Decaying Hearts

Chapter 10

   I left Emma with the torch and my backpack, along with the rest of my loot; I prayed I’d be back for it. I poised my hammer high in the air, ready for the hit and pushed the door open; hastily, I slammed the door back shut behind me. The roars of the dead were so loud I was almost paralysed by shock; almost, there was no time to freeze. Three more corpses had gathered in the house during our short stay in the closet.
    I smashed my hammer in to the skull of the first corpse, the one that that had attacked Emma in the kitchen and then kicked the body in front of the door, masking the smell of living bodies behind it. The hammer was jammed in to the head of the attacker, leaving me armed only with the gun at my waist, which I wasn’t prepared to use, yet.  Rule number one of surviving the apocalypse; save your ammo. Rule two; don’t draw attention and gun fire would definitely draw attention to the house.
    The three bodies that had made their way into the house now ran with a staggered motion towards me, their eyes locked on me with teeth clashing insanely. It was like they were willing the chew through anything, air, furniture, humans.
     I ran back to the kitchen in search of something, anything, but these guys were quicker than I and I’m betting hungrier than I could imagine. I reached for the dinning chair and swung outward. It hit a body with such force that the chair shattered in my hands, leaving nothing but a jagged leg. It would have to do.
    Another body lurched for me and ironically impaled itself on to the leg in my hands, the splintered wood made its way through its body and poked out harshly of it’s back. It wasn’t dead but it certainly slowed the corpse down long enough for me to retrieve a dangerous looking knife from the stand on the counter and clumsily stabbed the teeth in the brain several times before it eventually collapsed to the once yellow tiles.
   Within seconds the body was on top of me and the knife fell from my grasp. I heard the blade clatter against the blood-bathed tiles and skid just out of reach as my heart sank. The body fought against me with its teeth growing closer and closer to my neck, like a starved vampire of the night. At least with a vampire, I imagined the survival rate to be much higher.
   Defenceless, I might as well surrender myself to the corpse, hand myself over as dinner. The teeth were stronger than me and apparently more determined.
   But suddenly, blood splattered across my face and the body tumbled gracelessly to the floor. The body lay there lifelessly, peaceful. Ignoring the obvious greyish tone to the skin and the bones that beneath it, it would be hard to distinguished between a human dead body and a fallen corpse. I rapidly wipe my mouth making sure none of the dark fluid made it past my lips.
   Stood in front of me, in place of the teeth, was Emma. Her eyes held wide, I could almost swear I saw the blue of hers eyes swirl in the mayhem. Her arm fell to her side and gore dripped from the knife to the tile next to the carcass. Her blonde hair fell astray from her ponytail now, no longer maintaining her original perfection. She had held the Moses basket in other hand with my back pack hoisted on to her shoulder and just inches away from her was the littler, clutching tight to a stuffed bear and a broken frame.
   I nodded a thank you to Emma, with no time for words as the door collapsed and one by one the teeth pushed their way in. Salvia slavered down the mangled chins of the dead bu their jaws continued to clash together with the ferocity of starved lions.
   “Come on!” I grabbed on to the little girl’s wrist and ushered Emma to follow, leading them both up the stairs, all the way to the top floor.
    At the top floor, the only place left to go was the attic. We couldn’t see what was in there, which was a danger in itself but being pursued by danger, it was lesser of two evils. My stomach lurched at the sound of the teeth struggling up the stairs but it wouldn’t take long until we would be in their sights.
   To get to the loft, there was a single hovering string falling from the ceiling and with one hard tug, it brought down a set of creaky old stairs. I pushed Emma to go first; she would need to check the coast was clear before risking send our new recruit into danger whilst I watched for our pursuing predators.
   Finally, with the three of us tucked up into the loft, with all my strength I pulled the heavy wooden stair case back with desperation to keep out the carnivorous hell. A set of rotten fingers clasped on to the final step just inches away from the promise of closure. All three of us pulled with all we could, fighting with death it’s self and just as we thought we failed, with the image of a corpse ripping in the flesh of Emma or the little girl whirled through my mind, the lid slammed shut. All that remained of the struggle was a couple of dismantled fingers town, torn from the corpse.
   “You both okay?” I said through heavy breath.
   Emma gave a sarcastic thumb up as she slumped in to the dust covered armchair in the corner, whilst the girl nodded with a soft whimper.
   “Sweetie, are you hurt? Did one of them get you at all?” I asked, sternly. I held the girl by her arms and looked her over thoroughly; there had been dry blood on her clothes but no sign of a bite.
   “No.” She whispered softly, it was the first time she brought herself to speak.
   “Good.” I smiled kindly. “I’m Josh, what’s your name?”
   “Isabelle. Will my mummy be back soon?” She asked, surprisingly calmly.
   “I’m not sure sweetie, when did she leave?” With the mob that awaited outside, I hoped for a better fate for her missing mother.
   “A few days ago.”
   Shit, there was no sign of anything living in the town and the house was empty, except for the teeth that snapped at the lid, desperately finding a way in. It would only be a matter of time before one of them would absently pull the string and find their entry.
   “What about your daddy?”
   “He’s in the kitchen.” And Isabelle burst into tears. The warm tears strolled down her cheeks and dripped from the end of her chin.
    Realisation dawned on me. The man in the frame that she held was almost a carbon copy of the body that had attacked Emma.  The picture showed a happy guy with a white set of teeth compare to the blood stained ones in the corpse. He had bright blue eyes that were framed by the deep wrinkles of crow’s feet, but the disease had dulled them, turning them a deep grey. The wrinkles that encircled them only made them all the more haunting.
   The differences between the two were great, but the recognition was clear as day; it was clearly her father, making my heart wrench beneath my chest.
   “Isabelle, look at me.” I soothed, waiting until the tears almost stopped; I knew they never quite would, not yet. “We’re going to take care of you now, okay? I won’t let anything happen to you.”
   “But what about my mummy? She might come back for me.”
   I could feel my own tears well up and the hard lump form in my throat. I’ve never had to deal with anything this with anybody before, never mind a child; having to explain the definitive death of her father and the most likely loss of her mother. Isabelle would now live her life without parents, she was an orphan.
   “It’s okay. We’ll take care of you.” I lied, losing her family was most definitely not okay; but what else could you say to a little girl. So, I brought her into my embrace and held her tight, giving her all the comfort I could give, but we couldn’t the more pressing matter at hand. We needed to survive ourselves.
   I checked my watch and the two hours was almost up. Lenny and Tony was probably already at the rendezvous point waiting for us, it wouldn’t be long before they decided to come looking for us. They would have walked into the corpse’s snare.  We need to get out of her before have a death on our hands. The larger the numbers the bigger in strength we were, but it also increased the risk of casualties; a good reason to take on the world one on one.
   Scouting for ideas, I examine the room. There wasn’t much to work with. A tattered old rope that wouldn’t withstand much, a blue piece of tarp that may prove to be of use one day – I screwed it up tight until I could stuff it into my already overflowing bag – and a trunk of old books. I shoved a few of them in too.
   I looked to the window and noticed a shelter just below, it would lessen the distance between us and the ground. I pushed the window open and the street was almost clear with only the odd stray staggering. If we were quiet, we could get out without being noticed.
   I turned to the girls and pressed my fingers to my lips, flicking my fingers for them to join me at the window. I slowly climbed out first, lowering myself on to the shelter beneath and landed with a loud thud!
   I flinched. I was sure we would have been noticed. I pressed my whole body flat down against the roof tiles and prayed the walking bodies didn’t notice. After a few moments, I raised my head checking the coast; it was as clear as it would ever get. I stood back up and turned back to the window, where Emma was already lowering Isabelle down to me with Emma following immediately after.
   A trellis clung to the house, leading back to the ground like an elegant ladder decorated with ivy. That would be our escape. It was then down to careful foot work now. We had to be discreet.
  “Should I go first?” I turned to Emma.
  “No, I’ll go.” Emma nodded bravely; I could see the fear welling up in her eyes like the tears of a child.
  “Are you sure? I don’t know what it’s beneath the shelter.”
  She nodded. “You’ll have to bring Isabelle down with your; there is no way I’ll be able to. I’ll wait at the bottom and make sure no teeth come chomping at your ankles.” She smirked lightly.
  Putting down the basket and my bag next to me, she grabbed hold of the frame and slowly made her way down, carefully placing her hand in each square. She easily had half a house to climb down and Emma did it with such a simple grace.
  Then suddenly I heard her scream! I looked down and saw a rotten hand grab hold of her ankle and Emma frantically trying to shake her free. With no success, she completely let go of the trellis, falling back atop of the corpse. The body had become so rotten the skull instantly imploded under Emma’s weight; one less body to worry about.
  She slowly rose back to her feet and shook off the scare. After a moment to gain composure, she turned back up to me and gave the signal to climb down myself.  I lowered the goods as much as I could with the length of my, prayed for its safety and dropped the lot before taking on the climb.
   It was harder than I thought. Emma had made it look so easy, but every time I placed my foot in one of the dainty squares I felt my boots slip against it and with Isabelle’s arm wrapped around my neck like a vice and her delicate frame clattered against my jaw, it was an even bigger challenge. Having Isabelle there made it just much more crucial that I didn’t fall.
  After a few minutes that never seemed to end, we were finally back with our feet on the ground with Emma and I had never been so happy to be on the same level as a horde.
  A small group of teeth had noticed us by then as they charged across the road with arms flailing outwards with ravenous growls. A few of the bodies in the house heard the commotion and stumbled down the stairs with baffled expressions. The gormless jaw of confusion soon snapped shut and morphed into a snarl once they realised what was on offer, frenzy spread amongst them.
   They were monsters. Monsters were suppose to be just legends or imaginary beings created to scare kids into going to bed, not real life resurrected corpses that hunted us in our own streets, threatening the human race’s survival. It goes to show not all myths and legends are simple stories. It makes you wonder just how much in life was really a lie.
   With no time to waste, I pulled Isabelle up into my arms, grabbed the Moses basket and ran towards town. Emma was close behind me with the heavy bags weighing her down, banging against her body as she ran but there was an ever growing number of corpses on pursuit and they would chase us forever.
   At the end of the day, they were dead. They didn’t need air. They didn’t need rest. They didn’t share our limitations, but we had to keep going. I could hear Emma panting for breath, her body robbing her of the air she desperately needed, essentially dooming her. She could not stop. She could not give in to fatigue; we were almost there.
   But there was so many of them. How the hell were we going to have enough time to open the car, get in and drive away without the bodies smashing their way through the windows, without getting bit? The answer was clear, we couldn’t, at least not all of us.
   I quickly put Isabelle down on to her feet, threw the bags into her arms and tell her to run. I tell her to follow Emma and don’t look back, that everything would be okay. I would give them as much time as I could.
   I slowed my run into a jog, slow enough that the girls could get well ahead. I could see them run into the car park with two figures waiting for them; I could see that one of them was wearing his famous plaid shirt. It was Lenny. They would be safe; for now at least.
   I picked up the pace again and led the teeth in to a wide alley, they were a good 10 seconds behind me but I was getting tired and my legs threatened to give way. A black cat slowly crossed my path, it seemed oblivious to the dangers that would follow. That’s when the idea crossed my mind. It was a horrible, brutal idea. It would condemn me to hell for sure, but I wasn’t ready to die.
   I hastily ran toward the cat that seemed to sit obediently, as though it waited for me. I picked the small cat, stroking the back of its head. It purred at my touch and nuzzled lovingly into my cheek. With the teeth closing in, I kissed the cats head and whispered gently.
  “I’m sorry.”
  The sudden screech of brakes echoed around the alley and I saw the white van waiting for me at the end. The door slid open easily and Tony stood waiting for me, his hand ushering me urgently. I turned to the biters and launched the cat at the corpse leading the pack.
   I could hear the cat squeal and hiss and cry in pain as the horde of 5 or 6 teeth tear into its flesh. I flinched at its cries with the guilt bearing down on me like heavy thunder, knowing I had been the cause of its suffering.
  But I still ran. I ran as fast as I could and threw my body into the van, rolling slightly as I landed. Tony slammed the door shut with a heavy bang and the vehicle jerked into motion. Through the gap between the seats I saw a head of blonde at the wheel, her knuckles drained white as they held tightly to the circle of hard leather. Beside her in the passenger seat was a little girl with her dusty dark curls and I sighed heavily with relieved. Thank god.
   “Well, that was a close call!” And Tony fell back against the passenger seat.
   It was definitely too close for comfort. I was almost dead. Had I been born a cat that would have been my ninth life gone. The cat in the alley was certainly, ripped to shred at the hands of monsters, because of me. I might as well have torn the flesh from its body myself. It was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, although for me it was perfecting timing. Because of the cat, I lived. I never believed in superstitions and that black cat brought me endless luck that day. It would forever be a shame that the cat did not share the same gain.