Ashton Memorial (36 page)

Then Ella shrieked and thick red blood ran
down her torso. It ran onto Maylee's hands and arms.

“No!” screamed Maylee. “Oh
god no!”

Ella shrieked and bucked. More blood ran
downward, splattering onto Maylee's cheeks. Ella’s screams grew
softer and wetter. More gurgles than screams.

“No!” Maylee screamed,
pulling as hard as she could. She heard moaning and chewing from up
above.

“What the fuck!” came
Park's voice from inside the alcove. Ella was pulled upward, out of
Maylee's grip. She vanished from sight.

“No!” Maylee bellowed. She
ran over to the wall and grabbed her bat. She ran to the ladder
that led to the upper level and grabbed hold. She swung out over
the bear exhibit and climbed. She could no longer hear Ella
screaming.

“Ella!” came Park's voice
from below her. “Kid!”

Maylee climbed, rain pounding down around
her. Her hands slipped on the wet rungs but she managed to hold on,
even with her bat tucked under one of her arms. She reached the top
of the hill and climbed over. A group of corpses surrounded a
broken, bloody form on the ground. Maylee knew what the form was
but refused to look at it.

“Fuckers!” yelled Maylee,
slamming her bat into the nearest corpse. It fell to one side,
still clutching at the torn form of Ella. A second corpse turned to
hiss at her. Maylee screamed at it and slammed her bat into its
skull.

The rest of the corpses groaned and turned
to her. She knew there were too many to take on herself. She didn't
care. She swung like a crazy person, slamming into every corpse she
could.

“Kid!” came Park's voice
from below, sounding closer. Maylee heard him grunting, heard the
ladder creak, and knew he was climbing up after her.

“Fuck!” yelled Park behind
her, clear and unmuffled. “Fuck! No!” His voice sounded thick,
choked, and Maylee knew he'd seen what was left of Ella. Maylee
refused to look fully at it. She forced the image to remain a vague
mass of red and rumpled clothing. She screamed and kept swinging.
She knocked one corpse aside but three more drew close. She knocked
another one down but five more took its place. She screamed into
the pounding rain, beyond thought or caring.

“Kid!” yelled Park, his
voice still thick and hoarse. “Get out of there!”

Maylee ignored him and kept swinging. Her
bat thudded into corpse after corpse, sending jolts up her body.
She refused to look at Ella's body.

“Dammit kid!” yelled Park.
Maylee heard him pull himself the rest of the way up the ladder.
She felt his hand close on her jacket.

“No!” she yelled, swinging
blindly. “Let me kill these fuckers!”

“Don't get your goddamn
stupid self killed! Get out of there now!”

Park pulled her toward the ladder. Maylee
stumbled backward, still swinging. She didn't pay any attention to
where she was going. She swung as she staggered backward, Park's
hand still clutching her jacket. Then the ground vanished from
under her feet.

“Fuck, kid!” yelled Park.
“Look out!”

Maylee screamed and fell backward off of the
ledge. Park, still holding her jacket, fell as she pulled him off
the ladder. He followed her down. They both plummeted through the
pounding rain, past the alcove and toward the bear exhibit. Maylee
braced herself for impact.

Then, with a tremendous crash, water
engulfed her. For a second she was confused, gasping and sputtering
before she sunk. The bat slipped from her hand and Park let go.
Then she realized. They'd fallen into the pool.

Maylee kicked herself to the surface. She
broke through the water, coughing into the rain. Park burst through
several feet away.

“Kid!” he
yelled.

“Here!” said Maylee,
swimming to where her bat had bobbed to the surface. She grabbed
the bat then swam to Park.

“Fuck, kid, that was
stupid.”

“I'm sorry,” Maylee said,
then before she knew it she was crying. Sobbing. “I'm sorry! I
tried to save her! I tried!”

“Kid, kid,” said Park,
grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking. “It's not your fault.
It's not your fault.”

A loud snorting and growling came from
Maylee's left. Getting closer. Maylee gasped as she remembered.

“The bear!” she
yelled.

She heard the bear race to the edge of the
pool and leap. The water around her and Park grew dark.

“Shit!” said
Park.

Maylee put her feet on Park's torso and
pushed away from him. Park swam backward as Maylee shot back
through the water.

They got roughly ten feet away from each
other when the bear slammed into the water between them. It
thrashed around, enraged and looking for them.

“Get to the edge!” yelled
Park, his voice obscured by the furious thrashing of the
bear.

The bear growled and swiped a wet paw at
Maylee. She screamed and swam backward, swinging the bat as best
she could. The water slowed her down and made swinging too awkward
to do any good. The bear lunged for her. Maylee swam to one side,
the bear passing her so close she could see its hair glistening as
it went by.

“Get to the fucking edge!”
yelled Park. With a grunt, Park kicked the bear in the side. The
bear growled and turned to face him.

“That's right asshole,”
yelled Park. “This way!” He backed up in the water and the bear
followed. The bear lunged and Park swam away. The bear turned in
the water to growl at Park.

Park looked at Maylee.
“What the fuck are you staring at? Get to the edge!”

Maylee nodded and swam for the edge of the
pool. She heard Park taunting the bear and the bear lunging. She
heard splashing as Park stayed out of the way. Mostly she heard her
own breathing and the splashing of her own limbs in the water. She
wondered how long Park could keep away from the bear. She wondered
if he wanted to. She told herself the craziness that seemed to grip
all the animals also made them make stupid decisions. She hoped
that would help Park. She hoped Park wanted the help.

Maylee reached the edge and threw her bat
onto the dirt of the exhibit. She pulled herself up, panting as the
rain slammed down around her. She heard Park shouting, splashing in
the water and taunting the bear. She snatched up her bat and turned
to face the pool.

Park was close to the far
edge of the pool. The bear growled at him and thrashed around in
the water. “Come on, asshole!” yelled Park, splashing water into
the bear's face. The bear sputtered and snorted in fury. “What the
fuck are you waiting for?”

“Park!” yelled Maylee. She
ran along the edge of the pool, around to the far end where Park
was. The bear was about to lunge. Park wasn't moving.
Oh shit
, Maylee
realized.
He waited until I was out of the
pool and now he's letting the bear kill him
.

Screaming, Maylee ran to the edge and
slammed her bat down onto the skull of the bear. The bear stopped
mid-lunge. It whined and fell back, still snarling and looking at
Park.

“Get back you
motherfucker!” yelled Maylee. She swung the bat underhand at the
bear, catching it on the chin. The bear's head whipped back and it
fell backward into the water. It floated there, stunned.

“Hurry!” Maylee yelled to
Park. “Now you get to the edge!”

Park swam to the edge and climbed up. “You should
have let him kill me, kid.”

“Nothing doing,” said
Maylee. “We gotta get to my mom and brother. And we gotta save
Ella's sister.”

Park stared at her. Then he
nodded. “Fuck yeah we do.”

“So let's go,” said Maylee.
“Ella told me the way.”

Fifteen

Maylee stomped through the rain in silence,
bat tightly gripped in her right hand. Park plodded along next to
her. They both were quiet, determined. Maylee had lost track of how
long they walked. Of how long they'd gone without speaking. It felt
like she would never speak again.

The death of Ella ate away at her heart with
a ferocity that surprised her. But she felt too guilty to say so.
As bad as she felt, she was certain Park felt worse.

No corpses had attacked during the last
hour. Maylee wished some would. She wanted to beat some to a pulp.
She could tell Park felt the same.

Ella had been her friend.

Ella had kissed her.

Then Ella was dead.

They rounded a corner in
silence, then stopped. A small building sat on the other end of a
paved walkway. A sign next to it read
Communications Office
.

“Fuck,” said Park, his
voice sounding odd after hours of silence. “Finally.”

“I hope Mom and Dalton are
there,” said Maylee.

Park said nothing, then nodded.

“Sorry,” said
Maylee.

“Don't,” said Park.
“Fucking don't.”

Maylee said nothing. They both stared out at
the opening in silence. Maylee wanted to make a run for it, rush to
the office, throw open the door and embrace Dalton and her mother.
But she knew they couldn't take the risk. They had to be smart. The
events of the morning had proven that.

“At least the rain's let up
a little,” she said. And it had. It still came down, but not as
heavy as before. Visibility was better. They'd be able to see the
corpses coming. Hopefully.

Park nodded. “Yep. Let's
go.”

Maylee nodded and they stepped out into the
area. Groans erupted all around them.

“Fuck-a-doodle-do,” said
Maylee, gripping the bat.

“Well said,” said Park,
pulling out his knife.

Several corpses stumbled from the
surrounding trees and bushes. Rain pelted on their rotting heads,
running down the folds and tears in their ruined flesh. They hissed
and worked their jaws. They reached for Park and Maylee.

“Come get some,” said
Maylee, quietly. She brought the bat up and swung for the nearest
corpse, a large man wearing a sports jersey and with part of his
face burned away. The bat whacked into his skull, sending him
stumbling into a small elderly woman with her throat torn out. They
both fell over onto the pavement, groaning and grasping at each
other. Maylee ran up to them and beat both their heads to pulp with
short, sharp whacks. Part of her was troubled at how easy it was.
Most of her didn't care.

To her left, she saw Park rush up to a fat
man missing both eyes. Park shoved the knife into the top of the
fat man's head. The fat man hissed and bit at Park, seemingly
oblivious to the blade in his skull.

“Shit!” said Park. “This
guy’s got a thick skull or a small brain!”

“Let go!” yelled Maylee,
rushing toward Park and the fat man.

“What?”

“I said let go!” yelled
Maylee. As she drew near, she brought the bat up over her
head.

Park nodded, seeming to realize what she had
in mind. He let go of the knife and stepped back. Then, at the last
moment, he kicked at the fat man's legs. The fat man fell to his
knees, sending a horrible cracking noise across the pavement. The
fat man gurgled and reached for Park, knife sticking out of the top
of his head.

Maylee reached the corpse and, letting out a
loud scream, slammed the bat down on the handle of the knife. The
knife was driven down so deep part of the handle disappeared into
the fat man's skull. The fat man jerked, gurgled, and fell forward.
He crashed onto the pavement with a wet squelching noise and was
still.

“Thanks, I think,” said
Park.

Maylee turned to him,
frowning. “You think?”

“You think you could get
that fucking knife out of there now?”

Maylee frowned down at the
knife handle buried deep in the fat man's skull. “Oh yeah.
Sorry.”

“I told you to stop saying
that.”

Five more corpses drew close. Maylee yelled
and rushed the closest one. It was a thin man with no pants and
blood covering where his privates should have been.

“Sure wish I had a goddamn
knife right now,” said Park, to Maylee's right. She saw him stoop
down to pick up a rock and fling it at a teenage girl in a
fast-food uniform. The rock caved in the front of the girl's skull
and she fell over backward.

“I bet you do,” said
Maylee, smirking as she reached the thin man with the missing
privates. She whipped her bat down and across, connecting with his
stomach. He doubled over, groaning and vomiting black blood. Maylee
brought the bat up and slammed down on the back of his head. He
fell forward, smacking into the wet pavement. Maylee slammed down
on his skull, cracking it. The man flopped and was
still.

Maylee turned. Three corpses left. They
staggered and lurched through the rain. The one closest to Maylee,
a withered old man covered in dirt that had turned to mud in the
rain, grabbed at her, chattering his rotten teeth.

“How many rocks left?” she
yelled to Park.

“One,” said Park, kneeling
with a grunt to pick up the rock. “Thanks so much for
asking.”

“No problem,” said Maylee,
twirling her bat round and round as the old man approached her.
When he was close enough, Maylee whacked him across the temple with
the bat. The old man's long-rotted skull exploded, sending bone and
thick muck across the wet pavement. Rain pelted the muck,
splattering it onto Maylee's shoes. Maylee was past caring. The old
man was still but locked in midstep, balanced in front of Maylee
mid-grab.