Then, something—somebody—caught the corner of her eye.
“Mom?” she whispered aloud.
Ben’s head snapped toward the window. “Get away from there,” he said.
“But—?”
Ben put his finger over his mouth. “You’ll attract them,” he said quietly.
Suddenly, Ben heard something below them. Shuffling. Footsteps. Is that—yes. He heard them.
Voices.
“Wait here,” Ben said. “I’m going to check it out. I’ll be right back.”
Emily nodded.
“Promise me you won’t move.”
“I won’t move. Promise.”
Ben smiled at her, then jogged into the kitchen. He opened the door closest to him. It turned out to be a fully-stocked pantry. He waited a moment. Heard the voices again. Two of them? He couldn’t tell. He supposed it could have been his over-eager mind playing tricks on him.
Ben strolled across the tile floor, toward the only other door in the kitchen. Carefully, he opened it, half-expecting to be met with a disease-infested mouth.
Ben swung open the door and peered down stairs that descended into darkness. An orange glow flickered from somewhere beyond. Before Ben decided to run down the steps, he called to the unknown. “Mel? You down there?”
The stressful silence only lasted a moment.
“Who’s there?” a woman asked.
Ben felt his heart skip multiple beats. He wanted to speak, but couldn’t find the words. Overwhelmed with emotion, Ben wept. He rushed down the stairs, mindless of any obstacles that might have been placed in his way.
Within seconds, he found himself standing on concrete. He turned toward the orange haze and saw a woman standing before him. She held a candle in front of her, using its weak light to see.
“Mel?” he asked.
She looked ragged and unclean. Clearly she had gone a few days without showering. The candle wavered in her hand. For a brief second, Ben thought she would drop it. Instead, she placed it on the table next to her.
“Ben?” she asked. Her eyes widened. Her jaw dropped. He could hear her breathing heavily. “Is that really you?”
“Yeah, it’s me.”
She rushed him, wrapping her thin arms around his neck. She hugged him tightly, showing no signs that she was ever going to let go.
“Dad?” a voice asked from behind him.
Melissa let go of him. Ben turned. His heart nearly bounced out of his chest.
“Jake…” he said. Ben dropped to his knees. His lips trembled. His face grew wet.
He never thought he’d see his son again.
Victoria stood in the doorway. Emily glanced up at her mother. “Mother?” she asked, but she didn’t respond. A low, growling noise rose in her throat. Emily backed away like a child fearful of the neighbor’s dog. Victoria stepped forward, extending one hand toward her daughter. Behind her, Brittany emerged, her face cut and bloodied. She didn’t speak a word. Instead, she reached for her sister with bloody fingers.
Emily wanted to scream, but didn’t. She wanted to run, but couldn’t. She watched her family close in on her, powerless to their approach. She passed out before they began to feed.
Feeling his son wrap his bony arms around him was exactly how Ben imagined it. He whimpered softly has he patted the boy’s back. “I missed you, Dad,” he said, and Ben cried harder. “Mom said you were coming, but… I didn’t think you’d make it.”
Ben turned to Melissa. She smiled at him.
He went back to hugging his son. Jake nested his head on his father’s shoulder.
“I hate to interrupt,” Melissa said. “But we need to talk.”
“About what?” Ben asked, still gripping Jake in his arms.
“About…” She pointed upstairs.
“They’re going to break in any moment. There were hundreds of them in the street.”
“Jesus,” she said. “Was… David up there?”
David, Ben thought. The guy from the photos.
Ben shook his head. “Let’s go upstairs,” he suggested. “We need to get out of here. And quick.”
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” Melissa said, her voice forlorn. Ben could see her trembling.
“And why’s that?”
She looked to the ceiling for answers, her eyes welling. Sadness invaded her voice. “Remember on the phone, when I told you everything east of Philly was going to be wiped off the planet?”
“Yeah…” Ben said suspiciously.
“Well… it’s not just the East Coast anymore,” she said, gulping. “It’s half the country.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Glass shattered above them. Footsteps pounded the floor. Hell had broken free and it swarmed 732 Crown Avenue. Demons snarled. Their stomachs grumbled, craving the flesh of the living.
“What do you mean?” Ben asked, turning back to Melissa.
“On the radio—just before the batteries died—they said that someone was going to drop a nuclear bomb on the United States. Several of them.”
“Who? Who is going to drop a bomb on us?” Ben asked. “Isn’t the whole world like this?”
“I don’t know. The man on the radio didn’t seem to think so.”
“Jesus Christ.” Ben paced back and forth a few times. “So what do we do?”
“How… How the hell am I supposed to know?” Melissa shook her head. “David said we might be safe down here, you know, if…”
“If a nuclear bomb hits anywhere near here, Mel, it’s not going to matter where you are. The fallout will swallow us no matter where we hide. No, staying down here is just as dangerous.”
“Well, you got any better ideas?”
Ben didn’t. But he knew they had a better chance of surviving somewhere other than the basement. At least for a little while longer. “Do you know how long we have?”
Melissa shook her head. “No, the guy on the radio said a day. But that was yesterday, so…”
“Alright we’re getting out of here.”
Ben grabbed Jake by the hand and led him to the stairs. Melissa jogged behind them. When Ben started up the stairs, he felt someone’s hand on his shoulder. He turned to his ex-wife. She looked terrified, haggard, on the verge of losing her mind.
“I… just want to say that I missed you,” she said.
Ben looked at her. Under normal circumstances, he might have told her something different. Instead, he faked a smile and said, “Yeah, me too.”
The three of them hurried upstairs.
Hands waved at them through the broken kitchen windows. The moans of the horde outside echoed throughout the house. Ben led his son and Melissa through the kitchen and into the living room, where they found a dozen zombies feasting on the remains of a fifteen-year old girl. The clump of meat in the middle of the room barely resembled Emily Torres. The dead cannibals nibbled remnants of organs and splashed about in a large pool of blood. Ben saw Josh had become one of them. He was eating what little meat remained on a bone. Victoria was there too, snacking on her daughter’s innards. Brittany as well. She looked up at Ben as he entered the room. She dropped the hand she was gnawing on and rose to her feet.
Ben quickly looked away from the carnage and led his family upstairs. The front door was blocked by numerous corpses looking to join the house party. They lumbered toward Ben with surprising speed, Melissa shrieking when she noticed how close they were getting. Ben hurried them up the stairs, allowing them to go first. He booted the first zombie to reach the bottom of the stairs, sending him crashing into a few of his buddies. Three of them lost their balance and fell to the floor, creating distance between them. Ben rushed up the stairs, following Melissa and Jake, who had already disappeared down the hallway.