midst of death

Chapter Seventeen

~Alex~

I fell asleep against Chance, but I awoke with a start, something snapping behind us. I shot upright, my body getting rigid. I cocked my head to the side, and I thought that I could hear footsteps. Chance sat up, both of us silent, and he silently stood up and reached for a small handgun. Another snap, and I lithely got to my feet, my hand on the hilt of my machete. Quietly I made my way to Tony, and gently shook him awake. He opened his eyes immediately, but he kept silent, seeing my finger on my lips. He quickly understood and woke Phyllicia and Carrie. Chance had his eyes trained on the forest in front of him. I honestly had no clue how good Chance and Tony were in a zombie fight, but I knew that if the intruders were human we would be safe. I crouched and tried to figure our who, or what, was coming toward us.

After what seemed like a thousand years, a figure finally stumbled out of the foliage. I bristled when I realized it was a child's silhouette. It felt as though all the oxygen was sucked out of my surroundings. The child had been, at one time, a girl around the age of five. She had a ratty old teddy bear dangling from one arm, the other reaching out for us. Her face had a smokey pallor, and the characteristic ice blue eyes would always haunt me.

What was worse than that was the fact she was a child, somebody's baby. My heart gave a painful twinge. At one point she had beautiful long, blonde hair, but now there were clumps missing. What was remaining was flecked with mud and blood. She had Returned recently, wearing a white lace nightgown, which was torn and stained. Just looking at her made my eyes sting. Without realizing it, I made a hiccup sound, and I clamped my hand over my mouth. Too late.

Her head whipped around to face me, cocking head , listening for more that could lead her to me. Thank God the wind is blowing our way, I thought gratefully. But there was something different about the way she looked, the way she moved. Her eyes were still trained in my direction, and her mouth was opening and closing sideways. Again my eyes started tearing up, and they welled up and spilled over. A sob hurriedly escaped my chest, and at that moment the girl lunged at me, teeth bared.

Usually I was able to whip out my machete without a thought, but the girl had completely disarmed me. She landed on top of me, and I fell to the ground, hard. Her yellow and broken teeth ground together, trying to latch them onto my throat. My body froze. My mind was shouting 'She's a zombie, FIGHT!' but my heart bellowed back 'But she's a child, for Cripe's sake!' I tried to speak, to yell, but nothing happened. This all happened in a matter of seconds, and I heard Tony scream at Chance.

"Shoot it already!" he bellowed.

"I DON'T WANT TO HIT HER!" Chance cried back desperately.

Is this the end? I thought mechanically, not really caring. Am I going to be bitten, or am I going to get shot?

I heard a raspy shriek, and my brain backhanded my heart, my body automatically doing what I had practiced forever. My arm shot out, the forearm against her throat, keeping her from biting me. Before I had a good grip, she reached forward and tore a piece off of my flannel. Gritting my teeth, I reached for the machete, grabbed the handle and hit her on the head as hard as I could manage. The blow stunned her for a second and I took advantage of that and rolled, stopping when I was on top of her. Being recently Turned the way she was made her incredibly strong. I flipped the machete around so the blade was against her neck. "I'm sorry," I whispered. Then I pushed steadily, and my strong arm sent the sharp blade right through with a sickening sound. She fell limp, but her fist remained around that teddy bear. I sat up a little, the machete clattering out of my hand, and I held them against m chest, right between my bosom. And I cried for the umpteenth time that night.

~Chance~

I was so incredibly panicked when the zombie lunged at Alex. What surprised me the most was that she was usually on top of everything, and here she didn't raise a finger to protect herself. I had tried  getting a clear shot at the zombie's head, but if I'd pulled the trigger, there was a good chance that I could've hit her. And I knew that Alex would've snapped out of it anyway. Phyllicia had tears running down her face, clearing tracks on the dirty skin. As soon as the zombie was down, and Alex was shaking, Phyllicia ran up to her and wrapped her arms around her figure. Alex was sobbing, her machete forgotten beside her. "She was a baby, only a baby," she kept repeating. Carrie was frozen where she stood, a mask of disbelief on her face. Tony had a hand on her shoulder, his lips moving. I stood by myself, my head reeling. After all this stress I could feel a migraine coming on. I sank down to the ground, my fingers probing my temples and the back of my neck. I sat there for a few seconds, until I heard my name. "Chance?"

I looked at Alex, and my eyes met hers, filled with tears and pleading. "Chance, I need you," she whimpered, her voice cracking.

My heart twisted in my chest. I stood up stiffly, and I looked at the ground as I walked over to her. I quietly sat down on the ground next to her, gravel biting into my skin. As soon as I sat down, Alex was in my arms, sobbing. "... couldn't do it..." she blubbered.

"Shh, Alex, calm down. Baby, shh." I rocked her back and forth. I've never seen anyone cry as much as Alex has in the past few days. I remember back before, before zombies were a reality, girls got emotional over the smallest things. But Alex hardly ever cried, at least I never witnessed it. It was really unnerving to watch her cry, and I didn't know what to do. Finally I decided to just let her cry it out.

"You understand, don't you?" she managed to choke out.

"What?" I replied, disbelief and shock in my voice.

"You understand why I couldn't..." she trailed off, sobs choking her words.

"I don't know," I said slowly, carefully. "I just don't know what happened."

"She was only a baby," she cried softly. Hugging her knees, she said again, "Only a baby."

I hugged her to me. "I know." Scanning the trees, I noticed branches moving, the leaves rustling against one another. An arm jutted out, followed by a leg, and then multiplied, dozens of bodies coming out of the forest. I froze, my body rigid as I tried to figure out what was happening. "Alex," I said softly. "Are you well enough for a fight?"

She sniffed and replied, "I guess so. Why?"

"We're going to need you." She followed my eyes to the edge of the trees and automatically her hand flew to her hip, her eyes growing unsettled as she realized her machete wasn't there. She quickly glanced at me, then got on her hands and knees, crawling to where her machete lay beside the child. I could see her head droop a little, her frame rocking with another silent sob. Her fingers found the handle and quickly retreated back to me. "You ready?" I asked. She nodded reluctantly. "Tony, Carrie, watch out and keep an eye on Phyllicia," I hissed. Carrie heard me, and her eyes grew wide as she slowly turned her head, her hand on Tony's shoulder. As she spotted the zombies, I could see her nails digging into the flesh of his shoulder. He turned around slowly, knowing something was up, and saw the undead. I watched as he paled.

Alex was signing at Phyllicia, telling her to load the machine gun. She nodded. Done. I grimly loaded my own. The Glock would need bullets here soon, but who knew if I would be alive long enough to find any?

We all looked at each other, knowing each of us would fight to the death. Alex with her machete, myself with the Glock, Phyllicia and her machine gun, Tony and a hunting knife, Carrie with a baseball-bat sized pipe.

A very badly decomposed zombie groaned, and I let loose a round, landing solidly in his head. He, or whatever it once was, dropped.

Alex disappeared, sliding up to the undead, slashing fatally at the base of their head, destroying the brain. She ducked out of the way just as a spray of bullets emitted from Phyllicia. She looked deranged, obsessed with protecting her friends. None of the bullets hit a vital target.

By this time, we were starting to get overwhelmed. Too many bodies were coming, and though they were slow, it seemed as though they were running at us. Determined to minimize the threat, a few more rounds fired from the Glock. Zombies dropped, but others quickly filled in. I don't understand, I thought, panic gripping me for a second. Have they evolved or something? I heard Alex scream, and a moment too late I realized why.

Three zombies were on me before I could even try to defend myself. Broken teeth tore into me, the level of pain blinding. Without thinking, I screamed, calling for Alex. More zombies turned on me, more teeth and nails digging and tearing at my flesh. I tasted blood in my mouth, and I feebly tried to fight back. After a few moments, I knew I was going to die. My strength was being sapped by trying to escape, my blood pouring from several bites on my body. My limbs and torso felt like they were on fire, my head feeling like it was going to explode. Pain still blossomed everywhere possible.

I heard a scream before my heart stopped beating.