The Creeping Dead: Book 2

by Edward P. Cardillo

  She saw Mike stunned as the dead ambled inside. Being opportunistic predators, the dead went for the children first, grabbing them and pulling them down to the floor. Some parents ran away, others tried to rescue their children. Some got away with bites taken of their arms, others weren’t so lucky. Either way, they were all dead. Some just didn’t realize it yet.

  Like lions, the dead surrounded the poor families, herding them together. The people huddled together, crying and screaming, as if they felt an instinctive strength in numbers.

  In the end, the zombies had more.

  *

  Mike stopped the carousel. He hopped up while it still moved, falling and hurting his right knee, as the child riders cried for their parents. He reached out and grabbed the wooden extended leg of a horse, named Lucky as evidenced by the red scriptive lettering on its cream-colored saddle. He pulled himself up, groaning.

  He began to limp to each child, pain shooting up his leg like lightning, unstrapping them and helping them down. As each child ran off towards his or her parent, Mike moved on to the next child, and then to the next.

  As he looked over his shoulder, he saw that the dead had already overrun the parents waiting in front. So, when the next child made to run off, he pulled him the other direction. “No, this way!”

  He made his way around the carousel, collecting children, and they followed him like the tail of a comet. The dead reached over and through the metal fence, their collective moans and shrieks drowning out the calliope music.

  When he had all of the riders, he led them to the back of the carousel, but there more dead waited for them. Surrounded, he brought the screaming, terrified children back onto the ride. They crossed the ride to its center, and he arranged them along the center hub, placing them with their backs up against the mirrors.

  He limped back over the ride and down to his control panel. He pressed the green button, restarting the ride, as undead fingertips brushed his right shoulder and back, clawing at his shirt. One of the dead shrieked and projectile vomited blood on him, splattering the right side of his face and body with bile and plasma.

  *

  Nancy peeked over the glass counter, and she saw Mike turn the carousel back on. He hopped back on as it began to turn, and he made his way towards the center, dripping in blood. A pang of horror racked her body as she thought he was injured, but he only limped from his leg injury. Relief momentarily washed over her as she guessed…hoped the blood wasn’t his.

  She had to help him, but she didn’t know what to do.

  Attracted by the sudden movement and the sound of screaming children in the center, the dead began to converge on the carousel, pulling down the flimsy metal fence with the weight of their numbers.

  Stumbling over the fence, the dead lunged at the ride, the rotation pulling them off their feet. Hope welled up inside Nancy as she watched the advancing dead struggle with navigating the moving ride. They shrieked and swept wild hands at the bobbing horses, their projectile vomit dousing them in red and brown, their broken fingernails deflecting off the lacquered wood.

  Through the chaos, Nancy saw Mike looking at her, and her hopes were dashed. His look was that of futility and resignation. There was nowhere for him to go. His look told her all of this in an instant. It also told her to run.

  Nancy stood, shaking her head in defiance. No, you crazy old fool. Don’t give up. It’s not over.

  As the dead stumbled their way onto the spinning carousel, they crawled towards the center, hands reaching for Mike and the children huddling together in the center. The children were screaming and crying. Mike held a couple of them close. The look on his face was indescribable.

  Nancy had to do something. She heard gunfire outside. There were police.

  All of the dead were focused on the carousel. She ran to the door, right behind the undead pile-on, and shouted, “Help! Police! Help!”

  She saw the police doing their best to contain the onslaught of dead, but the dead were winning. Jesus Christ, there are so many of them. Where are they coming from?

  She waved her arms frantically, shouting into the confusion, trying to get someone’s attention. Anyone’s attention.

  She looked over her shoulder and saw that the dead had made it to the center of the carousel. Hot tears streamed down her face as she no longer saw Mike or the children. They had disappeared under a heap of hungry monsters. Blood spattered the mirrors as the calliope music played on and the dead frenzied over their hot meals.

  Bastards! You’ll pay. I’ll make you pay. Every single fucking one of you.

  Nancy, in typical Nancy fashion, rolled up her sleeves and marched over to the carousel. Not knowing what else to say or do, she began hurling curses at the ravenous abominations.

  * * *

  Tara was two blocks away from the pandemonium of the boardwalk, practically dragging Tyrell at her side.

  “What about Vinnie?” protested Tyrell.

  “He’ll be fine. He’s going to help Dharma and Marie’s kids.”

  “Slow down, Mom.” His feet were dragging as he tried to regain his footing.

  Tara slowed for a moment, as he was slowing them down. Once he found his footing, she pulled him down the block again. She was doing her best to keep her composure. She wanted to scream. She asked herself how this could happen again. However, such indulgences in panic would do nothing for Tyrell. No, she had to keep calm.

  “Where are we going, Mom?”

  “We’re getting out of Smuggler’s Bay.”

  Just ahead, she saw a police car pull up to a house. Chief Holbrook got out.

  “Chief! Chief! Over here!”

  He looked down the block and saw Tara.

  She ran over to him, pulling Tyrell with her.

  Tyrell was grateful when she stopped, as it gave him a moment to catch his breath. The pops of gunfire in the distance were getting closer.

  “Chief, the dead are back! They’re on the boardwalk!”

  “I know,” he said, still walking towards the house. “Get in your car and get out of here!”

  He knocked on the door and ignored her. An older woman answered. Chief Holbrook shoved his way inside.

  “What’s he doing, Mom?”

  “I don’t know, but he’s right. We’re getting the hell out of here.”

  *

  Holbrook entered the house, relieved that Mrs. Holly was home. “Where’s Robbie?”

  “He’s in the kitchen drinking some water. Poor thing’s in shock. We just got here a moment ago.”

  Robbie stepped out of the kitchen. “Dad!” He ran over to his father and threw his arms around him.

  Holbrook got down on one knee and embraced his son as the both of them cried tears of relief. After a moment, Holbrook broke the embrace and stood up, wiping his eyes. “Thank you so much.”

  “I’m glad we got out of there,” said Mrs. Holly. “We almost didn’t. Fortunately, I was taking him to the bathroom on the boardwalk, so we weren’t on the beach when…when they attacked everyone.”

  “You have to leave,” said Holbrook, grabbing Robbie by the arm. “I’m taking you to the police station. Lena’s waiting. You need to get out of Smuggler’s Bay.”

  “Oh dear,” was all Mrs. Holly could manage.

  Holbrook ushered them outside. Mrs. Holly made as if to lock her front door, but he wouldn’t let her. He grabbed her arm firmly.

  “Ow!”

  “There’s no time.”

  They looked down the street all the way to the boardwalk and saw a tsunami of dead creeping in their direction. The police barricade had been overrun, the flashing lights on their roofs barely visible as the dead crawled over them like a plague of rats.

  That was all Mrs. Holly needed. She rushed over to Holbrook’s squad car and pulled the passenger door open. Holbrook opened the back door.

  “Get in,” he told Robbie.

  Robbie hopped in the back, and Holbrook closed the door behind him. He rounded the car and hopped into
the front seat. The car was already running. He threw it in drive and took off towards the police station. He gave one last look at the surge of dead in his rearview mirror, and it reminded him of the surging tide during the superstorm two years ago.

  He took a left turn a little too fast. The car skidded on the pavement. Mrs. Holly grabbed the door and dashboard, steadying herself. Robbie slid to the right in the back seat, holding his arm out to brace himself from slamming into the door.

  “Where’s Mom?” asked Robbie.

  “She’s at the station. We’re going to pick her up and get you guys out of here.”

  “You’re leaving, too?” asked Mrs. Holly with obvious disapproval.

  “I’m giving you this car, and you all are leaving. I’m staying.”

  “Oh,” said Mrs. Holly, satisfied with his explanation. After all, it wouldn’t do for the police chief to skip town in the middle of a crisis.

  Holbrook squinted his eyes as he saw a man wandering in the middle of the street. The way he walked, he looked either drunk or injured. Or he was one of the creeping dead.

  “Hold on.” He swerved around the hobbling figure, and he let out a sigh of relief when he saw who it was.

  Robbie was looking out the side and then the back window as they passed. “Dad, it’s Lenny Krueger.”

  Holbrook hit the brakes and stepped out of the car. “Lenny, get in the car!”

  Lenny looked up, startled, as he had been in the middle of a conversation with a non-existent person. “Chief Holbrook,” he said, smiling.

  “Lenny, get in! Hurry!”

  Lenny nodded and staggered over to the car. Holbrook opened the rear driver’s side door, and Lenny got in. Holbrook slammed the door shut and got back into the driver’s seat. He took off and continued down the avenue. They were now only a few blocks from the station.

  “Lenny, what were you doing wandering alone out there?”

  “V-V-Vinnie t-told me to g-go home and wait.”

  “Vinnie Cantone?”

  “Yes, sir.” His voice was a little too cheerful given the situation.

  “Where did Vinnie go?” Holbrook knew the answer. If he told Lenny to go home, that meant he was still on the boardwalk.

  “He went to s-s-save Dharma and the k-kids.”

  “Whose kids?”

  “Marie R-R-Russo.”

  Holbrook didn’t say anything further on the matter. He pulled up to the police station, stopping right in front. “Wait here. I’ll be back in a flash.”

  “Are you all right?” asked Robbie from the backseat, watching his father disappear into the station.

  “Oh dear,” was all Mr. Holly said. She appeared overwhelmed. As a senior citizen, this was a bit too much excitement for her. She barely got through the first attack two years ago.

  “We are going to be all right,” declared Lenny, nodding in emphasis, a big smile on his face. It was all he knew to say at the moment. It always made him feel better when people told him that, even if he didn’t believe it.

  “Oh dear.”

  Lenny looked to his left, and a cramped Billy Blake gave him the thumbs up.

  Chapter 9

  Vinnie and Marie barged into the entrance of the Blackbeard’s Pier Arcade. Vinnie skidded to a halt, grabbing Marie by the arm, before they both ran headlong into a mess of zombies around the carousel. Vinnie dropped his shotgun on the ground.

  Marie looked at the carousel, and then at a woman standing in front of it, fists clenched at her side and hurling obscenities at the dead. “Nancy?”

  Nancy turned to look at Marie. Her teeth were clenched, and she had raccoon eyes.

  Marie realized that Nancy’s mascara had run from her tears. If she hadn’t been cursing, Marie would’ve thought she was one of the dead.

  “They got Mike and the kids!” Nancy cried out.

  Vinnie picked his shotgun up off the ground and straightened up. “What?!”

  Marie ran up to Nancy, pointing her pistol. She fired a shot right over her shoulder, hitting a zombie coming up behind her. “Jesus, Nancy. Where are my kids?”

  “I-I-I don’t know.”

  A woman in a tattered outfit, bloated and green, rushed Vinnie, arms outstretched, jaws snapping. Vinnie raised his shotgun and pointed it right to her temple. She let out a blood-curdling shriek, but it was drowned out when Vinnie pulled the trigger and fired right into a dead woman’s face. Her face imploded, blood and brains splattering behind her. She dropped to the ground.

  The zombies on the carousel began to shriek as if in response, and the frenzied mass began to stumble off of the carousel.

  Marie grabbed Nancy by the arm, her grip firm, and pulled her past the prizes counter and towards the exit to the pier. “Come on, Vinnie. Time to go.”

  Vinnie, stunned by the news of Mike’s death, paused a moment. However, as the dead climbed back over the flimsy metal fence surrounding the ride, he snapped out of it and ran to follow Marie and Nancy onto the pier.

  When they spilled out into the night air, they gawked in amazement at the scene unfolding before them. The dead were everywhere, and there were very few of the living left. Many of the cannibalistic monsters perched over their fallen victims—men, women, and children. None were spared a gruesome death by being eaten alive.

  Across the pier, a small boy was up on the obstacle course ride. He was at the top of the spiral slide that led down to the exit, where several dead were waiting for him. He stood at the top, frozen in fear as more of the dead began to slowly meander through the beginning of the course. They toppled through the spinning barrel, climbed up the shifting staircase on their hands and knees, and were lumbering through the gauntlet of sandbags. It was only a matter of minutes before they reached him. The boy was dead meat.

  “There’re so many of them. Where’d they all come from?” gasped Vinnie, staggered by the sight.

  “Dharma and the kids!” Marie said it as if she were reminding Vinnie why they were there.

  “Right!”

  They began to fan out, Nancy sticking with Marie. They dodged the dead who lunged at them, side stepping and calling out for their loved ones. Nancy, numb, allowed herself to be led like a child.

  “Dharma!”

  “Alessandra! Sal!”

  “Dharma!”

  “Salvatore! Alessandra!”

  Vinnie looked over his shoulder at the kid on the obstacle course. He was no longer standing at the top of the slide. He was clinging on at the middle as the dead approached from the top and bottom. The kid was crying out for help, sobbing.

  Vinnie turned away before he saw the dead from the top reach the kid first. There was nothing he could do for the boy.

  “Dharma!”

  “Sal!”

  “Alessandra!”

  They were frantic in their search. All of the rides, although lit, appeared empty. Some were still moving, while a few had stopped. On the boat ride, a bell rung as a zombie clung onto the boat, feasting on a pile of gored meat that was once a child. Its foot kept hitting the bell as it leaned over its meat.

  The Raging Rapids caught Vinnie’s eye. There were zombies being thrown from it, landing on the wooden planks of the pier. The throws appeared to take something out of them, as they struggled to get up.

  “There!” said Marie, seeing the same thing.

  They converged, walking towards the ride. As they drew closer, they heard screams of terror. The DJ booth was surrounded by dead clawing at the Plexiglas. They were vomiting on it and pushing the window in.

  “Holy shit!” Vinnie looked at the ride and tried to make out Dharma and the kids. He saw them. “There!”

  They all ducked into the exit of the Buccaneer Adventure ride. Marie and Vinnie peeked out at the Raging Rapids right next door.

  Marie nodded. “I see them.”

  “We have to turn off the ride,” said Vinnie.

  Marie shook her head. “If we do, the zombies will forget about the DJ and come after Dharma and the kids.”
>
  “What’ll we do? We can’t get them off the ride without stopping it.”

  Marie was deep in thought, weighing their options, desperate to find an approach that was feasible. “We need to get them away from that ride.”

  “I’ll do it,” said Vinnie.

  “How?” Marie almost sounded annoyed.

  “I’ll lure them away, and then you stop the ride and get them off.”

  “Lead them where, Vinnie?”

  “I’m fast. I’ll lead them to one of the other rides. I can turn one on to distract them.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” said Marie.

  “No, it isn’t,” said Nancy.

  Marie and Vinnie were startled by Nancy’s sober interjection.

  “I’ll go with him,” said Nancy. “I know how to operate every ride here.”

  Marie looked around the pier. “Which ride?”

  Vinnie and Nancy scanned the pier for options.

  Vinnie’s eyes lit up. “I’ve got it!”

  “What?” asked Marie and Nancy in unison.

  Vinnie pointed off to the right. “The swinging Pirate Ship ride! It’s perfect. We can lure them over and then use the ride to crush them. Kill two birds with one stone.”

  Marie smiled. “And a hell of a lot of zombies.”

  “I can get the ride started,” said Nancy. “You’ll just have to make a ruckus to attract them.”

  “What about you?” Marie asked Nancy.

  “I’ll be fine,” said Nancy. “If Vinnie makes enough noise, they won’t notice me.”

  Vinnie was already having second thoughts. “Are you sure?”

  Nancy pursed her lips in consternation. “Positive. Now let’s go before I lose my nerve.”

  Marie shoved her pistol into Nancy’s hands. “Here. Take this just in case. Do you know how to use it?”

  Nancy chambered a round. “You don’t think I’ve been to the range since the last attack?”

  “Okay, okay,” said Vinnie, exasperated. “You’re both badasses. Can we get this plan in motion?”