by Zuko, Joseph
Now what?
Karen tossed the smoking shotgun back onto the floorboard of the Charger. Valerie reached out and begged for her Mama to hold her.
“I’ll come back for you! I promise!” Karen slammed the car door shut on her little girl.
She will be safe in there!
The last four monsters were only feet away. Hundreds of thousands of years of human progress had boiled down to this point and the ancient parts of Karen’s brain knew what to do.
Fight or flight!
The axe lay right there on the ground.
Could she chop all four of them to death?
Or would she miss and get eaten by the others?
Fight or flight? There were only two choices.
Flight! She left her screaming baby in the back seat of that cop car and she ran. Her legs turned as fast as they possibly could. Her body dumped the last of its adrenaline into her veins. Karen ran at a speed she didn’t know she had in her. The infected dragged their sorry asses behind her. With every step she took she put a little more distance between them.
She scanned the horizon for sanctuary, somewhere to hide for only a minute so she could reload one of her empty magazines. Karen dug out the empty mag from her back pocket and she held it tight.
One of the houses had its door wide open. She aimed for it and hoped there weren’t any ankle biters hanging out in there. She could feel Robin’s, red hot, tear soaked face buried in the center of her spine. She hadn’t had time to check if Robin was okay back there. Karen could hear her muffled cries, but she didn’t know if they were from fear or if she was injured.
Karen entered the house. It was a late nineties ranch style home. She forced the door closed and pushed the bolt lock into position. The living room was overturned. Someone had a knockout, slug-fest of a fight in this room. The flat panel TV was still on the news. Blood sprayed across its plastic screen and a puddle of red covered most of the carpet. The kitchen sat in the back of the house past the living room. She made her way through the living room and headed for the kitchen.
CRASH!
One of the infected launched its body through the large window at the front of the house. The glass blades punctured its body. When it rose to its feet Karen spotted the razor sharp, clear triangles sticking out all over its head and shoulders. It looked like a human mace. It bolted straight for her and was followed by the three other monsters coming through the window. Between the kitchen and the living room was a bathroom. Karen headed for the open door.
She flipped on the lights and shouldered the door closed behind her. Karen turned the little privacy lock in the door knob. A second later a powerful thud hit the flimsy wood. The monsters crashed and pounded at the door. Karen stepped away from the noise and propped her purse up on the counter. She angled herself towards the mirror so she could see Robin’s face.
“It’s okay! We’re okay!” She was talking to Robin and her own reflection. The wrap that held Robin was soaked with the blood of the infected she crawled over and her face was drenched in sweat. She worked feverishly at the zipper of her purse. Robin’s head lifted off of her Mama’s neck so she could see herself in the mirror.
“Are you okay?”
She found the box of ammo.
“Okay. Where Aler?”
The frame around the bathroom door cracked loudly. All four of the monsters were fighting to get through.
“She’s with Uncle Troy.” Karen worked quickly to get the shells out of the box and into the mag. An infected arm busted through the hollow door. Karen was just out of reach. Her fingers felt like they were twice the size they normally were as she fed the rounds into the end of the mag. Another arm punched its way through the door.
Come on hands work faster!
She got a second shell jammed into the mag.
“Mama! Here!” Robin pointed at the door it was about time for another update. Karen worked two more rounds into the mag when one of the infected busted its head through the door. She had only seconds before the door caved in. Then the infected would feed. Four bullets would have to do.
No chance for error.
The infected shoulders forced their way through the door. She worked the gun out of its holster and popped out the spent mag. The empty mag slipped out of her hands and clattered across the tile floor. One of the outreaching infected hands brushed against her shoulder.
Click! Clack!
BOOM!
The bathroom door was painted black. The sudden death of their comrade didn’t slow the other three down. They pushed their way through the broken door. The thin wood splintered and fell apart under their weight. The dead body fell to the floor and was trampled by the other infected.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Three shots.
Three direct hits.
Gray matter exploded all over the inside of this bathroom. The room filled with smoke and the smell of gunpowder. Karen stepped over the dead bodies and exited the bathroom. The front of her was dripping goo. She pulled a chunk of skull from her hair and dropped it to the floor. Karen stole a hand towel off the kitchen table and wiped her face clean.
As she jogged back out of the house she reloaded the magazine she picked up off the bathroom floor. She headed down the street and back to the cruiser. By the time she arrived she had it fully loaded and back in the bottom of the gun.
Valerie’s screams carried out the broken window and open door of the cruiser. Karen opened the back passenger door. Valerie was unable to form words she was so worked up.
“It’s okay. I promise.” Karen reassured her.
Something pulled at Karen’s leg and she dropped to her butt. The gun fell from her hand and it skipped along the ground. Karen’s abs strained to keep herself upright and not crush Robin against the street.
“Mama!” Valerie howled.
An infected crawled out from under the cruiser. The wheels of the Charger had crushed its stomach. Its legs dragged behind it. Its powerful arms bulged with muscles as it yanked Karen’s calf close to its mouth. She delivered a hard rubber sole to its face. It didn’t faze the brute. Its grip was crushing as it pulled itself farther up her body. She couldn’t roll out from under him or knock him off. She wiggled her legs to keep them out of its mouth. Its teeth grazed the thin layer of denim on top of her thigh.
It worked before.
Karen jammed her thumb deep into its eye socket. The eye gouge didn’t slow down its attack. Its teeth snapped loudly and its grip tightened around her knees. Its torso was too strong for her to use its socket as a handle to pull its skull around. Every muscle in her body stained as she fought to escape, but it was too powerful and she was unarmed. There was no way to kill the bastard.
This is it!
I’m dead!
Killed in front of my girls!
Torn apart by this muscle head!
How can this be-
An axe crashed down into the back of the infected skull. The force of the hit knocked the skull to the ground between Karen’s legs. The edge of the blade rested against the skin of her hand. Karen looked up.
Leon stood at the end of the axe handle. Black liquid covered his suit jacket and slacks.
“Are you okay?” he puffed out of breath at her. He spotted the shredded dog bag on the ground and what was left of Botchy. “Oh, god I’m sorry.” Leon offered his hand to Karen. She slid her thumb out of the dead man’s socket and took Leon’s hand. Their hands squished with ooze. He pulled her to her feet.
“You shouldn’t have run,” she said as her voice cracked with emotion. She tried her best not to look back at what was left of her sweet little puppy. Karen picked up her gun and placed it back into its holster.
“I panicked. I’d never…again I’m sorry…I…” Leon’s head dropped with shame. “I’ll check the other bodies.” He moped away and jabbed the head of the axe into the bodies around the car. Checking to see that they were really dead. The Charger was completely covered in body parts. A trail of gore ran
down the street for a full block out in front of the car. Dismembered bodies laid out all along the asphalt. Leon felt disgusted that he had any part in the mayhem, but it was hard to argue with results. They had been standing outside for a few minutes and no one had tried to take a bite out of them.
Karen knelt down in front of the door. Her hand pressed against Valerie’s cheek, “It’s okay. We’re almost to Ganny’s.” She did her best to calm her voice. Gale force winds of emotion were crashing against her heart. Her hands shook uncontrollably, her heart raced. A continuous stream of tears flowed out her eyes.
Karen’s thumb rubbed away a tear on Valerie’s cheek. She barked out a horrible cough and forgot to cover but her Mama didn’t care. The young girl’s sentences were slowed down as she gulped in short breaths of air, “Can I have…ice cream…when we get…”
“Yes, you can have ice cream.”
“Me too?” Robin checked in to make sure all things were equal.
“You too.”
Karen looked over Troy’s wounds. A two-inch gash skirted his hairline and would need to be stitched. A lump had begun to form.
He might have a concussion.
There was no way to fix him here and no way to drag him to Penny’s. She had to wake him up. Karen grabbed him by the shoulders and gave him a good hard shake.
“Troy!” She shook him again and his eyes began to flutter.
Leon found a live head at the front of the Dodge. A blinking, jaw snapping, severed head with no body attached. It tried to bite him when he found it.
“You are repulsive. How is such a crime against nature even possible?” Leon talked down at it, but the creature had no answers. It only bared its teeth and snapped its jaw. He raised his axe and put the head out of its misery. Leon found his red medical bag on the ground and he slung the strap up onto his shoulder.
Troy winced in pain as he sat up, “What happened?”
“Can you walk?” Karen picked up his shotgun.
He gingerly touched around the wound on his forehead. When he pulled his fingers back they were covered in blood. “What?” His eyes were unfocused and his mind was cloudy.
Karen had begun to pull shells out of his bandolier and load them into the shotgun, “Try and get out of the car.”
Her words registered, but he was unable to communicate back.
“Come help me get him out of here,” Karen called to Leon. He finished off another monster with his axe. He had to put his foot on the creature’s face to pull the axe head from the skull. Then he hurried around to Karen and helped her pull Troy from the back of the cruiser.
“I think he has a concussion. You need to steady him.” Karen loaded the last round into the shotgun. They got the big guy to his feet and Leon pulled Troy’s arm over his shoulders. Karen worked his other arm over hers. Once he was stable they took off for Penny’s house. It sat only a few blocks away.
Two more blocks and we’ll be safe.
Chapter 21
Tina sat at the computer in her bedroom. She clicked from site to site reading and absorbing as much info as she could find about this infection. Researching topics online had become her hobby. She loved the universe of knowledge at her fingertips.
This infection was a tough one to search out. Good info was difficult to find and most of it seemed like guesses. There were no hard facts to bank on. The best she could piece together was that it started this morning at around ten and it was everywhere at once. All over the northwest she found reports starting at about the same time.
That meant there was no patient zero. No infected monkey. No government lab explosion. There was no record of solar flares. No alien spacecraft. Tina’s only hypothesis was that the human genome had suddenly decided to change and now everyone everywhere was infected. If this was true then it meant there was no cure. No one was going to save them. This is how it will be for the rest of their, most likely short, lives.
Tina brushed a tear away from her cheek and finished a can of beer. It was her second brew on an empty stomach and she could feel her emotions running hot. Hot emotions always made her think of the past.
When she was a child her family lived in the small-impoverished suburb called Villa Fontana just outside of Tijuana, Mexico. Most days their family struggled for survival. Her father would sporadically find jobs working on diesel engines and her mother sewed dresses. It was an extreme challenge for them to keep clean water and food on the table when their options and income were so limited. At the age of eighteen she decided that was enough of Mexico for her and she crossed the border all by herself. It wasn’t a two-week hike through the desert. This was pre-911. All she had to do was practice her U.S. accent and say the words “I’m a U.S. citizen.” to the border guard and they let her right in. They didn’t check or ask her any questions. They just waved her through into the U.S.A.
After a two-hour bus ride, she was in L.A. One hundred dollars later she had a fake I.D. and social security card. She stayed with an aunt and found a job. Six months later she met Cliff at a goth bar called Ndestrukt Club. They started to dance with each other. Dancing led to kissing. Kissing led to heavy petting in Cliff’s car and that was that. She was hooked on the gringo.
Cliff entered their bedroom with a plate full of steaming hot, good smelling food in one hand and a beer in the other.
He handed the plate to her, “You gotta eat something.”
She took it, “Thank you baby.”
Cliff stood behind her and he finished his beer. He set down the empty can and started to rub her shoulders as she ate.
“Did you find anything?” Cliff worked at a knot on her shoulder blade.
“Nothing good. FEMA’s webpage says stay inside your home,” she said before she shoveled a forkful of food into her mouth.
“Good advice.” Cliff poked his fingers through the window blinds and looked out at the horde of old people shuffling around in the parking lot and then went back to work on that knot. Tina let out a groan of pain and pleasure.
“You almost got it,” she said as she leaned into the massage.
“I’ve been wanting to talk to you about something.”
She swallowed her next bite. “What?”
“I don’t want to work construction anymore. I’m sick of it.”
Tina looked up at him, “I know.”
“You do?”
“Boy, you are as easy to read as a baby book. I knew that before you did. Why do you think I started pushing myself to go to nursing school?”
“We need the money.”
“You silly man. I wanted a good job so I could support us and give you a chance to figure out what you wanted to do with your life, so you wouldn’t have to swing that stupid hammer all day long,” she said with a smile.
“Really?” Cliff could feel the weight rising off his shoulders.
Tina noticed the positive shift in his features, “Baby you have my permission to not go to work tomorrow,” she smirked. There was the dark humor he fell in love with. She always had a way of taking something inappropriate and making it funny.
He leaned down and gave her a passionate kiss. She kissed him right back. His hands found their way into her bra. Tina set her plate down next to the computer and her hands went to work unbuckling Cliff’s belt.
It was on!
Cliff shut the bedroom door. He didn’t worry about the kids walking in, they were currently being entertained by Morgan and the TV. He pulled her up to her feet and they gracefully moved to the bed. They never once stopped touching their lips together. Their hands knowingly touched all of the right spots to keep this thing going as they pulled off their clothes. Cliff laid Tina on the bed and climbed on top of her. All of the close calls, near death experiences and horrible fear of the unknown fueled their passion. Both of them felt it, the closeness only the luckiest of humans will ever get to experience. They were each other’s soul mates. Through the good and the bad they would always have each other’s backs. They were moments away from one of
the greatest sexual encounters of their lives when they suddenly stopped and listened.
Gunfire was coming from outside. Someone was firing off a ton of rounds. It was coming from the elementary school behind the apartment complex.
“What the fuck is that?” Cliff pulled away.
“Don’t stop!” she commanded and pulled him back onto her body.
The noise was getting closer. They could hear people shouting. It was right outside. Cliff broke away from his wife’s grip. She leaned her head back and groaned in frustration. Cliff peeked through the blinds. It was four people. One of them was a young man with a wounded leg. Another was a girl with bright red hair armed with a homemade spear. A man in his sixties led the way across the parking lot. He gunned down the infected with a revolver.
“Who is it?” Tina buttoned up her pants. It took Cliff a minute to figure out who the guy was yelling all of the orders.
“It’s Jim.”
“The downstairs neighbor?” Tina climbed off the bed and joined Cliff at the window. They watched Jim carry the young man with the injured leg towards the apartment.
Chapter 22
Penny’s house was so close. Only one more block to go and Karen’s family would be indoors. Karen constantly checked over her shoulder to make sure nothing was creeping up behind them for a snack. Every twenty steps they were greeted by an infected beast that had missed the street parade. Karen would cut them down with a blast from Troy’s gun. She had never fired a shotgun before today. It sucked. The kick hit her shoulder so hard that after every shot it made her arm go numb. The weight of Robin and Troy was absolutely killing every muscle in Karen’s back. Her feet felt like cinderblocks. They were so heavy and slow. Every step was like climbing a mountain.
