by Tristan Vick
Slowly, the sluggish vehicle lurched forward and inched its way toward the mouth of the gate. Barnes jogged up to the side of the bus and slammed his fists against it. Looking up at the back window he saw Josh and Lindsey waving goodbye. He winked at them then turned around and continued to lay down fire.
“Fire in the hole!” shouted Barnes as he pulled down the trigger of a grenade launcher. With an ear-shattering boom, dust and debris kicked up from the massive explosions. On top of the loud blast he hollered a booming “Oorah!”
Ulysses hopped down from the Komatsu with his grenade launcher fully loaded and stepped up next to Jared.
“You ready for this?”
Barnes cocked his M4 carbine, and said, “Like the General always said, fire is the Devil’s only friend.”
“Hell, yeah, brother. Better to burn than fade away,” Noble replied.
They looked at each other and laughed.
Facing the oncoming onslaught, they readied themselves for another volley then let the fury of hell out of their rifles. Both of them shouted a thunderous “Oorah” straight from the gut as they lit up the cave like it was the Fourth of July.
Several meters underground, Zanato turned a corner. He was lost. Again. “Balls,” he cursed, trying to figure out which way he should go.
“Hi there, big boy,” a sultry voice called to him from behind. Zanato spun around to see Jennifer Hurley leaning against the wall and striking a seductive pose. He didn’t care that she was all covered in blood, she wasn't wearing a damn thing.
“What happened to you?” Zanato asked.
Jennifer laughed. “Does it matter?”
“I guess not.”
“Do you still want to fuck me?”
Zanato’s eyes lit up. “Are you messing with me?”
“No. I’m dead serious. Come over here. It’s what you’ve been waiting for, isn’t it?”
“Hell, yes!” Zanato fumbled to unfasten his pants as he rushed toward her. Pulling himself out, he was about to mount her when she stopped him with a kiss. Her tongue dancing flirtatiously with his, she wrapped her fingers around the back of his head and grabbed his hair tightly as she kissed him long and hard.
Then he felt the sting of hot lacerating steel.
Jesse Zanato tried to scream as he felt the piercing blade slide into his chest but his mouth was gagged by Jennifer’s tongue. She stopped kissing him and looked at his bewildered face.
“W-w-why?”
Jennifer cackled, her laugh echoing down the corridor. “Because you’re pathetic! You’re a vile, loathsome, weak little creature. What gives you the right to enter into my temple and defile it with your filthy, undeserving presence?”
“B-but, you said…” Zanato couldn’t get out another word since he was choking on his own blood. His eyes grew wide with fear.
Vindictively, Jennifer twisted the knife in his chest, which caused Zanato to shriek out in pain. Blood spilled over his chin and he staggered back. Tottering, he was about to fall over backward, but Jennifer suddenly caught him by the collar of his shirt and reeled him back into her. His chest slammed into her blood stained breasts and made a smacking noise.
Jennifer yanked out the blade and stabbed him again, and again, making the blood from his mouth poor out of him like a geyser. Jerking on his collar and bringing him to her lips once more, she lapped up the blood cascading over his lower lip. Her hungry kisses became bites as she cannibalized him. With her teeth, she bit down and tore off his bottom lip.
Zanato screamed in agony as his flesh was ripped off his body, and with what little remaining energy he had, he tried to pull away from her. But as hard as he tried, he could not escape her clutches. She was too strong. It was as if she had been possessed by something not quite human. Something as unbelievably powerful as it was evil.
Grinning a red smile, Jen spat out the lump of flesh she’d torn off, then slowly twisted the knife in Zanato’s chest, causing him to writhe in excruciating pain. Suddenly Zanato’s eyes, wide with fear, suddenly went blank, and his eyelids sagged and his head rocked lifelessly forward.
Jennifer pushed Zanato’s limp husk away from her and let it fall to the ground with an unceremonious thud. Jesse Zanato’s corpse collapsed to the floor with Hurley’s knife lodged firmly in his chest. He was dead before he ever hit the ground.
A scuffling of feet approached her from behind. Jennifer slowly turned around to see a sallow-faced monster looking right at her with those spooky white-washed eyes. With ungainly steps it staggered a closer to her, but when she didn’t move it cocked its head in curiosity and stared at her for a moment, as if it were trying to gauge her reaction. It grunted then sniffed the air around her. Peeling back its lips it bared its ugly teeth and snarled. Jennifer didn’t even grimace.
Hobbling back a few steps, the thing looked at her again and again it grunted. She slowly wiped the blood from her lips with the back of her hand and smiled a red toothed grin. The monster moaned and then, as if it had lost interest, turned around and continued on its way, headed to whatever destination its mindless body took it.
Alyssa crept along the blood streaked wall of the corridor. She wanted to avoid Jen at all costs. Easing around the corner she saw the back of General Greer’s green army uniform and instantly perked up. If anyone could take on Bloody Mary, it would be him.
“General!” Alyssa hollered as she skipped up to him. Putting her hand on his shoulder she suddenly felt the butterflies in her stomach jump up and then commit suicide as they fell back down to the pit of her stomach like lead shot puts. Greer slowly turned around to reveal two ghastly opaque eyes. Alyssa gulped hard and choked down a scream and immediately reversed her steps.
But she was two seconds too slow, and before she could even react his impossibly strong hands gripping her wrists. Alyssa screamed, and the zombified general jerked her toward his snapping mandibles. She fought back with all her might and tugged against his clutches, dodging from side to side to avoid his biting mouth.
Fighting for her life she kicked and pulled, but each time he easily whipped her around like a ragdoll and reeled her in again. Using all her strength she raised her foot and slammed it down into his shin. Greer’s tibia snapped with a horrendous crunch. But even with the general teetering on one leg, Alyssa still could not break free. Losing his balance the general flung her to the side and they did a violent somersault together and toppled over.
Floundering on the floor, Alyssa kicked frantically at the general’s chomping mouth. But even though she hit him repeatedly with the heels of her feet, he just kept on coming. She tried to crawl away, digging her fingernails into the floor, but a hand caught her ankle and dragged her back. Then she felt the sharp sting of teeth sink into her calf muscle. Wincing from the pain she screamed. She screamed so hard she thought her voice box would shatter in her throat.
Alyssa tried to kick his forehead in, but the impact only caused his teeth to cut deeper into her leg.
Out of the blue, the hollow chopping sound of metal lacerating human tissue slithered its way into Alyssa’s ears. She looked down at her chewed up leg to see Rachael Ramirez standing over the general’s motionless body. She pulled Jennifer Hurley’s blade out of the general’s skull and stood over Alyssa like her guardian angel.
“My God, I’m glad to see you,” Alyssa said, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Rachael tossed the knife to the floor and then looked down at Alyssa with a smile and an extended hand. “You didn’t think I’d seriously leave you down here, now, did you?”
Alyssa took Rachael’s hand and hopped up onto one foot. She put her right arm around Rachael’s neck, and they turned and limped up the hall together.
“I wasn’t worried,” Alyssa force out a laugh, even though it was just a mask for the pain. Every slow agonizing step sent what felt like needles swimming up Alyssa’s leg.
“Did you find what you were searching for?”
Alyssa patted her back pocket. “Yep.”
/> “Good. Now let’s get the hell out of here.”
Just then a zombie jumped out from around the corner at them. “Grrrah!”
He was a tall dark engineer wearing a blue safety hat and a nametag which read: Pearlman. Rachael used her forearm to block his abrupt attack, but he was already upon her and quickly sank his teeth into her forearm. She screamed out in pain, and even though she knew her wound would heal almost instantaneously, it still hurt like a son of a bitch. While the creature named Pearlman gnawed on her arm, she drew out the gun Barnes had given her and held it to the feeding monsters forehead.
BLAM!
Rachael and Alyssa looked down and watched as her arm instantly mended itself. The two women turned to continue onward but suddenly heard a voice call out to them like a bolt from the blue.
“Going so soon?”
Rachael spun back around to see Jennifer Hurley bending over the dead husk of what used to be General Greer. She picked up her misplaced knife. “I was wondering where this went. Where did you find it?”
Rachael raised the gun and pointed it at Hurley. “Where do you think I found it? I found it stuck through Jesse Zanato’s cold, dead heart.”
“Oh yeah,” laughed Jennifer. “I’d forgotten all about that.” She took a step toward Rachael and Alyssa.
Rachael steadied the gun, and warned, “Come any closer and, I swear, I will end you, you crazy cunt.”
Jennifer shrugged her shoulders, as if to say no big deal. “But I was so hoping you’d stay and play. After all, the real fun is just beginning.”
“Look around you, Jen!” Rachael said, waving her hand across the floor of dead monsters. “Does this look like a game to you?”
Without warning Hurley threw the knife. It spun through the air like a tomahawk and lodged itself squarely in Rachael’s sternum. Alyssa screamed as she saw Rachael sink to her knees. The lights flickered.
Handing the gun to Alyssa, Rachael said with short breaths, “Take this and get the hell out of here.”
“I won’t leave you!”
“Yes, run along little thing. Leave your friend to die.”
Alyssa took the gun and smiled at Hurley, as if she knew something Hurley didn’t.
“Why are you smiling like that?”
Alyssa hopped over to the railing, and then slowly backed away from the confrontation. As she retreated, she called out to Rachael. “I’ll see you later.” With that she turned and limped up the corridor toward the exit.
Slowly Rachael rose up onto her feet. Jennifer staggered back in shock and awe, as if a bombshell had just been dropped on her.
“I believe you were saying the fun was just beginning?”
Rachael reached down and tore the knife out of her chest. Almost instantly the wound sealed itself shut. Bewildered, Hurley’s eyes grew wide as she stared apprehensively at Rachael. “W-what are you?” she asked in astonishment.
“I’m your worst goddamn nightmare. I’m your judge, jury, and your executioner. Comprende?”
“Impossible!” Jennifer screamed.
Rachael held the knife at her side and walked fearlessly toward Jennifer. “You have two options. You can either stay here and die, or you can take your chances and run. It’s your choice.”
Standing face to face with her adversary Jennifer smiled. “I was wrong all along. I thought I was destined to rule this ruined empire from a throne of skull and bone. But I see the truth now. It is you. You, Rachael Ramirez, who is destined to rule this world of rot and ruin!”
Jennifer reached up and gently pulled Rachael’s face to hers. Their lips met and Rachael’s eyes lit up with realization. She finally understood the language of Jennifer Hurley. She grabbed Hurley around the hips, pulled her in tight and kissed her back.
Giving into the moment, Hurley moaned with Rabelaisian ecstasy. In that instant Rachael knew she had her. With a ferocious shout, Rachael shoved Hurley so hard she stumbled over backward and tumbled to the ground. Rachael threw down the knife onto the floor.
“Now leave my sight … before I change my mind.”
Slowly reaching over, Jennifer Hurley picked up her knife and smiled at Rachael. Then she crawled to her feet and slowly backed away, disappearing into the dancing shadows cast by flickering light.
36
The Last Mile
PILES OF MAIMED AND MUTILATED bodies littered the grounds between Barnes and Noble and the impossibly large metal doors which were closing in on them fast. In the middle of the grounds they saw Alyssa limping her way toward them.
“Over there!” Noble shouted. Barnes looked over and saw Alyssa hobbling on one good foot. Running up to her Barnes scooped her up in his arms. “Don’t worry, I got’cha.”
“You need to know that I—”
“You’re cutting it damn close,” Barnes interrupted. “The doors are nearly closed.”
As Barnes carried her toward the Humvee a fat maintenance man with a yellow safety helmet jumped into their way growing and hissing up a storm. Out of nowhere Noble body checked the portly creature and knocked it out of the way. The impact was so hard that the monster’s yellow helmet flew off its head. Clearing the way, Noble made it safe for Barnes to carry Alyssa the rest of the way back to the Humvee.
She looked up at him as he set her into the passenger seat. Tears dampened here cheeks. As he fastened her in securely, Barnes noticed her wounds.
“That’s what I was trying to tell you.”
“You’ve been bitten.”
“Yeah,” Alyssa said, her voice faltering.
“Well, shit. That bites.”
Alyssa tried to laugh at his pun, but tears were already seeping out of her eyes. “So what now?”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Right now we have to get out of here and regroup with the others up top.”
“Thanks,” Alyssa said, trying to smile.
“No worries,” Barnes said. Looking back over his shoulder, he asked, “Where’s Rachael? Shouldn’t she be right behind you?”
Alyssa turned her head and bit her lip, a worried look grew across her face. “She’s still inside.”
Mitchell Reinhart sat in the control room staring at the red button and trying to summon up the courage needed to press it. Even with the pounding on the glass from the walkers that were trying to get in from the hall, he still didn’t have the nerve. Bending under the control board, he smashed the bottom of his fist against one of the panels and the loose plate fell to the floor with a clamor. Reaching into the dark opening Mitch retrieved a hidden away bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label that was inside. It was his secret emergency stash. Precisely what he needed.
Twisting off the lid, he brought the bottle’s head to his lips and smiled. “This ought to do the trick,” he said with a nervous chuckle. If anything, it would help him ignore the relentless pawing at the glass windows just behind him.
Looking over his shoulder he eyed the monsters. Every last one of them was mulish in its insatiable hunger. A hunger that kept them coming no matter what obstacle was in their way. Never ceasing to tire, they smashed their numb limbs into the glass repeatedly. Not feeling pain, they banged their deadened bodies against the wall of glass again and again. Mitch knew the glass wouldn’t hold them back forever. It was already starting to cobweb with stress fractures, and soon enough, it would crumble into crystalline dust and there would be nothing left to protect him.
Holding up the bottle he said, “Well, I really hate to have to say goodbye, but…” and before he finished his sentence he kicked his head back and downed the whole thing.
Shattering behind him, the wall of glass gave way as it shattered beneath the weight of the unruly mob. Zombies stumbled into the room, more glass shattering around them as a flood of undead broke through the jagged opening and made their way toward where Mitchel Reinhart sat.
Swallowing the last drop, with a flood of undead bearing down on him, Mitch closed his eyes he took one deep, final breath and then slammed his fist
down onto the red button.
Barnes looked into the rearview mirror in time to see flames leap out of the mouth of the cave’s portal. Huge explosions plumed out and grew bigger and bigger. In a daisy chain of massive fireballs, an inferno of fiery bubbles quickly expanded, consuming everything in their wake. Dark lumbering figures got swallowed up by the bright orange blaze and were instantly burnt up. Their bodies quickly evaporated into ash like paper licked by a flame.
“Noooo!” Alyssa screamed. “Rachael!”
“It’s too late now,” Barnes said. “There’s no turning back.”
Ulysses Noble slid down into the car and shut the hatch behind him. “Hey man, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we have the mother fucking Death Star exploding back here.”
“I’m on it,” Barnes answered.
Slamming his foot down on the accelerator as hard as he could, the Humvee’s engine roared and its tires screamed up the tunnel as they barely stayed on the cusp of the rising balls of flame.
Alyssa reached into her pocket and pulled out the purple diary with flower stenciling on the cover, and looked over at Barnes. “This is our story. This is the story of how it begins and how it ends. It may be the only thing of us that survives, I don’t know. Please, find Rachael and give it to her. She needs to know…” Alyssa’s voice trailed off and she slouched over in her seat.
“No! Goddammit,” Barnes cursed as Alyssa fainted. Barnes leaned over and shook her shoulder, but it didn’t do any good. He screamed, “Hang in there, kid! Don’t leave us yet.”
The hot sting of Jared’s slap roused her. Alyssa’s eyes cracked open and she looked around, half in shock. Although she came into the world with a scream, and the rattle of infant lungs, she would go out with a whimper. It wasn’t fair, but the fates were rarely ever fair. They were cruel-hearted bitches.
