“Yeah, I just said that.”
Sweetie lightly pushes her brother’s shoulder, sticking her tongue out at him. Rad leans forward, his head swaying from side to side.
“If my boy is going” -he holds out his balled up fist, Outlaw taps it with his own- “you know I’m gonna go with him.”
“So, that’s it then? It's settled? We're going to Oasis?” Hawaii replies.
Zee holds her hand out, her partner embraces it, her eyes twinkle, her lips curve into her singular joyous smile. She radiates the effervescent glow she’s known for.
“Yeah, we are.”
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Loud, continuous thuds crash against the door. Each strike with more conviction and determination than the last. Karo has shoved his, and Daisy’s, backpacks in the corner of the far wall, out of the way. His gun stays in his holster, only to be withdrawn when the need is dire. His crowbar is held chest level, as though he were at bat awaiting a fastball.
Daisy holds her crowbar with both hands, firm, and a bit off to her side, like a swordsman. This metallic instrument is all that stands between her and death. This rigid, cold, tool of survival, one that was Jack’s previously, and one she now grips with all her being.
Every thirty or forty seconds the Adapted calls out to them from behind the door.
“I know you’re in there, do you need help?”
Always the same line. Always filled with malicious intent. This monster is adapted, but not as much as the ones who took Jack’s life. The disease is a peculiar marvel, it seems to evolve each infected individual at different rates and with varying success. For a moment Karo ponders the why of this anomaly. It is fascinating, wholly terrifying, yet still fascinating.
The noise breaks, long enough for Daisy to hear her own heart beating furiously in her chest. When it resumes again, only a few seconds later, the thuds are more spread out and focused. The two infected are no longer throwing their hands and arms recklessly at the door. No, that method was getting them nowhere. Now one of them is flinging its entire body against the door, concentrated on the side with the handle.
“Shit, that’s not good.” Daisy says, through panted breaths.
“No, no it’s not. At this rate that door is not going to hold for long.”
Her eyes cut to him, her head staying pointed at the source of their concern. He continues.
“When that door gives out they’ll be on top of us in no time. This room is small, and that’s not to our advantage. Do your best to stay to the left side of the room, and I’ll stay to right. We do that and we can swing away until they stop moving, and not have to worry about hitting each other.”
Daisy’s gesture of agreeance is delivered with haste. Karo’s head tilts to Daisy, his eyes zero in on hers.
“Don’t hold anything back. Give into your fear, your anger, your sadness, and fight like hell.”
“You better fucking believe it.”
“Get low, they’ll rush forward, use the upward angle and their momentum to your advantage. Come up fast and with as much force as possible to land the hardest first shot that you can.”
“Got it.” she replies, as she bends her knees and lowers herself.
“Don’t worry about me, don’t pay any attention to me, don’t even glance over. Stay focused on that thing trying to kill you. Don’t stop until it’s not moving.”
“I don’t intend to.”
Daisy’s expression is an unfinished one, of a continued thought that more words were to follow, but the sudden splintering of the door frame, and the infected toppling over to the floor, interrupts her.
“STEADY!” Karo yells over the horrifying racket.
The larger infected, the not yet and perhaps never to be Adapted, tumbles to the floor. Its entry is followed swiftly by the leaner, less filthy, speech capable monster. Though this shorter one is clearly more crafty, it is still driven by the desire to extinguish life, and as such it does not stride into the room. Far from it, this devious creature bolts over its downed comrade, arms out, mouth agape, and gunning for Karo.
Karo springs from his crouched position and swings his crowbar with ferocious indignation. The crude steel weapon rattles Karo’s arms as it smashes into the jaw of the Adapted, fracturing and dislocating the body part, and sending teeth crunching together, breaking them into chiseled shards.
The Adapted stumbles back, tripping over the rising up bulkier infected. The reversed trajectory of the smaller attacker does little to alter the course of the larger monster hell bent on tasting flesh. With its fingers already stretched out and clawed, its eyes devoid of anything resembling redemption, and its head tilted down, its legs pump forward. Daisy readies herself, but it does not come after her.
Karo resets his posture, ready to swing again, but the large monster is on top of him before his full repositioning is achieved. Daisy swallows hard, her eyes widen. Of course these vile things aren’t going to come at them one on one, she’s farther from the door than Karo is.
Karo swings as quickly as he’s able to. His crowbar smacks into the abdomen of the infected, but he wasn’t fully prepared to attack again, and this infected absorbs the blow.
“Shit! Shit! Shit!” Daisy’s mind races. “Stay on the left side, stay on the left side. Karo has a gun, he’ll use it if he needs to. When the other one gets up it will come after me. I’m smaller and weaker, an easier target.”
The Adapted grabs ahold of the busted door frame, pulling itself to its feet. It wheezes, chunks of teeth flying forth from its mouth. It gurgles, snarls, and screeches, then lunges back at Karo.
“Shit! Shit!” she screams in her mind again. The larger one has Karo backing up. He’s holding the crowbar horizontally, a battle of wills being engaged upon it, but
