Sunkissed: A Zombie Novel

Chapter Six

It's 3:13, and Danny isn't here.

I pace back and forth at the exit near her house, trying to beat down the panic in my chest. Worry spreads to my lungs, and I realize too late that I'm bordering hyperventilation.

Deep breaths, I order myself. Deeper, I direct, when my body doesn't listen to my mind. Call her.

Soon, the terrible, drawling, ring...ring...ring...fills my right ear. I squeeze my eyes shut in desperation. I see the swaying of my parents' front door, the lock broken. Hear the moans of the undead.

"Answer!" I scream, my eyes snapping open. "Answer, goddamn it!"

When it reaches her voicemail, I scream incomprehensibly and want to smash my phone against the highway. Instead, I shove it back into my pocket, force the helmet back on my head and speed down the exit.

I've been to Danny's house several times this past summer and so I find it quickly; a two-story house just off of Blossom Road. Unfortunately, her road is heavily lined with trees where undead neighbors lurk. I scan them nervously, always wondering if I'll see a loved one's face in the crowd, even in an unfamiliar neighborhood.

I accelerate up the sunlit driveway and hop off of the bike, ripping my helmet off and tearing my axe free. The surrounding moans are louder now that the engine is cut and my helmet is off. The white Chevy is parked up against the garage; the front window of the house is completely shattered. Did Danny do that to get in, or did an undead force entry and Danny, hours later, use it as a way to get in without thinking? I feel my blood run cold.

"Danny!" I scream. Undead in the yard next-door behind a tall, white fence howl back in agony. "Shut up!" I screech at them, quickly jogging around the house, careful to stay in the sun. "Danny!"

Panic wells inside my chest again when there's no response. A small group of undead push against the edge of the shadows in her front yard, yelping when they go too far and sunlight scorches their skin. They carefully slink back into the shade.

I go to the nearest window and smash it in with the back of my axe while stepping out of the way of falling shards, and pause to listen inside.

Scratching sounds, quiet moans. A distant sob.

I call for Danny inside. The scratching sounds continue, and I also hear soft thudding sounds. I glance around the kitchen; the room is in entire disarray, pots and pans strewn across the floor, the fridge door open. Blood is splattered against the walls and the sink, darkened as though aged.

Then I hear Danny scream.

Before I know it, I've punched out the remaining glass around the edges and pull myself through the window. My feet skid unreliably over the floor, sticky with God-knows-what. "Danny!" I screech again, the anxiety in my chest exploding as I make my way through the disordered house. I vault over an overturned couch and reach the carpeted staircase at the bottom of their living room.

I glare up the stairs and take two at a time until I'm on the landing that overlooks the dining room. It's when I reach the top of the staircase that I spot Danny's parents.

Her mom is slender, her clothes torn in several places, her left arm badly burned and her right hand completely missing. Her father, at least a foot taller than me and three times wider, seems relatively unharmed except for the wounds at his neck where he must have been initially attacked, along with a hammerhead-sized dent at his skull. Neither of them has seen me yet.

"Hey!" I snarl, my axe at the ready. Danny's mom notices me first, her soulless eyes catching my gaze and for a fraction of a second, remembering her kindness of bags of snacks and fresh meals with every visit, my grip slackens. She abandons her post outside of Danny's bedroom door and moves unsteadily toward me, her arms reaching forward, hands curved into claws.