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When I woke, Matt and Ellis were already awake and making plans for the day. I stretched, trying to loosen stiff muscles, and looked around.
“Where’s Agnes?” I asked.
“Poppy. Good morning,” said Ellis. “She was gone when we woke up. She left a note.”
He sat on the couch beside me and handed a graham cracker to me along with a piece of paper.
I’ll be back in a couple of hours. With socks.
-Agnes
“She went alone?” I asked.
“I think she’s pretty tough,” said Matt. “Tiny but tough.”
His eyes were red and swollen, as if he’d been crying. I bit off a bite of the cracker and chewed without enthusiasm.
“I think we need to get back on the road,” I said after swallowing.
“Yeah me too,” agreed Ellis. “The safehouse is going to be our best bet at safety. I mean this woman seems to have it pretty good here, but there’s clearly not nearly enough supplies to last. Plus, she’s leaving when she finds her brother.”
“Do you guys really think her brother is coming? I mean, chances aren’t good,” I said.
“For her sake I hope so,” said Matt.
“Think she’ll mind if we wash up?” I asked.
Ellis shrugged. “Maybe just go easy on the water.”
I nodded and stood. I needed to pee horribly. “Fuck,” I grumbled.
“What’s wrong?” both men asked in tandem.
“Where do I pee?”
“See the drain in the floor by the sink?” Ellis pointed.
“Seriously?” I asked.
“Yup.”
“Look away please? Both of you.”
“Of course.”
As soon as they both averted their eyes, I did my business over the floor drain before proceeding to plug the sink, filling it with only a small bit of water. To my relief, I found a pile of clean wash cloths on a shelf to the left, along with a bottle of liquid hand soap. It was easy enough to wash my face, armpits, and chest without taking my clothes off. I wrung the cloth out and hung it over the sink edge to dry.
“My shirt’s filthy,” I said absently as I turned away from the sink.
“At least you have one,” countered Ellis.
I walked toward him, stopping suddenly when something above us crashed to the floor. Matt stood abruptly.
“What the fuck was that?” he asked.
“Christ,” echoed Ellis.
“Agnes said there’s one of them up there,” I offered. “Maybe we should go get rid of it?”
“Think it’s just the one?” I asked.
“She said it killed her granddad, so I guess he might be up there too?”
Matt cleared his throat. “Makes sense. Poppy, do you still have the tire iron?”
“Yeah, it’s against the wall where we crawled in.”
Another crash sounded overhead, followed by an unexpected bout of extremely loud but muffled cursing.
“What the fuck! The dead don’t talk,” said Ellis.
A single gunshot rang out, and the left side of my head grew uncomfortably hot. I looked at Ellis, whose face displayed alarm. He said a single word to me. I saw his mouth moving but ringing within my head drowned out his words.
“What?” I tried to ask but heard my own question as a muffled mess. The effect was dizzying. Matt approached me, but my peripheral vision was dark, and his sudden presence was startling. Ellis dropped to the ground at the same moment Matt and I did.
My head began to throb with the beat of my heart. Deep down I knew what had happened but wasn’t able to fully process it. Someone was upstairs. A gun fired. I was kneeling on the floor and Matt was pressing against the side of my head with his hand.
“Stay down,” he said. I could barely make out the words.
“What’s happening?” I asked. My arms trembled.
“Stay quiet. There’s someone upstairs and they’re shooting,” he said.
I focused on Matt’s face and lifted my hand to feel the side of my head.
“No, don’t touch it,” he warned.
I ignored him, my hand finding his. His skin felt wrong: wet and warm. I pulled my hand away and looked at it. The fresh blood that covered my palm and was dripping between my fingers seemed surreal, and I wasn’t sure it was even my own hand I was looking at.
Ellis crawled the short distance to us and reached out, taking my bloodied hand in his, and wrapped himself around me protectively. Another shot rang out, and both men and I huddled together. Growing dizzy and feeling confined, I was relieved when they let go and the noise above us ceased.
“Stay quiet,” urged Ellis.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“Someone’s shooting,” said Matt just above a whisper.
I took a couple of deep breaths, still looking at my bloodied hand.
“You were hit,” said Ellis, who held my face in his hands and looked me in the eyes.”
“No, I wasn’t.”
“Stay still while we look you over. Then we need to get the fuck out of here, okay?”
“I want to go home,” I sniffled. “Please just take me home?”
“I think she’s going into shock,” said Matt, who had positioned himself behind me.
“Take your hand away so I can look,” Ellis said to Matt.
“I’m fine. Really. Just take me home.”
Panic was setting in and I needed to move, but Ellis wouldn’t let go of my face.
“Look at me, Flower” he said. “I have you. You’re okay.”
“Take me home, please,” I repeated.
“In just a minute. I promise. But right now, you need to trust me. Can you do that?”
I looked at him blankly.
“Poppy. Did you hear me?”
“I just wanna go home,” I said pathetically.
“Matt, hold her shoulders for me?”
“I have her.”
“Okay. I’m just going to peek, Poppy,” said Ellis.
I reached up and found Ellis’ forearms and clung to them.
“That’s good,” he said.
I did as he asked, ignoring the hot tears that fell down my cheeks as my eyelids clenched shut. He kissed my forehead, allowing his lips to linger as if he were trying to memorize me. I knew Matt’s hand came away from the side of my head when I felt a sharp pain in my ear. I winced.
“Easy,” he soothed. “Easy...”
“Need my shirt?” asked Matt.
“No, the bleeding’s slowed. Oh, thank the Lord above,” he said with a relieving sigh. “It just grazed the top of her ear. Poppy, you’re going to be just fine.”
I clenched my eyes closed as a third gunshot rang out.
“Let’s get the hell out of here,” said Matt from behind me.
“Right,” said Ellis.
“Keep down, but get to the doorway we first came through,” instructed Matt.
“I’ll help Poppy. Can you grab the tire iron?” asked Ellis.
“No problem.”
I opened my eyes when someone on the other side of the solid door began pounding to gain entry.
“Anyone in there?” shouted a gruff male voice. “Agnes? Open the damned door! Agnes!”
I looked at Ellis, who like me had frozen in place.
“We need to answer him,” I whispered.
“I’ll do it,” said Matt.
“I can fucking hear you in there! Open the door!” the gruff voice repeated. “Agnes!”
Matt stood. “Hold on,” Matt shouted back.
“Who the hell are you?” asked the person on the other side of the door. He didn’t sound particularly friendly.
“Friends of Agnes.”
“There’s more of these things about to break in up here. Open the damned door or I’ll shoot it open.”
Matt and Ellis exchanged subtle nods. Ellis left my side and hustled to grab the tire iron while Matt stood and walked to the tall door.
“I’m approaching the door man...don’t shoot.”
“Hurry the fuck up!” yelled the stranger.
As Matt slid the bar lock out of its holder, Ellis took position to one side, tire iron in-hand and ready to use if need be. The man pounded one more time, just before Matt swung the door open.
“Easy,” said Ellis from the sidelines.
The older man who rushed in looked seven kinds of wild with greasy unkempt hair, dirt smudged on his face, wide eyes, and tattered clothes. Leaning against him was a woman in even worse shape. Her blue-streaked-blonde hair hung limply to one side with a clump clinging to her forehead in a gnarled mess.
“Help me get her in,” urged the man.
“What happened?” asked Matt, who quickly made his way to the half-conscious woman.
“She got attacked by one of those damned monsters,” huffed the man.
Ellis dropped the tire iron on the floor and secured the door as Matt assisted the injured woman and the man inside.
“Let’s get her on the couch,” said Matt.
“I’ve got you, honey,” said the man. “Daddy’s got you.”
“She’s your daughter?” asked Ellis.
“Yes, Sarah. She finally talked me into coming over here to find Agnes. They’re best friends. I never should have agreed.
They set Sarah on the sofa. Her father helped her lay down while Matt lifted her legs. I stayed put on the floor, trying to absorb what was happening.
“Is she injured?” asked Ellis, now at their side.
“Her left shin, I think,” said the man.
“Ellis, go ahead and find some rags or something and take care of Poppy. I’ll help out here.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah. You need to get her ear cleaned. We can’t risk infection.”
The girl, Sarah, whimpered as Matt began rolling her pant leg up.
“Sarah, I’m Matt. We’re just going to take a look-see.”
“Dad, it hurts,” she moaned.
“I know. We’ll take care of that in just a minute,” her dad answered. He stroked her forehead lovingly.
I startled when Ellis knelt next to me.
“Woah, it’s okay,” he soothed. “It’s just me. Think you can make it over to the sink, so I can tend to your ear?”
“I think so,” I answered.
He wrapped an arm around me and helped me stand. I felt light headed, so let him support me. Once sink-side, he wet a washcloth and held it gently against my injured ear, causing me to wince.
“How bad is it?” I asked.
“Considering how bad it could have been, it’s just small potatoes,” he said with a wink. “You’ll have a bit of a scar, but chicks dig scars.”
I looked at him, waiting for the punchline.
“It’s not chicks I want to dig me,” I said simply, breaking the awkward silence.
His eyes lingered on me as if he were deep in thought, his face almost pained. He took a deep breath before taking the cloth from my ear to inspect the injury.
“You’ve lost a bit of blood. There’s a piece I think we can kinda put back in place and hope it reattaches, but there’s a part that’s just going to have to heal like it is. I think if we use gauze and tape we can patch you up, but we’ll need to watch for infection.”
“Okay.”
“We’ve used up most of Matt’s first aid kit already. Can you hold the rag against your head and sit here while I look for some supplies?” he asked.
I nodded and reached up to hold the cloth against my ear.
As he left my side to search for supplies, I watched the scene across the room. Someone had taken Sarah’s pants off, leaving her in just her shirt and panties. Her dad gingerly laid a blanket over her as Matt slid a pillow beneath her injured leg.
“Where did Aggie go?” asked the man.
“We’re not sure exactly,” replied Matt. “She left a note that she’d be back in a bit.”
“Is Linus with her?” he asked.
“Linus?”
“Her brother.”
“Oh. No. She mentioned her brother but never told us his name. She said he’s trying to make his way back here.”
“Damn,” said the man. “I hope the kid is okay.”
“Me too,” said Matt.
“He’s a good man. Scrawny and awkward, but a good man.”
“Sarah’s leg doesn’t look so good,” said Matt.
“She’ll be okay,” said her father. “She has to be.”
“Hey, guys, I found a first aid kit,” said Ellis. “I’m just gonna grab a couple things for Poppy’s ear and leave the rest here. There’s some Tylenol and peroxide.”
Sarah’s dad stood and held a hand out to Ellis.
“Thanks, son. My name’s Al. Is your girl over there okay?” he asked, quickly glancing at me.
“I think so. Your bullet grazed her ear.”
The man’s face went slack. “Oh, hell. Oh damn, I’m sorry.”
“Just focus on your daughter right now. It’s just a surface wound.”
Al hung his head and rubbed his chin with his hand.
Matt used the first aid kit to clean Sarah’s shin. She moaned any time he touched her leg.
***
“Take these,” said Ellis as he handed me two pills.
“What is it?”
“Just Tylenol. It’s not much but it should help with the pain.”
I took them gratefully and tossed them into my mouth. He held out an open bottle of water, which I accepted and gulped from, washing down the pills.
“Okay, let’s get that ear patched up.”
“Thanks, Ellis,” I said.
“No problem.”
I sat still as he fashioned a bandage to my ear. It was painful, but tolerable. He finished it off with a long piece of stretchy gauze that wrapped around my head not unlike a headband. Once he finished, he helped me back to the middle of the room. Sarah remained on the sofa since she was as badly injured as she was. The rest of us sat in a circle in the middle of the floor, taking advantage of the area rug. Ellis encouraged me to lay on my side to avoid further hurting my ear and loaned me his thigh as a pillow. Being that close to him was comforting. Sarah slept fitfully as the rest of us talked quietly. We exchanged stories about what we’d each encountered so far, skipping over the part where Matt had lost his love by his own hand. Al’s encounters mirrored our own. Since moving my jaw caused my ear to hurt, I did little talking, allowing Ellis to tell my story. I listened intently until I grew too tired. I was near sleep when I felt Ellis stiffen and heard the crawlspace door creak open.
“Aggie!” cried out Al.
“Al!” she squealed back. Her face fell when she saw her best friend asleep on the couch, her leg propped up and swollen where teeth marks marred her shin. “Sarah, oh my God. What happened?” She rushed to her friend’s side.
I sat up.
“Aggie don’t wake her,” said Al.
“What happened?” she repeated.
“She begged me to come find you. I knew you had to be down here. One of those damned things attacked us in the backyard. It came out of nowhere. We didn’t even hear it until it was too late.”
“Her leg looks bad,” said Agnes.
“I cleaned it with peroxide and we’re keeping it elevated,” said Matt. “She needs sleep. And antibiotics.”
“We have some upstairs,” she said. “But my granddad and one of those things are up there.”
“I’m sorry, Aggie. Sarah and I came in through the kitchen. I took care of them both with the rifle.”
Agnes nodded. “Thanks. I’ll run up and get the medicine.”
“Let me go,” Al offered.
“No, it’ll be quicker if I do it since I know right where it is.”
“Stay away from the front door. Last I saw there were a few gathered on the porch. The noise drew them.”
“I’ll steer clear.”
As she turned to leave the room, Al grabbed her by the arm gently “Where’s your brother?”
“Trying to get home,” was all she said before moving on to the exit.
“We should all eat something and get some rest,” said Ellis.
“I’m not hungry,” said Al.
“Even so, you need to eat,” Ellis tried to drive the point home.
“I suppose you’re right.”
Matt quietly made his way to the food corner and picked out a few items for us to share. Like Al, I didn’t feel like eating, but gladly accepted a bottle of water and took a graham cracker at Ellis’ insistence. Before long, Agnes joined us once again. She and Al woke Sarah long enough to get her to swallow a large capsule. She refused to eat anything, to Al’s dismay. Agnes talked her into drinking a few sips of a protein shake, but she sputtered on the liquid.
“It’s getting dark out,” said Agnes. “We should bring down some more supplies from the main house. Maybe a couple mattresses too.”
“I should stay with Sarah,” said Al.
“Fair enough. Can you guys help carry a few things down?” she asked Matt and Ellis.
“Absolutely. Poppy, go ahead and stay here. You look pretty pale,” said Ellis.
“I won’t argue,” I said with a yawn. “If it’ll help, I can stay with your daughter,” I said to Al.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
“Positive.”
Agnes looked sideways at me. “What happened to your head?” she asked, obviously just noticing my bandage.
“Just a bit of an accident,” I said. “I’ll be okay.”
“You sure?” she asked skeptically.
I nodded.
***
While they were gone, I left the door to the room ajar for easy re-entry. I stayed nearby in case any of the dead were to gain entry to the house. Sarah made a few noises as she slept and managed to throw the blanket off herself. I left the doorway to cover her back up but did so hesitantly.
“Sarah, you need to keep the blanket on,” I said, trying to use a calming voice.
She groaned incoherently in reply. Her brow was covered in a layer of sweat, her cheeks bright red, and her lips unusually pale. As soon as I covered her, she flung the blanket off again. I sighed and left it on the floor.
“Oh God,” I said as I took notice of her elevated leg. It had become grossly swollen, the skin so tight it shined even in the dim light of the room. The wound itself was so warped from the swelling that it no longer resembled a human bite mark. Green exudate oozed from it and pooled on the pillow beneath her knee. Not knowing what else to do, I made my way to the sink where I wet a clean washcloth. I wrung it out and folded it in thirds. By the time I got back to Sarah’s side, the others were busy pulling a bed mattress through the doorway. I placed the cloth on the girl’s forehead and quickly joined the others so that I could help.
“What can I do?” I asked.
“Al and I have this one,” said Ellis. “Matt’s dragging another one in by himself if you want to check on his progress? Just don’t overdo it with your ear thing going on. Agnes should be heading down the stairs right after Matt; she has some supplies.”
I stepped back to give them room and met Matt at the doorway, where he struggled to pull a second mattress into the room. As soon as enough of the bed was through, I grabbed onto one of the cloth handles along the upward edge and helped him maneuver it around the sofa and onto the floor by the wall.
“Thanks,” said Matt. “There’s one more up top, but it’s just a hide-a-bed mattress so I can grab it by myself. Want to head up with me to help carry a few blankets back down?”
“Is it safe?” I asked.
“For now. I think. We can hear some of them at the front and back door, but they’re not attempting to get in. Just stay quiet when you go up.”
“Let me go help Agnes. I’m sure we can manage the mattress without you. I think Sarah’s leg has gotten a lot worse but I’m not sure. Maybe you can stay behind and look at it since you saw it earlier? Let me know what you think?” I asked.
“Yeah. No problem. Just...” he paused. “Be careful up there. Any signs of trouble, hightail it back down. It’s safest in here.”
“No problem. Want me to look for anything to tend to her wound?” I asked.
“Maybe some more peroxide and some towels. I’m not really sure there’s much we can do.” He looked concerned.
“You’re pretty worried, huh?”
“Yeah. I know a human bite can be nasty as hell, but who knows how bad it might get from one of these dead fuckers. I think we need to watch her real close,” he said, bringing his voice to a whisper. “And you saw what happened to Connor’s grandma. We have to assume that was from her being bitten by one of them.”
I looked over at the girl on the couch. Her father was sitting on a small metal stool beside her, adjusting the cloth on her forehead.
“She’s burning up,” Al said sadly, to no one in particular.
“I’ll be right there,” said Matt.
Ellis joined me. “She looks bad,” he said under his breath.
I turned to look at him. “I’m going to head up to help Agnes.”
“I’ll come with. I want to get that door bolted shut as soon as possible.”
“Matt said the dead aren’t really trying to get in,” I said.
“Yeah, but even that has me nervous. It’s like they’re quietly plotting or something.”
Agnes walked through the doorway with her arms full of paper grocery sacks.
“Agnes, Poppy and I will head up to grab the rest. Something’s feeling off with the dead outside. I want to hunker down here as soon as possible.”
“You noticed too?” she asked.
Ellis nodded.
“It’s like they’re up to something out there. If that’s possible,” she added. “I left a couple bags of food at the top of the stairs. The last mattress is in the office just past the kitchen and you’ll find a couple more blankets in the same room in a closet behind the desk.”
“Any chance there’s towels up there? And maybe more peroxide?” I asked.
“Check the hallway closet. It’s on the left just after the office. We keep towels and some first aid stuff in there.”
I grabbed Ellis’ hand and pulled him toward the door.
***
The stairway leading up to the main house was narrow and dark. I kept hold of Ellis’ hand and he led the way. The house proper wasn’t anything like I had expected.
“Shouldn’t there be funeral rooms?” I asked Ellis, keeping my voice hushed.
“There are. Next door. Agnes explained that the funeral home itself is above where we first came in through the window. Her granddad had it rebuilt about ten years ago when they lost the house and garage to a fire. The new funeral home is where the garage used to be, and they built this house over the room we’re staying in, where her granddad prepared bodies.”
“That’s kind of morbid.”
“Yeah. Someone’s got to do it though, eh?”
“Yeah. I suppose so.”
“The office is just back this way,” Ellis whispered.
“It’s getting dark.”
“Yeah. I don’t dare turn on a flashlight, though.”
I stopped abruptly, pulling Ellis to a stop with me.
“Do you hear that?” I asked.
He looked at me questioningly. We both stood quietly and listened.
A rhythmic clicking sounded near a large picture window in the living room. The curtains were drawn, but I could see light patterns moving outside beyond the drapes. The hair on the nape of my neck stood on end.
Ellis pulled on my hand, and I followed him silently. He didn’t need to say anything; I felt the need to hurry back to the safe room, too. We stopped in the home office just long enough to grab the mattress and a handful of blankets. While he man-handled the thin cushion I carried the bedding, stopping in the hallway only long enough to grab a couple of bath towels. I didn’t stop long enough to look for peroxide or any other supplies. The clicking by the window grew louder, joined by a high-pitched keening and several grunts. By the time we made it back to the stairway, something thumped against the back door.
As Ellis descended the staircase, I remained at the top.
“As soon as you’re through, I’m throwing this stuff down,” I said, making my voice just a bit louder than I was comfortable with.
“Got it,” said Ellis. I heard him instructing someone else to bring the linens in.
I grabbed the sacks of food Agnes had left at the top of the steps. As my left foot found the top stair tread, I heard glass break in the kitchen.
“Shit,” I mumbled. I took the steps two-at-a-time, not looking back as I heard an inhuman squeal and footfalls fast approaching.
I stumbled through the threshold, almost falling into the safe room. Agnes was already at the door, slamming it shut as soon as I was through.
“Someone slide the board in!” she yelled.
I backed up, bags still in hand, as Al grabbed the piece of wood and slid it into the metal grooves on either side of the door frame. The door thumped several times before the creature on the other side began clawing at it.
“It should hold,” said the older man. “They don’t make them solid like this anymore.
“There’s going to be more behind it,” I said. “I heard it break in through the kitchen.”
“Guess that exit’s toast,” said Matt.
“I don’t like just having one escape route left. As far as we know they’re waiting out there too,” mentioned Ellis.
“There’s still the smoke stack,” said Agnes. “From the crematorium.”
“Yeah. That’ll lead to the roof, right?” asked Al. “Good thinking, Aggie.”
“We’d have to knock the rain cap off, but it’s big enough to squeeze through. There’s also the dumb waiter. Granddad hadn’t used it in years, but I bet it still works.”
“Dumb waiter?” I asked.
“Yeah, it’s a platform they use to lower the bodies down. Back in the day it was the easiest way to bring them down, but when we rebuilt after the fire we put in a stair elevator.”
“Is that what the metal track on the stairwell is?” asked Matt.
“Yes,” said Agnes. “It attaches right to a gurney.”
The creature on the other side of the door slowed its effort to gain entry, the frantic clawing becoming longer and slower fingernail strokes.
“We need to leave here,” I said.
“Sarah’s not up to moving,” said Al. “I can’t leave her.”
“Of course not,” Matt said, validating the other man’s concern.
“And I can’t leave until Linus makes it back,” added Agnes.
“Aggie, honey, you have to realize he might not make it back. It’s hell out there,” said Al.
“No. I’d know if he were dead. He’s my twin; I’d feel it...here,” she said as she placed a fist over her heart.
“Aggie, where was Linus when you last heard from him?” asked Al.
I could see the pain on her face and felt bad for the woman. “Seattle.”
“Let’s hunker down for the night. We can regroup after a few hours of sleep,” suggested Ellis.
“I’ll tend to Sarah’s leg,” said Al. “It’s not looking so good.”
“Let us know if you need any help,” offered Matt.
“Will do.”
***
Ellis and I took one of the mattresses. Al insisted on sitting on the floor next to Sarah, and Agnes set him up with some pillows to sit on and a blanket to keep warm. She and Matt each claimed one of the other two beds.
The night promised to be chilly. The walls of the room were concrete and cinder block, and the cold seeped in. I laid on my side so that my injured ear faced up and let Ellis curl up behind me. His body heat was welcome and his touch endearing. We shared one bed pillow. He kept his face near my neck and shoulder, careful not to touch my ear. We lay there quietly. As tired as I was, I found it impossible to fall asleep with the scraping sounds from the creature in the stairwell and the occasional whimpering from Sarah. Ellis wrapped his upper arm around me, and our hands mutually found each other. I turned my head a bit, hoping to connect with him visually. The only light came from a candle near Sarah.
“Do you think she’ll make it?” I asked, careful to keep my voice quiet. I didn’t want Al to hear me.
Ellis pushed himself onto an elbow and looked down at me. “I wish I knew. She looks bad, though, like her leg’s infected and spreading. And it’s happening fast.”
“Maybe the antibiotics will help.”
“Maybe,” he said as he leaned down and pressed his lips against my forehead. “Are you having much pain?” he asked.
“Not too much. I mean it’s bothersome, but I’ll be okay.”
“I can grab you more Tylenol.”
“No. Save it for Sarah. I’ll be fine.”
“You better be,” he said, kissing my cheek before lying back down behind me. “Try to sleep.”
As I closed my eyes and tried to empty my mind, I listened to every noise in the night. Sleep breathing, the creature clawing, Sarah moaning, Matt crying quietly, Al yawning, the water spigot over the sink dripping. Unsure of how much time had passed, I whispered into the darkness.
“Ellis?”
“Hmm?”
“It smells bad in here.”
“I know. Sorry, I haven’t had a shower in a while.”
“No. Not just B.O...it smells like something rotten.”
“Might be the dead thing clawing at the door.” He sounded on the verge of sleep.
“Maybe.”
I closed my eyes and listened to the various sounds. Sleep was finally starting to consume me when Al yelled out, startling me.
“Sarah, honey, you have to take it! Damnit, ow!”
“Al, need help?” Matt asked.
“Yeah, maybe turn the lantern on? Sarah needs to take her pills but she’s delirious.”
“Do you need some water?” asked Agnes.
“Thanks, Aggie. I have a bottle here. But maybe if you have any apple sauce or pudding or something we could crush it up and get her to just take little bites? We used to do that with her grandma in her last stages, when she refused to eat.”
I gingerly climbed out of bed and stood. Muscles I didn’t even know I had ached.
“I used to give my dog her pills in peanut butter,” I said. “They can’t spit it out.”
“That I know I have,” said Agnes.
Sarah thrashed about, and random noises came from deep in her chest. The sounds were far too like those of the dead outside. It didn’t take long for Agnes to produce a jar of peanut butter. Matt and Ellis helped gently hold Sarah’s arms down while Al opened the antibiotic capsule and mixed it into a small bit of peanut butter. The scene was pathetic. Agnes ended up holding her friend’s thighs. I joined them, doing my best to help with Sarah’s legs. The woman’s injured leg was swollen even more severely than when we had all first settled in to sleep. The red patches were turning dark brown and some bordered on black. Green discharge fully soaked the pillow used to elevate her leg. The rotten smell, without a doubt in my mind, was just that - Sarah’s leg rotting. I looked up and met Ellis’ gaze. He, too, looked gravely concerned.
Al slid a small spoonful of laced peanut butter into his daughter’s mouth. She responded by snarling and gagging on the substance.
“Sarah, please,” he begged. “You won’t get better if you don’t swallow it.”
The sorrow in his voice was heartbreaking. The young woman clearly didn’t hear her father. She struggled under our grip to get away from us. Agnes let go of her friend’s thigh with one hand to wipe tears from her eyes. That release of pressure was all it took for Sarah to strike a blow with her foot. She landed a kick to my ribs, knocking the wind out of me and sending me doubling over in pain.
“Hold her down!” shouted Ellis.
“She’s too strong,” cried out Agnes.
Sarah’s back arched upward as her eyes rolled back in her head. Her face turned beet red and the muscles of her neck and jaw strained. Blood gushed from her mouth.
“Her jaw’s locked on her tongue!” shouted Al, his voice full of distress.
As soon as I was able to draw a deep enough breath and stand upright, I rushed forward to help.
“Get her on her side,” I forced out the words. “It’s probably a seizure.”
We all attempted to roll her onto her side, but her body met us with too much resistance.
“She’s too stiff,” grunted Matt.
Sarah’s infected leg fell toward us as we managed to finally twist her partly onto her side. The skin around her bite wound was so tight that it broke open, spilling a chunky green and brown substance onto the floor. The smell was something of a cross between rot and feces. As quickly as her body stiffened, it went slack. She almost fell onto the floor.
“Get her back over,” Matt barked.
“Oh God,” said Agnes very quietly at first. “Oh, God, no...she’s not breathing!”
“No,” said Al. “No. No, Sarah, c’mon, kid.”
“Get her on the floor so we can start CPR,” urged Ellis.
“No. No, you can’t touch her!” I cut in. “She might be contagious.”
Al looked at me like I was crazy. “We can’t just let her die.”
He continued to tug at his daughter’s lifeless body, struggling to move her onto the hard floor. Her face, only a moment before bright red from straining, was already turning a deathly blue-gray.
“She’s gone. The infection was just too much for her,” said Ellis as he placed a hand on the older man’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Al.”
The man wept and stopped trying to drag his daughter’s body to the floor. “She’s all I have left...”
Agnes got down on her knees and embraced her best friend’s father. “I’m sorry,” she whispered through her own tears.
The two comforted each other while I placed a blanket over Sarah’s lower half. My main goal was to hide her wounded leg and the gunk that now covered her, the couch, and the floor. Agnes pulled the blanket up to cover her friend’s lifeless face. Not knowing what to say or do, I left Al and Agnes’ side and returned to our mattress on the floor. I wanted to reach out, to be of some sort of comfort, but knew there was nothing I could do to ease their pain. Ellis sat beside me and wrapped an arm around me.
“What now?” I asked.
“I’m just not sure.”
“We need to leave,” said Matt as he knelt in front of us. “It feels like a death trap in here. The stairs are blocked by the dead, and the window we came in through likely is too. And we know chances are good Sarah’s going to turn.”
“One of us will have to wait for it to happen,” I said, keeping my voice low to spare those mourning. “It’s not fair to ask either of them to do it,” I said, nodding in the direction of Al and Agnes.
“It’s not just that. We need to move her body. It’s already ripe in here and whatever infected her is some fucking bad shit,” said Matt.
“We have to give them some time to grieve,” said Ellis. “But yeah, we need to leave. Soon.”
“I’ll sit with the others and keep watch,” said Matt. “You two try to get at least an hour sleep.”
I looked over at the sad scene sofa-side when I heard Agnes begin sobbing.
“Get back,” I said before I was fully on my feet. It wasn’t the distress in Agnes’ tone that alerted me. It was the single noise between her sobs; a single brief grunt that didn’t belong in the world of the living.
“What?” asked Agnes, as she wiped her face with her sleeve.
“Get away from her,” I urged as I lunged forward.
The dead girl’s father and best friend looked at me without understanding. Ellis caught my arm before I could get too close to the trio.
“She’s coming back,” Matt said, his voice unusually calm.
The dead girl’s covered body began to sit up.
“Lay down, Sarah” pleaded Al, who instead of retreating leaned in toward his daughter.
The blanket fell away from her face, revealing eyes that were already clouding over and skin paled by death and marked with streaks of green. Sarah snarled.
“See, she’s not dead!” yelled her father.
“Al, get back!” shouted Agnes as she pushed the man aside.
Matt and I reached the reanimated girl first. I grabbed her hair in both of my hands and pulled her head backward, forcing her torso down. She was strong, making holding her head still difficult. As Al scuttled forward from where he’d fallen off his stool, Matt drove a knife into the dead woman’s left eye. She fell still, and Al moaned in agony, as if he himself had taken a blade to the head.
My hands still clung to the dead girl’s hair. Ellis placed his hands upon mine, wrapping his arms around me.
“You can let go now,” he said.
I took a couple of cleansing breaths but kept my grip. I couldn’t take my eyes from the knife still lodged in the corpse’s eye socket.
“Poppy, she’s gone. Let go,” he repeated.
Al wailed beside his daughter. Agnes stood, her hands over her mouth, not making a sound. Ellis gently pulled on my wrists and I finally released Sarah’s hair. Al wrapped one of his large hands around the knife and pulled the blade from his daughter’s head. I cringed when it audibly scraped against her skull. Al held the blade up as if inspecting it, then looked at Matt with rage. The tension in the room was thick. Matt stepped back, his arms slightly raised to the sides. As Al stood, I felt Ellis tense beside me.
Al dropped the knife, his arms going slack at his sides. He looked beaten and ready to give up. Ellis relaxed his stance.
“You all need to leave,” he said, his tone extremely firm.
“Mr. Jennings...Al...” started Agnes.
“Now,” he growled.
“The dead have us blocked in,” said Ellis, trying to reason with the distraught father.
“Go!” the man screamed, near hysterically. “Go and leave us alone!”
“We can’t leave,” said Agnes. The sadness in her voice was overwhelming.
“Go! Just go!”
Agnes crossed her arms over her chest and stood tall. “No. This is my house and I will not leave!” she said firmly.
I watched from the sidelines as Al clenched his fists and glared at the much younger, and much smaller, woman. Rage flashed in his eyes. I clutched onto Ellis’ forearm without taking my eyes from the angry man.
“Ellis,” I whispered. “We need to go. Now.”
Finally, he looked at me, his eyes questioning.
“His hand,” I said, whispering
I looked back to Al, who was trembling all over, his face red and twisted. His left hand bore the tell-tale marks of human teeth.
“Agnes,” Ellis said, his voice loud and strong.
Al turned his attention our way.
“Agnes, we’re leaving. You need to come with us,” Ellis continued.
Matt stepped toward us. “We can’t leave. We don’t know what’s out there.”
“He’s been bit,” said Ellis, not bothering to keep his voice hushed.
“Al, what are they talking about?” asked Agnes.
The man answered with a moan that wasn’t completely of this earth. His left arm began jerking hard, his bitten hand flopping back and forth.
“You can’t stay here,” the man hissed, spittle flying from his mouth.
“We hear you,” said Matt.
“You can’t stay here,” he repeated, nearly choking on his own words.
“Mr. Jennings...” started Agnes.
“You can’t stay! You can’t stay here!” screamed Al.
The man suddenly grabbed his left wrist with his other hand and pulled it to his chest. Agnes startled when the hatch behind us thumped loudly.
“Agnes! Open up!” called out an unknown male voice.
“Linus?” Agnes skirted around Al and rushed to the hatch that led to the crawlspace through which we had first entered.
“Yeah, it’s me.”
I kept hold of Ellis’ arm and we stepped backward together. Al’s left arm continued to jerk despite his holding on to it. He grunted to himself and chanted the same words over and over again. “You can’t stay here...you can’t stay here...you can’t.”
“What the hell is going on in here? Who are all these people? Oh fuck! What happened to Sarah?”
I didn’t look back to identify the unfamiliar voice. Agnes’ brother was in the room with us, and I didn’t dare turn my attention away from the bitten man.
“She fucking turned, and now Al’s been bit and he’s...” Agnes paused, not sure how she should phrase it.
“He’s turning,” I concluded.
I watched in horror as Al released his wrist, allowing his arm to drop to his side, where it continued to twitch. Dropping to his knees next to his dead daughter, he reached forward with his right hand and grabbed his shotgun, which lay on the ground partway under the couch.
“Mr. Jennings put the gun down,” ordered Linus. “Agnes, get to the other basement. I’ll meet you there.”
“We can’t just leave,” she snapped. “This is our home.”
“It’s not safe here, sis. We’ll be fine.”
Agnes looked at her brother intently before giving him a nearly imperceptible nod and proceeded to climb through the hatch in the wall.
“We’re leaving, Al,” said Linus.
Al didn’t respond. The man looked at the gun in his hand as if he wasn’t sure what it was or what to do with it.
“Let’s go,” said Matt.
“We need to grab supplies,” I said.
“No. He’s about to snap. We can pick up the pieces out there...later on,” said Ellis as he took my hand and tugged me toward the exit.
As we crawled through the most cramped part of the pathway, I came to an abrupt stop when I heard the shotgun fire.
“Keep going,” urged Linus, who was directly behind me. “When you get to the next room we need to leave through the window on the south side.”
“Linus are the dead that thick?” asked Agnes. “That window is up so high.”
“I know. The street was thick with them. The backside of the house is clear, but the drop down isn’t gonna be easy.”
Relief came when the crawlspace opened to the room through which we had first entered.
“There,” said Agnes in a hushed voice, pointing to a small window on the back wall.
The wood panel that covered our prior entryway remained fastened, but the groans of the dead filtered in.
“Once you’re out the window, drop and roll. It’s a hill, mostly moss and grass. As soon as you get your footing, follow me. I have my truck waiting not far from here,” Linus instructed us. “I can get us out of town.”
“Thanks, man,” said Matt.
I shivered when a long and shrill shriek sounded from somewhere outside. While it sounded far away, it was neither human nor animal.
