The bathroom door burst open, and his dead ex-wife flung herself at him.
Tammy was a grisly sight. Her bathrobe hung open, stained with dried bodily juices. Decay bloomed, spreading across her rancid flesh. Most of her thick, dark hair was gone and the few clumps that remained were matted and greasy. A worm dangled from her gray cheek and another burrowed through her forearm. Brownish- yellow liquid ran from the corners of her eyes and mouth and dripped from the open sores on her body. Her right breast hung down to her belly button, revealing the rancid meat inside. It swayed with each step she took. Something squirmed inside the dark folds of her groin.
'Hello, Jim!'
The corpse's foul breath clung to him. Too close to shoot, Jim smashed her in the face with the pistol butt, shuddering in revulsion as rotted teeth fell out onto the carpet.
He took a step backward as the zombie staggered, swollen legs struggling to support her bulbous weight.
'I'm here for Danny.'
'You're too late,' the now toothless mouth slurred, 'Danny's dead!'
'Shut up! Just shut the fuck up!'
'Danny's dead! Danny's dead!' She danced around
the hallway, arms flailing, and chanted in a singsong voice. 'The whelp is dead! Your son is dead!'
'You're lying. Tell me where he is!'
'Poor Jim. Did you come all this way just to rescue your son? Too late!
His spirit is in torment, far beyond your reach. He burns in Hell like all your kind. His body has joined us, and now it's your turn! I will send your soul in search of his so that one of our brethren may flee the Void and inhabit you. There are so many of us waiting. So many. More than-'
Jim raised the pistol, but the thing that had been his ex-wife was faster. She lunged at him, grabbing his forearm with both rotted hands.
Bony fingers pulled his arm toward the creature's mouth. The zombie's remaining teeth snapped together as he jerked away. Jim punched her in the face. The skin was cold and moist, and his fist sank through the surface of the thing's cheek. He pulled his dripping hand away with a wet, sucking sound.
Locked in a struggle, they grappled back and forth. The days-old gunshot wound in his shoulder burned. He felt blood leaking out around the amateur stitching. The zombie forced him back a step. She took another bite at his arm, narrowly missing. Jim slammed the creature against the wall once, twice, three times. Picture frames fell to the floor, shattering. Something inside Tammy popped, and black liquid erupted from her mouth and nose. The stench was overwhelming.
Freeing his arm, he swept the pistol around and fired, not bothering to aim. One ear disappeared, along with a portion of her scalp, but the zombie simply laughed. Jim's ears rang from the explosion. Tammy lumbered forward again.
'Did you know that she still loved you? Oh yes. I can see it in here.'
The zombie tapped her forehead. 'She planned on leaving Rick so that the three of you could be a family again. But then you got re-married.'
Jim screamed. An all-consuming rage swept over him. The veins in his neck and arms throbbed, and his body shook in anger.
'Shut up, you god-damn bitch!'
This time, his aim was true. The bullet left a small hole just above Tammy's eyes. The back of her head splattered across the wallpaper. He fired again and again-and again. His finger kept squeezing till the gun clicked empty. He stood over her corpse, looking down, and the gun slipped from his numb fingers.
'I'm sorry, Tammy. I wish things had ended differently between us. You may have taken Danny from me, but you didn't deserve this.'
The hesitant shuffling sound behind the attic door repeated itself.
Stepping over Tammy's remains, Jim started toward it.
'Danny?'
The door creaked open.
His son stepped out into the light.
'Danny!'
The tiny figure was silent, and then-
'Daddy? DADDY?'
'Danny! Oh my God ...'
The six-year old boy's hair had turned white. Not gray or silver, but snow white. There was a strict demarcation halfway down the length of his hair. Midpoint to the end was still brown, but the rest was white.
'Danny ...'
Danny ran to him and Jim hugged him tight, crushing his son against his chest. Both sobbed uncontrollably. The emotional weight crushed Jim-the disbelief that he'd actually found Danny alive, the overwhelming tidal wave of relieved shudders descending down his spine, and just the sheer feel of his son in his arms.
'Oh, Danny. I can't believe it.'
'Daddy, I thought you were dead. I thought you were like Mommy and Rick and-'
'It's okay, son. It's okay now. Daddy's here now, and I'm never leaving you again. It's okay. I promise it's okay. You're safe now. That's all that matters. Shhh.'
