Kyle sprang into action. He got to his feet and looked around the area. Where’s my shotgun? he thought, then instantly remembered that he left it on the roof. “Where’s Susie?” he asked.
“I don’t know, I think she’s still in her room,” Victor answered.
“Go get her. I’m going to see if I can hold them back so we can get to the roof. Hurry!”
Victor didn’t argue. He didn’t like being alone with Susie, but he had messed up this time by letting the dead get inside. If they were to die today it would be his fault, and he knew it.
Kyle slowly opened the door to the garage. Dawn had broken, but the garage was still pitch black. He drew his Glock and searched for something to shoot. Out of the darkness, a face appeared. It was gray and void of life, its mouth open exposing bright blood red tongue and gums. He fired. The bullet went through its mouth, making a hole that extended to its throat. Another one appeared to his right. It had the same look of death as the first. He fired, hitting it on the forehead. More creatures began to emerge from the darkness; he shot as he saw them.
“Victor!” he yelled.
Victor and Susie appeared behind him. Victor still held that knife in his hand. Kyle continued firing. “Get to the ladder,” he said.
Victor ducked under him and made his way to the ladder. An Existing Dead materialized out of the darkness behind him. Kyle fired twice, shooting it in the head. The boom echoed in the room as the shots came from all directions. The Existing Dead collapsed to the ground. Victor began to climb up the ladder. “Now you go, Victor,” Kyle said as he fired another round at the one he had already shot in the mouth. This time he caught it right between the eyes. The gun kicked back. He quickly ejected the magazine and took another one out of his pocket. He slapped it in and fired at another creature. They just kept popping out of the darkness like ghosts.
Susie ran past Kyle. She held something in both hands wrapped in a blanket. The smell of death followed her. It didn’t smell the same as the dead that were in the garage. This one was different.
Susie began to climb up the ladder with one hand. She held the blanket tightly with the other. Kyle stared at her for a second, then quickly shot at an Existing Dead that was a few feet in front of him. There was a pile of bodies on the floor. Kyle stepped over them as he made his way to the ladder. He felt a hand grab hold of his leg. He kicked it off and pointed the gun down into the darkness. He couldn’t see the body, but he knew it had let go of him. He stepped onto the ladder and climbed up. He felt hands trying to grasp for him, but kept going. Kyle reached the top, and standing there were Victor and Susie. Victor had Kyle’s shotgun in his hands, and had it pointed at Susie. The blanket was bundled on the ground. Sticking out of the top were long strands of hair. Susie had her hands in the air.
“Victor, what the fuck are you doing?” Kyle said as he pulled himself onto the roof.
“She’s fucking crazy. Look at her! She’s bringing a fucking dead body and acting like it’s all okay!”
“She’s not dead!” Susie screamed.
“Get on your knees!” Victor ordered. Susie began to cry and slowly lowered to her knees. There was a malevolent look on Victor’s face. There was another odor in the air. It wasn’t the dead, and it wasn’t the body on the ground. Kyle inhaled, not believing that he was actually smelling the scent of evil.
“Victor!” Kyle yelled. “Put that gun down now. Killing something who’s already dead is one thing, but killing a living person is another. You don’t want to know what that’s like.”
Victor didn’t respond. Kyle walked and stood between them. He calmly reached for the shotgun barrel. Victor pulled away.
“Come on, Victor. This isn’t going to change anything. Susie is not all there. She needs help. She doesn’t deserve to die this way.”
Victor sighed. Kyle reached for the barrel again and grabbed onto it. Kyle yanked the gun away as Victor fell to his knees with tears running down his face.
“It’s okay, buddy,” Kyle said. He turned to look at the rear of the house. They needed a better way to get down to the ground. The driveway was still littered with Existing Dead. When Kyle turned back to face Victor and Susie, Victor was still on his knees and Susie was on her feet. She had an arm outstretched toward Victor, and in her hand was a handgun. She had it pointed toward Victor’s head. The world slowed to a crawl again. Kyle stared at the familiar scene for what seemed like an eternity. The images of his son’s murder flashed through his head.
“Mary don’t!” he yelled as he raised his shotgun and fired. The blast boomed. Victor’s eyes squinted as he flinched at the noise. The sound echoed in Kyle’s head as he saw the slug blast into Susie’s chest, leaving a large hole in the center. Blood exploded through the exit wound and showered the dead below. She let go of the gun as she fell. Her body rolled on the roof toward the edge. Finally she fell off and landed with a thud. The dead instantly began to huddle around Susie, tearing into her flesh with their clawed hands and sharp teeth.
“Eddie,” Kyle cried, “are you all right?”
Victor stood to his feet and nodded, tears still falling freely from his face. Kyle’s heart raced as he snapped out of his daydream. He didn’t feel any emotion. He had been forced to kill Susie before she took Victor away from him.
“Did you just call me Eddie?” Victor asked.
“Yeah, sorry. I ...” Kyle said looking into Victor’s face. “That’s how I lost Eddie. A bullet in the back of the head. I couldn’t let you die that way, too.”
“Thanks,” Victor said, “I don’t want to die that way either.” He wiped tears away with his sleeve.
“Let’s get the hell out of here while they’re busy eating Susie. Grab her gun. She dropped it when she fell back.”
“But we don’t have any bull … rounds for it,” Victor protested.
“Well, we’re not going to get your gun. We’ll find ammo on the way to your house. Just go,” Kyle said impatiently.
Victor ran for the gun. He picked it up and looked at it. “This gun is different than my Snubby.”
“I’ll show you how it works later. For now, just pull the trigger if you need to fire.”
Victor peered toward the driveway below. The Existing Dead were still tearing Susie’s body apart. Blood and other tissue littered the ground around her. The dead scooped up any piece of flesh they could and shoved it into their mouths. One of them had forced its head into the bullet hole in her chest. Victor began to vomit off the roof and almost lost balance in the process.
“Stop looking at it!” Kyle said as he thought of a plan to make it to his truck and also a plan B if it wasn’t drivable.
Victor was still vomiting when suddenly every noise in the area stopped. A little girl’s voice interrupted the sudden silence and cried out, “Mommy? Is it okay if I come out now?”
Victor stopped vomiting and staggered toward Kyle. He groaned, whooshing saliva in his mouth and spitting it out.
“Shhh,” Kyle said. “Did you hear that?”
Victor tilted his head and stuck his ear out to listen.
“Mommy? Can I come out now?” the voice said again.
Kyle stared at the rolled up blanket with Angel’s body in it.
“Mommy, please answer,” it said again.
The voice was coming from the blanket. Kyle couldn’t believe it. Could Angel have been alive all this time? Had Susie been telling the truth? He walked toward the blanket and slowly unwrapped it. Staring back at him was the face of an alive four-year-old girl. Victor turned away in fright. She was beautiful, just like Susie once was. Her hair was a golden blond and her cheeks were rosy red. She stared up at Kyle with her big blue eyes.