Ashton Memorial (15 page)

“Ready for some food?” said
Gregory, walking back around to stand in front of her.

“Okay,” she said, her voice
low and hoarse.

She looked down at the cords around her
feet. Gregory followed her gaze down, then met her eyes when she
looked back up at him.

“Not yet, Lori,” Gregory
said. “Not until you understand.”

She looked down at the
floor. “Food.”

“Okay,” said Gregory. “I'll
be right back.”

He stepped over to a closed door. He fished
a keycard from his pocket and held it up to a reader set in the
wall next to the door. A red light on the reader changed to green,
and the door clicked. He opened the door and walked out, shutting
the door behind him.

She waited for a moment, making sure he was
gone.

She shifted in the chair, hiking up one hip.
She dug around in her jeans pocket until she found her cell
phone.

She pulled the phone out and flipped it
open. Her first thought was to call the police, but she was afraid
Gregory would hear. How close was he to the door? Her next though
was to text Ella, let her know where she was. She frowned, trying
to remember clearly. Had Ella forgotten her phone yesterday, or was
that some other time? She couldn't remember.

She glanced at the door. The lock still
showed red. How long did she have? And did Ella have her cell phone
or not?

Her head hurt from hunger and exhaustion.
She couldn't remember. She opened the text function on her phone
and started typing.

Six

Park inched Angie's car down the road,
reading the house numbers as they went by. Angie looked out the
passenger window, doing the same.

“There,” said Dalton from
the back seat. He pointed over Park's shoulder, out the windshield
and farther up the street.

Park nodded and drove to the house Dalton
indicated. He pulled alongside the house and stopped.

“This look right?” said
Angie.

“Don't know,” said Park.
“Never saw the house.”

Angie gave him a look. He didn't need it. He
surveyed the house, as if he'd see any element that would indicate
to him his daughters and ex-wife lived there. How the hell would he
know? What the hell was he doing? He briefly reconsidered his old
plan of killing himself.

He dropped that line of thought and returned
to investigating the house. The number was right, which he liked.
What he didn't like was the large front window, which was smashed.
Large plastic decals of fall leaves hung from what chunks of glass
remained. The front door stood open. No movement inside.

“Something happened here,”
said Maylee from the back seat.

No shit,
kid
, Park wanted to say. But the kid
didn't deserve that. Park was just upset he hadn't seen his girls
for so long. Upset at the state of the house he assumed they lived
in. Shit,
assumed
. They were right. They had just been little girls when they
gave him that look, but they were right. He was a
failure.

“Something happened
everywhere,” he said in response to Maylee. He opened the door and
stepped out, slinging the rifle strap over his shoulder.

Rain fell, just intermittently enough to be
annoying. It hit Park's head and ran down his face. Angie and her
kids climbed from the car. Maylee had her bat.

They all looked up and down the street. At
the far intersection, a corpse stumbled by, not noticing them. That
was fine with Park.

Faint screams came from far off. A siren
sounded somewhere far away. Rain pattered on the dry leaves of the
huge tree in the front yard.

“Seems quiet,” said
Angie.

Park nodded.

A dog barked, so loud and close that all
four of them jerked at the sound. Park turned and saw the dog
standing on a lawn across the street. The house behind the dog was
badly damaged. The dog barked over and over at them but did not
leave its yard.

Park snorted at the dog and turned back to
the house.

Maylee kept looking at the
dog. “What's that dog's problem?”

“It's probably scared,”
said Angie.

They all stood quietly for a moment, taking
a last look around. Rain pattered down. Faint moans and screams
came from far away. The dog barked.

“Alright,” said Park,
swallowing. “I guess this is what I came here for.”

Angie stepped up next to
him. “I'm sure they're fine, Parker.”

Park looked over at her.
“You mean that?”

Angie looked at him, saying nothing. Her
expression was blank.

“Yeah,” said Park after a
moment. “That's what I think, too.”

The dog barked and rain fell.

“Let's go,” said
Park.

Park walked up the street,
turning into the driveway. Angie and the kids followed behind.
“Stay close to me,” Angie said to them.

“Fine,” said Maylee,
sounding annoyed.

Partway up the driveway, Park stopped and
stared into the garage. A SUV sat inside. There were no signs of
movement. Angie and the kids stopped behind him.

“Someone in there?” said
Dalton.

“Shh!” said Angie and
Maylee in unison.

“Hello?” said Park toward
the open garage. “Anyone there?”

They listened and stared at the garage, at
the back of the SUV. No sound and no movement. Slowly, Park slipped
the rifle strap from his shoulder. He brought the rifle around to
his front.

“You just have the one
shot?” said Angie.

“Just the one,” said
Park.

“Great,” said Angie.
“Everyone keep quiet and be careful.”

Park slowly stepped into the garage,
stopping at the back of the SUV. He peered through the tinted glass
of the back window. It was empty.

He stepped back and looked
around the garage. He turned to Angie and the kids. “I'm gonna look
deeper.”

Angie nodded, walking in on the other side
of the SUV. She motioned for the kids to stay in the driveway.
Maylee frowned but stayed put. She gripped the bat and Dalton clung
to her.

Park walked along the driver’s side of the
SUV. Angie kept pace with him on the other side. Rain echoed off
the roof. No other sound or movement presented itself.

A clatter came from Angie's side. Park
jerked around, startled. The butt of the rifle scraped along the
driver’s door of the SUV. The SUV's alarm started going off, loud
and blaring in the confines of the garage.

“Shit,” said Park, wincing
at the noise.

“Sorry,” said Angie. “There
was a can on the floor.”

Park grabbed the door handle and pulled,
meaning to turn the alarm off. The door was locked. The alarm
blared, making his ears ring.

“Fuck,” said Park, stepping
out of the garage and back into the rain. “That goddamned thing is
gonna bring dozens of those things.” He pulled on the back door to
the SUV. It stayed put. He brought up the rifle butt and slammed it
into the glass. It cracked but held together. “Fucking safety
glass,” he muttered.

Angie looked up and down
the street. The siren blared and the dog kept barking. “The front
door's open. I'll go see if I can find the keys. Maylee, you and
Dalton stay here.”

Angie turned and headed up the sidewalk,
toward the house. Park watched her go, then returned to trying to
break into the SUV.

Angie disappeared into the
house. Park hit the glass again with the rifle. Nothing. The siren
kept going. The dog barked. Park turned and saw Maylee clutching
the bat. “You wanna have a go?”

Maylee looked at him, then
realized what he was saying. She nodded, looking almost happy to
use the bat. “Sure.”

She stepped up and was about to swing for
the glass of the SUV when Angie called out from the front
porch.

“Park,” she called, loud
enough to be heard over the alarm and barking. “You need to see
this.”

Park frowned at her, then walked toward the
door. Maylee lowered the bat and followed, motioning for Dalton to
come along.

“Not you guys,” said Angie.
“You stay out here with me.” She stepped aside to let Park
by.

Park stepped into the living room and looked
around. Furniture was overturned. Pictures hung crookedly from the
walls or were simply smashed on the floor. Glass from the window
crunched under his feet as he stepped farther inside.

Then his breath caught as he looked
down.

Jennifer, his ex-wife, lay dead on the
floor. She was facedown, but he recognized her hair. He recognized
the shape of her body. Even after all these years.

She lay in a pool of thick blood, congealed
and still. A hole in the back of her head stained her hair red. The
hole was torn outward. Park swallowed. He'd hunted for years, and
he knew a gunshot wound when he saw one.

“Oh shit,” said Park,
stepping forward and kneeling next to the body. He grabbed her
pantleg and flipped her over. Her limp hand fell into the congealed
blood, splattering thick globs of it along the carpet.

“Shit, Jenny,” said Park.
Her face was smeared with blood, originating from a bullet hole
that took up most of her left eye.

Angie stepped in, her arms
crossed. She kept her eyes on the kids in the front yard. The alarm
was still going off, sounding far away. “I'm so sorry
Parker.”

Park nodded.

“I was never a doctor or
anything,” said Angie, alternating her gaze between Park and the
kids, “but it looks like this happened before we even left
Lakewood.”

“Yeah,” said Park, sitting back on his heels and
wondering why he was so upset. He hadn't seen Jennifer in years.
And for most of those years he hated her. “She must have been
bitten.” He looked over her body for bite marks.

“Mom!” yelled Maylee from
outside. She ran up onto the porch, pulling Dalton with her. “Those
things are coming!”

Park stood and looked out the front window.
Corpses stumbled down the street, nearing the house. He turned to
Angie. She was looking past him, seeing the same thing he saw.

“Shit,” said Angie. “Okay,
we gotta...”

A groaning corpse stumbled from the bathroom
behind Angie. It was a young man with sideburns and a large red
hole in his stomach. Wet, slick organs inched out with each
step.

“Fuck!” yelled Park. “Look
out!”

Angie spun as the corpse reached for her.
Angie twisted away from the corpse, falling into the living
room.

“Mom!” yelled Dalton,
running inside. Maylee ran in after him.

“Where'd he come from?”
yelled Angie, struggling to regain her footing.

“Who knows? The door and
window’s been wide open,” said Park, stepping over to help
her.

The corpse groaned and changed focus,
reaching for Dalton. A loop of intestines flopped out the hole in
its stomach as it strained for him, turning its back to Angie.
Dalton screamed.

Angie yelled and rushed the corpse. She
grabbed its shirt from behind and pulled it backward. Dalton
slipped free of the corpse's hand. Angie pushed the corpse hard,
running it forward into the door frame. It groaned and clawed at
the wall.

“Fuck you!” yelled Angie,
grabbing the corpse's hair and ramming its forehead into the wood
of the frame. A loud “crack” sounded and dark blood splattered
across the wall. The corpse went limp.

“And stay the fuck away
from my kids,” she said, letting go. The corpse slumped to the
floor.

The corpses outside reached the door and
window. They groaned and hissed, clawing at the window frame. They
staggered through the door, moaning and chewing the air.

Maylee and Dalton stepped backward, toward
the hallway and away from Angie and Park. The corpses continued to
stumble inside, quickly blocking Maylee and Dalton from reach.

“Dammit!” yelled Angie,
moving to reach for them. The corpses groaned and reached for
her.

Park grabbed her shoulder
and pulled back. “Don't be stupid!” he yelled. Dalton hid behind
Maylee as they both inched backward. Maylee held the bat in front
of her, jabbing at the corpses to keep them at bay.

“Guys!” Angie yelled over
the corpses as Park pulled her back. He could see the anguish on
her face. “Run! Get to a room and hide! We'll get you!”

* * *

Maylee took careful steps backward, slowly
swinging her bat back and forth. Dalton was behind her. He clutched
her shoulder and stepped backward in time with her. Three corpses
followed them down the hallway. They bit their teeth and pawed at
the walls. The lights were off in the house and the hallway grew
darker as they moved farther away from the living room.

Maylee could hear Mom and Park in the living
room. Mom was screaming for her and Dalton. Park was grunting and
swearing as he knocked corpses aside. Maylee knew he had one shot
left, but she knew there were too many corpses for it to do any
good.

Maylee darted her eyes from one corpse to
another. The frontmost one, a woman with a flap of her cheek pulled
away to reveal teeth and wet red muscle, reached for her. Maylee
slapped the corpse's hands back with her bat.

“Dalton!” she shouted,
keeping her eyes on the corpses. “What's behind us?”

“Um...” said Dalton,
trailing off. Maylee heard his voice change volume as he turned to
look, then turned back. “Two rooms at the end of the hall. One on
each side.”