Chapter 5: CHAPTER 5
One minute I was in a deep, peaceful sleep, and in the next, I abruptly found myself wide awake from the loud blast of a shotgun that was followed by the sound of breaking glass downstairs and dogs barking. Leaping from the bed, I grabbed my gun from the nightstand and ran to the landing, where I simply stared in shock at the nightmarish scene below.
The sun was just starting to rise, and in the dimly lit living room, I saw that one of the front windows was halfway busted out, and a horde of zombies was pouring in through the shattered glass. The glass was ripping to shreds their rotting flesh and exposing the bones underneath the flesh, muscles, and tendons. But they didn't even seem to notice as they mindlessly poured in through the window.
It was like something from a horrific nightmare. But, as inventive as my mind was, I doubted that it could have come up with something so detailed. The whole scene reminded me of one of those old religious books with pictures of demons crawling out of hell to wage war on the human world. And at this moment, I could very well believe that hell did, in fact, exist.
"What the hell happened?" I heard Grandma shout behind me. But, I didn't bother answering as I raised my gun and carefully began firing, making sure to aim for the head.
"This will work better for long-range," Mary said and handed me a shotgun, which I gratefully accepted before holstering my handgun. My body was flooded with adrenalin and everything that happened around me during the next few moments felt almost surreal.
"This is just like shooting fish in a barrel," Grandma laughed from her spot at the railing over-looking the living room, and looking at her sparkling eyes and laughing face, I couldn't help thinking that she looked more alive than I had ever seen her.
"It's just like the good old days," Mary replied with a grin as she fired off another shot.
I was aware that Lucas had come out of his room but didn't pay him any attention until he calmly slipped my handgun from my holster and started firing at the horde.
" I need more ammo," I called to Mary after firing my last shot and turned to see that one of the zombies had managed to find his way to the top of the stairs.
Acting more on instinct than anything else, I whirled around and grabbed one of the decorative swords from off the wall, all the while hoping that it was real and not just ornamental. Taking one step forward, I swung the sword with as much force as I could muster, managing to neatly sever his head on the first try. The body toppled sideways over the rail as the head rolled across the landing only stopped when it lodged against the railing. I looked down and almost gagged when I saw that its cloudy blue eyes were staring accusing at me.
"Hey, there's no time for getting sick, you can do that after all of the Z's have been taken care of," Mary said and handed me a box of ammo.
"I think that was the last one," Sarah called as she fired another shot, hitting a large zombie right in the center of the forehead as it was climbing through the broken window.
"Well, this is going to be one hell of a mess to clean up," Grandma remarked, surveying the trashed living room and stairs that was literally covered in blood, guts, and dead zombies.
"Clean-up is the worst." I shuddered and handed Mary back her still bloody sword.
"Keep it, we still need to secure the barn and outbuildings," she ordered when I started to hand over the shotgun as well.
We went out the back way, which was thankfully free of zombies, dead or otherwise, and spread out to secure the rest of Mary's property. Sarah stayed back at the house with Lucas, and Grandma and Mary took the outbuildings on the west side of the property, which left Moose and me to check out the barn. At eight months old, Moose was still a pup at heart, but like all animals, he had a strong aversion to the undead.
Once inside the barn, everything looked relatively normal, and Moose, who didn't seem unduly concerned, sniffed around a little before lying down in a patch of sunshine by the open door. But I checked everything out to be sure. I had just finished up with the feed storage room when Moose, who was staring out the back door into the trees, stood up and starting barking.
I couldn't see anything out there and thought that he probably was barking at a squirrel or some other small animal. But it had to be checked out, and you never know there might still be a stray zombie wandering around.
I sighed and picked up the rifle, "Let's go, boy."
Moose started to get more agitated and appeared to be excited as well as apprehensive as we approached the trees, so I suspected that it probably wasn't a squirrel that had set him off. I hesitated at the edge of the forest and considered going back for reinforcements. I didn't like the idea of going into the heavily forested area alone, for one being, I didn't know the region, and with all of the trees, it would be a lot easier for someone or something to get the jump on me. I reached out to grab his collar when he suddenly started barking loudly and ran into the trees.
"Dammit!" I yelled and crashed in behind him, knowing that all of the noise he was making would attract any stray zombie in our vicinity. Mary loved that pup, and the last thing that I wanted was for something to happen to him while he was in my care. But, damn, he sure could run fast.
I was starting to wheeze by the time that I caught up with Moose, and wouldn't you know it; he was just sitting there in an open area in the forest as if nothing had happened.
I dropped to my knees beside him, " What are you doing, dragging me all the way out here, you silly dog." I said between gasping breaths.
Moose gave me a sloppy dog kiss on the face with a funny little bark before staring out into the trees with a puzzled look. I patted him on the head and looked around the clearing but didn't notice anything out of order.
I stood up and hooked his leash onto his collar to make sure that I didn't have any more problems with him running away. "Well boy, whatever you were chasing, it's long gone now, so let's go on back. I don't know about you, but it's way past my breakfast."
I know that it was probably just my imagination, but the whole way back to the barn, I had the uneasy feeling that someone was watching us. Right, when we reached the edge of the trees, I caught a flash of something from the corner of my eye, but when I turned, there was nothing there.
Moose and I were both hot and thirsty, so we stopped at the barn to get a cold drink of water from the pump outside when he started whining and looking inside. I readied my shotgun and cautiously stepped inside the cool darkness. Inside everything seemed to be undisturbed, and the dog was silent at my side, but I noticed that he was looking alertly up at the hayloft.
I groaned inwardly, looking at the steep stairwell leading up into the hayloft. Heights just weren't my thing, and I can't imagine why a zombie would be up there in the first place, but it would have to be checked out just in case. I was almost to the top when Moose, from his position on the barn floor below, let out a loud howl. Almost immediately afterward, I heard a shuffling noise coming from the loft.
Moving quickly, I readied my shotgun just in time to fire off a quick shot when the zombie reached the top of the stairs. The body toppled forward, and I tried to duck out of the way, but unfortunately, there was nowhere to go. In the confusion I dropped my shotgun, which discharged another blast when it hit the floor, but, luckily the shot missed Moose, who was still down there, barking his head off. I tried to grab the railing, but lost my balance when the zombie hit me, and ended up falling several feet down the stairs, where I was brought to a painful halt by my long braid catching on a splintered portion on the side of the stairs.
The pain in my scalp brought tears to my eyes that obscured my vision as I rapidly blinked to clear them. I tried to reach up and free my hair but couldn't quite reach it when a sudden movement at the top of the stairs brought my head up.
"Oh crap," I breathed; there was another zombie up there. I reached for my handgun before remembering that it was still back at the house with Lucas. The shotgun was only a few feet away on the barn floor, but it might have been a mile because my braid was caught so tightly I couldn't pull it loose. At this point, the zombie hadn't yet noticed me on the stairs and was instead looking down at Moose, but I knew that it was only a matter of time before it saw me on the stairs.
Only a few seconds had passed, but time almost seemed to slow down to a crawl as the thoughts flashed through my mind. At most, I had only a few seconds left before I became dinner for that zombie, so I had to move fast. Unobtrusively, I reached down with my right hand and slid my knife from its holster on my leg, and quickly sawed through the braid.
It was at that moment that Moose sprang into action. Still barking furiously, he ran up the stairs and planted himself between the zombie and me.
Completely ignoring the pup who had grabbed onto its pant leg and stubbornly refused to let go. The zombie at the top of the stairs uttered an inhuman shriek and tottered there for a moment, desperately trying to reach me before its pants ripped, and it plunged to the floor. Where seemingly dazed, it sat quietly for a moment, still ignoring Moose, who was now barking frantically in its face.
Quickly I dropped to the floor and grabbed my shotgun, automatically firing as I rolled, hitting the now recovered zombie in the center of its forehead and putting an end to its undead life once and for all.
"What the hell happened here?" Grandma's voice rang out from the open doorway, where Mary joined her, no doubt both were attracted by the sound of gunshots.
I shrugged, "nothing much, Moose, and I found a couple of Z's hiding in the barn, but we managed to take care of them."
"Well, that seems to be the last of them," Mary remarked and picked up Moose's leash from where it was trailing behind him.
"This guy deserves a big steak," I said and patted him on the head when he leaned adoringly against my side.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone