Mark Clodi - About a Woman, a Zombie Chronicles Novel

Dora started to giggle, looking at her husband through the rifle scope, she could not help it. Soon she was laughing so hard she had to lower the gun and set its butt on the roof top, she was sure to engage the safety first, as she very much wanted to live and not accidentally anyone. Roger yelled at her, "What the fuck is so God damned funny?"

Unable to speak, Dora just brushed her hand sideways in the air, indicating he should drive on. Behind her Paige asked "Dora, you okay?"

Looking at the girl over her shoulder Dora winked, then, thinking Paige may not have seen her expression in the dim light she called back, "I am fine Paige dear. Guess what? I don't hate Roger anymore. It was that easy! I mean who can hate something that stupid? It would be like hating a rock or the sky." Dora gasped as she pulled in a long breath, trying to recover, she kept giggling. Down below Roger started yelling something again and Dora brought her gun up in a swift motion aiming at the general area of the car. She chose to target the rear tail light, breathing slowly and trying to compensate for the sights and her infirm footing, she slowly squeezed the trigger, it was a direct hit. The light blew out in a shower of shattered plastic and glass.

"You crazy fucking bitch! You shot my car! You shot a hole in my car!"

"Move along Roger, my next shot is going to end up in your trunk, then into the back seat, then, maybe the front seat, so you better get moving. I'll stop shooting your 'God damned' car when you start moving forward.

"Fuck you! No! Don't!" Roger yelled, and the car jerked forward just as Dora shot again. She missed the trunk entirely. She shifted the gun to aim again.

Roger screamed out "I hate you! I hate you, Dora! You haven't seen the last of me! I will be back to get my house! I will make you pay for this!" He did keep the car moving forward at a walking pace.

Mike and Paige were busy clearing the lane again in front of the vehicle further down the street where the zombies had not yet learned to get out of the way. Dora was surprised when the passenger's side door opened and Marge spilled out into the street. Roger had rolled his window up and Dora caught a few screams as he yelled at Marge, then she heard her fiend say, "You are worse than she is! I never should have done this! It was the worst thing I ever did in my life!" and she slammed the door. The zombies, of course, started closing in. After a moment the car started moving forward again. Marge pounded on the top of it, yelling, "Pop the fucking trunk! I need my bag!" The car didn't stop. Dora, felt the cold ice of fear in the pit of her stomach. There were too many zombies, too many for the three of them to shoot. She got down on her stomach and took aim at a zombie heading for Marge's back. One shot and it was down. She winged another in the leg, toppling it, while Marge was calling Roger and asshole and screaming incoherently at the retreating vehicle.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck." Dora said to herself working the bolt on the gun and taking another shot. The gun fired and the bolt stayed open, which meant it was empty and she needed to reload. All her ammo was back where she had set up on the roof, not here with her on top of the garage. "Oh fuck! Marge. Oh, Marge!"

Scrambling to her feet Dora started running back along the top of the garage's peak to the main roof over the house. "Save her! Shoot Mike, shoot Paige! I am out of ammo!" The others were already shooting steadily, the rounds hitting the zombies near the woman, trying to keep her in a protective bubble.

Paige paused while Dora ran across the front of her barrel again and took a shot at a crawling zombie that was making its way crab like towards Marge. Dora reloaded the magazine on the gun in a few second and joined in the firing. From the back yard a whiff of barbecued beef jerky carried to her on the slight breeze, making her stomach growl. Adrenaline coursed through Dora's body and everything sprang into sharp focus, the darkness didn't seem so oppressive, the cool air was no longer making her cold, all that was left in her vastly shrinking world focused down into a tight circle centered around Marge. Her world was suddenly more simple, no anger, no hate, just a bit of fear as she shot, aimed and shot again, trying to save her friend. Roger was long gone. To the east the sky was brightening slightly, the warm promise of a new day to come.

"I am moving forward so I can see more of the driveway and front yard. I am going to tell her to get to the front door. Someone has to get the door unlocked and let her in." said Paige, picking up her rifle's ammunition as she moved forward.

"I will go down after Paige has moved, to open the front door. Please Mike, don't let them get her!" Dora called.

Mike grunted and shifted the rifle to hit another zombie coming up beside the terrified woman out in the street.

"Oh God! They are all around me!" Marge wailed, "Help! Help me Dora!"

Paige moved into position and yelled out, "Start coming towards the house. Dora is going to open the front door!"

Marge started that way, but had to dodge around, moving into open areas to stay out of the zombie's grasp. She ended up on the sidewalk across the street, in a fairly clear area. Dora realized it was now or never and she put the rifle down and ran towards the skylight on the back of the roof. "Mike, I left you the thirty aught six!"

Running down the back side Dora slipped on the damp shingles and almost toppled over, she caught herself, thankful she had opted to go barefoot instead of putting on the flip flops she had considered. She reached the top of the ladder and slid down it so fast it resembled a controlled fall more than climbing. Reaching the tile in the bathroom she headed through the master bedroom, pausing only to pick up the twelve gauge shot gun and two boxes of shells.

She made it to the front door, shotgun at the ready. Before opening it Dora tucked one box of shells into the thin pocket of her robe, the other she sat on the knickknack table on one side of the door. She unlocked and pulled the door open, there was a zombie right in front of her, he was holding the storm door open and his other hand had been on the doorknob. When Dora pulled the door open he stumbled in towards her, only to be blown backwards in a spray of dark blood. He tumbled off of the porch and onto the sidewalk before falling sideway into the ornamental shrubs in front of the porch.

Looking down her covered porch Dora saw two more zombies had wandered on to it. She dispatched them easily with the shotgun, then turned her attention to the street and her friend. Reloading the gun back up to full capacity Dora started firing at the zombies between her and Marge. This was harder than she would have thought because she did not want to aim directly at her friend and because Marge was hopping around like a jumping bean in the sun.

Marge was doing well, watching each step she took and lunging into where the zombies were dropping. Mike and Paige were trying to create holes for her to move into, much like they had for Roger's Volvo. It was working and with Dora killing those others who got in the way the woman was making it across the street.

It was the children who ruined everything. The two little girls in white and yellow sun dresses, with yellow, corn silk hair ran towards Marge. All three of the people firing at the zombies hesitated, they had not yet seen any child zombies, and the girls looked so alive. They ran at Marge with their arms outstretched in a parody of running towards their long lost mommy, looking for a hug. Too late the three guns boomed out, the fusillade caught one of the little girls in her white clad abdomen, twisting her around and flinging her to the ground. The other girl leaped onto Marge and hugged her tight. Marge tried to throw the zombie off of her, but the girl scrambled around like a spider monkey, sticking like glue. Marge let loose with an agonized scream, then she started running straight for the house, not heading towards cleared areas, not avoiding the other zombies.