Zombie Attack! Rise of the Horde (2 page)

“What's going on, Weasel?” I asked.

“This doesn't concern you, Xander,” he huffed, still winded
from getting his family jewels rocked. “Just walk away.”

Despite being only sixteen I usually got a lot of respect
because I knew how to handle myself and I never backed down from a fight.
People knew that I was a Macnamara, the equivalent of military royalty because
of my brother. Breaking a grown man's arm who'd tried to steal my samurai sword
the first week we were here hadn't been so bad for my reputation either. Word
got around fast after that not to cross me. Since then I'd kept to myself and
usually the only time anyone saw me outside was when I was training. To be
honest, I was surprised Weasel had challenged me in the first place. As far as
I can figure, he must not have wanted to lose face in front of his pathetic
gang of long haired thugs.

“That's not gonna happen,” I said. I thought I heard Weasel
let out a small groan as he righted himself back to full standing position. He
still looked a little green from the punch to his privates. “In fact, I think
you owe young Benji here an apology.”

Weasel smiled at the suggestion, flashing a crooked row of
yellow teeth the color of melted butter.

“Is that a fact?” Weasel scoffed.

“For the last two weeks I've watched your little gang prey
on the younger kids on the base,” I said. “I've heard stories about you
stealing everything from food to family heirlooms. I'd be only too happy to
teach you some manners.”

“You got proof to back up those accusations?” Weasel
challenged me. His boys began to fan out in an attempt to circle us. I helped
Benji up, pushing him behind me while never taking my eyes off Weasel. A fight
was definitely going to happen now. There was no doubt about that. All the
talking was just to distract me while he gathered up his courage. I smiled at
the thought of having a chance to practice my skills on real life volunteers. I
began regulating my breathing, slow and steady.

“I don't care who your brother is,” Weasel said, spitting on
the ground and wiping his mouth with the back of his dirty hand. “I'm not
afraid of you, Xander.”

“Well, you should be,” I said in a low voice, more of a
promise than a threat.

“No one is going to save you,” Weasel taunted. “Out here
it's just you and us.”

“If you're not afraid of me why don't you take me on
yourself?” I asked as the first of his guys slipped past my peripheral vision.

Weasel smiled wide, looking just like a jack-o’-lantern.

“You must think I'm stupid,” he said.

“Oh, I do,” I assured him.

“Look out!”

I felt the first blow coming toward the back of my head even
before Benji cried out. By the time his warning reached me I'd already ducked
under a wide right hook, setting down my sword and reaching up to trap his arm.
I grabbed onto it with both hands as I lifted up and jammed my shoulder into
his armpit, immobilizing him. With the slightest amount of downward pressure I
could easily have shattered his arm in several places, but I knew I'd catch a
lot of heat if I did. Being trained to fight came with certain
responsibilities, including knowing when to show some restraint. As good as it
would feel to teach this coward a lesson he wouldn't forget for trying to
sucker punch me in the back of the head, I'd be tying up some limited hospital
resources in the process. I'd gotten away with it once before but the
circumstances were radically different. Doing it twice in a row would raise a
lot of red flags and bring heat down on me and my brother as well. I couldn't
let him down like that. I locked eyes with Weasel and smiled as I held his
minion in place while he hopelessly squirmed to get free. All the color drained
from his face.

“Let him go,” Weasel demanded. I saw the third guy puff his
chest up, gathering all his courage to do something foolish, and then lunge
toward me. With barely a pivot I turned and threw his buddy at him head first,
causing his outstretched fist to collide dead on with his pal’s unsuspecting
face, knocking him out cold. The weight of his unconscious body knocked the
assailant to the ground and pinned him there, helpless.

“Okay then,” I said calmly. “What now?”

“This isn't over,” Weasel warned me in a low growl. “One of these
nights when your guard is down, I'm gonna pay you back for this.”

I glared at him, all traces of my smile vanishing at the
sound of his words.

“Did you just threaten me?” I knelt down and swooped up my
sword, unsheathing the blade and letting the sunlight dance across it. Weasel
turned in his crud-covered Converse high tops and ran away as fast as his feet
would carry him. I never had a problem with him again. If he had been planning
some kind of surprise attack on me it might have been foiled by the massing
zombie horde, but I doubt it.

I helped Benji gather up his comics and cautiously walked
back to the barracks, avoiding making eye contact with soldiers along the way.
Military royalty or not, I could be in as much trouble as Weasel if word got
out I was fighting civilian kids on the base. I didn't feel like having to
explain myself so I shushed Benji until we were back in his room. After that,
there was no keeping him quiet—and he’s been with me ever since, like my
shadow.

Suddenly, a loud, inhuman grunt coming from outside the
barracks tore through the silence and shook me out of my little trip down
memory lane. It was a cold-blooded sound and caused one of the smaller kids to
wet himself in fear. The smell of his urine, salty and metallic, harshly permeated
the tiny room. No one said a word. I know we were all thinking the same thing—if
we just hold our breath long enough the zombie horde will move on and we'll be
left alive. No such luck. The sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach told me
it wasn't going to end well for most of us in that room.

Sure enough, within less than five minutes the zombies had
sniffed us out.
For dead things who can't feel pain or show emotion they
sure have a fantastic sense of smell
, I thought. Soon they were beating their
dead fists on the doors and windows. The sound of the hammering echoed down the
empty hallways of the elementary school, ringing off locked windows and
unoccupied metal lockers. A couple of the adults got up and blindly bolted out
the back door, no doubt thinking they could escape down that long hallway. I
knew better than to even try. The way the school was laid out meant that they
were heading into a dead end with a high block wall down at the perimeter—originally
intended to keep predators out and kids protected from wandering off into
traffic unsupervised. Once the zombies got inside, those adults would be
trapped like rats in a sinking ship with only one way out—through a maze
of undead former human beings, all trying to eat them alive.

The pounding grew louder and more determined. Once those
monsters got it into their heads to get into a room, nothing could stop them.
It was just a matter of time until they broke down one of the doors and came
flooding in. So far as anyone could tell, zombies are driven by an insatiable
hunger. It's not just brains they are after—they will literally eat
anything they can get their hands on, so long as it's got a heartbeat. No one
knows why, or even where they came from. It's not like there are any experts on
the subject. It all happened so fast, no one had time to ask. Anyone who
stopped and asked questions was bound to get eaten.

Benji squeezed my hand and gave me a concerned look.

“
I'm working on it,” I said in response to his tense
stare. “But you're probably not gonna like it.”

He swallowed hard, bracing himself for action we both knew
was coming. In times like these you had to think fast or you were literally
dead meat. I was just working out the finer points of my plan to throw open the
front door and make a mad dash out past them straight through the courtyard,
when a loud crash shook the building. Two of the windows popped, showering us
with shards of broken glass and drawing loud terrified screams from several
adults. The hinges on the door began to creak under the unstoppable weight of
the crush of bodies trying to force their way in. We had only seconds left. I
turned back to Benji, unsheathing my blade as I spoke.

“Stay right on my heels,” I said. He nodded back to me in
reply. “And no matter what happens,
do not fall down
.”

I'd barely finished speaking when the metal door literally
flew off its hinges and the putrid stench of the living dead filled the air.
Their rank smell overpowered the senses as they poured into the room like
demons racing up from the bowels of hell for an all-you-can-eat smorgasbord.

My first instinct was to spring out and start slashing
through them as they came rushing in. Benji and I were crouched so close to the
door that it only made sense that they would go for us first, piling on top and
pinning us down before ripping out and devouring our insides like a piping hot
Extra Value Meal at McDonalds. Only they didn't. Zombies are attracted to noise
and movement first. They rely on their sense of smell when they've got nothing
else to work with. Benji and I sat as still as the grave these monsters should
be rotting in, while the rest of the adults in the room began running around,
waving their arms, and screaming at the top of their lungs in fear. They didn't
stand a chance. The zombies were on them before most of them could make it out
the back door to the rat trap.

I'm not gonna lie. There was a part of me that wanted to
jump in and fight too, wanted to help the other people in the room as much as I
wanted some kind of payback for what was happening to our world. It wasn't fear
that held me back. At that point, I knew I couldn't save them and jumping in
and getting myself killed wasn't going to change anything. I could feel Benji
holding on to the back of my shirt, tugging on it as if he was asking me what
my plan was.

I turned back to see his eyes bulging wide with fear as he
watched three ghoulish-looking full grown zombie adults chew right through a
man's leg. Blood squirted almost to the ceiling as the man endlessly shrieked
in agony and despair. The doorway was clear. Most of the living dead were
already in the room with us, snacking on anything that moved or chasing the
helpless leftovers down the long corridor.

It's now or never
, I thought.

Taking a deep breath and nodding at Benji, I stood up and
bolted forward, sword in hand ready to slice through anything that got in my
way, living or dead. Instantly several sets of jaundiced yellow eyes turned
toward us. The zombie with a chunk of a man's leg in his mouth spit it out and
roared in anger as we cleared the door. I didn't bother to look back. I was
certain he was right behind us. I sprinted out into the courtyard, taking in
the insane view of the utter carnage as I went. Every few feet, a headless
zombie corpse lay twitching. Every few feet, the mangled body of a dead soldier
lay ripped to shreds, camouflage stained red and black with blood and ooze. A
zombie woman with long, stringy brown hair and scarlet blood covering her mouth
crawled mindlessly toward us. Cut in half by gunfire, she pulled her upper
torso along by scratching at the asphalt with long fingers that ended in blood
red nails. I had no doubt that if she reached us she would be just as dangerous
as all the other reanimated corpses. A sense of dread crept over me as I
watched her for a brief moment.

How can we win if cutting them in half doesn't even stop
them?
I wondered to myself.

“He's gaining on us. Which way do we go?” Benji shouted,
snapping me out of my horror induced stupor. A quick glance backward confirmed
his words. A single zombie had followed us out of the classroom and was making
good time across the gore-strewn grounds in our direction. Whatever
intelligence drove these creatures was sending him our way to finish off the massacre.

“Hurry!” Benji screamed, fear grossly twisting the features
of his face.

Scanning the yard I saw the route between the far eastern
side buildings was wide open. I'd spent countless hours getting the lay of the
land when I first arrived and I knew that across the field was Cabrillo
Highway, leading south to Lompoc. The sun was already starting to set. Walking
in the dark was maybe the dumbest thing we could do but we had two things going
for us. The first was that zombies tended to slow down some at night. Like it
or not they still had human eyes so that meant their visibility went down after
dark. The other thing working in our favor was the isolated area we'd be
crossing through. Zombies tended to congregate in highly populated areas, as
far as anyone knew. That was probably what had driven them to overrun the base
in the first place. We weren't likely to find many of them in the relatively
empty space between the base and town. It wasn't like we had many options at
that point, anyway. Either way, we were going to be moving at night.

Better than being trapped inside a small building and
surrounded by another horde
, I thought.

I pointed toward the buildings to the east.

“We're heading that way,” I said as calmly as I could,
trying to sound like I was in control of myself. I could feel my hand shaking
as I pointed so I dropped it back to my side.

“Watch where you’re stepping,” I cautioned, gesturing toward
the ground, “so you don't slip on the blood and guts, or trip over a body, or
get dragged down by a partial zom crawler like that woman.”

The zombie chasing us stopped and let out a loud shriek,
sounding like a war cry. He was less than a hundred feet away. Benji and I both
stopped and stared at him. Within seconds several other zombies came out from the
school, sniffing the air. They turned toward us and began lumbering in our
direction, the evidence of their ghastly last meal still staining their fronts.