3.2 As the World Dies Untold Tales Vol. 2 Page 10

  “I don’t want to...” Ken hesitated, feeling his bowels complaining at his dark thoughts. Dread was running through his blood. “I don’t want to get eaten.”

  “I’ll put down anyone that gets caught by those things,” Tito vowed.

  Ken felt his intestines twist around. “Uh, is that supposed to be comforting?”

  “Do you want to be eaten alive or have a quick exit?” Tito looked at Ken directly in the eyes.

  He gulped hard and looked down at Cher in her carrier. “Save my cat if they get me or do her, too.” He felt tears, hot and heavy, threatening to spill over his lashes.

  Tito nodded curtly. He peeked through a sliver in the curtains. “We got lucky. They’ve moved on to the Thompson house. The back door is open.”

  “But that means that the Thompsons are-”

  Tito lifted one shoulder. “Yeah. Get used to it, kid. The world is royally fucked now and we gotta keep going.” He studied Lenore’s big bag on the floor. Without a word, he dumped all her possessions out and shoved the bags of food inside.

  Ken started to protest, but thought better of it. Instead, he tried to put as much of her stuff into his already bulging bag.

  From within her carrier, Cher hissed her disapproval at the whole process.

  Lenore escorted her grandma into the kitchen. Ken saw her eyes flash with anger at Tito’s actions, but she held her tongue. Silently, she reached down and plucked the picture of Common up off the floor. She stuffed it in her jean pocket.

  “I need my medicine,” Grandma whispered. There was an ashy undertone to her dark skin and her eyes looked a little glazed. She leaned against a counter and looked more fragile than she had a few minutes earlier.

  Lenore immediately opened a drawer and pulled out several bottles. Tito filled up a glass with water for the older woman. The room was thick with tension as they all watched Lenore’s grandmother swallow her pills. The thumping on the front door was starting to fray Ken’s last nerve.

  “I’ll be okay,” the older woman reassured them. “I just got a little upset. I could hear...Emily Thompson screaming.” She raised her hand and pressed it to her chest. “It just...”

  “We’re going to get in the car and we’re going to go,” Tito said firmly. “I want all of you to stay calm.”

  Ken’s heart was beating inside of his ribcage so hard it hurt. He just wanted to sit down and cry.

  “I’m ready,” Lenore said in a determined voice. “I’m ready to go.”

  “Maybe we could stay here and-” Lenore’s grandmother started to say in a tremulous voice.

  Somewhere in the house, glass shattered and something large made a terrible racket as it fell. A low, terrifying moan reverberated through the house.

  “The air conditioner in grandma’s bedroom,” Lenore stated simply. “It fell out of the window.”

  “Time to go,” Tito said and headed in the direction of the door to the outside.

  The garage was an add-on to the small house and accessible by a door that opened to a short sidewalk. Someone had erected a trellis on either side of the walkway for the sake of privacy. Ivy crawled up the latticework to create a green screen. The recent winter months had taken its toll on the ivy and it was just now beginning to flourish again.

  Tito hesitated as he looked out the window at the short walkway to the garage. “The garage door is shut, right?”

  “Yeah,” Lenore assured him.

  “And it’s got an electric door opener?”

  “Uh, no.”

  Tito’s shoulders tensed slightly, then he nodded. “Okay, here is the plan. I’m going first. When I open the door into the garage, Grandma then Ken goes through. Lenore, you come last. You carry the shotgun. When we get into the garage, Grandma and Ken, get into the backseat of the car-”

  “I get carsick in the back,” Ken protested before he realized how ridiculous that sounded.

  Tito gave him a fierce look, then continued. “Lenore, open the passenger door. I’ll open the driver’s door. You stand right next to the passenger door and cover me while I open the garage door. As soon as it’s up far enough for the car to get through, we both get into the car, and get out of here. Everyone got that?”

  Ken nodded even though he felt a little confused. His body wouldn’t stop shaking and it was beginning to annoy him. He hoisted his bag onto his shoulder and switched the cat carrier to his other hand. His stomach was knotting again. If only he could have a few minutes to sit down and catch his breath.

  “This is gonna be simple. Okay? We do this and we get out of here,” Tito said in a calm voice. He snatched the keys hanging next to the back of the door. “Now, which key is what?”

  Lenore stepped forward and showed him. Tito yanked all the rest of the keys off and left the only two that mattered hanging on the ring. Lenore’s grandmother was still leaning against the counter, but she looked a little better than she had moments ago.

  Tito grabbed the bag of food and slung it over his strong shoulders. He was a small man, but he was finely muscled from either hard work or good workouts. Tito regarded the three people staring at him with a slight smile on his lips.

  “C’mon. Today is fucked up enough. It can’t get much worse.” He unlocked the door and opened it.

  Sunlight streamed in through the trellis on either side of the walkway. It was an almost-serene scene. The garage door, painted a light blue, waited on the other side.

  “See. Easy.” Tito stepped out onto the sidewalk.

  Instantly, hands reached through the trellis.

  15.

  Escape

  His gun arm captured by the zombie, Tito swore angrily. Lenore and Ken froze in terror as a creature with no face struggled to pull Tito’s arm through the trellis. Grandma raised her revolver and fired a single shot. Lenore jumped, startled by the sound.

  “Grandma!”

  “Got ‘em,” Grandma said triumphantly.

  The shot had splintered the trellis near the zombie’s head and the corpse hung limply against it. Ken mouthed the word “wow” as he gazed at Grandma in surprise.

  Tito swore as he pried the now truly dead thing’s fingers from his arm. “C’mon! Get into the garage!”

  Lenore ducked into the ivy-draped walkway, ignoring the dead zombie listing against it. Out of the corner of her eye she saw more zombies stumbling toward them. She pushed Ken along with one hand, clutching the shotgun with the other.

  “Move it!”

  “Be careful of Grandma!” Ken snapped back.

  Tito deftly unlocked the door and ducked into the garage. Her grandmother glowered at the zombies moving toward the walkway for a moment before following him inside.

  “Never liked monsters. Always mucking things up,” Grandma muttered from the humid darkness inside the garage.

  Reaching the doorway, Ken shifted the cat carrier as he tried to get his huge bag through the narrow opening.

  Lenore heard the zombie before she saw it. The hard slap of its feet against the asphalt accompanied by its grunts drew her attention through the lattice toward the front of the house. The zombie raced up the driveway then veered off to head directly toward her.

  “I ain’t dying today!”

  Lenore shoved Ken through the door, sending him sprawling as Cher yowled in her carrier. She barely managed to get through the doorway before the zombie burst through the flimsy wood and vines, sending splinters and leaves flying. Whipping around, Lenore caught the door with one hand as the disoriented zombie twisted about looking for her. Just as it spotted her, snarling, blood foaming around its torn lips, Lenore slammed the door in its face.

  “Lock it!” Tito ordered.

  Fumbling with the lock, Lenore jumped as the zombie hit the other side. Tito slammed into the door next to her, bracing it with one shoulder as she managed to twirl the doorknob lock and the deadbolt.

  “Ken, get in the car now!” Tito let go of the trembling door long enough to seize an old wheelbarrow and shove it up against it.


  The door was old, thick wood, but the hinges and locks were rusted and flimsy. It wouldn’t last long under the constant assault of the undead.

  “This could complicate things,” Tito muttered.

  “Ya think?” Lenore raised an eyebrow.

  “We’ll move fast,” Tito answered, daring to release his hold on the door. “Cover me.”

  Lenore stepped away the vibrating door, her eyes flicking toward the hinges. She could see the screws slowly working loose.

  “Make it super-fast,” Lenore said to Tito.

  Inside the car, Ken and Grandma pulled on their seatbelts as Cher wailed. Lenore yanked the passenger door open as Tito matched her actions on the driver’s side. Leaning in, he fit the key into the ignition and started the car. After a cough and a stutter, the old car’s engine rumbled to life.

  “I’m going to open it now.” Tito took a deep breath while heading over to the garage door. “Cover me.”

  Lenore swallowed as the sound of the zombies pounding on the side door filled the small garage. The noise grew even louder as more fists began to bang against the garage walls.

  “They know we’re in here now,” Tito moaned. “Dammit! Lenore, shoot anything that moves. Just make sure it’s not me!” Cracking his knuckles, Tito leaned down and gripped the lever for the garage door. “Couldn’t have an electric door, huh?”

  “Grandma is too cheap,” Lenore grumbled.

  “Once it gets going, it’ll slide right up!” Grandma called out.

  Lenore checked the safety on the shotgun. It felt awkward in her grip and she felt useless with it. She had no real idea what the hell she was doing, but she knew for sure that she was not going to get eaten by those things.

  Behind her, she heard the whine of one of the car windows descending. Looking over her shoulder, she saw her grandmother, seated behind the driver’s seat, leaning out the window clutching her revolver.

  “Open that door! Let’s get out of here before those things get in!” Grandma shouted.

  With a grunt, Tito yanked up on the door, the old rollers creaking and groaning as they slid upward along the old tracks. Bright sunlight billowed under the door, harsh and blinding. It took Lenore’s eyes a second to adjust as the door rolled back. Tito had already fired into the face of a zombie by the time her vision cleared. Another was crawling toward him on the nubs of its wrists. Lenore aimed and fired.

  A tuft of grass from the front yard sailed into the air and landed near the crawling zombie.

  “Hit the zombie, Lenore!” Tito shouted, shoving another zombie off its feet.

  A small crowd of zombies were coming up the drive and Tito backed away quickly.

  “I can’t shoot ‘em with you in the way!” Grandma yelled, waving at him to move.

  Muttering in Spanish, Tito darted around the open car door. A zombie followed, smashing into it as it tried to grab Tito. The door started to close, pinning Tito to the side of the car. His gun spun away, disappearing behind some boxes piled near the door. Using one hand, Tito gripped the zombie’s throat, holding off the snapping teeth.

  Lenore swung the shotgun around and took aim.

  “No, don’t!” Tito cried out, terrified.

  She fired.

  The zombie’s head jerked to one side as it fell out of sight.

  Tito looked at her with surprise, but quickly climbed into the car, banging the door shut. Sliding into the front seat, Lenore grabbed hold of the passenger door.

  “Close it! Close it! Close it!” Ken screamed in his most girly voice. Cher yowled in agreement.

  Lenore tried to pull the door shut, but it caught. Looking down, she saw the handless zombie had wedged its head up under the door and was trying to climb into the car. Panicking, Lenore scrabbled at the shotgun.

  She was deafened by the gun going off near her head. Later, she would swear she felt the heat of the blast and saw the bullet go arcing past her to smash into the head of the zombie.

  “Shut the door!” Grandma shouted, her revolver in her hand.

  “Damn, Grandma! You’re fierce!” Tito exclaimed.

  Ken whimpered.

  Lenore reached out to grab the door again just as the side door into the garage slammed open. Zombies poured in, moving swiftly toward her. Her sweaty fingers fumbled with the latch as she tried to shut the door. She could see far too clearly the first zombie barreling toward her, its broken and hungry mouth opened wide to bite as its hands lashed out to grip her.

  The car lurched forward, plowing through the zombies in the driveway. The passenger door slammed shut with the momentum. The old car barreled down the short drive, tossing zombies off the hood. Tito spun the steering wheel sharply to the left, the back of the car fishtailing for a second before the tires gripped the road and they surged forward.

  The neighborhood was in chaos. People fled on foot from the wreck of a car that had crashed into a van. Swift-footed zombies were in pursuit as the slower undead clawed at the doors and windows of the smashed vehicles.

  “We gotta help them!” Lenore cried out.

  “Can’t! We gotta keep moving or die,” Tito answered tersely.

  “Those poor people go to my church!” Grandma protested.

  “We stop, we die.”

  “I don’t want to die,” Ken said emphatically. “Really don’t want to die!”

  Lenore twisted around in her seat to see that the small group of people was quickly being cornered by the zombies in the neighborhood. She saw what Tito said was true, but the twisting pain in her gut and throat told her it wasn’t right. Closing her eyes, she looked forward, unable to watch.

  Tito avoided a pack of zombies and the car whipped around the corner. Lenore took a deep breath and watched the road, her eyes rimmed with tears.

  Taking a hard left, Tito directed the old boat of a car into the alley, speeding along toward the RV parked behind Mr. Thames’ house.

  “Do you know where the keys to the RV are?” Ken asked from the backseat.

  Tito shrugged.

  “That isn’t what I want to hear,” Lenore snapped.

  “Cause if those keys are on Mr. Thames, I think he is busy eating those people from my church right now.” Grandma’s voice was harsh.

  “Actually, I killed him earlier,” Lenore mumbled.

  “Oh,” Grandma said. “Oh.”

  “It doesn’t matter if there are keys or not. I can get in.” Tito gave a little shrug. “I was a bad kid for a few years in my teens. I got...skills.”

  The car rolled to a stop beside the RV. Tito quickly leaped out. “Stay here. I’m going to scout it out. Lenore, get behind the wheel just in case.” Before anyone could protest, he darted around the RV and disappeared.

  Lenore slid into the driver’s seat, grumbling the whole way. Gripping the steering wheel, she stared down the surprisingly-quiet alley.

  “What if he doesn’t come back?” Ken asked from the backseat.

  Lenore slowly exhaled. “We better pray he does. The car is almost out of gas.”

  16.

  Fear

  Ken could barely catch his breath. His chest felt so tight he could barely stand it. With Cher’s carrier wedged between him and the seat in front of him, he supposed that could be part of his problem. But he was pretty sure it was the sound of the zombies nearby that was about to give him a full-fledged heart attack. He wasn’t sure if it was better to die with his heart exploding or not. Of course, getting eaten by zombies wasn’t a pleasant thought either.

  “Take deep breaths, son,” Grandma instructed him.

  “It hurts,” he complained.

  “Do it anyway,” she said, patting his hand. “Take a deep breath and let it out slow.”

  Ken obeyed because Lenore was giving him a sharp look over her shoulder. He drew in a deep, shuddering breath, then slowly exhaled. To his surprise, the tightness in his chest lessened and his heart slowed a bit. He took another long drag of the warm air in the car and immediately started choking on a st
rand of Cher’s fur. Coughing violently, he heard Cher hiss as Grandma whacked his back.

  “Only you could screw up breathing,” Lenore muttered from the front seat.

  “I’m sorry!” Ken coughed out, still gagging on the fur stuck in his throat.

  He was pretty sure he was turning bright red when Tito ran around the RV. He was holding a crowbar in one hand. Something red and chunky was dripping from one end. Tito yanked the driver’s door open and leaned in.

  “I can’t find the keys and the zombies are coming in the front door of the house. I got the back door barricaded, but we got only a few minutes before they’re out here. I’m gonna jimmy the door and hotwire the RV. The second you hear the RV turn on, I want out you out of the car and into the RV. Don’t get out of the car until you hear the engine. If things get bad, you may need to take off. I’ll follow you in the RV.”

  “We’re almost out of gas,” Lenore informed Tito.

  “Shit!” He ran his hand over his slick hair. “Just stick to the plan.” He shoved the door shut and loped around the back of the RV to work on the door on the other side.

  Ken felt his chest tighten again and his breath caught in his fur coated throat. Silence filled the car as Lenore dragged the shotgun onto her lap. Beside him, Grandma checked her revolver one more time. All Ken had as any sort of weapon was Cher’s carrier. He stared at his feisty, angry feline and felt like sobbing. He didn’t want her to die. He didn’t want to die either.

  “I really hate today,” he wailed before he could catch himself.

  “You and me both,” Lenore agreed.

  “I can’t say I’m fond of it either, honey.” Grandma shook her head sorrowfully.

  The old RV’s engine suddenly chugged to life beside the car. A poof of dark smoke burst out of the back of it as Tito revved up the gas.

  “Let’s go!” Lenore ordered.

  She swung her body out of the driver’s side as Grandma popped open the back door. Ken fumbled with the lock and latch on his door, his chest hurting with anxiety. Looking up, he saw a zombie on the other side of the chain link fence bordering the alley. The creature was shaking the metal mesh violently, its mouth open in a long wail. The door swung open and Ken almost fell out as he tried to maneuver himself, Cher’s carrier and his bag out of the car. Lenore grabbed the bag of food as Grandma hurried around the back of the RV.