Beneath the Cannonball Tree

Two - Orit

"Go, go, go!"

I sprint across the asphalt, dragging Rosalie behind me. Swaddled against my chest, Elodie flails and screams, but it's not loud enough to drown out the drawling moans of the five-plus zombies dragging their feet behind us.

Fuck.

"Orit!" Rose lets out a cry as her foot catches on something. Her wrist is yanked out of my grasp as she hits the ground.

"Shit." I slide on the bed of broken glass layering the ground as I U-turn, balling the back of Rose's hoodie in my fist. "Get up!" With a heave, she's on her feet, face twisted with pain.

I shove her between the shoulder blades. "Go!"

Now staggering slightly, she takes off again, and with a burning stitch in my side, I follow. I twist my head around as I stumble over the twisted car bumpers and loose tires littering the road, trying to catch a glimpse of our reeking pursuers. The closest zombie is missing a jaw - it's bloated pink tongue hangs out of a gaping hole oozing a tar-like black substance down the front of it's rumpled button-up. Old blood mats it's thinning gray hair to it's bloodied scalp. It moves like a shitty marionette on strings, jerking forward painfully on twisted ankles, eyes rolling in their sunken sockets as it moans.

When the wind howls, I catch an overwhelming whiff of rot, and my stomach rolls.

I bring my attention back to the front, where we're quickly approaching our destination: a heavy iron door sandwiched between a bodega and an Asian food market. It grows closer with each step, just as Elodie's wailing gets louder and the agony in my ribs gets more prominent.

Suddenly, Rose screams. A zombie flings itself from behind the husk of a burnt-out truck, empty eye sockets fountaining blood down the chest of it's ragged yellow dress. It's hair flares wildly like a banshee as it lunges for Rose, letting out a snarl from between shredded black lips. Rose stumbles to the side, screaming again as the zombie's fingers miss her by inches, rotten insides pouring out of its mouth with each hack.

Shit, shit, shit.

I fumble with my shotgun, slippery fingers cocking it.

"Hey, ugly!"

It's head whips around, nostrils thinning as it tries to pinpoint where I am. It's blind, grizzly sockets still excreting brackish black liquid. I pull down on the trigger so hard the pressure nearly knocks my shoulder out if it's socket. With a bang that ricochets down the long, empty streets, the zombie's head explodes, spraying the asphalt with violent red blood and brain matter. It falls to its knees, then slumps to the ground.

But I'm already running again. No time to stop as I clamp down on Rose's upper arm and drag her behind me. We leap over the curb and have to stop ourselves before running into the brick wall.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon," I growl, gritting my teeth as I rattle the doorknob.

"Hurry!" says Rose in a high, thin voice.

"I'm trying!"
Ramming my already sensitive shoulder into the door, it swings open, sending us scrambling into the dimly-lit, tiled foyer. My shotgun hits the floor with a clatter as I ram the door shut, bathing us in darkness. I'm just in time - something soft and putrid rams into the other side just as I lock the deadbolt, howling with frustration.

Rose's eyes are wide in the darkness. "Orit - "

"Keep going," I hiss, picking up the shotgun and taking the narrow, carpeted stairway up to the second floor two at a time. Rose follows close behind, stumbling and trembling. When we get to the top, it opens to a living room, a couch knocked over, and a flat-screen TV shattered on the carpet.