Laura's Bane

by Baileigh Higgins

  With extreme caution, Laura cracked open the front door. The hallway was empty and after a moment’s hesitation, she sprinted for the stairwell. Her footsteps echoed around her as she ran, and nervous tension kept her grip on the knife firm the entire way.

  The trip to her father’s truck was uneventful, and she saw no signs of any people at all, neither living nor undead. She could almost imagine that the whole zombie thing was a figment of her imagination until she stuck her head around the corner and looked at the gates.

  There they were.

  Milling about in an aimless fashion like dumb animals.

  A few kept at the bars, growling and snarling with persistent longing while others stared into the distance with vacant eyes.

  Laura ducked out of sight again and pressed her back the wall, breathing through her nose to quell her rising panic. “Oh, jeez. Zombies. It’s really zombies. I can’t believe it.”

  For a perilous few seconds, fear threatened to derail her carefully laid out plans until she remembered her family. They needed her, and she couldn’t let them down. I have to help them.

  With this ideal fixed in her mind, Laura ran back to the flat and packed a box full of food, water, and medicine. This she stashed in the truck before making a third trip for blankets.

  With all the supplies loaded, she hesitated inside the living room, wondering if she’d forgotten anything. Her eyes fell on the binoculars and her phone. “Oh, crap.”

  Rushing about, Laura filled another smaller backpack with odds and ends. Once satisfied she had everything, she tucked the butcher’s knife into her belt and picked up the club she’d scored from her dad’s golfing bag.

  The driver with its graphite shaft and hollow titanium head made a decent weapon, and she felt better with it in her hands than the knife which called for close-quarters combat. She hefted it with a smile. “Time to go.”

  With a firm click, she closed the door to the flat behind her and ran down the stairs with a light tread. At last, she was ready to leave, ready to tackle her rescue attempt. Mom, Dad, Stan...here I come.

  She bounced down the last steps and prepared to exit the stairwell when a loud scream brought her to a sudden stop. It sounded like a woman. One in fear of her life. “What the hell?”

  With hesitant steps, Laura edged closer to the exit, her eyes peeled for trouble. The screams didn’t stop, they grew louder, and was soon joined by the deeper voice of a man yelling at somebody to stop. Several somebodies who answered his commands with hungry growls.

  With her heart in her throat, Laura peered outside and saw one maid who worked at the complex run past while being pursued by several zombies of the fresher kind. The security guard who’d been missing earlier also stumbled past, swinging a baton at the undead like he was swatting a fly.

  More bodies flooded the grounds, and Laura realized with horror that some idiot had opened the gate. Now the zombies were inside, and she was cut off from her dad’s truck by a tidal wave of rotting flesh.

  Her eyes flashed to the vehicle. It stood waiting only a short distance away, ready to go. Even as Laura hesitated, torn between the need to escape and the dubious safety the flat offered, the guard went down.

  He disappeared beneath a mass of squirming bodies, and his gurgling shrieks announced his unpleasant demise. The maid followed soon after, and Laura realized she had to do something fast. It was either run back to the flat or break for the truck.

  “I’m not going back. It’s either now or never,” Laura said beneath her breath while her eyes mapped out a likely route and her brain calculated her chances of success.

  With a deep breath to fortify herself, she darted out of the stairwell, heading straight for the nearest car even as the stench of death filled her nostrils. Do or die.

  Chapter 3

  Laura darted for the car that filled the nearest parking spot, and she ducked down in front of it before any of the zombies could spot her. She had a small window of opportunity while they were busy with the maid and the guard. It was her only chance.

  On her hands and knees, she crab walked across the concrete, the surface rough beneath the palms of her hands. With her head at eye-level with the front number plate, she reached the gap between it and the next car.

  The moaning and groaning of the undead buzzed in her ears, threatening to derail her fragile courage. With her heart banging a wild beat in her throat, Laura scrambled across the opening as fast as she could. She reached the other vehicle without incident and crossed two more gaps in this fashion. Until she reached an empty parking spot.

  Laura hesitated. The space she had to cross unseen was a lot larger than the previous ones had been and a quick peek showed her several zombies wandering around nearby. She squeezed her eyes shut for a second before making a run for it.

  As she reached the other car, still unseen, her shoes caught a patch of gravel. The crunch of stones beneath her soles sounded loud to her ears, and she froze for a split-second. No, no, no!

  The sound of approaching footsteps confirmed her worst fears, and she dropped to look underneath the chassis. Sure enough, a pair of bruised and bloody feet were heading her way followed by more on the other side. She was being surrounded.

  Panic dried up the saliva in Laura’s mouth until she thought she would choke. Seeing no other way out, she fell to her stomach and slithered underneath the car, still clutching the golf club in one sweaty hand. It was a tight fit, but she’d make it, she thought until her backpack caught on the front bumper.

  She squirmed like a worm on a hook, but the pack refused to move. She was stuck, and the feet were coming ever closer. It’d be mere seconds before she was discovered. Almost sobbing with fear, Laura wriggled her arms out of the straps, each movement more frantic than the last.

  They slid off just as the undead feet reached the front tires of the car, and she crawled underneath with moments to spare, leaving the pack behind on the concrete.

  Once hidden, Laura lay as still as a statue, sour bile pushing up her throat as her stomach protested the rush of adrenalin that coursed through her veins. She held the golf club against her chest, ready to lash out if need be.

  The feet moved around the front of the vehicle and paused next to the pack. There they stayed, the owner seemingly undecided what to do next. It was all Laura could do not to whimper out loud, and she pressed a balled fist to her lips until the skin split and she tasted blood.

  The feet on the other side also reached the front, and the two pairs shuffled together like an inexperienced young couple on a dance floor. Finally, they moved away, and Laura could breathe again. Not for long though when she realized she was still three parking spots away from the truck and the swarm of zombies were increasing by the second.

  “What now?” she mouthed almost as if expecting someone more experienced to answer her.

  But there was no one else. She was alone, stuck beneath a car, and in the middle of a swarm of dead people who’d eat her within a heartbeat if they saw her.

  With slow, careful movements, Laura shifted closer to the edge of the car she hid beneath until she hovered next to the open air. She craned her head to the right. It was clear. To the left, however, it wasn’t.

  Several pairs of legs in various states of decomposition shuffled around in typical zombie fashion. There was no way she’d be able to crawl out, get up, and run to the truck in time. No way.

  Laura closed her eyes in despair and dropped her forehead to the concrete. She was as stuck as it was possible to be. There was no escape, and all her plans had been for nothing. Hot tears pricked her eyelids, and she had to swallow hard on the sobs that threatened to break free from her lips. Suddenly, her eyes snapped open as an idea presented itself. Diversion. I need a diversion.

  Silently, Laura shifted around until she faced the front of the car, each movement slow and careful so as not to make a single noise. After making sure no undead lingered nearby, she reached out for her abandoned backpack and grabbed the strap.
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br />   Bit by agonizing bit, she edged it closer until it lay in front of her face. She unzipped it, biting her lip to still her nerves. Her hand slipped inside and felt around until she found it. Her phone.

  With her thumb, she increased the volume to max before clicking onto a specific song she knew for sure would grab attention. Before it could play, she tossed the phone out from underneath the car and as far away as she could manage. It skittered across the concrete as the trill of a feminine voice filled the air.

  “All the single ladies, all the single ladies…” Beyonce sang, the catchy tune an instant hit with the wandering undead.

  They rushed toward the sound and congregated around the device that continued to play for their amusement. The familiar song by one of her favorite artists reminded Laura of better times. It almost drew a smile from her lips. Almost.

  There was no time for fond teen memories, though, and she scooted over to the other side again, taking the backpack with her. After making sure her side was clear, she rolled out and jumped to her feet before rushing toward the truck.

  Behind her, the phone stopped playing as it was trampled by undead feet, and a frisson of fear shot through Laura’s spine. Oh, crap. Hurry!

  She dodged around the two cars between her and the truck just as the zombies spotted her and sent up a hunting cry. With moments to spare, she opened the door and jumped inside, automatically putting on her seatbelt.

  Laura twisted the key in the ignition as the first of the crowd reached her and banged on the window. She jumped in her seat but kept it together and jammed the gears into reverse.

  She winced as the truck bowled over several infected that sought to pluck her from its protective casing and prayed the windows would hold.

  As Laura prepared to drive out of the lot and through the open gates, she spotted several people on the balconies above her, staring at the spectacle with wide-eyed wonder. They were holidaymakers just like her, and Laura refused to leave them with a complex full of zombies.

  As she drove outside, she stopped and waited until she was sure all the undead had followed the truck before closing the gates once more. That left the corpses of the maid and security guard still inside, but there was nothing she could do about that.

  “I’ve done my best,” she said to the people still inside the complex. “Good luck to you and yours.”

  Laura revved the engine and roared up the street in a cloud of exhaust smoke, eager to leave the crowd of zombies behind. Ahead of her, more of the undead wandered around, but it was nothing compared to what lay behind her.

  As the building that housed their holiday flat grew smaller in her rearview mirror, she shook her head in disbelief. She realized that she’d never truly believed she’d survive. Not once the zombies got in, at least. “I made it. I can’t believe I made it.”

  The moment she’d been attacked on the beach now seemed distant, almost unreal, and overlaid by the more recent horror of the maid and security guard’s deaths. Their screams rang in her head, and the faces of the undead who’d chased her was still fresh in her mind. Every detail stuck. From their vacant, milky stares to their horrific wounds and the way they howled when hungry. It was enough to drive the sanest of people to the brink.

  Laura shook her head to clear out the gory images and sucked in a deep breath. “Focus. I need to focus.”

  Once she’d calmed her racing heart, she asked herself the first question that rose to mind. “Where will Mom and Dad have gone to do their shopping?”

  The answer was obvious. They’d go to the same shopping center they’d been going to for the past week. It was the most likely place they’d be. Determination filled her, and Laura lifted her head and squared her shoulders.

  The time for fear and panic was done. Now was the moment for hope and courage. Her family needed her and against all the odds, she’d escaped the complex and was on her way to them. “Right. Mom, Dad, Stan...just hold on. I’ll be there soon.”

  Chapter 4

  Laura drove toward the shopping centre where she hoped her family would be with controlled haste. As much as she wanted to race there with a screech of burning tires, it wasn’t possible. The roads were a mess.

  Everywhere she looked there were zombies. Tons of the things. It was astonishing considering that an hour earlier, there were none. “How fast is this thing spreading?”

  The undead sham bled about with little thought for the rules of traffic. Laura winced when a woman came right at her, showing total disregard for her own wellbeing. The truck’s bullbar plowed into her middle, and she somersaulted over the bonnet before smashing into the window with a resounding crash. Her skull split like an overripe tomato, and she left a spray of blood behind before tumbling out of view.

  That woman was the first of many as Laura made her way through the suburbs filled with holiday flats and houses just like the one they’d stayed in. It wasn’t long before the truck’s white paint and windshield was covered in gore.

  “Sorry!” Laura called out as she hit yet another zombie, though why she bothered she didn’t know. It’s not as if zombies have feelings. But they used to be people once. People like me. Moms, dads, kids. grannies…

  It was a depressing thought, one as gray as the overcast skies. She craned her neck to see through the stained glass in front of her and switched on the wipers. That turned out to be a bad idea as they simply smeared the blood and guts over the window until she couldn’t see a thing.

  “Damn it,” Laura cried as she pulled over to the side of the road. “What now?”

  She had to get out and clean it. That was the only answer. With a nervous hand, she reached for the handle of the door, but jumped when a zombie appeared in her view. It beat its fists on the window next to her face with insistent groans. So much for that idea.

  Laura edged forward to try again away from the zombie, but this proved impossible. With no way to see the road ahead, she was risking a serious accident. She rolled to a stop again, and not for the first time that day, she wanted to cry. Her hands shook as she clutched the wheel, her knuckles white with the effort.

  The zombie had followed and resumed its banging. Its growls sawed into her brain, and she squeezed her eyes shut to block out the sounds. To no avail. A second zombie joined the first and added its fists to the steady beat. Not longer after that, two more showed up.

  The window groaned in its frame, and Laura realized she had to move, whether or not she could see. It was that or wait for them to break in and pluck her from the truck like a ready-to-go meal.

  A rumble of thunder gave her hope, and she craned her head to look upward. A bolt of lightning struck the thick undergrowth off the road, and a garbled shriek left her lips as she jumped.

  Drops of rain fell, slowly at first until it built into a steady downpour. Laura slumped over the wheel as relief turned her muscles to jelly. “Oh, thank God. Thank you, thank you.”

  Once more, she edged forward while the wipers worked at their fastest speed. Bit by bit, the muck cleared from the windshield until she could see ahead. At last, she got going again, but driving through the streets was difficult.

  It seemed like the townspeople had cottoned on to the undead threat. People were running around in a panic, loading their families and belongings into their cars to escape. Other were barricading their homes. She saw more than a few nail wooden boards across their windows.

  The general chaos was worsened by the narrow winding roads which left little room to maneuver, and the thunderstorm that roiled above their heads. It was almost as if Mother Nature herself had set the scene for the apocalypse and shut off the sun for the day.

  Rivers of mud and water flowed down to the ocean, and the roads were slick and treacherous. Laura passed more than a few wrecks along the way. The crossings were the worst, though, and she cursed when the intersection ahead was blocked with cars.

  Two vehicles had crashed in the middle, causing a chain effect as more plowed into them until the area was a mess of tw
isted steel and glass. People were screaming and crying, a few were fighting, while others abandoned their cars. As yet, there were no zombies, but they were coming. Already a few shambled that way, arms outstretched as they rasped their hunger through eager throats.

  “No, no, no! What are you doing?” she cried as one of the panicked drivers reversed into another car to escape. The idiot only made things worse, spinning his wheels when he got stuck.

  Laura shook her head. If she wanted to get through, she had to hurry. Shifting into reverse, she backed away before edging up onto the paved sidewalk. The way was narrow, and a deep ditch ran alongside the road. If she made a mistake…

  “I won’t,” Laura promised herself as she mauve red around the crossing.

  Others saw what she was doing and followed suit. One misjudged the lane, though, and his car plowed over the side and into the deep trench with a loud crash. His alarm went off, blaring into the air and adding to the general atmosphere of panic and chaos.

  She’d almost reached the other side, when a woman with two kids ran toward her. The woman banged on Laura’s door and cried, “Please, help us. Please!”

  Laura hesitated for only a second before nodding. She popped the locks and said, “Get in!”

  The woman and her children piled into the back of the truck, their breathing harsh and frantic. The youngest of the kids, two girls, whimpered in the corner while the other clung to her mother as if afraid she’d disappear.

  As soon as they were inside, Laura prepared to drive off, but stopped again when the woman said, “Wait! Wait for Harold, please. I beg you.”

  She pointed at the crossing, and Laura spotted a heavyset man sliding over a car’s bonnet while the owner screamed at him. Though his progress was slow, he was almost at the truck.

  “Come on, Harold. Hurry!” the woman screamed as she slammed on the windows, her face streaked with tears while her terrified children looked on.