Zombie Mountain(6)

He turned to face this woman, whose lips quivered nervously. He knew she had good reason to respond as she was. Cole had a good idea of what she had been through recently. Likely hiding in this place alone, either luck or intelligence had kept her alive so far.

“I’m not here to hurt anybody,” he told the woman. “I’m not sick, and I don’t want any trouble.”

“Then what are you really doing here?” The weapon swayed dangerously as she wiped the sweat dripping down into her eyes.

Cole started to lower his hands, but she pointed the gun at him as she took a step forward. He stopped, his own smile nervous.

“I work—or used to work here,” he said. “I must leave now. There’s nothing left for me here.” Cole noted her disheveled hair and greasy face. Must’ve been here for a while. “Why are you still here?”

“I came for help.” She sounded bitter. “I had to get away from them—I needed to find a safe place. I figured this would be it.”

“Bet you were surprised to find out otherwise.” Cole tried to draw her out, to calm her a little.

“I’m still alive, aren’t I?” she responded, defiantly.

“That makes two of us.... Can I lower my hands?” He brightened his smile and tentatively stepped closer to her, unarmed and with his heart raging again. “My name is Cole. Like I said, I used to work here. You can come with me, if you’d like.”

She nodded for him to lower his hands, and he was mindful to keep them where she could see them. The woman kept her stance. But the first step in befriending her had been taken.

“Can I ask you your name, ma’am?”

The woman opened her mouth to speak, but at that moment, someone else burst into the kitchen and her automatic rifle went wild.





Chapter Four



Cole dropped to the floor, while the woman wheeled and fired, spraying bullets across the kitchen and pocking every surface with holes. Ricocheted bullets zinged throughout the room. As he rolled over to retrieve the other machine gun, he registered that she had taken a couple zombies down. More from sheer luck than any semblance of aim, he was dismayed to hear more of them drudging slowly into the kitchen, hissing and growling. Meanwhile, she was out of control. In her panic, spraying bullets everywhere, she was coming to the end of her ammo clip.

When she did, he shouldered his gun and raised himself up to the counter. The woman dropped her gun. She stood frozen in fear at the multitude of the undead.

“Get over here!” Cole hollered. She stood as if frozen to the floor, gripped by terrible fear. He considered killing her as well as them, and being done with it. But in the instant before taking her out, Cole realized he didn’t want to be alone.

He jumped up, strode to her side and gunned down seven of them. But the gun pops and screams brought more zombies in, pouring into the room from two different directions. He grabbed her by the waist and forced her to the floor while taking out a dozen more. Halfway through the massacre, the magazine emptied. He loaded another and finished the job.

Echoes from the gunshots reverberated in their ringing ears when the battle ended. The place was a mess; walls splattered with fresh blood and bone. The metallic stench of infected hemoglobin sickened them both. He reached down and took her shaking hand, helped her to stand.

“Don’t look,” he told her. He gave her a moment.

Cole knew the gunfire would draw more crazies, which is how he preferred to refer to the infected. After all, zombies were the stuff of fantasy... and these critters were definitely real.

“Listen,” he said, “I don’t know you and you don’t know me. But this place isn’t safe. I’m leaving. Now. You can come with me if you want. But before you do, you should know I have some unpleasant business to take care of.”

The woman’s face was stone. “What kind of business?” she finally asked.

“I’m not going to lie to you. I’m at war with these creatures. They make me sick. I’m going to fight them. And fight them hard. Not just defense. Offense.”

She took in his deadly glare and stepped back. Cole knew she was weighing her options. “I can keep you safer than most people on the planet. But like I said, if you come with me, you’re with me. No matter what.”

“Sounds like you’ve got more than killing them in mind,” she said.

“I do. I have other scores to settle, too.”

“What are they?”

“Nothing for you to worry about.”

“If I’m coming with you, I could stand and fight. You could teach me. But I want to know what I’m getting myself into before I say yes.”