Glory (Book 4)
Glory - Book Four
Michael McManamon
Published by Michael McManamon
Copyright 2014 Michael McManamon
License Notes
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Book Four
Day 7
Scooter ran toward the house. Emily was in his arms. Julie beside him. The old man was there, waving to them, shouting, "Come on!"
Scooter could barely hear the old man's voice over the sound of the creatures. They were getting louder, closer. He glanced around, but couldn't see where they were coming from. He looked back at the house.
"We've gotta hurry!" Julie told him.
The thing was that h
e
wa
s
hurrying. Or at least he was doing the best that he could. His big boots pounded on the uneven ground. His body jarred with each step.
He put his hand behind Emily's head and pressed her against his shoulder. He didn't want her bouncing around too much. He also didn't want her to see when those creatures finally came out. He didn't need her any more frightened than she already was.
In his other hand, he kept hold of his axe
.
He was never going to leave that behind again
.
It pressed against the young girl's back and helped keep her in place all the more.
"Come on!" the old man said again. His hand continued to move up and down, though a lot more rapidly. He was no longer waving to them so much as urging them forward.
Scooter kept running.
Julie got a little bit ahead of him. Her arms and legs pumped up and down forcefully. Her head turned from side to side.
When she cried out, "Oh no, look!" he knew that she had seen them. Her finger shot out at the end of her arm, pointing in the direction behind her.
The creatures came out from around one of the houses.
To Scooter, they looked far away. Yet once he realized how fast they were moving, he wondered if it was far enough.
He picked up his speed. Julie did too. The creatures did as well.
As Scooter came closer to the house, he could see the old man glancing between him and their pursuers. His eyes were wide open. His jaw had dropped. Scooter knew that the creatures had almost caught up to them.
He pushed the thought out of his mind and continued to run
.
If they were going to get to him before he got in to the house, he'd deal with it then. For now, he was just going to focus on the house.
Gotta get there.
"Come on!" the old man shouted once more. "HURRY!"
Julie got to the old man first. She charged up onto the deck, then spun around to see Scooter. He wasn't much further behind.
When he arrived, he turned around as well. The creatures were close enough for him to see the looks of anger that crossed their faces. Blood dripped off of the brow of one of them. Another had its cheek torn. They were getting closer.
"Inside!" the old man urged.
Without any hesitation, Julie ran into the house. Scooter went in after her. The old man came last. He closed the door and locked it.
"Come on," he said. "We have to get downstairs."
As they started to move, there was banging on the door. It was accompanied by a shrill set of screams. They all jumped at the sound.
"They're here!" Julie gasped.
"Follow me." The old man moved away from the door and led them to another. This one led to the basement. "Down there!"
Scooter and Julie ran down the stairs. They were only able to catch their breath once they reached the bottom.
"We should be okay in here," the old man called down to them. He was still at the top of the stairs, holding the closed door. "They won't be able to get in."
Scooter wasn't so sure about that, but he decided not to question it at the moment. He was too busy trying to get control of his breathing, trying to calm down. He placed Emily onto the ground and hunched over, hands on his knees. His back raised steadily with each deep intake of air. Once. Twice. He only raised his head when he felt Julie pull at his shirt.
"What is it?" he asked, panting.
"Over there," she replied. "Look."
Scooter turned to see what she was talking about.
In the corner of the room, there was an old woman on a mattress…and she looked dead.
"What the…?" Scooter couldn't help but worry about what they had gotten themselves into.
At first, it had seemed like the best idea to run to the old man, to go down into his basement. But now he wondered if that had been a bad choice. They didn't know anything about this old man. Maybe he was crazy. Maybe he was going to try to kill them.
He stood up straighter and turned around to face the stairs. He held the axe firmly out in front of him and waited for the old man to come down.
It wasn't long before he heard the old man's footsteps. They slid more than thumped against the wood.
When the old man got to the bottom of the stairs, he couldn't hide his surprise at seeing Scooter standing there with his axe, ready to attack.
"Is everything okay?" he asked. His voice wavered.
"Who's that?" Scooter asked, ignoring the question. He motioned at the old woman.
The old man looked at the body on the bed, then turned back to Scooter. His shoulders dropped, as did his eyes. "That's my wife."
"Your wife? What's wrong with her? Is she dead? Is she one of thos
e
thing
s
?"
Scooter knew that he was being insensitive, but he also knew that he had to be careful. Times had changed. He couldn't simply trust someone…even if that person had just saved his life.
Again the old man had that sad and defeated look.
"No," he said. "She isn't dead. And she isn't one of thos
e
thing
s
."
"Then what's the problem?"
"I think she's in shock."
"Shock?"
"After all that had happened, I think that it had been too much for my wife to handle."
Scooter looked back at the old woman. He supposed that that made sense. He had seen some pretty horrible things too. "But…"
"You can check for yourself. She's still breathing. Still has a heartbeat. The only thing is that she doesn't move or speak. If she was one of those things, she'd be screaming. She would have attacked you by now."
As the old man spoke, Scooter started to feel bad about the way he had been talking, the questions he had asked. He knew it had taken a lot for the old man to answer. "I'm sorry," he said. "It's just…well…"
The old man walked toward him. "It's okay. None of us know what's happening. We're all scared."
Scooter wanted to argue with the old man and say that that wasn't what he had meant
.
He wasn't scared
.
Except, if he was being honest, he knew that that wasn't true. The
y
wer
e
all scared
.
Even himsel
f
.
He lowered his axe.
"I'm sorry," he said once again.
"And I'm sorry to hear about your wife," Julie added.
The old man smiled, meekly. "Thank you." He looked as though he had been about to say something else, but Julie beat him to it.
"I'm Julie," she said. "This is Emily. And that's Scooter."
The old man's smile broadened, a little more genuine.
"It's nice to meet you all," he said. "My name is John. And that is my wife, Alice."
Chapter 2
It wasn't long before they heard the creatures moving around upstairs. Feet stomped on the floor. Fists hit walls. Things were knocked over.
"They're in the house," Julie said. "What are we going to do?"
Before anyone had a chance to answer, they heard banging on the basement door. The creatures' screams reverberated down the staircase.
Scooter clutched his axe and took a step forward. Julie reached out and wrapped her arms around Emily. Then, to their surprise, John started to walk back up the stairs. His steps were slow and unsure, as though he could loose his balance at any moment. He kept his hand on the railing.
"Where are you going?" Julie called to him. "Come back!"
"Just give me a minute," the old man replied.
Once he got to the top of the stairs, he checked that the lock was in place
.
It was
.
Next, he grabbed the door knob and held onto it.
"They're not going to get in," he shouted over his shoulder.
Scooter and Julie exchanged a quick look with each other. Neither felt very confident. They turned back to the staircase.
"How can you know that?" Julie asked. "How can you b
e
sur
e
?"
"One of them tried before and couldn't."
"
One of the
m
? There's a lot more now!"
"I know. But I don't think they'll get in here. I really don't. We've been down here for days. Nothing has gotten us so far."
Julie glanced back at Scooter. "I don't know," she said. "I don't like this."
Scooter didn't like the idea of it, either. But he didn't think that they mad much of a choice in the matter. He'd simply have to hope for the best
…
and deal with things as they happene
d
. He squeezed his axe once more and took another step forward.
The banging got louder, as did the screams.
"You sure you're okay up there?" Scooter asked of the old man.
"They won't get in," John replied. "I promise."
Scooter thought of saying more, but before he had the chance something else caught his attention. It was another scream, and it had come from one of the basement windows. A creature was there, kneeling down, trying to reach at them through the broken glass. A set of bars held it back.
At first glance, Scooter knew that the creature wasn't going to be able to get at them. But the longer he stood there, the less that seemed to matter. Thes
e
thing
s
were trying to kill them. And, from what he could tell, they weren't ever going to stop.
His adrenaline spiked.
Taking a deep breath, he raised his axe and charged toward the window. With a wild scream of his own, he brought the axe down with all of his strength. The blade slammed into the creature's face, splitting it down the middle. Blood spurted at him and covered his hands and the front of his shirt.
He heard Julie scream from behind him. The creature continued to scream as well.
Scooter pulled his axe free and slammed it once more into the creature's face. More blood shot out of the crack in its skull. Its eye had dropped out of its socket and fell to the floor with a splash.
Yet the creature kept on.
Unsure of what else to do, he raised the axe and kept hitting it over and over until it could no longer make a sound. By that time, there wasn't much left of its face. Blood dripped down the wall and onto the floor. Pieces of its skull lay scattered like small islands in a sea of red.
He took a few deep breaths to steady himself.
When he finally turned away his eyes fell upon Julie, he could see her staring at him with an expression of horror across her face. She was holding Emily against her. The little girl's face was pressed against her shoulder. He could hear crying.
He lowered his axe. "I…uh…" He felt like a child who had been caught doing something bad. His gaze drifted to the floor and he closed his mouth.
A wave of emotions came over him
.
Guil
t
. He shouldn't have done this in front of them
.
Embarrassmen
t
. He shouldn't have acted so impulsively.
But then, as he continued to stand there, another feeling began to take root
:
anger.
Why should he feel bad about what he had done? All he had been trying to do was protect them. That's all he had ever been trying to do since this whole thing started!
He thought about asking her why she didn't see that. More than that, why she didn't appreciate it.
The best she could do was glare at him
?
His anger continued to rise.
He turned away from her and made his way back toward the stairs. He didn't trust himself not to make the situation worse.
"Everything okay?" he shouted at the old man. He could hear the creatures still screaming on the other side of the door. He could hear them banging against it.
"I think so," John called back. "What happened down there?"
"Nothing," Scooter said, sharply. His anger growing. "Nothing at all. You want me to come up?"
"No, it's okay. They're not going to get through."
"You sure?"
"I'm sure."
Scooter kept looking up the stairs for a while, then turned around. He didn't bother looking at Julie. He walked straight past her and made his way over to the broken window.
Once he got there, he took a better look at the creature. Part of its lower jaw hung from its neck. One of its ears dangled down beside it. A few patches of short red hair clung to its ripped-apart skull. It continued to drip blood onto the basement floor.
That’s not good.
He stepped closer to the creatures and placed his axe against the creature's shoulder. He began to push at it, trying to get it out. The body was heavy, difficult to move.
He tried again and, little by little, was able to shove it away.
With one final push, the body fell over with a thud. What was left of its head smacked against the ground and Scooter heard fresh burst of blood come out and sprinkle the earth.
Fuc
k,
he mouthed. But at least the body was out.
He waited a moment before turning around.
When he did, Julie wasn't looking at him anymore. He knew that she was still upset. Emily was too. She kept her head buried in the young woman's neck.
Fuck it
,
he thought
.
Let them be upset. This is a fuckin' upsetting time!
He walked back to the bottom of the staircase. He could still hear the creatures screaming and beating at the door. But John had been right, they hadn't gotten through.
After a while, the old man walked back down the stairs.
"I told you it's going to hold," he said.
"And if it doesn't?" Julie asked, her voice quavering.
"Then I'll deal with them," Scooter answered. He threw his axe up over his shoulder and puffed out his chest.