Undead Freaks (5 page)

"Stay back," shouted the girl. "Fucking stay
back, motherfuckers." She pointed the gun at them. Her voice
sounded desperate.

Frank gestured to Todd to take the one pulling
the ladder and the one closest to it. Frank took aim for one of the
two right under where the girl was standing. Frank told Todd, “On
three.” He counted down.

Frank and Todd walked into the barn with their
guns out. Frank told the freaks, "That's right, motherfuckers; time
to eat your medicine."

Todd fired six times. Four of the shots hit
the freaks, but one of them didn't drop. It was just
pissed.

Frank squeezed off two rounds and vaporized a
freak's head. The next one he shot spun around when the bullet
grazed the side of its skull. It was grinning. One of its eyes was
missing. Frank put a bullet in its forehead and it fell backward
like a cartoon character playing dead.

The one Todd hit but didn't kill ran at him.
Todd shot it in the knee and it dropped for a moment before getting
back up, hissing with hate in its eyes. Now it had a
limp.

The zombie was fifteen feet away from Todd.
The freak had long, dirty blond hair. It was a woman who might have
looked good before she got bit and changed over. It went for Todd
and Frank didn't shoot it. He figured Todd wanted the
satisfaction.

Todd let the freak get to six feet before
pulling the trigger again. This time, he blew the thing's jaw off.
The bullet made a big hole in the zombie's brain stem and it
crumpled down and fell to its knees before keeling over face
first.

Frank scanned the barn again, then looked up
into the loft. "You okay up there?" he said. "We're not here to
hurt you. Come with us. We'll help you."

The girl up in the loft said, "They got
everyone. Mom and dad and Rick. We tried to keep them back but they
broke the door down in the back of the house when we were trying to
keep some from coming in the front. I was the only one who got
out." She started to cry.

"Come on down," said Frank. "There are three
of us. We'll keep you safe. We're getting out of here."

The girl said, "Are any of you bit? It takes a
few minutes to change over. I'm not coming down if anyone's
bit."

"Smart girl," said Todd to Frank.

"None of us is bit,” said Frank. “Now come on
down. We can use someone who can shoot straight."

The girl hesitated. She said, "I don't have
any more ammo for the gun." She let out a rope and used it to
shimmy down from the loft. Her feet made a soft landing on the
floor of the barn. The girl saw Kelly at the barn door. She paused
for a second and then she ran to Kelly like she knew
her.

Kelly looked like she didn't know what to do.
That was because she didn't know. She didn't know the girl coming
at her and when the girl hugged her at the waist still holding the
rifle in one hand and buried her face in her side it felt warm but
Kelly was at a total loss. The girl wasn't crying, just breathing
like she had been. Kelly put her arm on the girl's shoulder and
said, "These cops are good guys. We're all getting out of here."
She patted the girl's shoulder.

"Those things scare me," said the girl. She
still had the rifle.

"I know," said Kelly. She told the girl her
name. The girl said, "My name's Josie. I'm eleven."

Kelly shook the girl's hand when she stopped
hugging her. Kelly thought it felt good having another woman
around, even if the girl didn't break five feet and hadn't hit
puberty yet.

"Okay ladies, enough of the touchy feely;
we've got to move," said Frank. "If those things get wind that
we're all having a party here we'll be in trouble." He didn't like
this. Saving the girl was the right thing to do, but now they'd
made a hell of a lot of noise with the shots. There was no telling
what might have heard them.

They all left the barn, the girl staying close
to Kelly. There was a distant moan in the night, a moan that
sounded like it was made up of a lot of different undead voices at
once. It was hard to tell where it was coming from, more than just
a general direction. The only thing that was clear to all of them
was that if they wanted to live, they had to move.

Frank went to the girl while they were
walking. He said, "What's the best way to get out of here if you
want to disappear quick?"

"There's a culvert you can walk through that
goes under the highway. It's up on the outer edge of that field.”
The girl pointed in the dark. “Then there's a trail I used to take
with my dad when we went deer hunting.”

"You're a good shot,” said Frank. It was his
idea of finding something nice to say, even if he'd already told
her. “We'll have to find you some more bullets for that
rifle."

"Thanks," said Josie.

Frank got a flash of his daughter's face but
for now he managed to push it away. His daughter was at camp and
the survival situation was happening right here, in town. As far as
Frank knew, the outbreak was contained, which was why the Army was
being so strict with the quarantine.

Frank and Josie led the way to the culvert.
All of them went into it. It was at least as long as the highway
was wide, plus a little more. It was dark inside and smelled like
shit and mud. Frank was glad when they got to the other side of it.
Inside it felt like a tomb. An ugly one.

The girl said, "Up that way," and pointed. The
trail went up to a power line trail, which wasn't the best place to
hide out. The power lines were more exposed than Frank liked. The
woods were better.

A dog barked.

They all stopped and froze. Todd brought up
his gun and looked around them. Frank did the same. He didn't know
if dogs could get infected by the zombies as easily as people. Was
it a cross-species thing? He knew that some viruses did that -- the
flu came to mind. He wasn't as big of a meathead cop as some people
thought.

There was the sound of running now, something
crashing through undergrowth. Frank tried to see into the night.
Was it the dog coming at them? Would he have enough time to shoot
it?

The form of the dog came into view, a
fast-moving shadow. Frank aimed for the body, since it was moving
so fast. He figured he could put one in its head after he'd dropped
it. But before he squeezed the trigger, Josie shouted: "No! Don't
shoot."

Frank thought he should shoot anyway, but he
didn't. Maybe that was because he was a dad himself and he didn't
want to see Josie cry. Whatever it was, not shooting was against
his better judgement and he knew it. He kept the rifle trained on
the dog, telling himself that he'd give it no more than three
seconds to live. It was a threat until proven innocent.

The dog stopped right at Josie and looked at
her. Frank exhaled; in the pause just after he felt the pull on the
trigger as he started to squeeze. Then the dog laid down on the
ground, whimpering. It was a German Shepherd, at least a hundred
pounds, but it might as well have been a puppy.

Frank took his finger off the trigger and
lowered his gun. So did Todd.

The dog reached for Josie's foot with its paw
and she knelt down to pet it. She had a smile on her face and said,
"It's Hutch. He made it. They didn't get him." She went back to
petting him and scratched him behind the ears. The dog rolled over,
exposing its belly, and she petted it there, too.

If everyone's survival hadn't been in doubt
Frank might have stopped to watch some more. But he couldn't let
one good thing get in the way of what they had in front of them.
They were going to the Morrison place. They had to avoid getting
eaten or bit by freaks on the way there. They had to hope that the
plane they found worked. And Frank didn't know if Kelly (he looked
at her and she was kneeling with the girl petting the shepherd's
belly) had the nerve to fly them the hell out. From what she'd said
before, it sounded like she'd only taken some lessons. That meant
she wasn't even a real pilot.
Fuck me if
we make it
, he thought.
We're
in a world of hurt
.

Frank looked at Josie and said, "Can he smell
them before they get close? The freaks?"

"Yes. Yes I know he can. He'll help
us."

"Okay. The dog can come."

They all started marching again, this time up
the power line trail. There weren't any trees big enough for cover.
It was mostly short brush and juniper. The footing was rocky and
loose and rocks slid and rolled when they walked up the trail.
Frank thought it wasn't quiet enough to stay hidden.

Were the zombies waiting for them? Frank
wanted to know that. He wanted to know if they'd run into any of
the smart ones, the ones that seemed to enjoy murder for the sake
of it. He hoped not.

9

It took more hiking and going through a mud
bog, but they got to the edge of the Morrison property. Frank felt
more nervous on account of not knowing if flying out would even
work. Kelly was nervous just because she knew that everyone was
counting on her. They all stopped at the edge of a big mowed field
with a dip in the middle that looked like the makeshift
runway.

"Are we going to do it?" said Kelly. "I'm
ready."

"Not so fast," said Frank. "We have to be sure
the place isn't crawling with freaks." He thought about how to
guarantee that and realized he couldn't. He looked at Kelly. "Todd
and I will go in. We'll clear the place if there's anything waiting
for us in a dark closet. Soon as it's good we'll whistle and you
guys come with us. If we don't come back in twenty minutes you and
Josie take off and don't look back."

Jose stepped forward and said, "I'm coming
with you. With Hutch. He can help us find anything that's
there."

"You're not getting in harm's way again, not
if I can help it," said Frank. He wouldn't let his own daughter do
something that dangerous and Josie reminded him enough of her that
he had to put his foot down somewhere. Frank usually cursed his ex
for keeping his daughter from him, but on this fine night for the
undead it was a blessing in disguise.
Thank god she's not here
, he thought.
I'd kill myself if she got hurt by those
things.

"Hutch will only listen to me," Josie said,
standing up to him.

Frank shook his head. "I don't need the dog
then.”

“
Yes you do. And you know
it.”

Frank gave Josie his
tough-cop
stare but she tossed it
right back at him. Could an eleven year-old girl do that? He said,
“
You drive a hard bargain."

She smiled. "I know. My
dad..."

If it wasn't so dark Frank might
have seen that her eyes were getting red and moist after she
brought up her dad. But now he had to admire her courage and let
her do her part. Having a dog wasn't a half-bad idea.

Frank turned to Kelly and Todd and
said, “No sense leaving you here alone while the rest of us go in.
You two stay together. Don't engage unless you're threatened. Stay
quiet. Good place to start might be the big barn. I'll take Josie
and Hutch to sniff the fuckers out of the house if they're
there.”

Frank and Josie took Hutch and
started walking. Todd and Kelly followed, and then they all split
when they got closer to the buildings.

Frank got the nervous tingling on
the back of his neck as they went toward the house, the one that
made the hair stand up. It told him that they weren't the only ones
here. But it was dead quiet. There was only the sound of their own
footsteps in the grass and the panting of the dog.

Frank and Josie walked up to the
front porch. There was an empty rocker on it. It was still. There
were two windows by the door. Both of them were dark. One of them
was busted.

Hutch was sniffing and he went up
to the front door and scratched with his paw against the bottom of
the door. He whined.

“
Someone's here,” said Josie.
“Hutch knows.”

“
You stay out here,” said
Frank.

“
No. I want to stay with Hutch.
And it's scary outside.”

Frank didn't see how going into
the dark house was less scary, but he could see her point in
wanting to stay with her dog. “You sure about this? If there's
something inside, it might not be a cakewalk. ”

“
Hutch will help you find it so
you can kill it. And you need me there if you want him to help
us.”

Frank almost cracked a smile.
Almost. This girl had balls.

He put a hand on the front screen
door and pulled it open. Then he opened the front door and slowly
pushed it forward. It creaked. The creak was the only sound in the
house. It seemed louder than it really was.

Hutch darted inside and ran into
the dark kitchen until he disappeared, sniffing.

“
Hutch,” called Josie, “Come back
here. Come, Hutch.” She looked up at Frank, worried. “He's not
coming. I don't know why he's not coming back. He always comes
back.”

Frank listened and took a few more
steps inside. His eyes started to adjust to the dark. What bothered
him was that nothing looked out of place. The kitchen was orderly.
There was a loaf of bread, half of one, on a wooden cutting board
on the counter. He heard the dog going through the house,
sniffing.