The Infected (Book 2): Karen's First Day (18 page)

Leon made a left turn and headed back around the main
loop of the development. A few more stragglers joined the ranks of Karen’s sad
block party and it seemed like they had the majority of them following the
Charger.

“Okay, I think that’s enough.” Karen rolled up her
window.

Leon moved the medical bag over to his left shoulder and
used it to block out his open window. It only covered eighty percent of the
opening, but it was better than nothing. He mashed the gas pedal and the
Charger leapt forward. He put a block between them and the newly formed horde.
He crushed the brakes and skidded to a stop.

“Here we go!” Leon turned his body so he could look out
the rear window. He dropped the car into reverse and punched the gas. The tires
smoked and screamed as they sped backwards. Leon kept his eyes focused on the
leader of the dead. She was a young fit woman, around 30 years old. Her black
yoga pants were torn and covered in blood. The once white athletic sports top
had been turned dark red with the blood of her victims. Her strong thick quads
flexed with every step. The muscles in her thighs made it clear why she was the
front-runner of this ghastly crew.

Karen wanted to scream stop, but it was too late.

What was I thinking?

Children are in the car.

The only plan she could come up with was to use a car to
mow down a hundred dead people.

What a bad idea.

The second before the first impact Karen closed her eyes.
She wished she could close her ears too. The sound of the bones crunching under
the four thousand pound muscle car was absolutely disgusting. Skulls bounced
off the rear window and trunk. The dead bodies were sucked under and chewed up
by the powerful rear wheels. The back window was completely covered with gore
shortly after the first hit.

Leon was driving blind.

Body parts flew over the roof and crashed into the
mounted light on the top of the Charger. Blood trickled down the windshield and
out onto the hood. The metal trunk bent and folded under the pressure of the
dead bodies. The car began to slow. The rear window cracked. Troy ducked down
behind the back seat. Dead bodies crashed along the sides of the cruiser and
knocked off both side mirrors.

It worked!

Karen felt a lot better about her idea to use the Charger
as a wrecking ball.

Some slop sprayed in over the medical bag and splashed
across Leon’s new sunglasses. He quickly rubbed the sleeve of his jacket over
his face and cleaned off the nasty gunk. He had the Hemi redlining, but they
were still slowing down. There were just too many infected and they were no
longer hitting them fast enough to destroy the bodies.

Leon tapped the brakes and the car slid on the hundreds
of gallons of human remains in the street. The Dodge’s performance transmission
allowed him to put it right back into drive without skipping a beat. The back
of the car fishtailed down the road. The tires were so slick with fluids they
didn’t smoke.

Karen opened her eyes when she felt the change in
direction. The cruiser’s rear and side windows were coated in black. It made it
feel like it was nighttime inside the Dodge.

“I can’t tell how many are left!” Leon called out as he
cranked the windshield washers to full blast. The wipers whipped back and forth
trying to clear the thick fluids.

“Mama! Hand!” Robin pointed over Karen’s shoulders at the
hood of the car. Karen’s eyes followed the path of her finger until they found
what her child had pointed at. A gnarled up severed hand and most of a forearm
lay out on the hood in front of her. It was missing a few fingers and at the
angle she was looking at it the hand appeared to be giving her the bird.

Fuck you too buddy!

“Don’t look!” Karen tried again to block the nasty view. They
raced down the street for a few blocks then Leon pulled the emergency brake and
whipped the car around one hundred and eighty degrees.

Less than fifty infected monsters remained upright and
moving down the street after them. Karen could see Penny’s house down the
block. The lights were out and it looked like no one was home.

Good, she’s safe in a closet or back bedroom.

We’re almost home.

“Let’s try that one more time.” Leon hung a hard right
and raced down the block. He popped his head out the open window to line up his
attack. Once he got the rear bumper centered on the horde he punched it again. There
was no way to see out the back windows anymore. No way to know when the first
hit would happen.

Karen closed her eyes again and began to hum to herself.
It was like white noise inside her head. The back of the Charger hit its first
infected and kept going.

It will be over soon.

Then we will be safe.

It sounded like the trunk had caved in. The rear window
also took a couple heavy hits from some big infected noggins, but it held. When
they were three quarters of the way through the horde they hit something big. It
was a slow moving monster with a ravenous appetite. The Charger came to a
sudden stop and the back of the car bounced into the air. Troy’s head crashed
against the metal cage, knocking him out cold. Valerie began to scream at the
top of her lungs. The car touched back down and the rear axle landed on the
rotund body with a loud crunch. The wheels hovered an inch from the ground.

They were stuck.

The wheels spun in the air. Karen could hear the sounds
of dead hands banging along the side of the Charger even over the roar of the
Hemi, but what she couldn’t hear was the sound of her phone ringing in her
pocket.

The cabin of the Dodge filled with screams as infected
hands pushed past the medical bag. Leon tried to maneuver the bag to block the
encroaching claws but there were too many hands and not enough bag to keep them
all out. Fingertips scraped at the window next to Karen’s face. The window was
so blacked out with blood she couldn’t tell how many of them were still out
there.

“Troy!” Karen looked back at her brother. He was laid out
cold on his chest with Valerie still strapped to his back. Blood trickled from
under his baseball cap. Valerie’s tears dripped off her cheeks and onto the
back of her uncle’s neck.

 An infected arm pushed past the medical bag. Its
nasty hand reached toward Leon’s face. The dirty broken fingers dragged across
the mirrored finish of his sunglasses. Leon pushed against the infected arm and
he lost his grip on the medical bag. The infected ripped the bag out of Leon’s
hands and pulled it clear of the car.

The tapping fingers next to Karen’s face had become more
aggressive and the infected beasts were throwing their fists and elbows at the
glass. Leon quickly replaced the bag with his axe. He smashed the blunt head of
the weapon into the asshole’s face that stole the bag. It knocked the infected
to the ground but it was quickly replaced by another hungry mouth. Karen
couldn’t get a clear shot. Leon’s head kept bobbing back and forth in front of
the open window. He slammed his foot into the gas pedal over and over but the
tires were still an inch off the ground.

Leon hammered the axe into the faces of the infected, but
he couldn’t land a kill shot. Karen’s window spider webbed. She had to make a
decision fast, but her option was limited to one. Get out and run!

How did it go so bad so fast?

The next hit at her window busted it wide open. Shards of
glass rained down on her. She popped off a round at the first thing that moved
outside her window. The screams of her children and the gunshot all piled on
top of each other caused Karen to go deaf. Everything sounded like she had her
head under water.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Karen gunned down another two infected creatures at her
window. Leon’s axe disappeared, ripped from his hands and tossed to the ground
by an infected man that looked like it had just taken an acid bath. The skin on
its face hung like melted cheese. Leon kicked open his door and knocked the man
to the ground. In a flash Leon was up and out the door.

“I’m sorry!” was all he said to Karen as he sprinted away
from the car. It didn’t register with Karen what Leon had done until he was
half a block away and still moving.

He left us!

Motherfucker!

Three monsters chased after Leon. He rounded the corner
of a house and was gone.

BOOM! BOOM!

Karen zapped another two.

“TROY!” she screamed over the sound of her crying children.
A body pulled its way through the driver’s side door. Karen fired at the infected
until her gun slide locked. Blood splattered the inside of the car and its body
slumped over the center console. Another set of infected hands reached into her
window.

Botchy yelped in pain.

The dog bag was yanked up and out her window. Karen’s bad
hand caught the strap and held it tight. Extreme pain shot up her wrist and
forearm like a bolt of lightning. Botchy cried for help inside the bag. Karen
strained with all of her might. She tried desperately to get her beloved pup
back into the car. The infected man pulled and pulled.

Not Botchy! Please no!

Karen cried out a guttural scream. Her wrist couldn’t
take anymore. Her grip was about to give. This dog was her baby. Botchy had
never hurt a soul. She loved everyone and was absolutely adorable. Her only job
was to look cute. The tears gushing out of Karen’s eyes stung and blurred her
vision. She was completely losing her mind. And just like that the bag was
gone.

I have to save her!

Karen tried to open her door but it was jammed shut by
the stack of dead bodies outside her window. Botchy’s cries climbed to
crescendo and then she went silent. Karen unfastened her seatbelt and climbed
over the dead body that lay on the center console.

I’ve got to save her!

Karen fought her way over the slimy, sticky mess, worked
herself out the door and to her feet on the driver’s side of the Dodge. She
quickly switched out the empty magazine for the full one in her back pocket. Karen’s
tears caused her eyesight to blur. She tried to wipe them clear, but it was
impossible. Her ears rung and they felt like they had mud in them. The pain in
her wrist felt like it was radiating everywhere in her body. Karen’s brain had
not fully wrapped around what had exactly happened.

Time had shifted for her.

It could have been only a few seconds or an hour since
the bag was pulled from her hand.

I’ve got to save her!

Less than twenty infected remained in the street. The
small horde was fighting over the dog bag. Karen stepped around the backend of
the Charger. The trunk door had been crushed and sunk deep into the back of the
car. It was overflowing with body parts and human soup. She wiped at her eyes
again and some of her sight returned. The pack of infected had their backs to
her. The gun was up and in a few seconds she emptied the magazine into the
skulls of the infected. Ten monsters dropped dead and Karen could see what
remained of Botchy.

Her knees wanted to buckle.

“Mama! Botchy!” Robin screamed as she pointed over her
Mama’s shoulder. Karen almost blacked out. The last of the infected started to
chase her. Her gun was empty and she was out of full magazines. Troy’s shotgun
was in the backseat of the cruiser. Karen tucked her gun back into its holster.
She ripped the rear door open. Valerie was hysterical and calling for her Mama.
She was trying to work her way out of the wrap, but she didn’t have the
strength.

Karen grabbed the shotgun on the floorboard, “You’re
gonna be okay!” She didn’t have time to properly reassure her baby girl before
she could feel an infected pulling at Robin in her wrap.

Karen spun and put the butt of the shotgun into the face
of the infected pulling at Robin. The impact sent the monster to its back.
Karen fired the gun at point blank range and eviscerated its infected face. The
recoil of the shotgun was excruciating. The gun almost flew out of Karen’s
weakened right hand. Her grip on the front stock saved the gun from falling to
the ground. Karen cycled through the next five shots and it cut the ranks of
the dead in half. Only four monsters remained, but she was tapped out of ammo.

Now what? 

Karen tossed the smoking shotgun back onto the floorboard
of the Charger. Valerie reached out and begged for her Mama to hold her.

“I’ll come back for you! I promise!” Karen slammed the
car door shut on her little girl.

She will be safe in there! 

The last four monsters were only feet away. Hundreds of
thousands of years of human progress had boiled down to this point and the
ancient parts of Karen’s brain knew what to do.

Fight or flight!

The axe lay right there on the ground.

Could she chop all four of them to death? 

Or would she miss and get eaten by the others?

Fight or flight? There were only two choices.

Flight! She left her screaming baby in the back seat of
that cop car and she ran. Her legs turned as fast as they possibly could. Her
body dumped the last of its adrenaline into her veins. Karen ran at a speed she
didn’t know she had in her. The infected dragged their sorry asses behind her.
With every step she took she put a little more distance between them.

She scanned the horizon for sanctuary, somewhere to hide
for only a minute so she could reload one of her empty magazines. Karen dug out
the empty mag from her back pocket and she held it tight.

One of the houses had its door wide open. She aimed for
it and hoped there weren’t any ankle biters hanging out in there. She could
feel Robin’s, red hot, tear soaked face buried in the center of her spine. She
hadn’t had time to check if Robin was okay back there. Karen could hear her
muffled cries, but she didn’t know if they were from fear or if she was injured.

Karen entered the house. It was a late nineties ranch
style home. She forced the door closed and pushed the bolt lock into position. The
living room was overturned. Someone had a knockout, slug-fest of a fight in
this room. The flat panel TV was still on the news. Blood sprayed across its
plastic screen and a puddle of red covered most of the carpet. The kitchen sat
in the back of the house past the living room. She made her way through the
living room and headed for the kitchen.

CRASH!

One of the infected launched its body through the large
window at the front of the house. The glass blades punctured its body. When it
rose to its feet Karen spotted the razor sharp, clear triangles sticking out
all over its head and shoulders. It looked like a human mace. It bolted
straight for her and was followed by the three other monsters coming through
the window. Between the kitchen and the living room was a bathroom. Karen
headed for the open door.

She flipped on the lights and shouldered the door closed
behind her. Karen turned the little privacy lock in the door knob. A second
later a powerful thud hit the flimsy wood. The monsters crashed and pounded at
the door. Karen stepped away from the noise and propped her purse up on the
counter. She angled herself towards the mirror so she could see Robin’s face.

“It’s okay! We’re okay!” She was talking to Robin and her
own reflection. The wrap that held Robin was soaked with the blood of the
infected she crawled over and her face was drenched in sweat. She worked
feverishly at the zipper of her purse. Robin’s head lifted off of her Mama’s
neck so she could see herself in the mirror.  

“Are you okay?”

She found the box of ammo.

“Okay. Where Aler?”

The frame around the bathroom door cracked loudly. All
four of the monsters were fighting to get through.

“She’s with Uncle Troy.” Karen worked quickly to get the
shells out of the box and into the mag. An infected arm busted through the
hollow door. Karen was just out of reach. Her fingers felt like they were twice
the size they normally were as she fed the rounds into the end of the mag. Another
arm punched its way through the door.

Come on hands work faster!  

She got a second shell jammed into the mag.

“Mama! Here!” Robin pointed at the door it was about time
for another update. Karen worked two more rounds into the mag when one of the
infected busted its head through the door. She had only seconds before the door
caved in. Then the infected would feed. Four bullets would have to do.

No chance for error.

The infected shoulders forced their way through the door.
She worked the gun out of its holster and popped out the spent mag. The empty
mag slipped out of her hands and clattered across the tile floor. One of the
outreaching infected hands brushed against her shoulder.

Click! Clack!

BOOM!

The bathroom door was painted black. The sudden death of
their comrade didn’t slow the other three down. They pushed their way through
the broken door. The thin wood splintered and fell apart under their weight. The
dead body fell to the floor and was trampled by the other infected.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Three shots.

Three direct hits.

Gray matter exploded all over the inside of this
bathroom. The room filled with smoke and the smell of gunpowder. Karen stepped
over the dead bodies and exited the bathroom. The front of her was dripping
goo. She pulled a chunk of skull from her hair and dropped it to the floor.
Karen stole a hand towel off the kitchen table and wiped her face clean.

As she jogged back out of the house she reloaded the magazine
she picked up off the bathroom floor. She headed down the street and back to
the cruiser. By the time she arrived she had it fully loaded and back in the
bottom of the gun.

Valerie’s screams carried out the broken window and open
door of the cruiser. Karen opened the back passenger door. Valerie was unable
to form words she was so worked up.

“It’s okay. I promise.” Karen reassured her.

Something pulled at Karen’s leg and she dropped to her
butt. The gun fell from her hand and it skipped along the ground. Karen’s abs
strained to keep herself upright and not crush Robin against the street.

“Mama!” Valerie howled.

An infected crawled out from under the cruiser. The
wheels of the Charger had crushed its stomach. Its legs dragged behind it. Its
powerful arms bulged with muscles as it yanked Karen’s calf close to its mouth.
She delivered a hard rubber sole to its face. It didn’t faze the brute. Its
grip was crushing as it pulled itself farther up her body. She couldn’t roll
out from under him or knock him off. She wiggled her legs to keep them out of
its mouth. Its teeth grazed the thin layer of denim on top of her thigh.

It worked before.

Karen jammed her thumb deep into its eye socket. The eye
gouge didn’t slow down its attack. Its teeth snapped loudly and its grip
tightened around her knees. Its torso was too strong for her to use its socket
as a handle to pull its skull around. Every muscle in her body stained as she
fought to escape, but it was too powerful and she was unarmed. There was no way
to kill the bastard.

This is it!

I’m dead!

Killed in front of my girls!

Torn apart by this muscle head!

How can this be-

An axe crashed down into the back of the infected skull.
The force of the hit knocked the skull to the ground between Karen’s legs. The
edge of the blade rested against the skin of her hand. Karen looked up.