RU in? - 1st novel in the Ruinsaga series

Chapter 6 .

Lily

My heart constricted. My stomach lurched. Tingles shot through my limbs and settled in my fingers and toes.

My little sister screamed again.

I ran to the front of the house. Hyperaware, I now noticed the bloody handprint on the wall, the splatters of blood on the floor.

The bathroom door was open, but I knew it had been closed earlier. The light was on cascading rays of light into the hallway. I dropped everything and ran inside.

Crystabel had my sister pinned in the tub. Her teeth snapped at my sister's head. They scraped against the bike helmet my sister still wore leaving my sister unharmed, but it caused the bike helmet to go slightly askew. The soap and shampoo had fallen to the floor. The towel had been pulled so it was almost off the rack. The toothpaste and toothbrushes had fallen into the sink.

Our first aid kit was out on the floor with its contents spilled everywhere. The wrap was missing. No. Not missing. It was wrapped around Crystabel's right upper arm. Blood seeped through it even still - ran down her arm and dripped slowly to the tub. Blood dotted our tiled floor, but mostly around the first aid kit.

I grabbed our neighbor's shoulders and pulled her hard off my sister. Tears streamed down Mackenzie's face. She tried to find her footing, but she slipped on the blood and ended up lying back in the tub.

I looked around quickly for a weapon, but didn't see one right away. Then before I could move or help Mackenzie out of the tub, Crystabel was lunging for me.

I held her at bay as she pushed all her weight towards me as she tried to chomp on my neck. She was stronger as a zombie than she had been as a human. If this had been my first encounter of the night, it would have been fine. But it wasn't. My arms were already tired after dealing with Mr. Rupert and then hauling everything to the car.

Mackenzie managed to get back to her feet. She stood in the tub. Tears streaked her cheeks. She looked all around for a weapon.

Crystabel had me pinned against the bathroom sink. It gave me a clear view of the discarded camping gear in the hallway. And then Victory was there leaping over the camping gear with grace and agility. She had one of their large butcher knives in her hands. There was no hesitation as she stabbed Crystabel in the back of the head. She had no problem withdrawing the knife unlike me with Mr. Rupert. The zombie fell to the bathroom tiles - her hands trailing down my arms and legs as she fell.

Victory dropped the knife, stepped into the tub and wrapped Mackenzie in a tight hug. Mackenzie burst into sobs as she buried her shoulder into her friend's shoulder.

"It's okay," Victory said. "I'm here. Are you okay? Did she bite you?" Their bike helmets clinked together as they held each other.

"I'm okay," Mackenzie spluttered between sobs.

I picked up the bloody knife and looked out into the hallway searching for more zombies. The hallway was quiet, but there was banging on the front door again.

"How did you get inside?" I asked Victory.

She pulled away from Mackenzie and pulled our house key out of her pocket. "You left your key in the door. The zombies had dispersed enough outside that when I heard Kenzie screaming, I just rushed right in."

Mackenzie's sobs quieted and she ran her gloved hands over her cheeks to wipe away the tears.

"Thanks, Vicky," she said.

"No problem," Victory said.

"What about Arthur and Hunter?" I asked.

I really hoped Victory's door had closed all the way and hadn't left Arthur exposed.