the lock. She found it. It was open. She pushed a third time. The

  window gave a little, creaking upward maybe half an inch.

  The corpses outside groaned and started pounding on the door.

  "Well fuck the shit out of that," Maylee muttered, picking up

  the bat. She stepped back and swung for the window as hard as she

  could. Glass exploded, bouncing off the window screen and back into

  the room. Maylee let out a little cry and jumped back, feeling stupid.

  She stepped back over, her feet crunching the glass, and ran the

  bat all along the window frame, clearing out what was left of the glass.

  She jabbed at the screen until it popped free and fell to the yard.

  She stuck her head out the window to look around, blinking in

  the cold rain. All clear. Satisfied, she climbed out the window, doing

  her best to avoid any glass she'd missed. The corpses from the hallway

  pounded away at the door.

  "Whatever, dumbasses," she muttered, dropping to the grass

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  below.

  A corpse came around the backside of the house and stumbled

  toward her. It was on her before she had time to regain her footing.

  The corpse was the dried husk of what had once been a very old

  woman. A tattered faded-blue dress clung to her withered frame. Her

  eyes were gone, long rotted away. She had no lips and her teeth, yellow

  with streaks of dirt, clacked together as she pulled Maylee close to her.

  Maylee dropped to her knees, slipping free of the corpse's

  feeble grip. She crawled away and stood, turning back to face the

  corpse and brandishing her bat. The woman bit and reached blindly at

  her.

  Maylee stared at the woman for a moment, almost feeling sorry

  for her. Then she swung the bat in an upward motion, striking the

  woman on the jaw. The woman's head whipped back, the dried skin of

  her neck cracking and splitting open. The woman staggered backward.

  Maylee screamed and raised the bat over her head. She brought

  it down hard, slamming into the woman's lolling head. The woman

  jerked, grunted, and fell.

  Maylee stood, holding the bat and panting, for several seconds.

  The cold air made her lungs constrict. The corpse at her feet was still.

  She heard screaming from inside the house.

  Human screaming. Mom. Dalton.

  Maylee raced up the side of the house, heading for the front.

  * * *

  Dalton stood on the bed, struggling to keep his balance on the

  mattress. Part of him felt guilty for getting his dirty shoes all over the

  sheets. Most of him was concerned with the burnt corpse crawling

  around on the floor, trying to get to him.

  The corpses in the hallway were loud now. He heard glass

  breaking somewhere nearby. Was someone hurt? Maylee? Mom? He

  had to get out of the room. He had to get to them.

  But first, he had to get past the corpse on the floor.

  The corpse craned its burnt and bloody neck around, the skin

  creaking as it did. It ground its teeth, biting up at Dalton but unable to

  reach him.

  Dalton sighed and stared down at the corpse. He had an idea for

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  what to do with the corpse. After that, he didn't know what he'd do to

  get out the door. But first things first.

  He did his best to ready himself, watching the corpse crawl

  around on the floor. He waited until the corpse craned its head to face

  away from the bed. Then he ran, leaping off the bed and aiming to land

  on the corpse's skull.

  He did, his left foot landing square on the back of the corpse's

  head. The corpse's head slammed to the carpet, cracking. Dalton's ankle

  twisted, sending pain up his leg. He cried out and fell forward. For a

  panicked second he saw the door racing toward his face. Then his

  forehead smacked against the door. The thin wood of the door cracked

  and Dalton slid to the carpet.

  "Oww!" he said to no one in particular, rolling onto his back.

  His forehead hurt bad. His ankle hurt worse. To his side, he could see

  the corpse was still. The corpses in the hall banged on the door behind

  him. Dalton knew he needed to stand, needed to get out of there

  somehow. But he was too dizzy to move.

  * * *

  Maylee rounded the corner into the front yard. A few corpses

  wandered around, far enough away from Maylee not to be an

  immediate concern. She ignored them and ran toward the front porch.

  The SUV's alarm was still wailing, piercing through the moans of the

  corpses. The dog across the street was still barking, angry and staring at

  her.

  As she reached the porch she saw the front door was jammed

  with corpses, all facing away from her and into the house. Beyond

  them, the living room was jammed with corpses. And beyond that, the

  kitchen and hallway, both jammed with corpses.

  Maylee heard Mom and Park yelling to each other. She heard

  clanging metal and the sounds of struggle.

  "Mom!" she yelled. One corpse, a man with a loose eyeball and

  torn tongue, turned to groan at her.

  "Oh go fuck yourself," said Maylee, whacking the corpse aside

  with the bat. "Mom!" she yelled, straining to see over the corpses.

  Several more corpses responded to her cries, turning to face her. They

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  grunted and worked their jaws.

  Maylee looked back at them, an idea forming in her mind.

  "Yeah! Look over here, asshats! Here!"

  She whacked the bat against the siding, making as much noise

  as she could. She backed up across the porch as more corpses turned to

  face her.

  "Yeah! That's it, dumbasses! This way!" she yelled, backing up

  farther. More corpses turned to groan at her.

  Then more crashes came from the kitchen. Mom and Park

  yelling and fighting corpses. The corpses who had trained on Maylee

  lost interest, and turned back to continue crushing toward the kitchen.

  "Dammit!" yelled Maylee, slamming the bat into the face of the

  nearest corpse. It fell back, teeth falling from its newly-bloodied mouth.

  Maylee stomped to the edge of the porch, feeling like she could cry.

  "Mom! Dalton!"

  Her eyes roamed to the garage. She realized it might be

  attached to the house.

  "Mom!" she yelled, running off the porch and toward the

  garage.

  "Shut up!" she yelled at the squealing SUV as she pushed past

  it, heading for the back of the garage. She grinned when she saw a door

  set into the back wall. She ran to it.

  She grabbed the handle and twisted. She cursed when she found

  it locked.

  "Shit!" she yelled, twisting the handle as hard as she could.

  "Mom!" She pounded on the door. She could hear Mom's voice inside.

  She backed up and readied her bat. The SUV's alarm squealed

  in her ears. "I said shut up!" she yelled, feeling like she was going

  crazy. The dog across the street barked furiously.

  She yelled and slammed the bat down on the door handle. It

  shook and the wood around it splintered. Screaming, she hit the handle

  again, harder this time. It broke free and clattered to the cement floor of

  the garage. Maylee let out a little cry of triumph and shoved the door

  open.

  Running inside, she found herself in a laundry room just off the

  kitchen. Looking to her right, she saw Mom in the kitchen. Mom was

  cracking a corpse's head open with a large metal pot. The corpse jerked

  from the blow and fell away. Many other corpses crowded the kitchen,

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  reaching for Mom and Park, who stood a little farther away brandishing

  a skillet.

  "Mom!" Maylee yelled, running inside the kitchen.

  Mom stopped mid-swing, gaping at Maylee. "Maylee? Where

  did you come from?"

  A corpse came up behind Mom and reached for her. "Mom

  look out!" yelled Maylee, pointing with the bat.

  Mom turned to fight the corpse. Maylee ran to help, but a group

  of corpses moved to block her. More poured in behind them. They

  groaned and came at her.

  "Ah shit!" Maylee yelled, backing up toward the laundry room.

  "Language!" yelled Mom, ramming her stock pot into the

  corpse attacking her. The corpse fell aside.

  "Seriously Mom?" yelled Maylee, backing up farther.

  The corpses moved to block Maylee from Mom. Maylee was

  pushed farther back. The corpses groaned and reached.

  "Not again!" yelled Maylee, smacking the nearest corpse with

  the bat. She rammed it across the jaw, sending blood and thick drool up

  along the wall.

  She cast a quick glance back into the garage. Still empty. Just

  the wailing SUV. She looked at the corpses. They were still coming for

  her.

  "This way!" she yelled, backing into the garage and waiting for

  the corpses to follow. They did, stumbling into the garage.

  Then a loud crash came from the kitchen. More clanging and

  Mom and Park yelling. The corpses groaned and turned back toward

  the kitchen.

  "You gotta be shitting me!" yelled Maylee. "I said this way!"

  She stepped to the SUV and smashed the bat into the windshield. The

  safety glass cracked and splintered but held. Maylee smacked it again

  and again, making as much noise as she could. "This way!"

  The corpses stopped and turned back to her. They grunted and

  pawed at each other, trying to get to her.

  "Yeah! You know it!" yelled Maylee, backing out of the garage

  along the side of the SUV. "This way!"

  The corpses followed her through the garage.

  "Ha!" yelled Maylee, running out of the garage and into the

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  yard. The dog barked crazily at her. "Shut up dog!" she yelled, stopping

  and looking back to the garage. The corpses stumbled out after her.

  Maylee ran across the yard and back to the side of the house.

  She heard the corpses stumbling after her. Rain pelted her. Her joy at

  getting the corpses away from Mom began to fade. The corpses behind

  her groaned and she began to worry she had made a fatal mistake. She

  ran, her feet pounding on the wet grass. All she heard was the moaning

  behind her and her own panting.

  She raced under the bedroom window she'd climbed out of. She

  tripped on the fallen window screen, stumbling and almost running into

  the wall. She paused to regain her footing, gulping air and looking back

  at the corpses. They were still coming for her, groaning loud and long.

  Rain stung her cheeks.

  She grunted and kept running, clutching her bat in her right

  hand. She heard the corpses behind her. She reached the corner leading

  to the back yard. She wished she had time to peek around it. She didn't.

  She ran blindly into the back yard.

  She stopped, almost stumbling when she saw five or six corpses

  standing around the back yard. They staggered around aimlessly.

  "Shit!" she yelled in frustration. She turned to look at the

  corpses coming up the side of the house. They were close.

  She heard moans from the back yard and realized her mistake.

  She turned back to see the back-yard corpses staring at her.

  They groaned and came at her. The closest one was a fat

  shirtless man, covered in yellow and white boils. He worked his flabby

  cheeks, splitting one of the boils open. Pus oozed down his ashen face.

  He reached for Maylee.

  Maylee swore under her breath. She swung the bat at the fat

  man's face, hitting it with such force three more boils broke. Yellow

  liquid splattered across her bat and onto the lawn. The fat man gurgled

  and stumbled to one side. Maylee ran past him, doing her best to ignore

  the disgusting liquid coating her bat.

  She dodged a second corpse, a woman with most of her scalp

  ripped off, and was clear of the second group. She heard the corpses

  from the side of the house round the corner and join the group she had

  just gotten past. She stopped, wiping the bat against the wall as she cast

  quick glances back to make sure no corpses drew near. Satisfied the bat

  was as clean as she could get it, she ran around the corner and along the

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  other side of the house.

  Thankfully, this side was clear. She ran as hard as she could.

  She heard the dog barking and the SUV alarm squealing as she neared

  the front of the house. Rain pelted her face and her feet nearly slipped

  several times in the wet grass.

  She rounded the corner so fast she nearly lost control. The yard

  was clear of corpses, save the ones clogging the front door. They still

  faced inside. She stopped at the corner, heart pounding, and prayed

  she'd find the garage empty. She had to get back to the kitchen. Back to

  Mom. Then Dalton.

  Oh god, Dalton. What if she'd left him to die? What if she'd

  failed to protect him? He was the kid. He was just a kid.

  Running into the garage, she would have cried for joy when she

  found it empty, but her lungs burned from running so hard. She hit the

  cement floor, nearly skidding from her wet shoes, and ran past the

  SUV. The alarm howled in her ears. She was too tired to yell at it.

  She screamed when a figure burst from the door leading into

  the house. She couldn't stop herself in time. She fell into the figure's

  arms.

  "Maylee!" said the figure as it resolved into Mom. "Are you

  okay?"

  "Mom?" said Maylee, panting. "Oh god, Mom. Mom." Maylee

  hugged her tightly. Behind Mom, Park was smacking a corpse across

  the temple with the skillet. Dark red splattered across the skillet and a

  nearby wall.

  Mom hugged Maylee back. "Where's Dalton?"

  Fear and shame flooded Maylee and she pushed away from

  Mom. "Oh god, Dalton. He's still inside." She turned to run out of the

  garage.

  "Which room?" yelled Mom behind her.

  "Follow me!" Maylee shouted, exiting the garage and running

  back into the front yard. The dog barked viciously at her.

  "Maylee!" yelled Mom from her back.

  Maylee ignored her as she ran across the yard, struggling to do

  quick calculations in her head. She tried to remember the layout of the

  house. Based on the window she had climbed out of, the room Dalton

  was in should have a window somewhere around ...

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  Shit, Maylee thought, realizing something. What if the other

  room didn't have a window? She pushed the thought down and ran

  around the corner of the house.

  She was overjoyed when she saw a second window. "Dalton!"

  she yelled, stopping beneath it. She brought her bat up and swung at the

  window. The overhead angle was awkward and the outside of the

  window was covered with a screen, but she managed to break the glass.

  "Dalton!" she yelled again, swinging the bat again. More glass

  broke and the screen came loose, falling into the yard.

  She jumped up and caught hold of the windowsill. It was too

  high and she struggled to pull herself up. "Dalton!"

  Mom's voice rang out behind her. "Maylee stop!" Maylee felt

  Mom's hand catch her leg and pull her down.

  "Mom no!" yelled Maylee as her grip came loose and she

  dropped back to the ground. "I have to get to Dalton! I have to!"

  Mom slapped her across the face. The sting of it silenced

  Maylee. For a second she stood in the cold rain, staring at her mother.

  Mom was crying. "Goddammit, Maylee, do you have any idea

  what it would do to me if I lost you?"

  Maylee blinked and put her hand to her cheek.

  Park came around the corner and ran up. "What the fuck?"

  "Park!" yelled Angie. "Come here. Give me a boost."

  Park looked at Maylee, Angie, then the window. He nodded in

  understanding then stepped over to Angie.

  Seven

  Ella drew her jacket tight around herself, walking quickly to

  keep up with the Keepers as they marched through the zoo. Heading for

  the Bites. Caleb and Lee were out front, arguing. Lee had the dart gun

  slung over his shoulder.

  Cold and intermittent rain pelted Ella's cheeks as she walked.

  She blinked and sputtered in the cold water. Why was she even coming

  along? She didn't care about the Bites. She wanted to find Lori. When

  she thought about it, it was obvious she was just following because