by Young, D. M.
Margaret and Gracie cried as they pleaded with the dogs to be quiet. The man slammed into the door again, and they heard a cracking sound.
“It’s not going to hold much longer,” Booger said. “Get to the loft, we’ll block the stairs off and shoot until we run out of bullets, I guess. Maybe the cavalry will show up before then.”
Adam grabbed Matt’s bag of ammo and followed the others up. Margaret opened the bedroom door and ushered Gracie and the dogs into the room. “Stay put no matter what,” she said before closing the door.
Rose looked at Margaret, “I’ll keep an eye on them. I won’t be much use out here anyway.”
Edward had moved to the window and was pulling the screen out. Booger tapped Adam on the arm. “Let’s get that couch moved over in front of the stairs.”
Adam grabbed one end and pulled while Booger threw his weight against the other. This one wasn’t quite as heavy as the one downstairs, but it wasn’t light. When they were done, Adam looked around, trying to figure out what to do next. Margaret was struggling to get the screen out of the second window. Booger pulled out his pocket knife and pried it from the frame. “You planning on shooting?” he asked her.
“If you’ve got a gun, I can. Mine’s still at the police station,” she said.
“Hold on,” Adam said as he began digging in the duffle bag Matt had brought.
Booger picked up his shotgun. “Y’all can handle the windows then. I’ve never been much for handguns, but if anything comes through that door, my shotgun will take care of them real quick.”
“How many shells you got with you?” Margaret asked.
Booger’s forehead wrinkled. “Not a lot. I didn’t expect this to turn into an Alamo situation. Sure hope it ends better.”
“Son of a…” Edward said from his spot at the window.
“What’s going on?” Booger asked.
“I can’t get a good shot at the one banging on the door. I don’t have a lot of bullets left in this gun, and he’s the one that needs to go,” Edward said.
Adam handed a gun to Margaret. “This is the only other one in the bag. It’s the one Matt gave me yesterday, if you want it. You’re bound to be a better shot than I am. Here’s the extra magazine.”
“Lay it there on the floor and see what ammo you’ve got in that bag,” Margaret said as she fired out the window, and Adam jumped. His ears were ringing as he returned to the bag and began sorting through it. Melissa joined him. They sorted through the boxes of ammo and loose shells in the bag and matched them up with the person who could use them. Edward fired several times before stopping to reload, but the pounding at the door didn’t stop.
Adam watched in horror as the last plank bracing the front door fell to the floor. A few hits later, Adam saw the door give in. The sofa was now the only thing keeping the monsters at bay. The big man pushed his face through the crack in the door, and Booger fired at him. The sound of the shotgun was deafening. The man went down, but the damage was done. More zombies crowded around the door. Margaret and Edward were shooting slowly, picking their shots carefully.
Melissa pulled her gun. She looked toward Adam and yelled, “I’ve got ten rounds. That might be enough to clear the ones around the door, but only if I managed to hit every shot.”
Adam glanced out the window and saw more of the infected staggering from the trees. “Yeah, and the sound is drawing more of them.”
“Looks like every damned person at the lake must’ve turned. We ain’t going to make it unless help shows up soon,” Booger said.
Adam looked at Booger. “Can you handle this for a minute?”
Booger nodded and Adam motioned for Melissa to follow him. He led her into the bedroom where Gracie was sitting on the bed with her face buried in Sammy’s fur. Adam looked out the window. The back of the cabin was clear. “It’s too far down to climb out, but if you and Rose can help me, I think I can make it.”
The women stared at him, looking confused. “And then what?” Melissa asked.
Adam tapped his pocket. “I’ve still got Margaret’s keys, and her car is off to the side of the driveway. If I can sneak around behind those things and get in it, I think I can lead them away from the cabin, at least most of them.”
Melissa looked at him stunned for a moment. Then she shook her head. “You’ll never make it! The ones in the woods will still see you!”
Adam had already considered that. The chances of him reaching the car were slim, but he might be able to distract those things long enough for help to arrive. Rose looked him in the eye for a moment. She seemed to be gauging whether he understood the risk he was taking. He met her gaze and held it. Finally, she nodded silently and looked away.
Adam looked back at Melissa and forced a smile. “Then I’d better get to the car quickly.” Melissa started to object again, but Adam stopped her. He placed his hand on her cheek for a moment and then ran his fingers through her hair. “I can do this and buy you guys some time. Who knows? I might even make it. If I don’t do something, we’ll all die. So will you help me?”
Melissa sobbed and nodded. Adam smiled. “Good. Now help me tie these sheets off so I don’t break my neck on the way down. That wouldn’t do anyone any good. If I do die, I’d like it to be a bit more heroic than that.”
CHAPTER 31
Melissa watched as Adam climbed out the window and used the sheets to shimmy down the side of the cabin and drop the last few feet to the ground. Beyond the door, she heard Booger’s shotgun fire again. The closed door did little to dampen the noise. Her head was pounding. She could hear very little over the ringing in her ears.
She saw Adam look back at her one more time. He smiled and gave a little wave before turning his attention on the tree line. It was clear for the moment. He peaked around the corner of the cabin before setting off toward the trees. Halfway there, he cut back toward the front of the cabin, where the cars were parked.
Melissa could no longer see him from the bedroom window. She left the bedroom and returned to the loft to look out the window over Margaret’s head. She scanned the darkness beyond the window. There were still several zombies on this side of the cabin, but they were focused on the people inside. She watched as Adam moved silently about ten feet behind them. Adam was getting close to the car now. Melissa had begun to think he might make it. A zombie stumbled out of the woods between Adam and the cars. He ducked behind a bush and waited for it to pass.
Margaret stopped firing and looked around at Melissa. “Is that Adam?”
“Yes, he’s trying to get to the car to draw them away. Keep shooting,” Melissa said.
“I’d love to, but I’m out,” Margaret said.
“Going to need some help over here,” Booger shouted.
Melissa turned to see that the sofa had finally been pushed back just enough to allow a few of the zombies through. One was halfway up the stairs. Another was crawling over the back of the sofa to get inside the cabin. More pressed against the door, fighting to get through. Edward left the window and moved to the railing. Booger fired again and the zombie on the stairs fell backwards and lay unmoving at the foot of the stairs.
“Forget about the ones outside,” Booger said. “Pick them off as they come through the door.”
Melissa pulled her gun and handed it to Margaret. “Let them get the door. Cover Adam.”
There was a single security light at the edge of the driveway that cast a yellow glow on the area around the cabin. When the zombie was gone, Adam broke cover and moved again toward the car and into the dim light. He was halfway there when three more zombies staggered out of the woods. Melissa saw Adam look around frantically. There was nowhere to hide. The zombie closest to him spotted him and began moving in his direction. He was moving slowly, but there was no way Adam would make it past the three of them and still have time to get in the car.
Margaret fired until the zombie went down, but the other two had noticed Adam now. He turned again to the back of the cabin but two more zomb
ies were coming from that direction. He glanced up at the cabin window for just a moment. Then he called out to the zombies, “Hey, over here! Come get me!”
Several of the zombies around the cabin turned toward the source of the noise. Adam yelled again, drawing more attention to himself. The zombies were closing in on him from both sides now. Margaret raised her gun to fire, but Melissa laid a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t shoot. It will only draw them back this way.” She turned to look at the living room and saw the last of the zombies turn from the doorway and follow Adam. “Don’t shoot unless you have to,” she said to Edward and Booger.
Margaret’s finger stayed on the trigger, but she didn’t fire. Outside, Adam continued to yell as he backed toward the woods. The zombies from the cabin followed. Before they could reach him, Adam turned and fled, fading into the darkness beyond the tree line. The zombies were close behind.
Melissa slid down onto the floor beside the windows, sobbing quietly. Her ears were still ringing, and her head was pounding from the noise. The others stood quietly, waiting to see if the battle was really over. Minutes passed in silence. Finally, Booger spoke, “We need to get that door closed before something else wanders up. Edward, you want to help me move this couch.”
Before Edward could respond, the sound of gunfire erupted in the distance. The group listened in silence for a few minutes. The sound grew louder as the shooters moved toward them. Headlights flashed across the windows downstairs. The gunfire had slowed now. They heard a few more shots, and then it stopped completely. Melissa rose and looked out the front window to see two sets of headlights near the end of the driveway.
Figures moved in front of the lights, headed toward the cabin. Melissa’s eyes focused on the front door as Adam stepped inside. His shirt was wet with sweat. His face was flushed, but he was grinning as he met her eyes. “Ready to go?” he asked.
Booger let out a loud cackle, “I’ll be damned! Boy, you must have more lives than a cat.” He looked at Edward. “Help me move this couch, and let’s get on out of here before something else goes wrong.”
The men moved the sofa from in front of the stairs. Melissa hurried down the stairs toward Adam as the others gathered their things. She ran toward the door and threw her arms around him. Adam hugged her tightly. “Do I still get to be a hero if I didn’t die?” he said.
Melissa laughed. “You’re insane!”
Adam let go of her. “Let’s get our things and get out of here.”
* * *
Melissa stepped out the door with her bag in her hand. Adam followed behind her. A group of heavily armed men in black uniforms stood in the driveway. A large, armored vehicle was parked near the road. Booger stepped up beside Adam. He eyed the men suspiciously. “I don’t see no markings on any of them boys’ uniforms. They sure ain’t National Guard. Who the hell did your dad call?” he asked.
“I have no idea,” Adam said.
Margaret and Edward leashed the dogs as the others grabbed bags and gathered on the porch. A big, angry-looking man in front stepped onto the porch and looked at them, “Everybody ready to go now?”
“I think so,” Adam said.
The angry-looking man nodded. “OK then. Get in your vehicles. We’ll give you an escort back to town, but the area should be relatively clear. The National Guard has set up a perimeter around the town. It’s a safe zone. You get to the checkpoint, you’re golden.”
“Who are you boys?” Edward asked.
The man in black looked at him silently for a moment and then back at Adam, “Once you get there, stay put. And call your dad.” He smirked and moved aside so that the group could make their way to the cars.
Two more vehicles pulled into the driveway. The back of one was full of people wearing protective suits and masks. When the vehicle stopped, the people jumped out and began clearing the fallen dead from around the cabin. Adam looked away as they reached Alicia’s body. Melissa threw her bags in the backseat of Matt’s car and held the keys out to Adam. “You drive,” she said.
He waited as Margaret’s car pulled out and then turned the car around and followed. A heavy, armored vehicle sat waiting for them at the end of the drive. The angry man in black waved them toward it. As they pulled behind it, the driver turned toward town, and they followed. The road was clear now, and the night was quiet.
As they passed the truck stop, Adam could see that the area around the store was empty. The bodies were gone. No dead stumbled around in the night, and the vehicles had been moved into neat rows at the edges of the parking lot. He thought of Matt and wondered where his body was now. Melissa stared out the window in the opposite direction, refusing to even look at the store.
A few minutes later, they turned off of the highway onto Main Street. The armored vehicle in front of them stopped, and a man stepped out of the driver’s side and made his way to toward them, motioning for them to roll their windows down. “This is as far as we go,” he said. “You know the way from here. The checkpoint is at the edge of town, and the road should be clear.”
With that, the man returned to his vehicle, closed the door, and turned the vehicle around. They continued on another quarter of a mile before they rounded a curve and saw the roadblock ahead. A man in a National Guard uniform held his hand up to stop them. Adam put the car in park and stepped out. A soldier walked quickly in his direction.
“You locals?” he asked.
“Yeah, the other guys told us you had a safe zone set up here in town,” Adam said.
The Guardsman looked confused, “What other guys?”
“Bunch of men wearing black uniforms,” Edward said, stepping out of the Jeep.
“Um, I’m not sure…OK, hold up,” the Guardsman said jogging back toward the roadblock.
After a bit of discussion with the other men standing around him, he picked up his radio and began speaking into it. Finally, he returned to Adam and the rest of the group. “Pull on through here and park in the first parking lot on your right. They’ll direct you from there.”
Adam thanked him, and they waited as the soldiers cleared the way for them. They drove to the parking lot and were directed to a parking spot. A soldier led them inside a building that had apparently once been used as a church. A few chairs were scattered around the foyer. “Wait here,” the soldier said as he disappeared through a set of double doors.
They sat quietly as they waited. Eventually, a man in a white lab coat and glasses stepped into the foyer. “I’m Dr. Todd O’Neil,” he said holding out his hand toward Adam.
“Dr. Adam Keeling,” he said.
“Ah, medical doctor?” Dr. O’Neil asked.
“Yes, I was on shift at the hospital when this all started. You’re CDC?” he asked looking at the doctor’s badge.
The doctor smiled. “Yes, we’re trying to figure out exactly what’s going on here. I’m sure you would all like to get home, but before we let you go, we need you to answer a few questions and do a quick exam, just to…Well, you know, just sort of check you out and make sure everyone’s healthy.”
“You want to know if we’re going to turn,” Margaret said.
The doctor’s smile faltered a bit, but he recovered. “Like I said, we just need to be sure that everyone’s healthy. ”
“It’s fine. None of us has been bitten, but we’ve all seen it happen,” Adam said.
O’Neil dropped the smile and nodded, “Then you know why it’s important to verify that you’re healthy before we send you into town. Follow me.”
They rose and followed him through the doors into the makeshift clinic. Dr. O’Neil looked around the room, “I apologize for the mess here. We would have preferred to use the hospital, but it’s still being cleaned up. Take a seat here, and we’ll get you out of here as quickly as possible, I promise.”
The others were called in, first one by one, and then a couple at a time. An hour later, the doctor called Adam over to a bed and pulled the curtain around it. The doctor examined him and asked dozens of q
uestions. When he was finished, he stood to leave, but Adam stopped him. “I don’t know what the theory is about all of this. I don’t know how much, if any, progress you have made on it, but I want to point out something that wasn’t apparent to me when this first started.”
The doctor waited. “Of course, anything that might help.”
Adam thought there might have been a hint of condescension in his voice. “I don’t think you have to be bitten to turn.”
Dr. O’Neil looked confused now. “Excuse me?”
“When this started, we saw a really bad car wreck. Both the driver and passenger died, and both turned. There were no bite marks that I could see. Then later, I saw a pedestrian hit by a car. He turned as well. Again, he didn’t look sick before the accident. I’ve heard other people say the same,” Adam said.
The doctor thought about this for a moment before speaking. “But you can’t say for certain that they weren’t bitten.”
“No,” Adam said.
“Well, yes, as far as I know, that is new information. I’ll look into it. Thank you.”
Adam started to walk away. He thought maybe the doctor had simply written the information off as a coincidence, but there was nothing more he could do without proof. Dr. O’Neil must have picked up on his thoughts because he spoke again, “I do appreciate the information. I’ll run it by my colleagues and see what we can find out.”
CHAPTER 32
Melissa unlocked the door to her house and stepped inside. She turned to wave to Edward before closing the door. He was driving Matt’s car for the time being, since his was long gone. The sun was just starting to rise, but the interior of the house was still dark. Melissa opened the living room blinds, and light poured into the room. As she looked around, she couldn’t believe she’d only been gone a few days. The house seemed strangely unfamiliar now.
She sat her bag on the sofa and went to the kitchen to make a cup of tea. Drawers were still half open, and various items were strewn across the countertops. She thought about their frantic exit a few nights ago. Of the three people that had fled her house that night, she was the only survivor. Her eyes fell on the dirty dishes in the sink. There were two plates. Two glasses. She sat down at the table as a wave of emotion washed over her and allowed the tears to come.
