Survival Instinct: A Zombie Novel (51 page)

As the frantic feet neared the final landing where Kara would be able to see him, she was reminded of her time in Africa.  She had found a band of natives that lived off the land who were willing to teach her their ways.  She had spear hunted with them several times.  This though, was more like the night
when the lions came and they had to protect the small village.

Phillip appeared on the landing.  He stopped and stared down at Kara.  Maybe he saw the weapon and was hesitating.  As suddenly as he appeared, he charged down the stairs.  Kara was ready.  She
sidestepped quickly, swinging her cane out and catching Phillip in the side of the face.  He stumbled past her, a large gash tearing across his cheek.  He turned quickly, unaffected by the pain, and came at her again.  This time, she stuck the knife into his chest.  Holding the end of the cane kept her just out of his reach, but the fact that he was still trying scared her.  She knew she had just punctured his lung, but he was completely unaffected.  During their struggle, the knife would shift locations, slicing his insides, but that didn’t seem to stop him at all.  Kara didn’t know what to do.  She managed to push him back until his legs tangled up over a footrest.  He fell over backwards, the knife sliding out.  With a tribal yell, Kara leaped upon him and drove the knife into his face.  It slid across his skull but managed to find his soft eye to pierce through.  Once it punctured through the back of the socket, Phillip stopped moving.

Kara backed away, panting and fearful.  She was afraid he would suddenly get back up.  The cane and knife stuck straight up from his face, unmoving.  There was a surprising lack of blood.  Just as Kara decided she should step forward and take her weapon back, a low gargle came from the
entranceway.  Kara spun on her heel, hands up, ready to defend herself.  Mrs. McGraw stood there, her formerly crisp clean shirt soaked with blood.

* * *

“Mrs. McGraw.”  Kara got out of her defensive position.  She suddenly felt badly for what she had done to Phillip, not that she wouldn’t do it again if necessary.  “I’m glad to see you’re all right.”  Although she didn’t know how that was possible.  “I’m so sorry.”

Kara took a step toward Mrs. McGraw.  Mrs. McGraw, on the other hand, charged at her with the same look in her eyes that Phillip had.  Kara hurried backwards but Mrs. McGraw caught up to her.  Kara’s back was slammed into the glass covering the gas fireplace.  The woman’s teeth snapped at her face but Kara managed to hold her off by grabbing her forehead with both hands.  Mrs. McGraw was clawing at Kara’s shoulders, hard enough to tear her blouse.  Kara was thinking this might be the end for her when something cracked off the back of Mrs. McGraw’s head, releasing a pungent but familiar odour.  As she turned, Kara had an opportunity to duck away and she took it.

Walter stood at the entrance to the living room holding a decorative oil lamp.  Kara looked and saw that he had already thrown its twin at Mrs. McGraw and that that was what had cracked over her head.  The smell was the oil now covering her and the throw rug.

Mrs. McGraw screeched through her torn throat, preparing to charge.  Walter wound up like a baseball player and hurled the other lamp.  Although his aim would have been perfect, Mrs. McGraw ducked out of the way.  The lamp struck the glass in front of the fireplace.  It must have been weakened from when Kara had been slammed into it because it shattered.  There was an audible whoosh as the oil from the lamp met the pilot light inside the fireplace.  Mrs. McGraw was instantly on fire.  She charged at Walter anyway.

Kara, who had managed to cross the room once more, grabbed Walter out of the way.  The flaming Mrs. McGraw ran past, blinded by flames.  She crossed the hall into the dining room and slammed into the table.  Fire was spreading everywhere.

“Where’s Alice?” Kara had to shout over the roar as the flames licked their way up the drapes.

“She should be just outside with Shoes!”  Walter grabbed Kara’s hand and led her toward the front door.  The place was already filling with smoke and heat.

Kara glanced into the dining room just before it was out of sight.  Inside, Mrs. McGraw was still running around, bumping into things and spreading the fire even faster.

The air outside was refreshing.  Although Kara had registered the heat of the fire, she didn’t realize just how hot it was.  The sun now seemed cool in comparison.  Alice had moved away from the house, and Kara spotted her round little face peeking up over the hood of the BMW.  Walter hurried over to her.  Kara went slower, the gravel driveway hurting her feet through her socks; not to mention she was tired from her struggles.  Walter didn’t have shoes on either, but he seemed fine with it.  When Alice came out from behind the car, Kara saw that her little shoes were back on her feet.  Walter took her hand and they headed for the gate again, the dog at their heels.  Walter had made a makeshift leash by tying the string from the drawer to his collar.  With the rest of the string still wound around the roll in Alice’s hand, Shoes came across as a too-heavy-to-fly kite.  Walter must have taken it right before he went to hide with Alice.

Kara decided to walk on the grass; it was easier on her feet.  She turned and looked at her home.  The whole first floor was already aglow with firelight, but the upper floors were still untouched.  Alarms were sounding but no one would answer them.  She could picture the
fireproof shutters, around her more expensive artifacts, closing, trying to protect them.  They were supposed to last long enough for the fire department to put out the blaze, but without them, the artifacts might not survive.  So much more than her home was being lost to her right now.  Treasures that would be dear to the world, as well as treasures dear only to her, like her father’s glasses and microscope, her mother’s quilts and wedding dress, photos of her sister and her.

“Ms. Taggart.”  Walter had come back and placed a hand on her shoulder.  “We should be going.  The alarm may draw more of them like they did at that other house.”

Kara nodded once and turned on her heel.  It must have also been hard on Walter, because everything he owned was in that house as well.  At least now, she understood how the fire in the distance was started.

Walter walked up to the gate and punched in the code.  He stepped through but immediately stopped.  Kara spotted the gun pointed at his head.  It was coming from an oddly low angle as if held by a child.  Walter put his hands up in the universal sign of surrender.

“Is there anyone else?” Kara heard a man’s voice ask.

“Yes,” Walter answered without moving
,  “a woman and a child.”

“Can you all come out here, please?” the man called loudly, but the gun was removed.  Walter put his hands down.  He turned to face the man, then looked at Kara and Alice.  He nodded.  Alice took Kara’s hand and walked through the gate with her.

Kara was surprised to find a gruff-looking man in a wheelchair and a young boy wearing a military helmet.  It explained the low angle of the gun.

“Can one of you drive?” the boy asked with eyes full of hope.

“Of course we can,” Kara frowned.

“Then we have a proposition for you.”  The man in the wheelchair offered his hand to shake.  “My name is Alec McGregor, this is Danny Cole.”

“Kara Taggart.”  Kara shook the offered hand.  “This is Walter Dodds, and Alice Carter.”

“And this is Shoes,” Alice piped up, gesturing to her floppy dog.

“I’m going to make this quick,” McGregor spoke fast.  “We think it’s best to get out of the city.  We have a place to go to, but we need a ride.  It’s far away, and you don’t have to come the whole way if you don’t want to, but we’d greatly appreciate any distance you could take us.”

“What’s in it for us?”  Kara never gave anything
free.

“Well, I assume that’s your house.”  McGregor gestured with his head.  “Which means you don’t have anywhere to go, and no supplies.”

“He’s right,” Walter admitted.

Kara scowled at him.  He had no skill for negotiations.

“I’m also a former military sniper with weapons,” McGregor added.

“He’s got a hell of a shot,” the boy chimed in.

“Make your decision quick because that fire is going to bring them in a flock.”  McGregor quickly checked the area around them.

“We don’t have a car,” Kara pointed out.  “The keys to mine were left in the house.”

“That’s fine, I can hotwire one.  Just point me to it.”  McGregor rolled himself to the gate and looked through.  “The Jeep would be perfect.”

“Please
, Ms. Kara?”  Alice swung her arm and looked at her with doe eyes.

Kara took a quick look around the group.  Another child and now a cripple.  All of them looked like they wanted to agree though, and she could be left behind if Walter said he’d drive.  “Fine.”  She stepped back through the gate.

They all hurried back up the drive to the vehicles.  Danny helped push the wheelchaired man over the gravel.

“What happened to your shoulder?” McGregor asked Walter.

“We got attacked trying to get here,” Walter explained.  “Some guy bit my shoulder.”

McGregor got an unreadable look on his face, but Danny suddenly looked worried.  The boy whispered something in the man’s ear, but McGregor shook his head no.  Kara wondered what it was about.

“Do you know what’s happening?” she asked.

“No,” was all McGregor answered, his face as unreadable as granite.

They reached the Jeep, which was locked.  McGregor used the butt of his pistol to break open the driver’s window and unlock all the doors.  Thankfully Kara never turned on the alarm in her own driveway.  She had enough of alarms for one day.

“Put the stuff in the trunk,” McGregor told the boy.

Danny nodded and went to the trunk of the Jeep and opened it.  Kara went around the front and got into the passenger seat.  She’d let Walter drive.  She tried to watch the man hot wire her car, but it was too hard for her to see exactly what he was doing.  It was too bad, because that would’ve been a skill she’d like to know.

The boy came back and took McGregor’s sack.  It was clearly heavy by the way the kid dragged it.  Alice offered to help, although Kara couldn’t see her help being very useful.  Somehow, they managed to get it up into the trunk.The engine roared to life and McGregor backed away.

“Think you can help me?” he asked Walter.

“Sure, what can I do?”  Walter was always so helpful.

“I can get in the car on my own, but I’ll need you to put my chair in the trunk.”  McGregor opened the back door.

Walter held his chair steady while the man pulled himself up onto the back seat like a seal onto ice.  He pushed himself into an upright position and manipulated his legs until he was seated properly.

“See those levers on the sides there?”  McGregor pointed to something on his chair for Walter that Kara couldn’t see.  “Flip them both, then those two there, and the chair should fold together…  There you go.”

Walter carried the folded chair to the trunk while Danny and Alice climbed in next to McGregor.  Alice put on her seat belt right away.

“Put on your seat belt,” she dutifully told Danny.  “Bad things can happen if you don’t.”

Danny didn’t argue and buckled up.

“You too, mister,” she said to McGregor.

“Yes
, ma’am.”  McGregor gave her a grin as he put on his own belt.

“You have to put yours on too
, Kara, and tell Mister Walter when he gets in.”  Alice was being thorough.  “Come on, Shoes.”

The dog huffed and scrabbled up into the back underneath Alice’s feet.  The girl bent down and heaved the pooch up onto her lap just as Walter climbed into the driver’s seat.  He put on his belt right away so Alice didn’t have to tell him.  All the doors were closed.

“Anything I should know about the car before I start driving?” Walter asked McGregor.

“Well, if you want to turn off the engine, you have to separate a few wires, but I don’t think you need to worry about that.  Just head north for now.”  McGregor patted Walter’s uninjured shoulder.

Walter put the car in drive, and they started rolling forward.  Kara looked toward the car-sized gates and noticed several people had gathered there, reaching through the bars.

“What do we do?” Walter asked at large.

“Can you open the gates from inside the car?”  McGregor peered around the driver’s seat.

“Yes.”  Kara pointed out a small black object that looked like a garage door opener attached to her visor.

“Good.  Then open the gates, and drive right through them.”  McGregor leaned back in his seat.

With that, Kara gained respect for the man.  He was cold, but he knew what needed to be done and had no remorse about it.  She watched as Walter took a deep breath and let it out slowly.  She reached over and placed a hand on one of his.  When he looked at her, she gave him a reassuring nod.  It had to be done.

“All right.  Hold on back there.”  Walter reached over and pressed the button, and then gunned the accelerator.

The moment the gates swung open, the handful of people rushed in.  Kara squeezed her eyes shut as the Jeep and humans met.  There were a few bumps to either side of the vehicle but it didn’t feel like they had actually run over anything.  When Kara opened her eyes, they were on the street and racing north.