Ashton Memorial (25 page)

Ella ran next to her, occasionally casting
glances behind them.

“Anything?” said
Maylee.

“No,” said Ella, shaking
her head. “I can't even hear them.”

“Well fuck, girls,” said
Park, slowing down behind them. “How about we lay off all the
running shit?” He stopped and stood, leaning forward and
panting.

Maylee stopped and looked back. She half
hoped to see Mom and Dalton behind them. She'd been half-hoping the
whole time. They would appear, explain how they'd gotten around the
corpses and been able to follow. Then the three of them would
hug.

Instead, she saw nothing.

“I told you,” said Ella
from beside her. “No corpse-things.”

Maylee shook her head and
drew her arms up around herself. She felt the cold more intensely
than she had earlier in the night. “That's not what I was looking
for.”

Ella looked at her and bit
her lip. She nodded to herself. “Your mom and brother?”

Maylee looked down and
kicked at the pavement. “Yeah.”

“Don't start that shit,”
said Park, stepping over to Maylee. “I've only known your Mom for a
few days, but it’s pretty clear that she gets through
shit.”

Maylee lifted her head to meet his eyes.

“And,” Park continued,
“we're all headed to the same place. They'll get there. We'll get
there. Okay?”

“Okay.” Maylee drew herself
up and turned the bat around in her hand. “I'm just tired of
running.”

Park snorted. “No fucking
argument there, kid.”

“Hey,” said Ella, stepping
closer to Maylee. Mist collected on her forehead. She wiped it off.
“You said you were talking to my sister.”

Maylee blinked. “Oh yeah.
Shit.” She fished around in her pockets until she found the phone.
She handed it to Ella. “This is yours, I think.”

Ella smiled and took the phone. She started
typing furiously at the keypad, frowning and biting her lip.

Maylee looked to Park. He looked around
scratching at his stubble.

His eyes fell on her. “Any
idea where we are?”

Maylee looked around. “Um.
It's dark and I can't be certain, but I'm pretty sure we're at the
zoo.”

Park stared at her.

Maylee smirked.

Park smirked back.
“Smart-ass.”

“Lori's not answering,”
said Ella, closing the phone and sighing.

A man's voice echoed from
the trees around them. “Hello visitors to the Ashton Memorial
Zoo.”

“The hell?” said Maylee,
whipping her head around.

“That's Stepdad,” said
Ella. “He has speakers all over the place.”

“Please try to remain
calm,” said the man's voice. “We are doing all we can to keep you
safe.”

“The guy who has Lori?”
said Park.

“Yeah,” said Ella, a slight
tremor in her voice. She balled up her fists. She raised her head
and shrieked at the trees. “Give me back my sister!”

Park reached out to touch
her shoulder. “Shh!”

Ella pulled away, glaring at him.

“Ella,” he said.

“Not now,” she snapped,
backing up farther.

Park held up his hand.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Just keep it down, okay? I doubt fuckface can
hear you and those things sure can.”

Groans came from all around them.

“Shit,” said Maylee,
looking around.

“I'm sorry,” said Ella,
backing up and looking small.

“We gotta go,” said Maylee,
running over and grabbing her arm. She ran. Ella ran with
her.

“Where?” said Park, not
moving.

Maylee stopped. Ella almost ran into her
back. Her arm slipped from Maylee's hand. Groans came from every
side, growing louder.

“Shit,” said Maylee. “I
have no idea.”

“Wait,” said Ella. She
stepped away from Maylee.

“Okay girls,” said Park.
“We need to get to the Communications Office, right? What's the
quickest way?”

Ella looked around, like she was doing her
best to concentrate despite being scared. Unseen corpses
groaned.

“Come on,” said Park. He
pulled a hunting knife from his pocket. Maylee recognized it as the
one he had grabbed from the truck back at the hospital. He looked
around nervously.

Ella was panicking. Maylee
saw it in her face. Maylee reached out with her bat and touched
Ella lightly on the hand. “Hey,” she said, quietly.

Ella blinked, coming to her senses.

Maylee gave her best smile.
Fear gripped her, but she did her best not to show it. “You can do
it.”

Ella smiled back. She
looked around, then nodded. “Got it. This way.”

She hurried off to one
side. “We can cut through the bird sanctuary. It's faster than
going around.”

They trotted through the dark, looking side
to side for corpses. Maylee heard their groans from all sides. None
came into view, but Maylee could tell they were close.

“Where the fuck are they?”
said Park, off to Maylee's side. Maylee glanced over at him. She
saw his face in the dim light. He was frowning at Ella as he stuck
the knife back into his pocket. Several times he looked like he was
going to say something to her. He didn't.

“Here we are,” said Ella as
a large dome came into view. Crisscrossing iron beams and thick
iron mesh formed an ornate structure that looked old-fashioned and
beautiful, even in the dark.

Maylee tried to remember their previous
trips to the zoo. The bird sanctuary was the pride of Ashton
Memorial. It was constructed for the World's Fair over a hundred
years ago. Later, the zoo was constructed around it. A walkway led
through it, winding around trees and bushes, all filled with exotic
birds.

As they drew near the dome, Maylee noticed
the groans grew quieter. And they no longer seemed to be coming
from all around. Now they came from behind.

Park let out a sigh. “Thank
fuck. I think we outran them.”

Maylee nodded to herself in the dark. They
hurried along in silence, Ella leading the way. The groans behind
them faded to nothing. Their own breathing and footsteps were the
only sounds.

Ella screamed as a corpse stumbled from the
bushes and closed its arms around her. It was a young man with
small round glasses. One lens was smashed in, and dark blood coated
his cheek. He gurgled and leaned in to bite.

“Ella!” yelled both Park
and Maylee in unison. They ran forward, rushing to save her. Ella
struggled in the corpse's grip.

Park unslung the rifle from
his shoulder. He gripped it by the barrel. “Ella!” he repeated.
“Duck!”

Ella lifted her arms over her head and
dropped down. She slipped through the corpse's grip, falling to her
knees. Park swung the butt of the rifle at the corpse's head. The
butt snapped and chunks of it flew to either side. The corpse's
head rocked back, and it let go of Ella.

Park pulled the hunting
knife from his jacket and shoved it into the corpse's forehead. It
made it halfway and stopped, stuck on something. Blood seeped over
the blade and down the corpse's face. The corpse leaned toward
Park, hissing and biting. Park held the corpse back with the handle
of the knife. “Fuck!” he said.

“I got it!” said Maylee.
She ran to stand behind the corpse. She swung her bat up at the
back of the corpse's head. The bat slammed against the corpse's
skull, driving it forward on the knife. Something popped and the
knife went into the corpse's forehead up to the hilt. The corpse
twitched, then slumped forward, still.

“Shit on me,” said Park. He
twisted around to let the corpse fall to the ground. He bent down
and grabbed the handle. Putting his foot on the corpse's chest, he
wrenched the knife free. He grimaced at the knife and wiped it on
the corpse's leg. He straightened and put the knife in his
pocket.

Maylee reached down and helped Ella to her
feet. She shook and looked around frantically.

“You okay?” said
Maylee.

Ella nodded.

Park stepped over. He
nodded to Maylee. “Thanks.”

Maylee nodded back. Park
turned to Ella, looking her up and down. “You hurt?”

“I'm fine,” said Ella,
moving away from him.

Groans came from behind them. Ella's eyes
grew wide as she stared past Maylee and Park. They turned to see a
mob of corpses stumbling down the walkway toward them.

“Shit fucker,” said Park.
He turned to Ella and Maylee. “Go go go!”

Maylee turned and ran, pushing Ella forward
as she went. Park brought up the rear. The three of them ran down
the walkway toward the sanctuary. As they pushed the door open and
ran inside, Maylee tried not to think about how easy the door was
to push. How easy it would be for anything to push its way
inside.

Inside was dark. The interior lights were
off, and what little light came from outside was filtered through
too much foliage to provide any kind of visibility.

The path through the sanctuary was a raised
metal walkway with guard rails on each side, more to keep people on
the path than to protect them from the two-inch drop. Their
footsteps pounded on the metal as they ran, clanging and echoing
around the enclosure. Maylee heard Ella in front of her and Park
behind her, but quickly lost sight of them.

“Stop!” yelled Park from
behind. “For shit's sake stop!”

Maylee did. She heard Ella take a few more
clanging steps in front of her, then stop.

Park sighed in the dark
behind Maylee. “Can either of you girls see shit?”

“No,” said
Maylee.

“I can't see shit or any
other substance,” said Ella from the darkness.

“What?” said
Park.

“Never mind,” said
Ella.

“Just listen to me,” said
Park. Maylee strained to make out Ella in the dark. All she saw was
the outline of dark trees and mesh against the dim light coming
from a lamppost outside. “Since none of us can see fuck,” Park
continued, “let's slow down and try to stay together.
Okay?”

Maylee and Ella muttered their agreement.
The three of them started moving, at a slower pace this time. Their
footsteps creaked on the metal walkway.

The trees rustled around them. They rustled
again, a little louder than before.

“What was that?” said Ella,
stopping up ahead.

“Just birds, Ella,” said
Park. “This is the bird house or some shit, right? It's just the
birds.”

Maylee nodded to herself in the dark. He was
right.

“Oh,” said Ella from up
front. “Okay.” They all started walking again.

The rustling in the trees grew louder. They
all kept walking, slowly moving deeper into the sanctuary.

“Ow!” yelped Ella from up
ahead. They all stopped.

“What is it?” yelled Park,
sounding angry and scared.

“Something jabbed at my
shoulder,” said Ella.

“Shit. Are you
hurt?”

“No, no. It was small.
Like...” she trailed off. The rustling in the trees grew too loud
to ignore.

“Like what?” said Maylee,
although she'd already guessed.

“Like a bird,” said
Ella.

The air around them exploded with loud
squawks and a frenzy of flapping wings. Blurs of beaks and feathers
whizzed by Maylee. She reflexively waved her arms in front of her
face, almost smacking herself with her bat.

Ella screamed and Park cursed as the mass of
birds swirled around them. Maylee felt beaks and claws narrowly
miss her face. She felt them scraping against the material of her
jacket. She swung her bat side to side, screaming.

The mass of birds moved past them, leaving
them shaken and panting. Maylee heard the trees rustle again as the
birds moved through the leaves and branches.

“Anyone hurt?” said
Park.

“No,” said both Maylee and
Ella, at almost the same time.

“Okay then. Still, what the
fuck?”

“I dunno,” said Maylee.
“It's like...” Then she was screaming as cold rotting arms closed
around her waist and pulled her over the railing.

“Maylee!” yelled
Ella.

“Shit!” yelled
Park.

Maylee struggled against the arms as she
fell off the platform and onto the ground of the sanctuary. She
kicked at the dirt and leaves. A gurgling groan came from just next
to her right ear.

She felt a cold cheek brush against the back
of her neck as the corpse moved in to bite the side of her face.
The cold, spongy skin made her body constrict.

Not knowing what else to do, knowing she had
only seconds before the corpse bit, Maylee did the only thing her
panicked brain could think of. Pushing against the ground, she
slammed herself back against the corpse. With a groan, the corpse
fell over backward, pulling Maylee with it.

The corpse hit the ground first. Maylee
rammed down on top of it, her small frame slamming into its
stomach. The corpse grunted and its hands fell away.

Maylee scrambled to her feet and turned,
clutching her bat tightly. The corpse, more of a dark outline
against the ground, groaned and scraped its limbs against the dirt.
Maylee couldn't make out any details, but the corpse smelled
awful.