by Brown, TW
Left alone, Ann continued to clean herself up. Killing was always such dirty business. Once she finished, she went to her pile of dirty clothing and retrieved the Glock nine-millimeter. Looking around, she discovered a secret compartment on the upper level that was disguised to look like a knot on the trunk of the tree that grew up through the floor and vanished through the ceiling. It was not perfect, but these people did not look like the sort to do a lot of snooping. They were just happy to still be alive.
As she climbed down and prepared to exit this treehouse and rejoin the others, Ann smiled. It was not something that would have brought warmth to any who saw it.
***
“This way!” Chad called over his shoulder as he waded into the brush.
Dustin climbed off his horse and quickly followed. He paused as he passed the downed corpse of the Madding family’s oldest daughter Kaja. Kneeling, he closed the eyes and whispered a quick prayer.
By the time he caught up with Chad, the man was at the top of a ridge looking down into a gated community. The undead roamed the streets, wandering in and out of houses in a twisted parody of a block party. Three of the houses stood out from the rest. They were surrounded on all sides by dozens of the undead.
Chad glanced at Dustin. “I am going down there. That is where Ronni is.”
“How can you know that?” Dustin grabbed Chad’s arm. The man spun on him with a look in his eyes that actually made the larger man let go and take a step back.
“I can’t be sure, but it is the closest thing to a chance that we have seen. Something has those walkers gathered around those houses.”
“Then let’s go,” Dustin said with a sigh after he looked down one more time. From this distance, it didn’t look like such a daunting task, but once they went over that wall, he knew that perspective would change.
The two men went back and got their horses. There was no fenced field close by that they could set the horses free in, but they could not just tie them up. If a zombie arrived, the animals would not have a chance. It was quickly decided that they would have to let the animals go free and hope for the best.
Both men checked their protective gear and slung their crossbows onto their backs. Each had two dozen bolts and would need to make every shot count. They reached the five foot wall that circled the entire development and Chad went over first.
Dustin followed and was dismayed to discover a handful of the walking dead already heading their way. He watched Chad head right for them with an axe in one hand and a machete in the other. All five were dispatched before Dustin could even catch up.
“There were three houses with crowds around them,” Chad said. “The best thing to do is just take the closest one first.”
Together, the men headed over to the closest house and moved along the wall. Chad led the way and raised his hand when he reached the end and peeked around the corner.
The yard was busy with a dozen or so zombies milling forward and scratching at walls and a boarded up picture window. The glass was almost ground to dust under the feet of the zombies, leading Chad to believe that the window had been busted out long ago. More zombies could be heard in the fenced back yard. Since there was no gate on this side, the obvious assumption was that it was on the other side of the house and open—if it was still even in existence.
Chad held up his hand and pointed to Dustin, then scurried in a crouch to the car that sat in the driveway with all the doors wide open. Peeking inside, he could see a few suitcases and some boxes in the back seat of the Lexus. The keys were in the ignition. Looking closer, he saw a dark stain on the driver’s seat. It wasn’t hard to guess what had happened here.
Reaching the rear of the car, he was able to give the front of the house a good look. The upstairs windows were intact, but in one, a single figure stood. Chad didn’t need to look that close or that long. The filth that smeared the glass told him all he needed to know. He crept back to Dustin.
“This place is a bust. The zombies gathered around are probably drawn here whenever the zombie or zombies inside make a noise.”
“How do you know there are more inside?” Dustin whispered.
Chad explained about what he’d seen in the upstairs window. Dustin shrugged in a non-committal way that had Chad wondering how the man had actually lasted this long. It was obvious that the big man was not exactly understanding the dynamics of what he was being told about basic zombie behavior.
Taking a few seconds to gather his bearings and try to recall what he could remember seeing from the ridge above, Chad set off for the second house. It turned out to be more of the same situation. He tried not to be too discouraged. If the third house was a bust as well, they would be back to square one when it came to searching for his daughter.
The last house would take them the farthest into the development. They used the fenced back yards to travel in order to minimize the chances of being seen.
On a couple of occasions, Chad thought that their location might have been given up when a zombie trapped inside the house of the yard they were crossing would bang on a back window or sliding glass door. The first time it happened was the worst as both men let out a little shout of surprise. They were better prepared on subsequent events, but Chad was amazed at just how loud those poundings or slappings seemed in the near silence.
At last they reached a large open park that was seriously overgrown. Crossing it would be the quickest way, but there was practically no cover. If they took one of the bordering streets, they would have to pass through seven more back yards.
“What do you think?” Dustin nudged Chad.
A few zombies could be seen scattered around the park, but nothing too serious. The real problem was the house that they were all seemingly headed towards. Already it was clear that there were about five times as many zombies clustered in front compared to the others. There was no telling how many might be in back or coming to join as the ones crossing the park were in the act of doing.
“If we take the road that borders the park on either side, we will have to use the back yards. That will slow us down, and if there is somebody holding out in that house…every second counts,” Chad explained. “They could have the place blocked up pretty good, but we have no way of knowing. What I do know from being out in this crap is that sometimes your safety is based on a matter of seconds where things go right or wrong. If that place is overrun while we are sitting here debating our route…or, God forbid, it falls while we are making our way there…we will have to live with it forever.”
“Then let’s g—” Dustin was cut off by a sudden crash and a chorus of shrieks and screams.
***
Jody flashed a series of signals to Danny from across the street. They had come together for a moment when they reached the entrance of the blazing inferno that was like seeing through the gates to Hell.
At first they considered just calling it a loss. Going in there did not seem like it was going to serve any purpose other than to risk their lives. Zombies were wandering around in there, most of them ablaze and seeming to be completely oblivious to that fact. The worst for Danny had been the little girl no more than four or five years old. She was missing both arms and had a good portion of the right side of her face torn away. She was engulfed in flames and looked right at him just as her eyes burst in their sockets and began oozing down her blackening face.
“I don’t see how Remar or any of his crew could still be in there,” Jody voiced Danny’s thoughts to the tee.
“Maybe we go back and tell folks there were no survi—” a horrible scream cut that statement off in Danny’s throat.
It was disturbingly close. The problem was that not one single house that they could see was safe from the flames. As unlikely as it seemed, every single house in this two hundred-plus development was on fire to some degree.
Jody held up a hand and pointed. Danny had nodded and swung the crossbow into his hands after making sure that the sword on his back was ready to come free at a
moment’s notice. The two men ventured in at a crouch. Jody gave Danny one quick glance and wave before he sprinted for the fence of the house they both believed to be the source of the scream.
The plan was for Jody to move in from the rear and Danny was to cover the front in case somebody inside tried to escape. Danny began to count in his head. When he reached a thousand, he would move for the front door. He looked around at the flames and tried to figure out how an entire development this size could go up at once.
…one hundred and six, one hundred and seven…
A flaming zombie staggered his way, but fell over about fifty feet away and stopped moving. Danny found himself curious and inched forward to the smoldering husk.
…three hundred and eighty-one, three hundred and eighty-two…
Kneeling beside it, he used the toe of his boot to flip it over. The face stared up at nothing, eye sockets empty and the lips burned away adding to the creepiness of the thing.
…six hundred and eleven, six hundred and twelve…
He was almost convinced that it was good and dead until the jaw moved slightly.
“Poor, pathetic bastard,” he whispered and drove his knife into where the left eye should be.
…eight hundred and thirty-seven, eight hundred and thirty-eight…
Inside the house, Jody looked up just as two figures came tumbling down the stairs. They were oblivious to his presence, each with his hands around the other’s throat. One of the men was Remar, but the other was a burly looking biker type with a bushy handlebar mustache.
Jody had no idea what was going on. Remar had never been anything but confrontational and rude since they’d met. Still, he was the ‘evil’ he knew versus that which he did not. Stepping in from behind, Jody muscled himself into position and put the biker in a sleeper after Remar’s hand moved out of the way, although obviously with great reluctance.
The huge man struggled briefly before going limp. Jody was thankful that the man had seemed to already be lacking a bit of steam. He wasn’t sure he could have maintained the hold for very long. Rolling off, he climbed to his feet. Remar did the same, but was eyeballing Jody with obvious suspicion.
“What are you doing here?” the man asked as he rubbed at his throat.
“Maybe we can have this talk after we get out of here. The place is on fire if you haven’t noticed,” Jody replied. He gave the man on the floor a cursory glance and did not see anything worth picking over that justified staying in a burning house for a moment longer.
Remar glanced upstairs and suddenly Jody had a feeling that there was something that he was missing…if he could just get past the fact that his adrenaline was on overload. Between zombies—flaming or otherwise, an entire housing development burning around them, including the home he was currently standing in, and being with a man who had never been anything but confrontational at best, he just could not get his brain to focus.
When Remar seemed hesitant to move, Jody decided that he would not stand and wait for the house to fall on his head. He headed through the living room and to the front door. Just as his hand closed on the door knob, he heard something behind him. He knew he had made a mistake and cursed himself a split second before something crashed into the back of his head.
…nine hundred and ninety-nine, one thousand!
Danny had already broken the rules and began moving toward the entrance of the house. Just as he reached for the door, he heard a heavy sounding thump, a slight moan, and a thud. His crossbow would probably be useless in the house and he tossed it aside as he reached over his shoulder.
Danny had wanted to try out this sword ever since George had given it to him. He’d spent a good amount of time working with a dummy, but this was the first time he was going into battle with it in his hand.
He felt the door pull from his grip as whoever was on the other side of it yanked it open. Taking a step back and to the side, Danny did not even pause a heartbeat when Remar Jenks stepped out holding a club that had been a table leg in its former life.
Everything had shifted into slow motion. In the blink of an eye Danny was able to take in the body on the floor of the hall behind Remar as that of his friend Jody. He also saw the pool of blood already forming around his friend’s head like a crimson halo. There was a small clump of hair and a single drop of blood seemed to be suspended in air as it grew pregnant and allowed gravity to pull it free from the ornately carved piece of wood in Remar’s hand.
Danny swung with all his might and was surprised when the man seemed to just look at him with only the mildest expression of amusement.
15
You Don’t Mess With The Geek
“Here is how it is going to work,” the man who had called himself Doug said as he looked around the room, obviously searching for a way out. “You are going to clear me a path, and I am going to walk out of here, but this little chicken is coming with me to make sure that nobody does anything stupid.”
“And you let her go…when?” Kevin asked. He had a feeling he already knew the answer, but he wanted to hear it for himself.
The man laughed. “I’m not letting her go…are you kidding me? You know how long since I’ve seen something this fresh?” He leaned down and took an exaggerated sniff of Heather’s hair.
“Then you are signing your own death certificate,” Kevin said.
“And who is gonna take me down? You, gimpy? Your girlfriend…Scarface or whatever the hell her name is?” He nodded his head towards Aleah who was sitting against a wall with a bloody nose that Kevin felt awful for just now noticing. “Maybe that little dyke soldier? One of the kids? Let’s face it, punk, you ain’t gonna do nothing but be grateful that this is the only thing I am taking.”
“You think you have what it takes to outsmart me?” Kevin asked. “You think that you are going to make it out of this room alive? Both of those would be very incorrect assumptions. I have dealt with scum like you before…and I can promise you that only one of us walks away from here alive unless you let her go and then just run as far away as you can.”
The man seemed to crack around the edges. His face melted into one of abject fear and horror. He held Heather out away from his body and the hand holding the blade began to visibly tremble.
“You’d still let me go…even now? Even after what my guys and I did to that other girl and her boyfriend?”
A few sobs rippled through the children who were all wide awake now and watching this scene with terror in their eyes. Those closest who could not get any further away were almost on top of those around them. Sean and Deanna were the only ones on their feet, and both looked like they wanted to grab this guy and rip him apart limb from limb.
“You would still let me out of here…alive? All I have to do is promise to go far away and never bother you or any of these kids ever again?” the man asked with a voice that sounded on the verge of tears.
“You have my word.”
Kevin was not sure if he was telling the truth or not; part of him would be content to just let this guy vanish. The things this man had done were terrible, there was no disputing that fact; however, they were not done to him or anybody that he knew personally. In time, this group of kids could have a chance at a life far away from all of this madness. And since none of them had actually been victims, they would eventually get over the tragic loss of their friend.
Another part of him said that an animal like this needed to be put down. He would simply go out and recruit another gang of sick bastards and resume his reign of terror on some other poor individual or individuals. Killing him would save countless others the misery that he was sure to inflict.
The man started to smile…then laugh. Pretty soon he was making it a point to wipe his eyes in dramatic fashion as if he’d been reduced to tears.
“And that, my friend, is why you will never make it,” the man said, all traces of a smile gone in an instant and replaced with something cold…almost reptilian. “What would stop me from coming back in the nig
ht, slitting your throat and taking my pick of this group? Now I’m not a total perv, a lot of these little brats are too young. But this one…” He shook Heather by the fistful of hair he held. “This one will suit my needs just dandy.”
He gave Kevin an evil wink and ran his tongue up the side of her neck. Heather winced and made a strangled cry, but it was the look in her eyes that caught Kevin’s attention. She was looking at him, and in that face, he saw that she had no doubt he would do something…he would save her.
The problem as he saw it was that he didn’t know exactly how. This was that moment when he was up on the bathrooms at the RV camp all over again. He’d watched helplessly then, and he did not see any viable alternative. He was not an action hero…he did not have a gun stashed someplace or a throwing knife that he could whip out in the blink of an eye and plant in this bad guy’s face. His options were limited, and he was painfully aware of the reality.
“Now, you step aside. I will be on my way, and maybe you get lucky and never see me again,” the man growled as he looked around the room for the closest exit.
“I can’t let you leave,” Kevin said with a sigh.
“Can’t?” The man laughed. It was an ugly sound, emphasized by a small cry from Heather when he gripped her hair tighter and placed his blade against her throat. “Perhaps you did not understand how this works. You either move your ass out of the way, or this girl’s head lands in your lap…body not included.”
“You see,” Kevin suddenly felt a sense of calm as he began to speak, “that really is the thing. One way or another, she is going to die. You will either kill her now or kill her later. I always hated that in the movies.” The man seemed almost as perplexed as he did annoyed as Kevin looked content to lean against the door frame—the only visible exit from this room—and ramble. “In the movies, people would get captured or something, usually by some version of the bad guy. That would be you in this case. Then, the bad guy would make all these threats. “Oh, I’m gonna kill you if you don’t do what I say” and stuff like that. But the thing is, you knew that the bad guy was probably going to just try and kill them anyways. So they were giving the bad guy what they wanted and he was still gonna try to kill them. I don’t know how many times I watched a movie where hero and villain are both pointing a gun at each other. The stupid good guy would always set his weapon down and kick it over. Why? The bad guy was in just as much danger of being killed. That always struck me as—”
