US v THEM

Cora

  Two weeks later.

  Most of the cars we come across are either destroyed or impossible to get working. Luckily, we found one that was not completely drained. But after a moment, it decided to flake out on us and we got stuck in the countryside. It is not so bad and Sommar remarked that being far from big cities could only do us good. But there it was: will we find anything there? It has been a few days and we've done fine so far. Also, we have not met a lot of döda and I caught myself thinking maybe the countryside is the solution.

  We are nearing a village, or a kind of big farm. We noticed the property a few miles ago and the route has only been going up and down. We finally reach it—it is not as wide as it looked. We find ourselves in front of a barn surrounded by what seems to be maybe a soybean field and a deserted enclosure. Dozens of döda have invaded the place and that's only the ones we see from our position. We can't go, it's too risky. A bit further on our right is an SUV—an Isuzu Trooper from 1987. It does not look like it is willing to work but it is worth trying. Each of us gets to it quietly not to catch the döda's attention. I go last and open the driver's door; if it opens, it's already a good sign. But the vehicle refu-ses to start. I give up quickly and get out of the car, shaking my head to announce the failure.

  A groan coming from the other side of the barn alarms us and I tell everyone to hide. We all squat down behind the SUV and observe the scene. A död falls to the ground then is followed by a couple others. The crowd gets agitated and the monsters head toward the sound but none of them makes it beyond the corpses. We ourselves cannot see what is killing them. One by one they fall; the strategy is quite clever.

  And then we see her. It's a girl. A dark-haired girl, looking my age. She slowly walks along the side of the barn and repeats the scheme with the döda from the front of the farm. She stabs them directly in the head with a kitchen knife but sometimes has to kick them in the knee first to shove them to the ground before finishing them the same way. It is rather impressive and I can tell I'm not the only one thinking that.

  She slew every single död in three minutes. She enters the barn self-satisfied after wiping the blood off her knife on her black jeans. Whatever is in it, it won't be for us. All we can do is wait. She eventually comes out disenchanted and empty-handed. A död appears behind her and I hear Sommar call my name for me to do something but I ignore it; I can't. Besides, I do not have the time to intervene. And I don't need to, because as it gets close to touching her, she turns around and stabs it right in the eye. It falls down at her feet.

  "Thanks for helping out," she says.

  We all exchange a confused glance; is she talking to us?

  "I can see you from there, your bat juts out."

  Shit, she really is talking to us. And shit, she can see my bat through the car window. I decide to stand up, my hands raised, and approach.

  "Relax," she talks to me again. "I didn't threaten you."

  "We never know."

  I slowly put my hands down like she probably expects me to.

  "Are your friends gonna come out too?" she asks.

  "What friends?" I try.

  "Come on. First you spy on me, then you lie to me?"

  "I—"

  "Tell them they can come out."

  I take the time to evaluate the situation; she is clearly outnumbered. If anything has to go wrong, it's the four of us against her. I figure if she had a group they would have helped her with the döda.