There were perhaps a dozen dead things at the door and she worked her way through them. With her massive hand, she grabbed each by the head and ripped and twisted violently, tossing the heads behind her. All the while a low snarl emanated from deep within her chest. When she got to the glass doors, she shattered them with her fists and moved through the shards. In front of her were perhaps a dozen more zombies. There was blood and gore all over the store’s floor. She caught movement and saw a man with a child clinging to his back. He was swinging his weapon like a club and the girl’s shriek drowned out the snarls and groans of the zombies. Her face was a rictus of terror, her eyes having seen too much for a child at such a tender age. Her werewolf’s heart broke into a million pieces and everything became red and Zahara began to shred through tissue and bone. Every movement destroyed the walking dead.
She grabbed a hold of a man by the neck with her teeth and slung her head and his head and body separated and flew in different directions. The redheaded man backed up with the child, his eyes grew even wider when he saw her coming at him. His mouth opened into a silent scream as she tore through the zombies like overripe tomatoes. Blood, brains, and flesh flew through the air like confetti. The sheer joy of killing was missing now. Zahara only wanted to get to the child and save her, make it better. Make her better, make her whole again.
The little girl had stopped screaming now, her large eyes watched as Zahara advanced, clearing the way. Soon, there was no sound but the harsh breathing of the redheaded man who was backed up against a shelf of cereal boxes. He held his weapon up as a barrier but didn’t swing it at her. There was a low snarling growl that emanated from Zahara’s chest and throat. She walked slowly toward them, closing the gap. At her full height, she stretched nearly seven feet. Her hands were at her side, her claws curled in, ready to eviscerate any threat to the child.
Leaning in, Zahara snuffled the man and child, her wet nose taking in their bodily information. She smelled urine as the man pissed himself. Her eyes shifted to the little girl’s wide eyes. She saw no fear in them and she leaned in and snuffled again, her nose going to the child’s slender, vulnerable neck. The little girl giggled and Zahara felt her small hand reach up and scratched Zahara behind her ear.
“You look like my mommy,” the little girl whispered.
Ž
Bobby sat in the Humvee; elbows propped on the steering wheel with a pair of binoculars. He was glassing over the store in front of him and he didn’t like what he saw. They were in the store’s parking lot, situated near the buggy return. Bobby noted that several of the large windows were broken out but the opening of the broken glass was too high for the zombies to climb over. If they pushed hard enough, the zombies could open entrances into the store that way. But they weren’t that smart. Good thing. Avery was beside him, eating a stick of beef jerky.
“I want to get into that store, but damnit, too many zombies at the entrance. I’m thinkin’ if we can draw ‘em away, we could go in.” Bobby spit out the window and looked back through the binos.
“Maybe we could find another store, there’s plenty out there,” Avery said.
“Shit, every place we’ve been to was surrounded by these damned zombies. Hey, hear that? Someone’s inside shootin’. Hell, maybe if we wait a while, whoever it is will kill whatever the hell is in there,” Bobby said and grinned. He wiped at the sweat on his forehead. Other than the activity around the front of the store, all was quiet and nothing moved. There were bloated bodies that littered the parking lot and here and there he saw slight movements inside cars. Zombies trapped. He smiled at the thought. He noted black smoke in the distance, there were fires scattered about the city. It was becoming common to see, that and the carrion birds that glided on the thermals.
“You got any relatives that live out of town?” he asked and looked at Avery.
“I got a cousin down near Helicon. Why?” Avery asked.
“I was thinkin’ we’d maybe get what we could and head down there. You think your cousin would have a problem with us?”
There was a high-pitched shriek that reached the men, it was faint but came from inside the store.
“That sounds like some kid,” Avery said, shifting.
“So? What’s that got to do with your cousin?”
“Shouldn’t we help the kid?” Avery asked, looking from Bobby to the store.
“Why in the hell would we do that?” Bobby asked and then laughed and shook his head. This kid really was stupid. No sense of self preservation. Out of the corner of his eye Bobby caught movement of something moving fast. His mouth fell open when he saw a large dog. No, not a dog.
“Holy fuckin’ shit,” Bobby said softly as he watched the creature attack the zombies at the entrance of the store. He brought the binoculars up and peered through the lenses and then shook his head. He was seeing things.
“That’s a fuckin’ werewolf for shit’s sake,” he said and looked at Avery, who was now curled up with his knees to his chest.
“Zombies and werewolves?” Avery croaked.
“What kind of virus did them chinks let loose?” Bobby said in awe. He
