Mark Tufo - A Plague Upon Your Family

The zombie was shoulder deep through the bars and trying in vain to fit its oversize melon through, when Jen came up and finished off what Igor had started.

“Thank you.” I stammered out, as I did a silent prayer to the patron saint of Intact Flesh. I pulled my shirt up thankful to realize that whatever saint I had prayed to had come through.

Jen looked shaken a bit, but pardon the pun, not stirred. She had a determination to her now, something she had not possessed at the armory. She wasn’t there yet but she was looking more and more like someone I would want on my team should the need arise.

“What was it doing?” She asked, a worried look across her face. I couldn’t blame her, killing a speeder seemed more like taking down one of our own. “Was I imagining it or was that thing showing anger.”

“Anger, frustration, hunger? Hell I don’t know, welcome to Zombies version 2.0, the new and improved model.” I answered sarcastically.

“The better to kill YOU.” Justin said as he came up to witness the butchery.

I couldn’t help but focus on the word ‘You’ and how Justin made sure he was making eye contact with me when he said it. My concentration was broken however as the sheriff and his deputy finally made their way over to the window. The slower older zombie version 1.0’s were savagely cut down as Igor finally righted his rifle and made short work of them. I guess we were actually the rude guests, after all this was their place of work. We came in uninvited, locked them out and then killed them when they tried to gain entry. Oh well, manners were low on my list of priorities.

“Igor, do you see any more of them?” I asked tentatively. I wanted out. The more I looked at this situation the stronger I felt the urge to leave. The constricted confines of the jail, pressed in from all sides. I fucking swooned as I felt my equilibrium spin on its axis. And as suddenly as the static in my mind attacked, it abated, the room returned to its original dimensions. It had happened so suddenly no one even noticed my distress, except for one. Justin was looking directly at me, a small sneer spread across his thin lips. ‘Fuck what is going on!’

I never took my eyes off him as Igor answered. “Da, five or six, maybe more can’t see past the truck and the windows are only in the front.”

I understood the implied meaning, and obviously my over active, scary movie fed imagination, pictured a thousand or more zombies to the rear of the building just waiting patiently for the front door to open so that they could make a human meat and cheese mcmuffin for breakfast. That actually sounded good, my stomach grumbled, mind you not the human meat part, the mcmuffin part. Remember where I said the zombie HADN’T broken skin when he scratched me?

April ran into the center of the room her finger wildly gesturing back to where she had come from. Her fragmented thoughts trying desperately for cohesion as her mouth soundlessly opened and closed.

“Spit it out.” Mrs. Deneaux said. “You look like a fish out of water with your mouth opening and closing like that. It’s not an attractive appearance on you.”

Well it was good to see that Mrs. Deneaux hadn’t placed that thought filter on her mouth yet. I didn’t like Deneaux but I was in agreement with her on this one.

“A noise…a noise.” April stated, and then as her brain caught up she elaborated. “I heard some scraping on the wall by where I was sleeping.”

“It was probably just a mouse Mrs. Deneaux, said caustically.

I was tempted to agree with her again. In fact I wanted to, as opposed to accepting the alternative. The noise that we were now all hearing was suspiciously close to where I had deposited our dead jail bird. ‘Stupid’ I whispered as I inwardly slapped my hand up against my forehead. ‘Might as well have hung up a Denny’s sign. Come get your country folk buffet.’ I was frozen in indecision, damned if you do damned if you don’t. We couldn’t stay here that much was certain, but going outside meant uncertainty. BT came to my rescue, not purposefully but still I’ll take it.

“Talbot.” His voice boomed in the restricted room. “Let’s get our gear and get the hell out of here.”

My engine was racing, finally with the nudge from BT my transmission kicked into gear. Indecision was now in my rear view mirror and fading fast.

“Alright, Alex, you get ready. I’m going to get a five man fire team ready, we’re going to blow a hole into any opposition and then you go right up into the cab. Don’t go until I tell you though. If something happens to you, I’ll have to drive that effen truck and we all know how well that will go over.”

“Yeah I have a weak stomach.” BT said smiling.

“BT I can’t imagine anything weak on you.” I said looking up at the big man.

“Why tempt fate Talbot?” He said as he clapped my shoulder, I nearly fell over from the force. I don’t know if he does it purposefully or he just doesn’t know his own strength. Ok I’m not that naïve. He’s definitely doing it on purpose. Fine as long as he was tentatively on my side then I could deal with it.

Igor and I stood shoulder to shoulder by the doorway, BT and Brendan stood immediately behind us and Travis took up the rear, with the shotgun. It would have been wisest to put the scattergun up front but I’d be damned if I was going to go into battle BEHIND one of my own. Jen was at the door ready to pull it open at my command, at which point Igor and I would go out with guns blazing ala Paul Newman and Robert Redford in the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. As we became able to fan out, BT and Brendan would join in the fray, by that time, my hope was that the battle would be over and Travis and Alex could saunter out.

Jen nodded once to me. “You ready?” She asked.

‘No’ I took a deep breath and nodded my head in return. The door flew open and she jumped back. Immediately I realized my mistake, I had fucked up. The morning sun blazed into my eyes, I couldn’t see shit! I was more likely to shoot Igor than a zombie. Igor’s rifle fired in rapid succession. I couldn’t tell if he was suffering the same affliction as me and was being proactive by sending a hail of bullets down range or we were truly under attack. Something batted my rifle. I involuntarily pulled the trigger. The sound of shattering bone cracked over the din. I pressed outward. My only hope at this point was help from the rear. Whatever or whoever had been in front of me was now a few ounces heavier with lead poisoning. To my right Igor’s gun had silenced as I sensed him go down. ‘Oh this isn’t good!’ A rifle shot above my ear told me that BT had joined the skirmish.

“Can you see anything BT?” I screamed over the blasts.

“I can see enough!” He yelled. “Get your white ass back into the jail.” He didn’t wait for a response as he literally lifted me up by my collar. My feet weren’t even touching the ground as he pulled me back in. Jen and Brendan slammed the door back into place, Travis placing the cross bar into place as the door was assaulted from the outside. I heard kids screaming, and some sobbing, but could still see nothing. I was snow blind.

“Fuck man! Fuck!” BT shouted. “There were dozens of them. As soon as the door opened they came. They were waiting Talbot! Waiting! Fuck!”

“What about Igor?” I asked. The silence in the room answered volumes. The short intense battle had cost us dearly, and with nothing gained the loss was felt throughout the room. April openly wept, the kids mostly hid under blankets, but these monsters were real, blankets weren’t going to save them. My sight was coming back, but I didn’t like what I was seeing. The zombies knew we had only one way out and had laid in wait. It was a textbook ambush. If they had waited a few seconds more until we were all outside they could have completely taken us. As my sight finally adjusted to the abysmal interior they settled on Justin. He seemed the most nonplussed of us all.