“And, Charlene, now!” Dave said, and she pulled open the door. “Run Gene, run!”

I watched Gene, Andy and Robert flee out the doorway. Kia and Michelle fired more rapidly. Megan and Melissa loaded secondary rifles with ammo.

“I’m out,” Kia said. She held out her rifle. Melissa swapped the empty out with the one she’d just loaded.

“Me, too,” Michelle said. Megan gave her a loaded rifle, too.

“They’re at the car,” Kia said, and resumed firing.

I needed to see what was happening. Events being fed to me was not cutting it. It was like listening to a ballgame on the radio when there was a TV right in the next room.

“Robert!” Michelle said.

“I got him, I got him!” Kia squeezed off shot after shot. She leaned back, shook hair out of her face and fired again. “Robert!”

“Dad?”

“I don’t know what’s going on,” I said.

“Charlene, no!” Allison said.

Dave reached for my daughter as Char opened the door and disappeared outside.

“What the fuck is she doing?” I ran around the register, past the ladies perched on the sink, and followed both Allison and Dave outside.

Charlene had her sword drawn and was chopping into zombies. There were so many, too many.

Robert was down. The things encircled him. Gene and Andy were inside the car already.

“Go,” Dave yelled at Gene, vigorously waving them off. “Get out of here!”

The engine revved.

I used my sword, too. Allison, Char and I fought the things on Robert. We weren’t going to be able to save him. I heard continuous shots fired from the windows. I kept waiting for a stray bullet to rip through my back. I felt that fate was inevitable at this point, and that I was a heartbeat away from dying.

“Robert!” Kia’s yelling only added to the confusion. Her shouts would attract even more zombies to the back of the school.

“Back inside!” Dave pulled the remaining things off Robert. “Inside, now!”

I swung my sword around and beheaded a female zombie. Her hands kept reaching out for me.  Her fingers curled in and out as if silently beckoning me forward. “Charlene!”

She continued to fight.

“Chase!” Allison called me.

“Alley?” She was not beside me. I could not see her. “Alley?”

“Over there,” Dave said. “She’s over there!”

I couldn’t look around. Charlene and I defended our space, but that did not stop more zombies from closing in on us. Robert was gone, eaten. Dead. We’d managed to throw creatures off of him, but not before he’d been bitten repeatedly. His entire throat was ripped off of his neck.

“We have to get back in the school,” I said. It was going to be easier said than done. I didn’t want to be around when Robert re-animated. I didn’t have it in me right now to drive a blade into his brain. “Charlene, make a break for the school!”

“Not without you!”

“I’m right behind you,” I said. I wouldn’t be. I needed to get to Allison. She’d been backed up against the dumpster. She used her sidearm and was shooting zombies in the head. There were too many. I couldn’t worry about both of them at the same time. “Dave, get Char!”

“I got her!” Dave used a cinderblock as a weapon and crushed skulls with single blows. “Get to the school. Go. Go. I’ll get her!”

Charlene was not listening to me. I was not listening to Dave.

Thankfully, Michelle and Kia continued dropping zombies with each shot they fired. I gave up worrying about being accidentally hit by friendly-fire. I needed to trust them right now, so I did. As best I could. With that one less thing to worry about, I was able to concentrate on my fight. “Charlene!”

She didn’t answer me. Instead, she let out yells and grunts in bursts as she swung her sword, cutting legs off at the knees. She sliced off arms and hands, noses, ears and heads, as she made her way toward Dave, who kept getting closer to Allison.

I followed my daughter’s lead, both with wild sword swings, and moving toward Allison.

It snowed large white flakes. The temperature must have dropped drastically in the last day or so, and it felt like twice as cold since the fight started. The wind felt painful against exposed flesh. It bit my hands to the point they felt numb. I could smell winter. Pine trees and fireplaces. Only it wasn’t lit fireplaces that I smelled. More than likely it was just Pennsylvania burning.

Allison disappeared from my line of sight; had gone around the side of the dumpster, as if driven further away by the horde of zombies encroaching ever forward. “Alley! Allison!”

Dave held the block in the rectangle holes and spun round and round clocking anything in his way.  The heavy grey brick was a ruthless weapon for the bear of a man.

Charlene worked her way closer to the dumpster. She just stepped forward and thrust her blade into whatever was near. Seemed like she wasn’t concerned with killing zombies as long as she stopped or slowed them down.

The zombies screamed and roared as we fought them. They were extremely animated. Strong. They kept coming at us. More rounded the corners. I had no idea how much ammo Kia and Michelle had. They were doing a great job at taking out the creatures.

There were just too many. The constant gunshots, the noises the zombies made, the screaming we did as we fought them…it had to be like a giant dinner bell being rung.

“Allison!” I’d reached the dumpster. Charlene and Dave defended Allison as best they could.

“I have her, Chase! Cover me!” Dave threw the cinderblock at the crowd of zombies. He squatted and lifted Allison up over his shoulder. I saw blood flow from wounds on her arm. It sprayed, staining Dave’s clothing.

“Let’s go, Charlene! Get back inside!” I said. I spun right and left and leapt forward, and jumped back. I let my blade cut into everything around us. Anything close, I cut, chopped and severed. My eye was on Charlene, who was now beside me, and we fended off creatures as we protected Dave on the few yards we needed to cover in order to get back inside the safety of the school.

Then we were inside, door closed, locked.

We were safe.

Except Robert was dead.

Robert was dead, and Allison had been bitten.

Chapter Nineteen

1216 hours

“Chase!” Allison held out a hand.

Dave used an arm to swipe a cash register to the ground before he laid Alley down on the checkout counter. The register shattered on red tiles. I saw fear in her face. I felt that fear like a fire inside my own chest. “Hang on, honey.”

Everyone stood back. The windows over the sink were now closed. Michelle sat on the counter, her back to the wall, her knees up. The rifle rested between her legs. Megan, Kia and Melissa stood huddled close together.

Charlene cried, silently. Tears left clean streaks down a blood and dirt covered face. Her body shook as Dave placed an arm over her shoulder.

“It’s bad?” Allison’s lower lip trembled. Her eyes were opened wide. They looked at me, looked around me, and then back into my eyes. “This is bad.”

“I’m going to need water. Lots of water? And towels,” I said. “Light the stove and find a spatula. A metal one, not plastic.”

“A spatula?” Alley said. “Chase?”

Kia grabbed a silver bowl and filled it with water, as Dave tore hand-towels into strips that we could wet and use to wipe up the wound.  I took Dave to the side, and whispered, “I want you to hold her down.”

“Chase,” Alley said, again.

“I’m right here,” I said. “I want you to stay calm. Charlene, help me get her coat and shirt off.”

I needed to see if she’d been bitten anywhere else beside the arm. For what I had in mind, the water, the towels, we could use those supplies after. The deep breath I sucked in made me wince. It felt like a fist suddenly closed over my heart.