Claws of Doom Read online

  We spotted a trail and decided to follow it. It was a brilliant stroke of luck, because we soon came to a clearing, and our pathway ended at an overgrown dirt road. Nick was hopeful that there was a city nearby, so we started to walk off to the side.

  I tried not to worry about Val, but it was difficult to put her failing condition out of my mind. “I wonder when she’ll wake up,” I said.

  “Don’t go getting all worked up over it. This is completely normal.” He shrugged, as though he’d seen it all before—and he had. “During transformation, she’ll have these long sleeping spells.”

  I nodded and then pointed at a green metal sign. “Next town’s just a mile away. We need to get our hands on some emergency supplies.”

  “Yeah, especially food and water, but also a car and gas, if we can get our hands on any.”

  “Guns and ammo too,” I chimed in.

  “Right! A heck of a lot of ammo!”

  A smile spread across my lips as my mind began to race, searching for ways we might get out of the predicament we found ourselves in. “If we can’t find guns and ammo, there’re always chainsaws. We could check garages.”

  Nick shook his head. “Nah. They’re too noisy and might attract more zombies. Besides that, chainsaws weigh around ten pounds, compared to two-pound weapons like machetes, crowbars, trench spikes, or baseball bats. Remember, we’re looking for anything that can crush or decapitate a skull in one blow. If it can’t, there’s no use lugging it around.”

  I was impressed— Nick sure knew his business. “Great tips, Mr. Zombie Hunter,” I said with a laugh.

  “This is serious stuff, Dean. Let your guard down once—just once—and you’re a dead man. Even worse, you might get others killed in the process. Got it?”

  I nodded, even though Nick’s back was still turned to me.

  We walked as fast as we could, remaining silent. My nerves were on edge, and my ears strained to pick up any unusual sound, but the only noise I could hear was the steady thump-thump of my heart, beating like a drum in my ears.

  I broke the silence first. “So, we’re gonna get ourselves a cool set of wheels? I like that idea.”

  “It’s not exactly a shopping spree. Going into town is risky. Our goal has to be to get in, get what we need, and get out—as quickly as possible. You got that?” Nick said without turning.

  “Yeah, I got it.” His camouflage shirt stuck to his sweaty back. I wished he’d let me take a turn carrying Val.

  We walked for another minute or so before footsteps thudded behind us. I swung around, ready to battle whoever it was. Squinting against the glaring sun, I made out two figures in the distance, running straight toward us. My first thought was to run away, but then I came to my senses. Zombies can’t run that fast. Who could they possibly be?

  “Quick, take Val!” Nick handed our sister to me and whipped out his pistol.

  I could only make out long hair, so I figured we were being approached by women. “It looks like a couple of girls, running from something. Put the gun down, Nick!”

  Ignoring me, Nick held his weapon steady. “No! One of them has a weapon. Don’t you know the first rule of survival out here in Zombie Land?”

  “Huh? But—”

  “Take no chances!”

  “Don’t shoot!” a female voice shouted.

  “Drop your weapon!” Nick shouted.

  She dropped it on the ground and raised her hands in the air. “It’s a stun gun.”

  I craned my neck to get a better glimpse as she inched closer. Fear mirrored in her wide, green eyes. Her dark hair hung over her skinny shoulders in long, disheveled clumps. From the looks of her, she’d fallen in the mud while running. A pair of sandals dangled from her hands, and her bare feet were black and dirty.

  “Please don’t hurt us!” she yelled again. “We’re already being followed by zombies.”

  The cute brunette with blonde streaks was a teenager about my age. In spite of being sweaty and dirty, she still looked hot in plaid shorts and a black shirt that showed off her tan midriff and navel piercing. I tried not to stare, but she was gorgeous.

  Nick refused to put his gun down. “Have you been bitten or scratched in any way?”

  She gasped for air. “No! I swear we haven’t.”

  He slowly lowered his arm, but hesitation was clearly written on his face. “C’mon then, we need to keep moving.”

  The girl sighed relieved. “Thanks.” A frown appeared across her forehead as she reached down and picked up her stun gun.

  Nick resumed his previous brisk pace.

  The girl rushed to keep up. “I’m Jackie.”

  My brother kept moving but shot her a glance. “Nice to meet you. I’m Nick, and this is my brother Dean.”

  “Nice to meet you,” I said, stepping carefully over a few moss-covered logs. If I took one wrong step, Val would fly right out of my arms.

  Jackie stomped down on a large fern in her path. “It’s nice to meet you too. And this is my cousin, Claire.”

  I turned my attention to the redhead standing behind her, wondering how I could’ve missed her before. The girl looked a little older—possibly in her early twenties. She wore a sundress with a low V-neck and was pretty cute herself. Though she didn’t speak, the look on her pale face told me all I needed to know —she was scared to death.

  Nick broke through a patch of vegetation. “I wish we coulda met under better circumstances.”

  “Yeah, tell me about it,” Claire said, pushing aside a dangling branch.

  “Don’t worry. Everything’s going to be okay now,” I said trying to ease her nerves.

  “Yeah?” she said. “That’s what the last group of people told me. You know what? They’re all dead now.”

  “Really?” my brother mocked. He hated being underestimated. “Well, maybe next time, they should consider more powerful weapons than stun guns.”

  As we walked, Nick turned to meet the redhead’s gaze. “How many zombies were on your tail?”

  “A bunch—not sure how many, but there were a lot. It sucks so much. We’ve been safe for months. We had the perfect hideout, a mansion just south of here. We had food, clothes, supplies, everything, but they bombarded it yesterday.”

  That explained why the girls weren’t wearing cargo pants and combat boots like Nick and I. Those sandals wouldn’t do them any good if they stepped in a puddle of blood or had to climb over a few dead corpses. They’d made the mistake of getting comfortable, something no one could afford to do in Zombie Land. The only safe place was in a sheltered city, with a military force backing it up—or even better, an island like the one I lived on back in Ohio.

  Claire frowned as she peered from me to Val, who was still lying unconscious in my arms. “Who is she?”

  “We survived a helicopter crash,” I said.

  “That’s horrible,” Claire said. “I’m so sorry. I’m glad you were able to get out before it exploded.”

  “That was you guys?” Jackie said as she briskly walked along. “We saw the flames and smoke at the bottom of the hill after we hiked up it, and then the helicopter—yours, I guess—burst into flames. We hoped nobody was hurt.”

  “That crash is nothing compared to what we’re about to face,” Nick said.

  We kept walking for a few minutes, following the road I hoped would lead to somewhere. Eventually, we rounded a bend and stopped to peek at a large, contemporary, two-story glass mansion. It seemed to catch the sunrays from every angle. Who did it belong to?

  “We can hide in there, right?” Claire anxiously headed in that direction.

  Nick darted after her. “Wait. I need to know exactly how many of those things were after you. ‘A bunch’ doesn’t cut it. Can you give me a more specific number? Five? Fifty? If it’s a herd, hiding in that house would turn out to be a suicide mission. We’d be trapped with no way out.”

  “There were about four or five of them,” Jackie called back to him.

  “Cool. That’s not a pro
blem at all. I can definitely handle four or five,” Nick said, sounding sure of himself.

  “Good thing we ran into you then.” Claire smiled shyly, her eyes taking him in. Clearly, had circumstances been different, she wouldn’t have hesitated to make it clear that she liked him, but flirting days were over. In the middle of nowhere, surrounded by the very hungry undead, there was little time for exchanging phone numbers. It was more important to tell each other how to avoid a zombie bite.

  If Nick did notice the girl’s rising interest in him, he certainly didn’t show it. His commanding voice barked at them, “Just in case more come, can you girls fight?”

  “Fight? Who do we look like? I’m not going anywhere near those nasty things!” she shouted.

  My brother let out a long sigh and then met my gaze. “Wait here. I’ll check out the house.”

  “I’m coming!” I argued.

  “No! I need you here to watch Val. She’s out cold, in case you didn’t notice. Do you want something to start nibbling on her leg like a piece of fried chicken?” He clapped my shoulder. “I’ll be right back.”

  He headed off into the house, and my stomach clenched —I didn’t like him going in there alone.

  “We can’t just wait out here forever,” Claire said. “Those things are coming!”

  I shot her a look. “Aren’t you wondering why that door’s not locked? You want to run into a house full of zombies that’ll eat your brains?”

  I could almost see a light bulb flickering on above her head as realization struck her. “You’re right,” she said eventually.

  Jackie met my gaze. “Thanks for looking out for us.”

  “Not a problem.” I craned my neck to the left and right, spinning in a circle as much as the added weight of Val weight would allow me —though Val was thin, she was a dead weight. My gaze focused in the distance, taking in every detail that might give away a possible pursuer, but I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. The sky was blue, and the birds chirped away like they didn’t have a care in the world. It was hard to believe I could be facing a zombie at any given moment. It all sounded like some bad dream—like something I’d read in my comic books as a kid.

  A few minutes passed, and my brother’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts. “The house is clear, but there aren’t any good weapons. Let’s head into the garage.”

  “Sure,” I said.

  Nick nodded. “Look, I need you out here to help me fight. You up for it?”

  “Sounds like a plan.” I’d always wanted to jump into the action, especially when my brother came back and told me all about his zombie-fighting adventures. Finally, I was going to get that hands-on experience I’d been longing for. My heart pounded as realization kicked in.

  “Let’s get Val inside where it’s safe,” I said, shuffling into the mansion. I didn’t have much time to check the place out, but it was pretty clear that the former residents had been loaded. If the place truly had been abandoned, we’d surely find some useful supplies to take with us.

  After setting Val down on a yellow sofa, Nick motioned for us to go.

  I turned toward the girls, setting my black bag down beside the couch. “Please watch Val and my stuff…and lock the doors behind us!”

  “Got it. And don’t worry. I got your girlfriend’s back,” Jackie said.

  Nick yelled for me to hurry, so there was no time to explain who Val really was.

  “Wait!” Claire said. “Do you want my stun gun?”

  “What good is that going to do?” I just sprinted out the door, calling the girls to make sure they’d lock it behind me, just in case they’d already forgotten or misheard my first instructions. I didn’t know them all that well yet, so I naturally didn’t feel like I could trust them with my sister’s safety. At the moment, all I could think of was protecting her so no one would get to her in the first place.

  With one hard yank, Nick opened the sliding garage door. It was as loud as a flippin’ freight train, and I only hoped it didn’t draw any attention. Once it was open, I dashed into the garage and stumbled over a few bicycles that had fallen backward against some white wicker patio furniture. I caught myself by hanging onto a monster-sized grill.

  “You okay, klutz?” My brother rolled his eyes.

  “I’m fine. Missed a step, that’s all.” I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and regained my balance. Tools hung neatly on hooks along a giant pegboard attached to the wall next to a large workbench. Wrenches were hanging in order of size. The owner had certainly been organized, and I felt almost bad even considering messing up his neat little display by taking a wrench, but then something better caught my attention —a sledgehammer, sitting right there on the table, begging to be used. Granted, it wasn’t the most lethal weapon, but I figured it was better than a screwdriver.

  “Good choice,” Nick said, “but remember, a zombie with a broken collar bone is still a zombie. Smash the skull and kill the brain.”

  “Yeah, I know. Stab, smash, penetrate, crush, or puncture the skull. It’s pretty simple if you ask me.”

  Nick frowned. “Don’t you dare get cocky! And never underestimate those freaks. They run on instinct. Do you understand? The minute you drop your guard…you’re dead.”

  “A little confidence never hurt anybody, Nick. It’s worth its weight in gold in any arena.”

  He glared at me. “Dean!”

  I could tell my brother wasn’t keen on involving me in an episode of Man Vs. Zombie, so I tried to reassure him. “I can do this, Nick. Really, I can.”

  “If I didn’t think you could, little bro, I’d have left you in there with Jackie and Claire who are very ill-prepared to live in the world we’re now faced to live in.”

  “Hey, your gun’s loaded, right?” I asked.

  “Yeah, but we’ve gotta save our ammo. I’ll only use it if I feel it’s absolutely necessary. Plus, we don’t want to attract the zombies with noisy gunfire. We can handle a few though. No worries.”

  We left the garage and walked down the long, straight driveway. I spun toward my brother. “I don’t see anything.”

  Just as my brother was trying to assure me that’d we’d have the upper hand, my jaw dropped. Something growled behind me.

  Chapter 5

  An unmistakable menacing growl erupted from behind me. Crap. I held my breath and turned slowly. My hand clutched the sledgehammer more tightly as I mentally prepared myself for the unavoidable.

  “Don’t try to be a hero,” Nick mumbled.

  Unfortunately, his words didn’t quite register in my brain, raising my gaze at the disfigured human being before me. The gaping mouth, full of black, putrid, rotting teeth and oozing gums made me want to take a step back, but I had to prove myself—to Nick as well as to my own ego. I stood my ground and forced the bile back down my throat. Ugly blue veins stuck out from a shiny bald head. Where strong, healthy arms had once been, there remained only holes, flesh eaten away by bugs. But what scared me the most were the eyes— human, yet dead. I swallowed hard and shook my head slightly. In that moment, facing that thing, I realized that the naïve confidence I’d had before was not enough. No way was I prepared for a real-life confrontation with the undead. Yes, I’d originally been thrilled about the opportunity to kick some zombie butt, but seeing them in person again was a totally different story. For a minute, I was reminded of the Ferris wheel incident all over again. That was the very first night people had become sick and turned into zombies. I froze in my boots, but not for long.

  The creature began lumbering toward us. Thick, dark blood—something like motor oil—ran down its face, dripping off its rotting chin to the dirty shirt, the result of a recent head wound. The hole in its left cheek looked fresh, and clearly its last victim had fought back with a gun.

  With my heart thumping, I zigzagged left, away from the bullet-ridden zombie. I grabbed my weapon, but before I could put it to any use, Nick leapt forward and chopped into the zombie’s skull. The left eye socket made a suc
tion sound as the eye propelled onto the ground. The corpse stopped dead and then fell backward onto the ground.

  I punched the air. Yes! My brother nailed it. He absolutely knew what he was doing, and he’d had plenty of experience. After all, he’d been out there fighting those things for a year now.

  Nick raced over to the downed zombie and jerked out his axe and I cringed, hoping the zombie wouldn’t spring back to life like they always do in horror movies. “Get ready!” Nick yelled. “More are coming.”

  “I’m ready.” I bolted down to the end of the driveway. Looking over my shoulder, I saw two more zombies to my left. One was heading toward Nick, and the other had its sights on me. I needed more preparation, more weapons, and more tips from my brother, yet I knew there was no time left— the zombie wasn’t about to wait for me to get over my rookie stage fright. I knew I had to fight. Nick’s and Val’s lives depended on me.

  Dragging its right leg, the zombie inched closer and then swung its rotting arms at me. He fought like a small child. I knew I could easily take the monster on, especially since everyone knew zombies had an IQ barely above freezing, and they were slower than constipated turtles.

  It was such a grotesque foe. I stared into sunken white eyes with no visible pupils. It had green-tinted skin and dirty blond hair, and the red, exposed muscles around its mouth made me want to gag—or maybe it was the foul stench of dead rotting flesh. He wore a dirty, ripped mechanic’s uniform, and his nametag read “Bob”. Poor Bob, I thought. How could this…this thing have been a human? Had he been in a Halloween costume contest, he might have won for his makeup application and most interesting contacts alone, but I knew it had nothing to do with elaborate Hollywood special effects. It was all too real, and regardless of what he’d been in his life, in his living death, Bob was an enemy, and I had to take him down.

  Bob hissed, flashing his black, sticky teeth at me.

  I was ready to give the mummified mechanic the biggest headache of his life. The sledgehammer smashed through meat and bones like they were breakfast cereal, sending a pang of pain through my upper arm as it reverberated from the impact. I pulled away and then slammed it into the creature one more time, this time with less thought and more power. The second time did the trick, and he dropped to the ground. Realization didn’t kick in straightaway, but as my breathing quickened and my eyes focused on the bloody mess at my feet, I knew I’d have to fight off nightmares for a while.