Angie limped away. Fighting was everywhere. Animals snarled and corpses staggered. People shot and threw weapons at them. West's traps sprang up from the ground or swung down from overhead. Angie never dreamed she'd need to use his defenses on such a scale. She wondered if she'd ever get a chance to thank him. She realized West's house was right in between the area Maylee had said the church was and the town. She realized West was probably not okay at all.
"Damn," she said to herself as she limped along. She passed Park's narrow platform and looked up. Park was making his way down the platform. Lilly climbed down above him. Angie could see how stiffly the girl moved. She saw that Lilly’s eyes were glowing and knew Beulah was nearby. She cursed inwardly. The glow from Lilly’s eyes reflected off the ladder.
Angie watched them for a moment, wondering why Lilly was up there.
Because she wanted to be
, Angie told herself and moved on.
Angie passed a group of townsfolk and guards dealing with a group of deer. The deer were caught in the spikes of a nasty and complex trap West had set. They pulled against the spikes, oblivious to pain or damage as they tried to get to the people. The guards fired on the deer.
Angie moved on, assessing the situation. There were many fights everywhere. The town was holding its own for the moment, but more openings were forming in the walls. The number of corpses and animals inside was growing.
* * *
Maylee stepped backward, her boots crunching in the snow. The platform she and the others had abandoned stood empty, slumped against the crumpling wall. A group of corpses stumbled toward her.
Maylee motioned for them to follow. "Over here!" she yelled, stepping back across the snow. "Here!"
The corpses kept coming. They groaned and reached for her.
"Come on!"
The corpses groaned and staggered. Then a bobcat broke through their ranks. It raced at Maylee, snarling and baring its bloodied teeth.
"Now!"
Guards to her side pulled on large chains set into the walls.
Maylee dove out of the way as a large wooden weight fell from a beam overhead. It crashed down onto the bobcat and corpses. They were crushed into the snow, sending blood, pulp and fur across the snow.
Maylee turned, hearing the guards shout behind her. An elk, bloodied and furious was racing for her. She took off, glancing overhead as she raced along the snow. The guards ran alongside, some shooting at the elk and missing, their bullets sending up puffs of snow.
Another weight hung overhead. Maylee ran for it. The elk was close. So close she didn't dare look back for fear of slowing down. Her heart thudded and her boots pounded in the snow.
The weight was almost overhead. The guards ran for the chains. "Now!" yelled Maylee.
Maylee ran under the weight as the guards pulled the chains. The weight plummeted as the elk ran under it. With a loud crack the weight crunched down on the elk's back. The elk flattened against the ground as the weight crushed it. It snorted out blood as Maylee stopped and turned. It bellowed once more at her and died.
Maylee panted at the dead elk for a moment. She heard groaning behind her and turned. Corpses were closing in on her. She raced for the closest one, a teen boy with an open chest cavity. The frozen black area where his heart had been was empty. He reached at her as she raced up and slammed her bat into his skull. She twisted the bat away, tearing his skull open. Black goop poured out and he fell. Maylee turned to the other corpses. They reached for her. A shot rang out, blowing one's head open. Maylee stepped back, looking behind her and up. A weight hung nearby.
"Quit wasting ammo!" she yelled, nodding toward the weight. She backed toward it, leading the corpses its way. The guards ran for the chains.
"Come on ass bags," said Maylee, backing away from the corpses. They followed. She heard groans behind her and looked. A second group was coming at her from one side. "Shit," she said, calling out to the guards, "Be ready with the weight!"
The guards reached the chains and grabbed them. Maylee kept backing toward the weight, the corpses closing in from the front and side.
She took two more steps and the weight was overhead. "Now!"
The guards yanked the chain. Maylee turned to dive away. A corpse stood there. The chain rattled overhead. Maylee looked for an opening to duck through. There wasn't one. She smacked the nearest corpse back with her bat.
The weight dangled overhead, not falling. The chain creaked but the weight was stuck.
"Dammit!" Maylee yelled, whacking corpses back and looking for an opening. There wasn't one. The corpses closed in and the weight creaked overhead, threatening to fall at any moment.
* * *
Park climbed down the ladder from his platform. He went slowly, his rifle over his shoulder. His belt was still tied to his jeans, running up past him to Lilly's waist. Lilly climbed down above him. She moved slowly, painfully. Her eyes glowed brightly and she ground her teeth with every move.
"You're doing good, Lil."
Lilly gritted her teeth and kept climbing. "Fuck...off...asshat..."
Park heard growling and groaning from beneath them. Directly beneath them. A group of corpses waited at the bottom of the ladder, their dead hands straining upward, grasping and flexing their frozen, cracking knuckles. A large bear weaved in and out among them, roaring up at Park.
Lilly stopped above him. "What's...that?"
Park glowered down at the corpses and the bear. "Nothing. Don't worry about it. Just hold on a second." He looked down at the crowd gathering beneath them. The bear growled and the corpses reached. There were too many for them to just keep climbing down. Park slipped the rifle off of his shoulder.
"Tell me....what's going....on," said Lilly, resuming her downward climb. Her booted foot landed on Park's face.
Park sputtered against the boot. "I said wait a second, Lil..."
Lilly kicked at Park's face for a moment, still gripping the ladder stiffly. "What's...that..."
"Dammit," said Park, trying to aim the rifle with one hand. "Wait, Lil!"
Lilly's boot slipped off Park's face and her hands slipped free of the ladder. Screaming, she fell. Park jerked as the belt snapped taut. He nearly fell but managed to hold on with his free hand.
Lilly swung back and forth from the belt. The corpses reached up at her, inches away from grasping her.
* * *
Carly ran with her clipboard hugged to her chest. Several guards were with her. They had just finished patching the weak spot in the back wall. There had been no sign what had caused it.
Thick snow and debris swirled overhead. The wind howled but didn’t touch them. It unnerved Carly. She tried not to show it.
She came to a stop near a stack of barrels. Chaos and screaming came from everywhere. Moans, growls and shooting. Most of it was still coming from outside the walls, but some of the sounds were closer.
"Sounds like things have broken through," said one of the guards.
“Yes,” Carly said, trying to decide where to check next. The sounds of battle grew louder. Closer. Things were going badly.
A corpse staggered out from behind the barrels. It was a tall woman with long shriveled arms. She groaned and reached for Carly. Dried blood caked on her dead chin.
Carly jumped back, out of the way. "There!" she yelled. The guards opened fire. Several bullets punched through the tall woman’s skull. She let out a groan and dropped.
A second corpse came from behind the barrels. Carly's back tightened as she realized there must be an opening in the wall close by.
"There!" Carly shouted, pointing with the hand not grasping her clipboard. The guards fired and the corpse fell.
She and the guards waited for several seconds, watching the barrels, waiting for another corpse to stagger out.
Carly stepped to one side, trying to crane her neck so she could safely see around the barrels. "That seems to be it..." she started.
A third corpse came into view, a large man with a shriveled face and no eyes. He hissed through rotten teeth and reached in Carly’s direction.
She jumped back. "There!"
Shots rang out, all missing the corpse. Then the guards started screaming.
Carly turned. A large group of corpses had closed in behind the guards. The corpses bit and tore at them. Panic and blood were everywhere as the guards tried to change their aim. To defend themselves. It was too late. They screamed and died.
She heard groans, and turned to witness a second group emerging from behind the barrels. She was surrounded.
She tried to run but could find no escape route. The corpses closed in around her, slow but inevitable.
Carly screamed.
* * *
Dalton strained against the chain. He strained against the pole. Mostly he strained against the unbearable desire to move the other way.
The children to either side of him gripped his hands tightly. They pulled with him. They gripped so tightly it was almost worse than the pain of Beulah's pull. But not quite.
"Come on guys...." he said, forcing the words out. They came steadier than before. The glowing white at the edge of his vision was almost blinding but he fought through it.
Through the glare, he could see corpses and animals pouring into the town. He could also see the town fighting back. He heard his mother and Maylee somewhere, shouting orders.
He had to help too.
The guards surrounding the gasoline moat were in formation, ready to fire on any threat that got too close. The children around him cried and moaned, trying to resist Beulah's pull.
"I know it hurts," said Dalton.
Some of the children at the back gave into Beulah's call and pulled the other way, toward the back wall. The post shifted backward, heading for Beulah.
"Fight it!" yelled Dalton, though gritted teeth. "Fight it!"
The children around him gripped his hands and pulled forward. The pole stopped moving backward.
"Come on...." said Dalton. The children around him cried in pain and pulled.
The pole shifted forward.
* * *
Sharon stood, reveling in the chaos she had caused. And the carnage she would later cause. She stood at the edge of Beulah's barrier, furious that she could go no further. But her army, her corpses and animals, could, and they were pouring through holes in the walls of the town.
Her flock around her whined and grunted in frustration. They longed to follow the corpses inside the walls. To mutilate and fuck. She could smell their frustration. Their longing for chaos. Their longing for blood and semen and shit. She reveled in it.
"Soon," she said to the flock behind her. "Soon there will be enough openings for you to pass though. Soon you will be allowed inside."
They moaned louder in anticipation. A woman to Sharon's right cried out in ecstasy as a fat man fucked her from behind. He rubbed his hands in wounds on his own face and smeared the blood on her naked, bobbing breasts.
"Yes," she said. "But one thing. One very important thing. Once you are inside you must find the children."
They grunted in anticipation of the children. Of their tender, unspoiled flesh. Sharon could see their minds, what they intended to do. She loved it. She was proud of them. She almost felt bad they would be killed once their use was over. Despite their embrace of her truth, they were humans and could relapse to their ways. Their orderly, careful ways. The ways that had made Sharon start this in the first place.
"Yes," she said. "The children. Once you find them, you are to bring them to me
unharmed
. That is essential. No harm must come to them."
A man next to her whined in frustration. She whipped her head to face him. "You listen to me," she hissed him. "You will do as I say or I will rip your guts out through your screaming, choking throat! Do you understand?"
He blinked in surprise, then nodded.
"Good," she said, turning back. "Make sure you keep understanding. Once you all have brought the children to me, we will take them to the chapel and you can have your way. One at a time, your wonderful way."
They grunted and cheered. They fucked and smeared filth on themselves. Sharon could not feel the presence of the children due to Beulah's barrier, but she could feel Beulah. Beulah was nearby, pulling at the children. Calling them to her.
Then suddenly the pulling stopped.
Sharon frowned in confusion.
Then Beulah was in front of her and charging.
"Sister," said Sharon, smiling. "How nice to see—"
Beulah lunged into her stomach. She drove Sharon, and herself, to the ground. The blow hurt, but not as much as it should have.
Beulah crawled forward and sat on her chest. She punched Sharon across the face. Sharon's cheekbone slammed into the ground. Beulah slammed again and again. Sharon grabbed her hand.
"You're weaker, sister." she said. "Something distracting you?"
She flung Beulah off her. Beulah flew across the field, knocking over many of the corpses still surrounding Sharon and her flock. She stopped when she hit the barrier and collapsed to the ground. Sharon stood. Her flock was looking at her and Beulah. Confused.
One woman wiped dried fecal matter from her lips. "You said there was only you...."
Sharon stomped toward them. "So what? I lied!"
Beulah hopped to her feet and surveyed Sharon's flock. "These your new playthings?" she said. She reached out and touched the fat man who still fucking the girl. He exploded in a mist of blood. The woman, bent over and no longer held up, fell to the snow.
The flock jumped back in horror, looking to Sharon for guidance.
"You want inside?" she yelled to them. "Then go! Go now!"
They forgot their confusion and rushed toward the walls. They shoved corpses and animals aside, clawing their way through the holes.