Jeremy blew hot air into his hands and rubbed them together. “Let’s do it.”
“Okay, everybody stock up here, and then let’s go.” Donnie knocked the map with a knuckle and turned toward the food section.
Laura began folding up the map while the others scrounged for food and supplies. She tried to fold it compactly as it was before and sighed when it turned out wrong. She laid it out on the table and started again. Then she heard a creaking noise to her left, but when she turned to look she saw nothing except a screen door leading out the back. She looked at the others who had started exiting with their plunder and back at the screen door. “Is somebody there? Hello?” She walked forward slowly.
Jim came walking back in the shop and saw her approaching the back door. “What’s back there?”
Laura kept her eyes on the door as she walked. “I don’t know. I thought I heard something.” She walked on and looked through the screen door, and saw that the back sloped off down a hill. She pulled the door open and walked outside just as a hand swiped for her neck and missed.
Outside Laura looked down the hill and saw concrete blocks wedged into the ground to form steps leading down to a small, simple, wooden house. The shop owner’s she presumed. She looked around both sides and only saw foliage growing up to the walls, the gaps laden with cobwebs. “Humph.” She shrugged her shoulders and turned to go back inside. She reached out for the handle and jumped back when she saw an old man behind the screen. The mesh muddled his features and she could not see his condition. “Oh my God! You scared me,” no response. “Are you okay?” She asked the question with a deeper voice, and her breath went short as her abdomen seized up. She stepped back wringing her hands when she saw the old man pushing on the door to come at her, but he bounced off it repeatedly, unable to learn that it opened only to the inside. He put his mouth up to the screen and scraped his teeth along the meshing, and his gray lips easily tore open on the abrasive surface sending bloody streams trickling down the metal wires.
Laura stared at the crimson flow as it stained the door, and the color dropped out of her face, but the old man’s utter lack of any reaction scared her the most. She trembled as she took errant steps backward.
Something heavy dislodged on the hill behind her and rolled down crashing through foliage. She swung around and let out a yelp when she saw another old one trudging up toward her. The fixed eyes gave her the impression it could see the blood coursing through her veins. Its head hung to one side permanently, and Laura could just make out a knot of vertebrae protruding from the side of the neck with skin stretched tightly over it. She backed away and began shaking her head. Her lips repeatedly mouthed the word, “no,” in tones fainter than a whisper.
In front of the small shop everybody loaded their loot into the rear hatch and began climbing into the vehicle. Meg looked around and back at the shop. “Where’s Laura?”
Jim came around the side and pulled open a passenger door. “Oh, I just saw her in the shop. She was walking toward the back door.” He shrugged, “said she heard somethin’.”
“And you just left her there?” Donnie’s eyes fixed on him harder than steel under his furrowed brow, head slightly cocked forward.
Before the moment could escalate an ear piercing scream ripped through the pass and echoed as it hammered the mountains beyond.
Donnie and Jeremy sprang into action so fast that they forgot to grab weapons. They barged into the shop and saw a lone figure standing at the back banging on the screen door. Donnie grabbed a can of food off a shelf in mid-stride which he turned into a Crow Hop and hurled it at the creature’s head like a baseball.
The throw was perfect and the force of impact bounced the creature’s head off the screen and opened a fresh gash. It stumbled and turned around slowly. Seeing the two young men standing there, it started forward with blood still pouring from its mouth.
“Save Laura! I’ll take care of this one.” Jeremy pointed toward the back as he stepped forward and delivered a sharp front kick to the creature’s chest that sent it staggering back through a refrigerator’s glass door with a loud crash.
It stood back up and paid no heed to the blood pooling around its feet or the glass shards wedged in its back. It snarled and snapped its teeth at Jeremy and started forward for the kill.
Donnie continued to the screen door and saw a matted head of gray hair just before it disappeared down the hill. He burst through the door and gave only brief glances right and left, saw nothing else, and pressed on. He came to a sliding halt at the top of the hill and looked down, only to catch a glimpse of the back of a black shirt with red polka dots swaying like the dead, and then it disappeared around the corner of the house.
Inside Jeremy beat the old male relentlessly with anything he could get his hands on. He found a broom and thrashed its head with short rapid strokes that sent it crashing through shelves and sliding across the floor, but still it came forward. Jeremy started breathing heavily and backpedaled as he continued swinging. When the broom broke he rammed the jagged end into the creature’s face, but it stopped on bone and scratched around then slid off leaving a loose flap of flesh across the cheek. The savagery was the stuff of instant nightmares, but the old beast would not go down.
Meg came running in with the sawed-off shotgun in hand. “Jeremy!”
He whacked the monster across the face with the broom and looked at her.
“Catch!” She tossed the gun through the air underhanded.
He caught it and turned to fire, but accidentally extended his arm right into the creature’s head. It bit down on the backside of Jeremy’s hand, and blood gushed out all over its face.
Jeremy hollered and seized up, and then he mashed his thumb into the thing’s eye socket.
“No!” Meg’s hands covered her mouth.
Jeremy punched the monster in the face, sending it crashing into a shelf full of detergent, and he switched the gun to his other hand. He stepped up and mashed the end of the barrel into its nose and pulled the trigger. His teeth pressed together as he watched the head come apart all over the toppled shelves. Covered in blood himself, he looked down at his hand and back at Meg, who met his gaze through a stream of tears, and his eyes frowned.
Outside Donnie ran down the steps and around the corner. The house sat on a narrow flat area with a wooden railing guarding the end of a porch. Beyond that, the edge dropped off a steep cliff. He saw the old female swiping and clawing through the railing’s posts with its head and one arm stuck through unable to push further. However, he could not see what lay below.
An old metal pail sat by the wall at the top of the steps, and he grabbed it as he ran forward. Holding the handle, he swung it downward and hit the creature in the back. The impact dented the pail and the creature turned toward Donnie and stood up.
“Help!”
He hit the creature one more time and glanced over the railing and gasped at the sight of Laura clinging onto thick roots that hung out of the ground. Small rocks and dirt showered the mountainside as she scraped her feet into the wall, trying to find a hold.
The monster staggered toward Donnie with its arms out, reaching for his head. He pushed the hands away and swung the pail again, and watched with satisfaction as it crashed into the left temple. He circled around it and smashed the pail into its face one more time, and the creature stumbled back toward the railing. It fell back with a gash across the forehead and hit a baluster. Before it could regain any balance, Donnie lunged for the feet and lifted as hard as he could. It flopped over the side and managed to claw the porch, ripping its fingernails off, before sliding over the edge. Donnie leaned over the railing in time to see its head smash into the side of the mountain before landing on a patch of jagged rocks with an awful crunch. He could see blood dribbling off the rocks away from twitching muscles that could no longer lift the shattered limbs.
Laura’s hands slid off the roots until she only had a finger hold. “Donnie!”
The railing cr
eaked as he scrambled over it and leaned down with one arm free. He yelped as his back muscles stretched to their ripping point, but he managed to wrap his fingers around Laura’s wrist. His whole body shook as violently as his voice as he fought through the strain. “Come on! Give it everything you’ve got.” In the back of is mind he wondered if she could not try a little harder as he pulled with every ounce of strength he had, and it felt like the muscles in his chest might tear in half. He lightened her load just enough so that she could gain a foothold and push up. He finally got her hand on the railing, and they climbed over and collapsed on the other side panting heavily. If another one of the undead had walked up at that moment they could have hardly summoned the energy to oppose it.
When the burning in his arms subsided to a dull roar, Donnie reached over and hugged her. “I thought I was going to lose you for a second there.”
She buried her head into his chest, and then the tears came in torrents. Through her sobs she managed to speak in muffled tones. “I looked outside, and all of a sudden they were there. They had me cornered, and I just panicked.”
“Shhh…shhh. It’s okay. You’re safe now. It’s all right.” Donnie pulled her closer and held her tightly.
When they walked back into the shop and saw Meg crouching in the corner with her head buried in her arms, they abruptly stopped and then saw Jeremy standing motionlessly with his back to them, head hung low.
Donnie looked over and saw the old male spread out on some broken shelves with its head split wide open. “You showed him! Man that was close whatin’ it?”
Jeremy remained still with his head down. “A little too close.”
Donnie’s eyes became slits. “What’re you talkin’ about?” He walked around to face Jeremy and looked over at Meg who still sat in the corner, not moving a muscle. The lines on his face creased as he studied Jeremy’s face. “What is it?” Then he saw it.
Jeremy clutched his bad hand with the other, and rivulets of blood escaped through his fingers.
Donnie’s eyes met Jeremy’s as they came face to face, and he saw the world of pain behind them.
“I screwed up man.” Jeremy swallowed hard and tried to flatten his face, but a tear poured down his cheek and dropped off his chin.
“No. No. No! Goddamn it! No!” Donnie backed away shaking his head and drove a kick into a shelf that spread its contents across the floor. He turned around, his face stern, and his index finger knifed into the air. “We’re gonna fix it. Don’t you worry, I can fix it.”
“It’s too late, already too late. I’ve been bitten. Karma’s a real bitch huh?” Jeremy tried to force a smile, but his mouth curled in pain. More tears welled up in his eyes. “Just leave me here man. Go. I’ll take care of it. Just go and survive. And never come back here, not as long as you live. You have to promise me that. Okay?”
Donnie walked over to the counter and slammed into it as he slid down on the floor. “You can’t die. I need you.”
Laura still stood in the same place with her face buried in her hands.
“I’m gonna turn in less than a day. You know that. Just let it go. You can’t save me.” Jeremy lowered his head again, and his dribbled down his face and smacked the floor.
Donnie hit the edge of the counter with the back of his head. “It’s over. We’re dead.”
Jeremy shook his head. “Don’t say that. Y’all can still fight this.”
Donnie stared straight ahead with gritted teeth. “So can you, still fight anyway.”
Jeremy took a step back and seemed to get smaller. “No way, I’m done. Just leave me, please. I’m not gonna risk being a threat to anyone.”
Donnie spread out his arms. “If you stay here what’re you gonna do?”
Jeremy kept his eyes pinned to the floor. “Kill myself probably. His words caused Meg to sob louder. Jeremy could not bring himself to look at anyone. “I’ve gotta stay here. This is where I belong now. Just leave me. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”
Meg picked her head up, and her cheeks were covered in tears. “Donnie’s right. That town’s not far away. You can still shoot that gun.”
When he heard his girlfriend’s plea, Jeremy’s face took on the appearance of stone and his eyes glossed over.
“What do you say to a little payback?” Donnie looked at Jeremy with a straight face, but sadness perched behind his eyes. “You can still help us. When the time comes, I’ll finish you off. I promise. What do you say, for your friends?”
“I love you, Jeremy. I'm not ready to say goodbye yet.” Meg spoke through a wall of tears and sobs directly followed her plea.
Looking at the floor, Jeremy lumped all of his emotions up into a ball and forced them down his throat with a hard swallow. In their place he felt heat rising in his stomach. “Okay.” A wave of hate washed over him that extinguished every flicker of despair, and his heart turned to stone.
The group exited the shop with Donnie charging ahead first. He saw Jim, who sat in the passenger seat, biting down on a potato chip.
“What happened?” Jim took one look at Donnie’s face and jumped in his seat. “Oh shit.” He started to fumble with the door handle but did not manage to find it in time.
Donnie ran up without saying a word, yanked the door open, and dragged Jim out by his hair. He threw him on the ground and began kicking and stomping him. Jim grunted and groaned while moving his arms around futilely trying to protect himself. The rest of the group looked on silently. The thought of intervention crossed each of their minds, but they could not seem to find the compassion. “I fuckin’ hate you!” Donnie screamed at Jim as he continued the punishment. “You’re a fuckin’ coward!” He stomped Jim’s stomach, drew his leg again, and landed the top of his foot cleanly across his face. Jim’s nose flattened and blood spurted out. He rolled over on his side clutching his face, but could not stymie the ruby flood.
Donnie bent down, dragged him up by his collar, and spoke directly to his face. “You don’t ever leave anybody hangin’ like that! You hear me? If you ever do that again, I’ll kill ya’, got it?” Donnie’s voice was full of venom, and the rest of the group instinctively shrank away.
Later on, after Jim had learned the consequences of his apathy, he curled up into a ball with a shirt wadded up on his nose in silence and pretended to not exist, as they continued down the road toward the little town named Purdah.
✹✹✹
Struggling to pull back, the creature’s strength surprised Ron, considering they could hardly walk straight. Its mouth, gaping open, closed in toward his face. With all of his weapons training Ron figured that when he enrolled in a Jujitsu class it only served as an extra precaution but not a necessary one. At the moment, however, he had no other means of defending himself.
He curled the fingers up on his right hand so that the middle knuckles of the index and middle fingers formed dull points and slammed them up into the creature’s throat until something cracked. Executed on a regular person, the fight would have probably ended with that single move. However, with the undead it leaned back, gurgled, and pressed forward again. Changing tactics Ron grabbed the creature’s hand to peel it off his face by wrapping his fingers around the softest part of the palm, below the thumb, and he twisted if off to the side at a forty-five-degree angle. He continued to rotate the wrist clockwise until it snapped. Due to body mechanics, the move forced the creature down to the floor, but it showed no signs of pain. Ron stared at it for a second with his mouth hanging open, and it seized the opportunity to reach up with the other hand and pull him down by the collar, hissing and snarling. Ron had his hands planted on its chest, trying to push himself away, and then he heard a yelp and looked up.
Cassius had one of the other two pinned on the ground, biting its arm, and the other one had just bitten him on the shoulder.
Ron grimaced at the sight of one of those things hurting his dog. A surge of power that he did not know existed went through his body as his adrenaline kicked into a higher gear. He drove
his forearm under the creature’s throat, pinning its head to the floor, then reached back and unsheathed his knife. He raised the blade over the creature’s head and planted it into its face. He got up on his knees and lowered his upper body weight onto the handle. The blade sank in and completely impaled the head. The body finally went limp as blood spilled out onto the floor from the quarter-size hole in the head, and Ron relaxed his body with a sigh.
He turned to see Ann behind him, and saw her aiming the gun at one of the undead fighting with Cassius. “No! Don’t fire from there. You might hit the dog.”
Surprised, she lowered the gun and looked at Ron is if he had just entered the room. Her eyes fixed in one position, and she reacted a little bit slower to everything.
Ron picked up his Tavor and stood up. “Go back there and shoot that one through the glass.” He pointed to the back at the one still banging on the back door. He watched as she walked down the hall in a trance. Ron turned, raised the gun to his shoulder, and walked toward the two fighting with Cassius. As he approached, the one that had bitten Cassius turned and grated its teeth. Ron squeezed the trigger in one quick burst, and it dropped as the bullets tore its face apart. The next one, still struggling under Cassius’ weight, tried to rip its arm out of his mouth but to no avail. Ron walked up, placed his boot on its neck, and pushed down. He shifted his weight forward until he heard a gurgle and crunching sounds. He aimed and put one bullet into its forehead. The back of its head exploded onto the floor. Ron felt it go completely limp under his boot and eased off.
Cassius, ripping his teeth back and forth to tear the arm apart, felt the tension break and relaxed his jaws and the arm smacked the floor.
The Inroad Chronicles (Book 1): Legion Seed Page 18
