“Where are we going, Dad,” Charlene said.
“Away from here,” I said. “Somewhere safe.”
They both smiled. Allison, too. I might have been, as well.
“Daddy?”
“Yes, dear.”
“I want to bring my ax,” Charlene said.
She walked to the door. It leaned against the jamb. She grabbed the handle. The blade was coated in blood.
I did not want my daughter to carry an ax. She was my little girl. She’d endured some tough situations, no doubt, but I was here. Daddy was here. She was safe.
She was safe.
Or was she. Were any of us?
She had used that ax to save not only herself, but Cash, too. She’d demonstrated a strength and maturity, and courage that most adults never exhibit.
I did not want my daughter to carry an ax, but instead of saying no, I said, “Of course, you can.”
Chapter Forty
The four of us left my apartment. The backpack was slung over a shoulder; I held hands with my kids as we stepped outside. I did not want to risk letting go. Ever.
A hint of morning touched the western sky. Red-lit altostratus clouds spread thin across the distant horizon. I took it as a good omen. Right now, everything seemed like a good omen.
“We need to hurry,” Allison said. “I have no idea how long we’ve been gone.”
“We’ll make it,” I said.
“Make what?” Cash said.
“Help.” I pursed my lips. We had been gone a while. We had over a quarter of a mile to go to get back. We’d make it. We had to. I could image Dave holding the Humvee. Keeping it there, even an extra ten minutes -- buying time for us to return. “We need to move fast. Stay low, and keep quiet, okay?”
Again, we stayed close to the buildings. We made our way across the parking lot, using cars for cover until the next building. At Stone, we passed by the car that was wrapped around the pole without stopping. The man inside had not moved, was still slumped over the steering wheel. I felt a little better about him being dead. I had no idea how I’d of helped him, had he been alive and trapped.
The plaza we crossed housed a pet, liquor, and toy store. Soho Bagels was a favorite of mine. Great coffee, awesome breakfast sandwiches. The sidewalks along the strip plaza were bare. By bare, I meant zombieless.
I listened for choppers. Heard none. Nothing.
We were making good time.
Getting back to Dave and Sues would be easy. Hopefully, once we returned, it wouldn’t be long before the Humvee arrived.
“Chase,” Allison said. Hated the tone she used. It shook in her throat. It meant she was scared.
“Look,” she said.
In the parking lot, halfway between Ridge Road and where we were, five fast zombies ran at us.
“Ah, shit,” I said.
“Daddy,” Cash said. “That’s not a--”
“Not now, buddy.” I grabbed the door to a dental office. Too much glass. The front window. The door itself. But it was closest, and it was unlocked. “Inside, everyone. Now.”
I didn’t get this far to be eaten now.
Allison had the kids by the hand as I labored at pulling the door closed. It was set to close slowly. Hated that. As it shut, I realized there was no way to lock it. Was a key lock. I did not have a key.
“Find the back door. Has to be one. Go,” I said, holding the door closed. “Move!”
The first zombie to reach the dental office didn’t bother with the handle. Maybe you could blame the cleaning staff. I don’t think he saw glass at all. His hands hit the door first. His wrists snapped back from the impact. His arms flattened, and then his whole front half slammed into the glass--momentum and all.
I took it as an opportunity, and ran. I sidestepped the front counter. Darting past hospital-green dental chairs, where large round lights hung overhead, I noticed trays of dental tools. I fisted away as many as I could grasp.
“Back here,” Allison said.
A bell jangled. They were inside.
The floor rushed to meet my face. The wastepaper basket had been in my way. I knew it now, as I fell. My knee hit the tile. I winced, and gasped, and for just a moment, drew my leg up and in.
“Chase!”
In an attempt to scramble to my feet, I felt hands on my back. “I’m good,” I said.
The groan and moan that followed almost made my heart stop. MY kids were feet away. I’d found them. I had them. And now I was going to get devoured.
The man’s weight was too much. The small of my back felt like it might break. The thing had to be kneeling on me.
I released the handful of silver instruments, which made a clinking noise on the tiles, and snatched up the one that looked the sharpest.
The zombie had me by the back of the hair.
I squirmed and wiggled, trying to throw him off me. The backpack might have been all that saved me from having the back of my neck chunked out by a rabid mouth of teeth. I kicked with my legs as best I could. All I kept wondering was, where are the other four? Is this it?
Coming at me were sneakers. Jeans.
The zombie pulled back on my hair, my throat was extended tight. My eyes bulged. Not just from the pain of my head feeling like it was being ripped off my torso, but because the person coming at me was my daughter.
Allison was right behind her, running at her, but too many steps away to stop Charlene.
The blade of the ax dragged for a half second, before she lifted and swung it in one fluid motion.
I would have screamed if my lungs weren’t being completely deprived of oxygen. I heard the thwap of the ax sticking into flesh.
The weight fell off my back. The hand that had me by the hair, released.
I was free.
I scrambled forward, my leg sending sharp shooting pain up my thigh to my hip, and down it to my toes.
“Are you okay?” Charlene was about to walk past me, looked determined to deliver another, possibly fatal blow.
I spun her around by the arm.
“She ran from me,” Allison said.
“Let’s get out of here,” I said. The sound of glass shattering was so ear-splitting loud, I almost covered mine. “Where’s Cash?”
“By the door,” Allison said and ran with Charlene and me following.
Charlene carried her own weapon. I had no idea what had happened to my shovel. I had a feeling; I was going to need it, too. “Baby,” I said. “Give me the ax.”
She re-tightened her grip on the wooden handle.
“Honey,” I said, “I need the ax.”
“I need the ax, Daddy.”
“You don’t need to fight right now.” I wanted to tell her she wouldn’t need to fight ever again. I thought that might be a lie. She didn’t need to be lied to. The truth was the only thing that would help us survive this mess. “Let me have the ax.”
I thought she might cry. As she handed it over, her arms trembled. Possibly, she was happy to be giving it up, turning the ax over. The responsibility, and the stress and the idea of killing zombies lifting off her, I hoped.
“I want you to stay close to Cash, okay? And both of you stay close to me and Allison,” I said.
Charlene stared at me. Tears rimming the bottom of her eyelids.
“Okay, honey?”
“I won’t let go of his hand,” she said.
“That’s my girl,” I said.
“We ready?” Allison said.
“We’re going to stay behind the shops. Run all the way across. We follow the buildings in the ‘L’ shape and it will bring us out right where we need to cross at Ridge,” I said. It was stating the obvious. I think I just needed to hear a plan out loud. It helped. Having direction.
“Got it,” she said.
“Then let’s go!”
The morning sun lit the lot. It should have been a consolation. It wasn’t, it was the opposite. Easier to hide in the darkness. I felt we were too exposed. Too out in the open. Staying close to the buildings, running around green dumpsters, and cardboard box piles, made me nervous. I felt something was always on the other side. We never slowed though. We didn’t use caution passing the potential zombie hiding spots. We flew past them. We had somewhere to be.