World Memorial (49 page)

Sharon glared at her. Beulah did her best to look resolved. But the truth was she saw no way out of her position.

Roaring with anger, a bear raced past both of them and toward the town. Both Sharon and Beulah watched as the bear crossed the barrier of blood that kept them out. The bear slammed into one of the few remaining sections and the wall creaked and split apart. A long wooden beam fell and shattered, shards of wood bouncing out across the snow.

Several shards landed in the moat of blood, large enough to break the flow. Blood collected on either side of the shards. The barrier was broken.

Sharon looked to Beulah and Beulah looked back. They both knew what this meant.

* * *

Park drifted in a woozy darkness, the pain in his chest distant and dull. His own ragged breathing was muffled and distant. He knew he was slipping away for good.

He remembered his wife leaving all those years ago. He yearned to change it, but it was long done. He remembered the look of disappointment in his kids’ eyes. He remembered them dying at the zoo. One in his arms. She'd told him it was okay. It wasn't.

He cursed himself and waited to die.

He could hear a young girl crying. Distant, but growing louder. The darkness shifted and he could see light again. His vision was blurred and the pain in his chest was throbbing and insistent.

His vision cleared. Lilly was pounding on his chest with her tiny balled hands. And she was crying.

"Stop, Lil," he said. "Stop."

"You stop!" said Lilly, crying big open tears. They ran down her cheeks as she pounded on his chest.

Park sat up, the pain subsiding. He rubbed his head. Lilly sat back and stared at him, still crying.

"Damn, Lil," said Park. "You should have just let me die."

Lilly slapped him across the face. Surprisingly hard.

"Fuck you!" she screamed. "Don't you die! Don't you fucking dare!"

Park stared at her for a second. He rubbed his face. "Okay, Lil. Fuck. I don't quite see the point, but fuck it."

"Okay," said Lilly, sniffing. Her tears were subsiding. "Just take it easy, okay? Don't fall over like that again."

"I'm not much of a father figure, Lil. You'd be better off elsewhere."

Lilly wiped her wet cheeks and looked at him. "Well, I think you're pretty great."

They looked at each other in silence for a moment.

"Okay then," said Park.

"Okay then," said Lilly.

A loud crash came from the living room. Park hopped to his feet.

"Don't strain yourself!"

"For fuck's sake, Lilly, I'm fine!" Park rushed to the broken window and used the butt of his rifle to hammer the boards back in place.

"Come on!" he said. Lilly stood and the two of them rushed from the room.

* * *

Maylee, Dalton and the guards raced from the kitchen. The panther roared behind them as they rushed past the French doors.

"Shut it shut it shut it!" yelled Maylee, rushing over to the doors. She, Dalton and the guards slammed them shut. They held them in place. The panther growled behind them.

"What is it?" said Mom, limping over on her cane.

"Panther," said Maylee. "Window. Bad."

"Shit, that is bad," said Mom.

A few guards and townsfolk were still with her. Maylee surmised the rest had rushed to other rooms to plug leaks. "Everybody! Get something to block the doors!"

Maylee, Dalton and a few guards held the door shut. Maylee could see the panther rush toward the glass panels in the door. It rammed them. The glass was breaking.

"Hurry!" yelled Mom.

The panther hit again, shattering the glass panels and splintering the surrounding wood.

"It's too late!" yelled Maylee. "Everybody back!"

The guards aimed at the door. Dalton rushed to one side. Maylee backed up, ready with her bat.

With a loud crash and splintering of wood, the panther burst from the door. The guards fired. Bullets tore into the cat and it fell to the floor. It roared, angry and dying, smearing blood across the floor.

Maylee rushed up, her bat ready. The panther recovered and smacked the bat from her hand. The force knocked Maylee to the floor and her bat flew across the room.

"Maylee!" yelled Mom.

The guards shot again, peppering the panther with bullets. It bled but didn't fall. Maylee tried to move but had no time. The panther leapt.

Dalton rushed up from one side with Maylee's bat, slamming down on the panther’s head. The panther slammed to the floor with a loud “crack”. It tried to move but couldn't, just growled and writhed.

Maylee climbed to her feet. The guards fired into the cat, finishing it off. Maylee noticed Park had returned and was shooting also. He looked pale and shaken. Lilly was with him. She looked like she'd been crying.

Dalton shook the gore from the bat.

"Thank you," said Maylee.

Dalton smiled, handing her the bat. "I believe this is yours."

As things fell quiet around them, it became obvious the groans outside were growing louder. People rushed in from other rooms, done with their attempts to shore the house up. They looked grim.

Mom looked grim, too. She limped over to the nearest window.

* * *

Angie peered through the boards at the window. Corpses were everywhere. They stood atop the corpses who had fallen into the trenches. West’s failsafe had bought them time, but not enough. There were just too many. The house would not stay secure for long. They couldn’t wait for the sisters to find them. Angie’s plan was falling apart.

Groans grew loud around them. Dead hands pounded on the walls and windows, shaking the wooden boards and the front door violently.

Angie moved away from the window. She looked behind her and up to the second-floor landing. There was one trick of West’s left. "Everyone up the stairs!"

The townsfolk rushed up the stairs to the landing. Maylee and Dalton followed, along with most of the guards. The rest stayed on the first floor with Angie. The others peered over the landing at them.

Angie and the guards pulled out a series of long, thick, metal spikes that held the bottom of the stairs to the floor.

Almost as one, the windows around them shattered. The door gave way and crashed inward. The corpses poured in, staggering and grasping.

"Hurry!" yelled Angie.

* * *

Beulah's surroundings switched to the center of town. She looked around hurriedly and saw a post covered in abandoned chains, lying fallen on the ground. Beulah wondered if it was what had been holding the children back.

The children
. She could sense them somewhere, but couldn't place it. Where were they? She could feel them, she could always feel all of the chosen ones, but with the barrier gone she should have been able to pinpoint them directly. Why couldn't she? She sensed a faint presence coming from where she knew the farmhouse to be, but it was weak, not enough to be the group of children.

Sharon appeared next to her, then shoved Beulah in anger. Beulah slid through the snow, stopping when she hit a stack of barrels.

Sharon stomped over to her. "Where are the children?"

"Don't you know?" said Beulah, smiling and trying to look calm.

"I can't sense them at all! They should be crying out like beacons! I sensed them from the church when that woman took them across your barrier! Where are they?"

Beulah ran over and punched Sharon across the face. Sharon fell to the ground and rolled. She stood.

"Wait..." said Sharon. "I can sense something. Something small, but not enough—"

"You've lost, Sharon!" said Beulah, rushing to her. "They are lost to you." She raised her fist to punch.

Sharon caught her fist mid-punch. "You can't sense them either, can you?" she said, squeezing so tightly Beulah nearly cried out. "No, you can't. If you could, you'd be killing them yourself!"

She slammed Beulah's hand to the ground, pulling Beulah with it. She slammed into the snow. Sharon kicked her, sending her rolling. She stood, her stomach clenching from the blow.

Sharon stomped toward her, enraged. "Where are the children!"

* * *

Angie and the others were now all up the stairs and on the second floor landing. Ladders were piled on the landing next to them. Everyone watched as corpses poured into the room. They groaned and hissed, jerked and stumbled. They were filling up the lower level. In a few moments they would reach the stairs.

The guards fired down on them. Maylee, Dalton and Angie pulled spikes from the top of the stairs. The stairs creaked as they pulled the spikes free.

The corpses reached the stairs and started up.

"Hurry!" said Angie.

She, Maylee and Dalton pulled the spikes free and the corpses stumbled up at them.

Finally the last spike was free. Angie, Maylee and Dalton stood.

"Now!" shouted Angie. Everyone near the top of the stairs stomped on them. The stairs shook violently as they stomped. The corpses kept coming.

They all stomped again and the stairs came free of the landing. They toppled to one side, breaking as they crashed down. The corpses fell back to the first floor, some crushed by the fallen stairs. They rest crowded around the first floor, moaning up at the landing. At what remained of World Memorial.

Angie looked over the house. The corpses were tearing it apart. Trying to get to them. Trying to get to anything human. She stepped away from the landing and looked to those with her. Maylee, Dalton, Park and Lilly. The guards and the townsfolk.

"Okay,” said Angie, “you should all be safe up here. We can’t wait for the sisters any longer, though. We’ll have to bring them to us." She walked away from the ledge. Park, Maylee and Dalton went with her.

Lilly began to follow. Park held up a hand. "No, Lil, stay here. This part's too dangerous."

Lilly looked both sad and angry.

"I'll take it easy," Park promised.

That seemed to help. Lilly nodded, her face softer.

The four of them moved away from the group. Angie leaned in close, speaking softly.

"Okay," she said. "Maylee, Dalton, there's something I didn't tell you about plan B."

Angie climbed from the attic window and out onto the roof. The air was cold and snow coated the shingles, but she could still get a foothold. Park, Maylee and Dalton climbed out with her, and her children looked worried.

Corpses crowded around the house, more than had made it inside. Many more.

"They all seem to be around the house," Park noted.

"Good," said Angie.

She looked over the town. It appeared empty. The storm howled all around them. Angie could see more of it from her vantage point. It was chaos. Whole trees were coming uprooted, falling over and pushed around by the violent wind. Swirling snow and large debris were everywhere. But as before, it stayed outside of the bubble protecting the town.

She heard noise below her. Sharon and Beulah had appeared in the square. They were fighting, yelling at each other and landing blows that would have killed a human.

"Hey!" she yelled. The sisters stopped and looked up at her. Angie called down to them. "I see you got over the line. That's good. Saves me the trouble of finding you!"

Sharon strode toward the house. "Where are the children?" she demanded.

Here we go
, thought Angie.
Plan B
. She stared down at them for a moment, listening to the cold wind whip around.

"You want to know where the children are?" Angie yelled. "Call off your army and I'll give them to you!"

Beulah's mouth fell open in shock. Sharon glowered up at her, looking uncertain.

"I mean it!" yelled Angie. "Do it and I'll give them to you!"

Sharon stared up at her. Silence hung over all.

Beulah stomped over, staring up at Angie. "What the hell are you doing, Angela?”

Sharon smiled. Slowly, the corpses began to pull away from the house. The animals too. They came from all around the building. The ones inside stumbled back out, all gathering around Sharon. They stretched back behind her in a huge mass. They moaned but stayed perfectly still.

"What the
hell
are you doing, Angela?!" yelled Beulah.

"Ending this!"

Beulah stepped up further. "You can't let her win!"

"I don't care anymore!" Angie yelled back. "I'll show you both where the kids are! Whichever one of you gets to them first can do what they like. Knock yourselves out."

Sharon smiled, obviously confident she had the upper hand. Beulah looked uncertain but said no more.

Angie stared down at them a moment, then turned to head back across the roof. Park, Maylee and Dalton followed, all quiet.

They made their way back inside and down the attic stairs to the second floor landing. Everyone around them was silent, nervous. Park walked over to the stack of ladders and grabbed one. He set it down to the now-empty first floor. Angie climbed down, her ankle smarting. Park, Maylee and Dalton followed.

They strode across the empty living room to the front door, which hung open from when the corpses had burst in. They headed through it.

Once outside, they stopped on the porch. Angie walked to a small lever set into the wall. She pulled it down and a metal plank sprang up inside the trench, bridging the porch and the town square. One last little touch from West.

Silently, she and the others walked down the porch steps and across the plank. The corpses still trapped in the trench moaned up at them. Then they were across and standing in the snow.

Sharon and Beulah were waiting for them. Sharon stepped up to Angie. "I could crush you like a bug! Tell me where they are!"