I nodded. Looked at Ivy. “What—”
She shook her head, face white. “Don’t ask. You really don’t want to know.”
I shut the door and together we pushed a heavy wooden chest from the mudroom in front of it. Dan locked the back door after stepping out long enough to check behind the house.
“All clear,” he said. “Let’s get them in here, but Ivy and I will get our coats in the washing machine first.”
I nodded and while they stripped off their coats I went back to the front, already unlocking the door as I smiled out the window.
A woman in a white gown stood next to the car, her feet bare, a rock clutched in one hand.
She brought her hand up and slammed it against the window. Again. Again. I could hear Owen screaming.
“Dan! Ivy!” I shouted, straining to see if there were any more of them out there.
Dan lifted the curtain on the nearby window, scanning the yard. “Looks like there’s only one. Lana? I’ll go out back and circle around behind her. Count to twenty and then step out to distract her. Got it?”
I nodded, panic threatening to overwhelm me.
What if there were more?
What if the window broke?
What if—?
“Dee! Deep breath in. You can do this.”
Right. Deep breath.
“Ivy, stay in here and guard the door. Don’t lock it, though. We may need to get in quick.”
“Gotcha, boss,” she said. She still looked pale and I wondered what they’d done downstairs. I told myself I didn’t want to know, but my mind poked at it anyway.
Dan touched me lightly on the shoulder and I jumped. “Start counting to twenty. Slow.”
One … two … three …
I glanced over at Ivy whose eyes were unfocused as she gazed out the window. What was she seeing right now?
When I got to twenty, I opened the door and moved to the top step. “Hey! Over here.”
Lana shook her head frantically and pointed off to the right. Two more of them were between the barn and shop.
“Dan!” I shouted. “Dan, there are more of them! Opposite side of the house from you.” My knees were jelly, my stomach a roiling pit of anxiety. Did I wait? Go back inside?
The woman swung the rock again and this time the window cracked. Not enough to break, but something inside of me snapped. Screaming inside, I raised the golf club and dashed down the steps. I swung it at the woman’s head with a grunt of effort. The dull crack revolted me and the impact vibrated up my arms. I swung again and she stumbled against the car, eerily quiet. I raised the club over my head as her eyes turned up to mine.
They were blue, not milky.
Oh god. Had I attacked a living person?
Oh god oh god oh god.
The woman reached for me and I brought the club down again, driving her back into the dirt.
“Dee!”
I jerked my attention away from my victim as Dan ran past, a low yell of fury coming from him as he charged at the two hiding by the barn, splitting open the first one’s head when he got close enough, before dancing away from the second’s reaching arms. I raced to help but he’d already pivoted and driven his weapon into the other’s stomach, doubling it over. “Die!” he screamed, and smashed the thing’s head in. It fell with a meaty thump.
Panting, Dan stood there looking at the bodies at his feet, his expression flat. The inexplicable smell of lilacs filled my nose.
Brains gleamed in the ruined mess of their heads.
No other monsters made an appearance and we finally trudged back to the car. The woman was still twitching and the horror that I’d hurt a live person rushed back. “I don’t think she was one of them,” I said, spilling my guilt to Dan as we stared at her. “Her eyes weren’t milky.” I went to drop down beside her, but Dan pushed past me and drove the crowbar into the woman’s eye socket with a vicious push.
Her legs twitched once more and she was still.
He nodded as he straightened. “You saw her. Beating the window with a rock. Trying to hurt my kid. Think she was banging on the window for anything good?” His voice rose as he spoke, a vein in his forehead throbbing with his anger. “You think she was just confused? Trying to get in? Huh?”
I took an involuntary step back, my eyes dropping to the bloody crowbar he still clutched in his hand. For a moment, I was pretty sure he’d swing at me, but then he blinked, registered my fear and his shoulders drooped.
Gruffly, he said, “Sorry. I—shit.” He knocked on the window for Lana to unlock the doors and then gathered Owen in his arms, whispering something into his little boy’s hair as he carried him to the house.
Lana got out more slowly, her eyes on Dan’s retreating back. “Are you okay?” she asked when he disappeared inside.
“Freaked the fuck out,” I said as she shut and locked the car. “But maybe not as freaked as Dan and Ivy.” I explained what had happened—the bits I knew about it anyway—and Lana followed me inside without a word.
We locked the door and moved the nearby bookcase in front of it just to be on the safe side. Then Lana kicked off her shoes and we curled up together on the sofa, still not talking. I wasn’t sure I could have talked right then. I knew we should probably do what we could to secure the place before we all went to sleep, but I didn’t want to move, didn’t want to let go of her.
The reality of our situation was sinking in. Our world had collapsed. So many people were dead, and we had just scratched the surface of what we might have to do in order to survive it.
“She wasn’t alive,” Lana finally whispered. “Maybe
