This is the fifth chapter of the zombie serial The Dead Life. You can learn more about the story over at the project hub. This series originally ran on Haunted MTL but is being edited and updated in the lead-up to new installments to continue the story.
You can read the prior chapter here.
Day 14
Dani was the first down the stairs and into the main shopfront. As though she already knew what had happened, her eyes darted toward the front doors. One of the undead put its weight onto the glass, and almost as if the world had slowed down, Danielle heard each crack as rotten flesh slapped at the door. She turned toward the counter and saw Sandy hiding behind it. Her screams of terror echoed in the tiled room.
As soon as Bob’s foot hit the ground at the bottom of the stairs, the glass shattered completely, and the ghoul’s decaying body stumbled into the building. Large shards of glass still attached to the frame tore at desiccated flesh, but the ghoul appeared to feel nothing but simple resistance – a sickening rip of something, Dani couldn’t tell, was layered over the tinkling and crunching of shards of bare feet on the floor.
Dani froze, her hands empty of anything remotely useful. Within that moment, Bob had thrown his full weight toward the walking corpse and pinned it against the door frame.
Dani snapped out of her brief daze and scanned the room. As soon as she saw a letter opener, she dove for it and whipped her body in the direction of Bob and the ghoul.
“BOBMOVEYOURHEAD-” she bellowed.
Bob grunted and pinned the ghoul with a stiffened pair of arms against the door, putting space between his head and its gnashing teeth. Dani took one powerful overhead swing and wedged the letter opener deep into an oozing eye socket. She pushed so hard her small hands nearly forced their way into its skull.
The gnashing of teeth suddenly stopped, and whatever had kept the ghoul upright left its body. It crumpled to the floor, out of Bob’s hands, glass shards shredding the torso as gravity took it down.
“Jesus Christ,” Dani whispered.
Bob took a few awkward steps to the counter, toward a sobbing Sandy, and put his weight on the faux-marble surface.
“Jesus Christ…” Dani repeated.
She walked over to him. “Are you okay? Did you get hurt?”
Bob smiled. “I’m just outta breath, kiddo. You okay, Sandy?”
Sandy rose from behind the counter and nearly stumbled back into the rear shelving. Her eyes were wide, so incredibly wide. It was as though she had not seen one of these things up close. Lucky her.
Sandy placed her hand on a creaky shelf and clutched her chest. “I’m fine, I… thank you. I just…” She didn’t finish; her mouth was much too full of vomit.
Dani turned back to the corpse and snatched the letter opener from the eye socket. She flicked syrupy blood from the tip of the blade out the shattered door, the sound of wet splats notable in the silent aftermath.
“We need to do something about this door, Bob.”
“In a minute.” Bob slid down along the front of the counter, sitting, his legs outstretched. ‘I’m not as strong as I let on.”
Dani stifled a laugh as Bob winked at her.
Sandy seemed to be recovering well enough, still wiping away sickness from her mouth. “You’re right, Danielle, you need to do something about that door.”
Dani didn’t acknowledge her, instead focusing on the damage. “Do we have some way of blocking it up?”
Bob coughed. It was the phlegmy, deep reverberation of a lifelong smoker. “Not without digging around in the units, and I feel like we need this thing sealed up double-time, kid.”
Dani peered around the room, then finally looked outward. There were no other figures in sight. If any ghouls had heard, they were a while off yet. At least she hoped so. They weren’t fast.
There was that moving truck just inside the lot, though; she’d seen it coming in. It was a free rental for new customers. At least, that was what was displayed on the side.
Dani stepped over the corpse in the doorway and into the parking lot, turning back to look at the front facade. There was no awning in the way. There was clearance.
“We can park a truck in front of it, close enough that one of those things can’t wedge its way in…”
“Would that work?” Sandy sounded skeptical.
Dani shrugged. “It’s the best that I can figure out right now.” AT least it can give us a little time, provided they’re not smart enough to climb under the truck.”
Bob rose to his feet and stepped out to the parking lot. He looked toward the office’s facade and turned to look at the moving truck inside the storage facility.
“Dani is right. It’s a pretty quick solution to give us a bit of breathing room.”
“This can work. Just gotta gun the genny and park that son of a bitch right along the front here…”
Sandy refused to step any closer to the corpse, keeping her firmly inside the office. She peered out into the lot at Bob and Danielle. Dani wondered how Sandy had made it this far – how she had witnessed the collapse without losing her mind.
Dani was looking at the truck, but a sudden shuffle caught her attention. Dani turned to see Sandy stumble backward against the counter, shouting and pointing, “There’s another one!”
Bob was the first to see the ghoul, tapping Dani’s arm and pointing to it. The pair made their way back toward the building. Bob grabbed the letter opener out of Dani’s hand and pushed her toward the door.
“Kid, get the truck. I’ll get this one.”
Dani stepped into the shop and saw Sandy ready to bolt upstairs.
“Sandy, where is the key?”
“What?”
“I need the key to the moving truck!”
Sandy paused for a moment. Danielle could have sworn that she saw her eyes dart back upstairs. The older woman grunted and dashed over behind the counter to a cabinet, and swung open the door. Inside the door were dozens of keys on hooks. She scanned the rows with her finger, grunted again, and dashed to the counter to open a drawer.
Danielle focused on Bob, who strode over towards the ghoul. She saw it pick up its pace as the old man approached. The ghoul shuddered as it lurched towards the old man – as though suddenly roused from a stupor. Bob marched right toward it and kicked it to the ground. He placed a foot on its sunken chest and stomped down. Amidst the jangling of keys and dumping of drawers, the shattering of ribs was distinct, even from a distance.
Danielle was relieved to see the letter opener plunged deep into the ghoul’s pale face. But Bob didn’t stand up right away. Danielle could see the fatigue wracking him.
“I’ve got them.” Sandy shoved the keys in Dani’s face. “Hurry up!”
Dani bit her tongue at the sudden intrusion. She was just about to tell Sandy to fuck off, but she turned her attention back to the parking lot when she caught some slight motion in the distance. Bob was still grounded, puffing away on the concrete next to the corpse. Dani stepped out toward the doorway and squinted her eyes toward the late afternoon sun. Two more figures approached with the lumbering gait she had grown so used to in the new world.
Dani turned to Sandy. The older woman’s face had gone pale. She had seen them as well. Dani moved over and placed her hand across Sandy’s mouth. Sandy’s eyes were wide in confusion.
“Don’t scream.”
Dani had a plan.
And then Sandy started screaming.
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So, I realize that Sandy is coping in the way she knows how during what, in this world, is a completely unknown scenario. I also know that, every time she shows up I’m like “Oh THIS bitch.”