Michael Ford - Z

He drove that thought from his mind as he pushed past some wizened bushes. Then he was running through a patch of rosebushes. Their thorns snagged in his clothes and scraped his hands, but he ignored the pain. He could see the far wall of the garden twenty yards ahead of him. As it grew closer, he lifted his thrower.

A flash erupted from his right. Scrawl had reached the wall. He always was the fastest of us, Josh thought as he came to a stop and aimed the flamethrower at a clump of dead weeds. As he fired, a third blast came from the left. Firecracker had made it too.

The fire took hold, snaking up the stalks of grass and hungrily consuming it. It seemed to hesitate for a moment, then jumped to a nearby tree. The dead wood popped and exploded as the flames wrapped around the desiccated limbs. Josh watched long enough to make sure the fire wasn’t going out, then turned and started running back to the door.

When he reached the fountain at the center of the garden, he bore left to go around it. As he did, a zombie leaped out of the muck that filled the basin and flung itself at Josh. It was covered in slime, and its hands grasped at Josh’s arm but slipped away. The zombie fell, its fingers catching hold of Josh’s leg. Josh stumbled, tried to wrench loose from the zombie’s grip, and went down hard on his back. The air was knocked out of him.

The zombie awkwardly got to its feet and came at him. Josh scrambled for his flamethrower, but he had fallen on top of it and couldn’t get it. He had nothing to defend himself with. This is it, he thought. I lost.

A figure charged out of the darkness to his left, bellowing madly. The zombie, confused, stopped its forward rush. Then Josh saw Firecracker aim his flamethrower at the thing’s head and fire. The zombie crackled as the flame made contact with the water soaking its skin and clothes. Steam exploded off its head, enveloping it in a black shroud of smoke and steam.

Firecracker pulled Josh to his feet. “Nice work,” Josh said, grinning.

The two of them ran as fast as they could back to the doorway, where Scrawl and Charlie were standing with their throwers at the ready. “What happened?” Scrawl asked. “You guys were right behind me.”

“We had a visitor,” said Josh. “But we took care of it.”

“You mean I took care of it,” Firecracker corrected him.

“Just look for z’s,” said Josh. “They’ve got to be coming out sooner or later.”

As if on cue, four zombies emerged from the smoke. They walked slowly and heavily. One, already on fire, clawed at its charred shirt. The other three headed for the four friends and the door.

“Four of them and four of us,” Charlie said. “Pick your z, boys.”

The four of them fanned out, each one heading for a different zombie. Scrawl took the one that was already smoking, hitting it dead on with a blast that peeled the skin from its torso. Charlie took on a massive man who, even after being set afire, continued to walk toward her until a second blast from Scrawl took out the zombie’s legs and left it a pile of melting fat.

Josh advanced on his target. To his left Firecracker was toasting his zombie, which left just one to go. For the first time Josh allowed himself to think that they really might get out alive.

Then he saw the zombie’s face. “Stash,” he whispered.

Stash saw him and stopped. His dead eyes stared at Josh, and his mouth began to move. His head rolled from side to side as well, and his arms twitched spasmodically. Josh raised his flamethrower. But as he took aim, he saw Stash’s mouth move again. Something about it wasn’t right. He wasn’t just making random sounds. He’s trying to talk, Josh realized.

Before he knew it, he was running toward his old teammate. He heard Charlie, Scrawl, and Firecracker screaming for him to stop, but he kept going, coming to a halt only when he was just out of Stash’s reach. Stash turned his head, looking at Josh, and mumbled. Josh still couldn’t hear him.

You have to get closer, he told himself.

Fighting every one of his natural instincts, he took another step toward Stash. Stash didn’t move. Josh took another step, then another, until he was right in front of Stash. He looked into the boy’s one remaining eye. It was milky, and thick yellow ooze dripped from the corners. But then, just for a moment, it seemed to clear, and Josh almost believed he was looking at the old Stash.

“Home,” Stash mumbled. He pressed something into Josh’s hand. Then, before Josh knew what he was doing, Stash staggered back, pretending to be hit, and fell into the flames that had engulfed the garden. Josh watched, a scream stuck in his throat, as Stash disappeared behind the wall of fire.

The next thing he knew he was being pulled back by Scrawl and Charlie. “We have to get out of here,” Charlie yelled above the roar of the inferno.

Josh turned his back on the garden and followed his friends through the door. When they were in the hallway again, Firecracker shut the door behind them. “Now what?” he said. “We got them all, didn’t we?”

Scrawl nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “But somehow I don’t think we’re done yet.”

“What are you holding?” Charlie asked Josh.

Josh looked at the key in his hand. “Stash gave it to me just now. But I don’t know what it’s for.”

Scrawl took the key from Josh and looked at it for a long moment. “I think I know what this is,” he said.

“What?” asked Josh.

“You know how Clatter wears that coat with all the keys sewn on it?” Scrawl said. “He doesn’t just do it because it looks cool. He does it to hide things.” He held the key up. “Things like this.”

“What’s the key to?” said Firecracker.

Scrawl held the key up. “If we’re lucky—the way out.”

“Clatter is a genius,” Scrawl said as they walked. “But he’s also paranoid. He has escape routes all over the place. I think this key opens the door to one of them.”

“How do you know?” Charlie asked.

“Here,” said Scrawl, pointing to one end of the key, where the letter F was stamped. “F for Feverfew.” He turned the key over, and on the other side was the number 237. “Room 237,” he said. “Whatever this key unlocks, it’s in that room.”

“What if it isn’t?” asked Firecracker. “What if Clatter gave him the key to trick us?”

Josh thought about the look in Stash’s eye when he handed over the key. A lump formed in his throat. “I don’t think he did,” he said.

“Okay,” said Firecracker doubtfully. “Then let’s get up to room 237 and see what’s up there.”

They headed for the stairs, but the ding of the old elevator drew their attention. The doors opened, and Clatter emerged with Seamus and Finnegan. He strode across the lobby toward where the four exhausted friends stood.

“Play along,” Scrawl whispered to the others as Clatter got closer.

“I must say, you’ve impressed me,” Clatter said. The tone of his voice was warm, but Josh heard an undercurrent of frostiness that he didn’t like. “Your methods on the final test were a bit crude, but given the time constraints, rather brilliant.”

“I’m glad you liked it,” Scrawl said. “Now how about keeping your end of the deal?”

Clatter took a deep breath. “As much as I’d like to, I’m afraid I can’t,” he said. “You see, you didn’t complete the game in the allotted time. You were exactly one minute and seventeen seconds over.”

Scrawl shook his head. “I knew you’d never let us go,” he said.

“Mmm,” Clatter replied. “Your lack of faith in me is disappointing. But it’s irrelevant, as you lost.”