Dead: Winter (8 page)

Kevin brought his heavy blade smashing through the skull of the nearest zombie. He’d watched Aleah until she ducked around the corner of the house he’d indicated for her to use as a diversion. That few precious moments had allowed over a dozen of the undead to come out from whatever dank places they’d been hiding in and start their slow march towards him.

“C’mon,” Kevin taunted, trying to ensure that none of them went off after Aleah.

Stepping into the first pair that came within range, Kevin brought his blade across, taking the top half of the first zombie’s head almost off. He kicked out and knocked the body free, then thrust up, catching the other under the chin. He stepped back and took a second to admire the work. Most times he had to kill quickly. He could take his time with the first few as he drew the rest closer.

When Kevin had set out with three friends, they’d all been self-professed zombie movie geeks. They’d had delusions of grandeur as to how things would play out. They’d discovered from the start that it wasn’t like the movies or the video games. Things had gone badly early on and never quite seemed to right themselves. Now, he was the last one standing. He was living in a walled country club with a third year med student who was as close to a doctor as he could ever hope for, a former female pop star, her little sister—who had just given birth to a baby girl—a high school cheerleader that turned out to be immune from the bite, a young man who was still trying to regain his ability to walk after nearly starving and having a piece of metal lodged in his thigh for so long it had almost grafted to the meat, and then there was Aleah.

Aleah was probably the most beautiful woman Kevin had ever seen…living or on a poster. The fact that she had a thing for him was still taking some getting used to. He was not accustomed to the attentions of a “hot babe.”

Taking a step to the side, Kevin dodged the awkward grasp of a naked man who had probably tipped the scales at three hundred pounds as a living being. The man was not fat, but rather, exceptionally tall—close to seven feet tall if not more—and extremely muscle bound. His arms were bigger than Kevin’s legs. Black veins were like rotting ivy tendrils all over the man’s skin. The cause of death wasn’t visible anywhere.

As Kevin cleaved the man’s head, he remembered how Mike had died. The best they could guess, he’d gotten some contaminated blood in his eyes or mouth one day when they were fighting off a few while rigging traps in the road near a farm house they had stayed in for a while.

That was why he and Aleah were wearing goggles. That was why they all wore them any time they ventured out. Kevin had hit a sporting goods store and scooped up dozens of pairs of swimming and racquetball goggles. That was also why he had crafted mesh-lined gloves for everybody. Kevin was all about planning.

He made short work of five more zombies before moving in the direction of the house he’d sent Aleah. Scanning the street, he was thankful that there didn’t appear to be any more heading their way.
Sometimes you get lucky
, he thought. Then the scream split the air.

Aleah!

Kevin took off at a sprint. He shouldered past the two un-dead that were in his way. Both had started to turn in the direction of the scream and had their backs to him as he shot by sending them tumbling to the ground in a heap.

He reached the gate and didn’t bother with the latch. Tossing his weapon over where it landed point first and sunk a few inches into the soggy ground, Kevin planted his hands and vaulted. He slipped just a bit as his feet hit, but managed to keep his footing and grab his sword by the pommel on his way past.

When he rounded the corner, he discovered a back yard that reminded him of all the footage he’d seen of the Playboy Mansion. There were tennis courts and pools and a big rock structure that had obviously been a waterfall. There were also several zombies gathered around a small stage-like platform. Aleah was on the platform jabbing furiously at the mob. Kevin felt his heart sink. Her shirt was ripped and he could see blood dripping down her front.

Swallowing hard, he raised his weapon and rushed in to help. Heads flew as he severed them from necks, or broke open as he came down with brutal overhead swings. One severed head rolled beside him, its mouth still working, eyes staring up at him. Kevin brought his booted foot down until it broke open and oozed its jelly-like contents all over the ground.

“Behind you!” Aleah screamed.

Kevin spun to find four child-zombies moving for him with arms outstretched. He hated it when he had to put down children, it always made him think of his sister. He knew his family was gone, just like millions of others, and when he thought about their likely fate, he couldn’t escape the guilt that came along with it.

The first child couldn’t have been any older than six. Her mouth was a ruined mess where the rest of her baby teeth had come out—most likely popped free when she gnawed on a bone or something—and left gaping spaces. Her lips were tattered flaps of flesh from having folded over during feeding. Kevin brought his sword across and lifted off the top third of her skull, sending the filthy mop of matted brunette hair flying.

Two of the three continued on to their doom, but the fourth stopped. It seemed to watch what happened to its cohorts and reconsider its actions. Kevin felt a chill run through him as the child-zombie cocked its head first one way and then the other. It was
studying
him. But that was ridiculous! Zombies don’t think …do they? He wanted to wait longer and see what this thing would eventually decide on, but he needed to get to Aleah. With one firm thrust, he drove the point of his weapon through the face of the little zombie.
Did he imagine it, or was there a look of surprise or fear on its face in that last second?

Aleah was still holding her own, fighting off the crowd gathered around her, but she was looking visibly pale. The front of her jacket was slick with blood. A renewed anger welled up in Kevin and he rushed the pack, swinging wildly.

It wasn’t fair
, screamed over and over in his mind. He felt tears try to well up in his eyes; whether it was anger, sorrow, or frustration made no difference. He would not allow them purchase. If he did, he might not ever stop.

One by one they fell to his sword. It didn’t seem as if he could swing hard enough or fast enough. Killing the mob gathered around Aleah brought no satisfaction. He wanted to see which of those bastards had done it…which one had just destroyed a part of his soul. He wanted to bring that one all of his pain. It didn’t matter if the thing had no concept of pain; the point was to take all of his soon-to-be loss out on that one thing that had filled him with all the hurt that seemed to strain against the confines of his skin and want to explode his body from the inside out.

The last corpse fell and Kevin forced himself to look up at Aleah. She stood on the stage, her body tilting just a bit to favor the side where the injury was a crimson beacon that he couldn’t keep his eyes away from. She sighed, her entire chest heaving with the effort. The spear-like weapon slipped from her fingers as she swayed and then crumpled.

Kevin jumped up and took her in his arms. Her eyes fluttered and then opened to slits. Already, her tears had started, making her azure eyes glitter like sapphires. A soft sob mixed with a pained moan. The sound of it wrapped around Kevin’s heart like a vice and squeezed to the point where he thought he might actually die. He’d always dismissed the phrase “broken heart” as a ridiculous metaphor created by weak-minded fools who believed in the concept of love. He’d always dismissed the concept of falling in love. Then he’d met Aleah. And now, as fate was wont to do, it was being taken from him in this overgrown back yard where
he’d
sent her; yet another death to be laid at his feet.

“Kevin?” Aleah whispered.

“Shhh.” He placed a finger on her lips to quiet her.

“I feel so stupid.” Aleah brushed his hand away. “I couldn’t get the latch to budge…I think it’s rusted.”

“Don’t talk, Aleah,” Kevin insisted. “You need to save your energy.”

“Is it
that
bad?” Aleah’s voice registered alarm.

Kevin couldn’t bring himself to say a word. Her eyes locked on his and pulled out everything he wasn’t saying.

“Did I slice my jugular or something?” she asked, a new fear creeping in to her voice.

“Your shoulder…” Kevin tried to say it, but couldn’t.

“I know,” she said. “I can’t believe how freaking clumsy I am.”

Kevin sat silently, letting her process the situation at her own pace. It wouldn’t be long before the shock wore off and her circumstances dawned. When that happened, he would hold her and give all the comfort he was capable of giving. He wouldn’t dangle the false hope of the possibility of immunity. After all, what were the odds? Heather was immune, as had been his friend Cary.

“I must have snagged myself pretty bad going over that damn fence.”

Kevin was silent for a few seconds before
her
statement dawned on
him
. He looked down at the rip right where her slender neck met her creamy, smooth shoulder. Sure enough, there was a nasty gash there. He looked closer at the injury. It was indeed an awful rip in the flesh. However, it did not have the “chunky” look of a bite; instead, it was simply a tear. It was certainly serious, but it wasn’t a—

“You thought I was bit!”

Kevin felt a relief that he would never be able to describe wash over him.
Yes
, he thought,
the injury was serious, but it
wasn’t
a bite!

“Oh, you poor thing.” Aleah stroked his face with both hands.

“I-I-I…” he stammered, unable to find any words. He stared at the wound, his eyes refusing to let him see with absolute clarity that it was not a bite.

“I lost my grip climbing over and fell on the little metal prongs that stick up from those stupid fences. I bet it must look pretty nasty,” Aleah said with a scowl.

“I thought you were…”

“And just what would you have done?” Aleah ran a finger along his jaw.

“Waited.”

“Would you let me turn?”

“I couldn’t let you become one of those,” Kevin whispered.

“But you would at least wait to be sure.”

“Of course,” Kevin said. “But we can discuss this later. This really isn’t the time or place.”

“I have one little problem,” Aleah said, her face turning a light shade of pink.

“Dizzy from blood loss?” Kevin pulled his small bag from his belt and began rummaging through it.

“Okay…” she paused, “…make that two problems.” She hissed through her teeth as Kevin poured hydrogen peroxide on the open wound. It bubbled and fizzed for a second and he poured a little more before wiping it with some gauze.

“This is gonna need stitches,” Kevin said absently, now engrossed in cleaning and inspecting the wound. “I can put some gauze on it and a bandage, but you need to see Peter right away. This mission is scrapped. We can duck inside long enough for you to use the bathroom.’

“About that…” Aleah blushed an even brighter shade of red.

“Oh, babe,” Kevin said sympathetically as he glanced down and noticed the dark stain in the crotch of her jeans.

“I got scared when all those things came at me while I was trying to pick myself up off the ground,” Aleah confessed.

“Maybe we can look long enough to see if they have any clothes inside that will fit,” Kevin offered.

“You think it’s safe?”

“No worse than being out here.” Kevin pressed the bandage into place, smoothing the adhesive against Aleah’s skin.

He eased her head from his lap and stood. Helping her to her feet, Kevin slung her arm around his neck and wrapped one of his own around her waist to keep her steady. They made their way down the steps and eventually gained entry to the house through a back door that opened into an enormous kitchen.

Both of them had to stifle a gag. There were two bodies in a corner. One had a plastic bag over its head; the other still clutched the shotgun it had used to blow most of its cranium in a wide splattering arc across the wall at its back. The bad part was the fact that they obviously had done so because they did not want to face the undead child.