A scream tore through the silence of the morning.
“What the fuck was that?” Jamie asked. They both sat up abruptly. Someone pounded on the door. “Get in the closet.”
“What?”
“I said get in the closet.”
“There’s a girl out here!” Steve called, pounding on the door. “Jamie! Jamie! There’s a girl!”
Jamie threw the door opened. Steve stumbled forward, jaw dropping when he took notice of Dakota still sitting upright in the bed. “What the—?”
“Not now,” Dakota said, scrambling out of the bed.
He pulled his shirt over his head and ran out the door.
“HELP!” the girl screamed.
She appeared to have fallen from the barbed wire fence. Palms shredded and face scrunched in anguish, she wrapped her fingers through the chain-link and looked on in horror as Steve, Jamie and Dakota ran to join Erik at the gate. Nearby, Kirn and Wills stood with their guns trained on the infected, fingers drumming against the curve of their triggers.
“Are you bit?” Jamie asked.
“No!” she cried.
“Don’t scream,” Dakota said. “What’s your name?”
“Alexis.”
“Alexis. My name’s Dakota.”
“I didn’t know anyone was here,” she said, sobbing, tears coursing down her face. “I tried to climb the fence and I…I thought I could get over the barbed wire, but then I fell and my baby…”
She sobbed. Dakota instinctively sought out the obvious swell in her stomach and felt a pang of guilt roll through his gut as he found it. “How did you fall?” he asked.
“On my back,” she said. “Thank God.”
“Are you hurt?”
“It’s just my hands,” the girl said. “I caught myself on the way down. I fell on my butt.”
“Goddammit,” Erik breathed, jamming a key into the padlock around the pull and push mechanism.
“What’s taking so long?” Jamie asked.
“I can’t get the fucking key to work!”
“They’re closing in,” Kirn warned.
“Don’t fire unless it’s absolutely necessary,” Jamie said.
A small group of about twenty infected shambled forward, their movements restricted both by the immense amount of decay plaguing some of their bodies and the vehicles situated against one side of the road. Alexis, still crying, looked over her shoulder, but quickly turned her head when she saw the corpses.
“It’s going to be ok,” Dakota said, wanting to reach forward, but not willing to get blood on his hands. “You’re safe now.”
“I can’t believe he left me,” the girl whispered.
“Who?”
“My boyfriend.”
A roar went up in the crowd.
Kirn fired a shot. “Runner,” he said.
“Were you with other people?” Jamie asked, pushing Erik aside to try and maneuver the key out of the padlock. “Was there anyone else with you?”
“N-no,” Alexis said. “There wasn’t.”
“How did you get here?”
“I jumped out my window and into our swimming pool. I’m not bit, I swear.”
“Just give us a sec, we’re gonna get you in here.”
“Hurry up with that gate!” Wills called.
“We’re working on it!” Erik cried.
Jamie twisted the key as hard as he could and the lock popped open.
“Shit,” Steve breathed.
Three infected came running out of the alley.
Alexis screamed.
Jamie and Erik ripped their fingers through the gate and began to pull it open as fast as they could. Above, Kirn and Wills opened fire upon the infected. The first went down as its kneecaps were blown out. The second and third managed to dodge the bullets or avoid fatal shots by taking blows in the chest and shoulders. One ran forward, tripped over the curb, then lashed out at the ground as it propelled itself toward Alexis.
Steve tore his gun out of its holster and fired.
Blood and brain matter exploded onto the third infected, stunning it just long enough to allow Kirn and Wills to deal the fatal, killing shots.
The gate rolled open.
Alexis ran in.
A choir of death began to sound in the streets as the zombies shambled out of the shadows.
“Someone has to check you,” Dakota said, leveling his eyes on the girl as they stepped into the locker room.
“I have to…strip naked?” she asked.
“It’s just a precaution. We want to check you for bites.”
“I didn’t get bit,” Alexis said. “I already told you.”
“I know.” Dakota sighed. He slid his fingers into his pockets and watched a few tears run down the girl’s face. “I’ll do it.”
“What?”
“I’ll do it. I don’t want anyone else to.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m gay,” Dakota said. “I don’t know if it’s any help for you to know that.”
“You’re not saying that just to get me to undress, are you?”
“No. I’m not. They’re waiting just outside the door if you’re not sure.”
A sob escaped the girl’s chest. Pulling her shirt over her head, she tossed it into the corner and slid her pants down her legs, shivering as she stood before Dakota in only her underwear. He checked everywhere from her head to her toes, then sighed, gesturing for her to remove the rest. When she did, she stood there with her hands beneath her breasts, trembling in her nudity.
Dakota concluded his exam. “You’re ok.”
Alexis reached for a dry towel that sat on a nearby bench.
“Why don’t you go ahead and take a shower,” Dakota said. “The skinny guy with brown hair and glasses will take care of your hands after you get out.”
“She’s safe,” Dakota said.
A collective sigh of relief went up among the group.
“Good,” Jamie said, running a hand through his hair. “Now all we have to worry about is the infected.”
“We’ll get rid of them,” Erik said, adjusting his rifle across his back. “All we have to do is use the sound displacement technique.”
“That’s a load of horseshit,” Kirn said.
“Then you’ve got the job,” Jamie said, clapping Kirn on the shoulder. “You and Wills get to the roof and start working on it.”
“You asshole.”
“I may be an asshole, but I’m the asshole in charge.”
Kirn and Wills left, the former muttering something under his breath as they did.
“Everything else ok?” Erik asked, turning to look at Dakota.
“Her hands are messed up, but other than that, she seems ok. You might want to look at her back though. She said she fell while she was trying to climb the fence.”
“She’s also pregnant,” Erik said, reaching up to push his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “That puts us in a predicament.”
“We don’t even know how far along she is,” Jamie said.
“Are you kidding?” Erik laughed. “She’s at least five, if not six months in. We’ve got a real problem here, Jamie. We really do.
“I know.”
“We don’t have the medical equipment here to deliver a baby.”
“We’ll worry about that later.” Jamie shook his head. “For now, let’s just welcome the tenth member of our group.”
Alexis stood in the second floor lobby. Head craned forward, eyes reveling in the sight of the delicate strands of life beneath the plastic domes of the terrariums, she looked to be a child in awe of the world, innocent beyond her sixteen years and the baby growing inside her. Her lips parted into a smile and her hands started shaking, as though excited at the prospect of something great and wonderful. So captivated was she in her own little world that she barely heard Dakota approach.
“Hey,” he said, sliding up alongside her. “Erik take care of your hands?”