Fortunes & Failures - 03 (25 page)

Juan still stood over the man, but his eyes were so filled with tears that he wasn’t aware that the man was dead. He could hear Mackenzie crying and wanted desperately to go to her. Only, he couldn’t bring himself to move.

“Hey!” Thad reached over and grasped Juan’s wrist. “The dude’s dead.” He pulled the bigger man’s arm away and gently removed the pistol from his hands. “JoJo, go head that couple off.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. This scene is bad. We better get the drop on them,” Thad grabbed a shirt hanging from the back of a chair and draped it over the dead body. Juan still stood there, tears now leaking from both eyes. “Peel their weapons.”

“We ain’t got time for this, man,” Thad snapped. “The big guy here is vegging out and…” He tilted his head towards the bathroom where Mackenzie held her mom’s head in her lap and continued to cry.

“Sure could use you backin’ me up,” JoJo grumbled.

“And I’ll be right there, but I want to cover up the bodies first. The only chance we got of those two not flippin’ the fuck out is if they don’t walk in and see their friends all shot up.”

“You think they ain’t gonna know?”

“Not at all. But seeing it will only make it worse.”

JoJo shrugged and headed back through the house. A shadow on the stairs made him jump. He was fumbling for his gun when a familiar voice spoke in a raspy, barely audible whisper.

Keith watched JoJo leave and came down the last few stairs. He could smell death before he saw it. A pair of bodies lay sprawled on the floor of somebody’s living room. Something about all of this looked familiar.

As he rounded the corner, Thad came through an open archway with an armful of sheets. The man froze and his jaw dropped open in astonishment.

“What the hell is goin’ on?” Keith asked, hoping to have better luck getting an answer this time.

“Whoa,” Thad breathed.

Keith’s gaze drifted past Thad. A big Mexican was standing over a body that sat at the base of a fresh blood stain that still dripped on the wall behind it. A shirt was tossed over its head, but Keith figured it for dead. Then his eyes slid to a pair of legs jutting out of an open doorway to the left. Memories flooded back bringing a wave of realization.

“Mackenzie!” Keith managed to say. If it were possible, his already dry throat had gotten drier. He nudged past Thad who looked completely confused. “Missus Sims?” Keith stood in the doorway.

“You guys know each other?” Thad asked.

“Keith and I were engaged,” Mackenzie said, looking up from the body of her mother.



The screamed echoed in the hallway. It sounded like that elderly woman. At least five of those things had gone through the door and four more were in the hallway. Chad and the others had yelled to get the things’ attention, but it’d only been partially successful.

Brett reached them first, bringing his razor sharp weapon across in a sweeping motion that took the top third of the head off a zombie that looked as if he’d been a student at this school. Chad plowed into a short fat man with several bites out of his hairy man-boobs. He’d try very hard not to think about that feast later.

A commotion was coming from the class room now, and Chad was certain he heard Ronni’s voice amidst all of it. It felt as if a hand were holding his heart and slowly squeezing. Then the gunfire started. A puff of dust erupted from the wall inches in front of his face. Pulling his hand axe free from the skull of hairy-man-boob-zombie, Chad flung open the door to the classroom. Just to his left, an undead cheerleader was pulling away a chunk of stringy flesh from the throat of the elder lady, Emma Passel. His eyes scanned the mostly dark classroom lit only by a Coleman lantern and a pair of flashlights lying useless on the floor.

“Ronni!” Chad called as he brought the axe down on the skull of a Hispanic man wearing a heavily stained apron over jeans and a flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up.

“Daddy!” The voice was to his left. In the shadows he saw his daughter engaged in a twisted parody of ring-around-the-rosie with a zombified old man.

Just then, Cheerleader-zombie clutched his leg. Chad kicked it away and bulldozed through a row of desks. He brought his axe down in the center of the bald spot wreathed with a band of gray hair.

“Daddy, look out!” Ronni screamed.

The cheerleader had continued after him and her hands grabbed at his weapon-holding arm. Chad tried to pull away and tripped over the sprawled body of the old man he’d just dispatched. The two tumbled to the floor in a tangled heap of arms and legs. He heard teeth snap just beside his left ear. He jerked his head to the right and suddenly everything went black as a shadow blocked out what little light there was. A strange sound beside him made him yell. The body on top of Chad went limp and he shoved out from underneath it to find Brett standing over him, his
Katana
pinning the cheerleader-zombies head to the floor.

“Thanks, buddy,” Chad said as he climbed to his feet. He pushed the last remaining desk aside and grabbed Ronni in his arms. His daughter clutched him tightly, her body shivering with fear. He looked around the room, grateful that all of the zombies had been put down.

“We can’t stay here,” the large woman, Penny, said as she wiped off the metal-tipped flag pole she’d liberated from somewhere.

“She’s right.” Brett stepped up beside her. “Between the screaming and the shooting, we’ve probably attracted every zombie in a three mile radius.”

There was a flurry of activity as people hastily stuffed whatever they’d unpacked back into their bags and began shoving them out the window. Chad tried once again to move, but still Ronni clung to him.

“Sweetie,” he tilted her face up, “we have to go.”

“One of those things got Tammi,” his daughter sobbed. “I had her hand and tried to pull her, but…” Ronni burst into fresh tears and buried her face in his chest. Chad stroked her hair and looked around the room. He spotted Krystal standing over a body, her arms wrapped tightly around herself.

“Okay,” Chad nodded. Still holding his daughter, he turned slightly so he could see everybody. “Listen up, folks,” he spoke above the din. “We have to move, all the noise will probably bring more of those things.” On cue, something slapped at the door to their classroom. A small jumble of desks had been shoved in front of it. It would hold for a little while, but not long. “We need to stick together if we’re going to have any chance. Keep your eyes peeled for someplace we can crash for the night, but be prepared. We might be walking for a while.”

More hands joined in on the door. That was all the further prompting anyone needed. One by one, the group climbed out the window and into the cool night air. The sky was clear and stars glittered providing an unappreciated beauty along with a little ambient light to see by.

The last two out were Ronni and Chad. He slipped his hands down, reluctantly prying his daughter loose.

“Listen to me.” Chad knelt before his daughter, glancing over his shoulder to see how the barricade of desks was holding out as hands continued to slap on the door. “We have to go and I want you to stay close, but I need you to be okay.”

“Well I’m not gonna be oka.,” Ronni’s face came up and her angry eyes locked onto him. “My mom is dead. My friends keep dying and the only person I have left is you.”

The words hit Chad like a shotgun blast to the guts at point-blank. If Ronni noticed the pain on his face, she gave no indication.

Ronni pushed away from Chad and climbed through the window. Chad still knelt where he’d just had his heart ripped out by his daughter when one of the tables making up the barricade clattered loudly to the floor. He barely remembered getting to his feet and following the rest of the group through the window and into the parking lot. Everybody was whispering excitedly, but it was nothing more than a buzz in his ears. He followed the group as they began hurrying across the parking lot. He was so stunned he didn’t even notice the glow of lights in the distance that had the group so excited.



Kim peeked out from between the two cars she’d ducked behind when three of those things had come stumbling into view. She sighed in relief as they headed through the intersection and continued on their way, vanishing behind the burned out building on the corner. Still, she stayed where she was a few more minutes to make sure there were no more of those things.

Finally, she crept out, clutching the ski pole she’d snatched from the luggage rack of a crushed PT Cruiser several blocks back. Moving down the deserted neighborhood street, Kim jumped at every sound; be it a tumbling piece of garbage; or one of those things trapped inside a house staring out a window and banging away at the sight of her.

Hunger and thirst were starting to set in. It’d been hours since she’d run away, leaving Glenn, Duane, and the others to their fates. It would be dark soon and she needed a place to hide as well as something to eat and drink. Why hadn’t she just let Chad be? Why did she have to act like a bitch when she knew damn good and well that he had never done anything to her?
Because
, Kim scolded herself,
you’re still in love with him
. As twisted as it seemed, Kim had realized long ago that she still loved Chad. It was her own stupidity that had ruined any chance they’d ever had. She hadn’t been able to help herself all those years ago when Glenn had shown interest. And Glenn was a sheriff, all Chad was at the time was a bartender in a sports bar.

Kim started across an overgrown park. If memory served, there was a pond in this park. She didn’t care if the water was muddy, slimy, or whatever, she was just so thirsty. Skirting a clump of trees, she continued to curse her life of seemingly endless bad decisions. And now, it was as if she were reaping the consequences of them all in one fell swoop.

Reaching the edge of the pond, Kim knelt and began scooping handfuls of the tepid water to her mouth. There was a definite and unappealing aftertaste, but she didn’t care. She was so incredibly thirsty. Finally full, she sat back on the muddy clay shore and looked around. Two of those things were across the pond staggering around the blacktop basketball court. A few more were scattered around the park and obviously aware of her presence.

As much as she wanted to rest, Kim climbed to her feet and brushed herself off. Holding her ski pole at the ready, she headed across the park towards another generic-looking neighborhood. Perhaps one of those houses would offer the refuge she sought.

It took her a while to lose the zombies that had fallen in on her trail; it seemed that every time she would lose the one or dozen following her, she walked smack dab into the sights of another. A few times, she even contemplated giving up. Then she remembered the screams of pain and erased those thoughts.

As dusk began to settle, Kim climbed a fence into a back yard. Children’s toys and a swing set dominated the overgrown area as painful reminders of what everybody had lost in the past several months. Now that she thought about it, Ronni was one of only a few children she’d seen, even at the shelter.

Shaking off the images of her own child, Kim crept to the house. Her stomach threatened to give her away as it sounded off with a tremendous gurgle. In an instant it was if she felt whatever still existed in her bowels suddenly shift. She had to clench tightly to avoid a disaster.

Clutching her belly she peeked in the window. An empty kitchen greeted her. Flies, living and dead decorated the windowsill and counter. Against all hope she placed her hands flat against the glass and tried to shift the window. It opened. Now all she had to do was—

The stench of rotten food hit her full force and Kim wretched. Unfortunately that forced her to quit clenching. Her bowels seemed to match the violence of her gorge and she found herself spewing vile fluids from two orifices simultaneously. When it came to its merciful conclusion, Kim straightened up and looked back inside the house. Nothing had come to investigate. That was the only blessing she could see as she climbed awkwardly through the window.

Once inside, she stripped out of her clothes right there and crept into the house. It was dark but gloriously empty. She found a stack of clean sheets and towels in a closet and wiped herself down as best she could in the empty bathtub, leaving the soiled linens in a heap as she staggered through an open bedroom door and collapsed on the bed. Dehydrated and exhausted, Kim cried herself to sleep.