Dead Stop (37 page)

“Oh shit,
Harley! We’ve got to get out of here! Please tell me you’ve got the keys to the
car.”

 Marisa
looked at the man in desperation. Not a remnant remained of the madness that
had overtaken her earlier. Sanity now returned in full force, and it told her
in no uncertain terms what odds they faced against the monstrosity now beating
its way through the steel door.

“I haven’t had a
chance to,” came his tight reply. “I had just finished the last zombie off and
came to see if you needed help. Besides, if Stacey is right then they’re in
that pile of body parts in the corner…and I noticed those aren’t exactly dead
anymore. I think the fungus has connected it all and the whole mass is alive
now.”

“Oh Jesus….”

Marisa looked
over into the corner, then clenched her eyes shut and swallowed. That “mass”
had been three of her friends. Leon, Tomas, and even old Arnold in his grouchy
way. And now they were reduced to one more sight she would be spending the rest
of her life trying to forget. She could only pray the squirming mess had no
memory or intelligence.

It was almost
too much. This nightmare just kept evolving and didn’t show any sign of
stopping.  Every time she thought they had finally seen the extent of this
night’s horror, something even worse reared its head.

Another
earthshaking slam jerked her attention back to the present, and the reality of
their situation. They had bigger fish to fry.

What writhed in
the corner might be an abomination of the highest order, but right now Death
was knocking at the door. And he would be coming in any minute.

Buddha Boy was
here.

Harley must have
seen the despair in her eyes, for he summoned a grin that at least tried to be
reassuring. Unfortunately, it looked more desperate than anything else.

“It’s okay,” he
said, and moved towards the door. “I got this. I just need you to be brave one
more time.”

Not trusting
herself to speak, she only nodded. She couldn’t think of anything to say now
anyway. It was time to get back into action. She doubted he would be able to
hold the door closed for long and moved to find something to help him brace it
shut.

“No, don’t
move,” Harley waved her back as he reached towards the door handle. “I need you
to just stand there, where he will be sure to see you when I open the door…”

On second
thought, there might be something that needed saying, after all.

“When you
WHAT
???”

“I gotta open
the door Marisa,” he spoke in a low voice as he leaned against the buckling
structure. “If I don’t, he’s going to break it and they’ll all get in. Better
to let him in and face him alone.”

“And he’s going
to just waltz right in while you hold the door for him? That’s awful nice of
the big guy!”

“Well, that’s
where we get to the ‘you being brave’ part.”

Of course it
was.

“Annnnnnd my job
is to be bait.” She sighed.

“I just need you
to catch his attention and draw him past me. I’ll be behind the door. Then you
run around behind the car when he comes in. I’ve still got one shot left, so
I’ll just step out and put a bullet in his head. It’ll be easy. Then I’ll get
the keys, we’ll hop in the car, and it will all be downhill from there.”

“Right,” Marisa
nodded and faced the door again. If Harley said it would be easy then it was
probably going to be difficult as hell, but that was just the way her evening
was going. The gore splattered girl figured she was getting used to it. Hell,
she had already done two or three death defying stunts tonight anyway. What was
one more?

“Remember, run.
Don’t even try to mix it up with this thing.”

That brought a hollow
laugh from her.

“Don’t worry,
Harley. Miss Crazypants is gone for the evening. It’s just me now. Don’t you
feel lucky?”

“Actually, yes.”
He replied with a sober look. “
Your
judgment, I trust.”

Well, that was
always good to know.

“Aw… thanks,
partner,” she smiled weakly. “I’ll be good and run away. Now please don’t die,
okay?”

As if on cue,
another thunderous crash shook the door.

“Not planning on
it,” he winked back.

Then Harley’s
grin tightened and he held up one finger while grabbing the doorknob with the
other hand.  It was go time.

“Okay...” He
lifted his hand higher like somebody getting ready to drop the flag at a drag
race. “Get ready…annnnnd…here we go.”

Marisa watched
him jerk the door open and step behind it in one smooth motion. And even though
she had prepared herself for this, the sight of this new threat took her breath
away.

The monster
literally filled the doorway.

Buddha Boy’s
pale bulk spanned the entire breadth of the door frame. The great body was
swollen and off color, a monstrous corpse that dominated the entranceway. And
at well over six foot, its bald head almost reached the top as well. There
could have been an entire horde of ravenous dead behind the creature and Marisa
wouldn’t have been able to tell. Whatever possible remnant that may have
remained of her former berserker self melted away in the presence of this
behemoth.

Its dead white
eyes practically glowed in its mottled face. They scanned the room, then
stopped as they came to rest on her. Their pearly surface seemed to take on an
unholy sheen at the sight of the lone girl.

Oh looky!
She
swallowed.
He’s taking the bait. Lucky me! Harley, you better not miss.

“Hey, Buddha
Boy!” she stammered out in mock good cheer. “You want your usual? No prob…HOLY
SHIT!”

The monster
exploded in her direction.

And in one split
second she realized they had made a terrible mistake.

They should have
known that if the skeletal monsters from the cemetery could move quick, then
something with fresh new muscles would be just as fast…or faster. But they had
underestimated this thing.  Its bulk had thrown them off, making them
think it could only move like Buddha Boy in life. Now it stampeded towards her
like a juggernaut of mortified flesh.

Marisa was a
split second away from being torn limb from limb.

Realizing she
didn’t have time to run around the end of the car, Marisa whipped around and
began a desperate attempt to dive across the hood instead. She started from
about eight or nine feet from the car, knowing the putrefying giant was already
almost right on top of her.  Her long legs closed the gap in three rapid
strides. This was going to be close. Hearing the slap of his naked feet right
behind her, the terrified young woman gathered her strength and leapt for all
she was worth.

She didn’t make
it.

The rancid titan
landed on her like an avalanche.

His mass smashed
her down onto the car in mid leap, buckling the metal of the hood and driving
the air out of her lungs. It felt like somebody had dropped a dead elephant on
her. The girl’s spine bowed and her ribs threatened to snap under the titanic
pressure.  Marisa gagged and her vision became ringed in red as she
struggled to get her breath back under the immense weight. The monster had her
pinned like a bug. She was starting to suffocate and a whole new order of panic
set in.

Worse yet, she
could feel the thing turn its head against the back of her own, and realized it
was preparing to bite…and there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it. She
couldn’t even wriggle under the crushing load. Marisa clenched her eyes shut,
steeling herself for the agony of its teeth cutting into her neck or shoulder.

Benny…Stacey…I’m
sorry. I almost made it back for you guys. I really tried.

Then a
thunderous explosion went off right behind her ear.

Gladys’s gun.

Even before the
blast faded, Marisa realized what had happened. Harley must have been running
behind the monster, chasing it as it charged, but not daring to take the shot
until he could get close and make sure it counted. When it had caught her, he
had caught it a scant second later. Then he must have put the gun against the
creatures head, right behind her, and pulled the trigger.

Her head rang
from the guns report, and if felt like she wasn’t going to be hearing anything
out of her right ear for a while…at least what was left of it…but the crushing
weight suddenly eased. A second later it disappeared entirely.

Marisa slid off
the hood of the car in a boneless heap. It felt like she had been squashed
flat. Now, instead of just her toe, ear, and hip, every bone in her body hurt.
Even her chest ached as she drew in her first gasping breath.  Once she
got her air and vision back, she fully intended to give Harley an earful about
this particular plan. Next time,
he
could damn well be the bait.

“Marisa!” She
dimly heard Harley yell through the ringing of her ears. “If you can hear me,
slide under the car! Hurry!”

Huh?

What the hell?

Marisa cracked
open a blurry eye to see Harley standing about seven or eight feet away. The
man crouched in a fighter’s stance, his face tight with tension. He tossed the
empty pistol to the floor nearby, and she instinctively understood it was to
free his uninjured hand for combat. For a second, the move confused her. Then
her vision cleared further to reveal the awful truth.

She was seeing
Harley from between Buddha Boys legs.

The giant corpse
still stood.

It must have
been getting ready to go after Harley when her labored attempts to breathe had
recaptured its attention. Now it twisted to turn its pearly white eyes back
down to where she lay. Looking up at a naked fat man from the floor already
gave her a picture she would rather not see, but the sight of the monster’s
grisly cranium only made things worse. Almost half of the top of its head was
missing, exposing brain matter and some strange cottony fuzz.

Harley hadn’t
missed…he just hadn’t killed it. And now he was out of bullets and facing a
monster that didn’t feel pain, didn’t get tired, and could punch its way
through a steel door. For a second, Marisa tried to understand how this could
have happened, and then the answer hit her.

Oh shit! The
doc called it hindbrain, and Harley shot it in the side of the head! He must
have missed the part of the brain this thing is using!

Now the
corpulent horror looked like it intended to renew its previous hood-top
acquaintance with her. And with it staring straight at her, she knew she had no
chance to slide under the car in time. It shifted its feet and started to reach
for her…

“Hey! Big guy!”
Harley shouted and clapped his hands together. “Over here! I’m your dance
partner now! C’mon, look at me!”

The monster
paused and glared back at the man.

Marisa held her
breath and forced herself not to move. The behemoth’s meaty hand hovered less
than a foot from her face. Her eyes almost crossed as they focused in on the
blood crusted paw.  Each finger was as thick as a sausage, and she knew
they combined to form a grip capable of crushing her skull like an eggshell.

Every fiber of
her being wanted to try and scramble away. But she understood the motion would
only ensure an attack, and it could grab her before she had a chance to escape.
Still, it was the hardest thing she had ever done. She just hoped Harley knew
what he was doing, because she doubted he would have much more chance in a hand
to hand struggle with this monster than she did.

“C’mon!” Harley
clapped his hands again. “C’MON! I’m right here! Come get me!”

The giant seemed
to consider him a moment.

“Yeah, that’s
right! Come get some, fat boy!”

CLAP!

“C’mon! What’s
the matter with you! Come get me!”

CLAP!

“C’mon, damn
you! I’m right here!”

Harley spread
his hands, as if offering himself to the monster.

Marisa tried to
convince herself that he wasn’t just doing this for her. She wanted to believe
he had some higher strategy behind this crazy move, but this time she knew
better. This time he wasn’t just doing his job. If he were being ruthless and
practical, then his best shot of killing this thing and saving the others was
to attack it from the rear while it attacked her. But he wasn’t doing that.

Instead, he was
openly inviting a killer behemoth to close with him, just to get it away from
her.

Yet while she
stared at that massive, gore-smeared hand so close to her face, she found she
really couldn’t hold it against him. He was being stupid as hell but she could
let that slide until later. Assuming there
was
a later. Right now he was
welcome to play hero to his heart’s content.

The three of
them stared at each other a second longer.

Then the monster
made its choice.

Marisa couldn’t
help but yell a warning as it bolted towards Harley. It closed on the man in a
flash, once again showing that astonishing acceleration to full speed in almost
no time flat. She knew its momentum had to be enormous, and the man’s only hope
was to find a way to dodge its charge.

But Harley
didn’t do that.

Instead he
braced himself, and drew back one hand now curled into a two pronged claw. A
split second later the giant slammed into him, driving him backwards…but not
before Harley lashed out and drove his hooked thumb and fingers into the
monster’s eyes and buried them up to their last knuckles in its sockets.

The effect
wasn’t immediate. The monster still plowed forward, now with Harley in its
grasp. The pair of them hurtled on and smashed into the cinder brick wall with
tremendous force.

Marisa heard
Harley grunt from the impact and knew it must have hurt terribly.  The
memory of being crushed under the titan’s weight still loomed fresh in her
memory. She knew being smashed against unyielding concrete by the thing had to
be far worse. At the same time, she realized what Harley had just done and
renewed hope caused her to scramble to her feet.