Charlie looked over at me like a teacher fed up with an unruly student, but I shook my head in protest.
“It was under the grass!” I hissed in self-defense.
“Step lightly. Step with care. Walk as if you’re made of air,” Charlie whispered back, using the same rhyme he used to teach his daughter on how to be a woodsman.
Sarah held a hand to her mouth and Rebecca did the same, struggling to keep her laughter in. I desperately wanted one of them to explode in sound, anything to cover my mistake. If I was really lucky, maybe one of them would fart.
We moved forward slowly, spread out in a lone line, with roughly forty feet in between each of us. Long practice told us in an emergency we could cover that distance in as little as three seconds. If a zombie was trying to kill Sarah, I’d literally fly over that distance if I had to. Although bullets covered it quicker, I had to admit.
The trees swayed in the breeze, rustling with mature leaves. The grass was long and green, coming up to about our knees. Scattered about were smaller trees, evidence that nature was trying to take back what was once hers. In a few short years, this area was going to be impassable without bringing some sort of brush cutter.
Sarah was walking with her spear out in front, skimming the grass from side to side, and keeping a wide path cleared in front of her. Any legless zombie was not going to get past her. Rebecca on the other side was doing the same thing, using her long pole as a sweep. Charlie was walking with his head down, both of his tomahawks in his hands, keeping them low and wide. In the blink of an eye, he could swing those blades in either direction, up or down.
The guy who had to be different was me. I kept my axe on my shoulder, thinking that I could snap it forward quickly enough to deal with anything that came up.
That was the thinking. When the zombie rose up out of the grass it was on the right side, right where I didn’t have enough momentum to take it down quickly. It was a big guy, too. He had been on the ground, feasting on whatever that pile of blood and guts used to be, and with a lunge of bloody hands and bloodier mouth, he was right on top of me.
I grabbed the top of the axe and used the handle as a bar, shoving it the zombie’s mouth and forcing him back. His legs churned the grass while he grabbed and pulled at me with his bloody hands. I twisted the handle he was chewing on and managed to drop him onto his back. I left the handle in his mouth while I knelt on his chest, fending off his grabbing hands. Pulling my knife, I slammed the long blade into the Z’s eye, ending his existence. His red hands flopped to the side as he lay there in the grass, his remaining eye staring up at the few stars bright enough to come out in the late afternoon.
I stood up and brought my knife with me, flicking off the zombie eyeball that came out attached to it. I used the cleanest portion of the zombie shirt to wipe of my blade and pickaxe handle. I tried to wipe off the bloody marks the Z had left on me, but that was a hopeless task. I was probably going to lose this shirt.
“You okay, babe?” Sarah called. She had moved closer to me but not so close that she would get in the way of a swing or a bullet.
“I’m messier than when I started, but other than that, I’m good,” I said, walking forward. I gave a nod to Charlie who returned it. His arm was up and I knew that if I needed it, a tomahawk was flying my way in a hurry.
We stepped forward again, moving as quietly as we could. I had my pick held in the low ready position, slightly back and to the right. I could swing up or over from there, and was definitely a better place than on my shoulder.
Rebecca got the next one. It was a small woman, probably about twenty years old, with short blonde hair and a huge tear across her throat. I wasn’t sure what was holding her head up, but that neck of hers was putting up a pretty good effort. Rebecca spun her staff and cracked the zombie down on top of its head with the mace end that Duncan had put on there for her. The metal edge blasted through the zombie skull like it wasn’t there, killing it instantly.
Charlie was ready for that one, too, and it nearly killed him. A small zombie, a boy of about seven, flew out from behind a bush. Charlie barely had time to step out of the way when the Z spun and came at him again. Unfortunately for him, he was facing Charlie James, and Charlie knew what his intentions were. A backhanded ‘hawk catapulted the boy over the grass, leaving him dead and oozing from a new hole in his skull above his ear.
“Feeling left out, honey?” I called, stepping forward again.
Sarah smiled at me. “I don’t mind, really.”
We all walked forward carefully, but we didn’t have any more problems. At the edge of the forest Charlie called us to a halt. He was staring at the wall of trees and brush, and even from where I was standing I could tell he didn’t like what he was sensing. I knew better than to call out to him, letting him sort out whatever his instincts were screaming at him.
“Back! Back!” Charlie suddenly yelled, waiting for us to move and then running backwards the way we came.
I didn’t need to be told twice. I had learned a long time ago that Charlie’s instincts were to be trusted at all times, and this was one of those times. I waved Sarah over and together we joined Charlie and Rebecca. We still kept about ten feet in between us, but we were definitely facing this new threat as a group.
Suddenly, the brush burst outward from three points. Zombie kids ran for us at full speed, hissing and snapping with their teeth. They ran with their hands spread wide, ready to grab at whatever they could reach. I had seen these sorts of kid groups before, and they always scared the hell out of me. Why the virus let them be fast was just one of those jokes God decided to play on us.
“Guns!” I yelled, whipping out my pistol. I fired twice, killing one of them. Charlie did better, killing three with four shots. Sarah and Rebecca opened up with the small carbines they kept with them, and the number dropped significantly.
Unfortunately, there were too many, and they just kept coming. One taller girl nearly reached me when I shot her point blank in the face. She toppled back and let me fire again, killing a boy who was right behind her. Three little zombies charged me, and I knew I couldn’t get them all. I dropped my gun and swung my pick in a wide arc, timing it so the one on the right got the spike end. He crashed into the next one, who then tangled up the legs of the third. I didn’t waste time with finesse, I just slammed the pick down three times like I was chopping wood. Grabbing a dead zombie, I threw her at the legs of two more that were charging, tripping them up and bringing them within reach of my pick.
Charlie was just as busy as I was, swinging his axes at anything that came near. The tomahawks rang like deadly bells as he ripped them out of dead Z skulls. One boy got close enough to get a hand on Charlie’s arm, and right before he could get a bite in, his eyes rolled up and he slumped down, killed by a well-placed shot by Rebecca.
Sarah kept firing, lining up her shots and waiting to make the kill. She was methodical and precise, and the line of zombies killed by her stretched from our position to the tree line. Rebecca had her own line of kills, and it would be a close call as to who was the winner.
As soon as it had started it was over. Charlie and I caught our breath as zombie blood dripped off our weapons, and I used the respite to re-holster my gun. I hadn’t yet warmed up to the .45 my father had left me, and since my SIG was gone, I had followed Charlie’s lead and picked up a Glock 17. At least this way we could share magazines. Or, as Duncan put it, get extra mags when the other guy dies.
“That it?” I asked, not really wanting to hear the answer.
“Probably,” Charlie said. “The little ones never attack alone unless they are alone, which makes no sense to me.” He looked over the field of corpses. “Always freaks me out how smart and fast those things are.”
I nodded. “Which makes this next decision that much worse.” I said.
“We got to go in there, don’t we?” Rebecca asked, refilling the magazine she used.
“If we don’t, and there’s another horde in there, th
ey will chase us to the Gulf.” Charlie said. “All right. So how do we get in there?” He asked.
I shrugged. “Right through the front door.”
We walked back up to the forest’s edge, stepping over the dead zombies that Sarah and Rebecca had so kindly placed there. The bodies allowed us to look inside the brush wall and determine that there wasn’t any immediate danger. I went in first, leading with my gun in one hand and with my pick in the other. I waved the rest of the crew in, and we all stepped into a gloomy place.
The forest was dark, mostly because of the canopy of leaves and the fact that the day was winding down outside. But this forest was a really deep green that appeared almost black. In direct sunlight I was pretty sure that things wouldn’t look so damn gloomy, but today it was a very forbidding place.
“Fangorn was probably like this,” I said.
“What?” Charlie asked.
Rebecca nodded. “Probably. A little light on the streams, though.”
Sarah chimed in. “A few Ents would be useful right about now.”
Charlie looked at us like we were nuts. “What the hell are you three talking about? What the hell is an Ent?”
“You’ve never read Tolkien?” I asked. I was stunned. I looked at him the same way I looked at someone who had never seen the movie Star Wars.
Charlie shrugged. “Obviously. Should I have?”
Rebecca smiled. “Oh, yes, sweetheart. We’ll read it together. Including Julia. She’ll love it.”
“Really?” Charlie was skeptical. “What else is in it?”
“Trees, forests, swords, elves, goblins, and all sorts of fighting,” Rebecca said.
“Deal. Find me a copy and I’ll do it,” Charlie said.
“Right after we finish this forest,” I said.
We walked deeper into the gloom and were wary of anything that seemed out of place. Charlie listened as he walked, and several times he would stop us to see what he could hear. After a time, he waved us over.
“There’s nothing left here,” he said.
“You sure?” I asked, looking around. If there was a place for ghouls, this was it.
“Pretty sure. There’s a few squirrels that are pissed at us and are letting us know it. Two birds just came away from those trees, and unless I am very mistaken, a small fox family is poking their heads out of that bank right now,” Charlie said as he pointed into the woods.
I looked and saw a small nose cautiously test the air as it emerged from its hiding place. A little bit longer, and a red fuzzy head followed the nose, stepping lightly onto the grass outside its home. Charlie was right. If there were a zombie within a hundred yards of this place, the animals wouldn’t dare to move. They seemed to know we didn’t mean them any harm and were more willing to make our acquaintance.
“Ready to head back?” I asked, taking hold of Sarah’s spear and shouldering it alongside my pick.
“Let’s move. I think we earned our supper today,” Rebecca said.
“Without becoming it!” Charlie, Sarah, and I said in unison, laughing. It was the code of the army. Any day you fought a zombie and didn’t die you had earned your dinner for the day. Some of the veterans kept a daily tally as to how many zombies they killed, comparing notes with others who did the same thing. Charlie and I never bothered with that, figuring any dead zombie was one less we’d have to fight later.
We stepped out of the woods, and even though it was near evening, the change in brightness was marked. I had to squint at first and then shield my eyes. Sarah blinked her pretty greens at me, letting me know she was feeling the same way. I worried about her a great deal, not only because she was my wife and pretty much my world, but she had become Jake’s world as well. Jake had no idea he had another mother, and Sarah and I decided that he would know later, in his own time. It wouldn’t do to cause him grief at this point.
We reached a section of land that ran parallel to the land owned by the huge house, and Charlie looked a question at me. I shrugged, and we wandered over to huge home.
It was a very large house, with an attached three-car garage and a separate coach house. It looked like there might be an apartment above the garage, and given the size of the coach house, it would be pretty comfortable. The house itself was brick, with tall windows and a double front door. The doors were closed and the windows were still intact, so either the owners had taken off when the world fell apart, or they were still in there, waiting to entertain guests.
I looked in a couple of windows and didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. It looked like a hundred other abandoned houses we had seen. It also looked like a hundred other not-so-abandoned houses we had seen. I waited on the front porch with Sarah while Charlie and Rebecca went around to the other side of the house. I had already tapped on the windows to see if I could provoke any sort of reaction, but so far nothing had stirred.
A minute later Charlie interrupted Sarah and me enjoying a stolen moment, telling us that the house seemed abandoned. I took that as a positive sign and gave the front door a small push.
The heavy door creaked loudly in the evening air, and a rush of stale air changed places with the fresh air from the outside. I nodded to Charlie, and he stepped through first, leaning off to the right while I followed and headed off to the left. Sarah and Rebecca went straight up the middle, and we all paused while we took in our surroundings.
The house at first glance was very nice, with a large foyer of marble leading up a circular staircase towards a balcony that wrapped around the upper half of the foyer leading to two hallways in opposite directions. I was facing a dining room that easily could have entertained twenty people. A glance behind me showed Charlie facing a room that looked like a library, complete with fireplace.
“Clear!”
“Clear!”
“Clear!” I was last, and I could see a doorway on the end of the dining room leading to what was likely the kitchen. “Straight back takes me to the kitchen. Charlie?”
“Looks like a living room on my side. Ladies?” Charlie asked.
“Straight back to a kitchen and porch from here,” Sarah said.
“Meet you all in the back,” I said. We split up and headed our separate ways. We had cleared too many houses to be surprised by much these days. I had seen families torn to pieces, I had seen family pets eaten by their owners, and I had even once seen a man walking around his house naked save for a coating of grey paint because he believed it made him invisible to the zombies. Since he was still alive, I can’t say for sure he was wrong.
I passed through the dining room, noting that the place was still decorated, and the china hutch was full of what could only be considered family china. I don’t every recall seeing anything that ugly sold in stores. Black china with gold trim and red roses decorating the center. I think I would have chosen tinted glass for the hutch.
The kitchen was enormous, with a huge marbled granite island bordered on three sides by a matching granite countertop. The cabinets were of a pale cream color, offsetting the granite and reaching to the ceiling. Lights hung down from the ceiling to highlight the island, and large windows looked out onto a large backyard framed with big trees.
I looked over at Sarah and Rebecca, both of whom were running appreciative eyes over the kitchen. Charlie walked in from the other room and gave an approving nod.
“I could dress a whole deer on that table,” Charlie said.
“Seriously?” Rebecca said. “Seriously?”
“What?”
I started to laugh at the look on Charlie’s face when I heard it. It wasn’t any more than a whisper of noise, but it was there. I held up a hand, and everyone went silent immediately.
I cocked my head, closing my eyes, focusing on identifying all the sounds I heard, and putting the one I couldn’t place at the top of the focus list. It was a small, shifting sound. Like someone was trying to be silent and made a noise by mistake, and now they were frozen, hoping not to be found out.
There. Again
, a small sound. Not too much, but just enough. Downstairs. I opened my eyes to see everyone looking at me, and I looked down. Charlie nodded and moved silently to the basement stairs, easing the door open, and checking for any signs of life or otherwise.
He slipped noiselessly down the carpeted stairs, and I followed, keeping a safe distance to let him swing fully if he had to. The stairs turned a complete one hundred eighty degrees before getting to the basement, and I could see decently thanks to the large sliding glass doors that covered the far wall leading out to the back yard. I could see the large porch that led off the first floor, and there were two sets of patio furniture still out there, waiting for the next barbeque. One of the doors was open to the outside, and looking out didn’t tell me anything.
The basement was nicely furnished with a big entertainment area complete with large screen television, deep couches, and two full size video games like the ones I used to play when I was a kid at the arcade. This basement had Wizard of Wor and Cruisin’ USA. Along the wall behind the stairs was a full size bar sporting a western theme with cow print barstools and a real brass cuspidor.
I motioned to Charlie I was going to check the rooms at the back, and flipping on my light, I walked back to the other side of the basement. All I found was two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a small room that looked like a workroom of some kind.
I shook my head, and Charlie pointed to the bar. He brought up his gun and stepped quickly around. Not seeing anything, he started to put his pistol away when the small deep freeze behind the bar slowly opened.
Prudently, Charlie and I stepped back, waiting to see what would come out. My bet was on a zombie, and it would be a quick contest to see who would kill it first. Charlie must have thought the same thing since he slipped a tomahawk into his hand.
No one was more shocked than I was when a mass of unruly brown hair slowly rose over the top of the bar, turned, and looked right at Charlie and me. I think Charlie might have been more shocked when the head of hair spoke in a tired voice.
“Great. Do I have to fuck both of you, or can I just do one of you? I’m really not in the mood.”
The Zombie Wars: Call To Arms (White Flag Of The Dead Book 7) Page 2
