“What do you want to do?”
“I don’t think making a run for it is an option, yeah?”
“Yeah. I mean no. Think we can kick out a wall?”
“Probably… but the noise.”
“Yeah,” I said.
Roz folded herself into me and stood there for a minute. She touched my chest and then felt to my shoulder, then down my arm. Shit, was I about to go out with a smile?
Her hand stopped at the handgun.
“How many rounds do you have?”
“Enough.”
“Okay, but last resort. If they get in here, do it. Don’t tell me it’s coming; just do it so I’m not scared out of my pants.”
“I bet you look good out of your pants,” I said.
“Guess you’ll never know in the dark, huh? Maybe we should be quiet. See? I’m coming up with a plan.”
“That’s the plan?”
“Yeah. If we’re quiet, maybe they’ll get bored and leave.”
I didn’t see that happening but I also didn’t see anything wrong with holding Roz against me for a little bit longer. It’d been a long time since I held a woman and if I was about to die, I could think of worse ways to go.
Our respite was short lived. The pounding on the door picked up with gusto. I hugged Roz tighter and closed my eyes.
*mumble mumble.*
“What?” I asked the darkness.
“Someone’s yelling.”
“Joel. Who else would start making a fuss? Think he’s going to go into Marine mode and lead them away?”
“I hope not,” Roz said.
“Me too.” I nodded in the dark. I liked Joel right where he was — alive and ready to carry on the fight.
More mumbled shouts.
The banging on the door increased and I was sure they were about to break in. The door flexed, so we took up station in front of it and pushed back. It might not stop them for long, but it was better than giving up.
More mumbles but they were overridden by the moans outside. So many voices and many of them just making guttural sounds. It didn’t make any sense. I did, however, make out was the clicks and scrabbling of at least one shuffler.
Something thumped against the garage so hard I nearly jumped out of my skin. I’d like to say we were brave, but I was just about to go find a corner to shit in. If I didn’t, my pants were going to be filled, and I didn’t want my Mom’s worst fear to be realized. She would have to bury my corpse in my dirty skivvies.
Something else thumped. I looked up because the sound had come from there. Jesus, did a shuffler make it that high? I’d seen them leap, but not that damn far. The roof was flat, but it was still a good twelve feet high.
Something smashed into the roof and this time I aimed the gun. More mumbled shouts.
“What in the hell!” Roz yelled. She reached for me and found my hand. I gave hers a squeeze and tried to act brave which was really hard to do in the pitch black.
Light crept under the garage door every time one of the Z’s hit it. As the beating grew faster it looked like we were standing under a strobe light.
The door buckled and almost went down. A spring on one side gave way with a twanging pop. The Z’s beat at the door even harder. I pushed back, but one hard crash almost sent me to my knees. That would be one of the shufflers.
More noise from the roof.
I tugged Roz to me. I embraced her and put her head against my chest. It wasn’t really a romantic way to go out and not something I’d ever plan. If this was some Romeo and Juliet fucked up zombie movie, that’s how it would end. I guess I’d just put the gun to her head and pull the trigger, then, if it didn’t pass through her head and into my chest, I’d put it under my chin. The dead could feast on my corpse.
Still, I’d love to kill one more shuffler before I went down. I hated those things.
Something crashed into the roof. Something heavy enough to shake the entire building—speaking of shufflers.
Another crash and light poured in from above.
“Get your asses up here!” Joel yelled.
Something sharp smashed into the roof and tore a hole the size of a softball. He was using an entrenching tool to rip the roof an asshole. Son of a bitch, Joel. Son of a bitch.
The dead renewed their efforts to get us. The thumping was bad enough, but now Joel was offering us a way out — if there was time.
“Can you find some way to get us up there?” I asked Roz.
“What about the door?”
“Just make us a ladder. I’ll hold the door.” I smiled in the dim light because I knew it was probably a death sentence.
She moved away and used the light from above to gather up a few items. Now that I could see, it was clear that the garage was a veritable death trap. Tools lay on benches, and there was a chainsaw that I briefly thought of trying to use if the Z’s got through the door.
A couple of mowers lay in disrepair with wheels and machine parts in buckets and bins. There was enough furniture in the room to fill a two-story house, most of it stacked against the wall.
Joel ripped up a chunk of roof and tossed it aside. He looked in and I waved, but with the dust and dark I doubted he could make us out.
“I can see you!” Roz yelled.
She worked at a pile of old wooden chairs, tossing them under the hole Joel was creating. He dug in with the small shovel and then ripped up yet another piece along with a huge pile of pink insulation.
The dead grew furious, judging by the way they pounded at the door. I pushed back, and just when I thought they were going to give it a rest, something hit the door hard enough to knock off another spring.
“Shufflers. We need to hurry!” Joel yelled.
“Then hurry.”
“Get your ass up here and dig. I bet they’ll let you through.”
I flipped him the bird.
The door buckled and almost caved in. I put my back into it but there were fingers wriggling between the frame and the broken door. A hand poked through, so I dragged the gun up, estimated where the head was attached to the body, and put a round through the thick wood. The hand stopped feeling around and went limp.
“Almost got it!” Joel yelled and ripped up another piece of roof.
Roz climbed up onto the contraption she’d built and stood on unsteady legs as the chair wobbled, balanced on two other chairs. Was I supposed to get out on that thing?
She reached up; Joel Kelly caught her hands and pulled. Another pair of hands came down and grabbed her forearms and then she was yanked up. Craig or Christy, those two wonderful kids, had decided to help. I grinned.
My gratitude was short lived.
My skin crawled and my belly clenched when the door gave way. I pulled away and just avoided being crushed under it and about a hundred stinking dead people that wanted to eat me.
Do you know the dread? Can you imagine what their reek is like? It’s hell, pure hell and those teeth… Most still have teeth, but others have snapped and cracked chompers that are the nastiest things you have ever seen outside of a pit of bloated corpses rotting in the sun.
I made it two steps, thought I felt breath on the back of my neck, then spun and shot a shuffler in mid-leap. She had both hands up, her mouth a furious grin of madness. I swear she was gibbering. A couple of fingers had been chewed to the knuckle and that was probably what saved me, because her nasty hand wasn’t able to keep a grip on my arm.
My first shot missed. I took a few steps back as every fiber of my body screamed that I needed to run. I fired one more time and, this time, did some damage. The bullet ripped through her body laterally but didn’t stop the damned woman.
I reached the chairs and crawled up the first level while the garage filled. I had only seconds and one mistake would be the end of me. I’d be pulled into the mass so fast that there wouldn’t be time to blow my brains out.
I shot a Z in the chest because I didn’t have time to get a good bead. The bullet punched into flesh and knocked it aside.