“Go to Jake’s room!” Ben shouted.
He reached the top of the stairs. Melissa helped Jake inside his room. Ben sprinted down the hall, following them into the bedroom. The walls were littered with posters of Batman and Spider-Man, and half a dozen other comic-book heroes. Comics and young-adult novels were messily thrown across the floor, along with dirty laundry. Ben narrowed his eyes at Melissa, remembering the many trivial arguments they had about keeping the boy’s room clean. She smirked faintly, understanding exactly where his thoughts were. Her expression changed when she heard footfalls down the hallway.
“Where to now?” Melissa asked.
“The window. Hurry.”
Ben looked behind them. Shadows formed on the hallway wall.
Melissa slid the window open.
“Out. Now,” Ben commanded.
Melissa crawled through the open window without any hesitation. Once she was onto the roof, she looked back and waved Jake on. He turned to his father with tears in his eyes. His small lips trembled.
“Can I have my PSP?” Jake asked. “Please, Dad? I really want my PSP.”
Are you kidding me? Now was certainly not the time to go searching for a hand-held video game system. On the other hand, it was certainly not the time to argue with a ten-year old either. “Where is it?”
“In my closet, I think.”
“Go with your mother. I’ll grab it.”
“Okay,” Jake said. He turned to the window, reaching out, grabbing his mother’s hands. She pulled him through and the boy collapsed in her arms.
Ben rushed toward the closet. He began throwing things around. Clothes. Toys. Books. Comics. The kid had too much shit, plain and simple. How much came out of his child support, he did not know. How much David had paid for (or the other fuck-buddies Melissa had since their separation) he did not want to know. “I can’t find it, kiddo,” Ben said.
Jake poked his head through the window. “Check the black bag!”
Ben spotted one black duffel bag. He remembered it. It was a bag he helped load into Melissa’s van, the night before they left for Brown Valley. He opened it hastily. Turning it upside down, he dumped numerous toys and video-game discs onto the closet floor. The PSP was the last thing to come out. He grabbed it, slipped it into his pocket, and turned toward the window.
Melissa screamed.
“Daddy!” Jake called out.
Several zombies stood in the doorway, looking hungrier than ever. They commenced forward, lunging for Ben as he darted toward the window.
Josh Emberson led the attack.
Ben barrel-rolled across the bed as if he had suddenly caught fire. He landed on the floor on the opposite side, next to the open window. Melissa and Jake screamed for him, reaching for his hands. He dove for the window, feeling the presence of the dead behind him. Their moans grew louder as they inched closer. The room filled with their rancid odor. Ben reached the window and pulled himself up. Melissa and Jake grabbed his arms, yanking him through.
Then, Ben screamed. He felt pain trounce the back of his leg. He felt hands gripping his ankle. It took a few moments, but he was able to shake them free. He pulled his body through the window, his legs quickly following. Ben turned over and looked back. He saw Josh standing in the window, a bloody flap of skin dangling from his mouth. The zombie devoured it quickly.
Ben glanced down at the back of his leg. Half of his calf was missing. Blood streamed down his leg from the cavity where the muscle used to be. Bloody tissue dangled from the wound. Ben winced, the pain overbearing. He lay there for a minute trying to ignore it, hoping it would go away. But the constant throb only worsened as the seconds passed, spreading to neighboring areas.
Josh began climbing through the window. Ben scooted forward, kicking him in the chest with his good leg, causing the zombie to fall back. It sprang back to its feet immediately, several of his dead friends accompanying him back to the open window. Ben shouted, telling Melissa to close the window. She rushed over and slammed it shut. A zombie’s hand got caught while reaching out for Ben. Melissa crushed it when she slammed the window sash down with all of her strength. Bones broke, but the zombie didn’t flinch. It glared at her through the glass. She brought the sash back up and Ben kicked the corpse again, sending it sprawling on its back.
This time, Melissa closed the window without any interference.
The three of them watched as Josh and several other dead faces filled the window, desperately craving their next meal.
The sun had just about disappeared behind the horizon, leaving the sky to bask in a beautiful arrangement of orange and purple cloud-clad streaks. The three of them sat near the edge of the roof, captivated by something they had only ever seen in movies and elegant paintings that hung in rich people’s dining rooms. The magnificent scenery absorbed them so intensely that they were able to ignore the window pane breaking and the noises from the dead crowd that gathered behind them. A traffic jam had formed and it looked like it wouldn’t clear up for quite some time.
The Ackermans continued to watch the sun fade behind cloud-covered horizon, ignoring the calamity building behind them.
After a few minutes, Jake placed the side of his head in his father’s lap. Within a minute, he was snoring.
“I’m really sorry,” Melissa said, breaking the silence that had lasted a solid five minutes.
“For what?” Ben asked.
“For everything,” she replied. “I was… unfair, at times.”
Ben laughed through his nose. “At times?”
Playfully, she punched him on the shoulder. “Screw you,” she said, snorting. “Okay, I was unfair a lot of the time. And…” She took a deep breath. “I was wrong to move out here. I shouldn’t have moved Jake out of state. It was… my childish way of punishing you.”
“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forgive you for it,” he said seriously.
She nodded. “I can’t say I blame you.”
There was silence again. Then suddenly, Ben gasped. The pain in his leg intensified. Jake awoke instantly, snapping his head up as if he had awoken from a terrible nightmare.
“Did I hurt you, Daddy?” he asked.
“No…” Ben said. “My leg.”
He turned it. It seemed to be getting worse as the moments passed. A faint red ring began to appear near the outskirts of the wound. The hole emitted puss.
“It’s infected,” Melissa said.
“Dad, are you going to turn into one of them?” Jake asked. He pointed to the window where the zombies were still stuck, trying to climb their way out. They made no progress.
“No, Jakester,” Ben told him. “I don’t think I can.”
“What are you talking about?” Melissa asked.
“A few blocks over, I ran into a man who had been bitten. He was still human.”
Melissa shook her head. “The radio said everyone who had been bitten turned almost instantly. How is it possible?”
“I dunno. But I was bitten in the street. Right before I found you guys.” Ben shrugged. “Here I am.” He glanced at the wound. It looked nasty. Began to smell weird too. “I think it was because of the flu.”