by catt dahman
Julia and Matt walked point with Manny and Walt at the end of the line. A large group was moaning and hissing in front of the building, and several larger groups were close by.
They went outside, using the back of the building to leave. The alley was empty except for two zombies that they rushed, beating at the zombies’ heads until the things fell down and were dispatched. In silence, they ran down the alley and over to a second street.
Julia motioned directions, pantomiming a plan to dart in silence from car to car, hiding so that they could avoid a clustered group of zombies who were looking the other direction for the time being.Ripped away arms, open bellies, and featureless faces indicated this group had been human but were brutally attacked at some time.
They moved, in part, to a burned out bus and were able to catch their breath. So far, it looked as if they would make it. As they ran again, one of the women came down wrong on her ankle and cried out, going to her knees with the pain and frustration, scraping her knees through her jeans. Walt yanked her to her feel, hissing for her to be quiet. “Suck it up, shhh.”
Moans began.
“Let’s move,” Julia said, having to give up stealth for speed as the group turned to them. Now, they would be stalked and followed.
A large horde blocked their path, so Julia swung open a store front door and sent Matt and Walt in to clear it as they ran for the back door. As Manny joined her, Julia and he closed the door, shoved boxes and crates hastily in front of the door, and ran.
Matt already headed down the next alley towards a trio of the walking dead; a larger group was coming from the other end of the alley, and as the door of the store shattered open behind them, they were blocked on all three sides.
Matt shot the first one that reached for him, and Walt finished off the other two with headshots.
The woman with the injured ankle staggered again, trying to walk on bottles and cans on the ground and needing a hand to steady her. Before Julia could get to her, she saw Harold’s face go white with panic; he was terrified and about to make a huge mistake unless Julia could quickly stop him. Manny reached for the woman as she reached out for his hand, but Harold roughly pushed her away, causing her to lose her balance and fall backwards in a messy sprawl.
She screamed as she fell while the reeking, dead people behind them, advanced with inhuman howls of hunger and mouths, dripping ropey spittle. Julia shot the first one. Behind them in the store, the mindless creatures piled up against the closed door, not understanding how to open it. That threat was over. Manny fired at a second shambler.
“Get her up,” Julia yelled to Harold. Was he this stupid? She needed someone here who had a thought without her giving orders.
He looked as if the thought of helping the woman was new to him and scared him. His panic made a sinking feeling rush through Julia’s stomach. It was happening so fast, and she couldn’t grasp an idea before it flittered away.
She motioned for Manny to go down the alley, and she took a few steps that way, hoping Harold would help the woman and follow them; she had to shoot two more of the ghouls, and she couldn’t do this all alone.
When the woman on the ground reached for Harold, she snagged his pants, causing him to screech and kick at her arm and shoulder so that she fell on her back. She still could get up and get away even though the ‘things’ were close because Julia and now Manny fired at them. Harold took that opportunity to ruin everything as he threw his bat at the woman in disgust and terror, eyes on the walking dead that moved in.
The woman screamed as the bat hit her in the head, opening a gash and making her sick with the pain. Those seconds cost her. Lucky, dirty claws snagged her long hair as one grabbed her arm, clamping filthy teeth down on her elbow with the power and force of a pit bull dog. One of the bastards fell over her as Julia shot it in the head, the body weight pinning the woman down against the litter on the pavement.
Julia wanted to go back in time and shave the woman’s hair off.
“Harold,” Julia yelled, “damnit.” He was running away. She let loose a stream of curses that only Manny understood, and it was enough for him to blush. Manny was shooting, but too many advanced for Julia to lean in and grab the woman. Her arm was yanked, skin snagging, popping, and tearing off as another came in to bite the fingers off of the woman’s other hand with a crunching snap of bones. Blood painted everyone within a few feet with warm splashes.
Manny shot the one biting at the finger bones and then spared one for the semi-conscious woman. Her hit her in the forehead to save her more pain and the indignity of turning into one of the dead things before he swung around to tug at Julia’s arm. “We need to go.”
Julia and he ran behind Harold, catching up as they went across an intersection and zigged down an empty alley and onto a new street with more trees and less cars to duck behind.
Matt waved everyone to the small, fenced backyard of an older home that doubled as a shop. All sank to the dry grass to gulp water from their canteens, which were dangerously low.
“You did fantastic, Matt. I’ll make sure that Len knows how critical you have been in helping with this mission. We all appreciate that,” Julia told him, meaning it. She appreciated all of them, but this young man really did his part well. Matt spared a grin of pride at his father, who patted his shoulder.
“We lost someone?” Walt asked.
Manny snorted, glaring at Harold.
“We did, the woman at the end of the line. And I sure want to thank dumbass Harold for killing her,” Julia snarled, “what the hell were you doing knocking her down?”
“I…I panicked; I didn’t mean to….”
“You meant to save your own ass, but we could have gotten you both to safety,” Julia whispered in anger. “Why are you so freakin’ stupid? You pushed her and then clocked her with your fucking bat.” Every eye was on Harold.
He straightened, “Look, it was a horrific situation, the worst possible; there’s no way we could have gotten out unscathed.”
“Harold?” Drake began.
“Horrific? Unscathed?” Julia grabbed Harold’s arm in a tight pinch, “Seriously? On a scale of one to ten…that was maybe a three…and that’s stretching it. That was a winnable situation for everyone; we had it under control until you pushed her and binged her with your bat. When our own people make it worse, then we have a situation. How would you feel if someone pushed you down on the ground and then hit you in your head with a bat?”
“It wasn’t that way,” Harold protested.
“We imagined it,” Manny said sarcastically.
Walt flashed Harold a dirty look. “Don’t ever reach for my help, douche bag. That was low.”
“Look, you led us here,” Harold said. “This is your mess you have us in. We didn’t cause this. I got us all the way here from Oklahoma.”
Drake shrugged, “Except for Angie….” He glared at Harold, “We’re better off here closer to safety and not in a building, trapped like rats.I think we got us here from Oklahoma, but we never trapped ourselves in a building, either.”
“I was in a building,” Harold said.
Walt got everyone up again, and Matt and he set a path to the fence, where they helped each person over. Walt glared at Harold and made him get over the fence alone. Julia and Manny went last over the fence as the moans tracked them to the place they hid. Being hunted was terrifying. Matt and Walt bashed in the head of a lone zed as they went out the gate onto the lawn of the next house, looking around closely.
One of the men leaned at the edge of the pool to wash his hands, wishing the water were clean enough to drink, but it didn’t smell good and was hardly cleaner than his dirty hands. The water was murky but was obviously treated before the infection because it wasn’t green with algae yet, despite the hot temperatures.
A woman stepped over to do the same, and Manny grabbed her arm, shaking his head not to. He was watching some odd ripples on the pool’s surface.
A man leaned over the edge of t
he pool to wash his hands and was surprised by a zombie in the pool. The zombie had been a man, but most of his flesh strung away from his body in yellow fat globs and pale strips as flesh came loose from his bones and muscles. He floated up to the surface with gases and now clawed at the hands that splattered and splashed at the pool water where he had fallen in and waited for months. Long rotted, his vocal cords didn’t make a sound; he was blinded, but like a shark after prey, he made a random lunge, startling his victim into falling into the water with him as he bit into a flailing arm. One of his legs and an arm slipped free of the rotten flesh and drifted to the side in a soup that was forming.
Manny took a step, recoiled from the stench, and shook his head at Julia. The victim, moving out to the middle of the pool with the zombie, gurgled and spat water while goopy fluid filled his mouth. Julia and Manny grimaced but kept running to keep up with Matt and Walt. If they kept up that pace in the heat and humidity with the little water they had, dehydration would be devastating.
Julia drew her finger over her throat and cocked her head back to indicate they lost someone. Matt nodded.
“That’s my dad,” began one of the women, but Drake slapped a hand over her mouth and held her on her feet as she wept, telling her it was too late and that they had to keep going. “Come on, Becky….”
Matt kept the same routine as they went through another gate into a backyard and then over a fence where they rested again. “Pee behind that tree. Do not show yourselves to the back of the house in case one is in there. Take small sips of water,” Julia ordered. She squatted to pee, and then two more women walked past her to do the same.
“Where’s Becky?” Drake demanded in a whisper.
The other woman came back from the tree fast. “She went back. I tried to tell her not to, but she went over the fence; my, God, we have to get her….”
“The one who lost her dad back there?” Julia mused. The woman went over the fence to back track to him. “We can’t. If she makes it, she does, but we can’t split up and go after someone. ” She hated the words as she said them, but taking them all back would get them killed, and if they split up, they might be killed. She would have gone back for one of her team members, but then, again, they wouldn’t have gone off alone like that.
And they were wearing down fast from dehydration and exertion.
“Oh, so you have changed your tune now?” Harold smirked. He challenged her, made her feel worse, and was disrespecting her in front of people she was trying to protect and get out of alive.
Without a sound, Julia cold cocked him in his jaw. He staggered back, eyes wide with shock, angry, and with fists up as if he might hit her back. If he did, the butt of her gun would be next to pop him. Manny leveled his gun at Harold. When Harold looked to the other men, neither raised a gun and just looked away from Harold, disgusted and ashamed for him. He deflated. “Bitch.”
“Yep. That’s me. You go back for her if you want leadership. I’m not leaving everyone else to go after someone who made a conscious choice of her own. I will not risk every life to go back when sadly, it’s most likely too late for her.”
“It figures,” Harold said sullenly.
“It is what it is; try being in my friggin’ boots. You wouldn’t like it, and you’d either get yourself and others killed, or you’d give up. I know I feel like it often enough.”
“Nah. We need ya, Jules,” said as he Matt patted her shoulder.
“We go yard to yard now for a while, stay behind trees and be quiet,” Walt told them. “Being quiet is our best plan; we have to stop drawing them to us.”
They paused, hearing a scream; it was most likely Becky, either because she found her father or because she was attacked.
Maybe both.
Julia and Manny switched to point, giving the other two a break. Luckily, the street was quiet, and they were able to dart from trees to cars and down the lawns. It was strange. Once it would have been a lively place, but now, no kids rode tricycles, no one mowed the long, dry grass; no one played basketball or swam, calling to one another. No cars moved.
One more lawn and they would go across the street again. It was finally something Julia thought they could do without too much trouble.
Julia caught movement with her peripheral vision, turned to warn the others, and groaned to herself.
An older man and woman peered from behind a large window that was spider webbed with breaks. They ran helpless, hungry claws over the glass, spreading rot and body fluids in a paste. They had been there months, waiting for a meal to get close, and they were very hungry.
Julia might have found pity for them, but their dull eyes radiated hunger while teeth clacked open and closed like a cat stalking a bird.
Two of the men with the group stopped to stare at the couple, causing them to moan and thrash furiously at the glass. It was so unexpected to see them behind the glass like animals trapped in a zoo that the men stared, amazed that the pair had been there so long, starving but not going away or dying.
In an ear-splitting, shocking crash, the two fell out on the lawn, scrambling over the bushes faster than anyone would have thought possible. They were fresher, having not been out in the elements. “Go, go, go,” Walt said, pushing others to a run and pointing across the street to Julia.
Julia hesitated only a second, then knew she had to trust Walt and Matt to do their jobs as she and Manny ran with the others.
Walt slammed his gun down on the old man’s head until it split open under grey hair, dancing around and backwards to keep the ghoul from getting too close to him. Matt began hitting the woman, but she latched on to one of the men, knocking him over on his back, and then opening his stomach with quick bites. Nothing made the things stop; that was why so many were killed or infected by them.
Blood jetted all over, turning the brown grass scarlet as they fought. The second man yanked at her arms, and she snapped wildly, not reacting to pain since she didn’t feel pain anymore. Matt struggled to hit the right person as all three thrashed on the ground, rolling in the blood.
The first man’s bowels opened and washed them with the most terrible smell they could imagine as it mixed with the scent of rot and fresh blood. Matt vomited as he slammed in another hit. Matt finished the last blow, and the woman was motionless.
Walt felt his gorge rise as he yanked the second man out of the way. Walt was incapacitated as he couldn’t stop gagging and vomiting violently, going to his knees with his eyes watering. He breathed through his mouth, but the nausea had him.
He held a hand down to his father; Walt got back to his feet and reached down to help the man on the ground. “You okay?”
“Seem to be. Thanks.” He weakly scrubbed blood off. They viewed the bodies on the ground with regret.
The three set off to catch up. Others of their team were across the street in a yard, waiting behind a fence. “That pool is clear, no Zs looking out at us; you can clean up a little,” Julia told the three men. They looked the pool over again, and after throwing his pack to the side, Walt jumped into the water to wash blood and vomit from himself. Matt splashed himself cleaner in the shallows, eyes on the water at all times, wide with fear.
“Ouch, stings,” Jeff said as he cleaned up, “thanks for saving my ass back there.”
Walt went over to look as he cleaned up. “Were you bitten?”
“No. I mean, shit, I dunno; I didn’t think so.” Jeff looked at his hand where a small puncture was leaking blood. “ Glass was everywhere. I didn’t see a bite though.” He was terrified.
“You gonna shoot him?” Harold asked Julia.
“No, do you want me to hit you again?” she asked, “so far, you’re the only one I’ve wanted to shoot recently.”
“Just asking. He could be infected. You like your big gun.”
Walt cleaned Jeff’s wound, smeared it with antibiotic cream, and then bandaged the man’s hand before throwing his latex gloves away. “I can’t tell for sure anyway. It’s cut…glass or a
tooth; no way I can be sure right now.”
“So, I may be just fine,” Jeff said to Harold, “I don’t need to be shot, you bastard.”
“Julia….” Matt dripped water as he sat next to a man stretched out on a lawn chair to rest. He didn’t see any injuries.
“He said his chest hurt as we crossed the street,” Drake said, “is he okay?”
Julia felt for a pulse and stood, shaking her head. “It’s hot out here, and we did a lot of running. He’s gone. Maybe heart attack.”
“Four of us left, and Jeff is on the shaky side of the line with maybe a bite…maybe a cut; you’ve done really well; we have half our people left,” Harold said. His face was red, and he stepped back, expecting Julia to take a swing at him again.
Julia sat on the ground and stared at a pebble. He was right. How did Len do this every day? These people were her responsibility to protect and get to safety; they trusted her, and now they were down by half. What kind of leader did that make her? It would be easier to go off alone and give this up.
“This sucks. We didn’t volunteer to be heroes, but what we found out here was only a hero could survive. Every time something goes good, there’s something bad that happens, and I wonder why I bother to keep trying….”
Matt didn’t make speeches, but he was talking it out. “This is stupid as hell, but I imagine this little kid: it’s like twenty years from now, okay? And because of one small thing I do, it allows her to be born. So I imagine that kid, and I think no matter what goes wrong, I do things so she can be alive, and she don’t know any different cause she…yanno….”
“Comes along after all this. She doesn’t know the old world?” Julia offered.
“Right. And what I do doesn’t make a shit for anyone else but for her; it matters; she has a chance simply ‘cause of the cosmos or yanno that Hawking guy we saw on TV, Dad….”
