Behind Jason, Josh saw Ben appear. He slowly entered the kitchen, being careful not to make a sound. He glided across the tile, raising his bludgeon above his head.
“I’ll make a deal with you and your friends. I know they’re here somewhere,” he snarled. “Just let me be. Leave me here with the girls and let me have a little fun. In return, I won’t follow you. I won’t track you down and gut you like livestock. Deal?” Jason asked, smiling like a happy puppy.
Josh and Paul nodded slowly.
“Good. Now—”
Jason felt something strike him from behind. He went down instantly, smashing his head on the counter before hitting the tile floor.
“Jesus…” Ben said, upon noticing the old woman’s head. He looked at Bobbi-Jo, who screamed to be unbound. “What the hell happened here?”
Josh didn’t answer. Instead, he threw up.
Ben ripped the duct tape off her mouth. She spit out the pair of socks. Then screamed.
“Did you miss me?” he asked.
She spat at him and started raving. “You keep me away from that sick motherfucker!” she screamed. “Keep him the fuck away!”
Ben turned away from her while she continued with her tantrum.
“What are we going to do with him?” Paul asked. “We can’t let the sick puppy live.” He shrugged nonchalantly. “Wouldn’t be right just shooting him in the head, I suppose? Considering what he done and all.”
“We can’t kill him,” Ben said. “He’s not afraid of dying. It’s just what he’d want us to do.”
“I say we kick the shit out of him,” Josh muttered.
“Josh…” Ben said.
“Just a suggestion.”
There was a moment of silence, Bobbi-Jo breaking it by screaming at the top of her lungs.
“Where are the girls?” Paul asked.
“Victoria went to the basement to grab them.”
“We should go get them,” Josh said.
“You two go,” Paul told them. “Go on. I’ll clean up here.”
“You sure?” Ben asked.
The trucker nodded. He winked, then checked his rifle to make sure it had at least two bullets loaded. “Don’t worry about it. You just get the girls out of here safely. I’ll meet ya’ll at the truck.”
Ben nodded. Then he turned to Josh, motioning toward the hallway.
Reluctantly, Josh followed.
“Mom!” Brit cried out. She pressed her face against the chain-link cage. Tears spilled down her cheeks.
Emily peered through the cage, just as her sister, while their mother sped forth.
“My babies,” she muttered somberly. “Did they hurt you?”
The girls shook their heads.
Victoria closed her eyes, relieved.
“Do you have the key?” Brit asked.
“What key?”
“They cage is locked.”
“Shit. I didn’t think of that.”
Creaky footfalls descending the stairs filled the basement.
“Looking for this?” Ben asked. He held the shiny brass key in front of him like a cross used for fending off vampires.
Victoria took it from him, grinning. She hurriedly turned back to her confined daughters. Once the lock was opened, the girls pushed open the cage and hugged their mother as if it had been years since their last encounter. There had been much debate whether they would ever see her again.
Tears rolled down Brittany’s cheeks, disappearing into her mother’s shirt. Emily sobbed into her mother’s shoulder.
“I hate to break up the reunion,” Josh said, “but we should probably get going.”
The three girls turned to the two men, who looked like they had just come back from battle. Dirty. Bloody from cuts and scrapes on their arms and face. Worn faces that could use a few hours of sleep. Or perhaps a few days.
“Josh is right. We don’t have long before—”
Before Ben could finish, glass shattered above them, the inhuman sounds of the gathering dead filled the first floor.
Then the screams began.
They reached the top of the stairs. Ben turned to Josh, handing him the key to the truck. “Take the girls to the truck. Give me two minutes. If I’m not out, leave without me.”
Josh nodded, grabbing the key from Ben. He waved the three women on and the four of them disappeared into the hallway.
Ben went the opposite way, following the sounds of the dead.
What the hell are you thinking? his inner-voice asked. You should be running away from them, not toward them! Think of your son for fuck’s sake!
The voice was right. Why risk his life to save somebody he barely knew? Jake depended on him.
I can’t just let Paul die…
Ben’s conscious would never let him forgive himself. He had to try to save the man, pull him out of the fire so to speak. It was in his nature, his human nature, and Ben didn’t really understand why anymore than he knew the intricacies of the universe. He only knew he had to try.
Ben appeared in the doorway leading to the kitchen. His stomach plummeted. The zombies had broken through the back door, crowding the kitchen. At least fifteen of them. Several of them were latched onto Bobbi-Jo, ripping chunks of flesh away from her body with their jagged teeth. The teenager wailed as the monsters tore the meat away from her bones easily.
Jason, “The Ripper” he had called himself, was on the floor, crawling away in crab-like fashion from the macabre scene unfolding on the table. A nearby zombie followed him, and unfortunately for Jason, it was quicker. The corpse lunged and grabbed the kid’s legs, biting at his ankles. The psychopath yelped, thrashed his legs in hopes to separate himself. The zombie held on, aiming his next attack at the dangling organ between his legs. Jason let out a torturous scream when the corpse bit down on his flaccid penis and reared its back. The kid’s floppy member snapped like a rubber band. An explosion of blood splashed over the zombie’s face as it began devouring the reproductive organ. Jason started twitching on the floor, entering into some sort of seizure. The rest of the dead swarmed him, began consuming his untouched parts.
Ben turned his head from the grisly scene, focusing his attention on the reason he went back. Paul Scott wrestled with a zombie, fending him off with the rifle. Paul caught Ben’s gaze and shook his head, snarling.
“Get the fuck out of here, Ben!” Paul screamed.
Ben stepped forward to help, but an energized zombie jumped over the island and tackled Paul to the ground. The other zombie fell with them, and the two hissing beasts began gnawing on Paul’s limbs. Ben backed into the hallway. Under the weight of the two corpses, Paul positioned the end of the rifle under his chin. He winked at Ben as the one of the zombies tore a scrap of flesh from his arm. Then, Paul pulled the trigger. His brains exploded through the top of his skull, painting the tile floor burgundy.
Ben scampered out of the kitchen, the dead focusing their attention on the doorway.
Josh saw Ben bound the porch steps, dozens of zombies in tow. They poured out of the Barker’s house like bees from a hive. Some of them were quicker than others, but Ben was fastest. He ran across the front lawn as if the Grim Reaper were nipping his heels.
“Start moving!” Ben shouted.
Josh started to do what Ben had said when something caught his eye. It came shambling out of the Barker’s country home. His body went numb and tingly. “Oh shit,” he muttered to himself. Olivia Vander stumbled down the steps after Ben. Her mother followed closely behind. Both women looked hideous; patches of skin was missing from their faces, exposing the raw muscle beneath; blood-soaked clothes; eyes containing no souls. She barely resembled the Olivia that Josh knew and almost loved.