by Dawn, M. K.
The simple action had scared the shit out of Axel more than any horror movie he had ever seen in his life.
Sniffing the air, the infected let out another growl, then swiped its sharp claws between the bars in Axel’s direction.
Axel scooted toward the bed and hid underneath, hoping the old, musty sheets would mask his smell.
The infected lumbered along, making its way out of the cell and around the room. It was like it could sense its prey lingered close by.
***
Axel’s eyes grew heavy with sleep, but he didn’t dare give in to the exhaustion. In the hours since the infected had killed Cornhill, it had been roaming the jail room. Every time Axel shifted, it would cock its nose in the air and growl like it was trying to figure out his location.
And the bastard was strong. Twice it had bent the bars enough that it could stick its head between them. Axel feared if it pinpointed his location, it wouldn’t stop until it made its way into his cell. Then he’d be screwed.
His eyes drooped again, and he rubbed them in a poor attempt to keep himself awake. Lack of food, water and sleep had sucked the energy right out of him. He didn’t know how much longer he could hold sleep at bay.
A muffled shout snapped him awake. If the infected hadn’t jerked its head toward the door, he might have thought it was a dream. But it too had heard the sound and was trying to figure out where it came from.
If someone was out there, Axel needed to signal them like he did the sheriff. Which hadn’t ended well, but could have if the man would have listened. There wasn’t anything he could do about that now, but he could try to save whoever was out there. Maybe if he did, that person would get him the hell out.
Axel crept out from under the bed, careful not to make a sound. If the infected really couldn’t see—which seemed to be the case—then he didn’t want to draw any attention to himself.
Positioning himself in the middle of the room, he waved his hands around again as he did to get the sheriff’s attention. The problem was he didn’t know how to convey to whoever was out there that they couldn’t just come barreling in.
Which was exactly what the deputy did.
The door flew open, but before Axel could warn him, the infected bolted across the room faster than anything Axel had ever seen.
The deputy didn’t even have a chance to pull his gun from its holster before the infected sank its teeth into his neck.
That time the bite was more methodical, more precise, like the infected had learned to control its hunger or whatever it was that drove it to attack.
Axel didn’t hesitate, diving back under the bed while the infected was occupied. Nothing could be done for the deputy now.
The attack lasted less than a minute, leaving the dead deputy lying in the doorway, his lifeless body propping open the door.
The infected didn’t hesitate or look back before exiting the room, leaving Axel alone with two dead officers and no way out.
He only thought he was screwed before. He couldn’t remember how many officers the department had, though it probably wasn’t many. Two of them lay dead in this room. There might be a few who’d stop by the office to check in. Or he could get lucky and the secretary might come back. Neither sounded likely. He’d have better odds digging his way out with a plastic spoon if past luck was any indication.
His gaze drifted to the dead sheriff, the wound on his neck nearly healed.
A set of keys hung off his belt—Axel’s last hope of freedom. Axel couldn’t be sure, not knowing enough about the infected, but he feared as soon as the sheriff was completely healed, he’d wake up as the same kind of monster that took his life.
Axel would need to work fast. Not only would he have to keep a close eye on the sheriff but the deputy too. The infected didn’t do near the damage to him as it did on the sheriff. Chances were good he’d wake up soon, and then it wouldn’t matter whether or not Axel had the keys.
Slipping out from under the bed, Axel crawled toward the cells’ shared bars. He stretched his arm between the bars and grabbed hold of the sheriff’s boot. He gave the stiff leg a quick tug and inched the body closer. Bastard was heavier than he looked.
Axel yanked on the leg again and the hand twitched. He froze and held his breath, watching to see if he could spot any other signs that the sheriff had reanimated.
Seconds ticked by and the sheriff’s body remained still.
It was possible Axel had imagined the hand twitch or caused the motion when he moved the body. Either way, it reminded him that he needed to keep a close eye not only on the infected in front of him but the one at the door who no longer sported any signs of trauma. Axel yanked on the leg again, his shoulder screaming in pain. He didn’t care what sort of damage he inflicted; all that mattered was getting the keys and getting out before—
Axel snapped his head toward the door. He could have sworn he heard a noise, a movement, clothes dragging against the floor or a slight shift. The deputy still lay motionless, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t made the sound. For all Axel knew, the reanimation process happened in stages.
He needed to get the keys and get the hell out of there before he was trapped in the room with two infected.
Turning back to the sheriff, Axel gave him another tug, his shoulder through the bars as he reached for the keys. His fingertips brushed against the metal. So close, yet het still couldn’t wrap his hand around them. Just a little farther and he’d have them.
He leaned back to pull his arm in so he could rotate his shoulder before trying again when he realized he couldn’t.
“No, no, no!” He heaved himself back only to be held in place by his stuck shoulder blade. “Come on. Son of a bitch.”
Movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. Axel froze and watched the sheriff’s entire body twitch.
He was fucked if he couldn’t get his arm free. Probably fucked either way, but he refused to go down like this, without a fight.
The former sheriff, now one of the infected, let out a ferocious growl.
Axel planted his feet on the bars and grabbed one with his free hand, hoping the extra leverage would be enough.
Another hard thrust backward and his shoulder budged. Just an inch, but better than nothing.
The infected rose to its feet and stuck its nose in the air. It had Axel’s scent in a heartbeat and turned to face him.
Razor-sharp teeth dripped with a black goo-like substance. With every step it took, hair fell from its head until it was bald.
Why it hadn’t lunged, Axel didn’t know, but he was grateful for the extra seconds.
He almost had his shoulder through; just one more hard yank and he’d be free.
The infected paused and sniffed the air. It couldn’t see—he was sure of that now—but its nose and ears were exceptional.
Axel held his bottom lip between his teeth and forced himself silent.
The infected crouched like a predator ready to attack its prey.
He was out of time.
It lunged forward. Axel whipped his arm up and out of the way and kicked it in the face, careful not to stick his leg too far between the bars.
The infected released the most high-pitched shriek he’d ever heard, then shook its head and prepared to attack again.
Axel sucked in a breath and threw his entire body weight backward just as the infected jumped, teeth ready to sink into his exposed flesh.
His arm slid through the bar with an agonizing pop. A scream ripped past his lips as he fell back on the ground, his arm hanging limp by his side.
The second infected—the former deputy—shuddered and woke then. It was much faster, much livelier than the sheriff, and found its footing in a matter of seconds.
Both attacked at once, claws and nails scratching at the metal bars, trying to find their way in.
Axel climbed on his bed and pulled his knees to his chest. He needed a plan.
All he had to defend himself were his cheap metal food tray
and rusty bed. By the look of the infected’s strength, the bed might buy him a couple of seconds at best. Not that he had the keys to get out.
He was fucked. Royally fucked.
Leaning his head against the wall, he closed his eyes and tried to block out the sounds of his impending death. What he wouldn’t give for a gun. Or a knife. Hell, any sharp object would be a godsend.
The room fell silent then, and for a moment, Axel thought he must have drifted off.
He forced his eyes open, not ready to face reality but also not wanting to be surprised by what was coming next.
The infected had stopped attacking the cell and instead turned to the door, which had closed when the deputy came back from the dead.
Whatever was on the other side held their attention, but Axel had no intention of getting his hopes up. The last person who could have rescued him ended up dead. If only the guy had been prepared, had his gun ready.
A thought struck him then. Creeping off the bed, Axel positioned himself in front of the camera. As stupid as he felt, he made a gun with his fingers and showed it the camera.
“Gun,” he mouthed over and over. “Gun.”
God, there better be someone on the other side watching this.
The infected moved closer to the door. Someone had to be on the other side to keep their attention; he just prayed they’d gotten his message and came ready.
The door inched open, and the infected lunged.
A gun popped twice, and one after the other fell to the ground, black goo oozing from their heads.
Axel fell to his knees. “Help! I’m in here!”
Gunner’s familiar face poked past the doorframe, his eyes on the two infected.
“What’s wrong?” Axel watched in horror as the two infected clambered back to their feet. “Holy shit.”
Gunner raised his gun and shot both of them in the chest.
This time when they fell, they didn’t get back up even after a full five minutes of waiting.
Axel had counted every second.
“I guess that settles that.” Gunner swung the door open and made his way around the two dead infected, removing the keys from the sheriff’s belt.
“Settles what?” Axel stood on wobbly legs.
“Head shot doesn’t kill them. Got to hit them in the chest. Guess the bastards have never seen a horror movie before.” Gunner unlocked the cell door.
“What are you doing here?” Axel nearly collapsed against Gunner as he left the cell. “Where are the others?”
“They’re waiting by the door, keeping an eye on things.”
“I thought you all were hitting the road?” Axel cautiously stepped around the dead bodies, not trusting that they wouldn’t come back to life and take a bite out of his leg.
“Many did. A few of us planned to stay back a few days to make sure this Podunk town provided you with a decent lawyer and got you in front of a judge.”
Axel took a weighted breath and slammed the jail door behind them. “Apparently he couldn’t get a hold of anyone.”
“Yeah, well, that’s not a surprise.” Gunner waved the others in from where they waited by the receptionist desk. “The world’s gone to shit. These things….”
“The infected?” Axel asked.
Gunner nodded. “Yeah. They’re everywhere, killing anyone who crosses their path and turning them into whatever they are.”
Axel dropped into a chair close to the window. Nothing appeared too out of the ordinary until he really took in all in. Parked cars were actually abandoned. Empty streets were no longer a sign of small-town living but that people had gone into hiding or were dead. “What are you saying? This is some kind of apocalypse?”
Gunner snorted. “Yeah. A fucking zombie apocalypse.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Axel sat in the same chair of the sheriff’s office for hours, staring out the window. The urge to debunk Gunner’s term ‘zombie apocalypse’ pulsed through his veins.
Zombies didn’t exist. They were fictional monsters made up by someone with a wicked imagination. And they sure as hell didn’t act the way the infected did. No rotting flesh, aimless lumbering about. What they were dealing with, what the world was dealing with, was something different.
“Fucking parasites,” he mumbled.
“What?” Mac paced, his massive frame seeming to fill up the small room.
“Nothing.” Axel stood and stretched his good arm. Rainey had found him a sling for his other arm to keep it still after they had put the damn thing back in its socket. “Just thinking about this whole zombie thing and how ridiculous it is.”
Gus fiddled with his black mustache. “It’s a figure of speech. People die, come back to life and try to eat people. What the hell would you call them?”
Six sets of eyes fell on him: Gus, Gunner, Rainey, Angie, Shifter and Mac. The others had left. How far they had gotten, no one knew or dared to speculate.
“I’ve been calling them the infected. Zombies are dead bodies walking around eating flesh. This… this is something different, like something takes over the body.”
“Body snatchers.” Mac chuckled, but there was no amusement in his voice. “This is fucking nuts.”
Angie yawned and flipped her thick black braids over her shoulder. “What now? We can’t stay here. The fridge is empty, and what’s left in the vending machine won’t last us but a day or two.”
“Do you think help is coming?” Rainey flipped through the TV channels and found nothing but static. “Maybe the army or air force? We can’t be the only ones.”
Shifter snatched the remote from her hand and turned off the TV. “Enough. You’ve been flipping channels for hours and nothing’s changed.”
At five-foot-nothing, Rainey looked like a child next to Shifter, but that didn’t stop her from standing her ground. “Don’t take things from my hand. I would have turned the damn thing off if you would have asked.”
Gunner maneuvered himself between the two. “Fighting won’t do us any good. We need a plan. Somewhere to go. Out of town would be best, away from people.”
That gave Axel an idea. “Remember the redhead from the church? The chick with the three kids—”
“And the grass-fed husband who could probably kick all our asses,” Gunner cut in.
Axel ignored him. “She mentioned they live on a farm or ranch or something outside of town.”
Mac shuffled things around on the desk. “What’s your point?”
“She gave me the location and said to stop by next time I was in town.”
Angie snorted. “She gave you her address?”
“Well—” Axel ran his tongue along his teeth. “She gave me the general direction and told me to look for the mailbox with her name on it.”
“So, what’s the plan?” Shifter crossed his arms. “We just roll up on our bikes and ask for a place to crash?”
Axel shrugged. “Why not?”
“Because we’ll get our assess shot.” Gus patted Axel on his good shoulder. “With the world going to shit, ain’t no way they’ll trust a bunch of strangers on their land, with their kids.”
“I think….” He didn’t know how to explain to them why he thought Britney would welcome them into their home, but he believed she would.
Gunner sat on the edge of the desk. “You remember she’s married, right?”
“I do.” Axel glared at him. “And her husband is a hell of a nice guy. We had a beer.”
“You had a beer?” Mac shook his head. “So that makes you two bros?”
“That’s not what I’m saying.” Axel wished they would just shut up and let him explain. “It just that… they’re good people. Churchgoing, ‘help thy neighbor’ kind of people.”
Rainey twirled her brown hair around her finger. “How far is it from here?”
Angie scrunched her face. “You’re not seriously thinking we should go there, are you?”
“I don’t know.” Rainey scanned the room. “Like you said, we can’t s
tay here. And the town is a horror movie. Where else is there to go?”
“If we go there,” Gus said as he paced the room, “it’s a risk all the way around. We have a general direction but don’t know how long it will take to drive there. The motorcycles offer no protection. What if the”— he glanced at Axel—“infected are roaming around those parts? We’ve all seen how fast they move. If they come out of nowhere, we’re screwed.”
“Leave or stay here, it doesn’t matter.” Axel stared out the window at the night that had engulfed the town. “Those things are strong. If they figure out we’re in here, they’ll find a way in. The windows alone….”
Everyone took a collective step toward the middle of the room.
“If they get in….” Mac shook his head with a sigh. “I sure as hell don’t want to be trapped in this room with no way out.”
Gunner clapped his hands on his thighs before standing. “Should we vote?”
Axel scanned the room. “All in favor of leaving?”
Everyone raised their hands.
Gus stepped in the center of the group. “Does anyone else want to make a suggestion on where we go? Or are we all in agreement on heading to the redhead’s house?”
Angie clicked her tongue half a dozen times. “Axel, you really think she’ll let us stay?”
He didn’t want to bullshit her or any of them, didn’t want to lie. “I think it’s our best option. If she turns us away, we move on. If the carnage is as bad as you all say it is, we’re bound to find a vacant house.”
“Why don’t we just look for one of those?” Shifter tugged on his beard. “Why risk getting shot by some country folks?”
Axel could think of a dozen reasons why they needed to head to Britney’s house. “For starters, they live on a fucking farm. They probably have a garden, and I know they have cattle. First thing people will loot is food and water. If they have a well, we’ll be golden.”
“If they let us stay,” Angie reminded them as if they’d somehow forgotten.
