Miss Janine brought the children back in, but she steered them away from the bloodstained part of the floor with a hole in it.
Griffin walked in wiping his hands together. "Body's wrapped and put in the janitor's closet."
Chris nodded. "Thanks for that."
Griffin shrugged.
Jen approached Chris. "I'm sorry about Marcia."
Chris gave her a fleeting smile. "You wouldn't have had to do that if I'd been strong enough to do it myself."
"When are we going to get the old man?" Griffin asked.
Jen raised an eyebrow. "You're volunteering?"
Griffin licked his lips. "You guys can't keep all the fun to yourselves."
Jen headed to the main corridor. "Then let's go."
She peered around the corner. No zombies in sight at either door. "All clear."
"How can that happen?" Devin asked. "The horde at the community center didn't go away."
"You have to be out of sight and quiet," Griffin said. "That's what made the community center a death trap. Too many people yapping."
Chris chewed his lip. "And the gym is far enough back from these doors that they couldn't hear us. Even the gunshot."
Devin interrupted. "Back to Marcia's father. How far away is his place?"
Chris pointed toward the door Marcia had come in. "Three blocks that way."
Jen strode to the door and pushed it open, keeping it from closing with her foot. Devin and Chris filed out. Griffin looked like he'd rather be anywhere else. "Looks clear," Chris said.
"I'm not seeing anything, either," Jen said.
Devin took a step away from the building. "What are we waiting for?"
Jen eased the door closed. Locked out again.
She ran to the first house and ducked underneath. With a height of three feet, the space under the house allowed her to crawl rapidly on her hands and knees.
Growling and banging could be heard somewhere ahead. Chris took the lead while Griffin lingered behind. Chris stopped at the edge of the house, then scurried under the next one. Jen made sure Devin made it before crossing herself.
Griffin ducked down next to her. The banging and growling were closer. "That must be the zombies trying to get into Marcia's father's house," Jen whispered.
Griffin pulled his .357. "Are you nuts?" Jen said. "That'll just bring more of them. Put it away."
Chris pointed to Griffin's sheathed tomahawk. The bootlegger holstered the gun and pulled the tomahawk out.
"How are we going to get in?" Devin asked. "Is there a back door that's clear?"
"One more house until we get there," Chris said. He hustled over and dove under the next house.
The others joined him, and they worked their way to the other side. The damn zombies sounded like they were right on top of them. Jen crawled to the front of the house and looked over. She counted eight of them banging on the front door. She crawled back. "Front's covered pretty good. I don't know how the hell we get past them and then get a guy in a wheelchair out of there."
"Just follow me," Chris said. He ducked under Marcia's father's house and stopped dead in the center. "Watch this."
He reached up and fiddled with something before standing, his upper body disappearing into the house. "Holy shit," Jen said. "An escape door. I never would've guessed."
"In his younger days, Marcia's father was a bootlegger," Griffin said. "Not such a terrible occupation."
Chris pulled himself up and disappeared inside.
"Jen next," Devin said.
Jen hauled herself in. The house was pitch-black. She scooted away from the opening, and Devin climbed in and knelt beside her.
Griffin stuck his head in. "I'll keep the escape route open." He disappeared under the house.
"John," Chris said. "Where are you?"
A flashlight came on, and Chris pointed the beam around a living room and kitchen. It settled on an empty wheelchair lying on its side over by the front door.
"John," Chris whispered harshly. "We're here to take you to safety."
A groan came from behind them, barely audible with all the banging. Chris shined the light on the couch and padded toward it, while Jen crept around to the other side. Chris pointed the beam behind the couch and there an old man lay facedown, struggling to crawl. Chris rushed forward. "Let's get him in his wheelchair." He took one of the man's arms and Jen took the other. Chris held the light out to Devin. "Hold this."
They picked the man up and he struggled. Damn, he's got some spunk.
Once John was placed in the wheelchair, Devin shined the flashlight on him. John reared his head back and screeched. He lunged at Jen and fell onto her, knocking her to the floor and trapping her legs with his body. She lost her grip on the bat and it rolled out of reach.
Zombies at the door returned John's screech and doubled their efforts to get in. The door rattled in its frame, then bowed in with a resounding crack.
18
Chris wrapped his arms around the old man and pulled him off at the same time Devin grabbed Jen under the arms and yanked her backward.
"Get out," Chris yelled.
Jen scurried to the hole in the floor and dove through. She rolled away from the opening and Devin dropped next to her. Another huge crack echoed from the house and footsteps rumbled across the floor.
Chris fell through the opening and onto his stomach. He pushed up to his hands and knees. "Go. They're right behind me."
Jen scrambled back the way they had come, pausing under the house across the road. Devin ran across the gap between the houses, and Chris was hot on his heels. Several zombies were back at the trap door. One dropped to the ground and tried to stand under the house, blocking the others from getting out. Stupid-ass things.
"Where the hell's Griffin?" Chris asked.
Jen looked around. Nothing but zombies. She clenched her jaw. That son of a bitch flaked out on us. Again.
A screech went up a few houses away. They'd been spotted. Answering calls came from every direction. Jen paused in the middle of the house. "Where the hell do we go?"
"We've got to get back to the school," Chris said.
"Through this?" Devin asked.
Zombie feet rushed by in every direction. They'd be spotted as soon as they came out from under the house. "Maybe we just wait here," Devin said.
Chris pointed behind them. "No time."
The zombies chasing them had finally figured out how to crawl, but they were slow at it. Can't count on that lasting.
"How far's Raymond's house?" Jen asked.
"Couple blocks." Chris pointed. "That way. Away from the school."
"Why there?" Devin asked.
The zombies from the house had nearly reached its edge. "The four-wheelers," Jen said. "What better way to outrun these things?"
Chris scrambled forward. "Follow me."
They sprinted across the road and slid underneath another house, leaving several screeching zombies in their wake. Chris didn't stop, and they scrambled to the next house in record time. One more and Chris stopped and pointed. "There it is."
They were catty-cornered from Raymond's, the four-wheelers sitting out front. An old woman, the front of her kuspuk a bloody mess, wandered back and forth on the porch. Two teenage creatures stumbled around several feet from the ATVs.
Jen looked behind her. The pursuing zombies had reached the last house they'd crawled under. Her pulse beat double-time. The undead skittered under it like spiders. Freaking things have definitely figured out how to move under buildings.
"Zombies coming up on our ass. We have to get on those four-wheelers." She slid out from under the house and raced toward one of the teenage zombies. It noticed her and shrieked. The other one spun, and both sprinted for her. Shit. Didn't want two at a time.
"I've got the one on the right," Chris said from behind her.
Jen closed in and reared her bat back. Chris caught up and readied his axe. Five feet away, Jen's zombie leapt at her. Caught off guard, she clum
sily swung the bat upward and ducked. She missed the zombie and fell to the ground, but it sailed overhead.
Scrambling to her feet, Jen faced the creature, its yellow eyes burning with hunger. It sprung again, but this time she was ready. She swung and stepped to the side at the same time, the bat connecting with the zombie's ear.
It fell to the ground rolling. When it came to a stop, it pushed itself up, but stumbled while trying to approach her. She ran up to it and bashed it in the nose, blood and bone fragments splattering the front of her shirt. It slumped to the ground.
Devin battled the old woman, while Chris was pulling his axe from the other teenager's skull. Thirty yards down the road in the direction they'd come from, a horde rumbled toward them, big enough to fill the space between houses.
Jen dashed to a four-wheeler, just as Devin took out the old lady. Jumping on, she had a sinking certainty it wouldn't start, but it roared to life as soon as she turned the key. Devin and Chris hopped on their ATVs and started them up.
"Where are we going?" Chris shouted over the engines.
"How long before the supply plane normally comes?" Jen asked.
Chris looked at his watch and held up two fingers. "Couple hours."
The damn horde was only twenty yards away. "Take us to the school," Jen said. "Long way around so we won't be followed."
Chris goosed his accelerator and put the ATV in gear. He shot down the road, heading for the outskirts of the village, with Jen and Devin behind him. They turned a corner, losing sight of the horde, and zoomed out onto the tundra.
Jen wiped moisture from her face. A light rain had started and the wind had eased. And the clouds are breaking in the distance. Planes should be able to fly soon.
Chris led them down the path they'd taken before. When they reached the spot where they'd broken off to go to Fear Mountain, he stopped and turned off his engine. Jen and Devin did the same. The silence was oppressive.
"Pretty sad that this is the safest place for us right now," Devin said.
Chris checked his gas level. "And about as far as we go if we don't want to run out of gas out here."
Jen sat back in her seat and closed her eyes for a moment. If she concentrated, she could pretend she was back in Anchorage, hiking in the Chugach Mountains.
The sound of the breeze in my ears.
The stillness.
A screech came from farther out in the tundra.
And fucking zombies trying to eat me.
19
Jen peered out into the dusky tundra. A figure moved. Then another. As her eyes became accustomed to the low light, more and more zombies emerged. "Holy shit. Are the sailors still thawing from the pit?"
"Looks that way." Devin turned on his headlight and aimed it. The beam landed on a couple dozen sailors, their yellow eyes glowing in the light. He swept the beam left, then right.
"There are hundreds more," Chris said.
"So much for being safe." Jen started her engine. "We need to get to the school."
Chris and Devin started up, and the trio headed across the tundra to the far side of the village. Chris started to pull away, so Jen sped up just as a wind gust hit and took her breath away. Bouncing across the uneven ground, she was nearly thrown off her seat. "Slow it down," she yelled. "The sailors don't move that fast."
Chris let back on the throttle, allowing the others to catch up. "We need to get back quick. When these hundreds of sailors show up in town, the place will be thick with them. We won't be able to move."
They rode straight toward the school. Its lights were still on. Hope Miss Janine and the kids are OK.
Several yards out, a small horde rushed them from behind a house. Eight strong, six were villagers. The riders had been heading for the far door, and the zombies would soon be between them and their destination.
Chris swung his four-wheeler toward the other door, and Jen and Chris mimicked him. The entrance was clear, but would Miss Janine unlock it in time?
Jen pulled up just as Chris dismounted. She turned off the engine and ran to the door. Chris took a defensive position with his axe and Devin arrived and joined him. "Bang on the door and get Miss Janine out here," he said.
Peering in the window, Jen raised her fist to slam it against the door, but paused. At first everything looked the same. But that streak of blood at the corridor intersection wasn't there before, and it looks fresh.
She reached for the door handle and paused. The damn thing wasn't closed all the way. She pulled it open.
Swinging it wide, she said, "Door's open. In now."
Devin and Chris ran in, and Jen pulled the door closed behind her with a clunk. The zombies didn't break stride and slammed into the door twenty seconds later.
Chris looked around. "Where's Miss Janine?"
"I don't know. The door was unlocked. In fact, it wasn't even closed all the way."
Devin frowned and peered down the corridor. "I don't like the sound of that."
"Miss Janine," Chris called.
Jen grabbed his arm. "Shh. If something's in here, we don't want to ring the dinner bell."
"We've got to get out of sight of the zombies outside," Devin said, "or they'll do all the ringing for us."
Jen crept down the corridor and stopped at the intersection. The blood streak was wider there. She pointed and whispered, "This wasn't here before."
Chris peeked around the corner. "It comes from down there."
Jen swallowed, a pang rising in her chest. She raised the bat and padded down the hallway to the gym, the noise of the zombies at the door fading.
Chris hugged the opposite wall and Devin stayed at her side. Jen stopped outside of the open gym door. The lights were off inside, cloaking who knew what. She took a deep breath and nearly gagged. It was as if she had stepped into the slaughter room of a busy ranch on a hot summer's day.
Devin covered his nose and Chris made a face. "I may be sick," he said.
Jen waited, but nothing stirred in the gym. One, two, three.
She reached in and flipped the light switch, then staggered backward into Devin.
Blood and entrails painted the floor and splattered the walls. The bloody streak started at the benches. Where the kids had been.
Jen turned her head away and staggered into the hallway. Nausea threatened, but she choked down the bile that rose to the back of her throat. Little kids. They were just little kids.
Devin rubbed her back.
It took a couple of minutes, but the wave of nausea passed, and tears flooded her eyes. She looked at Devin. "Those kids," she choked out.
Devin pulled her in and encircled her with his arms. "I know."
She laid her head on his shoulder and wept as he soothed her. She'd never had anyone who could console her like that since her mother died. She didn't want to let go.
Can't afford this now. Got to get us out of this first.
She raised her head and pulled back, wiping her eyes. "Sorry. I'm good."
Devin's eyes filled with sympathy. "It's OK to cry, you know."
She gave him a weak smile. "I know, Dad. But I can do that later. Right now we need to concentrate on getting the hell out of here alive."
Jen closed the gym door. Chris leaned against the wall, his face ashen. "The whole village is dead. I'm all that's left."
A bang came from up the corridor. The entrance door.
Were the zombies back? Jen raised the bat, ready to bash in some zombie heads. Devin and Chris closed ranks on her side.
Footsteps clomped down the hall, getting closer.
20
Jen tried to swallow, but her mouth had no spit.
The footsteps still echoed down the hallway. How the hell long is that walk?
Griffin appeared at the end of the corridor, his chest heaving. He stumbled toward them.
Jen fought the urge to kick him in the balls.
"You're here," Griffin breathed.
The bootlegger bent forward with his hands on his knees. Chris
pushed past Jen. "I'll check that the doors are secure."
Griffin straightened and leaned back against the wall with his eyes closed. His breathing had slowed. "Didn't think I'd make it. That was damn close."
"Where the hell did you go?" Jen asked. "You took off on us again."
His eyes opened and he stared at her, incredulous. "I led them away from you."
Jen scoffed.
"Forgive me," Devin said. "But that sounds like bullshit."
Chris returned. "Doors are good."
Griffin stood. "One of those things was crawling around and spotted me under the house. It made that high-pitched sound of theirs and others came. You guys were still inside and I figured if I joined you in the house then we'd all be trapped."
He crossed his arms. "So I ran and they followed me."
Chris raised his eyebrows and looked at Jen. "He tells a good story, I'll give him that," she said.
Red splotches appeared on the exposed parts of Griffin's face, and he spoke through gritted teeth. "I may be a lot of things, but I'm not a liar. I just went through hell and almost got bitten and now I get interrogated?"
"You didn't get chomped and neither did we," Jen said. "But we can't say the same about Miss Janine and the kids."
"What are you talking about?"
Jen stepped away from the gym door. Griffin looked at her, his head slightly turned and his eyebrows lowered. She nodded at the door. "Go ahead."
Griffin approached the door as if it were about to explode. He grasped the handle lightly and turned it, then looked back at the others. Chris gestured to the door.
Griffin opened it, and the thick odor of slaughter washed into the hallway. The bootlegger stepped back as if it had physically slapped him in the face. He stood still for thirty seconds, then closed the door. He didn't turn back to the others.
"Griffin?" Devin said.
"She saved me." Griffin's voice was thick. "And she was damned and determined to save those children. Babies. They were just babies."
The Zombie Uprising Series: Books One Through Five Page 9