Fighting to Survive (16 page)

The
curtains were opened and pale sunlight streamed in illuminating the
room. Jenni cautiously stepped in. Davey followed directly behind
her. He kicked the door hard and was rewarded with a sharp thud as
the door hit the wall with a resounding smack.

Nothing
behind it.

Jenni
advanced slowly toward the bed and squatted down. Davey took a breath
and drew the comforter sharply off of it.

Nothing
below the bed.

Behind
them, Curtis and Jimmy entered the room.

Jenni
moved very cautiously toward the open door to the bathroom and peered
in. This room was much bigger and opulent than those below.
Everything gleamed and sparkled inside the bathroom, but there was no
sign of anything dead.

“
Clear?
”
Curtis looked nervously around the room.

“
Wardrobe,
”
Jenni answered.

Taking
a quivering breath, Davey drew near the wardrobe. His tiny frame
crouched slightly as he reached out and took hold of the handle.
Jenni moved closer, her gun aimed toward the wardrobe, standing
across from Davey and near the bed.

“
I
don't think you should--
”
Jimmy started.

Davey
looked back as his hand rested on the lever just enough for there to
be a click.
“
What?
”

The
doors exploded outward, knocking Davey to the floor, and tossing
Jenni backwards onto the bed. Her gun flew out of her hand, hit the
floor and skittered under a chair in the corner. The largest zombie
Jenni had ever seen rushed out, stepped on Davey, and rushed toward
Jimmy and Curtis at a fast clip.

Jenni
rolled as fast as she could over the bed to the other side as the as
the zombie ran across the room toward Curtis and Jimmy.

Another
form, mostly eaten, barely resembling what had been a human female,
slithered out of the wardrobe.

“
Davey!
”
Jenni screamed.

He
climbed to his knees only to be confronted by the grisly creature
with strips of flesh hanging off its bones. It lunged forward and bit
deep into his cheek.

Meanwhile,
Curtis shot the enormous zombie in the head, but it just kept
barreling forward.

“
It's
Bubba Wilkins! He has a metal plate in his head,
”
Jimmy shouted.

“
Shit,
”
Curtis shouted.

Jimmy
turned and tackled Curtis out of the hotel room door and slammed the
door shut behind them.

Jenni
stood in shock, breathing heavily. Only the bed stood between her
and the two zombies.

1. Dance With
Death

This is how you die,
she heard Lloyd's voice in her head. may not have gotten you, but he
will.

Jenni
stood, breathing heavily, and watched the enormous zombie bang on the
door. It hadn
’
t
noticed her yet and was desperate to get to Jimmy and Curtis.

The
munching and slurping noises of the female zombie eating Davey's face
and his painful sobs filled the room. She wanted to scream at Davey
to shoot the creature, but she couldn't speak, didn't dare speak.

Slowly,
she started to squat down so she could reach under the chair for her
gun. Her breath sounded so loud and harsh in her ears, she was sure
the zombie could hear her, but he kept pounding on the door. Her
heart seemed to thud in time to the meaty fists banging against the
door. Her skin felt slick and cold.

She
began to feel along the floor under the chair, trying to find the
weapon, all the while keeping her eyes on the zombie in the plumber's
outfit banging on the door. Her knees were creaking in protest as she
tried to keep her balance and not move too quickly. The last she
wanted to do was attract the huge zombie
’
s
attention.

Davey
wasn't even making a sound now and she knew what that meant. Soon
there would be three of these things to deal with.

Her
mind was playing tricks with her now. Memories overlapping with
reality. For a moment it was Lloyd at the door and Benji on the other
side of the bed. She forced those thoughts out of her mind.

You
don
’
t
understand, Jenni. You
’
re
a stupid, crazy bitch. And it's time for you to die. To turn into
what we are and eat the face off your spic boyfriend, Lloyd
’
s
voice taunted her.

Jenni
grimaced as her body ached for her to move faster, but she didn
’
t
dare take her eyes off the zombie or the other side of the bed.

You
always were such a stupid little Mexican
’
t.
Can
’
t
do a damn thing right. Guess your mother
’
s
blood fucked you up more than I thought. I never should have married
a half-breed, Lloyd
’
s
voice mocked her.

Gawdammit,
why did he have to haunt her now?

Her
fingers were almost to the gun when the enormous zombie turned
around. The flesh from its forehead had torn free and a metal plate
was visible under his lank black hair. His glazed gaze rested on her.
He howled and surged forward.

“
Shit!
”

In
her haste, she knocked the gun further away and realized she had to
give it up. Rising to her feet, she saw the zombie stumble on the far
side of the bed. Probably over the other zombie and Davey.

Jenni
backed up and felt something hard hit her hip. Looking behind her,
she realized she was up against a door to a balcony. Ripping it open,
she stepped out into the rain. Looking back, she saw the zombie was
coming. She slammed the door shut and backed away from the French
doors.

The
zombie growled in fury and stumbled over the edge of the bed.

Jenni
spun around trying to figure out what the hell to do. The white metal
furniture was a possibility for a weapon, but he was so big.

He
hit the door with a resounding crash and began to beat hard on the
glass.

Jenni
backed up against the stone railing and looked around once more. Her
heart was beating so fast it literally hurt. Gulping down breaths of
air, she tried to steady her nerves. To the left was another balcony,
maybe six to eight feet from the one she was on.

The
zombie
’
s
fist busted through one of the panes and it reached for her.

With
determination, Jenni moved to the far end of the balcony and slid
carefully onto the wide railing. Looking across the gap, she saw that
she didn
’
t
have any room for error. She would have to fling herself across to
the other balcony and hope she could catch onto the railing. The wind
buffeted her body and she tried hard not to look down and see how far
she was from the ground.

Mexican
’
ts
can
’
t
fly. Just swim across the river, Lloyd
’
s
voice laughed in her head.

“
Lloyd,
shut the fuck up,
”
Jenni said through gritted teeth.

Another
loud crash. Glass shattered behind her.

Near
tears, she lowered her feet until her heels were resting on the floor
of the balcony between the ornate stone slats that held up the
railing. Her butt rested on the edge of the rail and her hands held
tightly to the slick stone.

This
was not how she had planned to die. Falling to her death trying to
escape a zombie was just not acceptable to her. Hell, dying period
was not acceptable to her. Things were finally changing for her. Yes,
the world was dead, but she was alive.

Not
for long, Lloyd reminded her.

The
zombie was breaking apart the door behind her.

Looking
over toward the other balcony, she whispered a silent prayer and
flung herself forward as hard as she could.

Her
chest impacted with the stone rail and her arms grabbed hold of it.
The pain of impact ripped through her as she managed to knock most of
the air out of her lungs. Struggling to breathe, she pulled herself
up and over the railing. Falling onto a metal chair, she gasped at
the pain, and rolled off it onto her feet. She looked back to where
she had come from.

The
zombie stood on the balcony looking confused. It gazed straight
ahead, as if searching for her in the clouds. Slow, it turned and
saw her. With a raging growl, it ran straight toward the rail. To
her horror, the zombie leaped onto it and through the air toward the
balcony she was on.

He
was much heavier and did not quite make it. His chest also hit the
rail and he fell back, his torn hands gripping the cold stone.

“
Gawdammit,
”
Jenni screamed at him as he managed to hold on.

Picking
up one of the heavy metal chairs, she struggled forward toward the
monster. She began to bash his hands as hard as she could. She was
screaming as loud as he was growling. As he struggled to pull himself
up, she hit his huge hands with the leg of the metal chair. It was
heavy and it was hard to wield, but she used it the best she could to
batter the damn thing.

“
I
’
m
gonna fucking bash your gawddamn skull in,
”
she hissed at him.

Lloyd
’
s
voice was quiet inside of her head now.

“
I
choose when to die,
”
she screamed at the top of her lungs.
“
And
it's not now!
”

The
zombie kept trying to pull himself up, but she kept smashing him as
hard as she could.

Davey
appeared on the balcony. His face was completely stripped away and
his bloodied, fleshless face stared toward her. Only his eyes
remained and, comically, his ears and a flap of his skull. With a
desperate hiss, he ran toward her as well.

“
Bring
it on, fucker,
”
Jenni shouted at him, and kept bashing the other zombie.

Davey
flung himself over the rail and didn
’
t
get very far at all. He managed to grab onto the other zombie and
they both hung suspended over the street far below. Davey began to
rip at the other zombie
’
s
arms as he tried to pull himself upwards. The assault from above and
below was too much. With a hungry growl of rage, the large zombie
lost his hold and slipped out of sight.

Holding
the chair tight in her hands, Jenni stood with her chest heaving,
listening intently, and didn
’
t
relax until she heard the impact of their fall. Looking over the
edge, she saw both of them on the pavement below. Davey was trying to
crawl away with only one good arm. The other zombie was impaled on an
old fashioned street light, its arms and legs pumping in vain to
escape it.

It
was the other zombies gathering before the hotel that gave Jenni
pause. They were looking around, as if sensing that there was flesh
to consume nearby. One of them looked up and reached toward her.
About ten of them began to screech at her. Backing away, she looked
toward the doors behind her. She had no gun and no idea if anything
lay beyond that door.

Taking
a deep breath, she began to reach out to open the door when the doors
began to shake under the pounding of fists on the other side.