I looked around at the men, for a moment amazed that they were actually taking orders from me. Not a one of them would have looked at me twice a day ago.
“Does everyone understand what we’re doing? We go find whoever’s yelling for help and we bring them back here. That’s it. No other side missions, no lollygagging, no nothing. There and back. That’s it.”
Washington looked me in the eye. He looked spooked, but resolute. I nodded at him. “Any other parting words?”
He shook his head. “No. Everyone stick together.”
Wilkinson stayed behind and guarded the door as the rest of us exited slowly. I guess he’d been relegated back to guard duty out of necessity. The House would be screwed if we didn’t make it back. We were taking most of the firearms with us.
Washington went outside first and did a quick recon on both sides of the door to make sure nothing was waiting for us. He waved at the rest of us and we went out in order: Rodriguez next, then me, then Felix and then some guy whose name I didn’t know. We’d all seen a movie or three in our day so we tried our best to treat this like a military operation. Each man fanned out a little and made sure that we were at least safe for a minute or two.
I had my shotgun braced against my shoulder and pointed at the ground. The safety was off, of course. I wasn’t going to have that issue again. As soon as I stepped outside I was soaked to the skin with the rain. It was coming down hard enough that you couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of you.
“Shit,” I said.
“What?” Washington hissed.
“Does anyone have a flashlight? It didn’t even occur to me.”
Three flashlights popped on simultaneously, all pointed at my face. I hissed and put a hand over my eyes. Washington, Felix and the unknown man all had flashlights out. I looked at the guy I didn’t know. “What’s your name?”
He didn’t bother looking at me. He was stabbing the dark with the flashlight like it was a lightsaber. He looked scared shitless. “Stubby.”
I looked at him. He was as skinny as a beanpole. “Stubby?”
Felix chuckled behind me. “Don’t ask.”
Whatever. “Okay, guys,” I whispered, “We need to keep moving. Keep your eyes open and make sure nothing sneaks up on us.”
We trudged slowly through the dark. With no power and no moon to guide us the only light we had was the little shining from the House behind us and the feeble light from the flashlights. The rain was cold and I was chilled to the bone already. The night seemed full of hate and probing eyes and relentless hunger. Occasionally lightning would cross the sky and light our way a little bit but it didn’t really help.
Washington led the pack and Stubby was watching our rear. Felix and Rodriguez took the sides. For some reason I was smack dab in the middle of the group, not that I was complaining. I don’t think they did it consciously, but maybe on some level they wanted to protect me as the youngest one there.
The cries of help coming from the darkness were sporadic but we were definitely getting closer to them. As best I could tell they were coming from a cluster of cars up ahead. I could sense more than see the cars. They were about a hundred feet up ahead. The skin on the back of my neck prickled and I could feel a tightening in my gut. Abruptly the rain slackened and stopped. We were already soaked to the skin but at least now we would maybe be able to move a little faster.
Stubby let out a little scream and fired his gun, a 9 millimeter. He fired a half dozen shots before I could swivel around to see what was happening. I brought my shotgun to bear but couldn’t see anything. His breath was coming in quick, wheezing gasps and I could see that his hands were shaking. He finally stopped firing.
“Stubby,” I hissed. “What did you see?”
“I, I,” he stuttered and pointed. “There was something over there behind that trailer. I think I got it.” His chin quivered. Hell, I thought maybe he was about to pass out.
Washington spoke up behind me. I looked around to see that he was still sweeping his flashlight in front of us. Good. “Did anyone else see anything?”
A bunch of grumbles and grunts met his question. No one had seen a damned thing. Stubby turned to look at me and Washington imploringly. “I saw something. I swear. It was wearing white and moving. It ducked back behind the trailer when I shot at it.”
“Dammit, Stubby,” I said. “If it ducked behind the trailer then it wasn’t a zombie. You’re seeing things.”
“I am not,” he hissed, taking a step toward me. “I saw something moving. It had to be a zombie.”
The cry for help broke the night again suddenly. Whoever it was had heard the shots. “Please. If you’re out there please help me. I’m in a car. Please help me.”
I looked back at Stubby. He looked at me. “I saw something. I swear.”
“Well is it there now?” I hissed.
He turned around and shone the flashlight back behind us. The zombie attacked him without a sound. Its claws buried themselves in his face. It was wearing a white shirt and nothing else. Its long stringy hair was stuck to its head and its pale face stared blankly at us all. The eyes were red and filled with blood. It was a woman. I have no idea who she was. He screamed and fired the gun again and again into her stomach. Each shot jostled her and she shook from the blasts but she already had her claws in him.
He screamed again. The sound was piercing and shook me to my core. I couldn’t believe how fast she’d come up behind us. And we’d been watching for her. She pulled one bloody hand out of his face and shoved it into his mouth. His screams went silent as she ripped his tongue out of his mouth and threw it into her own. I could hear the click of the gun hitting empty, but he still kept trying to reflexively pull the trigger. She reached back in and grabbed more of his face, scooping it into her mouth by the handful.
“Madre de dios,” Felix whispered from behind me.
All of this had happened in no more than five seconds.
I pulled the shotgun to my shoulder. Everything was happening in slow motion. I could still hear Stubby’s muffled screams from somewhere deep within his chest, but the zombie had her arm buried down his throat to the elbow. She kept pulling out more and more things that I didn’t want to recognize.
I could see the moment the zombie lost interest in him. Her arm was still buried in his throat and her head slowly swiveled toward me. Ten more seconds had passed. None of the guys had fired a shot for fear of hitting him. I didn’t have that compunction. I took one slow motion step forward and lined the sights on her stinking head. That was the moment she looked at me. I took a deep breath and it seemed like the world stopped. I could no longer hear the grunts, groans and screams from around me and there was nothing but me, the trigger, the shotgun and the zombie. I finally pulled the trigger an eternity later.
The top of her head came off in a spray of blood.