Ascension

'Fuck!' he yelled trying to force himself to pull the trigger again.

'Please don't! Just don't. I didn't, I didn't want to, I was. I was trying to miss. He made me, I would have just stayed at home, you know, not hurt any…'

'Shut up!' Max yelled. He was fully inside the elevator alcove now and Stewart fired another burst behind him to keep the zombies holding Ruben pinned. In the dim light he could barely make out the zombie's features, he was an African American man, not too much older than Max.

Stewart rushed by Max, heading down the hall, calling out, 'Max! C'mon, shoot the Billy and let's go!' as she went by.

Max said, 'Sorry.' and pulled the trigger, drowning out the man's plea for mercy. The shot severed one of the zed's hands at the wrist and took off the top left side of his head. As Max turned to go he saw that it wasn't dead, it was twitching. 'Goddamned pain in the ass! He stepped forward and finished the zombie off with another shot, then reloaded his gun as Bill and Javier caught up to him.

'Max?' Bill said, squinting in the poor light. 'You okay?'

'Yeah, peachy.'

'Guys! C'mon! I got them pinned!' yelled Stewart.

The three caught up with Stewart, and Bill said, 'Javier, you watch our backs, when those shamblers come up here you let us know, but don't shoot unless you have to.'

Stewart was outside of the hotel room, she had her rifle pointed inside and Max quickly peeked in from the other side of the doorway. In the main room there were two zombies and Ruben. Ruben was closest to the doorway and the two zombies were behind him, one had a knife at his throat, the other was standing there nervously, sucking its lips into his mouth, then pushing them out. As Max watched, it bit down and cut its lower lip free and sucked it into its mouth. Even as it chewed Max could see the outer lip stop bleeding. Faster than he would have thought possible, the lip that had been chewed off regrew.

'That is fucking-a disgusting.' Stewart said softly.

'Yeah, Lips is an acquired taste.' said the zombie holding the knife, 'Even on a good day I can hardly stand to be around him.' He shrugged his shoulders and continued, 'And today is not a good day.'

Stewart turned her eyes towards the zombie with the knife, 'I don't think he'd be that much better on a good day. So, you gonna drop that knife?'

The zombie shook his head slightly, 'No. You gonna drop that gun?'

Stewart fired, the bullet caught the zombie low in its forehead, almost dead center between the eyes. It clenched once, but the knife dropped effortlessly from its hand as it toppled over. When it fell backward, Lips was exposed and Max took a shot at him, aiming high. Max's shot missed and the zombie threw itself backwards into the curtains and window, leaving Ruben behind. The window didn't break and the zombie flailed around, wound up in the curtains while Max and Stewart fired into it. Their shots blew out the window and after bumping into the sill, Lips fell out of sight, pulling the curtain rod with him.

'Ruben! Are you okay?' Max said, going down to one knee and putting his hand out to steady him.

'I'm fine, they didn't even scratch me. Did you get the bomb?'

'We left it for now.'

Stewart went to the window and looked down at their truck. 'It's still there. Hey, Javier? Those zeds coming at us yet?'

From down the hall Javier called back, 'No. How's Ruben?'

'He says he's fine! We're getting him up and out of here now.'

Reuben stood up and ran a hand across his neck, then looked at it. 'That could have been bad. If he had jerked back or something.'

'No, they don't. Haven't you noticed, a head shot drops them, it's like they don't have that last convulsive reaction like the living do. You weren't in any danger.' said Stewart.

'I hadn't noticed…'

'Well don't worry about it gramps, you can't pick up everything. Besides…' a gunshot interrupted her as Javier fired. 'Besides we didn't have all day to negotiate, we got zeds incoming.'

'Why the hell didn't they eat you Ruben?' asked Max, reloading his gun as he spoke.

'I heard 'em talking, they said…'

'Later, let's get out of her first. Max where are they?' interrupted Stewart.

'Shamblers coming up the hallway, Lips is gone, he is running back to the other hotel, the others seem to be clearing out too.'

'Should we be worried about that?'

Max nodded, 'I am.'

'Fuck.'

'You all ready to go?' Bill called from the hall.

'Yeah, we can go down the stairway at the other end of the hall, it's empty, then cut through the building back to the lobby to get to the truck.' Max said.

'Okay, let's do it. Javier, you grab Ruben, Max and Stewart follow us, but stay closer than before.' Bill led the way down with Javier sticking close to Ruben.

'How come you paused with Billy back there?'

'I don't know, he wasn't armed, he was just sitting there, cowering, begging me not to shoot him.'

'No mercy Max. No mercy. You forget why we are here?'

'I know why I am here Stewart.'

'Good, I think your kids would appreciate that. Did you forget what the zombies have done to you? What they have taken from you? From everyone?'

'No, I haven't forgotten.'

'Next time you better remember faster, if it helps you, think of your wife.'

'Stewart! That is…'

'Don't 'Stewart' me! The few seconds you spent dicking around could have gotten Ruben killed. Next time it could be me or Bill or any of us. Get your head on straight! They are not human, we can't just get along with them. We can't make peace! They eat us for fuck's sake!'

'Alright. I got it. Lay off.'

'I'm not mad, so don't you be. I just want to help you out. Peace?'

'Yeah, okay, peace. I still say he shouldn't be a 'Billy'.'

'Because he couldn't shoot for shit?' asked Stewart.

'Yeah, the name doesn't do the original justice.'

'You know the names of any bad shots?'

'No.'

'That's 'cause they were bad shots, they never got into the press, they got dead. Hm, what about 'Nancy'?'

Max thought back to the super zombie who had pursued him so long ago back to his home in Denver, the zombie who had infected his wife, he shook his head, 'I wouldn't want to honor her like that.'

They went down the stairs, still bantering quietly.

'She was a bitch. I don't suppose 'bitch' would work?'

'No, I've already got a patent on that one. You'll have to try harder. At least we have a name for zombies who are good with guns.' said Max.

'Yeah, 'Billy', though I hope we never have to use it. If we do it means someone has been shot.'

The group moved into the lobby of the hotel and looked out at their bullet ridden truck. Bill took the keys out of his pocket, 'Think it will run?'

Ruben shrugged, 'Only one way to find out. At least the tires aren't blown out.'

'No windows though.' said Max.

'The weather is good, we'll be okay. Javier, why don't you drop and see if anything is leaking out of it?' asked Bill.

Javier went to his hands and knees by the front door of the hotel and looked under the truck. He shook his head from there and said, 'It looks okay Bill, I don't see anything dripping. The bomb is still there too, on the ground.'