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“Look.”

  Megan’s eyes narrowed in anger, but she bit her tongue as she indulged his request. She did a double take as she stared at the break in the barbed wire. The desire to argue further died as she was transfixed by the image.

  More bodies were crowding up against the edge, bumping against those already standing there. From her vantage point, Megan couldn’t see how many were piling up from behind, but the noise was building. The sound that reached her ears was one of raw anguish and betrayal. She hugged herself, rubbing her arms to erase the chill of terror that never seem to disappear despite the heat. Her eyes darted over to Jeff. He was smiling and seemed relaxed, a look of greed in his eyes as his lips moved, silently speaking to his audience, coaxing them, urging them forward.

  One finally fell off the edge. Neither Jeff nor Megan could tell whether it had decided to walk off or was pushed, or if the surging crowd had simply forced it off. It landed with a sickening thud at the bottom of the pit. Megan covered her eyes as she saw the head connect with the ground. It was rotten enough that it simply caved in, and the body flopped onto its back, its arms and legs spread wide.

  “YES! I knew it!” Jeff yelled, pumping his fist and belting out a wild, defiant laugh.

  Megan was doing her best to hold back her queasiness as Jeff did a victory dance. Though she wanted to keep her eyes shut, she felt the need to confirm that the person who had taken the leap would not be getting back up. The limbs twitched a couple of times and then stilled. It was dead.

  “I knew those uncoordinated dumb fucks couldn’t navigate a ladder,” Jeff gloated and then pitched his voice toward the crowd. “That’s right you stupid fucktards! I’m talking about you. Not that you can understand a word I’m saying!”

  He laughed maniacally as he egged them on. “Come on down! You’re the next contestant on The Price is Right!”

  As if in response to his voice, two suddenly fell, and five more decided to walk off the edge immediately after. Soon they were like dominoes: more and more taking the plunge, either willingly or because of the surge of bodies pressing up behind them. The moans of the fallen echoed off the wall and through the trees. At first they seemed hesitant, but as more crowded around the gap in the wall, they came in a steady stream.

  Jeff’s celebration slowed and then quieted when he saw a child up on the wall—a little girl with a tattered stuffed animal still clenched in one of her small hands. A single pigtail remained attached to the side of her skull. As she moved, taking her place at the front of the line, her eyes fixed on him. She never looked away even as she landed with a brutal thud on top of the pile of bodies.

  They continued to plummet to the ground with sickening splatters of gristle and guts. A scant few landed on their sides or on top of several other bodies, cushioning the blow. As they tried to get up, others flattened them, pushing them back to the ground. The uncut barbed wire and surrounding fences served as a funnel. The infected were forced to jump from the highest point, and not a single one tried to use the ladder. Jeff watched as the solid mass up top kept feeding the pit below.

  The little girl’s jump had dampened his sense of victory, and when he saw one of the bodies begin to wriggle free of the mass, he realized the fun was over. One of its arms dangled at an odd angle, and it could do no more than crawl, but it would gain its freedom soon enough. Jeff took a step back before he even realized it. Others were struggling to squirm free as well, and he reached over to grip Megan’s shoulder, pulling her away from the pit. He spared a brief glance up to the ledge and saw the crowd thinning out, but there were still plenty up there, waiting impatiently to take the plunge.

  He turned to face Megan. “Okay.” He nodded toward the wall. “This will probably last a few more minutes. I want you to run back to your house through the woods. Be careful though, there might be more of them out there.” He saw the fear dawning on her face. “Stay low and keep your eyes open. I’m not staying much longer, but if we both leave now, the rest won’t follow their buddies into the ditch.”

  Taking a step closer, he shoved the bat into her hands. “Take this. I swear I’ll be right behind you.” He looked her in the eyes and felt guilt at the fear he saw there, but he wasn’t prepared to leave, not just yet. And he knew that if Megan didn’t leave, she would be in hysterics in a matter of moments.

  Jeff was prepared to argue with her, so he was surprised when all she did was swallow hard, giving the wall one final look before nodding at him. Megan looked like she was going to be sick, and he couldn’t blame her. This was a gruesome task, and there was no need for her to suffer through any more of it.

  To Jeff’s surprise, she raised an arm and slid it around his neck. When her hand touched his flesh, he could feel the warmth in her fingertips. Megan pulled him gently toward her. He was even more surprised when she planted a gentle peck on his cheek. “Please be careful. I don’t want to lose you too.” She let go and stepped back, doing her best to ignore the pit and the bodies falling into it like lemmings.

  Jeff gave her a sharp nod and clenched his teeth, doing his best to hide the pain he felt at her gesture of kindness. He turned back to the pit and closed his eyes, still feeling the warmth of Megan’s touch; a touch that gave him a sense of hope even as it stung, reminding him far too much of his wife and the tenderness they had shared.

  Feeling helpless, Jeff wanted to scream or cry out, but knew he could do neither. He was lost in a world that was already dead.

  With his eyes still closed, Jeff continued to listen as the moans diminished and the sound of wet, ruptured bodies smashing into the hard ground echoed all around him.

  Chapter 10

  Megan cleared the small copse of trees, keeping an eye out for movement. The sounds of the infected faded as she gingerly climbed a fence into a neighbor’s backyard. The woods were too thick for her to comfortably navigate, and there were far too many places for those things to hide.

  The house she was behind looked ruined, the sliding glass door shattered and scorch marks on the walls. Megan noticed a few broken chairs inside but tried to avoid looking closer, fearful of what else she might discover. Five minutes later, she was huffing and trying to catch her breath before she had to paw her way over yet another fence. The baseball bat proved an encumbrance when she needed to climb, but she was grateful to have it.

  It was hard to tell where she was since the street curved and Megan could not pick out her own backyard off in the distance. It was hard to gauge how much farther there was to go. Bending over, she leaned against the fence and sucked in as much air as possible. Her joints ached, and her muscles burned. She was severely malnourished, having lived on stale crackers and stagnant water for several weeks.

  Stretching her back, Megan heard a satisfying pop. She slowly began pulling herself over the fence, grunting with the effort. She wanted to sit for a little bit but knew that if she did, she wouldn’t want to get back up. Her landing in the next yard was heavy and agonizing. She stood slowly, eyes closed as she tried to stretch her stiff muscles again to avoid getting a Charley horse. When she opened her eyes, she was surprised to spot someone creeping out of the back door of the house.

  The woman must have seen her from inside and moved to the porch. The split second of excitement Megan felt at seeing another person was immediately replaced with a dull lump of sadness. The stranger was one of them. Her throat had been ripped out, rendering her silent. Her lips were parted, her arms stretched in front of her as she shambled from the concrete patio to the lawn. Megan thought she saw the white of bone deep in the ragged strips of flesh hanging from the raw wound in her neck. The woman wore a dirty, bloodstained housecoat and the frayed black remains of what had once been fuzzy slippers. There were visible wounds besides the one to her throat. Her flesh was gray but holding together.

  Megan scanned her surroundings as she gripped the aluminum bat possessively. The yard was filled with children’s toys, and the grass had grown out of control. The far fence looked a mile away. Her eyes darte
d back to the woman. Megan’s mouth twitched as she recognized her.

  “K-Kathy?”

  Kathy Serna was one of the stay-at-home moms sprinkled liberally throughout the neighborhood. The childless Megan had not spent much time with her except for the occasional polite wave as they drove past each other’s house or shared random chitchat as Megan went on one of her routine walks around the neighborhood. She felt a glimmer of hope when Kathy’s eyes widened at the sound of her voice.

  “Kathy? It’s me, Megan. Megan LeValley. Don’t you recognize me?”

  The desperation in her voice excited Kathy. Megan’s hope died as the infected woman lurched forward, her dull eyes filled with homicidal glee.

  Megan paled at the sight. She raised the bat like a samurai sword and began to slither sideways, moving toward the far fence.

  The desire to run screaming was powerful, but her body refused to allow her to turn away from Kathy. Megan’s legs felt like they were stuck in wet cement.

  Kathy was moving slowly as well, but still far too quickly to give Megan the time she needed to come to grips with the fact that her neighbor wanted to kill her.

  Megan cringed behind the baseball bat, shaking her head in denial. Kathy was almost on top of her.

  Suddenly, the bat came crashing down on Kathy’s head, knocking her backwards. She stumbled over a tricycle and fell to the ground, her legs tangled up in the wheels.

  Megan gawked at the bat and then at her hands. Her arms ached from the effort, though she barely recalled swinging the bat. As she glanced down at Kathy, who was trying to free herself from her child’s trike, she realized the blow had not been very powerful. It was just enough to knock the ghoul down, but not enough to cave in her skull. Megan felt a flutter of nausea at the thought. The baseball bat was too heavy for her to wield effectively.

  She cursed as Kathy untangled her legs and began to rise. Megan thought that she might be able to make it to the fence, but her brief experience with Jeff had taught her something: these people, whatever they were, never gave up. Kathy would keep coming, even if Megan ran, no matter how many fences there were between them.

  Megan’s eyes moved to the far corner of the yard, where she spotted a pile of sticks and tree limbs. She forced herself to turn her back on Kathy and bolt for it. After leaning the baseball bat against the fence, she picked up a thick tree branch that felt light but solid in her hands. A wave of numbness came over her as she turned back to her neighbor and hefted the branch.

  Kathy had not gone far when Megan came at her with the limb. She put all the strength she could muster behind the blow, connecting across the bridge of the woman’s nose. The ripe pop of cartilage was lost in her grunts as Megan swung again. Her next blow caught Kathy in the ear. She let out little yelps as she continued to batter and beat on the creature.

  A minute later, Megan surveyed her handiwork. She wanted to turn away from the mess that had been Kathy Serna’s head, but she couldn’t. Not right away. It would have been hard to tell where her face once was if not for the position of the body. Megan had kept swinging relentlessly until Kathy stopped trying to grab for her. Even then, she had kept at it until the tree limb cracked in her hands.

  Megan felt faint and teetered for a moment. Twisting violently away from the corpse, she vomited up the bile scalding her throat. Her gut clenched, and she dry heaved for several more seconds, a jagged cry of pain mingling with the retching noises. Stumbling toward the fence, she left Kathy’s remains behind.

  She whispered an apology to her neighbor as she leaned against the fence, wheezing and trying to gather enough strength to climb over it. It was not much of a eulogy, but it was all she could muster. She wiped furiously at the tears pouring from her eyes, angry at what she had done but even angrier at how she felt about it. The thought Better you than me, Kathy ran through her mind like a cold wind.

  Megan realized that she didn’t feel guilty, even with all the anger and sorrow swimming around inside her brain. She was still alive and wanted to stay that way...no matter what she had to do. For weeks, all she’d wanted was to curl up and die inside her empty house as the world fell apart outside her window. But the pain in her arms from swinging the tree limb was a not-so-subtle reminder that she was still alive and that it was going to take a great deal of agonizing effort to stay that way. She spared no more glances back at Kathy as she climbed the fence.

  Chapter 11

  As Jeff navigated the fence line, he saw no indications of more infected in the wooded area. Through breaks in the trees, he could see more houses in other neighborhoods off in the distance, but he didn’t bother trying to get too good a look. He had his own turf to worry about.

  The mess he had left at the pit was still fresh in his mind. The crawlers were easily avoided, but when one of the ghastly creatures struggled to its feet and began moving toward him, Jeff knew it was time to go. As he left, the last of the crowd were still taking the plunge, unfazed by the broken bodies lying below.

  He crossed into an unfenced backyard, feeling naked without his baseball bat and nervous about having sent Megan on ahead. Too late to worry about that now, he told himself.

  Once in the front yard, he saw no movement...and more importantly, heard no sound. The absence of moans felt strange. Jeff had never gotten used to them, even after all the time he had been forced to listen while stuck in his house. Now that they were gone, he wasn’t quite sure how to feel about it.

  Staying low, he moved toward the sidewalk. There were still cars in several driveways, to which he gave a wide berth, not willing to risk being seized by a stray hand.

  The air was thick with humidity and death. Only a few weeks before, Jeff had no idea what death smelled like. By now, he was an expert. It tasted like thick slabs of carrion rolling over his tongue. Everywhere he walked, he saw traces and residue left behind by the infected. Puddles of thick greasy liquid and green flesh were deposited in the grass and on the street. More solid matter, blessedly unidentifiable, was occasionally snagged on a low tree branch or splattered across a car window. He did his best to ignore it all as he approached Megan’s house.

  Her garage door was still open, but he did not see her. An older green Toyota compact and a red Cherokee were parked inside. Jeff paused to scan the shadows and then walked toward the doorway.

  As he moved closer, he spied Megan sitting behind the wheel of the Cherokee, facing away from him. Not wanting to startle her, Jeff stopped before he got to the door.

  “Hey.”

  She turned quickly. Seeing him standing there, she gave a halfhearted wave. Her expression was filled with a deep sadness, and Jeff felt a twinge of guilt.

  When she did not open the door for him, he grasped the handle and pulled on it. Discovering it was locked, he waited for a moment. Megan had already turned back around, as if she had forgotten he was standing there. He tapped gently on the window and waited expectantly for her to respond.

  When she didn’t react, Jeff raised his fingers to tap again, worrying that Megan had decided to crawl back into her shell and ignore him entirely this time. Before he reached the glass, the window began to lower.

  Turning to look at him with her haunted eyes, Megan spoke first. “I want to leave. Now.”

  Jeff opened his mouth to respond, but she cut him off. “I can’t stay here any longer. I don’t care where we go, but I want to find other survivors.”

  She looked at him expectantly, and after a moment, Jeff slowly nodded.

  “Just get in the Jeep so we can get out of here.” Megan opened the car door and stepped out, forcing Jeff to back up as she continued. “You can drive...I don’t care, but let’s go!”

  “That sounds like a great idea, Megan, it really does, but I already told you, the roads are blocked, remember?”

  A dark look crossed Megan’s face as she tried to retrieve the memory of what Jeff had told her about the cars jammed at the entrance of the subdivision.

  “I want to leave too, but I think we would
be better off waiting until tomorrow. Maybe we can stay in your house tonight?”

  Megan’s face went pale. Shaking her head rapidly, she took a step back. “No. There’s no way we can stay in there. I won’t stay here another night.” Her eyes grew hazy, as if she were lost in some old memory. An instant later, her gaze snapped back into focus, and the look she gave Jeff told him it would be pointless to argue.

  “Okay, no problem,” Jeff said in a placating tone. He paused, thinking. “I’m sure we can find a house around here that hasn’t been broken into.”

  Megan crossed her arms, her expression turning sour.

  “We can leave tomorrow. I promise, bright and early,” he continued with his appeasing tone. He stepped closer to the petite woman and let his hands gently touch her arms. She did not shy away as he spoke again. “Because if we leave now, it’ll be dark before we get very far.” He let the meaning behind his words sink in. “I don’t think it would be a good idea for us to be out on the road after dark.”

  Megan absorbed what Jeff said and stood quietly, her expression fatalistic. After a few moments, her features softened.

  “What about your house?”

  Jeff stiffened, his hands dropping away as his face went blank and emotionless.

  “My house…” He shook his head as he looked off into the distance. He was still trying to wrap his mind around everything he had done. “My house is gone.”

  Megan waited to see if more of an explanation was forthcoming. When Jeff’s eyes refocused on her, she realized he was still waiting for her response to his suggestion about finding another house in which to camp for the night. Sighing deeply, she nodded.

  Jeff smiled, and she returned it faintly. He slid past her, between the two vehicles, and leaned into the Cherokee to look inside.

  “Is the tank full?”

  Megan shook her head. “I think there’s half a tank...maybe less.”

  Jeff gave the SUV a wistful look before he stepped back and carefully shut the door.