Ashton Memorial (19 page)

Maylee stood on her tiptoes, trying to see
through the window. She could hear Mom and Dalton talking inside.
She strained, but couldn't see them.

“Hey,” said Park, standing
a few feet away.

She lowered herself down
and turned to face him. “Yeah?”

“Maylee, right?” he said,
rain running down his long stringy hair and scruffy
beard.

Maylee nodded.

“I think they're okay,
Maylee,” he said, nodding toward the window. “We can both hear them
talking and no one sounds upset.”

Maylee looked up at the window, then back to
Park. She nodded, then crossed her arms and leaned against the
wall. Her bat was propped up beside her. She knew corpses were
crowded on either side of them. She'd left a group of them in the
back yard. Another group was crowding the front door. But they
seemed to have no memory at all. Once she and the others were out
of sight, they were forgotten.

“Hey Maylee,” said
Park.

“Yeah?” she
said.

“You and your brother saw
the hallway, right? The girls' rooms? My girls, I mean?”

She nodded.
“Yeah.”

He paused to scratch at his
beard. He wiped rain from his face. “You didn't see any...any sign
of...”

Maylee understood, and
shook her head. “No. Nothing.”

Park nodded, looking down
at the ground. “Well, that's something.”

Maylee nodded.

For a few minutes they stood quietly.
Corpses groaned off in the distance. Maylee kept glancing at the
corners of the house, wondering how long they had before one of the
corpses in the front or back yard noticed them. The rain slowed to
a light mist.

Groaning came from above her. She jerked,
her hand flying to the bat propped next to her, before she realized
the groans were Dalton. Glass crunched.

“Dalton!” she cried,
spinning to look up at the window.

“What?” said Dalton as he
crawled out onto the ledge. He had a purple bruise on his forehead.
“I'm fine. Geez.”

Mom's head appeared in the
window, over Dalton. “Be careful.”

“I am, Mom,” said Dalton,
crawling farther out.

Mom grabbed the back of his
shirt. “Park. Help.”

Park stepped up to help Dalton down. Dalton
took a step, limping.

“You okay there, kid?” said
Park.

“I'm fine,” said Dalton,
waving him away.

Groans came from the back
yard. Closer. Park looked up at Mom. “We gotta move.”

Mom nodded, climbing out
onto the ledge and hopping down. “Okay.” She looked left and right.
Maylee followed her gaze, looking for corpses. “Shit, Park. I'm
sorry your kids weren't here.”

“Yeah, well,” said Park,
“the way things have gone here, I'm kind of glad they
aren't.”

Mom nodded, then started for the car. Maylee
followed, helping Dalton limp along next to her. Park followed.

They moved across the yard as quickly and
quietly as they could. Corpses still crammed into the front door,
still faced away from the street. A few corpses had wandered far
off. The dog barked at them as they hurried toward the car.

Groans came from the porch. Louder than
before. The whole group stopped. Tension shot up Maylee's back as
she looked toward the porch.

The corpses had seen. They groaned and
stumbled off the porch, toward them.

“Aaaand shit,” said Park.
“Move!”

They ran for the car, corpses stumbling
behind. They yanked open the doors and climbed inside as fast as
they could. Mom in the driver’s seat, Park passenger, Maylee and
Dalton in the back. Corpses stumbled up the yard, halfway to the
car.

Mom fumbled with the keys and jabbed them
into the ignition. She turned them. The engine complained but
sprang to life. The nearest corpse reached the car. It was a woman
with long stringy hair and blood-covered teeth. She hissed and
pawed at the hood.

“Sorry babe,” said Mom,
pulling the shifter to drive and stomping on the gas. The car shot
away from the curb, leaving the house and corpses
behind.

“Where are we even going?”
said Mom, steering the car up the street.

“I don't know,” said Park,
pounding his fist on the door handle. “The school
maybe?”

Maylee's pocket buzzed. It surprised her so
much she jumped a little in her seat. Then she remembered the
phone. She fished it out so fast some of the glitter glue scraped
off into her pocket.

“What school?” said
Mom.

“The school my girls went
to,” said Park. “They weren't home, so maybe they were still at
school.”

Maylee flipped open the
phone and looked at the screen.
Message:
Lori
, it said.

“Hey,” said
Maylee.

Either Mom didn't hear or
was ignoring her. “Do you even know what school they were going
to?”

Maylee pressed a button on
the phone to open the text message.
Ella?
, it said.

“How would I fucking know
what school they were going to?” said Park.

Who is
this?
, Maylee typed and sent.

Your sister. No time for joking around.

Maylee frowned and
typed.
I'm not Ella.

“Oh I don't know, Parker,”
said Mom from the front seat, steering the car. “Maybe you would
know something about them through the magical power of being their
fucking father!”

Who is this?
said the phone.

“Guys!” said Maylee. No
one listened. She frowned and typed as fast she could.
My name's Maylee. I'm with your dad.

Gregory? Here with me.

No, your real dad. Parker. We found your
sister's phone. Where are you?

“Oh don't you dare start up
with that shit!” said Park. “Just because you think you're
mother-fucking parent of the year or some shit.”

“Guys!” shouted Maylee,
staring at the phone. No one listened. The phone buzzed as a new
message came in.

At the zoo. Ella must’ve left her phone at
home. We're both here. Gregory has me tied up, won't let me go.

Maylee typed, moving her
thumbs over the small keypad as accurately as she could.
Let me call you. You can talk to your
dad.

No time. He's coming. Gotta go.

Then the phone was silent.

“You're no fucking parent
at all!” yelled Mom. “The only reason you even fucking know where
they fucking live is because you're legally obligated to be
told!”

“Guys!” Maylee yelled at
the top of her voice. The car fell silent. Dalton stared at
her.

“Goddammit what, Maylee?”
yelled Mom.

Maylee held the phone out
toward the front seat. “I know where they are.”

* * *

Ella paced the Communications Office, her
arms wrapped tightly around her frame. She hated that she was back
in the office without Lori. She hated that she was pacing again.
She'd made no progress whatsoever.

She shuddered, feeling free to do it since
the room was empty. She remembered the old man gripping her, the
crazy woman yelling at her. How long had it been? Two days? Did
people lose their minds that quickly? And what was wrong with the
animals? They used to love her.

Ella heard Caleb and Shelley talking from
the breakroom. They spoke quietly to each other, sounding scared.
Caleb and Shelley were the only ones in the breakroom. The three of
them were the only ones in the whole office. All the other Keepers
were at the Bites.

Lee and the Keepers had won. The crowd, tired of
being drugged or killed, had panicked and broken up. Lee and the
Keepers had taken over the Bites, high-fiving each other and
laughing. Ella had seen it on one of the screens Caleb used.

Ella paced faster. She was scared and angry.
Where was her sister? What were Caleb and Shelley going to do to
help find her? They were older than Ella, but they were just as
scared as she was.

They were hurt, too. Ella stepped over to
the breakroom and stood in the doorway. Caleb and Shelley sat at
one of the tables, leaning toward each other and talking. Caleb
clutched one of his arms. Shelley had bruises on her face. Ella was
the only one of the three who was unhurt. Caleb no longer wore his
Keeper vest. He'd left it slung over one of the chairs in the main
room. Ella wondered if it meant Caleb was done being in charge. So
who was left?

They didn't notice her standing there.

Ella shook her head and paced back into the
Communications Office. She sighed at the screens, all showing
different aspects of the zoo. She could see more animals biting and
growling. Stomping their feet angrily at nothing.

Her eyes landed on one screen, showing a
still image of the street outside the zoo. Ella suddenly
remembered. Caleb had been showing her the recording of the night
Stepdad brought Lori back to the zoo. The night everything had gone
insane.

She stepped over to the screen and stared at
it. It was paused and frozen in place. She briefly considered
calling to Caleb. Asking him to unpause it. But no. He was hurt and
scared. Ella could do it.

Ella looked at the panel below the screen,
confused by the dials and buttons. There were too many to make
sense of. But there was a button that was blinking. Ella shrugged
and clicked it.

The image unfroze and continued.

First it showed nothing new. Just the same
view of the street. Then a man came into frame. Ella blinked and
recognized it as Gregory. He pulled a teen girl after him. The
image was blurry but Ella could tell it was Lori. Lori struggled as
Gregory tried to lead her across the street.

The image was silent but Ella saw Lori yell
something at Gregory. Gregory turned to her and yelled back. It
made Ella's chest constrict. Stepdad never yelled like that. Lori's
face was too blurry to make out full expressions, but Ella knew she
was scared. Ella wished she could climb into the recording and
knock Stepdad in the head. Free Lori from him.

Gregory pulled on Lori, trying to force her
across the street. Lori wrenched away, screaming something at him.
Gregory stepped over and slapped her across the face.

Hard.

Ella gasped, stepping back from the screen.
Fury built in her. She'd have smashed the screen in if she believed
there was the slightest chance of it somehow hurting him.

She was done. She stepped back up and
clicked the button she'd used before. The image froze and the
button resumed blinking. In the image, Lori had her head turned,
still reacting to the force of the slap. Stepdad's arm was extended
in the follow-through of the slap.

Ella looked toward the breakroom, breathing
through her teeth. Caleb and Shelley would try to stop her. She
couldn't ask them. She couldn't even tell them.

She'd find Lori herself.

She walked to the chair with Caleb's vest
slung over it. She felt in the front pocket until she found his
keycard. She slipped it into her jeans pocket and strode toward the
door that led out.

She opened it as quietly as she could,
bracing as cold wet air rushed in. She looked back toward the
breakroom and listened. Caleb and Shelley were still talking
quietly. No sign they'd heard.

Ella looked back at the paused screen. At
the frozen image of Gregory striking Lori.

“Fuck you, Stepdad,”
whispered Ella. She stepped outside and shut the door.

Eight

Angie pulled the car into the lot of Ashton
Memorial Zoo. It was clogged full of cars, parked at odd angles.
Cars were crushed into others, blocking any way through. Angie only
got the car in a few feet before she had to stop.

She pushed the shifter into
park and drummed her fingers on the steering wheel. Night was
falling. Light rain drummed on the windshield. “Gee,” she said.
“And I thought parking was a bitch the last time I brought the kids
here.”

Park nodded, staring out at
the lot. “Okay. Just let me out here. I'll find them.”

“Don't be a fucking moron,
Parker,” said Angie. “I'll help you.”

“And do what?” said Park,
turning to her. “Leave the kids in the car? Or will you bring them
with you? Either way's not safe. These are my kids. My issue. You
get the fuck out of here.”

Angie frowned at him, then looked at Maylee
and Dalton in the back seat. Dalton was staring out the side
window. Maylee was clutching her bat and looking very serious. Like
she was straining to appear adult.

Park had a point. But she didn't have the
slightest idea what to do about it.

“We'll come, too, Mom,”
said Maylee, leaning forward. “I'll protect Dalton. We'll be
safe.”

Angie sighed back at her.
“Maylee...”

Dalton looked at her. The
bruise on his forehead still looked angry. “We have to help Mr.
Park, Mom.”

Angie looked at him, then
at Park. Park shrugged. “You know what I think,” said Park. “So
whatever you want to do.”

Angie took in a deep breath
and let it out. “Fine. We're going. If the kids are in the zoo,
they must have it locked down or something. If we can get inside,
it'll be safer than here. We can decide what to do in the
morning.”

Maylee nodded.

“But,” Angie said, turning
around in the seat and giving Maylee her best stern look, “you be
more careful than you've ever been in your life. You stay the hell
away from anything that even looks like a corpse.”