Beyond the Barriers (Novella): Ghouls (4 page)

I
f the previous
impacts had been a jolt to the system, this was a smack upside the head with a lead bat. I was thrown forward and hit the dash hard enough to see stars. Scott cried out in pain and somehow ended up on the floor. The survivors behind me made their own cries of misery. Smoke. That was all I could see.

I tried to put the beat up Stryker into reverse but it wasn’t having any of that. The gears ground together and actually seemed to catch before a louder noise, probably the transmission taking a shit, gave up the ghost. I hit the gas but all the engine did was give a half-hearted revving noise.

We had to get out of there before the flames spread.

I staggered through the little passageway and grabbed Scott by the arm.

“I’m okay, just rattled,” he said.

We pushed together into the space the refugees occupied and helped them to their feet. Edward had slid back out of the turret just before we struck and had managed to wedge himself against the opening and the floor. He staggered backward and triggered the lift’s release. At least that worked because the door opened and dropped to the ground to create our exit ramp.

The undead were all around us. A pair shrugged away the flames and came at the opening. Something called outside in a keening voice but there were no words to it.

My vision swam but I managed to stay on my feet.

Then we were out in the open. I clamped one hand onto Jon’s shoulder and used him to prevent myself from falling over. Janet, his wife, helped us both down the ramp.

Chris staggered past me and into the open. He’d dug out a handgun and used it to shoot at a zombie. The round took the guy in the chest but the undead shrugged it off even though the blast tore through his back with a spectacular exit wound, judging by the spray of blood.

A half dozen of the aimless zombies closed in on us. I whistled for the others and we made a beeline for the eighteen wheeler. I skirted the edge and we found ourselves staring at open road. Familiar road no less. We were minutes from our goal and if I could keep this group together we might actually make it.

Scott on my left pointed at a break in the tree line. I nodded and waved at our group to follow.

I felt like I was in a daze and touched my forehead. My fingers came away bloody. Further exploration revealed that I’d suffered a laceration just below my hairline. It didn’t feel like it was that bad and a head wound can bleed a lot. Ignoring the pain and throbbing, I led us away from the crash.

That’s when a small horde of them came out of the woods. Among them were several green-eyed ghouls. One of them, in particular, a boy really, moved along on all fours. His hair was a ragged mess that hung in front of his eyes and, in the smoke from the wreck, he looked demonic.

“That dude’s having a bad hair day,” Scott quipped.

“He can join the club,” I muttered.

I drew my big Desert Eagle and lined up a shot but I was seeing two of the things. It leapt off the ground and landed ten feet away on top of the eighteen wheeler’s empty trailer. I fired but it moved with dazzling speed and was gone from sight behind the wreck. The undead came at us en masse. I fired wildly. Probably hit one or two. I was still so dazed I couldn’t be sure.

They swam before my eyes and, when one got too close, me or one of the crew shot them in the head or disabled them with a leg shot. Zombies look like they can take any kind of damage you throw at them but take out a limb and you might buy yourself a few precious seconds.

Then Scott took one down. We wove away from the wreckage and into the low rise of woods.

An undead came at me. A big guy built like a pro wrestler but missing large pieces of his left thigh. His tan pants were covered in blood and left the wounds open to our eyes. I nearly gagged when I noticed the mass of maggots that clung to his lower half

I staggered right barely avoiding the big zombies hand, batting at it wildly. He fell as he reached for me again and landed on his face. Body flat, I had the chance to get away. This confused gang of the dead were a sorry lot, even for zombies. They were so aimless, they walked away from me once I was out of sight.

I crouched for a while behind a big bole and caught my breath. I was so sore it was an effort just to stand back up after the ordeal of the past few days. With dogged persistence, I got my feet under me and made for the road once again.

Scott crouched next to me and took in a few deep breaths. The others gathered around.

Where was that goddamn ghoul?

“You okay,
hombre
?”

“Yeah, man. Just need to rest. Guess there’s no time right now.”

“No rest for the wicked.”

Jon dropped next to us but kept his gun trained toward the rear. His wife, Janet, kept watch as well. She had a Glock in one hand and a hatchet in the other. Her red hair didn’t do much to hide the blood that had splattered her. Janet had split an undead’s head like a melon a few minutes ago. Our group had somehow shrunk because I didn’t see a few faces. Some must have fled into the woods.

Chris, with his evasive eyes, watched me as he also kept an eye on the advancing dead.

“I see two choices,” I told the crew. “We can try to fade back into the woods and circle around this mess, but we’d have to stay close and quiet. Problem is we don’t know what’s waiting for us once we hit the open road again.”

“I say we risk the woods,” Scott said.

“Yep.” Jon echoed.

Janet and Chris nodded assent so that was the path we chose. Edward looked pensive, but whatever he was going to say was washed away by peer pressure so he just nodded.

“Scott, lead the way. I’m still a little woozy,” I said.

“Sure thing, boss.” Scott led us out.

We moved as quickly as we could but we were all covered in bumps and bruises. My head was starting to clear but it also throbbed to each beat of my heart, and that was unfortunate because it was beating quickly.

Scott took us diagonal to the road as things beat at the branches behind and to our side. Something snuffled in the woods ahead and I hoped it was an animal but knew it wasn’t.

Then we were clear and back on the road where it bisected the old highway. I couldn’t remember its name to save my life but I knew that, if we followed it a few more blocks, we’d find the location of the overrun caravan, and then I could finally start looking for Katherine.

The ghoul was having none of that.

He shot out of the woods and went for Janet. She was hanging to the perimeter of our group and the green-eyed jerk snatched her arm and pulled her away from us. Jon went in pursuit without a thought. He was with us one minute and away the next. Scott broke after them and I was left with Chris and a twelve year old kid. I didn’t even know his name. He just looked scared to damn death and I didn’t blame him.

“Keep the kid close and follow me,” I said to Chris.

“Whatever.” Chris made no move to follow.

I got in his face.

“You and me got a problem. There was no way I could have known your father was in that camp. Even if he had gotten away, would you really want him around? He was one of
them
,” I said.

“Fuck you and your problem. They might have found a cure. God works in mysterious ways, so just go and get yourself killed,” Chris said.

The kid next to him started crying and I couldn’t blame him. Not one bit. Chris was being an idiot.

“Fine. He goes with me,” I said and extended my hand.

Chris’s own hand came up and he had a gun in it. One that was pointed at my face.

“You killed him,” he said.

“Who the hell did I kill?” I said.

“My dad. He was one of them, but he was still my dad. He said he was going to let me live with him,” Chris whined.

Gunshots sounded to my right. The urge to dash into the woods after my friends, was strong. But I’d probably catch a bullet in my back.

“Listen, Chris, I didn’t know he was your dad. I don’t even know which one he was! I had a duty to close down that miserable camp once and for all. The ghouls don’t want to reason with us. They want us to join them or die,” I pleaded.

The kid crept away from Chris and me. A hand reached out of the woods for him and got a hold of his shirt collar.

Chris spun to aim at the undead but I moved faster. I slammed my right hand against the gun, looped my fingers over the barrel, and twisted hard towards Chris’s chest. Then I yanked and took the gun away from him. I inspected the piece, a Colt .40, and found that a round hadn’t even been chambered. Then I drew the gun back and smashed it into Chris’s face.

He stumbled in shock and hit the ground hard. I jacked a round into the chamber and pulled the kid back to me. As the zombie came into view I shot it in the face. She was an ugly bitch with her black hair covered in little branches and pine needles. Blood covered her from mouth to stomach.

A tiny hole appeared in her forehead and she was then blown off her feet.

“Chris. Follow or stay here and die. I don’t fucking care. Make up your own mind.” I leaned over and looked him in the eye. “You pull a gun on me again and I’ll kill you.”

I took the kid’s hand in mine and together we fled after our friends.

Scott had come to a stop and crouched down behind a wrecked SUV to fire at a trio of the dead who had sights on them. Janet was back among them and Jon looked no worse for wear. The ghoul had apparently fallen victim to a bullet or fled.

I pounded across the hard ground until I joined them and gave the care of the kid over to the group.

“We were just about to come back for you,” Scott said. “Where’s Chris?”

“He might join us. Might not. He put a gun in my face and I put him down.” I growled.

“Okay, boss. You know I got your six,” Scott said.

Jon and Janet exchanged glances.

“Where’d the ghoul go?” I asked.

“Jon knocked his hand loose and I kicked him as hard as I could. We shot at him but he hightailed it,” Janet said.

She pushed her hair back up her forehead. She’d been rattled. I could tell by the way her hand shook uncontrollably.

“Good job,” I said.

The trio of zombies arrived and we made short work of them. I put a round in one’s forehead while Jon and Scott beat the other two to the ground and smashed in their heads. Scott’s knife got stuck so we left it.

We faded around a few more abandoned cars. I wanted to try a few but was sure that even if we found one that still had a working battery, the gas would have gone bad a few months ago. No sense in piling into a car just so we can get fifty feet before it backfired loud enough to bring another horde our way. Plus it would most likely stall and leave us high and dry.

Then the dead began to pour out of the tree line. Not just a few, but dozens. There was no way we stood a chance against so many so we did the only thing we could. We ran.

I glanced over my shoulder but Chris was nowhere to be seen. I tried to feel pity but couldn’t muster up anything more than a sigh.

We ran into the shit a few minutes later.

Scott picked a path that skirted a pair of burned out duplexes. They’d been built recently but now they were just skeletons of the buildings they used to be. Through a collapsed wall I spotted a couch with two charred corpses. The only thing that was still mostly intact was a glass framed picture of some abstract art. Some of the artwork had been scorched by the flames but the center was still in colorful and alive, unlike everything else in the home.

Out of the ruins flowed a stream of undead. They came from behind the house and through a back door. Ten, then twenty. Soon I lost count. We had no choice but to keep running.

We pounded over the pavement, and that’s when the ghoul made a reappearance.

The bastard leapt from behind an overturned ice cream truck and landed just to my left. I aimed and squeezed off a shot but he was already on me. The others in the group closed in to help but the distraction allowed a number of zombies to take us on our right flank.

Edward screamed in pain as one of the zombies got him. The dead guy fell on him and took him to the ground. Edward fought but it wasn’t enough to stop the oozing sack of flesh from taking out part of the back of Edward’s neck. I yelled for him but there wasn’t any way to save the member of our crew.

I had problems of my own.

The ghoul was rancid and reeked of dead fish. I punched at his face but there wasn’t a lot behind the blow. My hand and wrist ached from the pounding I’d given that fucker Lee a few days ago and, in my weakened state, I wasn’t being smart and locking my wrist straight. It’s a wonder I hadn’t broken it before now.

The ghoul’s breath was horrid. He got a hand around my neck and pulled me in. His lips peeled back to reveal bloodstained teeth that were jagged, gums covered in green rot.

I swung the big desert eagle around and smashed it into his cheek. That got his attention and broke his grip.

“We…come for you,” it said in a voice that was flat and sounded like a hissing water hose leak.

“Fuck you,” I said back and lined up the gun to blow his brains all over the ground.

He moved swiftly, got a knee under me and, with surprising strength, sent me flying. I tried to regain my balance and land on both feet but I was already on the way to an impact between my ass and hard pavement. I felt it all the way along my spine. My teeth
clicked
together and I was lucky I didn’t bite through my tongue.

I fired wildly, the gun bucking in my hand, but I didn’t hit him.

He was back on his feet and stalking toward me. I aimed but he batted the gun aside.

Another zombie came out of the woodwork and fell on me.

From the corner of my eye I caught sight of Scott fending off two of the undead while Jon and Janet fought alongside him. The kid, didn’t know his name, huddled next to a car, and then slid underneath it. His dark eyes found mine and there were tears there.

I managed to kick the undead off me but the ghoul was still in my face. He got his knee between my legs and nearly ended the fight early. It was only my quick reflexes that threw him to the side again.