The Dark Trilogy (5 page)

As he scanned the mess, Jeff realized he wasn’t just looking at some simple twenty-car pileup. Cars in accidents didn’t line up perfectly with one another. Someone had parked them there to barricade the entrance.

“
Great … just fucking great,” was all he could say as he scratched his scalp in consternation. It didn’t take much to guess that the other entrance, on the far side of the vast, sprawling neighborhood, was probably in similar shape.

Leaning back, Jeff felt like bellowing in rage. He had a full tank of gas and nowhere to go. Somebody had decided to quarantine his neighborhood while he had hidden inside his house over the past several weeks. As he sat and fumed, he wondered whether it had been done by someone trying to keep the infected out … or in.

Listening as the crowd got closer, he reflected on his situation. His family was dead, and his house was a pile of ashes. He had barely made a dent in the rabid population with his little fireworks display, and all he had to defend himself was a baseball bat and a pistol about as impressive as a water gun. To top it all off, there was a huge entourage of rotting bodies following him, ready to tear him limb from limb the moment he stepped back outside the van.

Jeff’s eyes narrowed as he latched on to an idea. Slowly, he leaned forward in the driver’s seat and looked outside. His eyes darted from the rearview to the side-view mirror. As he watched the arduously slow crowd continue to draw closer, he shook his head and laughed.

“
Holy shit, I
am
the Pied Piper!” he exclaimed, grabbing the steering wheel and hitting the gas. Turning, he headed back inside the subdivision.

After more than a minute of slow driving and watching more and more of the foul-smelling maniacs fall in behind, Jeff allowed a smile to claim his face, and there was a gleam in his eyes.

“
You’ve totally lost your mind, Mr. Blaine.”

The words were filled with self-doubt but also an undertone of awe. He couldn’t believe what he was doing, but he felt a rush from the freedom his actions were giving him. He had been a prisoner for so long it felt great to do something so completely irrational. He took a deep breath, and the air felt clean and crisp in his lungs.

A few minutes later, after several u-turns, Jeff had rounded up a crowd rivaling the one that had entered his house. He gunned the engine and watched as the loose group of bodies grew smaller in the rearview mirror.

Moments later, he hit the end of one of the streets in his neighborhood. He was at the bottom of a hill, and the crowd following was at the top. He could not see them anymore, but he knew they were still coming. The idle of the engine kept the sound of their screams and moans at bay for the moment.

Jeff turned off the ignition. He pushed his door open, he grabbed the keys out of force of habit. Stepping onto the asphalt, he looked up the hill, then ducked back into the van to grab his baseball bat.

The houses surrounding the intersection were no different than the ones on his street, with plenty of shattered windows and smashed doors. There were no infected nearby, but there was plenty of evidence of their handiwork. A few corpses, half-eaten, littered both the yards and the street. Bat firmly in hand, Jeff climbed to the top of the van.

He was almost hypnotized by the distant noises of the crowd. When they were this far off, it wasn’t such a fearful thing, just the distant rumble of thunder lazily threatening to roll in.

As he waited for the crowd to appear, he barely noticed the sound of a garage door opening behind him. At the same instant, the first of the infected crested the hill.

Chapter 6

Jeff tensed and swung around when he heard the faint noise, fearing he had missed one of the ghouls in his cursory search.

“
Hello?”

A woman stood underneath a raised garage door, staring at him. Jeff blinked rapidly, trying to comprehend the fact that she had just spoken. The infected didn’t speak.

He reached up to shield his eyes from the sun, thinking that she might very well be a mirage. When she waved feebly at him, he blinked several more times, not quite able to come to grips with the fact that she seemed very real.

“
Hello?” she repeated. The voice was timid but louder now. It was raspy, as if it had not been used in a long time.

Jeff jumped down from the van and moved toward the woman. The shock of hearing someone else speak had already passed. The words were barely audible, but the voice stood out like a pure note of music in a world filled with static. She looked tiny from a distance, but he suspected his perception wouldn’t change much as he got closer. She was emaciated, the bones in her face and arms prominent.

As he drew nearer, she took a few tentative steps back until he slowed, shaking his head and raising his hand in what he hoped looked like a peaceful gesture. It must have worked, because she stopped retreating, a curious look on her face.

He picked up speed again, hoping she understood the need for urgency as he took a quick glance at the hill. When he looked back toward her, he saw that she had not fled deeper into the garage, which gave him a boost of confidence. As he came within a few feet, he gave her a closer look.

Perhaps she had been attractive once, but she now looked barely better than the creatures crawling down the hill behind them. Her hair had probably been cut in a bob, but it was hard to tell, since the dark locks were matted and stuck out in various directions from her head, like antennae. Her skin was tight on her bones, and her olive coloring had turned the tint of spoiled milk. Her lips were cracked and dried, and her arms and hands had no meat on them. Her clothes hung off her small frame, and Jeff knew he would be able to count each one of her ribs with ease if her torso were visible.

“
They’re coming.”

Her voice took on a sudden firmness. She was looking past him, up the hill, just as he had a moment before. The haunted look in her eyes sent a chill down his spine.

“
I know,” Jeff acknowledged as he too glanced at the encroaching doom. “We have to get out of here.”

He tried to break into a smile, but faltered. “I can’t believe someone else is alive.”

He did his best to make his voice calm and soothing. The woman’s gaze snapped away from the crowd, and she looked him in the eyes. She appeared to be confused, terrified, and unsure what to make of Jeff.

He extended his hand slowly. She looked down at it, examining the dirt that ran in lines along his palm. “My name’s Jeff.” Her eyes darted to his face and then back down to his hand.

“
We have to go. Now.”

As she continued to stare, he added a gentle “please” and thrust his hand at her emphatically. She looked as if she might rather bolt like a deer into the woods than touch it. Shaking her head, she began inching into her garage again.

Impulsively, Jeff dropped the bat and grabbed her by the shoulders. A small yelp passed her lips and her eyes bulged in terror. She made a weak effort to break free as he shook her.

“
Hey! HEY!”

Her head turned toward the garage, and the hairs stood up on Jeff’s arms as he heard her moan. It sounded far too similar to the infected for his taste. He almost let go, fighting revulsion as she fought to break free. Instead, he strengthened his grip. A moment later, when his hand came up quickly and slapped her hard across the cheek, it surprised him almost as much as it did her.

The woman stopped struggling and moved her hand to where he had hit her. Her eyes glinted with full-blown terror as she stared at Jeff.

“
Listen,” he said, his voice surprisingly calm. “We have about a minute until those things get here. I don’t plan on sticking around, and neither should you.”

Jeff gave her a tug, trying to usher her out of the garage. Still stunned, she followed for a couple of feet as if her legs were disconnected from the rest of her, moving of their own volition. He turned her to face the street. She nearly stumbled but kept her feet under her as he stabbed a finger up the hill.

“
See! Here they come!” he practically screamed in her ear. The sharp words appeared to have a stronger effect than the slap did.

The infected had closed much of the distance, making steady progress down the hill. A few had fallen and disappeared beneath the steady churn of feet. There was no concern for the lost ones as the others continued trudging toward the van. They tripped and staggered over torn limbs and dragging entrails. Even at a distance, the two survivors could see the mold and rot gripping the festering forms. Tattered pieces of clothing stuck like patchwork to their bodies, saturated and caked with dirt and fluids not easily identified. On the whole, they were sexless. A few strands of hair floated like a halo on a woman’s head, and a few tattered breasts were on display, but most were too mutilated to make any distinctions. Many had distended bellies filled with bits and pieces of those they had mauled and devoured. It was a twisted parody of pregnancy, and it went even further in making them all look similar.

Jeff wrenched the woman around to face him and forced her to look into his eyes. “Please. Come with me.” The words, spoken precisely and with special effort to hide the unhinged terror he was starting to feel, hung in the air between them. He could see the turmoil on her face as she debated whether or not to trust him. Her nod was so slight that he almost missed it when it finally came.

Relief flooded Jeff’s body at her response. He spared her a brief smile as he leaned down to pick up his bat. Retaining a grip on her hand, he turned back toward the van, dragging her behind him. He continued to fear the approaching horde, but was surprised to discover he was more concerned about having someone to watch over again. Someone who did not trust him and would probably run the first chance she got. The quicker he got her into the van, the better.

The weakened woman fought to retain her balance as they crossed her neighbor’s lawn at the corner of the street. As she glanced around, she could see not only the huge mass of bodies stumbling down the hill, but more infected coming toward them from other directions. She swung her head from side to side, watching for those that might be getting too close and tried to break into a run toward the van as panic set in. Jeff also noticed the newcomers, and he tightened his grip on the bat and on her shoulder simultaneously. There was too great a chance of her falling to the asphalt in her weakened state to let go. They were running out of time.

As they got close to the van, he was forced to release her as he pulled the keys out of his pocket. He punched a button on the key fob and thanked the gods of modern technology for automatic sliding doors. It opened slowly, and the woman practically flew toward it.

Jeff made for the driver’s-side door and was reaching for the handle when something heavy smashed into his back.

Chapter 7

Jeff’s feet got tangled up as he fell to his knees. Ignoring the jarring pain, he used his momentum to slide forward. He felt as though his heart were on the verge of exploding in fear from the sensation of the wet slap of a hand on his shoulder. He slammed into the front quarter panel and did his best to twist away from the assault.

The scream that the woman inside the van let out jarred him worse than his fall. As he went into a tuck and roll, Jeff could hear the grunt of his assailant as it tried to latch onto him again.

He somehow managed to elude the man’s grasp and bounce back to his feet. He backpedaled in an attempt to regain his balance, and when his feet finally gained traction, he found himself in front of the van. The catcalls and moans of the approaching crowd sounded close, but he was more focused on the homicidal madman three feet in front of him.

The rotter’s arms were ready to wrap him in an embrace, while its mouth worked at building up whatever counted as saliva to the infected. It lumbered forward, and Jeff feigned a move, committing to the effort but pulling back at the last instant. The creature overextended as it lunged for him and instead grasped empty air. It nearly toppled, but stutter-stepped and kept its balance. Jeff had managed to retain his grip on the baseball bat during his tumble, and he took a backhanded swing at the ghoul. It crashed heavily to the ground with a muffled thud after the bat connected with the top of its skull. Jeff knew the blow had only grazed it and did not hesitate. He adjusted his stance and brought the bat down again. Festering gray matter burst from its skull.

Looking up, Jeff could see that the crowd was only a few seconds away. He had no idea how he had missed the old man sneaking up on him but wiped the puzzled thought from his mind. He rushed around the minivan, dove into the driver’s seat and slammed the door shut. He reached an empty hand toward the ignition and felt his entire body go cold with fear. The keys.

His mind raced, and he realized that they had been in his hand when he was attacked. He had kept hold of the bat but dropped the keys.

“
Fuck!” Jeff screamed in a panic as he turned to leave the van only to spot three of the infected a few steps away. There was no place to go. The van was surrounded.

“
You dropped these.”

Jeff jumped at the timid voice. He spun his head, having forgotten about his passenger and thinking one of those lunatics had gotten inside the van.