They Walk

Chapter Seventy Three

I walk out of the school, while holding onto my mother and force myself to keep it together, as she grows limp in my arms. We follow Gabe down steps and I thank any who watch over us, that there aren’t any other people alive out here, at least in the courtyard. I keep thinking over and over what happened and I can’t help beating myself up for not making sure Vin was knocked out for good. I remember seeing him stir a bit before we even let loose the grenade and we should have done something, and now my mom is shot.

I know one thing for sure, I can’t even think about her not being alright. It has to be right?

All of THIS can’t be for nothing, life isn’t that cruel. Or maybe I’m just being naive, and this is what life really is like. Just one hump after another, and we’re nothing but games pieces that get moved around without a care.

Every step I take into the courtyard and closer to the fence, my arms and legs get weaker. It gets to the point where I’m not sure who is shaking worse, me or my mom. I can’t stop moving though, and I can’t leave her, it’s not even an option. When my head begins to throb like a bongo drum, I bite the inside of my cheek until I taste the metallic tang of my blood.

The instant sting of my cheek takes my mind of my aching body, and securing a better hold, I carry my mother and me after Gabe where he finally reached the fence. Only, we have a new set of problems. Apparently, while we have been inside fighting with the living, the dead have gathered at the fence.

Gabe stops right in front of the fence, and covers his face with his hands and hunches over on himself. Just from being so close, the dead are already rushing at the fence, and the whole thing quivers under their attacks. I don’t know what we are going to do here, there has to be over twenty of them out there. My dad catches up while hovering over my mother, and takes some of her weight off of me. When Gabe turns back to us with worried eyes, my dad takes his own worry from my mother and glares at Gabe.

“What are we waiting for, we have more grenades right?”

Gabe looks at him, like he just asked the most ridiculous question, and for the life of me I don’t know why.

“That’s not the problem, it’s that there are a lot more dead here. The grenade will only take out half, and we’d have to shoot the rest and move at the same time. We’re not all at our best though, and I don’t know if we can make it.”

He finishes with his head lowered, and I know right away it kills him inside to even have to admit defeat. My dad though seems to get furious now, and advances on him.

“You listen to me Gabriel, we can’t stay here. We only have this one chance, and we need you to focus. Can you do that?”

Gabe looks up at him, and his eyes are wider than usual, and I have the feeling he is trying not to let tears form in his eyes. Good luck with that, I’ve never had the choice. But he nods his head, and my dad claps him on the shoulder. During this, my mom had leaned onto a little more, so that her head is resting on my shoulder. She lifts it up all of a sudden though, and tries to give me her best resolve face.

“Maggie, I can’t go out there. Just let me lay down and I’ll stay.” Her voice is so quiet, that I almost don’t hear her over the moans and groans of the dead.

When I do hear I turn to her the best I can while holding her and shake my head no back and forth.

“Don’t even think like that mom, no one is staying behind. We’ll be at the car soon, and you can rest then I swear it.”

She doesn’t seem to hear me though, and she begins crying and shaking more than before. Her head lolls to the side, and she hangs heavy in my arms. We can’t stand here talking about what we should do we should just freaking do it.

“Can we go now please?” I call out to Gabe and my dad.

Gabe nods and digs into his satchel again for another grenade, while my dad comes back over to me and my mom. Once he has the grenade in his palm, he gives us all a quick look.

“Once it goes off, we have to get by them all as fast as we can. This will be our only chance, and we can use this as a cover. Stay close.”

He finishes while giving me a very intense look, like he in just telling me to stay close.

I’m okay with that, trust me. My dad takes a step to the side now, and raises his gun to get ready, while I hold tighter to my mom and raise the ax as best I can. Gabe, steps right up close to the fence and when he pulls the clip out with ease, the dead are already trying to reach for him. Clip free now, Gabe swings his arm back and around and lets the grenade fly over the fence and into the masses. I can feel the explosion before I hear it, and the ground shakes with the booming shock of it. Then it’s all arms and legs and other body pieces when it finally expands.

We do everything we can to not fall onto our buts from the pressure.

During the middle of it, Gabe swings open the fence.

Even while they burn and crash around one another, the ones still standing don’t hesitate to rush at us. But we’re running now, and I can hear my dad and Gabe both already firing their guns into them. I don’t stop to see if the dead are getting close or not, I just keep moving and not let my mother fall from my arms. There are body pieces all over the ground, and it takes us longer to reach the end of the alley than I’d like. But eventually we do, and thank goodness that the car is still sitting in the road in one piece. I’m so happy to see it that I let myself relax, and I instantly regret it, as my mother gets heaver and I struggle to move.

Gritting my teeth I force my legs to carry us a little further.

We are full out running now, and I have no idea how I am manage that, but I don’t stop to figure it out. I’m now in the front and I can’t see Gabe, but I do hear the sound of two guns going off and it seems close. Praying they are both alright, I finally reach the side of the car and I bring us to an abrupt stop that leaves me gasping for breath along with my mother.

Quickly, I swing the ax up on the hood and when I have a free hand I open the backseat door as fast as I can. The gunfire sounds are getting closer, and so are the many sounds of pattering feet. Ignoring the fact that we might be getting surrounded, I manage to get the door open while never letting go of my mom, who by the way has gone very still. I take her in both of my arms now, and lower her into the backseat.

She falls limply inside.

I’m about to maneuver her legs around so that she is sitting up, when I feel something behind me.

Holding my breath, I start to reach for one of the knives in my ankle holster while turning around at the same time. A heavy hand touches my shoulder before I turn the whole way, and when I hear the sound of a gun right next to me, I know it’s my dad.

Sure enough, with a quick glance I see that it is him.

Finally lifting my mother’s legs into the car, I notice too that Gabe is on the other side of the car firing his gun. Feeling relieved that we are all relatively alright I slam the car door closed and reach for the ax at the same time. Turing around with the ax in my arms raised high and I realize that there are still more of the dead than I knew. How Gabe and my dad have kept them from attacking us I have no idea. It doesn’t even seem that the grenade even put a dent into them or maybe the sound of it drew others from around closer.

Whatever the cause may be, there are too many of them for us to be lollygagging around.

“Dad get in with mom, I’ll cover you. Hurry!”

He nods rapidly and after shooting the gun one more time into an older woman with rollers still him her charred hair, he opens the car door and climbs in over my mother. I slam the door after him, and with the feel of Gabe’s bullets whooshing past me, I rush to the passenger door. Surprisingly, I don’t have to use the ax once and before I know it I’m sliding into the seat and slamming the door behind me. In a fast move, Gabe opens his door and jumps inside in the driver’s seat. He is just slamming the door, when he is already trying to start the car.

I can see the dead getting closer out of the window.

It’s a matter of time before we are surrounded and have no chance of driving anywhere.

In the backseat I can hear my mother crying in pain, and my father joins her in her tears. Gabe is struggling to get the keys into the keyhole with his shaking fingers. Out of the corner of my eyes, I see something on the floorboard next to my feet. Gabe must have swung it inside when he got it, because it is his satchel.

Before I think about it being a bad idea, I reach into the bag and pull out a grenade. No one pays me any attention as I roll down the window, and when I finally hear Gabe start the car, I pull out the clip. Gabe turns to me with wide eyes when I toss it out of the window. He instantly slams on the accelerator and we all get thrown back into our seats as we rush forward at breakneck speed.

That’s when the explosion hits.