Three

The rattle of the doorknob jolted me awake.  With my pulse thundering in my ears, I stared at the door.  Early morning sunlight lit the room.  I’d managed to stay awake through the night but must have fallen asleep just before dawn.

I’d just started to convince myself the rattle had been part of a dream when the knob rattled again.  A low moan in the hall echoed the movement.

I swore silently then carefully stood, my rifle trained on the door.  The shuffle of the infected’s footsteps moved further down the hall where it tried another door.  Exhaling softly, I moved to the window.

From the window, the front of the house looked clear.  However, the porch roof directly below my room blocked a good portion of the view.  For all I knew, there could be a herd of infected standing right by the front door.  I hoped not.

With my rifle shouldered, I gently eased the pane up and removed the screen.  Scuffs of noise came from below, and I wanted to hit something in frustration.  Those assholes with their gunfire had succeeded in drawing more infected to the area.  What had they been thinking?  Hadn’t they realized they would eventually need to come out of their bunker and deal with the mess they made?

The infected didn’t really have an attention span per say.  They remained in the area until another noise drew them away.  Oscar’s crew had been lucky to claim the territory they had because there hadn’t been many infected in it to begin with.  Yesterday’s shit trick had changed that.

Meanwhile, I had to figure out how to get around the infected below without being seen or heard.

Sweat beaded my upper lip as I eased myself out the window one leg at a time.  On the roof, I carefully inched forward, wary not to scrape my foot against the shingles.  I stopped as soon as I could see what I faced.

Four infected shuffled around right in front of the house.  Easing away from the edge, I made my way to the back side of the wraparound porch.  There, I waited for fifteen minutes before I eased myself over the side while holding my knife in my mouth.  With a loose-kneed drop, I landed noiselessly on my feet.

My heart thundered in my ears as I took the knife from my mouth and sprinted soft-footed to the tree line.  I’d almost made it when something slightly to my right caught my attention.  Another infected lingered within the tree line in the direction I ran.  Motionless, it watched me.

I didn’t stop.  I couldn’t.  If I changed direction, it would call out and bring the ones from the house.  I ran right toward it, knife gripped tightly in my hand.  Like the other infected, it opened its mouth just before I reached it, giving me a perfect target.  Unfortunately, I didn’t angle my knife enough.  While I struggled to twist the blade upward and end its attempt to bring me to the ground, it called out.

The sound echoed from behind me.

I heaved, killing the infected I fought, then pulled my knife and ran like hell.

The calls grew in volume and number, almost drowning out the crunch of my passage through the trees.  Ahead, I spotted another house and prayed.  If it was clear of infected, I might just make it through this without a bite.

I pumped my arms and legs as hard as they would go and made it to the front porch before the infected cleared the trees.  There was no caution when I entered.  I threw the door open and startled a pair of infected.  Dropping the knife, I brought my rifle up, fired twice, then sprinted for the stairs.

Before I reached the top, the house filled with calls.  I opened the first door I came to and closed myself in.  Finally, luck was on my side.  The door actually had a lock.  I used it and backed away, breathing heavily.

It took a lot of effort to tear my gaze from the door and quickly scan the room.  A kid’s bedroom.  Twin bed.  Dresser.  Stuffed animals.  I forced myself to check under the bed and in the closet.  Infected free.  Next, I checked the window.  The porch on this house didn’t reach the room I’d chosen.  It was a good twelve foot drop to the ground, which I might have been able to handle without breaking anything, if the yard wasn’t already crawling with infected.  More emerged from the trees as I watched, drawn by the sounds of my gunfire and the calls from the ones already surrounding the house.

I was trapped until something else distracted the infected and they wandered away.  It couldn’t be more than nine or ten in the morning.  I had time.

Sliding down the wall, I got comfortable and waited.  The calls outside eventually quieted.  Only the occasional scuff of noise in the hallway indicated they hadn’t left yet.

I rationed my water and watched the patch of light on the wall slowly move across the room.  Hunger gnawed at me, and I wondered if I’d be able to check the kitchen before I left.

When the light touched the bed, I got to my feet and checked the yard.  My mouth dropped open at the number of infected milling around.  A few stood still and watched the house.  One saw me in the window and let out a call.  It set off a chain reaction until their noise echoed in the house.

They weren’t leaving.  There was nothing else out there to distract them.

I stood there, still making eye contact, while realization settled over me.  There would be no slipping away before dark.

“Shit.”

Quietly crossing the room, I tried the switch.  No lights.  I had until dusk if the infected didn’t figure out how to get into the bedroom before then.  I couldn’t decide which was the worst way to go.  Eaten by a herd of infected or torn apart by a hound.  A hound might be quicker.

I rubbed my face and swayed on my feet.  Adrenaline and hope had kept me going.  Without either, I stared at the door, half debating if I should just open it.  Why put off the inevitable?  It wasn’t like anyone would find me and–

I looked at the window.  After what I’d done to Van, returning would be hell.  But, it wasn’t like I had a choice.  It was either give myself over to the raiders or be eaten, and I wasn’t ready to die yet.

With determined steps, I moved to the window and slid it open.  Aiming at the infected who’d met my gaze, I shot it right between the eyes.  I paused for the count of three before killing two more.  That was the distress fire pattern Oscar’s gunmen had been taught to use if they were ever separated.

I waited and repeated the pattern again a few minutes later.  The reports drew more infected from the trees, and I began to doubt my plan.  Even if scouts from Oscar’s group heard and came, how would they ever make their way through all of the infected?

A distant volley of five reached my ears a few seconds after my last shot.  A mix of relief and terror gripped me.  Now, I just had to wait.  The shots hadn’t sounded as far away as I’d thought I’d run, but everything was skewed when on foot and zigzagging through trees.

I moved to close the window and caught a glimpse of something dark moving very fast within the trees.  A hound?  My pulse spiked, and I jerked my gaze to the sky.

Since the earthquakes that brought them, hellhounds only came out at night.  They feared light in any form.  How could a hound be out already?  I scanned the trees but didn’t see dark movement again.  The infected in the yard continued their loud calls, oblivious or uncaring about what lurked in the shadows behind them.

Spinning from the window, I scanned the room.  The gunmen would never reach me in time.  I needed something.  A plan.  A hiding spot. Something.  But, there wasn’t anything.

I looked up at the cracked ceiling and briefly wondered if I could break my way through and maybe find a crawl space.  To go where, though?  I couldn’t live up there forever.

The hush in infected calls drew me back to the window.  Disbelief robbed me of thought.  Decapitated infected bodies littered the yard.  Where ten had stood, none now moved.  As I stared, a head came rolling into view.  An infected awkwardly ran toward the trees from the other side of the house as if it were running from something.  They never ran away.

“What the hell?” I said, softly.

In the hall, the infected grew louder.  My stomach churned as I turned toward the door and lifted my rifle.  I did not want to know what was out there killing infected.

Thumps and grunts filled the air before only the sound of my harsh breathing remained.  My everything shook, and I struggled to keep the rifle steady.

Someone knocked on the door, and my stomach flooded with relief a moment before it clenched with fear.

The wooden panel started to swing open, and before I’d fully decided how I wanted to greet Van, my finger spasmed on the trigger.  Everything slowed as the boom filled the room.

A grey hand gripped the edge of the door and pushed it wide.  My mouth dropped open at the sight of the man standing there.  Gore covered every bit of clothing he wore, but that wasn’t the cause for my shock.

He stood on two legs and wore human clothes, but he wasn’t human.  Grey skin covered every exposed bit of his body.  His yellow-green reptilian gaze locked with mine.  He smiled, showing enormous, pointy canines.

I remembered the rifle I held and lifted the barrel level with his head.  Before I could fire it a second time, he crossed the room in a blur and pulled it out of my hands.

I flinched back and closed my eyes.

I’m too young to die, I thought.

“How old are you?”

It took a moment to realize the man had spoken to me.  I opened my eyes in surprise.

“Wh-what?”

“You said you’re too young to die.  How old are you?  And how old will you be when you die?”

I hadn’t realized I’d spoken that out loud.

“I don’t know.”  My eyes flicked to the rifle he still gripped, and I swallowed hard.  He looked down at the weapon then tossed it onto the mattress before focusing on me again.

“You don’t know how old you are?”  His eyes slid over me from head to foot.  “You don’t look like a child.  You look eighteen.”

That glance reminded me way too much of Van, and I quickly shook my head.

The thing’s shoulders slumped a little, and he reached out to pat me awkwardly on my head.

“It’s all right.  I will still keep you safe.  My name is Ghua.  What’s yours?”

“Goo-ah?”

“Yes.  Ghua.  What’s your name?”

“Eden.”

“We need to leave, Eden.  The hellhounds will be out soon, and this house has no light.  It wasn’t a good place for you to hide.  Come.”

He waved me forward, but I didn’t move.  I couldn’t.

He saw my hesitation.

“I can’t carry you because of all the infected blood.”  He waved at his messy clothes then picked up the gun.  “You’ll need to walk.  I’m sorry.”

I glanced at the gun again and nodded jerkily.

One step in front of the other, I made my way toward the door.  There, I stopped.  The hall was littered with body parts.  Well, mostly bodies and heads, but I did see a separated arm wedge between the wall and the railing.

“Oh.  Right.  Wait here, and I’ll clear a path.”

He moved past me and started pushing the bodies down the stairs with his feet.  I listened to the thud-thud-thud of a head rolling down before I turned and fled down the other end of the hall.  The doors were open.  A few dead infected lay on floors in those rooms as well.  I reached the end of the hall and slowly turned, noticing the thudding and squishing noises had stopped.

Ghua waited at the top of the steps.  His gaze locked with mine as he held the gun, the strap now on his shoulder.

“Come, Eden.  It’s safe now.  The infected are off the steps.”

He motioned impatiently.  When I didn’t move, he continued speaking.

“We don’t have much time.  There’s a house with lights not far from here.  We can stay there tonight so I can keep you safe.”

He wanted to take me somewhere else?  Hell no.  But, the only way out of the hall was down those stairs, so I nodded and slowly walked toward him.

He showed me his teeth again, and I quickly looked away to focus on the blood-slicked stairs.

I considered it a miracle that I made it to the bottom using my feet and not my ass.  Just when I was thinking of sprinting for the door, Ghua spoke from behind me.

“Wait here.  Let me check the yard again.  A few infected ran away.”

I watched him walk out the door, then I pivoted and ran for the back of the house.  The door opened easily, and I stumbled down the steps in my hurry to get away.  Ahead, the trees beckoned.  I just needed to get to them.

Ghua rounded the corner of the house at a jog, cutting off my escape route.  I skidded to a stop and stared at him with wide-eyes.

“You should have stayed inside, Eden.  It’s not safe out here.”  His gaze dipped from my eyes to my heaving chest.

“How old do you think you are?” he asked, tilting his head to study me.

“Twelve.”  The response slipped from my mouth without thought; and as soon as I heard it, I couldn’t believe I’d said it.  There was no way he’d believe I was twelve.

“Six more years until you’re eighteen.”  He sighed and nodded slowly.  “I am a patient man, though.  It will not seem so long.”

I wasn’t sure how to react.  First of all, I couldn’t believe he actually thought I was twelve.  But mostly, the rest of his comment terrified me.

“What happens when I turn eighteen?”

“You will no longer be off-limits.  Come.  It’s a long walk to the next house.  We want to get there before dark.”

I barely registered all of what he said.  My brain was stuck on the first part.  Off limits for what?  And, he really expected me to go with him after he said that?

I glanced to my right and my left, wondering if I’d make it very far in either direction.

“Are you afraid of me, Eden?” he asked softly.  “I am not angry that you shot me.  I will not remove your head.  I promise.  Come on.”

He motioned again.  Numbly, I started walking.  I’d seen all the separated heads in the house, but until that moment, it hadn’t clicked he’d done all of that with his hands.  I glanced at his biceps, clearly visible under the long-sleeved shirt struggling to encase his arms.

I couldn’t go wherever he had in mind because I knew, once there, I’d have no chance of fending him off when he figured out I’d lied about my age.  And, I was terrified what exactly he would do when I was no longer off limits.  Was he another form of infected?  Was this what the smarter ones were evolving into?  Was I just a live snack for later?

“I’m so fucked,” I said to myself.

Ghua stopped walking and slowly turned to look at me.  The shock in his lizard eyes made me want to run.  Instead, I stumbled to a halt.

“Children are not supposed to say that word.”

I nodded quickly.  “You’re right.  I’m sorry.  I won’t say it again.”

“Good.  When we get home, I will tell Mya you already knew the word.  You did not learn it from me.”

“Mya?”

“Yes.  She is a human female, like you.  The first one we found.”

This guy was collecting us?  My stomach sank as the rest of his words sunk in.  There were more of him?

I needed to run, and I needed to run now.