The Dark Trilogy (60 page)

In less than a heartbeat, she knew what she had to do. The children would continue to cry, and their path would only get more clogged the longer they waited. There were monsters on the street, yes, but they could make it to the theater if they kept low.

She glanced back at the others as she scooped up Sadie. “Follow me!”

Megan was stunned as she watched Lydia tear across the parking lot toward the street. The sixty year old dodged a small cluster of ghouls that had heard the cries of the children and moved in to investigate. The rotting creatures were surprised by the woman who burst out from behind the building, but reacted with the same ponderous and lethargic energy with which they did everything. They slowly turned and tottered after Lydia as she ran past them.

Megan glanced at Jason, motioning for him to follow. They gripped Joey and Nathan’s hands and urged the boys to get moving. Tears still flowed, but the crying stopped as the quartet ran for the parking lot.

Lydia came to a sudden halt out on the road. The three ghouls she had passed in the parking lot were not the only ones that had spotted her. There were more stiffs on the street than she had estimated from the back of the donut shop, and an even greater number were pouring from every opening and gap between the buildings lining the roadway. The asphalt vibrated beneath her feet from the massive thrum of moaning voices, and everywhere she looked, there were more bodies coming toward her. Even the theater she hoped would provide sanctuary had several contorted human shapes oozing out of the shattered rear door.

Lydia barely heard Megan scream her name as panic overwhelmed her. Clutching Sadie close, she spun around in hopes of finding a gap in the thickening ranks of ghouls. It was only then that she noticed the old man who had been rooting through the trash can. From a distance, he had looked insignificant, a feeble old wreck.

But now he was standing directly in front of her.

Before she could react, his arm shot out and wrapped around the back of Lydia’s head. The octogenarian let out a bloodcurdling scream as his jaw went wide. He bit deep into the side of her face, and a scream erupted from her throat. The teeth lodged in the muscles toward the back of her jaw, just below the ear. A freshet of blood burst free and splashed the cannibal as he braced his feet and moved his free arm to the opposite side of her face.

Megan and Jason avoided the same three slow-moving assailants in the parking lot with ease. One even tripped over its own feet, confused by the choice of targets. As the survivors kept moving out toward the street, Megan saw the old man running, actually running, toward Lydia. She screamed to warn her friend, but it was too late.

To Megan, it was as if he had glided up to Lydia, cutting a straight path at a speed not normally seen in the undead. As he closed in, she could see his eyes. They were huge floating pools of darkness that defied reason. The infected all had milky white eyes with barely visible pupils. Not this old man. His eyes were as dark as charcoal.

She watched in horror as Lydia was held in place by the old man’s embrace. His head shook like a terrier with a rat caught between its teeth, and his victim nearly collapsed. She tried to sink to the ground, but his gripping claws held her up. Megan’s own scream died, allowing her to hear the high-pitched screech coming from Lydia as the ghoul’s teeth dug even deeper into the fibrous muscles of her jaw.

The next moment was a blur as Jason sped past Megan and jumped on the man’s back, injured arm and all. Remarkably, Sadie had remained attached to Lydia during the attack—the child’s arms still wrapped around her protector’s shoulders. Jason’s weight forced all of them to the ground as the ghoul’s stiff legs collapsed under their combined weight.

Megan watched in horror as Jason fought to get a grip on the man’s face, but his hand became slick as blood poured out of the jagged tear in Lydia’s face. Megan could see a little leg sticking out of the pile and realized Sadie was stuck somewhere in the jumble of bodies.

Taking a step back, Megan felt the weight of Nathan and Joey pressing on her back. The boy’s wailing mixed and mingled with the cries of the infected until it was impossible to tell the difference. She could see the same dark shadows Lydia had seen moments before as the cursed and condemned inched closer to her position. The rational part of her mind screamed for her to run, to just grab the boys and flee. They could find another hiding place if they left now. But Megan knew that her heart couldn’t bear the loss of another friend … not after having already lost everyone else about whom she had ever cared.

The howl of frustration that poured from her lips was raw and painful—a fair match to the cries all around her. Several cloudy eyes, which had been focused on the battle taking place nearby, rose up to look at her. For a moment, the infected thought they had heard a kindred spirit, but as they glared at Megan, they realized she was not one of them.

Staring at the bleeding pile of bodies, Megan’s mind went blank, much like it had when she picked up that broken antenna and jammed it into that biker’s eye. She moved forward, dragging the boys behind her.

As they approached the skirmish, she let Nathan and Joey go as she dug into the pile of bodies. With a strength that would have shocked her only moments before, she pushed Jason aside and snagged a handful of the ghoul’s hair. She knew she only had one chance to do this right. Tightening her grip and giving a mighty yank, Megan heard the sickening sound of flesh and muscle tearing away from bone. The ghoul had already bitten through most of the muscle on Lydia’s jaw, which made her job all the easier. Lydia tore free from her captor.

Without hesitation, Megan drove the ghoul’s head into the pavement. There was some resistance, but with a mouth full of meat, the stiff was too preoccupied to fight back. There was a satisfying clunk as bone connected with the hard surface. Megan plowed her knee into the side of the vile creature’s skull and punched at him wildly.

She could not recall how many blows she landed, but she didn’t stop until the old man’s movements ceased. As Megan relinquished her grip on the pulpy remains, she could feel an ache in her arm and a fire in her chest, but she had a clear understanding of what needed to be done.

“Grab Sadie! Move it!”

Jason looked dully at Megan as she dropped down beside Lydia and barked out the order. Lydia’s long gray mane was damp with the blood running freely from her face. She made an ineffective attempt to cover the ragged wound with one hand, her fingers camouflaged in red.

“Jason!” Megan yelled. He nodded and moved toward Sadie, who was still latched onto Lydia’s waist. Reaching down, Jason grabbed the little girl as he grimaced in pain. Despite using only his good arm to attack Lydia’s assailant, his injured elbow had been batted around as well.

Sadie resisted at first and clung fiercely to Lydia, but as Megan helped the traumatized woman to her feet, the little girl relinquished her grip. Jason reached for her tiny hand and moved toward the boys. Nathan and Joey were statues, frozen in silence, but the twelve year old barely saw them as his eyes widened.

“MEGAN!”

Megan heard Jason’s shout as she attempted to drape Lydia’s hand over her shoulder. When she looked over at him, her heart sank. They had forgotten about the three ghouls in the parking lot.

Two were already close to Jason, who had taken up a protective stance in front of the children. The third was still in the parking lot, having just climbed back to its feet after falling over earlier.

“No!” Megan screamed, running toward Jason and leaving Lydia behind. One of the two rotters, a sexless blob of rancid flesh, was taking a feeble swipe at the boy. The other, a woman in a pair of tight polyester pants and a bedazzled white blouse, heard Megan’s scream and happily shifted her attention to the emaciated woman. Megan stopped short of the extended arms, but made sure she had the creature’s undivided attention. It crept toward her as she inched back.

Jason easily dodged the other ghoul’s weak attempt to grab him. He was grateful for Megan’s quick intervention, but had no more idea of what to do than she did. He looked at the pathetic figure in front of him and gritted his teeth. It smelled ripe and gassy, the graying monster bloated to the point where its features made it look like a giant smiley face rather than an actual human being. Jason ducked another clumsy swipe and danced sideways.

Lydia, weak and fighting delirium, used her free hand to pull the children close. Her head spun as she fought to remain on her feet. She knew the youngsters were staring at the hand covering the mangled remains of her face, and she had no idea how to convince them everything would be okay. Sadie smiled at her, a gesture the mauled woman could not return. Even speaking was going to be difficult with her jaw in its current condition.

Lydia stumbled, feeling the world grow dark and cold around her. Her eyelids fluttered, but she managed to remain conscious as she saw Megan dart around some snarling woman in a tacky outfit. Jason was nearby, contending with some faceless monster taking ragged swipes at him. At the same time, a third ghoul was creeping up behind the other two, threatening to shift the odds in the infecteds’ favor.

Lydia hissed a ragged sigh. The realization that her constant battle to survive was done calmed her. As the pain buzzed in her head and threatened to consume her, she resisted the urge to fall to the ground. Darkness threatened to consume her vision. She was growing dizzy from the loss of blood, but was coherent enough to know what needed to be done.

Out of the side of her face that was still working, she tried to speak to the children. The blood sloshing around in her mouth made her gag as she moved her throat muscles. It felt like a giant bag of salt mixed with alcohol had been poured into her open wound, and she leaned over to let the blood run down her face. Spitting was impossible. Ignoring the coppery taste, Lydia sucked in another breath. Her mouth was clear for a moment. She leaned over and looked down at the children. She hoped they could understand her garbled words.

Chapter 16

Lydia was a solidly built woman. “Thick,” as her husband had once put it when he was a bit tipsy and couldn’t stop his nearly fatal slip of the tongue. So when she plowed into the brittle figure and drove it backwards, there were several sickening snaps as its weakened bones broke under the pressure of the swift assault. She had angled her attack, intentionally or not, so that she took down both Megan’s attacker and the third ghoul, spinning them sideways to the hardtop. The three crashed with a unified
whump!
Lydia’s shredded mouth sprayed blood and gobs of loose flesh as she howled like an enraged banshee.

Jason was still busy dodging the troglodyte-like beast he was facing when he heard the scream, as did the warped blob of flesh in front of him. It paused, halting its persistent dance, and sniffed the air, though it was hard to understand how it could do so with such a swollen and cracked nose. Then it turned, Jason apparently forgotten. The boy froze, suspecting a trick even though he was certain the infected were incapable of deceit. When the slug moved away, he could only stare at its backside in complete shock.

Jason took a tentative step forward, fearing the bloated abomination that had attacked him was going after Megan. Instead, he saw movement a few feet to her left, and his eyes were drawn to a tangle of bodies writhing on the ground. That was where his adversary was headed. Megan’s ghoul and the other that had been creeping up on her were in the pile with someone else covered in fresh blood. It hissed and howled as it dragged its nails across their putrefied flesh and attempted to bite at them despite its mangled jaw. The third ghoul fell into the pile, and the maddened creature reached out for it, excited to have another victim to obliterate.

Jason watched, motionless, as it dawned on him that it was Lydia in the pile. He went cold as he saw one of the creatures sink its teeth into her arm. She didn’t seem to notice as she smashed her elbow into the throat of another. Her eyes were ablaze with anger as she ripped her arm free and tore off a gob of flesh from the face of another enemy. Blood sprayed from her arm, and she howled again, but not in pain.

Without realizing it, Jason moved toward the pile. An instant later, he felt someone pulling him away. Dazed, he looked back at Megan. She shook her head, fighting back tears.

“You can’t do anything for her. We have to get out of here!”

The words didn’t register, and he looked back at Lydia. She was still moving, twisting around as she landed a solid punch to the jaw of one of the creatures beneath her. Despite the damage from the tackle, the two original ghouls looked none the worse for wear, still moving and clawing at the homicidal woman as she beat on them. She doled out an equal share of punishment to the third, shifting away from its snapping teeth as she scratched at it. Her screams sent a shiver through Jason’s heart as he saw another set of teeth sink deep into her shoulder. Another hand rose up out of the pile of loose body parts, and its fingers raked furrows across the now-exposed flesh of Lydia’s back. The hand continued to dig into her flesh, scratching, burrowing as she writhed and tried to wriggle free.

“She’s dead already, Jason. Please …”

Jason stared at Lydia for a moment longer and then turned away, his own eyes stinging with tears as he reached for Megan. They turned to the children, and twin looks of surprise crossed their faces as they saw them standing there, a few feet away, holding hands. All three looked frightened, but Sadie, standing in the middle, looked almost tranquil, as if she had undergone some type of transformation.

Relieved, Megan gestured for the children to join them as they began to run.

She wondered how much time had elapsed since they had moved onto the street. It couldn’t have been long, yet the little clump of breathers was now the center of attention for every slug within earshot. Megan knew there were hundreds more of them beyond sight range that knew exactly where they were. The cacophony, the roar of the dead, spread outward like ripples on a pond. More were coming. Many more.