looking past him, seeing the same thing he saw.

  "Shit," said Angie. "Okay, we gotta..."

  A groaning corpse stumbled from the bathroom behind Angie.

  It was a young man with sideburns and a large red hole in his stomach.

  Wet, slick organs inched out with each step.

  "Fuck!" yelled Park. "Look out!"

  Angie spun as the corpse reached for her. Angie twisted away

  from the corpse, falling into the living room.

  "Mom!" yelled Dalton, running inside. Maylee ran in after him.

  "Where'd he come from?" yelled Angie, struggling to regain

  her footing.

  "Who knows? The door and windows been wide open," said

  Park, stepping over to help her.

  The corpse groaned and changed focus, reaching for Dalton. A

  loop of intestines flopped out the hole in its stomach as it strained for

  him, turning its back to Angie. Dalton screamed.

  Angie yelled and rushed the corpse. She grabbed its shirt from

  behind and pulled it backward. Dalton slipped free of the corpse's hand.

  Angie pushed the corpse hard, running it forward into the door frame. It

  groaned and clawed at the wall.

  "Fuck you!" yelled Angie, grabbing the corpse's hair and

  ramming its forehead into the wood of the frame. A loud "crack"

  sounded and dark blood splattered across the wall. The corpse went

  limp.

  "And stay the fuck away from my kids," she said, letting go.

  The corpse slumped to the floor.

  The corpses outside reached the door and window. They

  groaned and hissed, clawing at the window frame. They staggered

  through the door, moaning and chewing the air.

  Maylee and Dalton stepped backward, toward the hallway and

  away from Angie and Park. The corpses continued to stumble inside,

  quickly blocking Maylee and Dalton from reach.

  "Dammit!" yelled Angie, moving to reach for them. The

  corpses groaned and reached for her.

  Park grabbed her shoulder and pulled back. "Don't be stupid!"

  he yelled. Dalton hid behind Maylee as they both inched backward.

  Maylee held the bat in front of her, jabbing at the corpses to keep them

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  at bay.

  "Guys!" Angie yelled over the corpses as Park pulled her back.

  He could see the anguish on her face. "Run! Get to a room and hide!

  We'll get you!"

  * * *

  Maylee took careful steps backward, slowly swinging her bat

  back and forth. Dalton was behind her. He clutched her shoulder and

  stepped backward in time with her. Three corpses followed them down

  the hallway. They bit their teeth and pawed at the walls. The lights

  were off in the house and the hallway grew darker as they moved

  farther away from the living room.

  Maylee could hear Mom and Park in the living room. Mom was

  screaming for her and Dalton. Park was grunting and swearing as he

  knocked corpses aside. Maylee knew he had one shot left, but she knew

  there were too many corpses for it to do any good.

  Maylee darted her eyes from one corpse to another. The

  frontmost one, a woman with a flap of her cheek pulled away to reveal

  teeth and wet red muscle, reached for her. Maylee slapped the corpse's

  hands back with her bat.

  "Dalton!" she shouted, keeping her eyes on the corpses.

  "What's behind us?"

  "Um..." said Dalton, trailing off. Maylee heard his voice change

  volume as he turned to look, then turned back. "Two rooms at the end

  of the hall. One on each side."

  "Bedrooms?" Maylee swatted at the corpse's hands again.

  "How should I know?" Dalton whined.

  "Really?" said Maylee, jabbing the bat at the three corpses.

  Two more were entering the head of the hallway. The darkness grew

  around them and the groans of the corpses echoed off the walls.

  "Really, Dalton? You want to have an argument right now?"

  Dalton sighed behind her. "Fine, sure. Bedrooms."

  "Pick one. We're going to make a run for it."

  Maylee kept backing up, Dalton behind her. The corpses

  followed, groaning and clawing. Maylee jabbed at them with her bat.

  The two new corpses reached the group of three she was already

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  dealing with. Three others appeared at the head of the hall.

  "Um," said Dalton, "left, I guess."

  "Which left?" said Maylee. The three corpses stumbled down

  the hall. Soon there would be a total of eight for Maylee to hold off.

  "What?"

  "Left facing this way or left facing that way!" Maylee had seen

  the hall when they first stumbled down it. She didn't dare take her eyes

  off the corpses to look, but she knew they had to be running out of

  room.

  "Umm..." Dalton trailed off. Maylee heard panic creeping into

  his voice.

  "Fuck it," said Maylee. The corpses drew near. "Just run!"

  She turned and they both ran. Maylee made it a few steps, then

  jerked to a stop as a cold hand closed on the back of her jacket.

  "Dalton!" she yelled, almost involuntarily.

  Dalton stopped running and turned around. His eyes grew wide

  when he saw. "Maylee!" he screamed, turning back to help.

  Maylee brought her bat up backward over her shoulder. She

  slammed down as best she could at the awkward angle. Her wrists

  jerked as the bat connected with something. A corpse grunted behind

  her and the hand slipped off.

  She stumbled forward, almost colliding with Dalton. Guilt

  flooded her. She should have let Dalton keep running to safety. He was

  just a kid.

  "Maylee!" repeated Dalton, looking up at her with big scared

  eyes.

  "I'm fine now!" she said. "Get to a room!"

  "But Maylee..."

  "Just do it!" Maylee yelled. Groans came from behind her. She

  cursed under her breath and spun, bringing the bat up as she turned.

  The cheek-flap corpse still headed the group, a thin seeping crack in its

  forehead indicating where Maylee struck before.

  Screaming, Maylee slammed the bat into the corpse's temple.

  The corpse fell sideways against the wall. The follow-through of the

  swing cracked the corpse's skull, sending a sheet of dark gore up the

  wall.

  "Maylee!" yelled Dalton from behind her.

  "I said run!" yelled Maylee. Another corpse drew close. It was

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  on old man with bony legs and a large open slit down the entire left

  side of his body. Red strips of skin dangled as he jerked toward her.

  Maylee brought the bat up over her head and rammed it down on the

  corpse's head. He jerked and bucked, one of his red bloated eyes jutting

  from its socket, then he slumped downward.

  Maylee watched him fall, making sure he was still. She heard

  Dalton run away from her, headed for one of the rooms.

  "Hurry Maylee! Follow me!" he yelled, his voice receding from

  her. The corpses grew thicker at the head of the hall. Their groans

  grew louder, filling the hallway. Maylee lost track of Dalton's voice.

  She couldn't tell which room he had run for.

  Satisfied the old man was still, she jerked her head back up.

  More corpses pushed toward her. Too many to beat back. They groaned

  and reached. She looked back to the end of the hall. Two doorways,

  each open. No sign of Dalton. Which door had he used?

  "Dalton?" she yelled. "Where are you?"

  The groaning grew louder behind her. She heard Dalton

  somewhere, but couldn't pinpoint the source. She looked back at the

  corpses. They were close now, too close.

  She picked a doorway at random and bolted for it.

  * * *

  Angie stepped backward as corpses poured into the living

  room. They came through the door. They crawled through the window,

  oblivious to the jagged glass shredding them as they pulled themselves

  inside.

  With each step she took backward her chest grew tighter. Her

  children were farther and farther away. The corpses grew in number

  between them. She couldn't do anything. The chaos was swallowing

  them.

  She heard Maylee and Dalton in the hallway, screaming to each

  other. Or were they just screaming? Or dying?

  "Maylee!" she yelled. "Dalton!" She and Park were pushed into

  the kitchen. Corpses filled the living room.

  "Goddammit all anyway!" said Park, stepping over to the stove

  and grabbing a stainless-steel frying pan.

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  "How do we get to the bedrooms from here?" yelled Angie,

  knowing full well what the answer was. Knowing full well the only

  way was through the thick mob of corpses pressing toward them and

  her children.

  "I have no idea!" yelled Park. "I wasn't so much with the

  regular visits." He flung the pan at an approaching corpse. A loud

  "clang" rang out and the corpse's head snapped back. Thick dark fluid

  spilled from a crack in the corpse's head and it fell forward.

  Park snorted, unslung the rifle from his shoulder and leveled it

  at the nearest corpse.

  "Park no!" yelled Angie. "We need that!"

  He cocked an eyebrow at her. "And what the fuck else would

  that be for?"

  "When we get to Maylee and Dalton," she yelled, feeling like

  she was going insane. The noise around her was maddening. The stink

  of corpses stung her nose. "We may need it to..."

  "Be fucking realistic!" yelled Park back at her. "This is it!

  Jennifer's dead! My kids are probably dead! Your kids are..."

  "You can go fuck yourself!" yelled Angie, her cheeks growing

  hot. Tears were coming. "You go fuck yourself so hard your asshole

  bleeds for a fucking week! We're getting to them!"

  Park stared at her as the corpses grew closer. Finally he

  shrugged and replaced the rifle strap over his shoulder. He grabbed a

  large thick stock pot from the stove and tossed it to Angie. She caught

  it as he opened a cabinet above the stove. He pulled out a cast-iron

  skillet and nodded to her.

  She nodded back. They turned to face the corpses that poured

  into the kitchen. They put their backs to the sink and waited, clutching

  their weapons and bracing themselves.

  * * *

  Dalton ran inside the bedroom and looked around. I'm not

  running, he told himself. I'm making sure the room is safe. I'm helping.

  He whipped his head from side to side, taking in the room as

  quickly as he could. It was neat and tidy with a mix of hunky-guy

  posters and stuffed animals. A girls room. No corpses to be seen.

  "Dalton!" came Maylee's voice from somewhere in the hall.

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  "Which room?"

  "Here!" Dalton yelled, turning back to the door. He took a step

  then fell forward as something caught his foot. His stomach slammed to

  the floor and the air rushed from his lungs.

  His throat clenched as he heard a groan come from behind him.

  From floor level. He felt cold fingers grip his foot. He screamed and

  kicked blindly with his free leg. His foot connected with something,

  and his other foot slipped free.

  He scrambled forward and stood so quickly he almost fell into

  the nearest wall. He turned and looked down.

  A corpse was on the floor, mostly hidden under the bed. It was

  a lanky teenage boy missing an eye and an ear. Dried blood caked the

  side of his face and neck. Its head and one arm jutted out from under

  the bed. It reached at Dalton and gnashed its teeth.

  "Crap!" yelled Dalton, backing away from the corpse. He

  turned and ran to the door, trying to ignore the groaning corpse behind

  him. "Maylee!"

  A young woman with burnt hair and no lower jaw grabbed at

  him from the doorway. Two other corpses stood behind her, hissing

  and biting. Dalton screamed and slammed the door. The corpses

  outside groaned and dragged their fingernails across the wood of the

  door. Dalton fumbled with the handle for a panicked moment, then

  found the lock. He pushed it in, his hands shaking.

  Groaning came from behind him. He spun, chest thudding. The

  corpse under the bed was pulling itself out.

  The teen boy grabbed the carpet and pulled. He slid a few feet,

  then grabbed the carpet and pulled again. Flakes of dried blood scraped

  off of the corpse's skin as it dragged itself along the carpet. The corpse's

  other arm emerged from under the bed. It was burnt beyond use. A few

  more tugs and Dalton saw the corpse had no legs, just black charred

  stumps.

  Dalton looked frantically around for a weapon. Something

  heavy. Anything. All he saw were small knickknacks and stuffed

  animals. He sighed and braced himself. The corpse kept pulling. He

  would have to do something.

  Mustering his courage, he ran at the corpse. He did his best to

  build up speed in the small space of the bedroom. As he drew near the

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  corpse, he brought up one foot to kick. He aimed for the corpse's head,

  hoping it would be enough.

  The corpse hissed and bit at his foot. Dalton screamed and

  stopped mid-kick, almost tripping. He fell forward onto the mattress.

  His heart thudded as he drew his legs up to safety. You're not

  scared, he told himself. You're not a little kid. It didn't work. The

  corpse moaned from the floor, scraping its body across the carpet. The

  door shook and corpses groaned from just beyond it. Dalton fought

  back the urge to shake.

  "Mom!" he yelled, hearing only groans in reply.

  * * *

  Maylee ran into the bedroom and looked around. Dalton was

  nowhere to be seen. Her heart dropped as she realized she'd picked the

  wrong room.

  "Dalton!" she yelled, turning to run across the hall to the other

  room. Two corpses moved to block her. They grunted and reached for

  her, rotten teeth grinding.

  "Fuck no!" she yelled at them, knocking them back with her

  bat. She shut the door and slammed her balled fist against it. "Dammit!

  Dalton! Mom!"

  The corpses outside groaned and ran their hands along the door.

  "Shut up!" she yelled at them.

  She fell silent, panting and putting her forehead against the

  door. The corpses scraped their fingernails along the wood. Crashes

  came from the kitchen. The corpses groaned outside the door.

  "I said shut up," she said, quietly. She stepped away from the

  door and turned to survey the room. It was a little cluttered, but clean.

  Movie and music posters covered the walls. Books were crammed into

  a small shelf above the bed. The edge of the shelf had something

  written on it with what looked like glitter glue. Ella, it said.

  "Dalton!" she yelled, trying again. She heard nothing but

  groans.

  Her eyes settled on a window at the far side of the room. She

  saw gray, overcast sky through the slats of the lowered blind.

  Holding her bat ready just in case, she rushed toward the

  window. She stopped when her foot struck something on the floor. The

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  107

  object flew across the floor a few feet, then stopped. Maylee's back

  grew tight and she looked down, gripping the bat.

  A cell phone sat on the floor, a few feet away from where she'd

  kicked it. Ella was painted across the outer shell of the phone,

  apparently in the same glitter glue used on the shelf.

  Park'll want this, she thought, reaching down to grab the phone.

  She glanced at it, rubbing her thumb over the raised glue forming the

  letters. It lit up when she pressed the button on the side and seemed to

  be working. She slipped it into her pocket.

  She took another look around, having seen too much in the last

  few days to take anything for granted. The corpses in the hall scraped at

  the door, but remained outside for the time being. She was alone.

  Satisfied, she ran the rest of the way to the window.

  Holding the bat with one hand, she pulled the blinds up to

  reveal the side yard of the house. Rain spattered the window and the

  sky was gray She looked down at the yard and was elated to find it

  clear of corpses. She set the bat down against the wall and grabbed the

  window frame. She pushed up but the window wouldn't give. She

  frowned and pushed again, harder. Still nothing.

  The groaning from the hallway grew louder. The scraping of

  the corpse's fingernails on the door grew louder.

  Maylee felt along the middle of the window frame, looking for