Death's Little Angels (13 page)

The ghastly sight brought
tears to Drew’s eyes. Not to long ago, he was in that same office
being suspended from the baseball team by the coach and principal.
He jumped back when he saw a figure slither out of the Assistant
Principal’s office and directly into the wall. Drew could not tell
who it was. It was horribly disfigured and an
Eater.
From the looks of the zombie
before it died, it appeared like several
Eaters
might have attacked it. The
entire face had been chewed off. All of the
Eater’s
limbs were missing but one
arm, which was severed to the bone and looked as if it would detach
in any minute. The
Eater
raised what was left of its head and opened its
mouth. No sound escaped its severely wounded throat. Drew trembled
as he squeezed his eyes shut praying this was all a dream. A
popping sound went off. It sounded like a firecracker.

Fight or Flight… Fight or Flight….

Drew opened his eyes. It was real. Too real.
His school and everything around it was in shambles. He started for
the double doors that led out of the school. Everybody had already
made it out and would be waiting on him. He gripped his knife
tightly. Help was right outside the doors all he had to do was open
them. No more nightmares. He would be seeing his Mee-maw. Life
would be the same. A smile grew on his face as he left the bad
dream behind him.

Drew pushed opened the doors that led out to
the front school yard, which faced the main highway, like he was
making a grand entrance. He stopped dead in his tracks. The smile
that once graced his face disappeared. It was not the weather that
hindered him nor Sue Ellen or Mater along with the others who were
frozen solid in their tracks. It was the sight of time that stood
still. The chaos that had interrupted inside of the school building
had nothing on what was happening before their very own eyes.
Pandemonium and havoc was literally occurring right in front of
their school yard. Drew’s nightmare had become a reality. The
entire city of Wiggins was falling and it was dropping fast.

Hush little Zombie don’t eat a hand

Mommas going to buy you an arm instead

And if that arm does not bleed

Mommas going to give you a brain to eat

It was feast or famine. The front schoolyard
resembled World War III. The rain had lightened up to the point of
a drizzle and the wind eased to a soft swirl. Hurricane Angel did
not hide the fact that zombies had come to claim the small rural
town of Wiggins. The last of the buses were boarding and ready for
take off but the main road, Highway 26, was congested and backed
up. People were trying to frantically get home, find their loved
ones, or leave town. Highway 26 was the main street that ran in
front of the school and was the lifeline of the town.

Cars and trucks were scattered across the
school yard, not paying attention to designated parking spaces as
desperate parents searched for their children. Drew observed some
students running from the west side of the building accompanied by
their dads or moms who madly dashed for their cars.

A loud crash startled the group as two cars
slammed into one another head on right in front of their very own
eyes. A cloud of glass from the impact twinkled down like a shower
of falling stars. Drew focused in and noticed that one of the
vehicles, a white truck, was carrying high school students. The
other automobile, a blue mini-van, had a body eject from the
windshield only to land on the hood of the white truck. The
accident victim was a child who appeared to be no more than
six-years-old. Drew realized from the looks of the crash, the child
had to have been killed on impact.

“
May his soul rest in
peace…” Tarynn said from behind Drew.

The hairs on the back of Drew’s neck stood
straight up. The prickly sensation was not from Tarynn’s hot, moist
breath but from what happened next at the scene of the accident.
The six-year-old accident victim, who lay on the hood of the white
truck, suddenly raised up and plunged forward head first into the
windshield of the white truck. Screams were heard inside of the
truck as the driver tried to restart the vehicle. The engine was
badly damaged and would not turn over. The passenger in the truck
tried desperately to get out but the door was caved in due to the
collision.

The child, apparently
an
Eater
, rammed
the windshield headfirst with amazing force until the glass barrier
finally gave in. It slithered into the opening and began violently
attacking the occupants that were sealed in the truck. The truck
swayed back and forth like a mad wave as the
Eater
had its way. Blood sprayed on
the passenger window causing Drew and the others to jump back and
gasp. After a few minutes or so the movement and muted screams
stopped in the truck.

The driver in the
mini-van, apparently the
Eater’s
mother, staggered out of the wreckage holding her
wounded neck. Her skin was blackened like an overdone tan. The
woman’s appearance resembled that of a mummy. The lady was in
distress. She held out her free hand waving for help before she
could make it to the embankment. A speeding police car, out of
nowhere, plowed her down. The officer’s car never stopped or
slowed. It zoomed past the wreckage and turned off onto a side
road.

Eaters
were staggering from all over. Some of the zombies came from
the cars, a few trickled out from the school, and others from
nearby houses.

Three buses were left boarding in the
parking lot. The first bus was filled to the brim with children
shouting out pleas for help and for their parents. A loud, piercing
cry was heard over the swirling wind on the first bus. The
unnerving pain that accompanied the cries from that first bus
brought chills to Drew’s soul. The students yelled to the top of
their lungs. Mayhem and madness broke out on the first bus with
sheer terror filling the air. The occupants were seen pushing and
shoving as they tried to make their way off the yellow clunker. An
older student, who was covered in blood, made it to the front of
the bus and opened the doors. Before the student had a chance to
make it off the bus, mangled bloody hands pulled him back into the
darkness. Suddenly out of nowhere, the first bus took off blindly
towards the street and crashed into a tree.

A loud engine that sounded
like a jet roared over the school lawn. Drew pulled his eyes off of
the horrific sight and looked up to see that it was his
grandmother. She bypassed the line of cars as the big hefty monster
truck, also known as
Big
Thunder
, plowed down everything in sight.
Mee-maw slowly rode the lawn sticking her head out the window
looking for her grandson. When she spotted him, she waved her hand
wildly.

“
Drew? Drew!”

“
Mee-maw!” Drew ran to
greet his grandmother but Mr. Freeman held him back.

“
That’s my grandmother!”
Drew shouted at Mr. Freeman.

Drew’s grandmother pulled up near the
entrance of the school. At this point, any teacher would have had a
heart attack for someone driving on the school’s lawn but it seemed
as if everybody was oblivious to any rules. Mee-maw jumped out of
the truck with one leap. She looked like a solider going to combat.
She was dressed in camouflage with a clip attached to her waist
belt. Black combat boots were laced up all the way to her calves. A
black bandana held her smoky white hair together, which was pulled
together neatly in a bun. Drew’s Mee-maw had always said during a
many of bedtime stories that she would live to see the world end
and when that day came she would be ready. Now here they were.

“
I have Grace in the back
seat,” Mee-maw pointed out. Grace’s red face was wet with tears.
She wept loudly as she held her arms out for Drew from the
backseat. “I got to get Maryann. Haven’t heard too much good news
from the elementary school. Ole
Strawberry
, she pointed to the 357
Magnum that lay in the dashboard, will keep us safe. You get on
that bus that’s leaving here and I will meet you at the Fairgrounds
Center.”

“
No, Mee-maw! I want to go
with you!” Drew pleaded.

“
Listen, Drew! Now,
listen. I need to know that you are safe! Just in
case…
One
of us
has to get to safety. Stay away from the hospital and clinics. Go
straight to the Fairgrounds. The Guard is there. The time has come
where we must fight to survive! Now go!”

Mee-maw hopped into her
truck and pumped her fist before soaring through the lawn into the
parking lot with ease. The red
Big
Thunder
was very intimidating to a lot of
drivers and pedestrians even during a time such as the zombie take
over. Drew watched as his grandmother cut into the traffic easily
on Highway 26 like a knife slicing butter. He felt at ease knowing
that she, the rock, was pulling the family together one by one and
everyone would be okay.

“
You heard the lady!
Everybody move now! Run to bus 50!” Mr. Freeman yelled.

Billy used his track
skills and sprinted out into the light drizzle without delay.
An
Eater
that was
slithering on the ground grabbed Billy’s ankle causing him to fall.
Drew ran up and stomped the
Eater’
s head allowing Billy to break
free.

“
Thanks man, that was a
close one,” Billy said out of breath as he rose to his feet with
Drew’s assistance. The twinkle of rain flowed down his dark skin
and puddle around his eyes.

“
Did it bite you?” Drew
asked.

Billy inspected his body quickly. “Nah, man
I am okay. Lets go!”

Billy caught up with others where Mr.
Freeman was impatiently waiting at the entrance of the bus. Drew
looked back to notice that Cookie’s run had slowed to a trot. She
leaned over and touched her knees in an attempt to recollect
herself. Drew rapidly ran back to assist Cookie.

“
C’mon Cookie! They are
going to leave us, if we don’t hurry!”

Drew grabbed Cookie’s arm to pull her along
and noticed that her skin was blazing hot. Her flesh was so heated
that the Vaseline had melted right off.

“
I… am… trying…
not…in…shape….” was all that Cookie could manage to say.

In between the mad dash towards the bus, a
car that had been parked on the school lawn came out of nowhere and
nearly missed Drew and Cookie. Drew pushed Cookie out of the
uncontrollable car’s way, which caused them both to fall tumbling
over each other. Drew rose up from the ground to notice that the
car had crashed into another parked car. Inside the crashed car
were double car seats. Babies…. In a small town like Wiggins,
everyone knew everyone.

Oh no that is Crystal’s mom….

Crystal had lived in the
trailer park that was two miles from Drew’s house. She was not well
known in school but would tutor Drew in Math during break sessions.
Crystal’s mother was a single parent who worked two jobs just to
make ends meet. Crystal was the only child for ten years until her
mother came home with a set of twins. The twins had just turned one
and they were in the car. Drew felt the bile rise in the back of
his throat once he realized what was occurring in the car at that
very moment. The twins… Crystal’s mother… Crystal. Someone had
turned into an
Eater
and began
attacking every one. The
car seats began to move and shake violently. Drew turned his head
as he witnessed blood spewing everywhere and horrid screams rising
from within side of the vehicle.

Fight or Flight… Fight or Flight.

Drew sprang to his feet quickly and pulled
Cookie with him. He pushed Cookie in front of Mr. Freeman so that
she could board the bus first. Mr. Freeman’s face was beet red as
he pulled everyone in and slammed the door closed with the lever.
The bus was full like an overstuffed tick. There were students, a
female science teacher, and the librarian that crowded the walkway
and overfilled the seats. The science teacher and librarian were
trying to calm the students down as they continued to whine and
scream out for help and their parents. Drew remembered that the
science teacher had just announced that she was engaged to get
married and would be moving away to Georgia next year. The bus
driver was a plump elderly man who was as white as ghost.

“
We are not going to make
it on that highway. It’s a death trap,” the elderly bus driver
gasped. A picture of an older lady, in her early sixties, graced
his dashboard. Drew figured the lady to be his wife. She seemed
like the woman who enjoyed baking during the holidays or
volunteering in the soup kitchen during a time of need. The picture
of the woman gave Drew a feeling of serenity. It reminded him of
his Mee-maw.

The bus driver looked to
Mr. Freeman for advice. His arms shook as he firmly gripped the big
steering wheel. Beads of sweat the size of dimes formed on his
chubby round face and neck. Quick thinking of the bus driver on the
second bus pulled them out of the doomed clutches of Stoney Central
Middle School. The second bus took off towards the entrance of
Highway 26. It veered off into the oncoming lane to avoid the
wreckage that had just occurred, which blocked the escape route to
the Fairgrounds Center. The second bus had made
it
. Finally, somebody makes it to
safety.
Drew breathed a sigh relief. He
prayed that his Mee-maw would be there at the center waiting for
him with his sisters. The rescue helicopter from the local hospital
swooned over ahead in route to some unknown emergency.
“That must be the helicopter we heard earlier,” Drew mentioned to
Sue Ellen and Mater.