Head Full of Ghosts

Chapter 34 - Death at my Door

Eli rounded the corner of a fence and came to a stop.

At first he thought the figure in the center of the road was a stray zombie, but after a moment he realized it was Zahra.

She was just sitting there, arms around her legs, knees tucked under her chin, and eyes closed. She was so motionless it was almost hard to believe she was still alive. It felt weird to see her like that. It felt wrong.

It felt like a trap.

Eli approached cautiously, looking left and right for any sign of movement, but he saw nothing. Not that there could've been anything. He could only have been a minute behind her, no more. What was he expecting to jump out at him?

"Zahra?" he whispered softly once he was sure he was close enough that she would hear it. She didn't move. She gave no indication she even heard him.

"Zahra!" he hissed a little louder this time as he took another big but cautious step toward her. He thought he saw her eyes move, glancing briefly in his direction, but it could simply have been a trick of the light.

Eli suddenly felt foolish. This wasn't some kind of ambush. This wasn't a coiled snake ready to spring. This was just what it looked like: a girl, lonely, sad, and defeated.

He crossed the last few steps to her and knelt down before her.

"Zahra... I... I'm sorry."

This time she definitely glanced at him, but just for a moment, and no other part of her body moved an inch.

Eli reached out a hand and placed it gently on her elbow. She still didn't move. Didn't even flinch.

"Zahra, look, I know it seems bad now, but we'll get you home..."

"It's gone," she said suddenly, cutting off the end of his sentence.

Eli took a deep breath and let it out. "I know... I understand it feels that way, but..."

Almost the moment he had started talking, Zahra began shaking her head, and so he didn't finish the thought, instead letting the words trail off unsaid into the void.

"See for yourself," she said, pointing behind her. Eli looked up, following her finger with his gaze to a crossroad mere feet away. Curiosity got the better of him and he walked over to the spot she indicated.

Turning around the corner of the fence he could see the neighborhood end, spilling out into a street that ended in a wall of trees. He frowned, still unclear about what was happening, and spared a glance back at Zahra.

She still hadn't moved, other than to wrap her hand back around her leg.

He continued down the road to the side street, and looked first left, then, seeing nothing, looked to the right.

There, in the distance, was the wall to Zahra's town.

Eli's first thought was thanks to whatever gods might be watching that the wall was still standing. It didn't look like the sturdiest wall, but Eli knew from closer inspection that they had reinforced it well on the inside, so he wasn't surprised to see it still up.

But it only took him a moment to realize what had upset Zahra. The wall was surrounded by a teeming mass of moving bodies.

Zombies. Hundreds - maybe thousands of them - surrounded the structure, pressing up against it, beating their hands on it, milling about it. They had come for this. Just as he had tried to warn Mills. Someone had finally turned their attention to the town.

Eli turned and hoofed it double time back to Zahra. Grabbing her by the shoulder he began to tug at her, trying to lift her off the ground. She did not relent to the prompting in the slightest.