by Glen Krisch
“Let them in, Blake,” Kendra said from the darkened interior.
Tanner bit his lip again, and then opened the door wide.
Charlie entered first and stumbled over to the rustic kitchenette and sat heavily on one of the chairs. Billy walked past Tanner and felt a palpable chill as he crossed his path. A heavy energy filled the air. Tanner definitely didn’t want them here.
Kendra stood with her back to them. She was applying makeup in front of a mirror hanging on the wall near the bed. She wore cut-off shorts that didn’t really cover much, and one of Tanner’s old work shirts.
“Is it really broken?” she asked, still looking in the mirror.
“No doubt about it,” Tanner said. “Oh, man, that looks sick. Can I take a picture? A character in my book breaks his arm and I’d like to use it as a visual reference.”
“No!” Kendra said and turned around.
Billy gasped. There wasn’t any discoloration to her face, but there was discernible swelling near her right eye. She’d dolloped on the makeup, but it couldn’t hide the fact that she’d been struck.
Tanner stood with a stoic, stoned expression. He looked at them as if trying to size up their reactions to Kendra’s appearance.
Charlie didn’t even acknowledge their sister. He seemed to be in shock. He’d stopped crying out in pain when he moved, and his eyes were glassed-over.
Billy didn’t know what to do. Every event from the time they’d left their house to go on one final summertime bike ride had been out of his element. Grandma and Grandpa, dead. A zombie horde milling about outside the Cherryhill grounds. And now his sister covering up abuse at the hands of her older boyfriend.
“Anything wrong, kid?” Tanner said, his eyes narrowing.
“I don’t know. Everything okay here, Kendra?”
She didn’t answer, just rolled her eyes in her all-too-Kendra way. She approached Charlie to see his arm for herself. Up close, Billy could tell she’d been crying and that it wouldn’t take much for her to start up again. She pursed her lips and nodded that everything was just fine. Just peachy. Then she had to look away. Her hands toyed nervously with the hem of the too-big shirt as she stepped over to an ashtray. She snubbed a joint and tried to wave away the plume of acrid smoke.
“The horde,” Charlie murmured, and everyone turned to him. “The undead are coming.”
“Wait … they’re here, too?” Tanner said.
When his brother didn’t reply, Billy said, “Yeah, we just saw it. That’s when we decided to swing by here to warn you.”
“Where is it?” Tanner asked, excitement in his voice.
“Just passed the fence at the northern part of the grounds.”
At the news, Tanner went into a frenzy as he searched through mounds of dirty clothes, the duffle bag by the door, and inside the steamer trunk at the foot of his cot.
“You’re serious? There’s really a zombie horde?” Kendra asked, knowing her brothers’ propensity for pulling gags on her. She looked like she didn’t want to believe them, that she’d rather have it one big gag.
Billy nodded and she started to pace across the narrow confines of the cabin.
“Where is it? Where did you hide it?” Tanner stopped his frantic search.
The cabin looked like a tornado had swept through it, but in all honesty, it didn’t look much different from just moments earlier.
“What are you talking about?” Kendra said incredulously, even though it was obvious she knew what he was demanding.
“My gun. Where’d you hide my fucking gun?”
“I told you I don’t like those things. After the other night …” she said, pausing to look at Billy, “you know, with how you can act, like when you’re drinking, I thought it was better to keep it in a safe place.”
“You don’t take a man’s gun! Didn’t anyone ever tell you that? There’s a Goddamn zombie horde right outside our door, and you decide to get all cute on me?”
“Fine,” Kendra said. She looked more scared of the prospects of crossing Tanner than facing an oncoming zombie horde. “I’ll go get it.” Kendra left out the front door.
Charlie looked up, the glassiness gone from his eyes. “You hit her, didn’t you?”
Tanner’s eyes cut to Charlie. “What are you talking about?”
The glassiness resurfaced and Charlie seemed to drift off.
Billy felt torn. He wanted to scream at Tanner. Wanted to punch him even more. His fists tightened at his sides. He didn’t realize he’d closed the distance with Tanner until he was standing before him, looking up into his darkened eyes.
“You thinking about doing something stupid, kid?” Tanner said, and placed his hands on his knees and leaned forward, offering a clear shot at his stubbly chin. “Hmm?”
CHAPTER 16
Tanner closed his bloodshot eyes, smiled dopily, allowing a clear shot if he really wanted to punch him.
Billy looked from Tanner to his brother, then back to the scumbag who’d beaten on his sister. A small voice in the back of his head told him to just step away, just step away and let adults deal with adult matters.
“That’s what I thought,” Tanner said. He turned away, leaving his back defenseless. He took a stubbed joint from the ashtray on the floor next to the cot, placed it between his lips, nodded with a grin to Billy, then lit it. “Wanna toke?”
Billy shook his head.
Kendra came back in from wherever she had stashed Tanner’s gun.
“You didn’t smoke any of that, did you?” she asked Billy. She sounded angry with him for possibly consuming part of her stash.
“No. I don’t do drugs.”
“Neither do I, Billy. It’s just grass. No big deal. But you’re too young, got it?”
“Right.”
“Here, gimme that,” Tanner said, snatching the old-fashioned-looking handgun from her.
“Geez, be careful with that,” Kendra said.
“Watch your tone, woman.”
She seemed to shrink in on herself as Tanner whipped past her and grabbed his keys off the kitchenette table. She flinched at his sudden movement, like he might strike her. She noticed Billy had witnessed it though, and rolled her eyes as if he’d said something ridiculous.
“Let’s go,” Tanner said, already at the door.
“What are we doing?” Kendra asked, following him. She stopped at the door and looked back at Billy. “You two, hurry up. Come on, come on!”
Charlie perked up at hearing her voice, and Billy helped him to stand. Together, they walked to the door.
Tanner was already behind the wheel, revving the engine and slamming on the horn.
Billy had barely gotten the door closed, with all four of them squeezed inside the pickup’s cab, when Tanner sped away in a cloud of dust.
Instead of turning left on to the main road, Tanner turned right, chuckling to himself.
“What are you doing?” Kendra said. “Our house is the other way.”
“Oh, we’ll get there, don’t you worry. I just thought it was best if we swing by that hole in the fence, see if it’s an easy fix. Doesn’t make any sense to leave it like that, not when any old dumbfuck zombie might stumble across it at any time.”
“Blake,” Kendra said, “just look at Charlie, look at the pain he’s in. We have to get him to the hospital. We probably shouldn’t even worry about telling my parents.”
Tanner took his eyes off the road long enough to glance at the arm. He sneered before accelerating.
“Blake!”
“Will you shut your yap? I made up my mind. I even took the time to explain it to you. So just sit there, look pretty, and shut the fuck up!”
“You can’t talk to her like that!” Billy said.
“Hell I can’t.”
The truck bounced through a rut in the road, c
rashing Charlie against Billy’s arm. His brother cried out, clutching his shattered arm, hands shaking from the pain. His eyes rolled up into his head, and when he opened them again, he looked around the cab, as if in search of a place to throw up.
“I can’t believe you put up with him, Ken,” Billy said, his voice trailing to a whisper.
“You better shut your yap, too,” Tanner said, “or you’ll be walking home. That goes for all of you.”
When they reached the damaged fence, gore painted the sharp barbs of the cut section of chain-link.
“Is that blood?” Tanner asked.
“Yeah, one of them must have gotten through,” Billy said.
“Oh, man, let’s just get out of here, Blake,” Kendra said.
“Look, there must only be one,” Tanner said. “I can’t see any more on the other side of the fence.”
“But you can hear them, right?” Billy said. “Because I sure can.”
It was a far off yet voluminous sound, a mixture of haunting groans and buzzing flies. Sure, they couldn’t see any zombies, but they were out there in the woods of the state park, and there were a lot of them.
“Yeah, whatever,” Tanner said. “I’m going to check it out.”
“Wait, no, Blake, please stay here,” Kendra pleaded as Tanner opened the door.
Leading with a raised gun, he left the truck.
As soon as the door shut behind him, Kendra scooted over and opened it.
“Kendra, don’t!” Billy said. He tried to reach for her, but she was out of his reach.
“Stay here,” she said with a cold stare. “Got it?” She didn’t wait for his answer, and instead climbed out after her boyfriend, trotting to catch up to him.
Billy watched as his sister pulled on his arm, imploring him to return.
Tanner didn’t hesitate. He moved the gun from one hand to the other and then lashed an open-handed slap across her cheek. Her head went flying back and she staggered, tripping over her own feet.
“Ken!” Billy said.
Tanner looked down at Kendra, his arm tense and poised for more violence.
Kendra sat with her legs under her, and her hands covering her face. Her sobs were heart-wrenchingly loud.
Charlie still seemed to be in shock, and would be of no help.
Billy, hoping to prevent any more hurt for his family, opened the passenger side door and hopped out, rushing over to place himself between Tanner and his sister.
“Wait!” he screamed.
Tanner took a menacing step toward him and Billy held up his hands.
“Stop, you don’t have to do anything stupid.”
“The only stupid thing I’ve done is take up with that whore you call a sister,” Tanner said, then spat a gob of saliva, hitting Billy’s foot.
“Blake, please,” Kendra said, gaining her feet. Her face was ghostly pale, except for the stinging-red handprint on her cheek. “Let’s just go back to the truck, and we’ll forget all about this. Please, babe. I’ll do whatever you want. Honest. Anything.”
“Anything?” he said with a smirk. “You fucking whore.”
Billy kept a close eye on the gun, ready to do whatever he could if he decided to point it at either of them.
“Ah, God, please stop, God, pleasepleasssss,” a tortured cry came from the truck.
At once, the three of them turned.
The truck shook on its wheels as the zombie that had apparently slipped through the torn fence had found its way to the weakest member of their group.
“Oh, fuck,” Tanner muttered and ran to the truck.
“Charlie!” Kendra cried out.
Billy followed as they closed on the truck, but the zombie had already crawled inside, Tanner trying in vain to pull it off Charlie.
His brother no longer cried out.
Charlie’s throat was a curtain of blood and ragged-torn flesh, face pasty white, his eyes open and vacant.
Kendra stopped in her tracks and clasped a hand over her mouth.
The zombie continued to feed, its sloppy sounds a torture unto itself.
Tanner gave up trying to save him and raised the gun and fired. The gunshot echoed and the gun trailed smoke. Even at such close range, the zombie seemed unfazed. It lifted its head and started to lurch its way out of the truck’s cab. Most of its face was gone; brittle bone was exposed in patches of white withered muscles. A hunk of bloody meat (Charlie, oh my God, Charlie, Charlie, Charlie, Billy’s mind cried …) dangled from its lips as it lunged.
Tanner fired again, striking the zombie dead square in the heart. It wobbled, but continued on.
“Why won’t it go down? I shot it in the fucking heart!”
The zombie staggered toward him, arms extended.
The sounds of the horde intensified. At the gap in the fence, dozens of undead were pressing themselves against the opening. A couple made it through, followed soon by a dozen more. The massed undead pressed on, splitting the fence wide like a zipper.
Tanner glanced at the horde before snapping his attention back to the zombie in front of him. He fired again, this time punching a hole in its shoulder.
“Not the heart. Aim for the head,” Billy said.
“Why? What does it matter?” Tanner said, firing again, and again the zombie kept coming. “Stop something’s heart, anything’s heart, it’ll go down.”
“Just do it, Blake!” Kendra cried. “Shoot it in the head!”
Tanner did just that, and a split second after he pulled the trigger, the zombie’s head flew back and it tumbled over on its side. It no longer moved, but everything else in the world seemed full of chaos, everyone wary of the possibility that it might start moving again.
Kendra screamed when another of the undead closed in to within ten feet of her.
Billy immediately took action; he squatted down and unearthed the biggest rock he could find. It felt good in his hand. He cocked back his arm to let it loose, but even with his sister scrambling out of the way, he would most likely miss the moving target.
Tanner raised the gun, getting a bead on the zombie, but his hands shook; he couldn’t get a good sight without risking Kendra’s life, or so Billy hoped.
Billy ran toward his sister.
Her eyes went wide at the sight of her little brother charging into the fray.
“Billy, turn back. Go, just run. Run!”
Billy ignored her, ran right past her.
CHAPTER 17
Billy leapt high to get a good angle, and brought the rock down with both hands against its skull. A satisfying crunch filled his ears. As the zombie fell, he realized how big a mistake he’d made. They were all around him now: the undead—his former neighbors, those who’d succumbed to the flu—closing around him like a noose.
“Get down!” Tanner said.
Billy ducked, just in time to miss getting shot as Tanner pulled the trigger. A zombie, missing half its face, collapsed a few feet away.
He stood, looking for a clear path back to the truck. The spacing between the advancing horde wasn’t ideal, but Billy realized, now that he was stranded amongst them, that they didn’t move particularly fast. No matter how desperate their cries, the zombies could only move as fast as their rotting corpses would allow. Billy ran toward two as the gap between them started to close. One hooked his shirtsleeve, but he broke through, leaving the pair behind. His shoulder smashed into the back of another, and when it turned, grasping at him, Billy changed directions.
The truck was only twenty feet away, but a half dozen zombies littered his path.
Tanner had run out of ammo, and was now smashing the gun against any that approached. Kendra cowered behind him.
“We have to get out of here!” Tanner called out.
“I’ll meet you at the truck,” Billy replied.
“Hurry, B
illy!” Kendra shouted.
An unending wave of undead pushed through the tattered remains of the fence.
Billy ran between the slow-moving corpses, giving him a feeling of power, of unmatched speed. Adrenaline pumping madly through him, and as he knocked into another, he shoved it away with his shoulder, and then sprinted away.
A battered white van churned dust, sped off the road, and skidded to a halt a short distance from the truck. A skinny bearded man stepped out, pummeled a zombie in the head with a baseball bat, then advanced, destroying the brains of anything that moved.
Billy reached the truck a second after Tanner and Kendra.
“Here, babe,” Tanner said, handing Kendra the keys. “Get her started.”
“Sure thing.” She seemed captivated by him, by the softening of his tone toward her, by his assertiveness.
“I saw you were in trouble,” the bearded guy said when he’d cleared a path to the truck.
“Thanks,” Tanner said, clubbing a zombie child reaching for his legs. “But we’re getting the fuck out of here.”
“I’ll hold ’em off while you guys get in.”
Kendra screamed, tearing their attention away from the advancing horde.
Charlie, shaggy-headed and pasty gray, plunged his bared teeth into Kendra’s neck, and her hands flailed, alternately grasping for help and striking her undead brother.
Billy rushed to the truck door and threw it wide, but it was too late.
Charlie looked up from his feeding—Kendra’s blood streaming down his chin—and his eyes flashed red when he saw Billy.
“No, no … no!” Tanner went into a frenzy after witnessing Kendra’s fate. He battered the zombie closest at hand, and when he’d cleared his immediate area, he charged away from the truck, leveling a path of destruction in his wake.
“We have to get out of here, kid,” the bearded man said, slamming his baseball bat into the skull of the nearest zombie.
Billy didn’t listen.