The Living Dead Boy (9 page)

Chapter 15

Tossing a worried look at his little brother, Josh was relieved to see that Drake was still asleep.  Pushing aside the black plastic, Josh quickly lowered himself onto the ladder.

“Josh!  Josh!” he heard his friends’ frantic voices cry out.

As he climbed down, he could see them dashing through the neighbor’s front yard, heading toward the path to the backyard.  The gruesome zombie children behind them slashed at the air, desperate to grab hold of the fresh meat.

Josh gasped as Sam was snagged by a small girl, but the boy immediate slammed her into a tree, knocking her off.  The big kid’s face was bright red as he gasped for air.

Josh jumped the last few feet to the soggy ground and ran to the back gate.  The rain splatted against his face as his cold fingers fumbled with the lock and latch. He could hear the footfalls of his approaching friends and the zombies.

“Open it!”  It was Corina’s voice.  Fear filled it.

Josh’s fingers shook as adrenaline spiked through his system, spurring him on.  He pulled the metal spike out of the mechanism, unlocking it, and then pushed the latch up and over.  He groaned as the latch caught.

The sound of something big landing in the bushes next to him made him scream and jump back from the gate.

“Open it!” Corina screamed.

Troy pulled himself out of the bushes, scratched up and bleeding, then rushed over to help get the gate open.

“It’s stuck!”  Josh called out, desperately shoving on the latch.

“They’re coming!”

Yessica was lifted up over the top of the fence by Corina and Troy rushed to catch her.

“Get her, get her!”  Corina ordered.

Arturo grunted as he tried to scale the wood fence, too.

“They’re gonna get Sam!”  Roger shouted.  “They’re gonna get him!”

“Shut up!” Sam screamed back.

“You’re going to get all the zombies coming after us!” Josh’s fingers kept slipping as he tried to get the metal bar unstuck.  “Don’t push on the gate, Corina!”

She released her hold on the other side and the metal rod back slid back with a satisfying
snick
.  Josh pulled the gate open as Corina shoved it.  Reaching back, she grabbed Roger and hurled him inside.  Sam struggled into the alley, pushing the girl zombie away from him again with his book bag.

“Someone help me!  I’m stuck!” Arturo called out, draped halfway over the fence, kicking his legs.

“Run, Sam!”  Corina screamed.

Josh looked around him, spotted the garden rake leaning against the fence, and grabbed it.  Stepping out into the alley, he shoved the little girl zombie off her feet as she tried to leap at Sam again.  Sam huffed past him toward the gate.

“Hit her again!”  Corina cried out.

Another zombie rounded the corner and lunged toward Josh.  Instead of swinging the rake, Josh used it to shove the boy zombie off its feet onto the little girl. The two zombified children struggled with each other as they tried to get back up.

More children turned the corner, snarling and growling.  Their mutilated faces and shredded clothes were covered in blood.  Josh darted back through the gate and Corina slammed it shut.

“Lock it! Lock it!”  Sam cried out on the edge of hysterics.

Josh slid the bolt home then fumbled with the rod that fit into the lock to keep it secure.

“Help me!”  Arturo flailed about on the top of the fence. “My belt is caught!”

Troy and Roger grabbed each grabbed one of his hands and pulled.  Arturo screamed and the brothers grunted.  On the other side of the fence, the zombies moaned and howled. The sturdy fence held firm despite the chaos.

While he locked the gate, Josh felt it shaking under his fingers. He put his shoulder against it, afraid it would fly open. The zombie kids on the other side slammed their hands against it while others tried to grab Arturo’s kicking legs.

Yessica sat on the swing of the playscape taking yet another hit on her inhaler.  Sam stared at the gate, his mouth gapping open, breathing heavily. Corina punched his arm and motioned to a wheelbarrow.

“Get that.  We need to barricade the gate.”

Sam shook himself out of his daze.  She pointed at the wheelbarrow again, and he hurried to get it.

“I think it will hold just fine,” Josh said, the steady smack of small hands on the other side making the thick wood gate vibrate.

Arturo let out a loud shriek as the brothers finally yanked him down.  His legs came over his head as he went down, his belt breaking.  His jeans ended up around his ankles as he tumbled into the bushes and into an empty flowerbed.  Any other day it would have been funny, but the blood running down his tan legs terrified all the kids looking at his predicament.

Pulling his jeans up as fast as he could, Arturo glowered at all of them.  “They almost got me!”

“Did they get you?” Josh demanded.

“No!  I got all cut up falling off your stupid fence!” Arturo fumbled with his broken belt before hurling it into the trees.  “This whole day is stupid!”

Corina and Sam shoved the wheelbarrow against the fence as Josh stepped away.  Corina began pulling up the rocks that lined the dead garden, piling them into the wheelbarrow to weigh it down.  Sam immediately began to help her.

Josh stepped in front of Arturo, looking his best friend straight in the eye.  “Dude, if you’re bitten, we need to know.”

“I’m not, okay?  I got hurt coming over the fence!”

Troy looked warily at Josh as Roger sat down beside Yessica.  “I think we better check him.”

“Leave me alone!”  Arturo said crossly.  With a frown etched on his forehead, he began to stalk across the yard toward the house.

“You can’t go in there!”  Josh called after him.

“They didn’t bite me!”

“But they bit my mom,” Josh answered, his voice catching in his throat.  “They bit my mom and she’s...she’s...”  He felt fresh tears roll down his cheeks.

“Oh, man.”  Troy reached out and laid his hand on Josh’s shoulder.  “Oh, man, Josh...”  Troy, too, struggled with tears, remembering his own father’s death.

“They’re just sick,” Roger said after a beat. “Zombies aren’t real, they’re make believe.  It’s like
28 Days Later
. They’re gonna get a cure and it’s gonna be okay.  Really.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Sam snorted.

“I’m not!”

“Don’t call Rog stupid!  It’s your lard butt that almost got us killed!”  Arturo hissed back.

“Stop fighting!” Corina ordered.  It was her best babysitter voice and the boys lapsed into silence. “Stop it! It’s not doing any good.  And I think it’s making them try harder to get us.”  She pointed at the quivering gate and stepped away from it.  “Is your mom very sick?  Do you think we could just lock her in her bedroom, Josh?”

“She’s already one of them,” Josh answered.  “We can’t go in.  She’s in the kitchen.  She still has a gun in her hand. She was going to...you know...but she...she just got so sick and then she was a zombie.”

“Zombies aren’t real,” Roger said simply.

“Shut up, Rog,” Troy commanded.  “Drop it.”

“But they’re not real!  Those people are sick! Like
28
-”

“Lame,” Sam huffed.

“Look, lardo, you’re the one who said we should go to city hall, and we almost got killed. We barely made it here!”

“My dad has his office there.  He would protect us!”

“The sheriff wasn’t at the community center, Arturo. Going to get him to help us was a good idea.  It wasn’t a bad plan,”  Corina said firmly, defending Sam.

“Until we ran into the preschoolers from hell!”

“Don’t swear, Arturo.”  Troy ran a hand over his Afro, obviously trying to think.

From above them came a hiccuping cry that immediately grew louder.

“It’s Drake.  He woke up,” Josh explained.  “Come up.”

He quickly scrambled up the ladder and pushed back the black flap.  Drake was lying on his side sobbing loudly.

“Are you a monster?”

“No, Drake.  I’m okay. So are my friends. They’re coming up.”

“I hear monsters.”

“They can’t get into the yard.  We’re safe,” Josh promised as he sat next to Drake.

Yessica climbed in, looking around, followed closely by Corina.  They moved onto a pile of pillows near Drake. They were both wet from the rain and flushed. Josh couldn’t help but stare at Corina.  She looked older and beautiful despite her glasses being slightly bent on her face.

Arturo climbed in and retreated to his usual corner where he promptly unrolled his Spider-Man sleeping bag. Roger followed, his complexion much paler than usual. Troy slid in and the brothers took up their usual position on a platform built up higher on the branches. It was like a deep shelf and they liked sitting there. Sam was last. His beet-red face appeared at the doorway, his hands trembling from exertion.

“He can’t fit his fat gut in here.  He’s gonna have to stay outside,” Arturo decided.

“Shut up, Arturo.  He can make it,” Corina said crossly.

“C’mon, Sam,” Yessica urged.

Exhaustion, his weight, and his fear of heights worked against Sam.  He hung onto the edges of the doorway breathing heavily.  “I won’t fit.”

“Yeah, you will,” Corina assured him.  She scooted over a little, opening up an area for him to sit near the window.

“What if I make it fall?”

“My dad built this.  It’s sturdy.  I promise.  He had his buddies up here one night playing poker.  It’s not going to fall,” Josh promised.

Finally, Sam pulled his gut over the edge of the floor and crawled inside.  He immediately fell over into his corner, panting.

Josh pulled the black plastic back into the place and the children sat in silence.  The rain had moved on without them noticing and the wind had died down. The tree limbs moaned along with the children down in the alley.

“We should be quiet,” Corina said in a low voice. “They’re quieter now that they can’t see us.”

Spent of all their energy and overwhelmed by the day’s events, it was easy for the Zombie Hunters and their guests to fall into silence.  Even Drake was quiet; sucking on his thumb as Josh gently rubbed his back.

Sam reached out and lowered the blinds over the window, blocking out the view from the front of the house and side yard.  The tree house was enveloped in the gloom of the late afternoon.

Drake began to doze off again, as did Roger.  Sam’s heaving breathing finally calmed down and his face wasn’t so red anymore.  Corina slid off the pillows to let Yessica lie down and moved to sit cross-legged next to Josh.  In the corner, Arturo was buried under his sleeping bag, out of sight.  Troy sat with his back to the wall, his knees up to his chest, staring off into space. He was silently crying.

Josh didn’t blame him.

Gently, Corina touched Josh’s hand and he looked toward her.  Her eyes slid toward Arturo, her expression tense.

“What is it?”  he asked in a hushed tone.

Cupping her hand against his ear, Corina leaned against him, her lips brushing his ear as she whispered, “I saw Arturo’s leg.  A zombie bit him.”

Josh swallowed.  Slowly, he looked toward his best friend huddled in the corner.

Her hand trembling and her voice ragged, she said, “We’re going to have to kill him.”

Chap
ter 16

Josh had not ever dared dream of being this close to Corina, and he felt a flutter inside his belly he had never felt before.

Turning his head slightly toward her, he whispered back, “Are you sure?”

She nodded solemnly, her eyes huge behind her glasses.

They both looked at Arturo.  They could barely see the top of his head poking out over the edge of his sleeping bag. His mussed hair had flecks of dirt and grass still clinging to it.

Josh wasn’t sure how long the bite that had turned his mother had taken to do its damage.  She had been bleeding pretty steadily from the wound.  There were a few drops of blood on the tree house floor, but not nearly as much as he had seen dripping from his mother’s bite.  Maybe Arturo really had scraped up his legs going over the fence.  His pants had been pulled all the way down to his ankles when he had fallen.

Finally, with a weary sigh, Josh turned his attention back to Corina and said in a low voice, “We have to be sure.”

Troy slid off the upper portion of the tree house and squatted down beside them.  His Afro was lopsided from him running his hands over it and beads of sweat decorated his flushed cheeks.  His dark eyes examined their worried expressions, then he turned his attention to Arturo.  He motioned toward his friend, arching an eyebrow.

Josh nodded.

Corina drew back her lips and took an imaginary bite out of the air.

Troy dropped his head into his hands and sighed.

“The zombie really got him?”  Sam exclaimed in terror. “Oh, my God!  Are you going to kill him?”

“Sam!”  Corina chastised him.

Arturo yanked down the edge of the sleeping bag and glowered at Sam.  “Not funny, turd head.”

“She says you got a bite for real!”  Sam scrambled to his feet, breathing heavily.  Fear had a good grip on him.

Yessica stirred as Drake slept on.  Roger slowly sat up, blinking.  With his half-closed eyes and slack expression, he looked drugged.

“Keep your voice down,” Josh said firmly, but in a low voice.  “The zombies are quiet now.  Don’t ruin it.”

Sam bit his bottom lip and slowly sat down again. He curled his body up against the wall, staring at Arturo fearfully.

Arturo grumbled, trying to get comfortable again.

Josh slowly crawled over to his best friend and sat down beside him.  “Arturo, did you get a bite?”

“No!  I got hurt falling over your stupid fence.  Leave me alone already.”  Anger filled his voice, but fear tinged his features.  His dark green eyes were averted and he was shivering slightly.

“Dude, if you’re bit, we gotta...you know...you’ll end up one of those things.”

“No, I won’t.  I didn’t get a bite.  I got hurt falling. And...and...we’re best friends, Josh.  You wouldn’t hurt me,” Arturo insisted.  His voice was ragged with emotion. “Gawd, Josh, everything is all messed up and I’m scared.  I don’t need you ragging on me ‘cause I busted up my legs.”

Embarrassed by his friend’s tears, Josh rested a hand on his shoulder.  “It’s okay, dude.  I got your back.”

“Do you?”

“Yeah.  Always.”

“But he’ll be a zombie!”  Sam protested.  “He’ll try to eat us!”

“I don’t wanna get eated,” Drake said sleepily.

“No one is going to eat you,” Corina assured Drake as she moved to his side to comfort him.

Despite Josh’s best effort to diffuse the situation, it was clear that Corina did not believe Arturo.  Her jaw was set and her lips pressed into a thin line.  She busied herself tucking in the two youngest children.

Rubbing his head, Troy said, “Arturo, maybe we should look.”

“Screw you,” Arturo answered.  “Josh believes me and he’s my best friend.  Back off.”

“Let him be, Troy.” Josh looked at Troy significantly, hoping he would understand he needed to let it go for now. They would have to watch Arturo carefully, but getting him upset would only make matters worse.

Troy studied the expressions of both Arturo and Josh, then shrugged.  Without a word, he climbed back up onto the higher level and settled down next to his brother.

Roger yawned and looked around a bit dazed.  “We should go home, Troy.”

“No way.  I’m not going down there with the zombies again,” Troy said firmly.

“Mom and Dad will be worried,” Roger continued.

“Dad is dead and we don’t know where Mom is. She wasn’t at the community center.”

“What did happen at the community center?  Why aren’t you guys there?” Josh asked, suddenly curious.

“It got bad there,” Corina answered.  “They were bringing in lots of people with really bad bites.  There were some doctors there from the Army or something. They kept the people with bites over in another room and the rest of us were in that big room where they have all the weddings.”

“My mommy and daddy weren’t there,” Yessica sighed.

“Neither was my mom.”  Arturo sniffled.  “I miss her.”

“None of our parents were there.  No one even really paid attention to us,” Corina explained.  “So we hung out in the back near the kitchen.”

“Yeah, then the zombies started eating people,” Sam said sullenly.

“We think that was what was happening. We heard screaming from that room where all the bite victims were with the doctors,”  Corina explained.

“So we took off,” Arturo said sullenly.

“Yeah, the other people were stupid and ran to where all the screaming was coming from,” Sam said grumpily.

“Zombie food,” Troy decided.

Corina shoved her glasses up on her nose as she settled back down on the pillows.  “We ran away through the back door. Sam thought about trying to find his dad, so we started to go to City Hall when we saw those kids in the distance.”

“I didn’t know they were zombies,” Yessica said softly.

“It’s not your fault,”  Corina smoothed Yessica wild curls.  “It’s okay.”

“Yessica waved at them,” Troy sighed.

“They came after us, so we started running,” Arturo continued.  “We decided to come here because we thought your mom could maybe help us.”

“That was fail,” Troy muttered.

“Yeah, ‘cause your mom is a zombie,” Sam explained.

Josh winced, trying not to let Sam’s comment get to him.  “So the community center is wiped out?”

Corina nodded.  “I’m pretty sure.”

“Adults are dumb.  They always do the wrong thing, just like in the movies.”  Troy shook his head.  “Just like the movies.”

Roger sat next to his brother, his head down, looking like he was walking in his sleep.  Josh was worried about him.  It was obvious Roger was not taking the situation well at all.  None of them were, of course, but Roger didn’t seem to comprehend what was really going on.

“Troy, we should call mom,” Roger insisted after a long pause in the conversation.

“Do you still have my cellphone?” Josh  felt a thrill of hope.  If he could call his dad and let him know where they were, he could come rescue them.

“Yeah.”  Troy fished it out of his pocket.  “I tried to call my mom on it, but she didn’t answer.”

Josh grabbed it and quickly scrolled through the menu to find his dad’s cellphone number.  He hit the button, listening to it dial then a woman’s voice told him all the circuits were busy and to try again later.

“Crap,” he groaned.  “It’s not working.”

“Let me try my mom.”  Corina took the phone, dialed, and listened.  After a few minutes, she clicked the button to hang up.  “It’s just ringing and she doesn’t have a cellphone.”  Tears sparkled in her eyes as she stared at the phone.

“You live right next door. Maybe if you yell loud enough she’ll come to the window,” Sam suggested.

Corina shook her head.  “She was at work and the car isn’t there.  I looked when we ran past.”  Her voice was rough with emotion.  Josh knew she was wondering if her mother was even still alive.

Arturo held out his hand for the phone, so Corina passed it over.  She narrowed her eyes as he took it, obviously suspicious of his condition.  Arturo dialed his number and waited. His eyes reddened as the phone rang on the other end.  Without a word, he passed the phone on to Roger and turned his face toward the wall.  He was obviously trying to contain his tears.

His hands slightly shaking, Roger dialed and listened. Finally, in a quivering voice he said, “Mom, come get us at Josh’s.  We’re in the tree house.”

Troy sat up sharply, hope springing into his features. “Mom?  You’re talking to Mom?”

Roger shook his head as he hung up.  “Voice mail. But she’ll hear it when she gets home and come get us.”

His shoulders slumping, Troy sat back against the wall.

Sam scrambled over Yessica to grab the phone from Roger.

“Hey!” Yessica pushed him off her.

“I need to call my dad!”

“Me, too!”  Yessica punched his arm.

“You’ll go next,” Corina promised Yessica giving Sam the stink eye.

Sam ignored her and started to breathe heavily as he dialed.  He obviously misdialed once or twice and had to start over.  His fingers trembled with fear and excitement.  He raised the phone to his ear and listened. Rubbing his lips together, Sam rocked himself as he waited.

The sound of the busy signal was so loud, they all heard it.

Sam hung up and dialed again.  “Trying my mom.”

This time Sam listened to the phone ringing until Corina finally took the phone away from him.  Silently, she handed it to Yessica.

The little girl dialed carefully, mouthing the numbers as she punched the buttons.  Bringing the phone to her ear, she looked at the other children with fear in her eyes.  Those eyes suddenly widened as she whispered, “Daddy?”

Josh could hear a man’s voice answer her.

“Daddy!  Daddy!  I’m not a zombie!  I’m safe!”

All the kids surged forward, straining to hear the voice of the adult.

“I’m with some other kids.  The bus crashed and there were zombies and they tried to eat us.  They ate Mary.” Yessica’s bottom lip trembled as tears formed in her eyes. “Uh huh.  I’m safe.  I’m in a tree house.  On a cellphone. Some boy’s.  Uh...where am I?”

“483 West Current Street,” Josh answered her quickly.

Yessica slowly repeated the address, Josh correcting her when she messed up.  “No. We’re just kids. Nobody is grownup.  When Daddy?  Okay!  Okay!”

Josh snatched the phone away from her, unable to wait. “Hi, this is Josh Rondell.  Are you coming for us, sir?”

“I’m on foot, kid.  I’m hiding in a tool shed right now,” the man’s voice said in hushed tones.  “I’ll come for you as soon as I can.  Keep Yessica safe, okay?  I need to go.  I’m afraid they’re gonna hear me.”

As the line went dead, Josh looked up at the other children gathered around him.  Yessica was tucked into Corina’s arms crying softly with relief.

“He’s going to come as soon as he can,”  Josh said. “He’s holed up like we are, but when he can, he’ll come for us.”

“Then we’re saved!”  Sam declared.

“Ssshhh,” Corina reminded him.

“If he can find a vehicle and get here, yeah, we’re totally saved,” Josh said with relief.

“And if he doesn’t?”  Troy dared to ask.

“My dad will get us,” Josh promised.  “He will.”

Josh looked down at the small, cheap cellphone.  He kept hoping his dad would call. But if Yessica’s dad could help them get to a safer place, maybe his dad could join them there.  He hoped Yessica’s dad stayed safe.

From across the tree house, Arturo let out a low moan.

The children froze.