Deadlocked 2 (7 page)

"Go fuck yourself."

"Another shot then?" I aimed the gun at his bloody leg.

"No. No, stop. I'll stay here."

The bell above the front door chimed. We had company.

CHAPTER NINE - CLOSE YOUR EYES

The zombie sniffed the air as it came through the door. It was a tall, lanky man in a business suit with a receding hairline and beady eyes that darted around until he saw us. It roared and rushed forward.

I aimed and tried to shoot the creature in the head, but the bullet missed and blew through the window instead. I shot again, but missed, and then it leapt over the counter and on top of me. Its left arm caught my shirt and he pulled me down with him into the mess of blood and bottles at my feet. The creature landed beside Dave and reached out to grab him with its right arm while keeping a grip on me with its left.

"Shoot it," said Dave as he tried to crawl away.

I placed the barrel of the gun against the zombie's head and pulled the trigger. Rancid brain matter splattered across David's face and the creature fell silent. I took several deep breaths as my heart thundered in my chest.

There was a clamor of feet outside, not far from us. It sounded like a crowd of people running our way.

"They're coming for us," said David.

I pulled a painkiller out of my pocket and chewed it as I pushed myself off the floor. I couldn't afford to let any of the pain that should've incapacitated me take hold. My arms wobbled beneath me, they were sapped of strength, but I had to push on. I had to win this.

"Stay down," said David as the sound of the approaching horde got louder. "You can't outrun them. Let's just hope they pass." He gave his whisper as much intensity as possible. "You can't beat them."

There was a car parked on the street outside of the pharmacy that I could see through the shop window. It was a Toyota Corolla, similar to the one I had at home, and a plan took shape in my drug-ravaged head. I grabbed a pen off the counter and put it in my pocket along with the rest of the needles I'd stolen. Then I staggered through the store to the front door. My left foot dragged behind me and the swelling over the left side of my face from David's punch started to force my eye shut. Every one of my senses was stunted by the overdose of painkillers and the extreme loss of blood. The possibility of saving my children was miserable at best, but I was far too deep into this misery to care about odds.

"You're going to get yourself killed," said David.

"Yep."

The door chime rang over my head as I walked out onto the sidewalk. The horde of zombies had massed up the hill and turned their attention to me as I staggered out of the building, but they ignored me. I was indistinguishable from a zombie to them as I limped to the car.

I thought about walking back down to the dock, but no amount of determination could help me live long enough to make it. If I didn't lose consciousness from blood loss, the painkillers would certainly claim me soon.

"Please God, let the door be unlocked." I tried the handle of the passenger side. It was locked. I looked through the window and saw that the driver's side was locked as well.

A few members of the horde stared at me with renewed interest. They were less than ten yards away, and I knew they would be upon me in seconds as soon as they realized I wasn't already dead. I pressed the left side of my body against the car and put my hand on the glass. Then I raised the gun and set the tip against the window beside my left hand.

"I'm coming, girls."

I shot the window and the glass burst into a flower of cracks. It didn't shatter, but instead just left a hole surrounded by splintering shards. I forced my left arm through the hole and searched for the lock below.

The horde bellowed and headed my way. Their cries echoed through the dead city as I desperately tried to get the door open. When I found the lock I screamed out in relief, but the first mob was already at my back.

I flailed at them and took a few wild shots as I opened the door and leapt inside. One of them grabbed my foot. I spun around and took a shot that found its mark just above the creature's nose. Its head jerked back and he fell lifeless to the pavement as I pulled the door shut. The horde swarmed over the Toyota and pounded on the window. They crashed against the rear window as they crawled over the car.

I pulled out the pen I'd taken from the pharmacy and my hands shook as I took the cap off and searched for the shift release. This was a newer model of Corolla than mine, but I was relieved to find the same release key beside the shifter. I learned this trick from a tow truck driver that helped us out of a parking lot after I lost my keys a few years back. I jammed the pen into the small slit on the plastic cap and pulled it free. Then I used the pen to move the tiny lever beneath to release the shifter so I could put the car into neutral.

The Toyota lurched forward as the creatures pounded against the back. I dragged myself into the driver's seat as the car started to roll downhill and I put my left foot on the break as I did my best to steer. The zombies chased me for as long as they could, but soon the horde faded in my rearview. I started to laugh hysterically as I pulled off my escape.

I raced down hill and back into the salvage yard. I hit the brakes slowly to keep from skidding the tires and approached the dead end as quiet as I could. I didn't want Ron to hear me coming.

I parked the car and slid out of the seat. I didn’t close the door and used the side of the car for support as I timidly walked around it. The door to the dock house was open and there were splintered pieces of wood on the ground around it. It looked like Ron had shot or kicked his way in.

"Get down from there," said Ron as I staggered through the door. He faced away from me and looked into the rafters at Kim, who sat above, just out of reach. She kicked at his hands as he reached for her. Then she saw me.

I pressed my finger to my lips to keep her quiet. I raised the pistol and aimed for the back of the fake cop's head.

"I'll shoot you if I have to," said Ron as he raised his shotgun.

I pulled the trigger.

It clicked uselessly.

Horror gripped me as I tried again with the same result. The gun was out of bullets.

"What the fuck?" asked Ron as he turned. "Holy mother of God." He staggered back at the sight of me. "Where's Dave?"

"Probably dead by now."

"I've gotta hand it to ya," he said and shook his head in admiration. "You're one tough bitch."

"Put down the gun and come find out just how tough I am."

He started to laugh. "Honey, you're a stubbed toe away from falling down dead. Do you have any idea what you look like? I can't believe you're still standing."

"Then come and try to knock me down."

He thought about it and then raised his shotgun. "Nah, I think I'll just shoot you and get it over with. Then I'll tie your kids up and let them eat each other like I promised. How's that sound?"

My taunts failed and he raised the shotgun until I could see straight down the double barrels. I was too far away to grab the gun before he could shoot, but my daughter was about to save me.

Kim screamed out as she jumped down from the rafter and collided with Ron's head. He reeled back and took a shot, but the blast missed me and struck the ceiling. Kim fell to the floor with a loud thud and I lunged forward to grab Ron's arm. My assault knocked him off balance and he stepped onto Kim's back. She cried out in agony as the big man tripped over her braced back and fell to the ground. I fell with him as I kept a tight grip on his arm.

"Get the fuck off me." He kicked and punched me. I bit into his arm and clawed at his face as we rolled around on the ground. I tried to dig my thumbs into his eyes. During this, Kim scurried away to the workbench where she frantically searched for a weapon.

"What the fuck is wrong with you? Jesus Christ." He continued to punch me and pull away, but I was relentless. He would've been the second person I ate to death today if he didn't fight back so hard.

We rolled over again and his back was on the floor as he tried to push me away. Then a fishing knife slid over his throat. He froze and looked up at my daughter as she pressed the razor sharp blade against his skin.

"Drop the gun," she said as the blade started to cut into him.

"Okay, fine." His gun hit the floor. I grabbed it and pressed the barrel against his crotch to help leverage me as I stood up. He groaned in pain as I crushed his balls, but he stayed put beneath Kim's knife.

I stood over him and cocked the shotgun. "Looks like you fucked with the wrong girls, Ronnie-boy."

"Fine, fine," he said. "Let's just be calm here. Think about this. I can help you save yourself. I've got the cure. Remember?"

"Give it to me," I said. "Give me the vial."

"Let me live. Let me leave and I'll give it to you."

Kim came to stand beside me and I laughed at him as he squirmed below us. "We're not bargaining, Ron. Give me the vial or I'll blow your nuts off."

He pulled the vial out of his pocket and tossed it at us. It rolled around the floor behind me, but I stood steady with the gun aimed at him as Kim scurried to collect the medicine.

He motioned at the vial as if hoping I would turn away to run after it, but I kept the gun aimed at him. "There," he said. "You got what you wanted. Now just let me walk out of here and we'll call it a day. You win."

"You don't actually think you're going to live through this, do you?" I asked.

He started to stammer. "Come on, Laura, be serious. You're not going to kill me. You're no killer. That's not what you want."

"I'm jacked up on pain killers, I chewed the head off a zombie, and I just started my period. Seems like the perfect time to kill a mother fucker."

He squirmed away and leaned against the wall. There was no escape. I'd watched him threaten to kill my children, and my intent burned through my one good eye. There was nothing left of the humble, kind, timid woman that I'd been that morning. I'd become something else entirely. I hadn't turned into a zombie, but I was a monster none-the-less.

"You wouldn't kill me. Not with your daughter watching." He started to stand up and clenched his hands into fists.

"Kim," I said as I aimed the shotgun at his head. "Close your eyes."

TO BE CONTINUED

AUTHOR'S NOTE

After finishing the first part of Deadlocked, I knew that I wanted to move on to Laura as my main character for part two. My first inclination was to tell her story starting from the very beginning of the same day. I planned to send her and the girls onto the roof of their house when the neighbors attacked. After that, I was going to tell the story of the first part from Laura's viewpoint and explore her feelings as David sacrificed himself on the dock. Then my plan changed completely.

While it would've been an interesting exercise in writing to delve into Laura's head through those events, I felt like you, the reader, deserved an entirely new story with a conclusion you couldn't predict. I hope I achieved that goal.

The first Deadlocked was the story of David's struggle to protect his family. I wrote that novella as if David was preparing to die from the cancer he just discovered was inside him. His goal was to make sure his family was protected after he died, just like a terminal patient might help their family prepare financially, and emotionally, for his death. That was the central theme of the first part of the series.

In this part, I tried to delve into the mind of the survivor. Laura represents the emotionally wrecked widow following the untimely death of her spouse. Her struggle here is largely one of stepping into the male's position of protector within her family structure. Now, not only did she need to nurture her daughters, but she would have to protect them as well.

Laura's arc in this story was of a woman turning from a timid, gentle figure into a beastly warrior bent upon the protection of her family. She flirts with the idea of allowing another male into her circle, and Billy represents that foreign influence, but she ultimately must do everything on her own. Where the story diverges from an analogy to losing one's spouse is when Laura is forced to sink to a level of depravity that no one could have predicted.

There are several parts of the story that I would like to point out. First is the description of the zombie girl that attacked David on the dock.

Blood cascaded out of her mouth and splashed against the dock as she moved toward me. Her face was beaten, her body sliced, and there was nothing left of the woman she once was except the vague phantom of beauty now shrouded by horror. She would consume me.

Not only does this describe the scene on the dock, but it is also a description of Laura from the viewpoint of Ron at the end of the story. I tried to use that creature as foreshadowing for what I was going to do to Laura. Admittedly, I also tried to fool you into thinking I was going to kill her off several times as well. Sorry about that.

Second, the end of
Chapter 4 - Washed The Spider Out
still creeps me out. I feel like that chapter came together well. If you paid attention to the title, and then got to the scene of them singing the Itsy Bitsy Spider song in the boat as the bodies crashed down around them, the chapter title's significance seems obvious. However, when Laura realizes that Annie had been washed out into the bay, it hits home. I still get chills thinking about the last line of that chapter.

Third, Laura's leap into Hailey's Bay to save Annie was a direct tie in to David's Leap from the bridge in the first story. The sight of people jumping off of the bridge into the water is meant to remind the reader of David's leap and then we are sent into Laura's traumatic event. The parallel scenes even involve something from under the water grabbing at their feet and them pulling their clothes off to escape drowning. I wanted this scene to signal a similar change in the characters in both stories. At this point, midway through the story, the character is forced to deal with a terrifying ordeal to make it to their family. Before this, they both harbored uncertainties about what they would do to accomplish their goals, but afterward they are steeled beyond anything they thought possible.

Fourth, Laura's cannibalism of the zombie on the street outside of the pharmacy was one of the most heart wrenching things I've ever written. My original plan was for the two fake cops, Ron and Dave, to show up and rescue her from the creature before then turning on her and revealing their evil nature. Then, just as I was about to write the scene, I realized I couldn't do that. To have her rescued that deep into the story was a cop out (no pun intended). I believe there is nothing worse in a story than a deus ex machina that saves a character. These sorts of wondrous events are forgivable when they occur early in a story, but if they come late (as it would have here) the reader feels cheated, and rightfully so. As Laura lay on the pavement with the creature climbing up her leg to consume her, I had to force her to come up with a way to stay alive.

Then, once she had chewed him apart and thrown his severed head down the street, I sat back and applauded her. It was vicious, disgusting, putrid, and disturbing, but the scene puts the reader into the exact frame of mind that you need to be in to accept the very end of the story. Laura had become something different, something abhorrent, and perhaps even fiendish. Once she commits this act, we understand there is nothing that can stop her from saving her children.

Finally, I truly struggled with the final sentence. I spent an entire day driving around, listening to loud music as I sorted out the details to end this story. I tortured myself over the degradation of Laura's character, and sanity, to bring her to the point of murder. I wanted her to be the good guy, but she didn't belong to me anymore.

I've heard many, many writers express how it is their characters that write themselves, and I've always taken that phrase with a massive grain of salt. I intricately plan out the final scene of my stories so that I can foreshadow them, and the idea of willfully tagging along with a fictional character as they push their way through my narrative seemed a sure fire way to write a bad story. Then Laura took over this story. After what I did to her, on the dock of the bay, under that bridge, in the freezing water, on the street outside of the pharmacy, and behind that counter, I owed it to her to hand the story over.

So, did Laura kill Ron?

You'll have to wait to find out.

What's Next?

Deadlocked 3 will delve into Billy's story. It will pick up as he leaves the Johnston Salvage Yard on the dirt bike to head into the city to find his mother. Part one dealt with a father's desire to provide for his family. Part two was a mother's struggle to protect them. Part three will be about a son's desire to make his parents proud.

There has been an underlying plot throughout the first two stories that has hinted at a cold, military decision to isolate the city, which will be a big focus of part three. Then, a lot will be revealed as to who the fake cops that have plagued all the characters of the stories actually are. This will all lead up to a climactic finale in part 4, where all will be revealed.

Thanks for reading this, and I hope you continue on with the series. You can learn more about Deadlocked and my other works (including the Vampire's Prey series!) at my website, www.arwisebooks.com.