The Orphans (Book 4): White Lie (15 page)

Greg chucked one grenade into the building just as the Turned were starting to climb out. Greg shot those in the face, leaving them hanging out of the window with brains dripping down from the skull and into the snow below. The blast went off, filling those sticking out of the windows with glass. Greg watched, waiting, knowing some of them would still be alive in the zombie sense. When the charred zombies jumped out and staggered towards them, they had their clothes melted to their bodies and shards of glass sticking into them from head to toe but they were still relentless with the need to eat, kill, and take out those not Turned. Greg holstered his pistol, knowing how much better he was from the current distance with his rifle and snapped off shots until those wanting to follow them were gone.

They made it down a side street heading back towards the apartment complex. When they got to the street where the apartments were, Joey started laughing which sounded as out of place as something could. Greg stopped and turned around. “What could possibly be funny right now Joey?”

Joey pointed to the street sign and said, “It says Plum Drive. I love plums. They named it after a fruit.”

Greg stared, nodding his head slowly and thinking that being inside his head once in a while might be a beautiful thing. They were in the wake of a zombie apocalypse and this kid could still appreciate the little things. He said, “I like pineapple. I kinda miss it.”

They watched as the Turned came towards the sound of the grenade, knowing that if they hadn’t done that, then they would have probably been caught attempting to get across the street. The dead would have caught them, and eaten until they Turned or there was nothing left to Turn.

Greg prodded on Joey to get moving and they headed up to the apartment complex. Greg pulled on the door and it didn’t budge. He looked at the side panel to it and realized it was a buzz style phone system. Joey asked, “What, we aren’t going to be able to get in?”

Greg picked up the receiver and was not surprised that there was no dial tone. In anger and frustration he started smashing it against the wall until he had nothing but the cord in his hand. He took a step back, looked at the apartment complex and tried to think it out quickly. He knew that he needed to keep things absolutely quiet or he would only be creating new issues again and again.

“What are we gonna do Greg? She needs to get warm, and it’s going to start getting dark soon,” asked Joey.

“Just stay right here. I'll find us somewhere safe that we can go to. If it isn’t safe, I will make it safe. Don’t move.”

Joey nodded and gripped his baseball bat after setting Ellie’s sled down inside the small archway of the apartment complex entrance. He was trying to give her whatever temporary shelter and protection that he could.

Greg walked across slowly, he knew that he needed to take his time getting into the place or would have heaven and hell to pay for it. He wasn’t ignorant and was aware that he could only make so many mistakes before one of them caught up with them.

Joey asked again, “What are you gonna do Greg?”

Greg held up a hand, trying to figure out what the best approach was. He didn’t want to break the glass and then set whatever was on the inside loose and free. Greg went up to it lightly tapping on it and took a few steps backwards. He waited impatiently, worrying a horde was on the inside and couldn’t think of anything worse than that. He, of course, was wrong. A small hand pressed the curtain up next to the glass door. Greg knelt down with his rifle aimed until he saw the small imprint on the door. He touched the glass, wondering if it was a zombie toddler or the real deal. His questions were answered, killing a little of his hope.

Greg fell backwards when he saw it. The smallest and youngest Turned he’d ever seen started smashing its face against the glass door. He said a quick prayer, hoping God would not judge him too harshly. He let off a single round, sending the toddler sliding backwards and across the living room of the apartment it was trapped in. Greg stood there for a moment waiting to see if they would have additional company, but there was nothing. He brought up the rifle and cracked the glass the rest of the way where there had been the bullet hole. He swept the gun around the edges of it and then entered in through the broken window slowly. Joey went to say something but Greg just held up a hand telling him to be quiet and wait there.

Greg looked around the apartment and saw both the fireplace and some wood for it. He was glad to know that they weren’t just for decoration and made his way slowly through the living room. He listened; it was dead silent for sure. If something was in there, it was unaware of him or waiting for him to get in further.

Greg looked at the toddler for a moment, seeing its head split open and the white tile floor turning red from what was left of its skull and brain. He grabbed a blanket off the couch and covered it, knowing there wasn’t anything about seeing it that would do Joey a damned bit of good. He walked through the apartment, checking the bedrooms and only found what he could assume was a young mother who had been trying to protect her Turned baby and had ended up being a meal for it.

Greg ran back out to the front and said, “Come on Joey get her in here out of the cold.” He slid the door open and motioned for Joey to come in. “We need to get to the top floor, do you want me to clear it first or do you want to come with me?”

Joey looked at Ellie and then asked, “Is this place safe?”

“Well I don’t think those things know how to open doors, so as long as they don’t come in and bust it open, I'd say that we should be ok if we wanted to lock her in one of the bedrooms. I don’t see her waking up anytime soon unfortunately,” Greg replied.

Joey nodded affirmative and the two placed her in a bedroom, covering her up with the blankets in the room and making sure that she was as comfortable as she could be. Greg ran to the living room dipping a dish towel in the blood and sent Joey out. He wrote stay in here Ellie on the door in the toddler's blood. When they left, they shut the door, putting the makeshift sled across the doorway and making sure every other door but hers was open to entice anyone to go in there last.

The fear of the unknown sometimes was enough to keep someone from being too curious about anything. Joey walked behind Greg, keeping a hand on his shoulder to let him know that he was still there. They opened the door to the apartment, looking both ways. At first glance it looked like it was peaceful. They saw that all the doors were shut which made seeing all but impossible. There were no lights in the hallway and no natural sunlight made its way in either. Joey grabbed Greg’s light and held it over Greg’s shoulder so that the two of them could walk with a guided light.

When Joey clicked the light on, the sense of momentary relief that they initially felt vanished quickly. There was a row of Turned standing at the end of the hallway and the light on them made their faces and shadows look a million times worse. They slowly spun around, sniffing and seeing the fresh meals in front of them, which was something both boys figured they hadn’t been able to partake in quite a while.

The dead crouched and Greg knew that the shit was about to hit the fan. He shouldered his rifle to fire, and after the first round, Joey took a step backwards. In doing so he moved the flashlight, leaving Greg to shoot into a black hole. When Joey waved the light back across the Turned, they were jumping yards at a time, some springing up off the walls and leaping off of them to gain distance that much faster.

Greg screamed, “Back, Back, we need light, we need to get back in the apartment now!” Joey turned to run and Greg jogged backwards. He didn’t care if he could see or not, he sure as hell was not going to present his back to those things. Joey ran to the door, twisted the handle and started to scream and definitely lose his cool.

“Open the goddamn door Joey, do it now!”

Joey looked at him; sweat was starting to sprout from his forehead. “I - I can’t Greg…...it’s locked!”

Greg went to bust the handle off of it but figured all he was doing was making sure that there’d be no issue with them pushing their way into the apartment and that they’d be serving up Ellie as a meal. He could just barely see the red sign at the other end of the hall which said ‘EXIT’ on it and yelled, “Get to the end of the hall now Joey!”

Joey went to run back towards the Turned, confused in the dark and the mayhem that was taking place. Greg pushed him the right way and the two sprinted in the direction of the exit. Greg held up his rifle, firing off Hail Mary shots towards the dead who were in pursuit. When they exited they were momentarily blinded by the light coming in through the stairwell windows. Joey went to run out the door and Greg grabbed him and yelled, “No, get up the stairs Joey, we always want the advantage of being above them, any chance we get, that is what we do. Go, go, go!”

Joey ran so fast he almost looked like one of the Turned. He was jumping up as many steps as he could. The two boys rested when they got to the top of the first flight of long stairs. When the Turned came around the bend, they didn’t seem affected by the light at all and started up the stairs, drawn to the two boys’ smell.

Greg took a seat on the step while trying to keep his arms from shaking from the adrenaline. He aimed the rifle and picked them off one at a time. When he dry fired, he dropped his magazine and started to push in a new one. He looked up to see one of the Turned soaring straight for him, mouth wide open and eyes that were hungry and angry, with blood dried around the edges.

He let go of the charging handle making it live, and for the dead, dangerous again, but it was too late for him to aim and fire. Joey brought the bat down over his shoulder with everything that he could muster into it. The crack of its head being hit was enough to fill the stairwell with the sound of pure violence. The hit stopped its forward momentum and the monster fell to the ground. Greg kicked it down the stairs in case Joey had only momentarily put it out for the count. He checked the gun and then fired one into its skull for good measure. When no more came around the corner the two leaned back against the railing, taking a moment for themselves to breathe. Each of them had a pulse beating in their chest matching the pulsating in their skulls.

“That was kind of close Greg.”

Greg patted Joey on the knee, nodding and unable to say anything. He looked at Joey’s bat and eventually said, “You know I love that damn thing right?”

Joey held it up, admiring it in his hands and said, “Yeah it does a good job of breaking their heads open huh?”

Greg unclipped a second holster from his back and held it out. “Would you do me a favor please? I want you to take this and keep it on you. I know you don’t like guns, but I’d really, really hate to have to use one of them to take you out because you got overtaken by those things.”

Greg pulled out the pistol then showed him the safety switch and informed Joey that it was ready to go as long as he pulled the trigger. Joey wanted to say no but could see by the look on Greg’s face that he was not going to take no for an answer. He clipped it on his jeans and pulled his sweatshirt back down over it. Greg leaned back and saw that they had another flight of stairs to go up then they’d be on the top floor.

Greg got up from the steps, pulling Joey behind him and they headed up the last flight. They opened the third door slowly, knowing that since they’d been taking shots, any more of the Turned would now be more than aware that there was someone there.

When they went to the third door there was no pounding, no clawing at the door. Joey swung it open on Greg’s nod and Greg walked in with his rifle up. He swept the rifle back and forth ready to fire if necessary. He saw no Turned, no one anywhere. He swung the flashlight on his rifle across the hall and saw nothing else. Greg used the same method as before, going and knocking on the doors one at a time, waiting and listening for the dead.

Joey followed behind, watching the end of the hall for anyone that was left over from the first floor. Joey jumped when the first of three doors started to open. Joey began yelling which startled Greg who was running back towards Joey, not thinking about the risks at hand. When he swung the rifle into the doorway a voice came back immediately full of parenting that he hadn’t heard in months, “Don’t point that God damned gun at me you little shit, put it down now!”

Greg hadn’t seen a stranger in months and stared in awe for a second. He lowered the rifle slowly, not believing that it was true. Joey came to terms with it much quicker and stuck one of his hands out while smiling. He said, “Hi, I'm Joey, I'm glad you aren’t one of the Turned.”

The man smiled uneasily and looked at Joey then shook his hand as if he was going to break it if he squeezed it too hard. Joey said, “I’m not going to break sir, I'm real tough.”

The man, who also hadn’t seen anyone new who didn’t also want to kill him, nodded with a genuine smile now. He squeezed like he would any other man and Joey grinned, liking that he was being looked at as not special. Greg stuck his hand out next letting his rifle fall to his side. The man nodded towards the gun and said, “That’s some pretty serious hardware you got going there kid. What’s up with that?”

The man wasn’t taking in the fact just yet that Greg was dressed in nothing but Army gear. They’d almost all started wearing only fatigues as their daily attire as they’d had nothing but what was on their back at the start of it all, with the exception of Patrick who’d gotten one extra bag when medicine had been retrieved from his house.