Lakewood Memorial (14 page)

"Which door?" he said, taking his rifle off
his shoulder.

Angie shrugged. She picked up a fifth jug of
alcohol and popped off the cap. She took out the lighter. "I don't
suppose it matters." She pointed at the one in the middle. "Though
that one will give us a choice of two hallways at the middle of it.
It splits off. One half goes straight to the emergency room. That's
the hallway we came down to get here. The other half goes to the
cafeteria, laundry room, and eventually back around to just outside
the emergency room."

"Always good to have choices," said Park. "I
guess we'll do that one."

Angie turned to the others. "We ready?"

Twenty

Maylee frowned down at Brooke's phone. The
display complained of low battery, then winked out completely. It
was dead. "Guess we won't be going back to the house to see if
Brooke brought the charger with her."

Dalton looked back at the house, then back
at Maylee. "They had her insides, Maylee." He had a look Maylee
hadn't seen on him since he was very small.

"I know," said Maylee, pushing down her own
fear. "But we just have to try not to think about it. Let's get
this car and get to Mom, okay?"

Dalton looked down, then back up. "Do you
think... do you think I got Brooke killed?"

Maylee bit her lip and looked at him. "No,
Dalton." She knelt to look him in the eye. "Listen to me. Those
things are what killed Brooke. We were just trying to get the phone
so we could call for help. Okay?"

Dalton looked at her. For a second he was a
scared little kid. Then the braver Dalton, the Dalton who had
knocked a hole to the basement and crawled through it, resurfaced.
"Okay."

She smiled at him. "Now, let's steal a
car."

She stood. Dalton looked up and down the
street. "Won't we get in trouble?"

Maylee shrugged. "Maybe. But I think there's
more important things to worry about."

"Brooke has
...
had
a
car."

Maylee looked at him. "You want to go back
to get the keys from her?"

Dalton looked back to the house, then back
to Maylee. He shook his head.

"Me neither," she said. She turned back to
the car and pulled on the door handle. "Damn."

"What?" said Dalton.

"It's locked. Whoever's car this is must
have locked their keys in the car."

"Should we find another one?"

Maylee looked up and down the street. She
could hear moaning, this time a little closer than before. "Don't
think we'll get lucky like this again. And besides, we have to get
moving. Can't stay in one place very long tonight."

"Those corpses are everywhere," said
Dalton.

"Yeah," said Maylee. "Stand back." She took
a step back from the car and swung her bat at the driver's window.
It shattered with a loud crash, sending glass to the street and all
across the front seat of the car.

Dalton walked up, wide-eyed. "Damn. It's
your fault if I get glass in my butt."

"Just get in.” She reached inside and hit
the unlock button.

Dalton went to the other side and opened the
door. Maylee opened the driver's door and brushed as much glass as
she could out into the street. She tossed her bat in the back seat
and sat, wincing at the sound of crunching glass but feeling no
pain that would indicate injury.

"Okay," she said. "This should work. Put on
your seat belt."

"What? We're stealing a car, Maylee. Car
thieves don't need to wear seat belts."

She turned to glare at him. "Will you just
do it?" She fastened hers. "I'm not going to get us this far and
then kill us both in a crash."

Grumbling, he fastened his seat belt. "I
wonder why the person whose car this was left their keys in
it."

Maylee shrugged. "Probably rushing to get
inside. Probably heard about all the trouble on the news."

"What if he died in the car?"

Maylee rolled her eyes at him. "If he died
in the car, he'd still be sitting in the front seat. Dead people
don't move."

They both looked at each other,
realizing.

A corpse grabbed at them from the back
seat.

Maylee and Dalton both screamed. The corpse,
a thin man in a business suit, clutched Maylee's head and pulled
back. Maylee frantically scrambled with the seat belt latch. The
thin man pulled Maylee's cheek close to his mouth. The seat belt
came free. Maylee grabbed the hard metal end of the strap and
shoved it into the man's eye. He made no reaction.

Dalton was struggling with
his seat belt. Maylee balled up her hand and slammed backward at
where the seat belt was lodged in the corpse's eye. She heard
something pop and the corpse let go and seemed to lose
focus.
I must have hurt the
brain
.

"Dalton!" she said, twisting in the seat to
help him with the seat belt. "The brain! You've got to hurt the
brain to stop these things." She undid his belt and he slid out the
passenger door.

She opened her door and jumped outside.
Dalton ran around to her side of the car. "My bat?" Maylee said.
"Where's my bat?"

"You left it in the back seat," said Dalton.
He tugged at her hand. "Come on. Let's just go."

Maylee shook her head. The corpse was
thrashing around in the back seat, sluggishly and slow, but still
dangerous. "No. We need this car to get to Mom."

She reached back inside the open driver's
door, around to the back seat. The corpse was thrashing just a few
feet away, so she moved quick. She pulled up the lock on the
driver's side rear door. Then she hurriedly grabbed her bat and
pulled her arm back. Looking around the pavement, she found a
fallen tree branch and tossed it to Dalton. The she stepped back,
holding the bat.

"Now, go unlock the other door."

"What? No way."

"Come on, Dalton!" She looked up and down
the street. "We don't have much time."

"What's the stick for?"

"To push him out this side," said Maylee,
using the bat to indicate her side.

"You're nuts!"

"Will you just do it!"

Dalton grumbled as he walked around and
opened the passenger front door. He looked through the window at
the corpse. The corpse was closer to Maylee's side and seemed not
to notice Dalton at all. He reached in very carefully, and quickly
pulled up the lock on the passenger rear door. He drew his hand out
quickly and stepped away from the car.

"Dammit! That thing could have bit me."

"I know," said Maylee. "But you did good.
Now open the door."

"Maylee..."

"Dalton, hurry! Those things are wandering
around everywhere and we have no idea when one's gonna find us out
here. Maybe even a bunch of them. We have to get in this car."

Dalton made a very worried whine and opened
the back door.

Maylee opened hers. The corpse heard the
sound and whipped its head from side to side, grunting. The seat
belt fell from the corpse's eye.

"Now push!" said Maylee.

Dalton steeled himself and shoved the corpse
in the shoulder with the branch. The corpse toppled out of the car
onto the pavement, right at Maylee's feet.

It had just started to right itself when
Maylee slammed her bat down on the corpse's skull. There was a
horrible "crack" and the thing moaned.

Dalton came around to Maylee's side, mouth
hanging open, watching Maylee.

"Dammit," said Maylee, slamming the bat down
again. The corpse's head crumpled and blood seeped out a crack in
its forehead. But it still moved, grabbing weakly at her.

"Just fucking die!" she screamed, slamming
down one more time. The corpse's skull collapsed and Maylee's bat
rang off the pavement. The corpse was still.

"Crap," said Dalton, looking down.

Maylee panted down at her handiwork. "We're
gonna have to get something better than a bat." She looked at the
blood and flesh coating her bat and grimaced. She wiped it on the
corpse's clothes.

"That's gross, Maylee," said Dalton.

"Well I'm sorry. Do you have a hanky on
you?"

"No."

"Then shut up." She checked the bat again.
It was clean. "Let's get out of here."

She shut the back door on her side and
Dalton went around and did his. They both climbed back in the car
and shut the front doors. Maylee wiped her seat belt on the seat,
then put it back on.

"The seat belt again?" said Dalton.

"Just do it."

He sighed and did.

Maylee let out a long sigh and turned the
ignition.

Nothing. Not the slightest attempt at
starting.

"What's wrong?" said Dalton.

Maylee tried a few more times, then groaned.
"Oh shit. The dead guy must have died with the car running. The gas
is gone, Dalton." She pulled the keys out and sat back in the
seat.

Dalton took off his seat belt. "Looks like
we're walking."

"For now," said Maylee, undoing hers. "I'll
think of something." She climbed out of the car and the corpse of a
woman hissed at her, inches from her face.

Maylee screamed. The woman's brown hair was
matted with blood and her eyes rolled back into her head. The woman
leaned in to bite.

With a grunt, Dalton came running around the
other side of the car and shoved the woman down. The woman fell to
the pavement, squirming and moaning.

"Hurry!" said Dalton, pointing at her. "Bat
her!"

Maylee shook herself out of her shock. "Oh,
right." She reached back into the car and grabbed the bat.

The woman was sitting back up and groaning
just as Maylee slammed the woman across the cheek. The woman's jaw
split and blood flew off to one side.

"The brain!" said Dalton.

"I know! I'm the one who told you!" said
Maylee. She brought the bat over her head and slammed downward as
hard as she could. The top of the woman's head bent inward. Blood
seeped out her ears. She fell backward and was still.

"Dammit!" said Maylee. She wiped sweat from
her forehead. "This is why I told you we have to hurry." She wiped
the bat on the woman's clothes, noticing the woman was wearing
pajamas and a bathrobe.

Dalton noticed it too. "She must have come
from the house."

Maylee nodded. "Yeah, probably." She looked
up and down the street, still winded. "Okay, let's go."

She and Dalton started walking toward the
end of the street. Then she stopped.

"Wait," she said, looking at the keys in her
hand.

"What?" said Dalton, turning back.

"There's a bunch of keys on here, and two
car unlocker-things," said Maylee, showing Dalton the key
chain.

Dalton walked back to her and looked. "So?
Maybe that was his wife there, and that's the thing to her
car."

Maylee nodded. "Yeah. And do you know what
this is?" She indicated a small device hanging from one end of the
chain.

"No. What?"

Maylee pointed the device toward the house
and clicked it. With a whine and a squeaking of gears, the garage
to the house's left opened. The door slowly rose up and shuddered
to a stop.

Another car sat in the garage.

"Please work, please work, please work,"
said Maylee, pointing the key chain at the new car and pushing one
of the unlock buttons.

The car beeped and lit up.

Maylee turned back to Dalton and
grinned.

Twenty-One

Angie stared at the corpses behind the door.
The room would be full of them in seconds once they opened the
door.

"Everyone sure they're ready?" she said.
"We'll have to move quick."

"Yep," said Park, holding his rifle.

Kristen said nothing, but held her rifle as
well. Mr. Paulson was quiet for the moment, hand on the wheelchair
controller.

Angie looked back at Park. "You think this
will work?"

Park shrugged. "Hope so."

Angie turned back to the door. "Yeah. Me
too."

The corpses bit at the glass.

"Okay," she said. "Let's go."

Angie splashed the door with rubbing alcohol
and lit it. Flame shot across the glass for a few seconds, then
sputtered out. The glass was blackened and the corpses behind it
had backed up several feet. Angie unlocked the door quickly and
opened it.

The corpses groaned and came for them.

"Everyone back up!" yelled Angie. They all
stepped backward, further into the room.

Corpses filed in, groaning and biting at
them. The group stayed clear, backing up as more corpses entered
the room.

"This won't work," said Kristen. "Oh god.
This isn't going to work."

"Shut the fuck up," said Park.

"Circle back!" said Angie.

The group turned, backing up to their left
now. More corpses came in. There were at least twenty in the room
now. They reached for the group as they came in, but were blocked
by the nurse's desk. Angie and Park had pushed the nurse's desk so
that it ran outward from the door frame, corralling the corpses
straight into the room. A few more came through, then no more.

"That must be it for the immediate hallway,"
said Angie. "Everyone keep backing up!"

The group backed toward the wall now. The
desk was at their left. Some of the corpses stumbled around the
desk and moved toward them.

"I think now would be a good time," said
Park.

"Yeah," said Angie. She climbed up onto the
desk and stood. Taking the open jug of alcohol, she dumped a large
amount on the floor just by the door. A few corpses, the last to
enter the room, reached for her but missed.

Angie set the jug down and knelt on the
desk. Leaning forward with the lighter, she lit the puddle she had
made.

Flame wooshed up at her and into the room.
She pulled back, nearly singed. The corpses moaned and backed
further away from the door, deeper into the room.