“Wait, wait a minute, you’re Max, right?” Max nodded, “They call me Jimbo, and I don’t have a beef with you, even though you shot me I will just walk away and never bother you again, but if you shoot me again, well, you better shoot real good, ‘cause if you miss I will tear you limb from limb. Then, after you I will go and get your wife and kids too. You understand? You ain’t looking too good Max and that little thirty eight pistol you got there is not too accurate anyway, just let me go and we are even, you get your kids, I get to live, everybody is happy.”
“I…”
Max was interrupted by another shotgun blast, part of the shot passed into the kitchen through the back door and he heard Steve yelling, “Oh pig-fucker!”
Outside Steve was trying to get a shot on the zombie woman and was creeping closer to her when he was struck from behind by a lawn chair. Veronica had thrown the lawn chair despite still having one of the dining room chair legs thrust through her body. With a final pull the dining room chair came out and she raised it in front of her to fend off Steve's next shot, which came in her direction. Steve had spun around to see who had thrown the chair, which was too light to have really hurt him, he raised the shotgun as Veronica finally pulled the chair impaling her out, then fired a shot at her. The shot went through the chair, but missed her completely, it continued past to hit Nancy as she was trying to stand up on the patio. The effects of this shot were horrendous, it caught her at the right breast and literally blew her entire shoulder and arm off, spinning her around to face the house. Nancy stood there for a moment longer then fell on her face and lay very still.
Veronica tossed the remnants of the dining room chair at Steve and followed it up with a flying tackle. They went down in a heap, Steve dropped the shotgun to have the use of both hands, but Veronica was by far the stronger. They wrestled around ineffectively while Cory watched, he struggled but the woman holding him tightened her grip and stood up awkwardly. The zombie wanted to help out Veronica but did not want the boy to interfere again, so she tossed him over the six foot fence in the yard behind Max's house. Cory hit a pine tree, breaking off branches and spinning head over heels as he did so. He came to a rest in the dirt below the tree, winded, but otherwise unhurt.
Max looked at Jimbo, Jimbo stared back and said, “C’mon man, I walk out, you go help your friend and get your wife and kids. Just do it.”
Nervously, Max replied, “What about them? In the backyard?”
Shaking his head side the side Jimbo answered, “No man, no, I can’t control them, but if you let me go I won’t help them and won’t bother you again, I promise.”
Hating himself Max nodded once and gestured with his gun for Jimbo to leave. Jimbo didn’t hesitate for a second, he turned and lurched through the doors, once outside he saw what remained of Nancy, ‘The bitch still isn’t dead!’, he thought to himself. Seeing Veronica wrestling with one of the humans on the ground Jimbo was tempted to help, then opted to just move on. Bobby was out there somewhere, they could start their own gang, as he left though Jimbo could not help but stomp viciously on Nancy’s head as he passed, ending any thought of her ever controlling him again. Jimbo went to the side of the house, saw the police cruiser out front and opted to cut through the back yard of one of Max’s neighbors, working his way slowly and keeping cover between him and the street. Concentrating he mentally called out to Bobby, “Bobby, you got that boy? I am in real need of nourishment right now!”
An answer came back, “He got away, I have a girl with me now.” Jimbo could tell which direction and the approximate distance from him where Bobby was and immediately set off in that direction sending, “You’re away from where I thought you would be, we’ll talk in a few minutes. Get under cover somewhere.”
Max watched Jimbo go with some doubt, he paused to check his gun and then stepped through the broken out patio doors into the backyard.
Steve was in trouble with a capital ‘T’, and he knew it. 'If I don’t get this bitch off me I am going to die!' his body surged with adrenaline and he flopped and rolled away from Veronica and her friend, standing up he backed towards the swing set in Max’s yard, looking about for a weapon. He spied the shotgun behind Veronica, definitely out of reach. Veronica was no slower than Steve at getting up and he was surprised she did not rush him. Then he saw she was coordinating with her friend, 'Not good.' he thought, then said, “Ladies, maybe we can work this out?” playing for time, time for Max to get out here, he hoped.
Veronica leered at him and said, “Sure buddy, just stand right there and I will make it quick for you.” She too looked around and spied the shotgun lying on the ground, “Oh man you're dead we got you! Not so tough without your gun are you?” As she bent to pick up the shotgun Steve knew he had to rush her or face getting shot and there was nowhere to run, no cover except the swing set.
He rushed towards Veronica like a bull when she was still bending over, she saw him coming and struggled to pull the gun up and shoot him. At the same time her friend intercepted Steve from the side, tackling him in mid-tackle. They both went down while Veronica yelled, “Roll clear so I can shoot him!”
In an ironic twist Steve found himself clinging to the zombie woman so Veronica could not get a clear shot. The shotgun exploded in a loud blast. 'So this is what it feels like to be on the barrel side of a shotgun when it goes off.' Steve thought to himself, at the same time he was yelling loudly and trying to force the zombie woman on top of him. She was stronger than he was and managed to pull away, Steve rolled away as another round from the shotgun went off. He got to his feet in a rush, turning he saw Veronica pumping the shotgun one handed, she stepped in closer to him and when the barrel was about two feet from his stomach she started to pulled the trigger.
A shot rang out from the back patio and Veronica staggered under the blow of yet another gunshot wound, snarling she fired the shotgun point blank into Steve’s stomach. Steve stood there for a second, not quite understanding what had just happened, slowly the world started spinning and growing fuzzier. He saw the grass, the sky Max wildly shooting almost in slow motion, the back fence with a small arm and body climbing over it, then he saw no more.
Max saw the shotgun go off, a spray of blood and pellets erupted from his friend’s back. Steve stood there for a long second, not falling over and Max had hope that maybe Veronica had just winged him, then he started to spin around and Max saw the full extent of the damage, the shot was dead center out of Steve’s back.
“No!” Max shouted.
Veronica turned towards Max and fired the shotgun again as he continued to shoot at her, the gun clicked on an empty chamber and Veronica took a shot to her good upper arm in return. The shotgun fell unwillingly from her hand. Seeing this Max shifted his aim and his third shot was at the other zombie that had started to move towards him, catching her in the stomach, which barely slowed her. Veronica ran towards the six foot fence on the side of Max’s yard, she could not move either of her arms very well and did not even try to climb the fence, instead she took a flying leap. She did not clear the fence, she hit it about four feet up, a very good jump that enabled her to bend her torso over enough to fall into the yard next door out of sight. Barely pausing she got up and continued running through the backyard following the same path that Jimbo had taken moments before.
Max noticed a small hand appear on the back fence, as he watched a small boy pulled his head above the fence line, there was blood running down his face. As he pulled himself over the fence Max could see he was still clutching a tire iron. It was too soon to tell if he was a zombie or not, but given a choice Max would rather face a zombie child than a zombie woman any day of the week.