A Girl a Dog and Zombies on the Munch Page 5

  “No,” Courtney said. “We stick together.” She pulled Sansa to her feet and retrieved the revolver.

  A fist struck the door, shaking it.

  “Stay close.” Holding onto Sansa’s hand, with Willis following, Courtney headed down the hall. She preferred a basement over an attic. There were likely to be windows they could escape through if the creatures broke in. Sure, an attic might have windows, but they would have to drop two stories.

  Courtney was halfway to the kitchen when there was a loud cracking sound and the back door was flung wide. She didn’t wait to see what came through. On her left was an open doorway and she darted in, hoping the others would have the presence of mind to follow suit.

  It was a laundry room, barely big enough for all of them to squeeze into. A washer and drier were against one side, a shelf with detergent and other stuff on the opposite wall. A small window was high on the wall across from the door.

  Gaga pressed against Courtney’s leg as she made room for the others.

  Billy was last in. He shut the door and put his shoulder to it, listening.

  They all heard the shuffling of feet.

  Billy raised a finger to his lips.

  From the front of the house came a crash.

  Setting Sansa down, Courtney whispered in her ear, “Be very still.” She reached up and gripped the bottom of the window sill. It took considerable effort to pull herself high enough to see out.

  The window hadn’t been cleaned in ages. Hooking an elbow on the sill, Courtney swiped at the dust with her fingertips. Grass blocked most of her view.

  “Any zombies?” Sally Ann said.

  “Can’t tell.”

  “Here,” Sally Ann said, snatching a washcloth off a shelf. “Try this.”

  Courtney let herself down, took the cloth. Braced on her forearm, she rubbed the cloth back and forth. The best she could tell, the window faced a side yard. There was the outline of a fence.

  “Well?” Sally Ann said.

  “I don’t see any.”

  “Then out you go,” Sally Ann said. “I’ll boost you so you can open the window.”

  “Maybe we should wait,” Billy whispered. “The things in the house might wander off.”

  As if to prove him wrong, the laundry room door shook to a powerful blow.

  Courtney half expected Sansa to cry out or recoil in fear but the little one surprised her.

  Sansa glared at the door and said as calmly as could be, “We have to get out of here.”

  Sally Ann took a position below the window and cupped her hands. “Hurry!”

  Courtney hooked her foot in her friend’s palms and was levered high enough to work the latch. She twisted but it wouldn’t turn. It hadn’t been used in so long, it was stuck.

  Another blow shook the door.

  “Make it fast, Courts,” Billy said, leveling the rifle.

  Courtney twisted so hard, her fingers hurt. Just when she thought she might have to break the glass, the latch gave. She pulled upward but the window wouldn’t budge. Using both hands, she tugged with all her might, and nearly lost her balance.

  “Careful,” Sally Ann said. “Almost dropped you.”

  “Open, damn you!” Courtney said under her breath, and tugged until her arms hurt. With loud creaks, the hinges loosened and the window swung open.

  Courtney cautiously stuck her head out. They were in luck. The window opened onto a small fenced area where the family kept their trash and recycle bin. The fence was five feet high, with a gate that was closed.

  “What are you waiting for?” Sally Ann whispered.

  Courtney slid her shoulders through. It was a tight fit but by wriggling and squirming she made it out. Shoving her hand down, she said, “Sansa next.”

  “No. Do Willis,” the girl said. She was clasping the dog to her as if for dear life.

  “You,” Courtney said, “and don’t argue. Then the dogs.”

  The door was shaken by the most violent blow yet.

  “God, will you get your tails in gear?” Billy said. “This won’t hold forever.”

  Sally Ann lifted Sansa high enough that Courtney could slip her hands under the girl’s arms and pull her through. Sansa had the presence of mind to hold herself perfectly still. Once out, she crouched and tried to peer past Courtney.

  “Willis!” she said softly. “Please!”

  Thankfully, the little dog didn’t struggle. But when it was Gaga’s turn, she whined and tried to pull away.

  Courtney felt her grip slipping. “Help me, Sal!”

  Between them, they got Gaga out.

  Sally Ann handed the shotgun up, then jumped and caught hold of the ledge.

  Courtney seized her forearms and braced herself as Sally Ann used her elbows and knees to best advantage. Sally’s shoulders were wider than hers, and it was tight fit, but together they managed it.

  “Damn, that hurt,” Sally Ann complained, rubbing her arms.

  Courtney was thinking of Billy. She thrust her hand down but he was still over by the door. “What are you waiting for?”

  Blows were raining on the door nonstop.

  Billy raised his rifle as if to shoot.

  “For God’s sake, no!” Courtney whispered “It will only excite them and draw more.”

  Reluctantly, Billy lowered the .45-70 and came to the window. “Take it,” he said, holding the rifle up.

  Courtney passed it to Sally Ann, then lowered her arms as far as they would go.

  “Back away,” Billy said. “I can do it myself.”

  Courtney didn’t argue. The door was shaking so violently, it wouldn’t last much longer.

  For an athlete like Billy, it was simple to leap and shove his arms out and get hold of either side of the frame. His head and neck came out easy. But when he tried to shove his shoulders through, they came partway, and stuck.

  The door was quaking like a leaf in a gale.

  Billy thrashed furiously. He strained until his neck muscles bulged and he was red in the face. And was still stuck.

  “If it’s not one thing....,” Billy muttered, and wriggled furiously, flapping his legs to try and gain momentum.

  A crack appeared in the door. Not a large one, but part of a ghastly face was visible.

  Billy swore and kicked and still couldn’t make it out.

  “Let me help,” Courtney said. Grabbing his hands, she dug in her heels and heaved backward. Billy grimaced in pain but didn’t cry out. The edges of the metal jambs were digging into him, tearing his shirt and the skin underneath. Courtney heaved again and once once more, pulling him a few more inches. Blood appeared on his shirt.

  Courtney took a deep breath and bunched her body....and the top of the door crashed inward.

  CHAPTER 10

  Courtney envisioned zombies pouring into the laundry room and biting and ripping at Billy’s legs but so many zombies tried to force themselves through the opening that they became entangled and not one made it through.

  Sally Ann took hold of Billy’s right arm. “You take his left. On the count of three.”

  “Hurry, ladies!” Billy grit his teeth. His shirt was ,becoming more red by the moment.

  Sally Ann counted.

  At “Three!”, Courtney and her threw themselves backward, their legs taut, their arms like iron bars.

  Billy gasped, blood dripping from each shoulder. Suddenly they were through.

  Courtney and Sally Ann pulled until he was all the way out. When they let go, he clutched his arms and doubled over.

  “Everyone down!” Courtney said, and turning to Sansa, who was holding Willis, pulled the girl flat on the grass.

  With a rending crash, the door fell to the floor and zombies burst into the laundry room. Teeth chomped. Glazed eyes rolled about. They turned this way and that. Several reached toward the window, but seeing it was empty, they lost interest and milled with the rest.

  Their confusion was almost comical.

  Sliding backwa
rd until she was sure she couldn’t be seen, Courtney rose into a crouch and sat with her back to the fence.

  Sansa clung to her arm. Gaga’s nose was against her leg.

  Sally Ann joined them, and grinned and whispered, “Whew! That was close!”

  Billy was curled on his side near the window, his hands over the gashes in his arms. He went to say something but

  Courtney put a finger to her lips.

  Slowing rising, she peered over the fence. To her surprise, the only zombies she saw were a few out toward the street.

  Sinking down, Courtney wearily leaned back. The night had gone strangely quiet. “We’re safe for a bit,” she whispered.

  Sally Ann sat against the fence, too. Rubbing her shoulder, she said, “You sure are heavy, Billy. I thought my arm was going to pop out of its socket.”

  “It’s all that muscle,” Courtney said.

  With a grunt, Billy sat up and came over, “Didn’t ever think you’d noticed.” He gingerly pried at the rips in his right sleeve. “Damn, this hurts.”

  “Let me have a look,” Courtney said.

  “I’m all right.”

  Swatting his hand aside, Courtney examined him. Both of his upper arms were torn and bleeding. But the blood flow was stopping. He’d have nasty gashes that would take a while to heal but he would be good as new eventually.

  “First my leg and now this,” Billy said.

  “Think of the millions who have died so far,” Sally Ann said. “Compared to them, we’re having it easy.”

  “Doesn’t feel easy,” Billy said.

  “We should bandage you up,” Courtney suggested. “To prevent infection.”

  “Bandage me with what?” Billy said. “We’re not going back in that house.”

  “We’ll find something....,” Courtney began.

  A scream rent the darkness. This time it was torn from the throat of a man. It rose to a piercing shriek and ended in a drawn-out gurgle.

  “Someone from Marysville,” Sally Ann said in horror.

  “Wonder how many are left?” Billy said.

  As in answer, the night erupted in gunfire and shouts.

  Courtney pushed to her feet. “That’s coming from the gas station and the store.”

  “There must be people holed up in them,” Sally Ann said.

  “We should help,” Billy said, reaching for his rifle.

  “As many zombies as are out there, we wouldn’t last ten minutes,” Courtney said.

  More shots cracked. From the difference in the sounds, Courtney judged there were three or four people firing at once.

  “The shots will draw those things aways from us,” Sally Ann said. “We should get while the getting is good.”

  “And just leave Harry and them?” Billy said.

  “For all we know he’s already dead,” Sally Ann said. She moved toward the gate. “Get your butts in gear. We’re out of here.

  “Sal, wait,” Courtney said.

  “We’re leaving. Now!” Sally Ann opened the gate...and there, hunched over, was a man.

  It wasn’t just any man. It was the tall one who had escorted them to the house, the man Courtney last saw across the street. He was stooped down, bent double, his arms wrapped around his belly, vomit on the ground in front of him, more vomit spilling over his lower lip.

  As the gate opened, he looked up. He wore the most pained expression. His eyes and Courtney’s met, and even in the dark she could tell his were brown, and he was still human. But that very instant his eyes paled and glazed and just-like-that he wasn’t human anymore.

  Courtney was at a loss as to how he got there. Maybe he had tried to reach them when the swarm first appeared. Maybe one had bitten him and he only now turned.

  Snarling he clawed for Sally Ann, who was riveted in surprise.

  The thunder of Billy’s .45-70 was abominably loud in the enclosed space. At the blast, the top of the man’s head exploded and he fell.

  The shot would bring more creatures, as sure as anything.

  “Run!” Courtney cried to all of the others. “Run for your lives!”

  Courtney grabbed Sansa’s hand and told her to hold tight to Willis. She was out the gate a few steps ahead of Sally Ann. Billy came last, limping. His leg was bothering him again.

  At the front corner of the house Courtney stopped to get her bearings and assess the situation.

  No zombies were in their immediate vicinity. The gas station and store were surrounded, the horde bathed in the garish light of the street lamps. The zombies were striking the store fronts, trying to get in.

  There was nothing Courtney or anyone could do to help whoever was trapped inside. There were simply too many of the ravenous dead.

  From across the street came the sound of something being smashed. A zombie shuffled out the front door of a house. Another was coming around the side.

  Others were coming from the main road, to their right.

  Courtney turned left and broke into a jog. She couldn’t go as fast as she would like because of Sansa. Gaga easily kept pace but the girl had to take two steps for each of hers.

  They passed the front door. It hung by a single hinge, and zombies were shambling across the living room to reach it.

  Courtney tore her gaze from them....and almost collided with another that loomed out of the night. A skinny man, his clothes in tatters, his flesh torn to ribbons, his face worse than Frankenstein’s.

  Without thinking, Courtney pulled her revolver and shot him in the head.

  “Now they’ll be all over us!” Sally Ann exclaimed.

  “Couldn’t be helped,” Courtney said, and ran, hauling Sansa with her.

  Sticking to the grass, to the yards, where the shadows were deeper, they passed a second house, and a third. The block ended abruptly at the edge of woodland.

  Once in there, they could lose the creatures. Or so Courtney hoped.

  “Look out!” Billy yelled.

  A fast zombie was running toward them. Rarer than the slow kind, the fast ones could move as quickly as a normal person.

  This one hurtled at Courtney with its mouth agape and its fingers splayed. She tried to point the Vaquero but the thing was on her before she could shoot. A forearm swatted the barrel aside. Its other hand caught in her hair even as it rammed a shoulder into her chest and sent her stumbling.

  Panicked, Courtney struck at its face. She tripped, attempted to keep her balance, and felt one of the zombie’s leg catch behind hers. She fell flat on her back. A knee caught her in the gut. The creature snapped at her arm, but missed.

  Then Gaga sprang, tearing at the thing’s chest. It ignored the dog.

  Courtney slammed her revolver against its cheek and nearly had her hand bit.

  Raw fear spiked through her. Not for herself. For little Sansa, who threw herself at the thing and started punching it.

  “Leave Courts be!” Sansa cried.

  The creature backhanded her and sent the girl flying.

  It knocked Gaga aside, too.

  It was only interested in Courtney. Only interested in sinking its slavering mouth into her flesh.

  Courtney heaved but couldn’t cast the thing off. Was it her imagination, or did those glazed eyes light with an inner fire as it swooped at her throat?

  CHAPTER 11

  “Eat this!”

  Courtney shoved the Vaquero’s barrel into the thing’s gaping mouth. The hammer was already back so all she had to do was squeeze the trigger.

  The head burst, spewing bone and hair and brains every which way. The creature collapsed, its face within an inch of Courtney’s.

  Hands reached down, and Billy flung the zombie off. “You all right? Were you bit?”

  “Don’t think so,” Courtney said, struggling to collect her wits.

  “I tried to shoot but didn’t have a clear shot,” Billy said. “I was afraid I’d hit you.”

  “Same here,” Sally Ann said.

  Courtney made it to her k
nees and Billy helped her the rest of the way. When he stepped back, Sansa ran up and embraced her legs.

  “I was so scared for you!”

  “Makes two of us,” Billy said.

  “People,” Sally Ann said, glancing about. “This is touching and all—but we have to haul butt. Now!”

  More zombies—the slow variety—were approaching from several directions.

  Courtney took a step, and winced.

  “Something wrong?” Billy said.

  “I think I sprained something when I fell.” Courtney took a few more steps, testing. “But I can manage.”

  At the tree line she looked back.

  Marysville was crawling with creatures. Smoke and flames were rising from the gas station.

  “Dear Lord, no!” Sally Ann gasped.

  “What is it?” Billy said.

  “Run!” Sally Ann said. “Run like you’ve never run before!”

  They tried their best but the undergrowth was so thick, they hadn’t gone more than twenty yards when the biggest explosion that Courtney ever heard shook the earth under their feet.

  “Down!” Sally Ann bawled. “All of you!”

  A series of blasts punctuated her cry, one after the other, attended by incredible sheets of flame shooting hundreds of feet into the air.

  “The gas station went up!” Sally Ann shouted.

  Courtney held Sansa and Gaga close. She didn’t think they were in any danger. They were far enough away.

  Then fiery objects began to rain from the sky. Some were the size of pebbles. Others a lot larger.

  Sally Ann let out an “Ouch!” and swatted at her hair.

  A burning ‘something’ thudded down almost at Courtney’s feet.

  Smaller explosions followed the first. The fiery rain continued but most fell farther away.

  “Want to bet the fire spreads to some of the houses?” Billy said.

  “Goodbye Marysville,” Sally Ann said.

  They stood, and Courtney cast about for zombies. She didn’t see any. “Keep it quiet,” she advised, “and follow me.”

  “Who died and made you leader?” Sally Ann said.

  “Stay here if you want,” Courtney said. She headed out, Sansa to one side, Gaga brushing her leg.