Night of the Living Dead (24 page)

Cooper didn’t wait. He lit the second jar, but took the extra second to make sure that he hit the ground to the front-right of the truck. The things withdrew further, leaving both truck doors free for Ben and Tom to reach.

But Cooper wasn’t satisfied. To his surprise, he found himself getting a morbid
thrill
from this — striking back at the bastards who hurt his little girl! He threw a third and then a fourth jar, pushing the things further back, and the last jar spilled its flames right onto the legs of one of them!

To Cooper’s obscene pleasure, the burning creature danced around next to the truck. It was really moaning now, they all were, but even though it was actually
on fire
, the cries still smacked more of fear than of pain — its clothes, its
skin
was burning, and yet it didn’t go down anymore than the one Ben had shot in the heart.

My God ... it’s true. They really are
dead
.

He had seen enough. He bolted for the stairway.

Reaching the ground floor, he rounded into the hallway and called out, "Go ahead! Go on!"

Judy watched from the cellar doorway as Tom unlocked the front door, then ran outside with Ben right on his heels.

Tom hauled ass, practically flying off the front porch — Ben followed at a slower pace, the torch burning in one hand and the rifle ready in the other. As Tom dashed for the driver’s side of the truck, he saw that one of the things, its clothes in disarray and its sunken eyes dark against its pale face, had wandered around the fires and into his direct path. He didn’t see any choice but to take the dead man head on.

Slamming into it, he expected it to bowl over backwards. Instead, this one surprised him with its strength and coordination; it closed its arms, grabbing him by the shoulders.

God, the smell! Even if the television hadn’t revealed the true nature of these maniacs, this one’s stench alone would have given it away. The reek made Tom want to vomit.

For a moment, they danced in twisted intimacy, then Tom regained some leverage and shoved it away — it ripped the sleeve of his T-shirt, while he tore
its
shirt halfway off its body. Tom spun and yanked the truck’s door open, but the thing was on him again before he could climb into the driver’s seat. He braced himself and rammed his foot into its stomach, which finally knocked it to the ground. But there was another one right behind it, and Tom just barely pulled the door closed in time.

On the other side of the truck, Ben waited for Tom to get the engine started. He didn’t know where to look first, whether to shoot them or swing the torch. In the end, he opted to wait, his heart pounding — most of them were still held back by the circles of flame, but that wouldn’t last long.

There were so many of them now, so many! It was Beekman’s Diner all over again — they were all staring at him, reaching out for him, gasping, moaning,
lusting
for him, for his flesh. And creeping ever nearer.

In the truck, Tom tried to put the key into the ignition, but his hand was shaking so badly he kept missing. The first thing still hadn’t regained its feet, but the second was right there — inches away! — pawing at the window. Tom looked over at it; he couldn’t help himself. He saw the clammy, discolored skin; the horrible, infected-looking gash along the left side of its jaw near its mouth — hell, as far as he knew, that wound is what killed it, only to bring it back.

Tom looked away, sickened. And finally drove the key home.

In the house by the open cellar, Judy heard the struggles, the ghastly ululations through the open front door, and when she heard the truck’s engine turn over and start, she made her decision in the blink of an eye.

"I’m going with him."

And then she was running across the room toward the front door.

Mister Cooper heard her, saw her coming, and tried to block her way. "Get back in the cellar!" he ordered, grabbing at her arms.

"No!" she cried.

"It’s too late!"

And he was right, but not in the way he thought. It
was
too late, because her mind was made up and there was no way in hell she was letting Tommy leave without her!

Outside, Ben heard the struggle over the rumble of the truck. He whirled about, expecting to find that one of the creatures had somehow made it onto the porch and was trying to get into the house. Instead, he was surprised to see the girl, Judy, shoving her way past Cooper and running into the yard.

Tom caught the movement from the corner of his eye and looked through the windshield. His jaw dropped in horror twice over:

First, because
Judy
 was outside, skidding to a halt in front of the truck as she spotted the things that were trying to get at him.

Second, because at that moment, Cooper slammed the front door shut.

Judy heard it, looked behind her, then back to Tom. She was frozen, her bravado from a moment before evaporating as the reality of what she was doing — had already done — sank in.

Tom gaped at her a second longer, then twisted back toward the driver’s window, slapping his palm against it, anything to keep the creatures’ attention on
him
, to keep them from noticing his Judy standing out there, exposed.

Ben, bless him, broke the spell. He shouted at her, "Well if you’re coming,
come on
!"

Judy hurried around to the passenger side.

Ben set the torch down in the grass, grasped the rifle with both hands. "Get in!" he snapped.

He wouldn’t get any argument from her! Judy opened the door and leaped into the truck.

Ben took aim and fired at one of the things as it drew closer. The slug pounded into its chest and out through its back — it stumbled a moment, its momentum halted ... and then it was shambling forward once more.

Ben thought frantically. The
only injuries
that seemed to put them down for good was damage to the head, to the
brain
. But he was a high school teacher, damn it — he knew his way around a gun from childhood hunting with his father, but he was a far cry from being a marksman.

Rather than waste more ammo from this distance (not that the distance was all that great by now), Ben stooped and reclaimed his torch. Whatever harm they could or could not withstand, they were
afraid
of fire, and that was his one solid advantage. He waved the torch toward one, then another.

They slowed, but did not stop.

More of them had reached Tom’s side of the truck — for an unsettling, surreal moment, he found himself staring at a glistening wedding ring, still in place on its bloated, blue finger.

If they waited much longer, they would be overwhelmed. They had to get moving!

Tom put the truck into gear.

Ben heard the shift in the motor and took the hint. Tossing the rifle ahead of him, still brandishing the torch, he climbed over the side and into the bed of the truck.

As if sensing their prey were about to escape, the things — the
dead
— swarmed forward as fast as their bungling feet would carry them.

Having locked the front door, Harry Cooper rushed over to one of the windows. He crouched, peering through the openings between two nailed slats, desperate to follow what was happening outside.

Ben slipped, nearly losing his footing as the truck lurched. The dead were too damned close; Tom needed to get the truck moving, to gain some speed before he could just knock them out of the way.

Ben tried to help, thrusting the torch in every direction. One of them got too close, and Ben shoved the torch against its belly. Its dirty evening jacket caught fire and it stumbled away, slapping at the licking flames, the concept of Stop-Drop-and-Roll beyond its limited comprehension.

But there were plenty of others to take its place.

Cooper switched from gap to gap, trying to see better. He wanted to scream! Why in the world weren’t they moving yet?!

As if Cooper’s frustration lent much-needed inertia to the truck, Tom finally got it rolling backward. He didn’t run any of them over, but he knocked them down and out of the way. Wheezing and gasping, several tried to hold on to the truck, unwilling to give them up — Ben leaned over the cabin and thrust the torch against hands, into faces.

The dead fell back, and the truck was clear. Tom shoved it into a forward gear, and they were on their way!

The truck pulled around the house, out of sight from Cooper’s vantage point. Cooper hesitated — he knew he should probably stay next to the front door, since they would be coming back with those things hot on their heels ... but in the end, he couldn’t contain himself. He dashed toward the back of the house.

As Tom drove around to the gas pump by the barn, they encountered more of the dead coming in from the back fields. He gripped the steering wheel tight, knowing their venture had
better
work now, because all this racket was drawing more of them in than ever. He was forced to slow down as some of them bounced off the fenders, only to have others clamber along the sides. Ben held steady in the back, waving the torch every which way.

Tom wanted to gun the engine and get the hell away from this new group, but just then the engine coughed once, reminding him that they were too low on fuel for any jackrabbit stunts. Instead, he ground his teeth, reached over to hold Judy’s hand, and pressed on in low gear.

Cooper ran into the kitchen, looked around, and located the window that would best serve him. He shoved the drapes aside, leaning back and forth until he spotted them near the barn. Yes, they had pulled away from the rest of those things and were almost to the pump. They were going to make it!

Tom eased the old Chevy around in an arc toward their destination. A glance through the side mirror revealed over a dozen of the dead zeroing in on them, but they were far enough away that they should have plenty of time to fill the tank, so long as they
hurried
.

Leaving the engine running, Tom leaped from the cabin and sprinted for the pump. Ben jumped down from the bed, the torch and rifle in each hand. As Tom shoved the key into the rusty padlock on the pump handle, Ben set the torch down on the ground where he could grab it again at a moment’s notice, and held the rifle at ready. But when he turned, he saw Tom still fumbling with the lock.

"Come on!" he urged.

Frustrated and terrified, Tom told him, "This key won’t work!"