In almost the exact center of town, a multi-vehicle pileup blocked the road.
As best Courtney could tell, a semi had collided with three cars smack in the middle of an intersection.
Gar brought the pickup to a stop and in a burst of irritation, smacked the steering wheel. “We can’t go around. There isn’t room.”
“Back up, then,” Courtney said.
“Zombies,” Sally Ann warned. “On the left.”
“I’ll take care of them,” Gar said, and reached for the door handle.
“No! Wait!” Courtney practically shouted. She pointed.
An eerie green tentacle was slithering out of a side street behind them. Curling like an elephant’s trunk, it writhed to either side and then rose into the air like a snake about to strike.
Over the tops of homes to the east, the green cloud became visible.
“It’s here already!” Sally Ann marveled.
“It’s moving so fast, we’ll never outrun it!” Courtney realized.
Gar shifted into reverse and tromped on the gas. Spinning the wheel, he slammed the pickup’s tail gate into a pair of shambling horrors. The crunch of their bones was nearly drowned out by Gaga’s yip of terror.
As if he were a race car driver, Gar whipped the pickup in close to the curb in front of a wide brick building “Come on!” he yelled, and sprang out.
Courtney didn’t question why. For some reason she instinctively trusted him. She set Sansa down and quickly untied Gaga.
Gar had run to a door and was trying to twist the knob.
Above the door in bold letters was ACME SHIPPING.
“A warehouse?” Sally Ann said. “What good will this do?”
Gar didn’t answer. He stepped back, drew his Colt, and shot the lock. There was a loud sponge and he kicked the door and it flew open.”Inside!” he hollered.
Tentacles were flowing up the main street.
Courtney followed Gar into the building, into a dark office with a couple of desks and chairs and a counter. Beyond,a door hung ajar.
Gar darted through it.
The warehouse ran the length of the block. Pallets laden with crates and boxes took up most of the space.
Gar sprinted toward the back. To the right were recessed stairs. He indicated they should descend.
Courtney noticed a window high on the wall.
Green vapor was drifting past.
“We’re trapped,” Sally Ann said accusingly as Gar joined them at the bottom.
Gar tried a door with Maintenance stenciled in block letters. It opened—into blackness. He took a small flashlight from his slicker and switched it on. “Stay close.”
A narrow tunnel brought them to a room filled with tools and mops and a snow shovel. There was barely room for them to cram in.
As Gar has done with every other door, he closed this one.
“You think that will keep the cloud out?” Sally Ann said.
“Have you ever seen one go into a a building?” Gar said.
Sally Ann had to think about it. “No. But that doesn’t mean they don’t.”
“I’m turning off the flashlight,” Gar let them know.
Sansa’s hand found Courtney’s.
Gaga’s nose pressed against her leg.
“Listen!” Sally Ann whispered.
From somewhere and everywhere came an eerie hissing. It rose and fell, growing slightly louder each time it rose.
“It’s the cloud!” Sally Ann gasped. “Getting closer!”
So close, Courtney was sure it was coming down the tunnel toward them.
CHAPTER 23
Of all the horrific developments since the outbreak of World War III, the one that scared Courtney the most, the one she feared more than the ravenous dead and the pus-covered monstrosities, were the chemical clouds.
Everything about them was scary. How they looked like clouds yet crawled across the ground instead of floating through the sky. How, unlike true clouds, which were subject to the wind, chemical clouds could travel in any direction. And how, once the clouds enveloped a person or an animal, their victims were never seen again—or they emerged from the clouds changed.
So now, as the hissing continued to grow louder, Courtney experienced rising panic. An impulse came over her to throw the door open and run even though there was nowhere to run to. The only way out was through the tunnel. Still, she was on the verge of giving in when a small hand crept into hers, shocking her back to reality.
“I’m scared,” Sansa whispered.
“I’m right here with you,” Courtney said. The fact that Sansa looked up to her and relied on her for protection was like a splash of cold water in the face. She must be strong for the girl’s sake, if not her own.
Gar switched off the flashlight.
In the sudden and total dark, Sansa wrapped both of her arms around Courtney and trembled in fear.
“Why did you do that?” Sally Ann whispered.
“Shhh,” Gar said.
The hissing seemed to fill the storage room.
Gaga whimpered.
Courtney bit her bottom lip to keep from screaming. She was facing the door, and she thought she detected a faint green tinge at the bottom. She imagined green mist seeping in, and imagined the consequences should they breathe it.
Courtney blinked, and the green along the door was gone. She realized it had never been there to begin with.
Sansa was rigid with fear. “I don’t want to die!”
“You’re not about to, girl,” Gar said. “Use your ears.”
Courtney used hers.
The hissing sound was fading. The cloud, or the part of it that had slithered into the tunnel, was departing.
“Can we be this lucky?” Sally Ann said.
Pale light bathed them as Gar turned on the flashlight. Pressing an ear to the door, he listened, then said, “I think it’s gone.”
“Let’s wait a while to be sure,” Sally Ann said.
“It will be dark out soon,” Gar said. “Better if we’re gone by then.”
“Why not hole up?” Sally Ann said. “Find a place with beds and spend the night?”
“In a town overrun with eaters?”
“I’m exhausted,” Sally Ann said. “I’ve give anything for a good night’s sleep.”
“Wouldn’t we all?” Courtney said. “But staying alive comes first.”
“Great minds,” Gar said, smiling at her.
Courtney grew warm again. It bothered her, how she reacted to him. As if she had no control over her feelings.
Gar had gone on. “The three of you wait here while I make sure the coast is clear.”
“No way,” Sally Ann said.
Courtney nodded. “We stick together no matter what.”
“Your call,” Gar said. He eased the door open a crack and peered out. “Looks safe.” He breathed deeply a few times. “The air, too.”
“We hope,” Sally Ann said.
As a precaution, Courtney held her breath until they reached the top of the stairs. The warehouse appeared empty of life.
Once again Gar took the lead, moving from pallet to pallet in a crouch, his hand on his pearl-handled pistol.
Courtney hoped she wouldn’t need to use the shotgun. One blast would bring every zombie around.
The office door was ajar yet Courtney distinctly remembered Gar closing it. Gar did, too, because he inched the door outward and checked before stepping through.
The front door was open, as well.
They crept to the window and parted the blinds.
Their pickup was where they had left it. Only now the street around it was filled with zombies.
“There must be fifty or more!” Sally Ann said.
“A lot to fight our way through,” Courtney said. More were approaching every second.
“Even if we did,” Gar said, “the road is still blocked.”
“We need another vehicle,” Sally Ann said.
&
nbsp; “And give up our supplies?” Courtney didn't like that idea.
Gar was craning his neck to see in all directions. “No sign of the green cloud. But it could come back.” He frowned. “As much as I hate to say it, we might have to forget about the pickup.” He turned. “Come on.”
Sansa’s hand glued itself to Courtney’s.
“How are you holding up?” Courtney asked.
“I’m good so long as I’m with you.”
An EXIT sign hung over a metal door at the rear of the warehouse. Gar pressed on the handle but the door didn’t budge. He pushed harder, with no result. “Stay here,” he said, and jogged toward the office.
“He sure likes to give orders,” Sally Ann said.
“He’s helping us,” Courtney defended him. “We should be grateful.”
“You like him, don’t you?”
“Now’s hardly the time.”
“I’m not getting on your case or anything.”
“Good.”
“We’ll always be besties,”Sally Ann said. “We can say anything to each other and no hard feelings, right?”
“In that case,” Courtney said. “You’re down all the time. It’s not like you.”
“Yeah, I admit it,” Sally Ann said. “My dad dying. Then we lost Billy.” She bowed her head in sorrow. “Throw in the end of the world and is it any wonder?”
“We reach the compound, we’ll be safe.”
“You hope. We could get there and find out it’s run by a bunch of loonies.”
“There you go again.”
“Just saying.”
“We don’t have to stay there if we don’t like it,” Courtney said. “We’ll go our own way.”
“If they’ll let us.”
Gar came running back with a key chain. He tried three keys before one worked. Putting a finger to his lips, he pushed as gently and quietly as he could. Even so, there was a scraping noise. He peered out. “The coast looks clear. But stay close together.”
Not that Courtney needed reminding.
An empty street separated the warehosue from a residential area. Homes lined the other side. Except for the absence of life—no people, no dogs or cats or anything—the neighborhood seemed perfectly ordinary.
Gar hastened across and entered a trimmed yard, circling to pass between two houses.
Courtney’s nerves jangled at being in the open in a town full of eaters. She liked that word better than zombies. The sole purpose of the creatures was to eat the living.
The next street was also peaceful.
To their left a car was parked at the curb. Gar didn’t bother with it. Nor with a hybrid across from them. He was interested in an older car, a sleek green model, near the end of the block.
Staying alert, dreading the worst, Courtney glanced every which way. She saw movement in the second story window of a house but couldn’t tell who, or what, it was.
“My grandpa had one of these,” Gar said as he reached for the driver’s door. “It’s a Mustang.”
Courtney vaguely remembered something about a movie with a famous scene involving a Mustang—her dad liked the movie a lot.
Gar poked his head in. “No key. To be expected, I reckon.”
The car was parked in front of a house with a porch and shutters.
“Whoever owns it must live there,” Gar guessed. “I’ll go have a look.”
“Not alone you won’t,” Courtney said.
Gar grinned and winked at her. “Yes, ma’am.”
Courtney checked in both directions, and stiffened.
The next block over, eaters had appeared. Five of them, shuffling and lurching.
“Get down!” Courtney whispered, and flattened, pulling Sansa down with her.
An eater turned toward them, and slowed.
Courtney was ready to scoop Sansa up and run for the house but the creature sniffed and grunted and trailed after the others.
The next moment, Gar was up and dashing to the porch. He tried the doorknob and gave them a thumb’s up.
Only when all of them were safely inside did Courtney relax. For all of thirty seconds.
That was when Sansa screamed.
CHAPTER 24
To one side was an open closet for coats and jackets, half full. To the other, a broad parlor filled with furniture.
In the middle of the room lay a blue coiled fabric rug.
In the middle of the rug squatted an abomination.
Once, it had been a human being, a person so obese, they used a motorized cart to get around, even in their own home. The cart was on its side near the widescreen TV.
The woman who formerly relied on the cart now resembled a gigantic toad, her great moon face pasty with peeling flesh, her dead eyes as white as paper, her blubbery lips agape, exposing yellow teeth. Her thick arms were propped like forelegs, her real legs splayed to either side.
The woman wore a white robe decorated with pink bunnies. It had come loose, so that more of the woman spilled out.
The woman—the thing—fixed her white eyes on them, and belched.
Sansa screamed a second time.
Gar moved to put himself between them and the creature. He was unprepared for the sudden rush of speed the thing put on. Pumping her stout arms and stouter legs, and gnashing her yellow teeth, the thing hurtled at them.
Gar resorted to his pearl-handled pistol. He didn’t quite have it out when the woman slammed into him like an express train and sent him flying. His head struck the wall with a loud thud and he fell in a heap.
Sally Ann attempted to level her rifle but like Gar she was too slow. The creature lowered its head and rammed into her like a mad bull, and the impact sent Sally Ann tumbling.
That left Sansa, and Courtney.
Seizing the girl’s arm, Courtney flew toward stairs to the second floor. She had no time to cut loose with the shotgun. She reached the stairs and bounded up them, past a stair lift.
The toad-woman never slowed. She didn’t bother with the lift. She scrambled up the stairs with inhuman speed and agility.
Courtney heard the clack of teeth and glanced down. The thing had missed biting her ankle by inches.
Practically lifting Sansa, Courtney ran faster. At the landing she spun and sought to kick their pursuer in the head but the woman twisted aside.
Courtney raced along a hallway. The first door she came to, she flung it open, pushed Sansa in and followed, and slammed the door after them. Pressing her shoulder to it, she braced her legs.
A resounding crash shook the door so violently, Courtney was knocked back. She pressed her entire body against it, hoping against hope it would hold.
Another impact popped the top hinge. A third caused the entire door to jump in the jamb.
The next would bring it crashing down, taking Courtney with it.
Courtney backpedaled, bringing the shotgun to bear. A round was already in the chamber. She fired just as another tremendous blow swept the door inward—on top of her.
Courtney fired an instant before the door struck. Wood exploded and splintered and then her arms were hit a jarring blow that knocked the shotgun from her grasp and the door crashed against her chest. She fell, the door on top of her, and heard Sansa shriek her name.
She tried to pushed the door, and couldn’t. Scrabbling sounds told her the creature was slithering on top of it.
Straining for all she was worth, Courtney pushed but couldn’t lift the door a fraction. She peered over the edge to see how close the creature was, and gasped.
That great moon face reared above hers. An inhuman smile lit the abomination’s features. Those dead eyes seemed to gleam with life—or was it hunger?
The creature snapped at Courtney’s fingers. She jerked them away barely in time. Those yellow teeth swooped lower, narrowly missing Courtney’s cheek.
Courtney pushed, with no effect.
The woman’s thick fingers curled into view, spread like claws, and descended toward Courtney’s throat.
>
Courtney nearly screamed.
Those blubbery gums spread wider and the woman bit at her forehead and her eyes.
For heartbeats that were an eternity, Courtney stared her own death in the literal face. Then the woman’s left cheek burst in a spray of putrid flesh and gore and bone.
Simultaneously, the boom of a shot shook the room.
The creature’s eyelids fluttered and its dead white eyes rolled up into its head and its huge bulk went limp.
A leg and a boot gave the thing a shove and it rolled off the door. The door itself was flung aside, and Gar bent and helped Courtney off the floor.
“Did she bite you?” Gar anxiously asked.
Courtney was still in shock, and couldn’t get her vocal chords to word.
“Did she bite you?” Gar repeated, looking her over.
“No,” Courtney got out.
“Thank God,” Gar said, and hugged her.
Surprise replaced the shock, rendering Courtney speechless. Surprise that he cared so much. Surprise, too, that she liked that he cared.
“I got up here as quick as I could,” Gar was explaining. Suddenly he stepped back and coughed. “Sorry. Didn't meant to touch you without your say-so.”
“It’s fine,” Courtney said, her own throat oddly tight.
Sansa and Gaga ran to Courtney’s side, the girl, as usual, wrapping her arms around Courtney’s leg.
“I was so scared!”
“Makes two of us,” Courtney admitted.
“We’d best find the keys to the Mustang,” Gar said, and went out.
Sansa was staring at the mound of flesh that had once been a woman. “She was a monster, wasn’t she?”
Courtney nodded, then realized something. “Where’s Sally Ann?”
“Don’t know.”
They hurried downstairs.
Sally Ann was seated on the floor, doubled over, both arms across her chest.
“Sal?”
Her voice laced with pain, Sally Ann said, “I wanted to come help but I can barely move.”
“It’s all right,” Courtney assured her.
“I think that bitch....”,” Sally Ann caught herself and glanced at Sansa. “I think a rib is cracked. Maybe two. It hurts just to breathe.”
“Rest, then,” Courtney advised. “I’ll look for painkillers.”
A Girl a Dog and Zombies on the Munch Page 12
