Fighting to Survive (43 page)

Ed
slammed the hatchet down on the fearsome growling face lunging toward
him. The zombie shuddered. Its skinless fingers clawed at Ed's
boots.

...like those
tiny fingers pressed under the door on the first day...those tiny
little fingers...

Jenni shook her head
to break the memory.

Ed slammed the
hatchet down one more time. The thing's fingers finally stilled.

“
And
here we go,
”
Felix sighed as two badly decomposing zombies appeared from around a
nearby building.

“
I
hate company,
”
Jenni grumbled. Her head was throbbing. She felt off kilter. Seeing
the zombies' fingers straining to reach Ed had sickened her. She
tried hard not to think of Benji.

“
Especially
the kind of company that wants you for dinner,
”
Felix agreed.
“
I
hate zombies. I hate them. I really, really hate them. I wish they
would just go away.
”

Bill popped the hood
behind them while Nerit walked slowly around the car. Ed joined her.
They studied the area together.

“
No
one likes zombies.
”
Jenni frowned as more staggered into view.
“
But
at least they're slow now.
”

The
shambling dead were a strangely reassuring sight. Jenni preferred
them slow and relentless to fast and relentless. The zombies were a
mess now, often indistinguishable as male or female. Not only were
the zombies mutilated from the attack that killed them, but from
wandering around looking for the living.

Four months of rot,
the elements, and wear and tear had the walking dead in bad shape.
Their skin was dry, cracked and shredded. Their limbs were mangled
and twisted. The zombies felt no pain, so they had no concern for
their bodies. They struggled through brambles, bushes, and low
fences, wandered off elevated areas, tripped down inclines, and,
sometimes, rammed themselves repeatedly against obstacles. On her
trips outside the walls, Jenni had seen the undead do extraordinary
damage to themselves trying to get the living.

“
They're
getting closer,
”
Felix called out.

“
Almost
done,
”
Bill answered.

Jenni felt uneasy
despite the slow advancement of the zombies. Her rage had dissipated
at some point to be replaced with a low pulse of fear. But she
couldn't let it get to her now. One of the zombies, a female in a
truly tacky pink tracksuit, was drawing too close.

“
Ax
time!
”
Jenni moved toward the female zombie reaching for her, moaning that
terrible sound, and forced back her fear.

The
zombie snapped and lunged forward. Jenni slammed the flat of the ax
head hard into the sternum of the creature and knocked her flat on
her back. She quickly pinned the creature down with one foot placed
solidly on the dead thing's chest and heaved the ax over her head.
As the zombie grabbed at her boot, Jenni brought down the ax as hard
as she could and cleaved its head in two.

“
One
down!
”
Jenni yanked her ax out of the zombie's head and took a few steps
back.

“
I
got visitors,
”
Felix yelled. He used almost the exact same moves to take down a
zombie near him with his double-bladed spear. He miscalculated how
far away the second zombie was, and it lunged at him from behind.
Felix shoved the spear back hard behind him and impaled it before it
could grab him. Jenni moved to help him. The zombie began to push
its body down the spear to grab Felix, but the young man turned and
shot it in the face.

“
I
got it, Jenni, I got it,
”
he said, and grinned.

Jenni
nodded.
“
Good
job.
”
She held the ax at the ready, her eyes scanning the approaching
dead, trying to figure out her next moves.

“
I
would really like to go now,
”
Felix called out as more dead stepped into view around them.

Bill
motioned to Ed. The two men talked in soft tones.

“
C'mon,
guys! Hurry up!
”
Jenni's voice was full of exasperation.

The
limping, gruesome dead were drawing ever closer. They were too
clustered together to take down individually.

Ed got down on the
ground and slid under the sedan.

“
Guys,
seriously! Seriously, this is not good!
”
Felix wailed.

“
I'll
thin them out,
”
Nerit assured Felix. She raised her rifle and began to fire at the
less mutilated, more dangerous zombies.

Jenni watched with
fascination as the zombies went down one by one. A plume of blood,
brains and bone would erupt out the back of their skulls, then they
would crumple to the ground.

Felix also began to
fire at the growing crowd of zombies. The reality of the new world
was that a small group of zombies was manageable, but too many
swarming together was hard to survive.

Jenni
pulled out her handgun from its holster and aimed at the remains of a
mechanic shambling toward her. It didn't have much of a face left,
but its tongue flicked out between its stained, broken teeth.

Mikey's torn face
flashed across her vision...

Jenni shook her
head, trying to shake the memory away.

“
Kill
it Jenni!
”

She
forced herself to focus and looked back at the zombie. It was
Lloyd, her dead abusive husband , lurching toward her. His mouth was
open to utter that terrible zombie moan and his shirt was covered in
the blood of her children.

Join
us, Jenni,
Lloyd's voice whispered.

“
Jenni!
”

“
Fuck
you, Lloyd,
”
Jenni growled. She fired. The bullet sheared off the top of his
head.

Lloyd swayed on his
feet for a second, then collapsed at her feet. Jenni lifted her foot
and slammed it down on the zombie's head for good measure a few
times.

“
Who
the hell is Lloyd? Did you know that zombie?
”
Felix yelled.

Jenni
ignored him and looked down at the zombie that was no longer her
husband, but some pathetic mechanic. She raised her gaze and lifted
her gun to fire into the group of zombies nearing her.

“
Let's
go! Done here!
”
Bill called out.

Jenni
and Felix began to draw back toward the mini-bus. Nerit disappeared
into it, only to reappear at a window. She slid it down so she could
provide cover.

Bill jogged around
the back of the mini-bus and headed toward the open door. More
zombies were appearing now. They were being drawn by the gunfire.
Jenni reloaded her weapon as Felix backed toward her. Ed fired up
the engine.

“
You
first,
”
Jenni told Felix.

“
I'd
say ladies first, but-
”
Felix ducked into the bus.

Jenni slowly backed
up toward the open door. She was almost to safety.

A little boy around
Benji's age walked into view. He trailed behind the other zombies,
then spotted Jenni. With a small cry, he lifted his hands. His
small fingers reached for her.

Let
him bite you. Die and join us
.

An
uncomfortable tightness gripped her throat. She wanted to scream.
She stumbled backwards and gasped. The little boy wasn't just
Benji's age, he
was
Benji! He had found her. He was coming for her. His fingers were
reaching for her so he could claim her.

His tiny fingers
reached for her...strained for her...

Bill grabbed Jenni
around the waist and dragged her up into the bus. Jenni didn't fight
him as she stared transfixed at Benji. The doors snapped shut.

“
It's
Benji,
”
Jenni gasped.

“
No,
it's not,
”
Nerit said sharply.
“
It's
not him.
”

“
Who's
Benji?
”
Felix was completely bewildered.

Bill
set Jenni down firmly in a seat.
“
Jenni,
it's not him. It's not Benji.
”

“
But...
”
She couldn't look away from Benji's tiny zombified form and his
searching fingers. He was reaching toward her, wanting her to go to
him.
“
He's
coming for me.
”

Yes,
he is. Get off the bus. Embrace him. Join us
,
Lloyd's voice urged.

Nerit
grabbed Jenni's chin and forced her to look away.
“
It's
not him, Jenni. It's not him. Look away. Close your eyes. Don't
look, because it's not him.
”

She finally tore her
gaze away from the small dead boy and squeezed her eyes shut. She
felt the terrible fear that had gripped her slowly begin to release.
She took in a shuddering breath. Finally, she looked back out the
window.

The
zombie wasn't Benji. It wasn't even a little boy. It was a tween
girl in a torn nightgown.

Lloyd
had tricked her. Anger flashed through her and she felt it burn away
the last vestiges of her paralysis.

“
Sorry,
”
she murmured.

Ed
shifted gears and the min-bus lurched forward.

“
It's
okay,
”
Nerit assured her. She gently rubbed Jenni's back.
“
It's
okay. It was just a bad moment.
”

“
What
just happened? 'cause I'm very confused.
”

“
Felix,
it's over. That's all that matters,
”
Bill said calmly.

The bus rumbled on.
Ed would take an indirect route back to the fort to avoid leading the
zombies to their safe haven.

Jenni felt reality
slipping back into place around her and the morning of the first day
began to recede into her memories. Her children were gone. Maybe
their bodies sill roamed the earth, but the spark that had made them
human was gone.

Jenni
looked up at Nerit, who was still gently rubbing her back trying to
calm her.
“
I'm
sorry I'm crazy.
”

“
Honey,
we are all crazy,
”
Nerit assured her.

“
That's
the truth,
”
Felix agreed.

“
I
ain't been sane in a long time,
”
Ed said in a grim tone.

“
Ya'll
speak for yourselves.
”
Bill grinned.
“
I'm
as sane as they come in a zombie infested world.
”