Romy crept out of the hatch. She pushed it all the way up this time, and it clicked as it locked into position. She hesitated for a moment, unsure if she wanted to leave it open like that, but Michelle was already crawling out of the well into the hall, and Quentin was on his way up, so she decided to leave it.
She stopped at the corner to the living room. Michelle and Quentin crawled to a stop behind her.
Romy dreaded this moment. The moment she would lean out and risk a peek into the living room. The busted-out front window made the room feel so open, so unprotected... Would there be a zombie standing there this time? She felt the reassuring pressure of her gun in her back pocket. At least she had some protection.
She looked back at her companions. Quentin gave her an impatient shrug. That annoyed Romy. Without any further hesitation she leaned sideways and looked out, into the empty living room.
Romy breathed a small sigh of relief. She crawled onward and up to the edge of the kitchen wall. She knew that the windows there would only show the sky from this angle, so she didn’t bother looking up. All three made it around the wall and into the kitchen. They nodded at each other with small smiles.
They had discussed what they needed to grab on this excursion. Michelle crawled into the pantry and slowly stood up. Romy knew that she would be hidden from view in that position. She immediately began to collect cans and started handing them down to Quentin, who put them into the bag he had brought. In the meantime, Romy reached in and collected another case of water.
All was going well. Until Michelle mishandled one of the cans, causing another one to fall from its stack onto the pantry shelf with a ‘clack’. They all froze, eyes wide open. The worst was to come though, as the can rolled towards the edge of the shelf. Michelle fumbled for the can, missed, and it fell onto the pantry floor with a loud smack.
Immediately they could hear noises of footsteps and shuffling outside. Quentin whimpered; his eyes large with fear.
“Let’s go!” Romy whispered urgently. She stood up and walked around the corner of the kitchen and into the living room. What she saw froze her in her tracks.
A zombie stood in the open window. It had been a young man in life. He must have gotten too close to the truck fire though, as one side of his face was horribly burned. Romy didn’t have time to contemplate further as the zombie lunged forward and dropped itself into the living room.
Quentin pushed up against Romy from behind and tried to squeeze around her. He shrieked when he saw the zombie scrambling to its feet in the living room.
Romy drew her gun and aimed. Her shot missed, however, as the zombie bumped into the coffee table. Romy rushed her next shot and merely hit the zombie in the shoulder.
Fuck fuck fuck! Romy felt herself seizing up in fear.
Quentin pushed Romy aside and ran down the hall towards the trap door. The zombie had made it around the coffee table and approached with its mouth wide open. Romy felt like the thing was about to swallow her whole.
Romy took careful aim and shot. The zombie’s momentum carried it forward to tackle Romy, hitting her in the shins and sending her falling backwards. She hit the kitchen table hard with her upper back and continued her fall onto the kitchen floor. She couldn’t breathe! She lay on the ground, trying to suck in air, as fists started beating on the house around her.
She started blacking out, still unable to breathe, as hands grabbed her and pulled her roughly further away from the hallway, the basement hatch, and sanctuary.
Chapter Fifty-five
Q
The zombie leapt up and rushed towards them with murderous intent. Romy shot, missed, shot again, and only clipped the thing. It just kept coming!
Q decided not to hang around any longer. He pushed Michelle’s hands away from him, shoved past Romy, and ran for the basement hatch. She took her next shot as he ran. He could hear her yelp and a loud crash as the thing collided with her. He was at the ladder to the basement and quickly lowered himself a few steps, before reaching back to the floor hatch. He yanked on it, but it wouldn’t budge.
“Fuck!” Q exclaimed as he yanked again to no effect.
He tried one more time, not noticing that the hatch was locked in position. He was about to try again when the front door exploded inward. Q froze as a zombie stumbled through the doorway. Then it saw him.
Q shrieked and jumped off the ladder to crash onto the basement floor.
“What’s going on?” Ed helped Q back to his feet.
“They’re in. We gotta hide!”
“The hatch!” Sandra yelled and pointed up.
“I don’t know ... It’s fucking stuck!” Q yelled. Just then, the first zombie got to the hatch. It fell through and landed with a sickening crunch on the basement floor beside the threesome.
Sandra screamed. Ed pulled her away, and she hobbled after him. Thankfully, the zombie wasn’t moving. Q looked around the room. He wasn’t looking for a weapon. He was looking for a place to hide.
His eyes lit up.
“The window!” He yelled and ran to the far side of the basement. A dirty window, high up on the wall, had provided them with muted light over the last two days. Now it was their only hope.
Q could hear crashes above his head, as multiple zombies made their way into the house. It was now or never. He ran to the window and reached up, praying that the window wouldn’t be stuck. Thankfully, the latch worked, and the window swung outward from its top hinges.
“You get up there first, then pull Sandra up after you!” Ed shouted as he gave Q a
