by Grivante
JJ and Judas saw it and shared a look of concern.
“He’s not doing good,” JJ mouthed and shook her head.
Judas nodded, putting a hand on Burt’s shoulder to help steady him.
From the park, the shambling dead partiers grew nearer.
Burt muttered under his breath.
“What’s that, honey?” JJ patted the back of his costume. “Just rest a minute. We’re almost there, we’ll help you.”
“Sometimes,” Burt gasped, looking up at Jonah and the juvenile gangster, “when there’s nothing left to lose,” he raised one trembling leg to stand, “we find the courage…”
“None of us are Danny. We’re—” Jonah started explaining but was stopped by something large and yellow rushing past him.
Burt charged by, his big costume waddling, arms flapping in the air.
The kid turned his gaze as the yellow blur slammed into him. He fell back, firing a wild shot into the sky and dropping the weapon as Burt’s momentum toppled him to the ground. He held tight to the baggie of blow.
Jonah watched, stunned, eyes widening as Burt bounced back to his feet. “It’s zombies you damn punk, and if you don’t get out of here, they’re gonna be on top of you next instead of me.”
The young gangster scurried away from Burt, spitting blood from his lips and cursing. “You mutha—”
The purple form of Tinky-Winky rushed up from behind and kicked the punk in the face, bloodying his nose further. “I’m sick and tired of people pointing guns at my boys,” JJ snapped.
The red and green forms of Jonah and Judas stepped in beside her. “C’mon momma bear, they’re almost on top of us,” Jonah said.
Burt looked at JJ, a big goofy grin spreading across his face. “Does that mean I’m—”
“No,” Judas shouted, both he and Jonah pushing Burt forward.
“Let’s go,” Jonah barked.
The four Teletubbies moved toward the construction equipment, leaving behind the young drug dealer scrambling for his gun. He found it, clutching it in his right fist and stumbled to his feet, swinging around to fire at the departing group. He gripped the pistol flat in his outstretched palm, taking aim like he'd seen in all the cool gangster movies, the baggy of cocaine still dangling in his left hand.
The costumed exterminators had stopped at the steamroller, the brothers helping Burt up as JJ got into the driver’s seat of the enormous double roller.
“Who should I cap first?” The boy aimed the weapon from shape to shape. “Eenie, meanie, mi—”
The partying dead swarmed him from behind, knocking him over and tearing at his flesh, ripping, rending, biting. He spun, pulling his arms up to protect his face and screamed while still holding the gun and cocaine tight.
He looked up as a red-nosed clown dove in for a bite, its face a hellish nightmare of gore. The kid pulled the trigger repeatedly, blasting through the baggy, sending a cloud of white powder into the air, but missing the clown entirely.
The gunshots caught the attention of the four atop the steamroller. They ducked, covering their heads before turning to find the partiers devouring the boy, the chalky haze of drugs covering their feasting forms.
“Um, Jonah,” Judas said.
“Yeah?” he shot a glance at his brother.
“That’s not gonna be good, is it?”
The steamroller rumbled to life as JJ cranked the diesel engine. The loud motor drowned out the boy’s screams but alerted the zombies. Their heads snapped up, a savage ferociousness in their eyes, their jaws chittering up and down like wind-up toys. The clown, red-nose now gone, let out a shriek as it and the others inhaled the drugs. It leapt forward running straight for the escaping group.
“Oh fuck!” Jonah cried.
Part XVI - Cocaine Zombies
“Go, go!” Jonah shouted at JJ, who was busy familiarizing herself with the controls.
She glanced to the side and saw the dead leaving behind their meal in pursuit of fresh meat. They leapt and ran straight for the steamroller. Her eyes went wide and she slammed her purple mitt into the lever that sent the roller lurching forward.
Jonah and Judas stood on opposite sides atop the machine, clinging to the side rails of the operator's canopy. Burt lay in the space behind JJ gasping. The roller bounced as it drove across crushed gravel and the brothers struggled to hold on.
“How much ammo do you have left, Judas?”
“Two or three bullets in the pistol. I’ve got plenty more ammo in my pockets, but no way to get to it.” He paused a moment. “We need to ditch these costumes. They weren’t such a great idea after all.”
“No. They were a good idea. I don’t think we would’ve made it through that crowd if it wasn’t for being covered head to toe. It’s one of the best defenses, it’s just too bad they’re so awkward to move in.”
“How about you, Jonah?”
“Just one,” Jonah said, shifting around to get a better footing and a clear view of the zombies coming for them.
The dead came in a frenzy, outpacing the hulking steamroller. When one of them leapt over a pile of lumber faster than an Olympic hurdler, Judas screamed. “Did you see that?” he pointed. "That one jumped over a pile of two-by-fours.”
Jonah turned to JJ, wishing Xanadu was with them. They could really use that little guy right now. “Can this thing move any faster?”
“Not much,” JJ answered. “Top speed is only around 10mph. Good for slow ones, but not those things.” She tore her helmet off and threw it into the darkness, daring to look behind them, then in front where a four-foot high chain-link fence stood in their path. “Hang on! It’s about to get bumpy!”
The large Caterpillar tandem steamroller slammed into the fence, slowing as it pushed the barrier over and flattening it. The dozen or more cocaine-fueled zombies covered the remaining distance from behind and clamored at the back of their getaway vehicle.
“What are we gonna do?” Judas shouted.
Jonah shook the head of the large red costume. He had no idea. They were outnumbered, over-powered and soon to be out of ammo. “JJ, how many shots you have left?”
“Four or five. I can help, but someone else needs to drive!”
“You ever driven one of these things?” Jonah asked Burt.
“No,” he gulped.
“Well, you’re gonna have to learn. JJ, can you show him how to operate this beast?”
“Yeah, I think so, sugar. It’s not too hard, just a little difficult to stop.”
“That’s okay, we don’t wanna stop. Keep this thing moving!” He turned to Judas. “Let’s try to keep them off us. Kick ‘em and block them from climbing on. Shoot only when you have to but if we can prevent them from getting up here, hopefully, we can stay alive long enough to come up with a better plan.”
“C’mon, honey,” JJ called to Burt as she rose out of the driver’s seat. “Get over here.”
Burt got on all fours and crawled as the machine shuddered across the bumpy terrain, making its way to the street. “What do I do?”
Beside the roller, the nearest of the fast-moving dead reached for Judas who used his right arm to cling to the metal pole. The clown that took out the drug dealing punk growled and snapped at him, clawing into the left leg of the suit. He’d never seen savagery like this one carried in its eyes. He kicked out in a hopeless attempt to keep the clown from growing closer.
“It’s pretty simple,” JJ shouted at Burt, scooting her costumed form out of his way. “Just keep this controller pushed forward and use the wheel to steer!”
He reached out and put his hand on the controller. “How do I stop it?”
“You don’t!” Jonah barked from the other side. “Keep it moving. No matter what!”
“Okay, okay!”
JJ grabbed hold of the railing next to Judas with her left arm and struggled to grip the butt of her revolver inside the suit. The vehicle drove onto the pavement, finally smoothing out. She yelled at Burt, “Turn the wheel to the right.
Take us back toward our cars, near your house.”
“Okay!” The roller groaned as he twisted the steering wheel as far as it would turn.
JJ pivoted and found Judas screaming as the clown zombie clawed its way up his leg and into the cab. The only thing keeping him from getting pulled off was his arm wrapped around the support column. Two others were close on the heels of the clown.
JJ clutched her gun and aimed. It took three shots before the clown dropped. The roller jumped as the body fell under the massive rear drum, sending the group of Teletubbies swaying and clutching tight to keep from falling off. By the time JJ got her footing back, two more of the costumed beasts clawed and screeched just inches away.
On Jonah’s side, only one of the drug-fueled dead had made it within reach. He considered shooting it but with one bullet remaining in Brutus, he needed to save that shot for an emergency. The suit's giant stuffed arms prevented him from being able to grab anything as a weapon, so he kicked at the zombie, trying to knock it back and hoping it would get caught under the rear drum.
The zombie was a man dressed as a woman. A fairly attractive one too, if you didn’t count the fact that most of the flesh was peeled away from the left part of her face, revealing a bloody mask of muscle and bone. Her teeth showed through the wound, gnashing and biting as she grasped for her meal. She had a ‘Hello My Name Is’ sticker on the top of her blue mini-dress that read ‘Katie’.
“Come and get it, Katie,” Jonah taunted, trying to lure him closer.
The he-she zombie surprised Jonah by slowing for a moment. Then, with a hungered shriek, it bounded from the ground and landed right on top of him, flattening him to his back behind the driver’s chair.
Jonah gasped, the fall knocking the wind from his lungs, leaving him struggling for breath. The creature tore into the suit's padding. Its hands were like claws, digging into the stuffing, tearing chunks free as it worked to dine on Jonah’s flesh.
When Katie’s thrashing arm smacked Burt in the back of the head, he wailed, turning the wheel in panic and causing the heavy machine to jerk.
The sudden movement sent JJ’s legs flailing off the top, only staying on the roller because she’d wedged an arm of her costume into the railing.
Judas's feet slipped all the way off. He grasped the support column with both hands to keep himself from going over the edge. His big green feet dangled in the air, the dead grasping and growling for a bite of his hide. They didn’t care they couldn't see his flesh, the stimulant-crazed zombies knew warm meat awaited inside.
Screams came from everywhere. The scared panic of the living and the savage hunger of the undead.
Burt’s terrified shouts distracted the zombie ravaging Jonah’s costume. It snapped around and found Burt’s neck exposed. It let loose of Jonah and lunged forward, clamping down.
Burt let out an anguished shriek and the steamroller jerked back and forth.
Jonah climbed out from under the zombie and regained his footing. He smashed a large red leg into the side of the he-she zombie, kicking at it repeatedly until it let go of Burt. The wig-wearing man’s face dripped blood as it glared at Jonah and growled. Jonah kicked it square in the jaw and sent it hurtling off the machine.
It fell to the ground with a smack on the pavement, but hopped back to its feet and resumed pursuit of the runaway meal.
Jonah looked at Burt and saw the red liquid gushing from the wound. His stomach sank.
Burt blinked up at him, tears of pain and anguish in his eyes, a look of knowing. “How long?”
“A few minutes, maybe.”
Burt’s body lurched forward as a heavy sob tore through him. He nodded. “Thanks for coming, Jonah. Thanks for trying… I didn’t deserve it.”
JJ scrambled back on to the roller and Judas repositioned himself so he could use his gun arm. He shot the nearest zombie, knocking it to the street and causing the others to slow, having to avoid the falling body. The construction vehicle neared the turn onto Oklahoma St.
“Here,” JJ shouted. “Turn, here.”
Burt turned the wheel and the roller moved with steady certainty onto the pavement.
As it did so, Jonah saw the van parked at the corner and things clicked for him. The paint was faded and it didn’t look well maintained, but it was definitely a Nitsau Corporation vehicle. No one was inside from what he could tell, but his hand twitched on Brutus and he grit his teeth.
Farther down the block, their Prius and JJ’s charger were parked, surrounded by twenty or so slow moving zombies. The sound of the steamroller caught the dead's attention and they turned, coming up the street to meet them.
The downward slope allowed the heavy piece of equipment to pick up speed, but it was far too slow to escape the cocaine-frenzied zombies. Jonah looked at Judas, they needed a plan right now. There were six runners in pursuit, another dozen slow ones behind them. They couldn’t reverse course to take out the fast ones or they’d be overtaken. They had to keep moving forward.
He looked out the rear of the canopy to the roller's rear section. There wasn’t much space between the driver's area and the drum but if they could get the dead to jump on the back instead of the sides, it would keep them away from Burt and JJ in the cab. He yanked off his mask and chucked it at the nearest runner, knocking it back and slowing it.
“Judas, let's yell out this way and try to entice them to come at us over the drum. Keep them from being able to climb aboard.”
Judas took aim at the one closest to his side, firing a shot and dropping the zombie. He saw that his brother had removed his mask and tore his off as well, using it as a projectile to trip a runner. “Okay, bro! These things are faster than those damn yetis for sure!” 1
“I don’t know about that,” Jonah said, “but at least they ain’t as big.”
“What do you want me to do?” JJ asked.
Jonah looked her in the eyes and tilted his head toward Burt. She followed his motion, saw the bloody mess on his neck and let out a silent, “Oh, no!” She bent next to him as the brothers yelled at the dead.
“Are you still with us?” She spoke soft, but loud enough he could hear her over the diesel engine while placing a purple arm on his back and the mitt containing the pink lady directly against his head in case he turned.
Burt turned his wet and wide eyes from the street to gaze into JJ's. He nodded. “Yeah, for the moment.” Fresh tears welled. “You’re sure pretty, JJ. The brothers are lucky to have you in their lives.”
“Thanks, sugar. I’m lucky to have them too!”
He smiled back at her. “I’ll be okay for a bit, I think. Long enough to give these bastards payback at least.” He leaned his head forward to where the dead came in a nice column straight at them.
“Perfect,” she grinned, then a movement from a yard across the street caught her attention. She glanced up, her mouth fell open and she shouted, “XANADU!”
1 Learn all about their encounter in The Zee Brothers: Revenge of the Zombie Yeti at myBook.to/zx-revengeyeti
Part XVII - Burt No More
Xanadu and Jefe’ barked and ran, chasing the large white cat as it led them through yard after yard, then abruptly shot across the street.
“This is fun,” Jefe’ panted.
“Yeah,” Xanadu barked in response as the cat climbed up a brick wall a dozen feet in front of them. It made it to the top of the red-clay blocks and leapt out of sight. The two dogs screeched to a halt at the bottom of the wall, panting with their tongues hanging out.
“Uh-huh, that’s right,” Jefe barked, “get outta here or we’re gonna catch you.” His tongue wagged side to side, dripping saliva. They both plopped their butts down and stared at the top ledge. Gunshots rang out in the distance along with the sounds of a large rumbling motor.
Xanadu felt them more than heard them, something was wrong. Jefe and the cat had triggered a reaction in him he never knew how to deal with, a primal response that over-rode all other senses. He twisted halfway around to find
out what the noise was when ice-cold hands grabbed him by the sides and lifted him off the ground. He let out a yelp that sent Jefe’ scurrying.
“I don’t know how you escaped,” a gravelly female voice growled into his ear, sharp nails digging into his flesh, “but you won’t get away again.”
Xanadu shook and flung his legs about, struggling to break free. The woman fought to hang on to him, raising him above her head as she tried to control him. He barked in panic when he spotted his momma passing by on the roller.
“XANADU!” JJ’s voice carried through the air as the steamroller chugged down the road.
The disco music flared to life, lights danced across the ground at their feet and for the briefest of moments, time slowed.
With Dr. Nitsau slowing beneath him, her face in a triumphant snarl, Xanadu rolled, breaking her grasp and falling to the grass. The music and lights halted, time resuming its usual pace. Xanadu ran, darting between the legs of her henchmen, barking. “Run, Jefe’, run!”
The little Chihuahua turned from the brick wall, saw the angry woman snarling, spotted Xanadu disappearing around the corner of a nearby house and took off in pursuit.
The taller of the two men standing to the woman's side aimed at the escaping dogs.
“No!” Dr. Nitsau spat. “I need the dog alive.” She peered out at the road where the steamroller collided with the line of costumed dead. “Save your bullets for the humans.”
On the roller, the force of smacking into bodies knocked JJ forward. She slammed into the front support bars and fell on top of Burt, blocking the controls he needed to operate the machine.
The brothers bounced back and forth, attempting to stay upright as the steamroller squashed body after body in its path, bucking as it did so but now veering to the right, heading straight toward their parked cars. JJ’s costumed shape blocked any view Burt might have had to try to change directions.
