Induction

Alicia turned her attention to Jake and I thought all was lost when she got close enough to brush his ear with her teeth. He let go of the wheel to fend her off, and there was a sickening crunch as the SUV collided with a parked car. The momentum caused Alicia to fly forward. Glass shattered as her head impacted with the window and her body went limp. Her legs dangled lifelessly in front of me, an inflamed bite clearly visible on her left calf.

Dammit, I hate when he’s right.

The airbag deployed, disorienting Jake for a couple seconds. He shoved it down and flinched at the grisly sight.

“A little help over here, please?” I said.

The collision had caused the hood of the car to invert, making the pressure from the pushed in dashboard painful. Jake ran around to my side and pulled me free. I dove back into the car in a tizzy and reached for Daphne. She leapt into my arms and nuzzled my neck. I found the gun under the seat and put it down the front of my pants, its cold metal a shock to my skin.

The front of the car was ruined. Alicia’s head stuck out of the gaping hole in the windshield, her features an unrecognizable mass of gore. I followed the trail of blood and broken glass to see the demolished hood of the SUV twisted around the rear of a blue Volkswagen Beetle. The back window had one of those Baby-On-Board stickers in the corner and various other stickers that I couldn’t make out under the wreckage that lined the bumper. The rest of the car looked pristine; the only thing out of place, other than the fact that my car was humping it, was the single bloody handprint on the driver’s side window.

Chapter 09 Bachelor Pad

With Daphne still shaking in my arms, I walked to the window and peered in. At first I didn’t see anything, until I moved to the backseat window. A woman knelt on the seat. She was covered in blood and bent over something obscured from view. Daphne growled at the figure and let loose a stream of high-pitched barks. Before I could clamp my hand over her muzzle, the woman noticed us outside the window. She looked up at me, those dead eyes drilling fiery holes into me. The movement revealed a child’s car seat. I struggled to catch my breath as I took in the horror scene before me. Strapped into the car seat was an infant. Both arms had been eaten away and her stomach cavity ripped to shreds. Intestines covered the seat and hung from the woman’s hand as she bit down and savored her banquet.

I stumbled backwards in revulsion and ran into Jake. I turned and buried my head in his chest. “I can’t take this. It’s too much,” I cried. “No one should have to see this stuff.”

“I know, Em, but you need to be strong. It’s real, and it’s happening. We need to make sure it doesn’t happen to us.” Daphne pushed on my stomach with her paws, her way of letting me know we were squishing her between us. “We need to get off the street. Find a safe place to sleep before it gets dark. God’s really decided to fuck with us today, and the storm is getting worse.”

Daphne woofed her displeasure at still being smushed and Jake reprimanded her. “You need to keep her quiet. Her barking is like ringing a dinner bell, and we’re the main course.” I pressed my lips into the fur behind her ears and began whispering to her. She liked that for some reason; it relaxed her. Of course, I followed it up with kisses so it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why she enjoyed it.

The neighborhood became more active as we stood there wasting time. If we didn’t move fast, we would have some unwanted company in minutes. Jake took my free hand and pulled me through the nearest lawn. “We need to find a different street,” he said. “One where the natives don’t already know we’re here.”

We crept behind the row of houses and into a new subdivision. The rain continued to come down in torrents. The area on the street looked untouched by debris though. With our backs to the wall of a nearby house, we poked our head around the corner to check for any undead, and simultaneously scanned for potential places to hide for the night.

One house in particular stood out as a possibility. Unlike neighboring houses, this one had no cars in the driveway. Since there was no garage, we didn’t have to worry about one hidden away. A weeks’ worth of newspapers were piled at the front door and the mailbox, its broken door hanging limp, was filled with mail. A six-foot privacy fence bordered the backyard, gate intact.

“I don’t think we’re going to find anything better. We need to move before we’re noticed. On three, we’ll run to the back gate. Stay low and stay quiet. Ready?”

I nodded my head and prepared to run.

Daphne started to growl again and Jake whipped around. “You need to shut her up. This is the last time I’m going to tell you. Noise equals death. If you can’t keep her quiet, then you can’t keep her.”