negotiating their way around the dead bodies on the stairs and landing.
Chris heard a pack of deaders in Alissa’s bedroom. Rushing down the hall, he peered through the doorway. Diana’s half-devoured corpse lay in the center of the floor. Deaders were crumbled in front of the window with another tried to crawl over them. Four stood around it, scratching at the windows, trying to get to the kids outside. Aiming low so that stray rounds would not punch through the walls, he fired a sustained burst, blasting away their legs. The deaders collapsed to the floor. Moving over to the window, he finished them off with a bullet to each head. Shouldering his AK-47, Chris grabbed the deader in the window by the legs and pulled it back inside. It fell face first on the floor. Unholstering his revolver, he fired two rounds into its skull.
An eerie silence fell over the bedroom.
“It’s clear.”
Kiera centered herself in the window. Upon seeing Chris, she climbed through, nearly slipping on the pile of corpses, and raced over to him. She embraced him around the waist and lay her head against his chest.
“Thank God you showed up,” she cried. “I thought we were goners.”
“It’s okay. You’re safe now.” Chris patted Kiera on the back of her head. “Let’s get the others.”
Connie came through first.
“Did you see my brother down there?”
“Yes.”
“He’s dead?”
“I’m sorry.”
Connie sobbed. Kiera pulled the girl close to her.
Little Stevie pushed the carrier in front of the window. Chris brought it inside and then helped the boy into the bedroom. The kid thanked him with a high-five.
“Where did the others go?” asked Chris.
“The escaped out back.” Kiera became concerned. “Do you think they’re okay?”
Nurse Alissa vs. the Zombies | Book 4 | Hunters Page 10