“Hello,” the woman replied.
“Thank you for letting us stay in your house, ma’am,” Steve said. “It’s much appreciated.”
“There’s no need to thank me. I’m not the one who let you in.”
I’m not the one who let you in? Dakota thought. What the hell is that supposed to mean?
The thought racing in his mind, he shuddered, brushing his arms to fake what most would consider a chill. “Anyone else feel that?” he laughed. When no one replied, he bowed his head and looked at Steve, who offered him an ‘I know what you mean’ look.
“Would you like extra blankets?” Gerald asked, rising. “I can get you another if you like.”
“That’s all right,” Dakota said.
“Thank you, though,” Steve added. “We’ll be fine. It’s not like we’ll need more than one blanket.”
“That wouldn’t be expected,” Elise smiled.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Dakota grimaced. He would have bit his lip were he not afraid of drawing blood.
“It means exactly what it means,” the woman continued, a smile cresting her lips. “Sinners such as yourself have no need for modesty, not when you flaunt it so openly.”
“Sinning?” Steve asked. “What the hell are you talking about lady?”
“And the lord said, ‘Do unto others what would be done unto you,’” she laughed, raising her hands as she rose from her seat. “Do unto others? Do unto others? What shall be done unto us, you godforsaken heathen, when the world is wrought with queers such as you? What will happen when you have tainted all there is to taint and there are no men left to populate the world with the sons of Adam?”
“Elise,” Gerald warned, standing. “That’s enough.”
“Your forbidden desires and your lust of the flesh was what brought these creatures unto us!” the woman cried. “You did it! YOU did it!”
“We didn’t do anything!” Dakota cried.
“Oh, boy, you did. You know exactly what you’ve done.”
“Lady, I haven’t done anything! I’m still a virgin!”
“So says the boy who comes into our home with a man.”
“That is more than enough,” Gerald said, taking Elise by the arm. “I won’t have this, especially not after everything we’ve gone through.”
Elise stopped moving. Her muscles, tense from her husband’s initial touch, relaxed, while her lips curled in horror as though Gerald had delivered her last penance. It took a moment for the shock in her eyes and the horror from her face to clear, but when it did, what replaced it was so much worse than anything the dead could have summoned.
“So,” she said, after a moment’s hesitation. “You’ve sided with the heathens.”
“I never said that.”
“I always knew that was wrong with you, Gerald. I saw you.”
“Saw me what?”
“I saw you looking at other men.”
The hair on Dakota’s arms stood on end and the weight in his heart increased tenfold. A pendulum dropping upon his head, it sliced any calm rationale within his mind and let it fall into two pieces. At his side, Steve stood silent, though his hand strayed to the holster at his side. Please don’t, he thought, ready to lash out and tackle his friend to the ground at any moment.
“This is ridiculous,” Gerald said, breaking the brief moment of silence that shattered the violent cloud of hate in the room. “Elise, I have never—”
“That time at the amusement park, when we were with little Sophie and her parents. I saw you looking at him, Gerald.”
“Who?”
“That boy. I always knew you were wrong, Gerald. I should’ve listened to Mother when she said you were a bad man, but by God, I didn’t want to believe it. I didn’t want to believe that the man I loved, my husband, wanted men. I didn’t. I didn’t. I DIDN’T!”
“ENOUGH!” Gerald roared.
“They’re being too loud,” Dakota whispered, eyes darting to the window as he saw shapes moving on the road. “Steve, they’re going to hear us in here!”
“God will deliver me to his kingdom!” Elise cried, throwing herself to the front door. “He will deliver me my salvation and send his angels with trumpeting horns to free me from my mortal sin!”
“ELISE!” Gerald screamed.
“NO!” the woman cried.
She hurled the door open.
A figure lunged from the shadows just as the glass in the front windows exploded into the living room.
“GET AWAY FROM THE DOOR!” Gerald cried. “ELISE! NO!”
“It’s not worth it,” Steve cried, grabbing the man’s arm. “Don’t do it, Gerald! Don’t do it!”
In the final moments of her life, Elise spread her arms and smiled. Crucified by her mortal sins, she closed her eyes and whispered a prayer just moments before the zombie burst into the living room and dragged her to the ground.
“NO!” Gerald screamed, tearing away from Steve’s grasp and grabbing a nearby lamp. “BASTARDS! LEAVE MY WIFE ALONE!”
“DON’T DO IT!” Dakota screamed.
Steve tried to grab the man, but it was no use. By the time Gerald slammed the lamp over the zombie’s head, three more appeared from the shadows and launched themselves into the house, pulling Gerald away just as he reached his motionless wife.
Dakota raised his gun. He flipped the safety off.
“No, Dakota!” Steve cried. “They’re already dead! We have to get out of here!”
“But I…they…” Tears streaming down his face, he lowered his gun and followed Steve into the kitchen, toward the door that led out into the backyard. From the other room, he could hear Gerald’s cries of anguish as the creatures ripped him to pieces. A shambling zombie attempted to follow, but Dakota raised his gun and fired a shot, which could barely be heard over the howls of agony projected from Gerald’s lungs.
Steve kicked the door open.
The corpse fell to the ground with a bullet through its head.
Dakota took one last look into the living room. He saw a painting of a beautiful sunrise just before Steve pulled him out the back door.
CHAPTER 2
“Corporal Marks, has the perimeter been secured?”
“Yes sir,” Corporal Jamie Marks said, taking a brief glance back at the chain-link fence. “The perimeter is clear, sir.”
“How many casualties?”
“Six confirmed, sir, possibly more.”
“Dammit,” Sergeant Armstrong breathed, swiping a hand across the stubble on his head. “Civilians, military?”
“Mostly civilians, sir. Two military.”
“Who?”
“Marsh and Rangers.”
“Privates,” the sergeant sighed. He surveyed the area, his usually-mean eyes softening to the point of what looked to be sorrow. “Have the corpses been dealt with?”
“All within the perimeter have been dealt with, sir,” Private Erik Roberts said, stepping into place beside Corporal Marks with his hands clasped behind his back.
“What do you mean ‘within the perimeter’?”
“Some of the civilians were trapped outside when we closed the door—most bitten. Casualties, sir.”
“The remaining civilians?”
“Dustin Bowers and Michael Young are waiting inside the front lobby with deputies Kirn and Wills. Last I saw, the boy followed them in.”
“He have a name?”
“Desmond, sir. Desmond Child.”
“Good. Corporal, Private, I’d like you both to enter the building and scout the first floor. We don’t want any of them pus bags sneaking up on us.”
“Yes sir!” they said in unison.