by S. Ganley
The zombie had been a young boy in life, between twelve and fourteen years old. He was still dressed in the tattered remains of a pair of pajamas that were covered in unimaginable layers of filth as if the kid had been rolling in a sewer for the last several days. He was wondering along the base of the stairs leading up to the kitchen as if he was either physically unable to make the climb or unsure if he should. He was turned sideways to the hallway where Garrett was watching him but as he completed a circuit of the mindless path he continued to follow, he turned briefly to face the hallway before moving back towards the stairs. Garrett was pretty sure that he was still out of sight, from the kid’s point of view the hallway would be dark and difficult to see more than a foot or two beyond the entrance. As long as Garrett remained still while he was looking in his direction he should stay undetected. But he also knew that vision was not necessarily his biggest enemy at the moment, it probably wouldn't take long for his body odor and that of everyone else's to start permeating into the rest of the basement. He wasn't sure how many zombies might still be upstairs inside the house or on the property nearby and he sure didn't want to find out if that kid picked up their scent and started ringing the dinner bell. Shooting him would have been easy but also ended up with the same result, firearms would only be used if their backs were against the wall again. Garrett leaned his rifle against the wall in the hallway and drew his knife. He crouched down in the shadows and watched the little zombie kid for several moments to get his mindless little pattern of walking back and forth down pat. He had to admit that zombie’s habit of dropping into this stasis like state was in their favor. If they were patient and observant they would be able to exploit such opportunities. His best chance would come the second the kid turned away from the hallway back towards the stairs. Even then, with the distance he had to cover he would have to take a wide path to reach his target, keeping himself moving at an angle to stay just ahead of the boy’s line of sight.
Garrett let him go through his entire routine two more times before he made his move. As the zombies eyes moved past the hallway where he was crouched he moved quickly across the open basement towards the far wall with the stairs to the kitchen. As soon as he was directly along the wall he picked up his speed a little bit, the carpeted floor muffling his footfalls. Keeping low to the ground he picked a point along the side of the zombie where he anticipated he would need to be before his head came back around and faced him. He wanted to make his strike to the back of the zombie’s neck, but there was a twisted piece of broken furniture just behind the zombie that he hadn't seen until he was just a few feet away causing him to alter his plan at the last moment and decide to go for the messier shot directly into the face. He sidestepped around the broken furniture and glass while continuing to keep just behind the zombie and out of sight. As soon as he reached arms distance from the zombie he struck. Garrett leapt forward with his knife hand slightly out to his side while he swung the blade in a sideways arch that left the bulk of his body in the zombies blind spot just long enough for the blade to make solid contact inside the zombies nostril. Spinning himself into the blow he was able to use his body weight to drive the blade effortlessly into the farthest reaches of the skull, shredding the brain into a useless paste. The zombie probably never even realized he was in danger and simply ceased to exist in the blink of an eye. Garrett caught the slumping body and helped ease it gently to the ground where he pulled the knife free and swiped it several times across the cleanest spot he could find on the boys filthy pajamas.
"You haven't lost your touch." Calvin whispered in his ear as he handed Garrett his rifle after silently moving up behind him.
Garrett looked down solemnly at the body laying at his feet, "Yeah, well it never had to be a kid before."
Calvin patted him gently on the shoulder, "You know as well as I do that kid had already lost the innocence of age and would have torn any of us into hamburger meat if he was given the chance. Don't let it get you down."
Miranda came up behind Calvin leading the rest of their group along with her. When Emily looked down at the body at Garrett's feet her mouth dropped open and was just about to let loose with a horrified scream when Cameron's hand suddenly shot out from behind her and clamped tightly over it.
Doug was the one to offer an explanation, "he lived up the street, Anderson I think his name was. Used to shovel driveways around here for money in the winters. Really well-mannered and polite young man."
He turned back towards Emily and keeping his voice low but firm he told her, "Keep your shit together woman. This is nothing," Doug pointed to the boys crumpled body in front of them, "you're about to witness a lot worse outside. If you scream you're going to get all of us killed." He made sure he had her full and undivided attention before nodding towards Cameron for him to remove his hand from her mouth, "do you understand?"
Emily said nothing and simply nodded her head in reply. Doug turned back towards Calvin and Garrett and gave them a thumbs up to show that they were ready to continue on.
"Ok, wait at the bottom of the stairs. We’ll go up and have a quick look around and then call for everyone to follow if it’s clear." Garrett said as he and Calvin began to ascend the stairs. Garrett stopped after two steps and turned back to the group, "once we get up there we are going to need to move quickly, you need to keep up and keep quiet. If Calvin or I tell you to do something, you need to do it without hesitation." He had been openly addressing Doug, Emily and Cameron in that statement but then focused directly on Emily, "understood?"
Emily squared her shoulders and pulled her upper body into an erect posture as she said, "I understand fully."
Garrett had his doubts that she really did, but they didn't have the luxury of time to stand around and debate the subject. Turning back towards the stairs the two of them finished their silent ascent until they were just inside the doorway that opened into the kitchen. Calvin stepped into the kitchen and focused his attention towards the right which included an adjoining laundry room and the open entrance into an expansive den. Garrett peeled off to the left covering the majority of the kitchen, the smashed remains of the back door and the hallway leading further into the ground floor of the house. Calvin made a clicking sound with his mouth, sounding more like a cricket or other insect it was something taught in patrol technique training as a means for signaling danger when hand signals with the rest of your element was not possible. Garrett froze in place, the only thing he allowed to move was his eyes as they methodically scanned back in forth over his areas of responsibility. The inside of the house he was able to see appeared clear up to that point. He could see three zombies through the back door far off near the edge of the woods in the back corner of Doug's backyard. They would be a problem but he thought it was one they could deal with. He had no illusions that once they managed to get everyone outside of the house and moving towards Cameron's house, they were going to see a repeat of their dash in the opposite direction the night before. A casual stroll between neighboring houses was just not something he could reasonably hope for.
Calvin snapped his fingers to indicate that he wanted Garrett's attention. Walking slowly backwards Garrett moved to a spot in the kitchen where a row of cabinets would conceal his movements from the zombies in the backyard and then turned around to find Calvin down on one knee with his rifle up and pointed to the laundry room door. Garrett now realized that the laundry room was also a passageway into the garage and from his angle he could see that the door to the garage was standing open. There was a wide swath of sunlight beaming onto the garage wall that told him the outer garage doors were also open. The cause for Calvin’s alarm quickly became apparent at that moment. At least a dozen or more intermixing shadows were dancing back and forth along the wall and Garrett could just make out the sounds of footfalls on concrete in addition to the soft moaning and animal grunting sounds that often came from zombies gathered together in a flock. He was pretty sure there was a good sized crowd just outside the garage on
the driveway along with a few that may even actually be inside the garage itself.
"Well, we knew it wouldn't be a cake walk." Garrett whispered. "We don't have the ammo to hold off that many for long. We need to make this quick."
Garrett thought back to the fight they had the evening before and how much ammunition they had blown off making the reverse of the same trip they were about to try. He figured they had even less than the amount they had already used, they were going to have to be extra selective with the targets they chose this time around. He also knew that with the added burden of Emily, the going would be even slower than it had been with Doug. As bad as their position was there was nothing they could do about it, they needed to make their move that morning, Kimberly and the others were counting on them. With the backyard appearing as clear as it was going to get at the moment they may not have a better opportunity. Calvin nodded to the stairs letting Garrett know that he would keep watch on the garage while he got everyone else up into the kitchen and ready to go.
Climbing halfway down the stairs, Garrett whispered a brief overview of the situation to everyone and told them to move quickly but quietly into the kitchen and crouch behind the cabinets until they were ready to make a run for it. Miranda brought up the rear and was easily taking to the role of keeping everyone together and behaved. Garrett thought she might actually be looking for an excuse to land a stiff jab across Emily's mouth but he also knew that just that threat would help to keep the big woman on her best behavior and might actually save her life in the next few minutes so he left Miranda to handle things her own way. Calvin and himself were going to be too busy fending off zombies to worry much about stragglers or misbehavior in their own little flock.
Returning to the kitchen, Garrett took up station just inside the back door where he had a better overview of the entire yard and most of the path they would have to cover. In addition to the cluster of three zombies near the far edge of the yard he was now able to spot two more in Cameron's backyard right in front of the shed where his father’s body was just visible peeking out from a tangle of smashed and broken fencing. Garrett was glad that it looked like his head was still covered by some of the debris, if Cameron recognized his own father laying there next to the shed during their rush to his house there was no telling how he may react.
Miranda waved to him from the other side of the counter and he retreated back to the edge of the counter to confer with her for a moment.
"She's out of breath just from climbing the damn stairs and will need a minute." Miranda reported without trying to hide the irritation in her voice or even keep her comments quiet enough so Emily couldn't hear.
Garrett peeked over her shoulder and saw Emily red faced and gasping for breath sprawled like a beached whale on the hardwood floor just in front of the sink. He know understood how Doug figured that having a little man cave tucked away in the basement would be a safe place to keep out of her reach. Since the stairs to the cellar were longer and steeper than those elsewhere in the house, it was a natural physical deterrent for her to ever make the attempt to go down there after him. He spotted something on top of the counter that gave him a thought, and he whispered to Doug, "Grab the biggest kitchen knives you can and give one to your wife and Cameron, if you have something nearby that you can use effectively as well get it. If they get in close at least you will have some way to defend yourselves."
Doug lifted himself up just enough to reach the ornamental container on the top of the counter that Garrett had noticed with several wood handled knives sticking out. Selecting the two biggest blades he gave one to Emily and Cameron and then scooted a little further down the counter where he slid a draw open and pulled out a meat cleaver that Garrett thought would have been much more at home in a butcher shop than in someone's kitchen. Doug noticed his confused expression and explained, "It came with the set she ordered, never been used and still as sharp as a razor."
Calvin worked his way back over to the opposite end of the counter while keeping his eyes and the barrel of his rifle pointed squarely at the opening into the laundry room. "Guys, I think they are starting to pick up a scent they like. A couple more just moved into the garage and several are now just outside the laundry door. It’s now or never."
Garrett looked back towards Emily who was starting to look a little recovered but still far from perfect. They just didn’t have the luxury of giving her any more time to get herself together. She was either going to make it or she wasn't, those were the dirty facts they faced.
"Let’s go." Garrett said as he stood up and led the way to the back door. Doug and Cameron followed right on his heels with Miranda grudgingly helping Emily to her feet and prodding her along while Calvin took up the rear.
Stepping out into the backyard Garrett kept himself pressed up against the back of the house as much as possible and indicated for everyone following along behind him to do the same. His hope was that if they stayed close to the house as long as possible they would not be a little more difficult to spot as long as they didn't start running until they had to. When Garrett reached the corner of the house he knew that they were coming up on a tricky spot. With the garage and driveway full of zombies as soon as they broke cover they would have a lot of company hot on their tail. He had originally considered darting out into the back yard at an angle and crossing the row of hedges further into the yard and then taking another angled approach through Cameron's backyard. As he now laid eyes on the actual distance they would have to cover he knew that it was just not a good option with Emily and Doug. The shorter he could keep the distance they needed to move the better chance they all had of making it. Garrett signaled for Calvin to slink up to the front of the column where the conferred for a moment. Calvin agreed to Garrett's plan and moved back to the shattered kitchen door and disappeared into the house.
"Get ready to run your asses off on my signal." Garrett whispered. "Calvin is going to draw them into the house. As soon as the driveway is as clear the fun starts."
Less than a minute after Calvin disappeared back into the house a static burst of gunfire began echoing from the kitchen. Garrett had instructed Calvin to draw the zombies attention so they would all start rushing into the house enabling them to dart out behind them and hopefully past an empty driveway but he had not told him just how to go about causing the diversion. He should have figured that when it came it would be nothing short of spectacular. Calvin was firing single shot but rapidly and it didn't sound like he was about to stop anytime soon. He must have been taking advantage of the natural choke point inside the confined space of the laundry room to whittle down their numbers as much as possible. Garrett knew that Calvin would stand his ground inside the house as long as he could to give them the best chance of escape. He had asked only for a quick diversion to get the zombies moving out of their way and instead his friend was going to give them close to a suicidal one man attack. Glancing around the side of the house into the driveway he saw that Calvin's fireworks display was paying off, the last five or six zombies were just disappearing from sight as they rushed into the garage. But he also saw that even with that crowd clearing out there were still more of them that had been hanging out near the street and in the yard just across from the driveway. Close to twenty more were now rushing towards the open garage and would surely spot them as soon as they broke from cover.
"Garrett!" Miranda whispered from behind him.
Turning back towards her he saw that the three zombies at the far edge of Doug's backyard had also been attracted to the sounds of gunfire and were now heading straight towards them. There was no time to wait for Calvin to finish his business and join back up with them, with those three coming at them from one side and the group already moving up the driveway they would be cut off on two sides in the next few moments if they continued to wait any longer.
"Let’s go." Garrett said as he broke from cover and started moving towards the hedges between the two houses.
Keeping to a moderate pace to tr
y and keep everyone together in as tight a group as possible, Garrett set off on a straight line for the thinnest section of hedges were he thought they would have the least trouble crossing. He hadn't made it five steps into the open when the zombies in Cameron's back yard spotted them and started racing towards him. He had anticipated he would have to deal with that group at some point but until they set foot into the next yard they were not his biggest concern. The three zombies in Doug's back yard were closing on the back of their little group fast. Seeing them racing towards her gave Emily an extra shot of motivation to dig down deep and summon up a little extra speed, but Garrett could see it wasn't going to be enough. Miranda had her pistol and had already demonstrated that she was more than capable of using it but Garrett didn't want to leave it to chance. Pushing Doug ahead of him, Garrett pointed out the section along the hedges where he wanted them to cross and stepped off to the side where he could get a clear shot at the three zombies coming up behind them.
Dropping to one knee Garrett took up a comfortable firing position and drew a bead on a black zombie who appeared to be wearing the ragged remains of a postal worker uniform, the US flag just over his breast pocket was still bright and colorful but without any meaning to its owner anymore. His first shot sailed off wide to the right as his target bobbed and weaved running over the uneven ground. His second shot nailed the side of the man's head and removed a large chunk of flesh from the right side of his brow but the round must have deflected off the bone because the zombie didn't even pause. The third squeeze of the trigger did the trick, resulting in a hit directly through the open mouth of the zombie as he continued to screech and moan with excitement, agitation and anticipation of a nearby meal. The postal workers next steps drove him face first into the dirt never to move again. Garrett knocked the remaining two zombies down with his next three shots. He scolded himself for the amount of ammo he had used in that engagement, if he didn't step up his accuracy and make every round count they were not going to be walking away from this situation. Even with all of them now armed with one form of edged weapon or another, if it came down to hand to hand combat with more than one or two zombies at a time, someone was going to get bit, there was just no way to avoid it. From what he could hear of Calvin's ongoing little diversion, he was also blowing through his remaining rounds at an alarming rate. Even though his job was done and the zombies in the driveway had been successfully drawn away, Garrett could hear Calvin continuing to blast away at them inside the house. With another batch of zombies now reaching the halfway point on the driveway it was looking like Calvin was going to be cut off when he finally broke contact and tried to follow along behind them. Garrett also knew that there was nothing any of them could do about it, they didn't have the firepower, ammunition or manpower to stage any kind of holding action for just one man.
