Ante Mortem (7 page)

But the monster only looked down at its stomach, then back up at Napro, screeching at him, its mouth open wide enough to show that its tongue, along with its genitals, had long ago rotted away or been eaten by insects. Insects always consume the soft spots first.

Napro stabbed at it again, once more aiming for the stomach. Still, though he drove the spear with all his might, twisting and jerking it back and forth, the creature did not fall. Beside him, Gel had turned away to face another monster that was approaching from the right. It seemed that the surrounding creatures were growing braver once they saw that the humans could not hurt them.

Pulling his spear free of the monster’s belly, Napro groaned when the thing’s rotted intestines spilled from the ragged hole he’d created. Behind him, one of the females screamed. The dead man didn’t even glance down at his own entrails, but marched forward, fingers gray with decay wiggling as he reached for Napro.

“
Run!” Napro yelled at the others, thrusting his spear at the zombie’s face. He didn’t understand how the thing could even see out of its milky white eyes, but some how it could. Unless it was relying on scent…

He dared a quick glance behind him and repeated his command, louder, with more authority. “I said,
run!
”

His wife and daughter did just that, giving a wide berth to the group of zombies Napro and Gel were trying to fight off. A few of the monsters lurched in the direction the females had run, two actually giving pursuit, but they were slow and clumsy and Teva and Rani easily outpaced them.

Napro raised his spear over his head, both hands gripping it tight enough to make his fingers ache. He darted to the left, as though to follow the women and as the zombie turned towards him, Napro sprang back to his original position, slamming the spear downward at the creatures face. His aim was true, the spear impaling itself in the zombie’s right eye socket.

The thing screamed, tried briefly to grapple with the weapon, yanking on it at the same time Napro twisted, its good eye rolling skyward, and then it crumpled to the ground. Napro kept hold of the spear and grimaced at the slippery wet sound it made as it withdrew from the thing’s skull.

He stared at his kill for a brief moment, amazed that the zombie lay unmoving and seemingly dead. He felt a pang of pride, having defeated what surely must be a servant of demons, if not a demon itself.

“
FATHER!”

Napro’s spun towards his son’s voice and saw him struggling with four zombies, his spear lying uselessly at his feet. Two of the things had him by the arms, while the others clawed at his face and chest. Gel tried to twist out of the grasp of the monsters, but they held him fast and seemed to be—Napro could not believe his eyes—they seemed to be trying to
bite
him.

Crossing the distance between them, Napro charged forward, his spear pointed towards the one who held his son by his left arm. With all his strength, he plowed his weapon forward, straight into the monster’s ear, hard enough to cause the lance to snap in half.

The zombie howled, immediately releasing its grip on Gel, and fell first to its knees before flopping onto its side, dead.

One of the zombies clawing at Gel’s chest turned to face Napro, Gel forgotten. It clambered forward, thrashing its arms at Napro. Napro ducked, tossing away the useless stick he now held and bending for his son’s spear. Grabbing it, he shoved upward, catching the thing in the neck, just beneath its Adam’s apple. Dark blood oozed from the wound sluggishly, thick as animal lard, but the creature did not stop fighting.

Gel screamed and when Napro turned, he saw one of the dead things ripping into his son’s throat with its teeth, pulling out a chunk of flesh, blood spurting across its face as it reared back, chewing.

The man felt his soul collapse as he watched the life fade from Gel’s eyes and the boy drifted like a feather to the ground. No longer able to scream, Napro did the screaming for him, shoving past the zombies to kneel beside his son. His cupped Gel’s head in his hand, yelling, trying to get the boy to focus, and then he was being yanked away, pulled by countless hands, heads bending towards him with gnashing teeth.

“
No!”
Napro wanted to remain with his dying boy, did his best to jerk free from the gripping hands, but there were too many of them. He felt teeth sink into his shoulder, his forearm, his cheek. The pain was searing and Napro’s vision grayed around the edges. He wanted to give up, let the monsters take him. It would be easy. Just relax, lie beside his son and close his eyes. He knew it would be quick.

But still he fought. Not for Gel, who was already gone, two zombies shredding his body, tearing the skin from his bones with a fierceness and glee that Napro had never seen before, not even in the most frightened and starving of animals.

He fought for his mate and the rest of their offspring. He knew if he died, they would have no chance.

Crawling now, he managed to shove one of the zombies back with a quick jab of his elbow into its face, but even as he did so, he felt more teeth clamp onto the back of his calf. Fumbling, he searched for the fallen lance, found it, kicking frantically to get the monster off his leg. He rolled to his back, spear pointing upward, stabbing at the decayed faces while tears trickled from his eyes and into the wound on his cheek. The stinging barely registered. He knew now to aim at the faces, the eyes. Get the spear to penetrate the skull and he might survive long enough to warn the rest of his clan.

Zombies blocked out the sky.

Napro stabbed when and where he could, but quickly realized he was vastly outnumbered. It seemed more of the monsters had gathered for the slaughter—the feast—and Napro was destined to die this way. Eaten alive, just as his son had been.

He wanted to take out as many as he could while he lived and continued to thrash, thrust and kick, his scream a constant now, like his agony, like his spilling blood…

Closing his eyes against those rotted faces, he prayed to all the gods in heaven, prayed for his family and for—

A deafening high pitched whine drowned out all other sounds and he opened his eyes, amazed to see the zombie straddling his legs on fire and screaming. Napro craned his neck, saw a flash of brown skin and dark tangled hair: Teva.

She had come back with the only weapon she could find—a torch—and now was systematically touching the flame to all of the zombies heads, what little hair they had left the only thing on their bodies that would easily catch fire.

The monsters rose up, making sounds neither Napro nor Teva had ever heard before. No living creature could have shrieked the way these things were shrieking now. It was a sound exclusive to the dead, dying once again.

Napro was finally able to struggle to his feet, though he immediately sank to his knees again. He cried out in pain and used his spear as leverage to help him stand once more.

Teva kept the zombies at bay. The ones who were not already burning were clearly frightened of the flames and Napro thought he could see a war between fear and hunger raging in their eyes. Teva rushed to him, scanning his body with her gaze and he saw her wince at the sight of his injuries. Their eyes met knowingly and Napro said, “The cave. Help me back.”

Teva nodded, her wild hair framing her face as she wrapped her free arm around Napro’s waist and waved the flame at the zombies who dared to get too close for her liking.

Walking backwards, they moved slowly in the direction of their home, Teva constantly whipping her head around to be certain no zombies approached from any side. Whether or not she’d seen Gel’s body, Napro didn’t know. If so, she’d made no reaction. She was concentrating on the task at hand, battling the undead and half-dragging her mate to safety. Napro was certain that if she
had
seen their son, the sight had not completely registered with her and when it finally did, all the fight would leave her body, as it had almost done to him.

The closer they came to the patch of land where they lived, the thinner the forest became, the rockier the terrain and there were several times when Teva tripped, unable to pay full attention to her footing, and almost brought them both down.

The zombies continued to shuffle along after them, grunting and groaning their displeasure at the dangerous fire she threatened them with when they dared to try to close the distance between them.

Although Teva was strong for a woman, her muscles firm against his body, Napro felt them tighten even further when another scream reached them. Their eyes met, bright with terror. There was no mistaking the screamer:
Rani.

Together, they tried to move faster.

When they reached the cave area, the first thing they saw was a dead zombie near the spot where Napro had hung animal skins to dry. The monster was burned black, barely recognizable as human.

“
Rani had a torch,” Teva said. “I told her to protect Zic.”

But the girls were nowhere to be found. Perhaps they were huddled and hiding deep within the cave? Maybe buried beneath bedding and skins? Or had they run back into the forest?

Their questions were answered when Rani screamed once more and they hurried in the direction of the scream, around the far side of the cave where the stream gently gurgled.

What they found made Teva gasp and forget her mate, rushing towards their daughter and letting him fall to the ground. He shrieked in agony, but his eyes never left Rani, perched in a tree and brandishing her torch at the zombie beneath her. Terror and anguish seized his heart when he saw that the zombie was the old medicine man they had taken in.

Fee clawed at the tree in an attempt to reach Rani, his fingernails ripping off his fingertips as they scratched down the bark. He didn’t seem to notice, but continued to howl in frustration, his prey just out of reach.

Napro saw the old man’s throat had been chewed open, a ragged red hole gaped on the left side, just beneath his jaw. He must have bled out quickly but then what? It was the first time it had occurred to Napro that they were in danger of turning into one of the undead themselves. His thoughts turned to Gel, back there in the woods. Would he come shambling out, torn to shreds but still filled with bloodlust? Napro didn’t understand how this could happen, but clearly it could. The evidence stood before him, trying feebly to climb a tree and devour his middle offspring.

Teva raced towards Fee, jabbing her own torch at him. He caught fire easier than the others had, his scraps of clothing and long, greasy hair bursting into flame instantly. The zombie that had been their friend careened around, almost as if he were engaged in some ancient tribal dance, slapping at his head and then his face, as his beard also began to burn.

Sobbing, Rani clung to the trunk of the tree, her eyes wider than Napro had ever seen them, sitting on a thick branch that was several heads taller than Napro himself.

The three of them watched Fee prance, screaming unintelligible words, until at last he fell forward on his face, knocking his head hard against a jutting rock.

The flaming zombie’s screeching had encouraged the other zombies to keep their distance from the family but now they found their bravery again, venturing forth from the edge of the forest, rounding the side of the cave and moving forward as though of the same mind.

They seemed to be focused on Teva—perhaps the one they perceived to be the biggest threat. She shouted, wielding the torch once more, demanding they stay back, but the torch’s flame was not as strong as it had been, and continued to weaken by the second.

The monsters also seemed to notice this and advanced on her the way Napro had seen packs of wolves advance on a lone bear. The wolves had known there would be injuries or even loss of life, but that had not dissuaded them in the slightest. They would have their prey regardless.

From his vantage point on the ground, Napro watched the zombies surround Teva, just as they had surrounded Gel and when she began to scream, he began to scream right along with her, oblivious to the fact that Rani was also screaming.