The Awakening_Book One in the Zombie Uprising Series Page 6

  Jen only had one chance. She took the firing position she'd been taught in firearms class, aimed over her dad's shoulder, and squeezed the trigger. A hole appeared in Tara's forehead, and the back of her head exploded, spraying blood, flesh, and bone across the linoleum floor. She dropped like a marionette whose strings had been cut.

  Devin whirled and said something to Jen. With a ringing in her ears, she yelled, "Can't hear."

  He hugged her and spoke into her ear. "Thanks for the assist."

  She squeezed him. "No charge for the first one. Besides, we're getting each other out of this, right?"

  "That's right."

  Chris's head hung. "Poor Tara. She deserved better."

  Jen's gut ached. She'd been celebrating killing a zombie, while Chris considered it to still be Tara. She put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry. I forgot these are people you grew up with. I didn't mean to be cruel."

  "Not your fault," Chris said. "If I don't get over it and start taking these things out myself, more of my friends will die."

  Devin nodded. "It's unfortunate, but you have to consider your friends gone once they turn."

  Chris managed a weak smile. "You're right. Jen saved our lives. I shouldn't be whining." He gave Jen a thumbs up. "That was a heck of a shot."

  Jen squeezed his shoulder. Need to change the subject. "Thanks, but did you notice that bitten people are turning faster? Leo took hours. This last one took a couple of minutes."

  "The virus may be mutating," Devin said.

  "Listen up," Raymond bellowed. "No doors get opened without my permission. I don't care who you see out there." The men and women who'd stood off to the side during the attack mumbled and nodded.

  Raymond motioned to Chris. "Find those who still have their wits and station one person at each door." Chris ran off to a group of men gathered in front of the restrooms. A few of the men nodded and headed for the doors.

  Chris jogged back over. "All the doors are covered."

  Raymond walked to the middle of the room and clapped his hands sharply together. The villagers went silent, the constant banging and growling at the door the only sound. "Last we heard, the storm's supposed to break tonight. Our weekly supply plane is scheduled to arrive in the morning. So we just need to last the night."

  The villagers murmured among themselves. Raymond went on. "But we need to be able to defend ourselves. So I want everyone to grab a weapon. Anything hefty that you can swing and knock these things in the head. That's the key. Any other damage doesn't bring them down, only the head."

  Three men and a woman walked up to Raymond and pulled out handguns. Raymond nodded. "Good. I'd like each of you to double up with a door guard."

  "What about me?"

  Raymond spun. Griffin, the bootlegger, stood patting the grip of a long-barreled revolver holstered on his hip.

  "What've you got?" Raymond asked.

  ".357 Magnum."

  Chris's eyebrows rose. "Bad-ass gun." He pointed to Griffin's other hip. "What's that, a hatchet?"

  Griffin removed the weapon from the sheath attached to his belt. "Tactical tomahawk. Small, but deadly."

  "You're sober?" Raymond asked.

  "As can be."

  Arms crossed, Raymond stared into Griffin's eyes. "You stay here so you can back up any of the doors."

  Griffin nodded. "You got it."

  Villagers overturned chairs and broke the legs off. One man took the axe hanging next to the fire extinguisher and gave it a few practice swings. In the midst of all this, the banging and growling at the doors grew louder.

  Shattering glass sounded from the women's room. Chris flung the door open. Three zombies had broken the window and were feasting on a woman lying on the floor, her throat ripped out and her glassy eyes staring at the ceiling. Another zombie lunged for Chris. Jen shot it in the face, blowing off its lower jaw, but not stopping it. Shit. Her second round went in its left eye, and it dropped. Chris slammed the door shut and pressed his back against it. Jen and Raymond helped him as the door shuddered under the zombie attack.

  "Bring us something to brace this door," Chris yelled. A man rushed over with a two by four, jammed one end under the doorknob, and braced the other end against the floor. It slipped. Raymond grimaced. "The linoleum's too slick."

  Jen waved to the man with the axe. "Bring that over here."

  The man with the axe ran over. "Give it to Chris," she said. "Take his rifle and get back to the front door." Jen propped the piece of wood under the doorknob again, then pointed at where it met the floor. "We need a hole there now."

  Chris nodded and raised the axe over his head. Jen stepped back, and Chris swung, creating a crack in the linoleum. With a few more deft strokes, there was a nice groove. Jen propped the piece of wood again, and it fit perfectly. The banging at the bathroom door continued.

  Jen bent forward and propped her hands on her knees. Chris stepped back and let out a long breath. "They're not getting through there. It would take more of them than can fit in the bathroom."

  Jen straightened and wiped her brow. "I'm exhausted. I think the adrenaline's beginning to wear off."

  Chris pointed to a kitchen area. "Why don't you go get some coffee and sit for a bit. We're pretty secure right now."

  "I might just do that." Jen walked over to the kitchen, where a pot of oily looking coffee sat. She poured a cup, leaned against the counter, and drank, the bitter liquid burning down her throat. The damn stuff must've been sitting there for hours.

  Devin wandered over and stood next to her. She made a face and pointed to her cup. "Crappy, but it's the only game in town. Want a cup?"

  Devin shook his head.

  "Are all your expeditions this fun-filled?" Jen asked.

  Devin gave her a weary smile. "Guess I saved the best for last." He took Jen's hand. "I know I was a shitty father, and I'm sorry."

  Jen waved him off. "Not the time. We'll talk once we get out of here."

  "That's the first thing we'll do when we get back to Anchorage," Devin said.

  Raymond strode up to them. "I'm not sure this place will hold when those sailors get here, but I've got a plan."

  "I'm all ears." Devin stood. "Is there anywhere more secure in the village?"

  "I'm not talking about here. Wainwright."

  Jen had been taking a drink and almost spit up the coffee. "Are you crazy? That's what we tried to do, and we lost Hal. Those things were as thick as flies out there."

  "What's going on?" Chris asked as he joined the group.

  "Your uncle is contemplating suicide," Jen said. "He wants to go to Wainwright." She crossed her arms. "What is it about that place? Everyone wants to go, but no one seems to get there."

  Raymond frowned. "I've got a plan, and I've got twenty-seven other villagers willing to go."

  "What's the plan?" Devin folded his arms.

  Raymond took a deep breath and exhaled. "Since there are hundreds of the sailors coming from the south, we head east for about five miles, then swing out around them. They won't even know we're there. They'll keep coming here and we'll slip away."

  Jen frowned. Sounded like a decent plan, but she remembered Hal's screams. She didn't want to be caught by the zombies out on the dark tundra. "Why not just wait here, and keep that as plan B if the community center looks like it'll be overrun?"

  "By the time that happens," Raymond said, "it'll be too late. There'll be too many zombies for us to fight through to get out."

  "You've got a point there," Jen said.

  "So are you with me?" Raymond asked.

  Jen looked at Devin. "What do you think?"

  Devin frowned. "It's suicide." A loud bang came from the front door. It rattled.

  Raymond crossed his arms. "It's suicide to stay. I learned in the corps that you have to adapt to the situation. This isn't the first solution I'd pick if we had other options, but we don't."

  "This will be the first place rescue teams will look," Devin said.

  "So you're st
aying?" Raymond asked.

  Devin nodded.

  Jen's heart fluttered. She liked Raymond's plan better, but she'd stick with Devin. "Then I'm staying."

  Raymond looked at Chris. "And you?"

  Chris stepped next to his uncle. "Gotta stick with family." He and Jen locked eyes for a moment. They weren't so different.

  Raymond called out. "Clear the front door. We're going through."

  He strode to the door, and other members of his group stood behind him, their faces somber.

  Devin took Jen's arm and tugged. "We don't want to be too close."

  She shook her head. "We should at least help them get clear of the building. Plus we'll need to make sure the door gets secured after they leave." She jogged toward the group at the front door.

  Raymond locked eyes with Jen for a second, his jaw set. "On the count of three."

  "One." He removed the iron bar from the door.

  "Two." He unlocked the deadbolt.

  "Three!"

  The group slammed into the door, and it opened outward a couple of feet. The growls and snapping jaws grew louder, and a bloody, flesh-eaten hand grabbed for Raymond. He pointed his shotgun into the opening and fired.

  "Again. Harder!" Raymond yelled. "Now."

  The group pushed again, with help from villagers that were staying. The door opened halfway and the group pushed outside, guns booming and blunt weapons smashing into skulls. They moved through the zombies inches at a time, but they made progress.

  Jen aimed at several zombies but couldn't get a clear shot.

  Raymond's head rose above all, and fire spit from his shotgun barrel. The zombies swarmed them, but they slashed their way through the mob. Soon, all that could be seen was Raymond's head as the zombies encircled the group, but still they trudged their way forward. Jen's pulse raced. They're going to make it.

  A cry of alarm turned Jen's attention to several zombies that had noticed the open community center door and all the fresh meat behind it.

  A teenage zombie with a mangled arm rushed Devin, who wrestled him to the ground. Holding the creature down with one arm, he swung the pipe over his head and struck the zombie's forehead. Its head split and it went motionless.

  Jen lined up her sights on one of the remaining zombies and shot it in the bridge of its nose. Another couple of quick shots and the remaining threat was gone.

  A deafening boom came from behind Jen, and half of a zombie's head exploded in a gore-infused mist.

  Jen ducked and looked behind her. Griffin stood, both hands holding the .357, a curl of smoke floating up from the end of the barrel. He smiled at Jen. "Not bad, huh?"

  Asshole.

  The group of escaping villagers made it across the street, almost through the zombie horde.

  A scream came from the group, followed by a cacophony of screeches rising from the other side of the melee. Raymond looked back at the community center, his face slack and eyes wide. "Sailors," he mouthed.

  A wave of the infected washed over the group. Several mottled hands grabbed Raymond's head and pulled him from sight.

  12

  Jen reloaded and fired several rounds, making kill shots with most of them. "We need to open a hole on this side so they can come back."

  Devin and several villagers rushed the back of the zombie horde, felling the creatures with deft blows to the head. The zombies were so intent on attacking Raymond's group, they mostly ignored Devin and the other villagers. And the few that tried to attack them were quickly dropped by one of Jen's bullets.

  The wall of undead villagers broke down, and two of Raymond's group stumbled toward the community center. One, a young woman, had a gaping bite wound on her cheek. God forgive me. Jen sent a well-placed shot into the infected woman's forehead and she collapsed.

  Jen kept the gun aimed at the other survivor, a man. His head down, he fell to his knees and looked up at her. Chris.

  "Help Uncle Raymond," he breathed.

  The zombie horde had turned their full attention to Devin and the villagers. "Fall back," Devin yelled as the man to his right was yanked into the mass of undead and disappeared.

  Jen and Devin each took one of Chris's arms and half dragged him through the door. The last of the villagers ran into the building. Devin let go of Chris and slammed the door, but not before a withered hand shot through and prevented it from closing all the way.

  Devin strained to keep the door from being pried open. "Need help here."

  Two villagers rushed to join him, but five more hands shoved through the small opening, grasping for victims. One man holding the door screamed. A toddler had crawled through and bit his ankle. The man released the door and stumbled backward before tripping over a table and falling on his back. His head bounced off the floor and he lay still. The toddler crawled to the unconscious man and chewed on his thigh.

  The door opened farther as another zombie pushed halfway through, almost grabbing Devin's arm. Jen lowered Chris onto a chair and pulled her gun back out, shooting the zombie. It went limp and wedged in the doorway, keeping Devin and the villagers from getting the door closed.

  She looked around. Where the hell was Griffin?

  Chris stood, shaking his head as if to clear it. "We need to get out of here. Those things are coming in whether we want them to or not." He cupped his hands to his mouth. "Devin, we've got to go."

  Devin wrestled with a bearded seaman who kept trying to grab him by the neck.

  "Devin," Chris shouted again, but he still didn't turn.

  Jen took a few steps toward the door and bellowed, "Devin."

  Devin looked back.

  "Let's go."

  A gnarled hand shot out from the doorway and grabbed a villager, who hacked at the arm with a knife. Two zombies climbed over their dead comrade in the doorway, and the rest of the villagers trying to shut the door fled. Devin pushed away an outstretched hand and ran to Jen and Chris. "What do we do now?"

  Chris jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "All the zombies have been attracted to the front door, so we'll go out the back."

  The front door was ripped off its hinges, and zombies, both fresh villagers and ancient seamen, rushed into the community center. Jen grabbed Devin by the arm and ran to the back of the building. Screams of anguish followed.

  Jen stopped short. Damn door was chained and locked. "Are you freaking kidding me?"

  Devin pulled on the chains. "Who has the key?"

  Chris came to a sliding stop. "Uncle Raymond does." He hefted the fire axe. "But I have the master key. Stand back."

  Chris swung the axe and it bounced off the lock. "Shit."

  Two seamen zombies stumbled toward them. Devin took one out with a blow to the head, and Jen dropped the other with a bullet.

  Chris hacked at the lock again. The damn thing dented, but didn't open.

  Several of the villagers who had been attacked minutes before rose from the floor, their yellow eyes searching for a meal.

  Jen squared off next to her father. "Chris, you better get that open now or we're the main course in an all-you-can-eat zombie buffet."

  One of the zombie villagers sprinted toward them, and Jen raised the pistol. Devin stepped in front of her. "Save the bullets."

  He timed his swing early and missed the zombie, who sprung on him, driving him to the floor.

  A loud clank and a whoosh of fresh air came from behind Jen.

  Devin held the zombie's snapping jaws inches away from his neck. "Need some help here."

  Jen lined up the pistol on the zombie, but it was too close to her father.

  Several zombie sailors stumbled toward them. I have to take the shot. Her finger pressed against the trigger, she followed the zombie's head as it snapped its jaws at her dad. If she could time it when its head was the furthest away from her father—

  The axe sliced down and embedded in the zombie's skull with a thud. It fell to the side. Chris yanked the axe free, and Jen pulled Devin to his feet. "Out the door. Now."

&nb
sp; The sailors were almost on them, with villagers pushing them from behind. The villagers would've already feasted on them if the slower sailors hadn't been in the way.

  Jen and Devin stumbled outside, and Chris slammed the door closed. He put his back against it and held it shut.

  "Where do we go?" Jen asked. "And if you say Wainwright, I'm kicking you in the nuts."

  The door shuddered, but Chris held it closed. No way he'd be able to keep that up for long. Jen braced herself against the door and Devin joined them.

  "We need to find somewhere to hide until the plane comes," Chris said.

  Devin's eyebrows rose. "You think it's really coming?"

  "I don't know, but it's our best hope."

  Jen grunted as the door inched out. "What's the big building on the other side of the village?"

  Chris pushed just as the door started to open. It closed again. "The school? Not a bad idea, but we'd have to go through those things out front to get there."

  The door opened a few more inches. Jen strained to help keep it back. "We need to go somewhere now." The lights of the science trailers caught her eye. "Up there."

  Devin glanced over his shoulder. "Perfect. We can see the whole village from there, then map a path to the school."

  The door pushed out again. Jen gritted her teeth and gave it all she had, but it wouldn't budge. Arms shot out from the foot-wide opening, and she slid over to avoid them. "Devin," she yelled. "Get up the hill."

  "But what about you two?"

  "We'll follow, but you need a head start. Go!"

  Devin ran.

  "Take the right side," Chris called out.

  Jen gasped. The door opened another couple of inches.

  "These things will only follow us up the hill," Chris said.

  Jen looked for her father and found him disappearing behind a building next to the hill. "The slower ones are in front. If we let the door open quickly, maybe they'll fall and stack up. It could slow the fast ones in the rear."

  Chris nodded. "If we don't go straight toward the hill, we might throw them off. Let them see us go in a different direction, then circle back around."

  Jen grunted. Her muscles burned. If they didn't go soon, she might not have the strength to run. "I'll follow you. On three. One, two, three."