Apocalypse Asunder (15 page)

“Maybe they’re slow.”

“They might have us boxed in.”

“Not yet.” Jessica answered tightly as Candice made a whimpering noise.

“I might be slow—” he started but she cut in.

“We’re not leaving you.  Just gonna have a quick look ahead to see if we can get back out okay.”

“Just keep going.” he called after her.

“You too.” she called back without looking behind her.

“Mom, what are we going to do?” Candice asked, running alongside Jessica.  The girl’s voice was breathless with fear, dialing into higher tones that took years off her age.

“I don’t know.” Jessica answered honestly as she went up the side of the house well clear of its front corner, guarding against something that might be lurking just beyond where she could see.  The yard was empty though, and she saw the zombie horde had thinned considerably.  No, that wasn’t quite accurate.  Most of them had spilled into the other yard, and didn’t seem to grasp the concept of going back toward the street and into this yard.

Instead, the zombies were pressing against the fence single mindedly.  As stupid as zombies were, it was a proven strategy; even if they didn’t know it.  A large section of the front facing fence line was flat on the ground where the horde had pushed through it, and they were already starting to bring pressure to the side fencing as well.  Jessica didn’t bother trying to shoot any; they were already at the fence.  It wouldn’t help.  There was no way she could speed-shoot enough of the zombies to make a difference.

The gate on this house’s front fence was broken, its latch heavily bent so that it was impossible to close it properly.  None of the zombies ahead of them had reached the yard yet, but they were close enough that the street in both directions was blocked off.  Jessica glanced back at Austin, but he was grimly and gamely power walking toward her.

“They’re getting close!” Candice cried, bringing Jessica’s attention back to the street again.  Sure enough, the closest zombies were maybe fifteen seconds from sealing the humans into this yard.

When Austin joined her, Jessica led the way out into the street once more and right across it.  Before they reached the opposing house she saw more zombies staggering into view in either direction down the street.  They were already looking at the humans, and it was obvious when they saw the three warm, inviting, to-go dinners trying to find a way out of this mess.  Every head stopped lolling and wobbling, locking on like the zombies were missiles on a mission.

“Godda—Jesus!” Jessica said in frustration.

“I think this area only looked quiet.” Austin panted.

“Where the f—where are they all coming from?”

“Yards?  Jammed up in the houses?  We managed to find the perfect storm of a path in that’s closing up on us?”

“Fu—fuck it!” Jessica said, pointing at the house ahead of them.  “In here.” she said as she looked over the gate, then led the way toward it.

“Forting up?”

“Yes.” she said, glancing over her shoulder.  “If there are hidden hordes around here, then if we keep running while being chased, we’re going to get cornered sooner or later.  Better to pick a spot we can defend.  Give us time to figure something out.”

“Yes ma’am.” he grinned, though it was more grimace than grin.

“They’re going to get us!” Candice said.

“No they’re not.”

“If we stop running they’ll get us!”

“No they won’t.” Jessica said again.

“You mean they’ll all leave if we hide?” the girl asked timidly.

“Come on.” Jessica said, purposefully ignoring the question.  There wasn’t time to debate, and not even for her to calm Candice down.  There was only moving and going.

The house she’d picked was enclosed with a fairly low wall, not even tall enough to keep her from seeing over.  She could see the yard was clear, but even though they had zombies coming at them from three directions she made herself take the moment and look very carefully in a second check before she tried the gate.  The yard was clear; she was sure.

And the gate swung free at her touch.  With the Shield held straight armed before her, she went through and swung it around quickly, feeling like she was a cop on television.  The yard was still empty.  Nothing materialized or rose out of the overgrown grass to menace them.

Jessica looked around quickly as Austin came through the gate, again hoping to see something that she could use to jam it behind them, but the area was too landscaped to have any stray sticks or abandoned tools laying about.  The yard was as overgrown as all the others; but there was nothing planted that could yield something conveniently handy she could have pressed into service to stopper the entrance to the yard.

“Get the house open.” Austin panted as he came through it.  “Hurry.”

“I know.” she scowled, giving up on the gate.  Sprinting over to the house, she spared one second to try the knob, then stepped back and pointed the Shield at the door.  Her first three shots gouged the wood around the knob, and the next two splintered it badly; but the door didn’t move.

She holstered the nearly empty nine millimeter pistol and drew the Taurus.  The bigger rounds carried more energy, and every second that passed while she screwed around with the door was setting her nerves that much more aflame with tension and fear.  Leveling the stainless steel automatic at the door, she used two bullets to finish ripping the knob and its latch free of the door.  Four more rounds fractured the wood around the deadbolt badly enough for her to finally get the door open.

“Candice, stay right behind me.” Jessica said as she ejected the magazine and stuffed it into her pocket next to the SUV key.  A full magazine came out of her back pocket, and she jammed it into the pistol before reholstering it and exchanging the Taurus for the Shield once more.  She reloaded the nine millimeter with its spare magazine, then edged forward into the house behind her outstretched gun.

This was another Spanish style domicile, with a big and inviting entry hall.  The stairs weren’t right at the door, facing it, this time; they were down the hall a little ways.  Jessica waited just long enough to hear Austin’s boots on the porch, then moved.  Candice was clinging to her shirt with another death grip, tugging on the fabric as she followed her mother.  Jessica paused at each open doorway long enough for a quick look to confirm there was no imminent threat, then continued.

At the stairs, she went up without delay until she was near the top.  A fast check around at the second level to see that it was clear, then she stepped out into the upper hallway and looked around a second time.  Still clear.  Picking a door, she opened it and stepped back in anticipation of something hungry coming out.  But the bedroom beyond was empty.  She went inside and checked it out; closet, under the bed.  All was quiet.

“Candice, in the corner.” Jessica said, pointing.

“I want to stay with you.”

“Candice, Rule Two!” Jessica half-snapped.

The girl went past her, visibly unhappy and shaking, but Jessica contented herself that her daughter was obeying and safe for the moment.  It was up to her to
keep
Candice that way.  Jessica grabbed for a dresser and started sliding it toward the door.  She got it into the hallway by the time Austin made it to the top of the stairs.  As soon as he was out of the way, she shoved it past him and put it against the wall in front of the stairwell.

“No, like this.” he said, planting his foot against the bottom and pulling against the dresser top with one hand.  It tilted, and she stepped back as he removed his foot and let it crash down on its side with a thud.  When it was down, he used his foot to adjust its position.

“Why?” she asked, looking around quickly.  The hallway had no visible furniture; just light fixtures and pictures.

“More stable, harder to knock over.” he answered.

“We need some more furniture.”

“I’ll check this way.” Austin said, starting to turn.

“No.” she said quickly.  “You’ve done enough.  You’re hurt.  Stand here and see if you can’t clog up the bottom of the stairs with dead zombies.”

“Yes ma’am.” he nodded, lifting the MP5 and settling it against his shoulder.  Downstairs, the tramp and scuff of feet on the floor, the thud and thump of staggering bodies cramming themselves into the hallway, was getting quite loud.  She saw the first shadow of an approaching zombie appear at the bottom of the stairs as she headed for the next bedroom door.

Jessica opened it and cleared the room as quickly, but carefully, as she could before pulling a second dresser out into the hallway.  She heard Austin shooting, but made herself relax.  Zombies could not force their way up the stairs faster than he could kill them.  The problem was what happened when he ran out of rounds.

She got the dresser out into the hallway and near the stairs.  When she tried to copy his trick of trying to push it over while blocking the bottom with her foot, she found she wasn’t strong enough to manage it.  She couldn’t get the damn thing to tip over; it wanted to move toward her instead of tip.  Austin noticed the problem almost immediately.

“Here, I’ll handle that part.” he said, safing the submachine gun and reaching for the dresser.

“Don’t hurt yourself.” she said, still struggling with the dresser.

“Too late.”

“I’m serious!” she said, but stepped back as he shouldered her out of the way.  The dresser tipped over as soon as she was clear, so she drew the Taurus and headed for the second bedroom again.

“So am I, but it’s okay.”

“Not if you pass out, or die, it isn’t.” Jessica muttered as she stepped back in the room.  There was a low bookcase, three shelves that barely came up past her waist, that looked like a good candidate.  The stuff on the top two shelves she just swept right off with her arms, not caring where it all went or if anything broke; just so it was out of the way.  When she tried to move the bookcase, it came easily enough.  She slid it out into the hallway, kicking CDs and books aside, then over to the stairs.

She realized she couldn’t hear it scraping across the floor over the ruckus of the zombies downstairs.  The house was filling with a macabre imitation of a heavy metal concert’s slam dancing as the creatures below bumped and walked and crowded into the first floor.

As she arrived with the bookcase, she saw the closest zombies were already halfway up the stairs.  They were climbing and clawing their way up; she couldn’t tell with a quick glance which were still ‘alive’ – or at least, dangerous – and which were ‘dead’ after being shot by Austin; but there were a
lot
of them.  As he changed magazines in his gun before reaching for the next piece of furniture for the barricade, Jessica heard Candice screaming.

Her blood ran cold, and Jessica spun.  She managed to crack her knee painfully on the bookcase as she turned, but she ignored that; darting for the bedroom where she’d left Candice.  Bursting into the doorway, filling her hand with the Taurus, she swept her gaze wildly around the room.

Nothing; just Candice huddled in the corner next to a computer desk.  The girl had sunk down, sitting against the walls with her knees drawn up and her hands wrapped around her head to block her ears.

“Make it stop!  Make them stop!” she screamed, fastening her eyes – bright with tears and wide with panic – on her mother.

Jessica heard Austin shooting behind her, but she ignored that too; jamming her dead husband’s pistol back in the holster at her side as she darted across the room toward Candice.  She managed to slide across the carpet, she went down on her knees so fast, which earned her another bump on her shoulder when she hit the wall; but then she was next to her daughter.

“We’re fine.  We’re okay.” she said quickly, trying to pitch her voice soothingly but loudly so there was a chance the girl might hear it over her cries.

“Make it stop!” Candice said, grabbing for Jessica.  She almost bowled Jessica over, she hurled herself into the woman so wildly.  Her little hands clutched at her mother, squeezing her tightly as if she were afraid to let go.  “Make them stop!”

“We’re okay.  Candice, we’re okay.” Jessica tried again, patting the girl on the back.  She heard Austin grunt, followed by a thudding as he presumably tipped the bookcase over to reinforce the furniture barricade.  “Relax.  Calm down.” she said.  Out in the hallway, Austin resumed shooting again.

“They’re going to get us!” Candice cried, burying her face against Jessica’s side.  “They’re going to keep coming!”

“We’re going to stop them.”

“There’s too many!”

“Candice—”

“Mom, make them stop!”

“Candice—”

“Oh God!”

“Candice!”
Jessica shouted, shaking the girl sharply.  She hated it, hated herself for having to do it, but she had to break through the swirl of panic her daughter was clearly lost to.  Not only was it going to endanger her, but Jessica was having a hard enough time keeping her own head on straight.  Fair or not, trying to deal with Candice as the girl lost it was making it harder for Jessica to hold it together.

Candice looked up at her, face messy with dust streaked through with tears, blotching with swelling and redness from where she’d rubbed at it, or pressed it into Jessica’s shirt.  The girl was terrified; every pore of her expression made it plain.  But in the back of her gaze, just barely visible in the furthest back edge of her eyes that was visible, Jessica could see a heart-breaking glimmer of hope.  That mom could fix this, could make it all better.