Z-Risen (Book 3): Poisoned Earth (13 page)

#26 - Overrun

03:30 hours approximate

Location: Just outside of Oceanside

Joel’s departing form
wasn’t what I wanted to see. With his skills--not to mention his assault rifle--it was going to be up to us to secure the area and make it to the truck in one piece. There were only about fifty feet separating us from freedom, but it might as well have been fifty miles.

Our weapons were piled next to the window, so I grabbed the little hell-raiser we’d dug up in the abandoned house a few days ago. The Sig home defense assault rifle was loaded and ready for action. I had a spare mag filled with .45 ammo, so I shoved it into my pocket.

My backup was the Springfield XDM 9mm. I had one extra magazine, but it was only half-full—I guess I’m still an optimist after all this shit. I pulled it out of the holster, slipped the magazine out and made sure it was filled. After slamming it home, I racked back the slide and let it slam shut, loading a fresh round into the breach.

I didn’t want to fight these things. I wanted to follow Joel’s advice and make a run for it. At the same time I felt a sense of panic, because he was stuck in the house fighting shufflers without backup. As if to punctuate my thoughts, his rifle hammered away from upstairs a couple of times before going quiet. The ceiling creaked as figures moved around upstairs.

Frosty was on her feet and growling toward the back door. I patted her head and tried to reassure her.

Roz kept her cool, even if she did keep looking over her shoulder toward the stairs. No doubt she wanted to go as backup. She grabbed my upper arm and gave me a squeeze. I nodded to her, hoping she got my intention, which was to say “we got this”. I didn’t actually feel like we had anything but a slow death in our near future.

The ceiling rattled as things up there moved. Joel’s gun sounded a couple of times, and one particularly loud crash probably meant something had just bit the dust. I hoped it wasn’t my buddy.

Moans from the outside drew my attention to the window.

“Light me,” Roz said.

Anna put a lighter to the flammable rag and it flared to life. Roz didn’t waste any time and threw, but it fell short and splattered paint thinner a few feet short of the Zs. The yard lit up in a spooky glow, making the shadowy figures that approached look more like demons than the undead. I tried to count them, but gave up at twelve.

“Should we go?” asked Christy.

She knelt next to me, the snub-nosed .38 in one hand. She’d picked up a copper water pipe from somewhere in the house, and held it in her other hand. Christy’s eyes were wide and nervous.

“We need more light,” I said. “Christy, when we move, don’t let go of Frosty if you can help it. She’s gonna go batshit and we need to get her into the truck in one piece.”

“Sorry about my short throw. I thought that stuff was going to splash all over my hand,” Roz said.

I thought the same thing as I hefted one of the cans. It wasn’t quite half-full, and the smell made me blink my eyes a couple of times. Anna held up the lighter.

The shufflers upstairs made a hell of a racket. Joel’s gun spoke a couple of times, and something hit the floor above hard enough to shake the glass light fixture. Then it was quiet.

Frosty wasn’t too happy with all the noise. Her hackles rose and she bared her teeth. She alternated between growling in the direction Joel had disappeared and toward the noise in the front yard.

I moved next, and Roz slid out of the way. I wanted to throw right-handed, but was sure the damn thing was going to blaze up and burn my hand. We didn’t have time to make these things very well. My can had held some of the stew we’d enjoyed the night before, and now it sloshed with flammable liquid.

The ceiling shook again under pounding feet. Joel’s gun fired several times and then it was quiet again.

Anna lit the cloth. The fire flared
immediately and just like Roz, I panicked and threw. The night came alive with more light, but I’d hit nothing.

“Oh Jesus,” Anna exclaimed.

Anna picked up a can and shouldered me aside. She still cradled her injured arm, but managed to do a hell of a lot better than me or Roz. As soon as the cloth was lit, she held the can tilted slightly until she was sure it was aflame. Throwing from her fingertips, the can sailed through the air and plastered a Z in the chest.

Thinner exploded all over the man. He howled and fell back, knocking down another Z. The pair thrashed, and managed to make the flames even worse.

Joel pounded into the kitchen and nearly got a face full of wrench.

“
Dude
.”

“Gimme a can. I’m gonna light this place up. I took down a shuffler, injured another one, but one other fucker is still sneaking around up there, too scared to show his face. See how he likes
this
shit.”

Joel snagged a can and Roz lit the rag. He moved fast, with the mini-torch lighting his way. A few seconds later there was a
whoosh
and something screamed: a tiny
whoof
of noise as the improvised bomb must have come to life.

Frosty nearly broke free. I grabbed her collar, and tried to reassure her with a few soft words.

“We’re out of here,” I said and grabbed another can. “Christy, take the lighter and fire us up as we go. Follow and get ready to pop anything that gets too close.”

She nodded.

Roz, Anna, and I each took one of the last three improvised Molotovs. I pushed the back door open and was on the landing before I could acknowledge the fact that I was holding a can of flame that could light me up just as quickly as it could a Z. With the backyard now illuminated, it was easier to make out the Zs. I drew back and let the can sail. It splashed across a Z and turned it into a walking torch.

I had other issues.

In my excitement I’d managed to splash flammable liquid over my hand and shirt. When I threw I knew I was in trouble.

Flames roared to life on the Z's shirt. It stumbled back into another creeper and set his ass on fire. They actually looked like they were scared of the flames as they tripped, and ran into each other.

I flailed my arm around as fire and pain raced across the top of my hand.

Anna slapped at my burning appendage while Roz moved into position, lit her can, and tossed it.

As far as Molotovs went, I’d have to say these weren’t the best idea. With the partially-exposed lids, a lot of fluid leaked out as they were jostled. Flames followed on a stream of paint thinner, further lighting the night, but also splashing fire over the partially-finished yard.

Zs by the dozens moved in on our position. They stumbled, flailed, shambled, and generally scared the ever-living
fuck
out of me. I moved in front of Anna as I slapped my hand into my armpit to extinguish the blaze.

“Move!” Anna said, and gave me a small push.

I did.

With the wrench in my off hand, I took the two steps to the yard and smashed a Z to the ground. Dude was reaching for me, his shirt on fire, flames eating at his face. His mouth was a horror of broken teeth, dried, copper-tinged blood, and something that might have been a nose. White and partially-desiccated eyes fixed on mine.

I hit him hard enough to cave in the side of his head. He dropped, but his body caught my legs, and I staggered into Anna.

Roz came to the rescue and shot a flailer between the eyes. The Z's head snapped back, and her body hit the ground.

They were all around us.

Frosty darted in and nipped at a Z, then danced around as it reached for her. The dog played it smart and kept out of the rotter’s grasp.

Christy called to Frosty, so the dog shot between the legs of a Z, knocking it down.

In a panic I recovered, and did a little half-spin as I tried to decide which of the creepy crawlers to take on first.

There was a teenage kid who was taller than me and skinny as a rail. His clothes were rags, his once grey-and-black camo shorts barely hanging onto his hips. An older couple dressed in the remains of hospital smocks. The woman still trailed an IV tube from one arm. The man wore a cast that immobilized his leg, but he shuffle-stepped like he was in a weird dance.

I shoved the couple aside, batted the kid’s hands away with my wrench and kicked him into a flaming Z who shambled in circles.

Anna drew her big handgun and shot the kid as he sat up and reached for me.

Christy shot the woman with the IV and clipped the side of her neck. I swung up and caught her under her chin. Rotted teeth flew, and part of her head broke loose. The Z flew backward into another of the rotted things, and the pair fell in a heap.

With our way free and only a dozen or so feet from us to the truck, I thought we now had a straight shot.

Hands reached for me, so I slapped them aside.

Frosty barked at something, but I didn’t have time to look.

I made out the truck in the murk and ran
straight for it. I had the whole thing mapped out in my head. I’d beat down the Z that was in front of me. Reach the truck, make myself a big barricade while the others got to my location. They’d load and then we’d be inside. We’d be surrounded, but with any luck the big truck would shove the dead aside. That was, if the shufflers didn’t hit us first.

I almost made it.

###

03:45 hours approximate

Location: Just outside of Oceanside

Sure enough, a shuffler dropped from the roof and hit me from behind.

He was a snarling mess of wounds and open sores. His eyes glowed with hate and his mouth opened to reveal teeth filed to points. The smell was the worst: like someone had left a body covered in dead fish to rot in the sun.

He caught my leg and I nearly fell, but stumbled into the truck and recovered.

I gagged as I turned to confront him.

A Z had been closing in on me, but I had his number and kicked back, catching him in the groin. The decomposing little shit bent at the waist and collapsed.

The shuffler moved sinuous as a whip, and swung out a leg to catch Anna. She stumbled back and caught herself on the porch railing. Roz reached for her, but the shuffler spun and took her to the ground. She thrashed as it covered her and leaned in to rip at her face. I ignored a Z that almost got a hand on me, and rushed in.

I grabbed the rotting creature by a foot and with adrenaline roaring in my ears, ripped it off of Roz. The shuffler wasn’t much more than flesh and bone, but it was strong and lashed a foot up, catching me in the shoulder.

My left arm went numb, but I didn’t let go. I got my other hand on its ankle and used all of my strength to rip the bastard off of Roz and fling it at another Z. The shuffler didn’t even hesitate; it scrambled to all fours and leapt.

Roz clambered back, legs kicking at the ground as she tried to get to the porch.

Anna lifted her gun and fired, but the shuffler was fast, and the shot whizzed past its head.

Frosty darted between Zs in the yard, avoiding the burning Zs, but harrying others.

The night took on a glow as flames rushed across the upper story.

In the wan light, I caught a female Z coming at me. I didn’t want to take my eyes off Roz and the shuffler, but I couldn’t ignore the arm that looped over my neck. Teeth went for my shoulder, so I whipped my elbow around and caught her in the side of the head.

Roz fell under the smart Z again. I howled in fury as I shook off the rotting Z and lifted my wrench, intent on cracking shuffler bones.

Roz got her handgun up to shoot the Z, but it batted her firearm aside.

Anna tried to get a good shot, but it was obvious that if she fired, she had every chance of hitting Roz as well.

I hit the shuffler’s
leg, and bones cracked. It hissed in fury, and its head spun to regard me. Eyes glowed with malevolent intelligence as they swept over me. It rose up and lashed at me with one claw-like hand. I drew back and turned so he didn’t have a chance at my numb shoulder. Make that
kind of
numb. Feeling was returning, and it hurt like a bitch.

A Z was on me. I didn’t have time for this Mickey Mouse bullshit, so I lifted my wrench and took off most of its head.

Anna drew her knife and slashed at the shuffler from behind. She tried to drive the blade into his neck, but the creature was fast, and got a sliced shoulder for his efforts. Take that, you bastard.

Roz choked and rolled onto her side.

The shuffler turned to take on Anna, so I swept the wrench around and hit him in the arm. I’d aimed higher, but my shoulder wasn’t exactly responding to what my brain tried to tell it to do. Anna lashed at the thing again as it came up on its two feet. Driving forward, she cut him hard enough to sever fingers.

The shuffler shrieked
and leapt.

Anna shifted to the side but he still bowled her over. He scrambled over her as she fought him off.

“No!” I screamed, and got hit by another Z as I moved to help.

Frosty grabbed the shuffler’s pant leg and pulled. The bastard struck back, and Frosty whimpered as her snout took the blow. She backed up and shook her head. Christy grabbed Frosty’s collar and tugged the dog away from the melee.

Joel appeared in the doorway. I caught sight of him out of the corner of my eye. He paused on the landing, lifted his gun, and calmly dropped a pair of Zs that were bearing down on me.

Anna was my priority. If not for him the two Zs probably would have taken me to the ground. Leave it to Joel Fucking Kelly to come to the rescue.

Anna kicked at the Z as it crawled over her.

Roz rolled onto her back, saw the shuffler as it attacked Anna, and didn’t sit around waiting for help. She scissor-kicked from her side and caught the rotter in the thigh. A normal man would have howled with pain, but this just pissed off the shuffler.

“Fuck you, asshole,” she said and kicked again.

The shuffler shrugged off the blows, and his mouth leapt at Anna.

Anna did a neat trick where she leveraged her body off the ground and twisted to dump the shuffler on his side. She tried to move away, but the thing scrambled to its knees and then went for her.

Christy dashed past Joel with a flaming can in one hand. She skipped the last step, hit the ground running, and only paused to slam the improvised Molotov
onto the shuffler’s head.

Anna crab-walked out of the way as fire streamed around them.

The shuffler screeched
as his hair flared to life. He leapt off of Anna and fell, slapping at his head as the fire spread. Skin and stringy hair burned. The shuffler tried to bat at the fire, but as he came up into a kneeling position, Joel put an end to his struggles with a shot to the head. The 5.56 round passed through his skull and exited with an impressive amount of red and rotted brain matter.

The shuffler’s head snapped back, and for a second he stared with hatred at us. Even
I
was fucking shocked at how long it took for the thing to slump to the side.

Joel and I helped the ladies to their feet, and he quickly took point. He kicked a Z out of the way and shot another at almost point-blank range, blowing half its head off in the process.

Anna limped, and warded her injured arm, holding it tight against her body. Her Smith & Wesson hung in her other hand. Roz clung to me, her arm draped around my waist. She stepped on something on the ground and almost fell. I lifted her back up, surprised at how weak she seemed.

Christy moved to my side, Frosty sticking close to her. Christy had her little snub-nosed revolver in hand and fired into the darkness. The round caught a shambling Z in the shoulder. He spun away and crashed into another rotting corpse, and the two went down in a heap of limbs.

Behind me, flames crept out of the second-story windows, casting an orange and yellow haze over the backyard. I didn’t want to think about the things coming for us, but I looked anyway. I should have kept my damn eyes front and center, because there were more than enough to kill us.

“Joel, we’re about to be overrun!”

“I know, fuck, we’re here though. Get them in the back and I’ll start the truck. Christy, shoot any fucker that gets close, and don’t let Frosty run off. Get her in the front seat with you.”

“Got it,” she said. Christy opened the gun’s cylinder and dropped spent shells on the lawn. With deft and practiced fingers, she reloaded from her jeans pocket.

I had to kick a Z out of the way. The shambler had been hanging out in the tiny space between the camper and the side of the house. He fell on his back, and when he looked up I met his gaze with a blow to the head. My wrench felt like a fifty-pound lead pipe, but I managed to lift it one more time.

Anna slid past me and hit the side of the truck. She peeked around the corner and held up a hand.

Joel hopped in the driver’s seat and started the truck. In the movies this would be the part where the engine wouldn’t turn over no matter how many times Joel cranked it. The first piece of good luck all night occurred when the engine roared to life.

Anna swung around the back of the truck and fired two measured shots.

“Clear!” she said.

Roz and I clutched at each other as Anna opened the back door. She watched our six as I helped Roz on board. I didn’t need to be reminded that we were surrounded, so the Zs thumping at the sides and back of the truck were like hammer blows upside my now-aching head. I needed water, some aspirin, and about fifteen hours of fucking sleep.

Roz and I collapsed on the floor. Anna slammed the door shut and locked it. The truck’s engine engaged and Joel backed up. Anna was thrown off her feet and hit the little dining table. She grabbed at the edge, but lost the battle and was tossed to the ground.

“Fuck
me
!” she said.

###