A clattering sound came from the hallway behind them. Griffin whipped around. Devin and Chris went into defensive stances, and Jen's muscles tensed.
She craned her neck, but couldn't see to the end of the hallway where the sound came from. "What's down that way?"
"A couple of classrooms, janitor's closet, and the kitchen and cafeteria," Chris said.
"We better check it out," Devin said.
Chris straightened. "Doesn't have to be a zombie. Maybe Miss Janine and the kids hid down there."
Griffin drew his tomahawk. "Want odds on that?"
"It's possible," Devin said.
"Only one way to find out." Jen crept to the next doorway and scanned the room. "This one's clear."
Chris cleared a room across the hall, while Devin and Griffin took the next one.
The hallway took a bend to the right. Jen stopped there and peeked around the corner. A pair of swinging double doors stood closed twenty feet away. A crash of metal on metal came from behind the door. Jen pulled back and hugged the wall, her heart doing a drum solo. "Sounds like a drawer of forks and knives being dumped on the floor."
"I'm thinking less and less that it's caused by humans," Chris said.
"You think?" Griffin said.
Devin nodded. "Maybe we just block the door? Keep whatever it is in there?"
"Don't think I can stay in here knowing there's something creeping around back there," Chris said.
Jen took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Then we better get in there and see what's on the menu." She crept around the corner and hugged a wall as she closed in on the kitchen doors. Devin kept up against the other wall, and Chris just plain walked down the middle of the corridor as if he were out on an after-dinner walk. A stroll with an axe, no less.
Stopping at the door, Jen looked back to find Griffin right behind her. He smiled and shrugged. Definitely not counting on him being there when I need it.
Each door had a two-foot-by-two-foot window at eye level. Jen took up position on one side and peeked in. The kitchen was a landscape of stainless-steel tables and appliances. Metal mixing bowls and utensils were scattered across the tables, range, and floor.
"I see a mess," Jen whispered, "but not what made it."
Devin looked through the other side. "Same here. There are two large stainless-steel doors. One is shut and the other is open about a foot."
Chris pushed a door open a few inches, then entered and moved to the left. Jen and Griffin slipped in behind him. Devin watched their rear.
The kitchen looked as if one of those asshole reality TV chefs had a fit and tossed the whole damn thing. Cabinets were empty and the floor was littered with cooking implements.
Jen nodded at the open stainless steel door. Chris nodded back and took a position on the open side. Devin stepped forward, a solid grip on his pipe, and Griffin held the tomahawk at the ready. Jen grasped the door handle and threw out one finger, then two, then three, and swung the door open.
Jen inched out from behind the door and looked inside a walk-in refrigerator. Boxes were stacked in the back and racks were filled with plastic wrap-covered bowls, large open cans, and condiments.
Damn thing wasn't big enough to hide much, but Jen stepped in and looked between the boxes and racks. She turned to the others. "Nothing."
Chris held a hand up, then waved for the others to follow him. He tiptoed to a wide opening in the wall with a metal blind pulled down over it. The serving line. Where the lunch ladies ladled out the slop.
Jen stood next to him and listened. It took a minute, but there was no doubt. Someone was eating, and doing it loudly.
Chris pointed to the metal blind, then pointed upwards. Griffin grasped one end and Chris the other. They pulled, but it didn't move. Jen reached over to the bottom of the blind and slid a latch back. They tried again, and the blind slid upward without a sound.
Jen gripped the bat. The blind stopped at the top, but Jen couldn't see the whole cafeteria from her vantage point. Even so, nothing seemed out of place. The chairs were placed upside down on the edges of the tables and the floor looked like it had been washed and swept.
She leaned out the window. The munching sounds drew her attention to the left. There, against the wall, lay Miss Janine, her eyes dull and staring at the ceiling. Four children squatted around her, filling their mouths with bloody meat and organs from her shredded abdomen.
Someone behind her let out a small gasp.
Heat rose in Jen's face and she squeezed the bat. No more.
She jumped through the opening and rushed the zombie feast.
21
The kids turned around at the last second, their meals hanging from their mouths.
Swinging the bat underhand, Jen caught Natalie in the jaw. The girl fell back as the other three children jumped to their feet.
Jen's momentum took her past the kids and she skidded into a corner. Natalie rose, her jaw hanging limply and bloody drool spilling from her mouth. The other three children fanned out. Jen stepped out from the corner to give herself more swinging space. You little shits are going down.
Devin, Chris, and Griffin came running, and the two boys Miss Janine had cared for with Natalie broke off to meet them. Natalie and another boy Jen didn't recognize closed in on her from opposite sides.
"I'm all dressed up with nowhere to go," Jen said. "So let's dance."
Natalie growled, nothing in her movements indicating anything but a hungry predator.
She can't bite me with a broken jaw. She concentrated on the boy.
Just as sounds of battle came from the middle of the cafeteria, Natalie lunged. Jen feinted, and when the boy attacked a second later, she swung and caught him on the shoulder. Shit.
The two zombies backed up, then rushed straight at her as one. Jen raised the bat overhead and stepped into the attack, bringing the weapon down and stepping off to the side. The boy ran past, and the bat came square down on top of Natalie's skull, the crack sudden and brutal. Natalie slumped to the floor and the boy leapt at Jen. Without time for another swing, she rammed the end of the bat into the boy's chest. Knocked back into the corner, he scrambled to his feet and sprung again.
Too damn fast. She barely ducked in time, then stumbled back into the wall. The boy sprung as she turned, but Griffin appeared and buried the tomahawk blade in the back of the kid's head. The momentum slammed the kid into Jen, bouncing her off the wall and to the floor. She pushed the boy's limp body off her.
"Thanks," Jen said.
Griffin wiped off his blade with some napkins and sheathed it. "Do you always do that?"
Panting, Jen asked, "Do what?"
"Just run into the middle of shit." He put a hand out.
She grasped it, and he pulled her up. She smirked. "It's becoming my trademark."
The boy Jen recognized as Bobby lay in a pile in the middle of the cafeteria. Devin and Chris had outmaneuvered Alexei across the room and were closing in from separate sides.
Alexei swatted at Devin, who jumped back. Chris took the opportunity and swung the axe overhead, missing the boy's head, but carving a canyon down his back. The boy stumbled, and Devin bashed his forehead with the pipe. The boy collapsed.
Jen pulled a chair off a table and sat. "Those little buggers were a handful."
Devin stood next to her, bent over with his hands on his knees. "I was wondering who Miss Janine would open the door for after the incident with Marcia." He nodded to the unidentified boy. "Of course, she would for a child."
Chris joined them, giving each a bottle of water. "Found these in the fridge." He unscrewed his bottle and downed half of it. Wiping his mouth on his sleeve, he gave a satisfying belch.
After emptying his bottle, Griffin crushed it and threw it into a trash can ten feet away. He raised his hands in the air. "Score."
Jen took a sip. "I'm getting numb to all this killing. If I would've had to kill these zombie kids at the beginning, I don't think I could've done it. But after I saw them gnawing on Miss
Janine in their own version of Mystery Meat Monday, I lost it."
Chris nodded. "I think we're all becoming numb to it, but that's good in a way. It may be the only way we survive."
Devin took a drink, then poured the rest of the water over his head. "I don't know if I can physically do much more of this. I'm not exactly young and in shape." He reached out to Chris. "What time is it? How close are we to the plane coming?"
Chris glanced at his watch. "If it comes at all and if it comes at its normal time, we have about an hour."
Jen walked over to one of the cafeteria's draped windows and pulled back a corner. Shit.
Turning back to the others, she said, "Those sailors we met on the tundra? They're about to make port here."
She peeked back out the window and watched as hundreds of zombie sailors lumbered toward the village.
"How are we going to get to the landing strip now?"
22
Jen tipped the water bottle back, letting the last swig empty into her mouth. She swallowed. "The bottom line is we're screwed. The damn runway is on the other side of the village and we're about to have a zombie convention out there."
She picked up her bat and strode to the kitchen door. "We can't wait. Have to make our move before the rest of the undead navy gets here."
Devin rose from his seat. "Why don't we take a boat now that the sky's clearing?"
"Not our best option," Chris said. "Even though the clouds are letting up, it's still windy and the seas will be rough. As a last resort, I'd take it, and we might survive if we kept close to shore. But I still think the plane's our best bet."
"But we don't even know if a plane's coming," Jen snapped. "Even if we can get to the runway, it may be for nothing."
Chris threw the axe over his shoulder. "If the plane doesn't come, then we'll be at the top of the hill and can map a safe path to the boats from there. Just like we did to get to the school."
"I'm not sure about this plan," Griffin said.
"Then you can always stay here," Jen said. Griffin went silent and pursed his lips.
There were no great options, only shitty and shittier ones. How the hell could they get out alive?
Will we get out at all?
The question had bubbled up unbidden from Jen's subconscious. No time for doubt. She thrust her jaw out. "We need better weapons, more firearms, and transportation."
"And how do we get that?" Chris asked. "That's a lot to ask for while we try to keep from being eaten."
"We also need a diversion," Jen said. "These things seem to be easy to distract. Why not use that to give us the time to get across the village?"
Devin rubbed his chin. "That's a great idea, but what do we use for a distraction?"
"Something loud," she said. "Maybe something that moves. Lights seem to attract them, too."
Griffin smiled. "Then I'm your man."
"Let me guess," Jen said. "You want to give them booze and let them drink till they pass out."
"It's true I bring in booze," he said, "but it's not all I deal in. I have some top-notch fireworks in my house. You want noise and light? That'll do it."
Jen did a double take. Damn good idea. "That's step one. Once the creatures are distracted, where are we going to get weapons and ammo?"
"That's a bit harder," Chris said. "You'd find them in any house, but we don't know which houses have zombies trapped in them."
"What about the community center?" Devin asked. "There were villagers with guns who dropped them when they were bitten."
"And the doors are knocked down, so no zombies will be trapped there," Jen said.
Griffin pulled his tomahawk out. "Then let's get the hell out of here."
Jen looked out onto the tundra. The sailors shambled along less than a hundred yards away. Between the driving rain and the light fog forming, she had no way to tell how many there were. But what she could see caused her breath to hitch. The damn zombies stretched across the horizon as far as she could see. "We need to move our asses."
"We can't stop once we get going," Griffin said. "So keep up."
Jen gripped her bat. "No crawling around under houses. Too slow."
Griffin took off, catching Jen by surprise. She grabbed Devin's arm and pulled him forward. "Let's go. Keep up, old man." She raced after Griffin, glancing back to make sure Devin and Chris followed.
Griffin had already made it to the next house. He stopped on the side, peering forward and waving for the others to catch up. Jen stopped behind him. "No screeches so far."
Devin and Chris approached from behind. A screech rose from the tundra.
"Me and my big mouth," Jen said.
A symphony of answering screeches roared from the tundra and the village.
"Time to go." Griffin sprinted forward.
Zombies woke up all around, their screeches piercing Jen's ears and sending a jolt down her spine.
When she caught up with Griffin, movement farther in the village caught her eye. A horde of a dozen or so streaked toward them. "We've got to move."
Griffin took off like a runner from a starting block. Jen turned to make sure Devin and Chris followed, but found no sign of them. She ran back into the road and scanned the area.
Another horde, twice as big as the first, stampeded her way.
Jen's breath came in short gasps and her heart threatened to burst. "Dad!"
No answer came.
23
Frozen with indecision, Jen scanned the surrounding area looking for any sign of Devin. Where the hell'd he go?
The larger horde was only a house and a half away. She'd have no chance if she didn't leave at once. She cupped her hands and yelled, "I'll be back for you."
She sprinted for Griffin and passed the next road only twenty yards ahead of the first horde. Holy shit.
Kicking it into high gear, she neared Griffin. He dashed past the house, then took a left. Jen followed, glancing over her shoulder. The first horde stayed with her and the second, larger one, roared right behind them.
Griffin took an immediate right. They should've been to his house by then. He's trying to lose them.
Jen raced around the corner, glancing back at the last second. The horde hadn't come into view yet.
Standing on the porch of an unremarkable, weather-beaten house, Griffin held the door open. Jen zoomed through it and Griffin closed it behind him. "Where are the others?"
Jen held back tears. "I don't know. I turned around and they were gone."
Griffin cracked the door open, then eased it closed. He put a finger to his lips. "The zombies are in front," he whispered.
A cacophony of screeches surrounded the house, penetrating the walls and drilling into Jen's head. She didn't dare move. Crouched and ready to spring into action, she stared at Griffin and the door as the stampede of footsteps rumbled by, then faded.
The bootlegger tip toed past her and into a back room. She crept to the room's doorway and watched. An eight-by-eight room practically stuffed with boxes, only one person could fit into it at a time. Griffin lifted a box, then shook his head and tried another.
After three boxes, he pulled one off of a high stack and smiled. He laid it on the floor and pulled the tucked flap open. "Bingo."
Jen didn't know much about fireworks, but recognized that the top package of sparklers wouldn't do them any good. Griffin put that package to the side. He did the same with the next two packages, but paused when he came to the fourth.
"What's that?" Jen asked.
He showed her the package. "M80s. Big-ass firecrackers."
"But don't those just blow up quick, then you have to light another? We'd have to stay in the area to keep those going."
Griffin handed them to her. "Those are the warm-ups."
He pulled another box off the stack, then shook his head and put it to the side. "Booze."
After several more boxes, he stood back with his hands on his hips. "Where the hell did I put it?"
Jen glanced at the door.
Her father was still out there. "This is taking too long. What are you looking for?"
Griffin stepped out of the room. "The good stuff. Stuff I was keeping for myself. I hid it somewhere, but can't remember where."
He wandered into the cluttered living room, past the torn, stained couch, and into the kitchen.
Ignoring the piles of dirty dishes in the sink and the trash on the floor, he opened a cabinet and pushed cereal boxes and canned food aside. Shaking his head, he moved to the next cabinet and repeated the process.
Oh, for crying out loud. Jen opened a cabinet and mimicked his actions. Don't know what the hell I'm looking for. She found nothing but food.
They met at the last cabinet. Jen stepped back and gestured to it. "This is your treasure hunt."
Griffin checked the bottom shelf, then rifled through the middle one. With a sigh, he pulled a box of bread crackers out then felt behind it. His eyebrows shot up, and he pulled a completely black box out. "This is it."
"This is what?"
"A cake." He flipped it over and read the writing on the back. "A two-minute one."
"We're in the middle of the apocalypse and you want to bake a fucking cake?"
Griffin cleared a spot on the counter and placed the box down. "You really don't know anything about fireworks, do you?"
When she didn't answer, he said, "It's got multiple rockets and shit in it. You light it and it gives you a whole show."
"And it lasts two minutes?"
He nodded. "We toss a few M80s over the next house. That'll draw them there. Then we head back to the school, light this thing, and book our asses over to the community center. Two minutes is a long time for us to get out of the area."
"One step you missed there," Jen said.
"What's that?"
Jen cleared her throat. "We find Chris and my dad on the way back to the school. We're not leaving them behind."
Griffin let out a long breath. "Look, I don't blame you for not trusting me, but I promise you we'll find them both before we set off the fireworks."
So there's a human being in there after all. Jen clapped him on the shoulder. "We'll all get out of here."
The Zombie Uprising Series: Books One Through Five Page 10