The Zombie Chronicles - Book 5 - Undead Nightmare (Apocalypse Infection Unleashed Series) (14 page)

Val pulled the pin from her fire extinguisher and sprayed the undead with white foam. Immediately, they became disoriented and fumbled around, tripping and crashing into the walls, and moans and hisses filled the room, along with the crunching of bones as some of the zombies enjoyed their delicious rodent snacks.

“Upstairs!” I yelled, but when I spun around to lead the girls up, I realized the unsprayed zombies were blocking the door. Val and Kate ferociously fought them, while I took on the two coming straight toward me, knocking them out with two quick blows.

“Dean!” Val shouted. “C’mon!”

“Got any more rats?” Kate shouted.

Unfortunately, I had dropped the bag of ghouls’ goodies when I’d started clobbering zombies. I glanced around and spotted it on the floor, sticking out from under a dead zombie. Cringing, I reached in and wiggled the bag out. I half-expected the zombie’s hand to clutch my wrist, but to my relief, the dead thing stayed that way.

The girls had managed to topple several zombies, but now their dead bodies were blocking the door, so I couldn’t shut it. I’d had plenty of zombie-climbing practice back at the bridge, so I scaled the nasty pile and coaxed the girls to follow me. Our enemies were not as sure-footed, and some of them didn’t even have feet, so they’d stumble on the blockade, giving us a head start. “Got the screwdriver?” I yelled as I sprinted up the stairs, knowing we were, ironically, screwed without it.

“Yeah,” Val replied.

By the time I got to the window, Kate had already climbed through.

I stuffed my bag of dead rats into my black bag and slung it over my shoulder. “Go!” I told Val. “I’m not leaving until I know you’re safely out.”

She shook her head but didn’t waste any time arguing, knowing I could be just as stubborn as she was, a trait that clearly ran in the family. She slipped out the window and motioned me to follow her.

Just as I started to make my exit, a zombie grabbed my shirt and pulled me backward, while another one grabbed my ankle.

“Dean!” Val shouted, frantically crawling back in.

With a fierce thrust, I kicked the zombie in the jaw, forcing it to let go of my foot.

Val swung her hammer and smashed the other zombie’s skull, then pushed me toward the window. “Go!” she shouted.

Panic flooded through me. I climbed out too fast and lost my footing, then tumbled down the gable. I grasped at the roof with my hands along the way, but there was nothing to grab.

Kate reached for me and grabbed my hand to stop my fall, but in the process, she lost her grip on the fire extinguisher, and it rolled several feet away from her.

My heart was pounding a million miles a minute as I looked back up to see if there was any sign of my sister, who’d saved me yet again. “Val!” I screamed.

With a
thud
, Val jumped out the window just as zombies reached for her, snapping their jaws like piranhas. “Go! Go! Go!” she yelled, spreading out her hands to catch herself so she wouldn’t fall off the roof. “Get to that truck and smash the window out! I’m right behind you.”

My eyes darted about nervously as I focused on the jump. The U-Haul truck was close enough that there was no way we’d miss it, but zombies were already gathering around it, as if they knew our plans and sensed that a meal was near. I had hoped we’d have a minute or two before they noticed us, but we had no such luck. “Kate,” I said, “there are too many. They’re already surrounding the truck.”

“We can make it if we hurry,” she said. “We kinda have to now.”

I swallowed back the rising panic and swore to myself that I’d stay strong.

“We can’t go back inside!” Val shouted. “They’re coming in from that empty hallway, the one you blocked with the bookcase. There are dozens of them. Haul your butts to that U-Haul now!”

Kate grabbed the fire extinguisher that was resting on the edge of the roof and held it tightly as she jumped on top of the truck.

I jumped behind her and landed with a loud
thump
on the metal roof, and in the next second, I heard Val landing behind me.

Just as Kate was about to slip to the hood, Val pulled her back. “You’ll never make it!” she shouted over the sickening chorus of hungry moans, “and I’ve got no gun to cover you.”

Our plan was foiled. Zombies had surrounded our truck, and there was no way to jump down and open the door or break the window.

“Somebody said there’s always a Plan B, right?” Kate yelled. “Maybe you oughtta fill me in on that, huh?”

“We’ve gotta break the windshield,” I yelled. “We can reach it from here.”

Without waiting for their go-ahead, I swung at the glass with my bat, using all my might. Cracks spread out like spider webs in the thick window. Val must have thought it was a good idea, because she followed suit and began smashing her hammer against it, one powerful blow after another. Finally, the glass shattered, and my sister quickly jumped in through the broken window, followed by Kate.

“Come on, Dean!” Kate said.

“No!” I yelled. “The zombies are too thick to drive through. I’ll try to distract them with the rats. Maybe I can thin our screaming fan club out a little.”

“Don’t waste the rats, Dean. Wait till I hotwire the truck,” Val shouted. “It might take me a minute.”

“Fine,” I said, “but hurry, sis!”

Zombies stumbled around the truck and raised their grasping hands in the air, unleashing a refrain of hellish moans and groans. They pounded on the truck until it began to shake. We were completely surrounded by cold, lifeless creatures who wanted nothing more than to rip into our flesh with their decayed, rotting mouths, and I knew it wasn’t just a bad dream.

When the U-Haul engine roared to life a moment later, I let out a sigh of relief, but there were so many of them that I knew we’d never be able to move the truck unless I could distract them. I reached into my bag, grabbed a bloody rat by the tail, and flung it into the hungry crowd. The zombies pounced on their dead prey like wild, hungry lions on a helpless gazelle. I threw more rodents in every direction, anything to get them to move away from the truck so we could leave.

Once the crowd thinned out a bit, Val hit the gas. The truck surged forward a few feet, but we were still blocked by the flesh-eating crowd. I wildly threw more rodents, and the truck inched forward a few more feet, its wheels screeching on the pavement.

“Throw more rats!” Kate said.

“I’m all out!” I yelled. “Give me the fire extinguisher.”

Kate handed it up to me, and I began spraying down the remaining zombies that were slowly lumbering around the truck. They stumbled back, allowing us to make a bit of forward progress. As I sprayed the creatures, they seemed to suddenly lose focus and began stumbling around in confusion, moving in different directions and finally dispersing. The truck jerked forward, and I was thrown on my stomach. My fingers gripped around the metal luggage carrier bolted on the roof.

“Dean, get in!” Val shouted.

There wasn’t enough time for me to crawl to the safety of the cab, because zombies were stumbling back toward the truck. In seconds, we’d be blocked in again, and I was all out of rats, and the fire extinguisher was empty. “Just go! I’ll hang on.”

The U-Haul drove down the street, and I hung on to the metal bar. Zombies shambled toward us, but they couldn’t catch up, even though we were only moving ten MPH. Val made a few turns, then abruptly stopped in a zombie-free zone, but she left the engine running for a quick getaway. “Get in!” she shouted.

I jumped down to the hood, then slid to the ground.

“Watch for broken glass,” Val yelled out the window. “The seat is covered with the stuff.”

When Kate opened the door and pulled me in, I let out a long breath as relief flooded every fiber of my body.

“We did it!” Kate said, embracing me tightly.

A sudden grin crossed Val’s lips.

I threw my arms around my sister. My hands shook, but I tried to play it cool, calm, and collected, even though I was still a nervous wreck inside. “You two were just amazing back there,” I said.

“We all were,” Val said, putting the truck into gear. “Now let’s go find the others.”

We drove back to the BMV and saw one lonely zombie lumbering around the door. It glanced at me with wild eyes. Its cheeks were sunken in, and it was completely naked and sickeningly thin, like a walking skeleton. I was sure Claire had to be freaking out, because she was in there by herself with a sick and unconscious Lucas.

As we made our way inside, the zombie made the last mistake of its reanimated life and lunged toward my sister. Val easily slung it on the grass, and I cringed when I heard its ribs break on impact. “I got this,” she said calmly. “Go make sure Claire and Lucas are okay.”

I nodded and rushed over to the door and knocked. “Claire, it’s me. Let us in.”

The door slowly opened, and Claire motioned us in, then hurried back to Lucas. “That zombie has been pounding on the walls and door for an hour!”

“We gave you the gun,” I said. “You coulda just blown it away.”

“I would have if it had gotten in, but I didn’t want to go out there and chase it and cause a commotion that might have attracted more of them.”

“Smart,” Kate said, smiling at her.

“What took you guys so long?” Claire asked. “And have you seen Nick or any of them?”

“The others aren’t back?” I asked.

“Not yet,” she said, holding a washcloth on Lucas’s head.

“I hope they’re not out looking for us,” I said, casting Val a worried glance.

“Did you find a pharmacy?” Claire frantically asked. “He’s really sick. His temperature has to be well over 102 by now.”

“We got the medicine,” Val said, patting the plastic bag slung over her shoulder. “It wasn’t easy, but there are plenty of antibiotics, painkillers, and stuff to bring his fever down.”

“Great,” Claire said. “He’s gonna need them. This yellow goop started coming out of his shoulder, and he woke up and mumbled something about Mexican food, but I couldn’t understand what he was talking about.”

“Mexican food?” I asked, almost laughing. “Leave it to Lucas to dream about that.”

“I also picked up supplies to change his bandage later,” Kate added.

Claire nodded. “Good, ‘cause he’s in pretty bad shape.”

“You…you beat the others,” Lucas whispered.

“We found a phonebook,” Kate said proudly, since it had been her brilliant idea. “Saved us a lot of time in looking for the drugstore. Where do you think the others went?”

Claire looked off anxiously into the distance. “I don’t know, but they’re out there somewhere, I hope.”

“We’ve got a truck,” Kate said.

“What a relief,” Claire said. “I was really hoping one of you guys would come back with transportation.”

“Where are the others?” Lucas stood, took a step, and swayed. “We need to find them.”

“Sit down, Lucas! You’re in no shape to go anywhere,” Claire said, helping him.

“Life is harsh, mean, and ugly,” Lucas said. “Only the strong survive.” He held onto Claire and she helped him sit down on the wooden bench.

“You’re one of the strongest people I know,” she said. “But you’re sick and we have to get you better. Trust me, you’ll be back slaying zombies in no time.”

“You’re not gonna be a baby about swallowing pills, are ya?” Val said to Lucas, smiling and holding out a handful.

“Honey, I’ll take whatever you can give me,” he said. He tried to wink at her, but his eye wouldn’t open back up when he shut it.

“Great,” Val said as he took the pills from her and popped them in his mouth. “Now let’s go find the others and get back on the road.”

Lucas grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “Thank you for everything.”

“You helped me when I was sick and hallucinating,” she said. “You never gave up on me, and I’m never going to give up on you.”

“Thanks, Val. That means so much to me.” Lucas glanced around. “Thank you, Kate, Dean, and Claire. I can’t thank you enough.”

“I’ve got your back,” I said. “Always.”

“I’m so proud of you, Dean. You’re not a boy anymore. This world has taught you how to be a man.”

I smiled because he sounded so proud when he said it. That was the first time Lucas every told me anything like that.

He put an arm over each one of our shoulders, and Val and I helped him inside the truck. To make more room, Kate sat on my lap.

Claire motioned down the street. “Turn that way. They said they were gonna cover the north side of the city.” Claire stared at the broken windshield. “Did you guys do that?”

“Yep,” Kate said.

“It might be easier to bust the smaller windows next time,” Lucas said with a chuckle.

“Right,” Val said, “but we couldn’t. We jumped off a roof, and the truck was surrounded by zombies.”

“Whoa,” he said. “And all for little ol’ me?” he asked, closing his eyes.

“That was only after we rescued the modern-day Brady bunch by ringing church bells,” I said.

“You’re lucky we like you, Lucas,” Kate chimed in. “We saw millions of zombies, and we barely got your medicine.”