“Shit!” she whispered. Another clang. This wasn’t working.
“Describe the lock to me,” I said.
“It’s not a lock. It’s just a bent piece of metal. The sides are away from each other, kind of like a Z. I can move it, but not far. There’s some kind of bolt or something holding it shut. I tried hitting the bolt, but it didn’t work.”
“How thick is the Z-shaped piece?” I kept my voice calm and low in the hope that it would soothe her. I didn’t want panic to show, even though I was about to go out of my mind with fear.
“Not very thick. But it is pretty hard.”
“Can you slide the bar between it and the door?”
“Oh!”
She handed the shirt back, and then I heard metal scraping on metal. She groaned, then there was a snap and she fell back. I pressed on the door, but it didn’t budge, which made me want to scream! Glancing over at Scott, I found he still attempted to keep the zombie’s attention, but it kept trying to wander off.
Then there was a grating noise, and something hit the ground with a thunk. Pressing on the door again, I found it opened on noisy hinges.
“Help us!” someone called. The others in the cage across from us had their hands pressed between the bars. Dirty hands and dirty faces—just like us.
I slid out of the tiny opening, and when I saw Haley, I swept her up in a fierce embrace. As I held her tightly to me, she sobbed in relief. “I thought I could sneak into a shack and find a key. But the guys with the green eyes were in there. I was lucky I didn’t get caught.”
“You did great, kiddo. I’m so proud of you.”
The people in the other cage didn’t take long to catch on after they watched us. Three or four of them lifted the cage, and others slithered beneath. It was dark, and rain still drizzled down, making it hard to see for more than a few feet. The others looked to be in pretty bad shape. I was concerned that they would be hard to separate from the dead in the event that it came to a fight.
When I joined the group, they stretched out fingers to touch me. I shook hands, but we remained silent. Then, like wraiths, we moved to other cages and lifted them or broke locks. Some picked up weapons and took out any of the wandering dead. Thumps in the nights, no cries or groans, just bodies falling to the ground.
If one caught wind of what we were doing, there was someone to put an end to them. The sound of thunks and metal grinding on metal were all I could hear. It was so hard to keep from running. Every extra noise had me on edge, biting my lip and fearing we would be caught.
Within moments, the dead lay all around us. Some of the living had their eyes set on the small housing spaces, and they had a hollow look, like they were already dead, or they expected to die. I grabbed one by the upper arm and hissed in his ear.
“If you go in there, you’ll raise an alarm. They’ll bring an army down on us.” The man was large, grim. He was covered in blood, and I wondered whose it was. Rain pelted his bald head and ran rivers down his hard cheekbones. If I saw this person from afar, I would have suspected him of being a zombie.
“They killed my son. They dragged him out and butchered him like he was cattle. He screamed the whole time. The next day they killed my wife. For that, I want to kill every one of those abortions.” His voice was choked with emotion, but his eyes were flat black orbs.
“Listen to me. It’s suicide. If we get out of this, we can come back when we are better organized. We can come back with guns, and we can hunt them down. Cleanse this place.”
The man stared at me for a long moment. Scott joined me, and his eyes were filled with concern. He touched my shoulder and motioned for the woods a few hundred feet away. Haley was at his side. She tried to smile, but it was halfhearted.
I was scared too, and wanted nothing more than to run, but I felt the need to get these people away from this death camp. I was sick and tired of being on the run all the time, but what choice did we have? The moment we woke up the ghouls in this hive, we would be dead. Hundreds of zombies led by ghouls would make short work of our group.
I looked at the dirty faces of young and old, men and women. We were a pitiful sight. Some had open wounds and wouldn’t survive much longer, but they would at least have a chance. If we went in blazing with what few weapons we had, it would be over before it started.
“Pass the word.” I gathered the man and Scott close to me. “Once we are free of here, we will come back with weapons and a plan. We will burn this place to the ground. No one will ever fear this area again.”
They both nodded, but I couldn’t tell if they believed me or not. Maybe they just wanted a shred of hope to overcome the desire to kill. I had the very same feelings, but I suppressed them and focused on getting us out of here.
There were nods all around, and before they could even finish passing my words back, I was on the move. I grabbed Scott, and we took off for the woods. We tried to stay low, but it was hard to see in the dark. We moved across the ground, hiding behind what cover we could find. Stacks of wood and rotted enclosures provided a slim hope of staying out of sight.
Rain continued to pelt the survivors. Everyone was slow and sluggish, including me. I felt like I was beaten down, and I hadn’t even started in the woods. Glancing up at the moon, I tried to figure out where I was, but there was barely a splash of white through the heavy clouds.
It was almost impossible to see anything ahead of us. Scott seemed at home moving at night, staying out of the line of those things’ eyes. It wasn’t easy, but someone who paid attention could do it. We had to be aware of our surroundings at all times. We had to be ready for the creature that stumbled around a corner. And it was just such a creature that almost proved our undoing.
Scott moved ahead of the group, while I hung back and kept an eye on the survivors. There were fifteen or twenty of us, and we were all worn to the bone. The others in the cage—I didn’t know how long they had been there. Each was filthy and smelled terrible. I was no cleaner, I’m sure, but I had only been locked in the place for a few days. I don’t know how long they were in there.
As I helped an older woman to her feet, I heard a loud grunt from ahead.
Scott grappled with someone in the dark, so I dashed ahead and found it was one of the dead. A man about my size, missing the top of his skull. He was dressed in rags, and reminded me of one of the caged people we had helped free. I went after him, but I was so weary it was hard to put one foot in front of the other, let alone think about fighting.
Scott went down, and I was there to help. Grabbing the zombie by the pants, I hauled him off. It was like picking up a ton of potatoes. The zombie swung his arm back, but I batted at it and pushed him aside. I reached for Scott, but recoiled when he stuck his arm out.
“I’m not fucking bit.”
“You sure?”
“Oh, I’m sure. I would know if I got some skin ripped off.”
The guy was trying to get back up, so I pushed him down by driving my foot into his ass. He went flat and cried out in a low moan, but started to move again soon after. I grabbed Scott by the arm and helped him to his feet. He brushed at his soaking wet clothing lamely.
Then Scott stepped on the back of the man’s head. I have seen a lot of pain and suffering since I returned to the world, but there was something sickening about the way the zombie’s head was crushed into the dirt. The way it mushed and the bones ground together.
Scott looked rather pleased with himself. I shook my head and moved on.
Staring back at the camp, I felt rage flood my body. Maybe it was from the death of the undead that I had just witnessed, but I wanted nothing more than to go back and annihilate the camp. If I had a big enough gun, I would have done just that, even if it meant me dying.