by Joseph Zuko
What was that psycho doing to Sara?
Disgusting, violent, pornographic images popped into Troy’s mind. Dwelling on what he couldn’t fix didn’t help, but there was no stopping the stream of filth once it got started. He strangled the barrel of his shotgun. Heat radiated from his face.
If I ever find him again, I’m gonna shoot the bastard in his ugly mug. Troy promised himself.
Leon put his boot to the floor and took the van to ninety in the straightaways. Guilt grew in the pit of his stomach every time he spotted Jim and Karen in his rearview mirror. She finished taping a towel to Jim’s shoulder and glued the cut on his leg. The man was like a kid’s art project: Sloppily held together with tape and glue and ugly as sin. Mostly Leon was talking about the man’s black eyes and busted nose.
I’ve got to say something.
Leon reasoned a confession would clear his conscience. Plus, he was concerned about his safety. He recalled what had become of Cliff.
The guy lost his family and he hacked the men responsible into tiny pieces.
Karma!
He killed another group that was trying to defend itself and the back of his skull got blown out.
Instant Karma!
Leon was sure if he didn’t come clean, something horrible would happen to him. The Karma Gods in this crazy new world were vengeful.
A daydream kicked in.
Leon stood on stage. The set around him looked like a game show straight out of the seventies, cheap and garish. Next to him, holding a thin microphone, was the cheesy host. He sported a classic polyester suit with collars the size of airplane wings. He put his arm around Leon’s shoulders and spoke into the mic.
“Good afternoon folks. I’m your host, Chip Chiggins. Today we have our returning champion Leon with us, and he’s about to find out what he’s won on…” Chip yelled with a catchy cadence. “…Wheel. Of. Instant. Karma.”
Music swelled, and the audience cheered. Chip waited with a smile until the audience settled.
“All right Leon, tell us again what you did to get here.” Chip smacked Leon in the lips with the mic.
Leon recovered from the blow and sheepishly spoke into the mic. “I ah… I got tricked by a lady and ahh…”
Chip took back the mic, “Now Leon, let’s not play the Blame Game. That’s on a different network.”
The crowd hooted and hollered, eating up the silly joke.
Chip got serious, “Tell us what really happened.”
Leon dropped his head and said, “The girls got kidnapped because of me.”
The crowd booed.
Chip nodded his head and amped up his excitement, “That’s right folks and he’s here to find out what his punishment will be! Leeeet’s… spin the Wheel!”
Chip guided Leon to a wall with a giant circle mounted to it. Eight sections filled the colorful wheel. Each one listed a painful experience Leon would be forced to endure.
Starting at the top there was:
Sliced Dick; The Long Way.
Nipples Eaten by Rabid Beaver.
Rattle Snake Unleashed on Butthole.
Pit of Razors and Salt Bath.
Electrocuted Testicles.
Teeth Replaced with Candy Corn.
Fall, Ass First onto Spear.
Eat Full McDonald’s Menu in one Sitting.
Chip’s ear to ear grin showed off his unnaturally white teeth. “All right Leon, why don’t you give it a spin and see what you’ve won.”
Leon hesitated. The crowd went wild. He reached for the wheel and gave it a weak tug.
They booed him again.
The wheel slowly ticked through the eight horrible fates.
The crowd cheered, “Leon! Leon! Leon!”
As the prize wheel was coming to a stop, Leon was yanked from the day dream by Karen yelling his name.
“Leon, look out!” She screamed at him.
A cluster of monsters filled their lane. Leon worked quickly and evaded the collision.
“Sorry. I was just thinking about… the girls. I…” He held his tongue.
If I tell them what I did, they’ll hate me. Leon reasoned.
I got their children kidnapped because I wanted to dip my egg roll in Shawna’s sweet and sour. Leon shook his head in disgust.
It won’t matter if they hate you, when you’re dead. Leon’s memory flashed to that afternoon, when he caught Cliff’s falling body. Leon laid him on the kitchen floor and stared into the dead man’s dark and lifeless eyes. They were bloodshot. Filled with pain. Haunting.
Just tell the truth! Leon encouraged himself.
He spouted, “It’s all my fault. I’m such a fool.”
“What?” asked Karen as she cleaned Jim’s leg.
“Shawna lured me to the bathroom for what I thought was a bootie call and my stupid libido clouded my judgment. I should have known she wouldn’t be into a creep like me,” he said shamefully. Leon squeezed the steering wheel. His knuckles turned white.
“It doesn’t matter. When we get the girls, all is forgiven.” Karen wrapped Jim’s leg with another towel.
She didn’t yell or bash my fucking brains in. Leon’s shame lightened.
Once we get the girls back everything will be like before. He released his death grip on the steering wheel and kept his energy focused on finding that damn bus.
Karen cut and secured the last length of tape around Jim’s leg and asked, “How does it feel?”
Jim lowered his limb. “It hurts like fucking hell, but it’s not cutting off the circulation. What are those?” He asked as he pointed at a bottle in the seat next to Karen.
“Caffeine pills.”
Jim held out his hand.
Karen popped it open and let three of them fall onto his palm.
He swallowed them dry.
Karen couldn’t sit still. Now that Jim was mended, her attention was turned to Troy. She squeezed herself between the front seats and angled her brother’s face, so she could inspect his wounds.
Troy’s lips were swollen. His teeth were tinted red from the cuts inside his mouth.
“Anything serious?” Karen studied his pupils. Troy had been completely incapacitated yesterday after his head injury and she needed him ready to fight.
He uttered the phrase, “I’m fine,” as if he were a machine.
She used a towel to wipe the blood from his beard. “We find the girls, then we’ll go back and save Sara.”
“How?” Troy’s expression was vacant. The man was broken. His emotions frayed.
Karen didn’t have an answer. Ryder could stash the woman anywhere and finding Sara in a neighborhood with swarms of infected running free seemed impossible.
“We’ll figure it out,” was the best Karen could muster.
“Look!” Leon pointed.
Karen faced forward. The bus was a mile away. Her heart raced. “Oh, my God, we found them!” She desperately needed to wrap her arms around the girls and plant a thousand kisses on their precious faces. Her hand shook as she reached for Jim’s. She gave it a squeeze and a flicker of hope filled the van.
Leon kept on the gas until the last second.
As they approached Leon exclaimed, “She put the tire in the ditch!”
He mashed the brakes. The tires released a plume of smoke and squealed across the asphalt. Karen leapt from the still moving van as it pulled along side the bus. The wide-open door on the rig killed any of her optimism.
“Girls!” wailed Karen as she stomped up the steps. The first thing she noticed was blood, gore and the three corpses that filled the aisle.
Jim hobbled behind her and grunted, “Valerie? Robin?” Jim found the busted lock on the first step.
Karen jumped over the bodies as she raced to the middle of the bus. She dropped to her knees and searched under every seat, but there was no trace of the children.
“They’re not here!”
She spotted Bert and Ernie next to the toy cars. She grabbed the plush dolls and got to her feet.
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She held the toys to her chest as if they were her girls, “Where could they have gone?”
Jim soaked in his surroundings, putting together clues. “Shawna’s bag and rifle are gone. She must have found the girls and took them with her.”
“Where would she have gone?” Karen headed toward the front of the bus.
Jim gingerly stepped from the stairs and scanned the horizon. Forests and farmland in every direction. Karen joined him on the road. Her eyes were red. Tears threatening to fall. Putting a gun to her head was looking better and better with every passing second.
She spotted the peak of a roof. “There’s a house! On the other side of those evergreens.”
“Let’s give it a try,” said Jim as he climbed into the van.
Karen shoved him to move faster and as she closed the door, Leon laid down a layer of rubber on the highway.
The van rumbled as Leon pushed the engine to its max.
Karen could smell her children on the plush dolls. When Jim gave Valerie the Ernie doll, it was her first birthday. The party was finished, all the guests had gone home, and Jim waited until they were alone to give his daughter the present. They helped her with the wrapping paper. Karen snapping photos every few seconds to record the moment. When Valerie discovered it was one of her favorite Sesame Street characters she hugged him for a long time. The little one hadn’t taken a nap and it only took ten minutes for her eyelids to droop. She slowly relaxed onto the plush figure until she fell asleep on Ernie. After that Ernie was the snuggle the child used almost every night to go to bed. On Robin’s first birthday Jim got her the matching Bert and it was the same result. The girls loved it when Jim put on puppet shows. Switching back and forth between the two voices and cracking the same old jokes from the show.
As they raced to the farmhouse, Karen’s heart sank.
Leon skidded to a stop and grunted. “Shit, we’ve got to get out of here!” He put the van into reverse and peeled backwards from the driveway.
The front yard, porch and first level of the house was completely swarmed with zombies. Some of them were already racing toward the van.
Jim’s voice cracked as he attempted to reason. “They can’t be in there. Shawna must have brought them to a different house. We’ll keep looking. It’s going to be okay.”
Leon righted the van and aimed it back the way they came.
Karen tried to convince herself Jim was right, but the timetable was all wrong. She knew how long it had been since Shawna took off with the bus. Karen also recognized how slow her children were on foot. Here was the math problem.
Three people leave a bus at two fifteen in the afternoon. They travel at the speed of a toddler and must arrive to a safe destination that is located a mile and a half away. Karen crunched the numbers and hoped she didn’t have to show her work. The answer she kept coming to, was…
Shawna appeared athletic, she must have carried them. Which meant this house was still the only one she could have had time to reach.
Unless they’re hiding in the woods? Karen’s head spun from the possibility. If they were taking refuge in the trees from the horde of zombies, her chances of finding them were next to nothing. Her heart shriveled in her chest. Faced with the brutal reality Karen melted into the rear seat of the van. Her gaze held a soft focus on the farmhouse. Tears trickled from the corners of her eyes. A galaxy of anguish swallowed her.
Leon hit the gas.
Karen ripped forward. Her nose against the glass as she howled, “Wait!”
Three hands desperately waved at her from the highest octagon shaped window of the farmhouse.
Chapter 11
Sara backed toward the roll-up garage door. “I don’t have to stay and fight them. I just have to outrun you!” She reached for the emergency release rope and gave it a tug. The trolley assembly clicked off the chain latch. Now she could lift the door and open it without power.
Ryder buried his shoulder against the metal surface. Another body collided on the other side of the barricade. The wood frame let out a crack. He craned his neck and warned her. “I wouldn’t do that!”
Sara reached for the handle to raise the door. “Shut up!” The garage door shuttered along the tracks. It got a foot from the concrete floor when a body crashed into the thin corrugated metal. It was quickly followed by another. Sara stomped her boot onto the handle and slammed the door shut. She pushed the side lock into the track to keep the zombies from opening the door.
“Told ya!” Ryder smirked. “Listen here Red, we have to move fast. You have two extra mags in your shoulder harness. Give them to me!”
“No way in hell!”
“If you wanna last more than two minutes, you’re gonna need my help.”
“I’d rather die than give you ammo!”
The door frame cracked louder. “Really, you wanna die? ‘Cause I don’t! Give me the goddamn mags!”
Sara searched the room for a way out or a better weapon. She found neither. Sara huffed, “You give me the guns!”
“Hell, no! You’d shoot me dead. Like I said, I don’t wanna die. There’s forty plus out there. I’ll need to hit all headshots and you better be a fucking Spartan with that spear. Otherwise we won’t make it.” Ryder huffed, “I can’t hold them forever… Believe me, I don’t wanna kill ya Red.”
I can’t possibly trust him! Sara thought to herself.
The door busted from the frame and opened a few inches. Ryder heaved his weight at the door, turned his back to it and used his strong legs to keep the entry shut.
Ryder pulled the Berettas from his jacket and dropped the empty mags to the floor. “I promise I’ll let you go! Please!” His features filled with fear.
She knew she couldn’t trust him, but self-preservation will make you do strange things. Her chance of survival was higher with Ryder than without him. She hated that this was her only option, but she really didn’t want to die either. She snapped the two mags from her shoulder harness and slid them across the slab of concrete.
Ryder’s hands fumbled to get the fresh magazines into the base of the guns. He heaved in a lungful and begged, “I’ll need something to fight with once these are empty.”
The door opened an inch. Ryder readjusted his feet and got it closed.
She found a hammer and tossed it into the opposite side of the garage.
Sara positioned herself in the corner. Her palms soaked in sweat. Another spike of adrenaline shot through her veins.
As Ryder readied the guns, Sara plotted.
If she saw an opportunity to run, she’d take it.
If there was a chance to end Ryder, she would take that too.
Ryder nodded at her and said, “Here we go!” He dove away from the door, tucked, rolled, and jumped to his feet in one fluid move. The Berettas were aimed at the doorway as the first monster stumbled into the garage. Ryder put him down with a well-placed shot between the eyes. More of them charged into the room. Sara watched as her abductor methodically blasted the monsters. Each pull of the trigger was like getting slapped in the ear. Sara flinched with every shot as the thunderous noise bounced off the hard surfaces and pounded her eardrums. The room quickly filled with smoke which smelled nicer than the pants full of evacuated bowels the zombies were sporting.
Two monsters got past Ryder’s kill zone and were met with Sara’s improvised spear. She caught the first one in the eye. The second, she stabbed in its gaping mouth. She tugged at the handle, but the blade was lodged inside its skull. Sara kicked at its torso to free the spear.
More zombies raced into the garage. Ryder fired a secession of shots and finished them. The slide locked on one of the guns.
A heap of bodies filled the doorway.
Sara stabbed two more brains.
Ooze spilled onto the concrete. Gore splashed across the room.
A zombie raced to Sara’s side. Its sharp teeth snapping in her ear. It was too close to land a kill shot. Sara used the spears handle to hook the back of its leg and
yanked its feet out from under the beast. The zombie fell to its back. Sara pinned its skull to the ground.
The floor was slick with black blood and the next set of infected slid to their butts after they leapt the pile of corpses. The monsters clawed at Ryder’s legs and forced him to retreat to the corner of the room. He put a round in each of their faces until the second gun was empty.
He dropped them both and picked up the hammer.
A woman wearing a police officer’s uniform sprinted at Sara. The infected cop’s face was burnt down to the muscle. Its polyester uniform was melted to her skin. At the speed Sara moved to stay ahead of the zombies, she couldn’t be a hundred percent positive, but she thought she spotted the officer’s utility belt.
Sara lashed out at a zombie’s barbequed face and skewered it. At the same time an adolescent zombie darted after Sara. She dropped the runt with a front kick to the chest and put her boot on its neck to keep it pinned. She sliced the features of another monster. The infected kid clawed at her jeans and wiggled to escape. She finished it with a decapitating slice.
Even with Ryder’s impressive upper body strength it took him two or three tries to land a hard-enough blow to destroy the brain. He grabbed an infected woman by the throat and tagged her in the temple. The force of the hit caused the eyeball to explode from its socket. It came right at his nose but stopped a few inches short when the cord of optic nerves pulled tight. It reminded Ryder of a slasher flick he loved, Friday the 13th Part 3-D. Jason squeezed a pretty boy’s skull until the eyeball shot out. Then the fake eyeball came racing at the screen on a string. The effect looked hokey as hell, but that was what made it such a fun movie.
Ryder swung backwards and used the hammer’s claw to finish the zombie.
Every new monster that raced into the room faced a slippery obstacle course. They scrambled in vain as they tried to cross the tangled limbs and slick surface. It gave the humans just enough time to finish a zombie, reset and take on the next one.
