Apocalypse Asunder

by David Rogers

  The step-stairs unfolded quietly on well-oiled hinges, but they creaked under his weight as he went down. Jessica shifted across the rafters to follow him, but she heard a heavy and almost hollow sounding thud come from below before she could get her feet on the steps. Another thud followed by a more muted rolling thump then sounded. Then a third thump before she could descend far enough to duck below the level of the attic and see what was happening in the hallway.

  Austin was just past the stairs down to the first floor. A zombie was sprawled out on the floor ahead of him, with a second slumped sloppily against the wall. As she watched, Austin stepped back and swung the rods like a baseball bat, angling his swing somewhat vertically to have enough room to sweep his weapon around in the fairly constricted hallway. The metal slammed into the partially upright zombie’s head; compressing it against the wall sickeningly. There was a crack of something breaking, but the zombie was still moving, trying to push itself back on balance.

  Winding up again, Austin hit it once more; this time in the side of the neck. She heard another crack, the zombie’s head rolled sideways sickeningly, and this time it collapsed. Jessica made it down to the second floor and looked behind her. There was a bathroom and a bedroom very close to the attic access. The open bathroom door she simply closed, but the bedroom door had been battered off its hinges.

  She raised her left hand over her head and made a stay back motion that she hoped Candice was watching for. Stepping into the doorway with the gun outstretched before her, Jessica saw a knocked over and smashed table lamp, and smudges on the carpet from lots of dirty feet, but no zombies. She double checked, then turned back into the hallway.

  Austin had drawn his knife, and as she watched, he went down on one knee next to the remaining zombie and stabbed with the blade. It was a ‘Rambo’ style knife; nearly as long as her forearm. She flinched as it entered the zombie’s head through one of the eye sockets. Austin twisted the weapon savagely, then pulled it out and stepped back as he rose. The zombie lay motionless on the ground.

  “Candice!” Jessica said quickly, her voice barely above a whisper. “Let’s go!”

  Austin pointed at himself, then downward. When Jessica nodded, he pointed at her, then with two fingers at his eyes before gesturing broadly at the rest of the floor and finishing with a jab of the knife blade down at the floor where he stood. Jessica nodded again, thinking she caught his meaning.

  As Candice clambered down from the attic, Austin ghosted down the main stairs, past the shattered boards and wreckage of the blockading furniture. Jessica moved near the mess, clear of the two zombies, keeping an eye on the upstairs hallway. The zombie he’d hit in the neck was still moving; at least, its jaw was. It was making chewing motions as its eyes fixed on her and Candice, but its arms and legs were motionless. Jessica shuddered as she took that image in, trying to put it out of her mind to focus on the rest of the hallway.

  There were three more doors up here, all open and damaged. Any of them might have a zombie behind them, or in the room beyond. She waited, listing and watching for trouble.

  “I’m here.” Candice whispered quietly, just before her hands clutched at Jessica from behind. As soon as she felt her daughter, Jessica moved to follow Austin. She and Candice weren’t as quiet crossing the remains of the furniture at the top of the stairs as Austin had been, but she heard the sounds of a fight from below that maybe meant the crunch of their footsteps on the shattered wood didn’t matter very much.

  Whatever was going on downstairs, there was a lot of it. She heard a heavy thump that sounded like a body hitting a wall, followed by two more similar thuds that could have been anything from a zombie going into a wall or the floor, or Austin hitting them with his clubs, or probably some sort of combination. She heard him grunt, a painful exhalation of air, followed by the loudest impact yet.

  Quickening her pace, Jessica kept descending. From the shifting shadows and sounds of fighting, she knew he’d turned right, toward the front door. When she was at the bottom of the stairs, she checked left quickly. At first she thought it was clear, but a zombie staggered into view at the far end of the hallway just as she looked. Two more were close behind it.

  She frowned and started to bring the Shield up, then scowled harder as she saw the closed door on the left-hand wall between her and the zombies. A second one was just beyond it. That gave her an idea. Two years ago, Sandra had figured out that her closet door could be used as a way to block the bedroom door by opening and jamming the one against the knob of the other. Candice used to howl about it when she wanted to visit her older sister.

  The thought carried a flash of sadness, but it was also useful. “Stay here.” Jessica told Candice, reaching behind her to push the girl back. Darting forward, Jessica grabbed for the far door and pulled it open. As it swung back, she opened the other one and managed to get the first jammed against the second’s knob. Stepping back, she eyed the makeshift block. The doors didn’t completely obstruct the corridor; but even Candice would have to work to squeeze past between their edges and the wall.

  “Watch that. Tell me if they get past.” Jessica said, grabbing Candice’s shoulder and moving her to the side so she could see. Jessica kept herself between Candice and the zombies, however.

  “Okay.” the girl nodded.

  Turning, Jessica saw Austin was dealing with several zombies. Three were on the ground; but a fourth had managed to – by design or accident – grab onto the end of the metal sticks. She couldn’t see how to help short of shooting, but she wasn’t sure if things qualified as ‘desperate’ yet either.

  Austin didn’t seem to be panicking though; despite the zombie hanging on to the stick and preventing its further use as a bludgeon. He kicked at one of the zombie’s knees. There was a loud pop-crack, and the creature sagged sideways to the floor. Going down as well, the big man brought his knife down in a slasher movie style stab; scribing a large, powerful arc with it.

  The blade crunched into the side of the undead creature’s skull just ahead of the ear, right on the temple. It was sickening – especially when he wiggled the knife up and down so the blade took a tour around the inside of the skull – but also effective; the nightmare thing went limp immediately, and Austin tugged the knife free with a loud grunt of effort.

  A banging and thumping arose behind her. Jessica glanced back quickly, but the doors were holding for the moment. They were quivering and vibrating under the pounding of the zombies behind them, but holding.

  “We okay back there?” Austin asked loudly as he jabbed the end of his metal sticks at one of the zombies on the floor.

  “For now.” Jessica answered.

  “The hallway is blocked off.” Candice said worriedly.

  “Good.” he said, stepping forward and swinging his leg like he was kicking a ball. The toe of his boot slammed into a zombie’s skull with a resounding thump, followed by a crack as its head torqued over to one side. The body went limp, but she saw the mouth still moving; just like the one upstairs. Austin caught himself against the wall with the hand holding the knife, breathing hard.

  “You okay?” she asked, concerned.

  “I’ll be fine.” he panted, pushing off and jabbing at the closer of the last two with the sticks. Both remaining zombies were sitting up. The one he poked at fell over backwards, and Austin glanced behind himself at her. “Back out of the way.”

  She stepped back, toward the banging and thumping still occurring as the other zombies pounded on the blocking doors, as he hefted the sticks one handed. When she was clear, he looked forward, then swung the stick overhead from back to front in a large arc that was possible only because the entry hall had an oversized ceiling. She heard the end whistling through the air, then it smacked into the sitting zombie’s head.

  Jessica blanched as the skull fractured violently enough for her to catch a glimpse of grey matter beneath the dirty, tousled hair. It didn’t explode apart, but the crack was quite broad; enough for the still moving ro
ds to crunch through and lodge in the brains beneath the bone. The zombie spasmed and fell back, twitching like an epileptic. Austin jabbed at the last one again to knock it back flat once more, then went forward and down to stab it through the eye with his knife.

  “Mom!” Candice said in alarm, tugging at Jessica’s pants.

  Glancing behind her again, Jessica saw the door taking the beating had splintered and bent enough so it couldn’t be held open by the second one anymore. Right as she looked, it gave up the effort and broke completely apart. She lunged for the rear door, the only one now, and caught it by putting her shoulder against it. Then her eyes widened as she felt it moving – it and her both – despite her trying to plant her feet and lean her whole body into it.

  “Austin!” she said in alarm, grunting as she tried to will her shoes into finding enough friction to keep from sliding bit by bit across the hallway floor. Behind her, she could feel the zombies pounding on the door; every impact shaking her whole body. This close – with only a few inches of hollow, thin wood between her and them – the odor emanating from the walking corpses was over powering. Fetid and foul, cloying and insipid despite her frantic distraction and attempt to ignore it; it felt like a presence every bit as physical as the zombies’ efforts to get past the door.

  Austin turned with his knife still in the skull of the zombie he’d just stabbed, and jerked the blade and himself up in one swift motion. “This way, let it go. Move!” he said quickly, gesturing to her with the blade. Its metal was streaked with sticky residue, and bits fell to the floor as he waved it around.

  “Candice, go.” Jessica gasped, arching her back as she shoved the door back an inch.

  “You can’t hold it.”

  “I’m not going to! Go!” she ordered.

  Candice darted past Austin, and Jessica gave one final push at the door before she sprinted forward away from it. Behind her, she heard the door slam into the wall as the resistance holding it open abruptly vanished; followed by some very obvious thuds of bone on ground as the zombies stumbled to the floor. She ignored all that to squeeze past Austin and grab for her daughter’s hand.

  Austin was using his sticks to push the twitching zombie a little further out of the way; but whatever was wrong with the creature, it wasn’t trying to grab at or eat any of the humans. Jessica glanced back and saw the zombies coming from the kitchen had fallen, but only the first two; the third was staggering unsteadily through the fallen bodies of its nightmarish companions, somehow keeping its feet as it made right for Austin.

  “Go.” he repeated as he swiveled to face down the hallway and stepped back toward her. He nearly filled the hallway from side to side, especially when he raised his arms up ready to fight.

  Jessica pulled Candice away from the trio of pursuing zombies. She heard a hollow thud-thunk behind her as Austin hit one of the zombies with his stick, but she ignored that as she got to the front door and set herself against it. With her foot and body planted very carefully, leaning into it with all her weight, she opened it just a crack; barely enough for her to even look out through.

  Nothing loomed on the other side; at least, nothing close. She eased it open a little further and peered out. About half a dozen zombies were milling about; widely spaced across the unmown grass. Most of them were just ambling unsteadily about without seeming to have any real direction; but two had clearly noticed or decided something interesting was going on in the house. They were already shambling around toward it, and she saw their eyes lock on her as she stood looking through the door.

  “We can get to the street.” Jessica said, turning her head and speaking as quietly as she dared without feeling certain it would still be too low to carry to Austin. She would have preferred the yard be clear of any threats, but she didn’t see any real problem with getting past the handful of monsters in the grass outside so she and Candice and Austin could make it to the gate.

  He had knocked the first of the new trio of zombies down, and spoke as he kicked its head with his boot. “Can’t tell beyond that?”

  “Not from here.”

  “We can always start shooting and break back for the house.”

  “Let’s hope we don’t have to.” she muttered, opening the door all the way and double checking that she had Candice’s hand gripped tightly in her own. She scarcely need to have bothered; the girl was clinging to Jessica with strength far past what seemed possible for a ten-year-old. “Come on sweetie, stay right with me.”

  “O-o-okay.” Candice quavered.

  Jessica stepped through the doorway and took another long look around, deciding on her route and how she wanted to move around the zombies. They were starting to react, staggering around and starting to move toward the door. She really hoped there wasn’t another huge horde lurking on the other side of the wall at the edge of the property, or waiting in one of the adjacent yards. She figured there would be some dodging and scrambling, more taking what was given and less what was wanted, on the way out; but she didn’t want to get treed up again. Or worse.

  “What’s the problem?” Austin asked from behind her.

  “Just making sure it’s clear.” Jessica answered Austin, kicking herself mentally and getting moving. “Okay, here we go. We’re going to be dodging around some.”

  “Hurry!” Candice said in a scared voice as the zombies finally all noticed them. As Jessica tugged her along, the girl shied away from one that was getting near enough to be eager as it reached for the humans.

  Jessica curved around it at a fast walk, then cut toward the center of the yard. The other zombies were starting to react, but slowly, so very slowly. The one saving grace of dealing with zombies; well, that and their inability to think clearly. They were slow, and they were stupid. She zigzagged through them, struggling to keep her expression calm, and made it to the gate. It opened at her shove, and she stopped for one look at what lay beyond before heading through.

  The street was not deserted as it had been before everything erupted the previous day; but neither was it covered in a hungry mob of undead as it had been when they’d arrived at the house pursued by a tidal wave carpet of horror. Now, only maybe three or four dozen zombies were in view, milling and ambling aimlessly back and forth around on the road and sidewalks. That wasn’t great, but it also wasn’t hopeless either. There was a good chance.

  She was betting their lives on it.

  “Right looks good.” Austin said as he arrived behind her.

  “Right it is.” she nodded, turning in that direction. Keeping her left hand on Candice’s shoulder, Jessica started moving; constantly plotting and replotting a course through the zombies. Austin grabbed at her to slow her down once, stepping past and using his sticks to knock a zombie out of the way to open a safer hole for them to fit through, but other than that the going was good. They picked their way through the zombies by ones and twos, curving back and forth across the street, but staying safely out of reach the entire time.

  At the end of the block Jessica turned them north and kept moving. Mindful of Austin’s increasingly labored breathing, she slowed their pace to a more measured walk whenever there was room to take it slower; but she didn’t stop, and he didn’t complain. It was hard, but she kept telling herself to not hope too soon. The escape looked to be working, but could go sour without warning.

  So she kept moving, and Austin and Candice stayed right with her. They started to pick up something of a wake of zombies, the creatures falling in behind them from yards and along the street and staggering out of houses as the trio got past uneaten, but as long as the humans kept moving, the zombies couldn’t catch them.

  But the zombies who came after them seemed to be the exception now, not the rule as the day before. The most noise – which Jessica was starting to think had been the primary exacerbating factor yesterday – came from footsteps and feet on pavement. Without all the shooting and yelling and engine noises, zombies weren’t being drawn in from all over. Or they’d wandered off; but as the sl
ow speed dodging and chasing went on, she was starting to believe it was the noise.

  As they walked, Jessica got a good look into as yards they were passing; and most of them showed a lot of lingering and lurking zombies. Why they were congregating behind the walls she had no idea, but after walking for nearly two miles, she was convinced there had to be hundreds of zombies in the immediate area. Probably thousands. But the exact number didn’t matter.

  There were a lot. Far more than she and Austin could have held off. Certainly more than they could have somehow slaughtered.

  “Hiding was the right move.” Jessica said as they finally broke out into a more open area, leaving the neighborhoods behind.

  “Looks like it.” Austin said tightly.

  Jessica glanced at him. “How are you doing?”

  “I’m okay.”

  “You sound like you’re in pain.”

  “I am.”

  “We need to find a car or something.”

  “I agree.” he replied, making a show of looking around. The road was flat and nearly level – like most of the state, in stark contrast to Georgia’s nearly continuous arrangement of hills and slopes – running west away from the neighborhood, and Ocala to the east of that.

  “What about the zombies?” Candice asked. She was starting to sound more ‘normal’; or, at least, as normal as she had since the outbreaks. The panic and terror of the previous day wasn’t as evident, and there was now a bit of very obvious hope for safety on her face and in her voice.

  “We’ll just keep dealing with them the best we can when we run across them.” Jessica answered her daughter.

  “No, I mean the ones behind us.” Candice said.