Ashton Memorial (21 page)

Ray screeched and jabbed at her again. The
fence shook and Ray bled.

Ella turned and walked away as fast as she
could.

* * *

Angie held her arms out to her sides as they
reached the sidewalk in front of the zoo. Park and the kids stopped
behind her. Angie looked from side to side, straining to see
anything other than dark outlines and rain. To hear anything other
than wind.

“Clear?” said Park behind
her.

“Shit, I don't know,” said
Angie, straining to see in the dark. The few lights that were on
along the sidewalk only served to make the surrounding darkness
worse. In between the few scattered lights were pools of darkness
in which she could make out nothing. “I guess. I hope. Let's
go.”

They trotted, almost
running, to the front entrance.
Ashton
Memorial Zoo
could be made out on the
glass doors. Behind them, all was dark. Rain ran down the
glass.

Angie stepped up to the doors, hoping they
would slide open like normal. She wasn't surprised when they
didn't.

“Well, no shock there, I
guess,” said Park. He stepped up to the door and felt around the
surface.

“What are you doing?” said
Angie, looking around. Were those groans in the distance? Wind? The
kids drew closer to her.

“Looking for some kind of
handle or some shit,” said Park, patting his hand along the glass.
“Some way to open it by hand.”

Angie stepped to the side of the door,
looking for a button, a panel. Anything.

“How do people get in?”
said Maylee, behind her.

“I don't know,” said Angie.
“We've never tried to get in when they're locked
before.”

“Look!” said Dalton,
pointing past Angie. He said it at full volume, loud enough for
anyone to hear. For anything to hear.

“Dalton, shh!” said Angie,
trying to keep her voice down. She looked where he was pointing.
Far beyond the glass, in the darkness of the zoo, she saw
something. A figure moved from side to side. It didn't walk like a
corpse. It looked like a young girl, maybe Maylee's age.

“Someone's in there!” said
Maylee.

“I see them,” said Park. He
slammed his palm on the glass. “Hey! Hey!”

“Park!” said Angie, looking
around for corpses. “Those things might hear.”

“That person might shitting
hear!” said Park, pounding on the glass. “Hey! You in
there!”

“Dammit,” said Angie under
her breath. She slapped the glass, softly at first but then harder.
“Hey! Let us in!”

Maylee and Dalton joined in, banging the
glass and shouting. The glass shook under the force. Their pounding
echoed through the lot. Angie thought she heard moaning. Was it
from the parking lot? Closer? Her imagination? She couldn't
tell.

Angie strained to see the figure inside. It
made no sign it saw or heard. It kept walking, disappearing from
sight. Rain ran down the glass, obscuring her view.

“Hey!” yelled
Park.

“Dammit!” said Angie,
slapping the glass so hard her palm stung.

Groans came from their right, loud and
close. Three corpses stumbled from the darkness. The closest one, a
skinny man with no hair and a large open sore on his face, groaned
and reached for Maylee.

“Shit!” screamed Maylee,
jumping back. Park punched the corpse in the side of the head. It
jerked and fell away, collapsing in front of the other two corpses
They tripped and fell, slamming into the pavement. Maylee gripped
her bat and held it ready. Dalton clung to Angie.

More groans came from behind the fallen
corpses. Lots of groans. Lots of corpses shambling toward them in
the dark.

“We gotta go,” said Angie,
pulling Maylee back.

“Come on,” said Park.
“There's more doors along the side. Gates and shit.”

They ran, as quickly as they dared in the
dark. The corpses behind them groaned and hissed. The sidewalk led
out of the parking lot and around the zoo. They ran along a dark
side street. Angie strained to hear past the sound of their own
pounding feet. Were there more groans up ahead? Angie felt colder
than the rain would account for. The whole zoo could be surrounded
by those things and it was too dark to tell.

“There!” said Maylee,
pointing off to the right. Trusting that her daughter's eyes were
better in the dark than hers, Angie turned. A second, smaller glass
doorway emerged from the dark. They all stopped,
panting.

This door had a handle. Angie reached out
and grabbed it. A corpse grabbed her arm and leaned in. It had come
from her left, the way they had been running moments before. If
they'd kept running....

“Fuck me!” yelled Angie,
wrenching her arm away and stepping back. The corpse, a biker with
a large crack down the front of his helmet and a torn bloody
leather jacket, stumbled forward. He groaned, muffled by the
helmet, and reached for her.

Maylee stepped forward with the bat. Angie
held her back. She hiked up one foot and kicked the corpse
backward. He stumbled back into the door, his helmet slamming
against the glass. The impact echoed around in the dark.

The corpse righted itself and came for them
again.

“Shit,” said Park, stepping
toward it. “He's just gonna keep coming.” Park reached out and
pulled off the cracked helmet. The corpse had long reddish-gray
braids and a pale face with a long split running down the center of
it. Dried blood coated his mouth and nose. He hissed at
Park.

“That looks nasty, pal,”
said Park, flipping the helmet to grip it by the front. “Let me
help you with that.”

Park slammed the back of the helmet into the
corpse’s head. It fell back against the door again. The impact
echoed. Angie heard groans coming from somewhere.

Park brought the helmet up
and smashed it down on the corpse's skull. Something went “pop” and
the corpse fell to the ground, still. Park snorted and dropped the
helmet to the sidewalk.

Groans came from very
close. Angie whipped her head around, peering into the dark. “Shit.
We don't have much time.” She stepped over to the glass door and
strained to make out what was beyond it. She failed.

“Damn,” she said. She
pounded on the glass. “Hey! Anyone! Let us in!”

Park and the kids joined in, slamming on the
glass and shouting.

The groans became louder. Angie realized
they were coming from the street behind them. She turned and saw
several outlines emerging from the dark. Then more. Then more.

“Hey!” yelled Park behind
her, pounding on the glass.

“No time!” yelled Angie,
turning back to them. “Next one!”

“Well shit!” yelled
Maylee.

“Language, Maylee!” yelled
Mom, pulling her and Dalton away from the door.

They ran down the sidewalk, into the dark
and rain. Moans came from their left and backs. How long, Angie
wondered, until they came from the front? What if she had trapped
her kids in the dark with these things?

The next street sloped downhill. Angie
didn't dare slow down. She could hear Park and the kids keeping
pace behind her. Moans came from all around. They had to find a
door. A door that would open.

A large shape loomed in front of her. Fear
shot up her back and she stopped abruptly, so fast she almost
toppled forward.

“Shit!” yelled Park. She
could hear him and the kids struggling to stop behind
her.

The shape resolved into a long flatbed
truck, parked longways and blocking the street and sidewalk. Large
metal barrels lined the back of the truck.

“Dammit!” yelled Angie. She
looked around, panic creeping in. How far were they from the car?
Where the hell was the parking lot now anyway? Rain fell from the
dark and pelted her face. Groaning came from all around.

“Under!” said Park.
“Hurry!”

Angie looked down. Park was
right. The truck was high enough off the street that they could
easily climb under. “Come on!” she said, pulling Maylee and Dalton
into the street. She grabbed them by the shoulders and kneeled,
pushing them down with her.

She crawled forward, under the truck. Maylee
and Dalton were right behind her. She made it about a quarter of
the way under when a human shape lunged at her from under the
truck. No, not a human, Angie realized. Something that was once
human.

“Fuck!” yelled Angie,
jerking her head back so quickly she slammed it into the underside
of the truck. Pain shot down her neck and spine. The shape lunged
at her, grunting.

“Back!” Angie screamed,
crawling backward as quickly as she could. She felt dizzy. She
heard Maylee and Dalton scrambling backward behind her. She heard
the shape crawling toward her, gurgling and snarling.

“What the hell?” said Park
as Angie scrambled back out onto the street and stood. Maylee and
Dalton were standing next to her. Maylee grabbed Dalton and pulled
him back away from the truck.

“That the hell,” said
Angie, pointing as the shape emerged from under the truck. It was a
young woman with large bloody holes in her arms. Her knees had been
reduced to pulp. Somehow, the woman managed to stand. She hissed
and lunged at Park.

“Sorry lady,” said Park,
punching the woman in the head. She fell backward, stumbling and
waving her ruined arms. Angie shoved her from the side and she fell
over, clawing across the wet pavement. She almost immediately
started climbing to her feet.

“Dammit,” said Maylee,
breaking away from the group.

“Maylee!” said
Mom.

“I got this!” said Maylee.
She rushed over to the corpse just as it finished standing. Maylee
swung her bat in a wide arc, connecting with the front of the
corpse's skull. The side of its head caved in and it went
down.

Maylee grinned back at
them. “One hit.”

“Get back here!” said
Angie. “You can be proud of yourself later.”

Maylee frowned and trotted back over.

“Clear now to go under?”
said Park.

“Fuck that,” said Angie.
“Over.”

“Over it is.”

Park stepped to the back of the truck. He
put his palms flat on the bed and pushed himself up until he could
climb onto it. He turned and motioned for the others to follow.

Dalton limped over and lifted up his arms.
Park took hold. Angie came up behind, painfully conscious of the
approaching moans behind them. She took hold of Dalton's waist and
hoisted him up. Park pulled him up the rest of the way. Dalton
limped to stand next to Park, working his way in between two of the
large metal barrels.

Angie looked to Maylee on
her right. “You're next. Hurry.” Groans came close. Angie imagined
she could hear the wet scrape of dead limbs on pavement.

Maylee stepped over and set her bat on the
truck bed. Park and Angie closed in to help her, but she shook her
head. She pushed herself up, picked up the bat and stepped over to
squeeze in between two barrels. Angie was surprised at her
daughter's strength.

Satisfied her kids were safely on the truck,
Angie moved to climb up, her heart pounding in her ears.

“Mom!” yelled Maylee from
the truck.

Angie stopped midstep. Groans and the sounds
of shuffling feet came from behind her. She spun just in time to
see an old man with a scarred face and yellow pus-filled eyes
emerge from the dark.

“Great,” said Angie. She
stepped forward and shoved the corpse. He stumbled backward. She
turned and started climbing onto the truck. Park and Maylee knelt
down to help her. She heard the old man gurgle behind her. His
hands closed on her legs.

Angie kicked her legs, shaking the man free.
She spun, putting her back to the truck. The old man recovered from
her kick and came at her again.

“Goddammit, old man,” said
Angie. “I don't have time for this shit!” She watched the corpse
warily, wondering how hard she'd have to shove him to gain time to
climb up. She heard more groaning in the darkness behind the
corpse.

“I got an idea!” said Park
from above her. “Get his back to the truck.”

“What?”

“Just do it!”

Angie sighed. The old man lunged at her and
she darted to one side. The old man slammed into the truck. Angie
stepped behind him. Rain pelted the street around her. The old man
turned and gurgled at her.

Angie looked up to the truck. Park had his
back to one barrel and his foot propped up against another. Angie
realized what he had in mind and jumped back a few more steps.

“Shit!” she yelled. “You
crazy fucker!”

Park grunted and used his leg to push the
barrel over. It toppled off the truck, slamming the corpse into the
pavement. Dark gore shot out from each side of the barrel. Bits of
broken pavement scattered across Angie's feet.

Angie glared up at Park.
“Again, crazy.”

“Just hurry, Mom!” yelled
Maylee, kneeling and holding out her hand.

Angie ran to the truck. Maylee and Park
helped her up. The downward slant of the truck on the hill almost
threw her off balance as she stood.

“Whoa,” said Park, catching
her. “Steep here.”

Angie nodded and righted herself. She turned
to look back the way they had come. The groans grew louder. More
corpses emerged, approaching the fallen barrel and crushed corpse.
Soon, they would reach the truck.