Zoey and the Zombies (A Mondamin Court Adventure)

Chapter Twenty

"Now what?" the woman asked Jack. She clutched her child close to her chest. Amazingly, the toddler was silent, as if somehow subliminally knowing that to cry could mean death. The door rocked as the undead pushed against it. Jack shoved back.

"We've got a safe place," he said, "across the street. But there's more than a dozen zombies in between here and there. I am not sure how we can get to the gate. Goddammit, what were you doing out there? With a horde going through?"

"We didn't know," she said. "And we had to move. We were out of everything." And then she flared. "We had to move every few days. Houses only have so much. Don't you? Move around?"

"No, we've been holed up," Jack said. "But I certainly wouldn't move with a horde passing through. Don't you listen to prepper radio?"

"What's that?"

He shook his head. "We'll talk later. Let's just try to figure something out. If we can lie low, maybe they'll forget we're in here. They have short attention spans."

There was a sound as one pressed its face against one of the windows.

"Crap, it's just not my day," Jack growled. "No good if they can see us. They aren't that stupid." He reached for his holster. "I hate to shoot—it'll attract a bunch more—but maybe I can clear a path so you and your kid can get to the gate at least. On the count of three, okay?"

He had barely drawn a breath to start the countdown when he heard a screeching outside. Someone was yelling, a high-pitched trill. The door stopped rocking, and the face disappeared from the window.

Jack holstered his gun, hefted the machete and motioned the woman back. He waited a minute to be sure the zombies were gone and then opened the door.

Zoey was standing in the middle of the street. She wore a tribal belly-dance skirt with tights underneath. She had a wrap over her head, so only her eyes were visible. There was a scimitar in both hands, and she screamed her defiance as the undead zeroed in on her. She spun. The blades flashed. A zombie went down.

Two were approaching on her right and one on her left. In a moment, she would be ringed in. Then Caleb was there, bringing the halberd down on one zombie's head. Kyle was next to him, jabbing the spear at the second creature.

To Zoey's left came Ethan and Lydia. Ethan was armed with the wooden sword he carried everywhere. He brought it down on a zombie's head. The zombie wobbled but didn't go down. Instead, it reached for him. He blanched.

Lydia used the tip of her staff to push the creature back, but she didn't hit it. She looked at Ethan and yelled, "Come on now. You gotta move forward and snap your wrist, put your entire body behind the blow."

Ethan steeled himself. He leaped forward with a savage cry. This time, there was a sickening crack as the skull gave way, then a thud as the zombie hit the ground.

Mostly it was Zoey, spinning the two blades with a speed and ferocity that Jack wouldn't have imagined possible. Zombies reached for her, and their fingers, hands, even arms were cleaved off. The blades flashed again onto their heads, and they went down. Bodies were dropping all around her.

"Go, go," Jack ordered, and the woman ran with her child in her arms. She gave Zoey wide berth. Lydia pulled the woman aside and gestured for Ethan to lead her in.

Zoey stopped, looking at an even bigger horde that was coming. She was yelling something at them. It sounded like she was quoting something. "I am Kali, supreme destroyer of the worlds. See them rush headlong into my terrible mouth, my tusks horrible to behold. See them rush to their death like a river flowing to sea, like moths to a flame." She struck out savagely, beheading a zombie.