TWELVE
There is terror in Dan’s voice, but to Thomas’s surprise, the scream isn’t coming from inside the house; it’s coming from behind it.
Thomas starts running, ignoring the pain from his wounded foot. He rounds the corner of the house, passes by a terrace, jumps across a flower bed. As he runs, he wonders how Dan has managed to exit the house. He stops on the lawn of the back garden and looks around.
“Dan?” he calls out. “Where are you?”
“Here!”
Thomas turns. The basement window is halfway hidden behind a couple of giant dandelions. Dan’s arm is waving frantically.
Thomas runs over and falls to his knees. As soon as he looks into the basement, he can tell that Jennie has either grown two feet taller or found something to stand on, because she’s suddenly able to look over the top of the closet, and her arms are grabbing greedily for Dan, who is squeezing himself up against the window. Jennie’s fingers grope at his shoes.
“She can almost reach me!” Dan cries. “Get me out of here, Thomas! Help me! Make her go away!”
“All right. Don’t worry, Dan, I’ll—”
“Help me! Get me out!”
Thomas studies the window. It’s about four inches too narrow for Dan to squeeze through. The wall around it is brick. Even if he was able to find a hammer and a chisel, it would take him forever to make the hole wider.
Instead, he looks around for something else to use. The woman had a large vegetable garden, and a few garden tools are lying around. Thomas jumps to his feet and goes to grab a rake.
“Help me, Thomas!” Dan cries and grabs him as he returns. “She’s got my foot!”
“Move aside,” Thomas says, forcing the rake past Dan. “And let go of my arm.”
Dan lets go and moves sideways slightly.
Jennie has got a hold of the laces of Dan’s left shoe and is tugging at them. Thomas places the head of the rake against her throat and pushes her backwards. She is forced to let go of Dan’s shoe. She growls, makes no attempt to remove the rake, only groping for Dan’s legs, but now they’re out of reach.
“She … she tipped over a box,” Dan says, breathing fast. “That’s what she’s standing on. I don’t … I don’t think she did it on purpose, it was just luck. Please get me out of here, Thomas.”
“I’m trying,” Thomas says, concentrating on the rake, as Jennie moves from side to side, trying to find a way to reach Dan. “But you’ll have to go the same way as I did: up through the hatch.”
Dan stares out at him. “What about the other zombie? The kid?”
“She’s somewhere in the house, and there are two more. But I don’t think any of them will be in the room with the hatch.”
Jennie jerks sideways, and the rake slips off her neck.
Dan screams as she tips forward, almost grabbing his foot by surprise.
Thomas pulls back the rake, plants it in Jennie’s chest this time, and pushes her back once more. “You need to go for it,” he hisses. “I can’t hold her forever.”
“O … okay.”
“On the count of three, I’ll shove her back so she falls down. You’ll have to jump down and get past her before she can get back up. You ready?”
Dan looks terrified, but Thomas can tell how he mans up. “I’m ready,” he whispers.
“One … two … three!” Thomas thrusts the rake as hard as he can.
Jennie is shoved backwards and falls over. She drags a box of old junk down with her.
“Now, Dan!”
Dan has already crawled to the edge of the closet. He jumps down, and Thomas hears him land on the concrete floor. He gives off a loud, short shriek of pain. Thomas feels his own heart turn to ice.
She got him …
A few seconds of commotion. Jennie snarls. Then Dan appears, making his way through the room towards the hole in the wall. He’s limping on one leg.
“Did she bite you?” Thomas yells.
Dan doesn’t hear him. He’s obviously focused on one thing only: getting out of the room.
Behind him, Jennie appears, as she gets to her feet.
“Hey!” Thomas shouts, banging the top of the closet with the rake. “Hey, Jennie! I’m right here! Look at me!”
Jennie doesn’t even seem to register his voice. She just staggers after Dan, who slips through the wall.
Thomas leaves the rake and gets to his feet. He runs along the outer wall, reaching the window with the red drapes. He knocks on the glass.
A moment later, the drapes are flung aside. Dan fumbles with the hasp. Behind him, the hatch is closed.
“Did she get you?” Thomas yells.
Dan shakes his head, not looking up, sweat pouring down his face. “No, it’s my ankle. I hurt it when I landed.”
Thomas feels a surge of deep relief. For a moment, he sees everything. How they’ll make it. Dan opens the window and climbs out. They shut the window and trap all four zombies in the house. Then they go to the woman in the car and bring her along as they walk up to the highway. They flag down the first passerby and hitch a ride to the police station. That’s how this nightmare will end.
Dan shouts from the other side of the glass: “How do I get this stupid thing open!?”
From the courtyard on the other side of the house comes a shrill scream. Thomas turns his head for a moment, thinking: That was her. I hope she didn’t open the front door.
At that moment, he sees a movement through the window. Behind Dan, the door to the room is pushed open. The small girl with the broken arm, now all covered in blood, comes staggering into the room.
Dan hasn’t noticed her. He’s struggling with the window hasp.
Thomas looks down. “It’s the old-fashioned kind. You have to hold it out and then push.”
Dan seems to sense something behind him. He turns
