"Get back here!" said Angie. "You can be proud of yourself

  later."

  Maylee frowned and trotted back over.

  "Clear now to go under?" said Park.

  "Fuck that," said Angie. "Over."

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  "Over it is."

  Park stepped to the back of the truck. He put his palms flat on

  the bed and pushed himself up until he could climb onto it. He turned

  and motioned for the others to follow.

  Dalton limped over and lifted up his arms. Park took hold.

  Angie came up behind, painfully conscious of the approaching moans

  behind them. She took hold of Dalton's waist and hoisted him up. Park

  pulled him up the rest of the way. Dalton limped to stand next to Park,

  working his way in between two of the large metal barrels.

  Angie looked to Maylee on her right. "You're next. Hurry."

  Groans came close. Angie imagined she could hear the wet scrape of

  dead limbs on pavement.

  Maylee stepped over and set her bat on the truck bed. Park and

  Angie closed in to help her, but she shook her head. She pushed herself

  up, picked up the bat and stepped over to squeeze in between two

  barrels. Angie was surprised at her daughter's strength.

  Satisfied her kids were safely on the truck, Angie moved to

  climb up, her heart pounding in her ears.

  "Mom!" yelled Maylee from the truck.

  Angie stopped midstep. Groans and the sounds of shuffling feet

  came from behind her. She spun just in time to see an old man with a

  scarred face and yellow pus-filled eyes emerge from the dark.

  "Great," said Angie. She stepped forward and shoved the

  corpse. He stumbled backward. She turned and started climbing onto

  the truck. Park and Maylee knelt down to help her. She heard the old

  man gurgle behind her. His hands closed on her legs.

  Angie kicked her legs, shaking the man free. She spun, putting

  her back to the truck. The old man recovered from her kick and came at

  her again.

  "Goddammit, old man," said Angie. "I don't have time for this

  shit!" She watched the corpse warily, wondering how hard she'd have

  to shove him to gain time to climb up. She heard more groaning in the

  darkness behind the corpse.

  "I got an idea!" said Park from above her. "Get his back to the

  truck."

  "What?"

  "Just do it!"

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  Angie sighed. The old man lunged at her and she darted to one

  side. The old man slammed into the truck. Angie stepped behind him.

  Rain pelted the street around her. The old man turned and gurgled at

  her.

  Angie looked up to the truck. Park had his back to one barrel

  and his foot propped up against another. Angie realized what he had in

  mind and jumped back a few more steps.

  "Shit!" she yelled. "You crazy fucker!"

  Park grunted and used his leg to push the barrel over. It toppled

  off the truck, slamming the corpse into the pavement. Dark gore shot

  out from each side of the barrel. Bits of broken pavement scattered

  across Angie's feet.

  Angie glared up at Park. "Again, crazy."

  "Just hurry, Mom!" yelled Maylee, kneeling and holding out

  her hand.

  Angie ran to the truck. Maylee and Park helped her up. The

  downward slant of the truck on the hill almost threw her off balance as

  she stood.

  "Whoa," said Park, catching her. "Steep here."

  Angie nodded and righted herself. She turned to look back the

  way they had come. The groans grew louder. More corpses emerged,

  approaching the fallen barrel and crushed corpse. Soon, they would

  reach the truck.

  She turned to look at her kids. Dalton was shivering in the cold.

  Maylee was clutching her bat and staring at the approaching corpses.

  The look of determination on her face broke Angie's heart.

  She looked at Park. He nodded.

  "I know," he said. "We're getting inside. I'm not letting your

  kids get killed and I'm surer than fuck getting to mine."

  Angie nodded. "So let's move, then."

  The four of them picked their way through the barrels until they

  got to the other side of the truck bed. Angie could hear the corpses

  closing in behind them. A few of them were already pawing at the

  truck.

  One by one they hopped off the other side of the truck. They

  almost stumbled at the downward slant of the hill. Angie peered into

  the dark. Rain ran down her face.

  "There better be another entrance nearby," she said.

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  "There is," said Dalton. "There's a gate up ahead."

  "How do you know that?"

  "I love the zoo, Mom."

  Maylee sniffed in the rain. "I'd love to get inside."

  The groans grew louder behind them. "Come on," said Angie.

  "We gotta move."

  They took three hurried steps down the hill. They stopped when

  a groaning mob of corpses emerged from the dark in front of them.

  * * *

  Ella shivered as she approached a small storage building set

  among some bushes. The trees groaned and twisted in the wind around

  her. She couldn't shake the feeling the trees were groaning at her.

  Twisting to grab at her.

  She stepped up to the door and fished the keycard from her

  jacket. She moved to hold the card up to the reader, then froze. She had

  a clear image of Stepdad waiting behind the door. Waiting to attack

  her. To keep Lori from her. Maybe he even had a gun.

  Ella shivered, mostly from the cold. But just mostly.

  Her only hope would be to surprise him. To throw open the

  door and rush inside. Maybe he'd be sitting down. Maybe even

  sleeping. Ella could free Lori before he'd have a chance to hurt either of

  them.

  Could she hurt Stepdad? Standing there in the cold and wet

  dark, she would have liked to. But was she capable of it?

  She drew herself up, did her best to ignore the creaking trees

  around her, and held the keycard to the reader next to the door. The

  light clicked from red to green. She shoved the door open with her

  shoulder, screaming and hoping the noise would startle Stepdad.

  The room was dark and empty.

  She stood in the dark, panting and shaking. "Shit," she

  whispered.

  A woman emerged from the corner of the room. Her hair was

  wild and tangled, and her clothes were wet.

  "You!" said the woman, stepping closer.

  Ella stepped back. Her back went tight when she recognized the

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  woman. It was the one who'd pointed her out in the crowd at the Bites.

  The one who'd yelled for the others to grab her.

  "I'm sorry," said Ella, backing toward the door. "I was just

  looking for my sister."

  "You won't make me leave!" the woman yelled, her eyes wide

  and feral. "This is my room! I found it! I broke the window! I cut my

  arms getting inside! This is mine!"

  Blood ran down the woman's arms and onto the floor. Rain

  pattered through a smashed window in the back of the room.

  "I'm sorry," Ella repeated, taking another step backward. "I'll

  just go."

  "You can't take it!" yelled the woman, looking through Ella

  more than at her. "I'll kill you!"

  The woman lunged at her. Ella screamed and ran from the

  building. She ran back out into the rain, not bothering to shut the door.

  * * *

  Angie held out her arms to block Maylee and Dalton behind

  her. She stepped back, taking them back with her. The mob of corpses

  shuffled closer to them. The rain pelted on the corpse's heads as they

  jerked their dead bodies toward Angie, the kids and Park.

  "Shit," said Angie.

  "Yeah," said Park, taking the rifle from his shoulder.

  "There's too many of them for that," said Angie.

  "Don't insult me," said Park. He turned and aimed back up the

  hill. At one of the tires on the truck.

  Angie stepped backward again, pushing the kids with her. The

  mob grew closer. "You know what you're doing?"

  "Never did," said Park. He cocked the rifle.

  "Great," said Angie. She stared at the corpses. No way they

  were getting to her kids. She'd tear each corpse apart herself if she had

  to. She knew it was crazy. Crazy was all she had left.

  Park sighed. "And that's three."

  He fired. The rear tire of the truck jerked and started deflating.

  The air squealed as it rushed out of the tire. One corner of the truck bed

  slumped, shifting the barrels downward.

  "We should get the fuck out of the way," said Park.

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  Angie nodded and pulled the kids to one side. The corpses were

  close behind them. She could almost feel their hands closing in.

  The tire exploded and collapsed. The truck dropped violently

  and barrels began toppling off. The noise of the barrels clanging on the

  pavement drowned out everything else. Some rolled, some toppled end

  over end. Chunks of pavement flew off with each strike of metal on

  pavement.

  "Run!" yelled Angie.

  They all rushed toward the zoo. Barrels flew past them,

  sounding like small cars going by, smashing into the approaching

  corpses. Corpse bodies broke and squelched as barrels crushed them

  into the street.

  They were halfway to the sidewalk when Dalton fell. He

  stumbled on his bad foot and crumpled to his knees.

  Angie turned, watching Dalton drop as though in slow motion.

  Barrels flew by him, crunching corpses and breaking the pavement

  underneath.

  "Dalton!" Angie raced back. She dodged a rusty barrel as it

  careened by, crushing a corpse who'd been coming up behind her.

  "Mom!" said Dalton, reaching up to her from the pavement.

  Angie rushed over and grabbed his hand. She heard a loud clanging in

  front of her. In front of Dalton.

  She looked up. A large metal barrel was falling toward them,

  end over end. It was inches away.

  "Mom!" yelled Dalton.

  Angie dropped to her knees, covering Dalton with her body.

  Pain shot through her legs as the pavement ground into her kneecaps.

  She put her head down on the road, cradling Dalton's head in her arms.

  "Mom!" he screamed, muffled by her body.

  With a loud "clang" the edge of the barrel hit the road inches

  from the top of Angie's head. So close she felt the weight of the barrel

  tug at her hair.

  Dalton squirmed underneath her. Angie drew up her feet as

  close as she could manage. The darkness around them grew deeper as

  the barrel loomed overhead. For a moment all she could hear was her

  and Dalton breathing. She braced herself, waiting to be crushed.

  Another clang rang out. She felt the other end of the barrel

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  crunch into the pavement inches from her toes. The darkness lessened

  as the barrel continued on behind them.

  Angie lifted her head and let out a breath she hadn't realized

  she'd been holding. She turned to watch the barrel flipping end over

  end, away from them. A corpse grunted at it seconds before being

  crushed. Gray slop spread out in its path.

  "Mom?" said Dalton underneath her.

  Angie turned back to him. She smiled down at him. "Shit,

  huh?"

  Dalton nodded.

  "You okay?"

  He nodded again.

  Angie stood and helped Dalton up. Maylee and Park were

  standing on the sidewalk, staring.

  "Well fuck the hell out of me," said Park.

  "Mom!" said Maylee.

  Corpses groaned from farther down the hill. The clanging of the

  barrels was receding. The crushed ones would be replaced soon.

  "Come on," said Angie. "The gate, remember?"

  Park and Maylee nodded. Angie and Dalton rushed over,

  Dalton still limping. They all rushed down the sidewalk until they came

  to a large metal gate set into the wall. The darkened zoo was visible

  behind it. A lone light, set over an abandoned vendor cart, revealed no

  one.

  All four of them grabbed hold of the gate and started shaking it.

  They all yelled into the darkness beyond it. Angie wondered if they'd

  really seen anyone behind the door earlier. She pushed the thought

  down. There had to be someone. There had to be.

  "Let us in!" she yelled, slamming her hand into the gate.

  * * *

  Ella ran until her lungs burned. She stopped, panting in the rain.

  She'd run blindly, imagining the crazy woman behind her. If she didn't

  know the zoo as well as she did, even in the dark, she'd be completely

  lost by now.

  She knew the zoo too well to be lost. It should have been

  comforting. But Mom was dead, Lori was a hostage somewhere and the

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  world had gone crazy. Comfort was a thing of the past.

  She stood under a lone light, looking around to get her

  bearings. She was near the polar bear exhibit. There were two of them,

  Ella knew. Tony and Tina, she called them.

  She rubbed her cold hands on her jeans, trying to get warm. The

  rain stung her face. She heard animal whines coming from her side.

  From the direction of the polar bears.

  "Tony?" she said. "Tina?"

  She took a step toward the exhibit, then stopped. She

  remembered the way Ray had looked at her, the way he'd craned his

  neck around and screeched. Did all the animals hate her now?

  More whining came, followed by a small growl.

  "Tony?" Ella said. She stepped over until the exhibit appeared

  in the dim light.

  It was Tina who'd been whining. She was pacing the exhibit,

  limping with one paw held up close to her body.

  "Oh Tina," said Ella, running the rest of the way to the exhibit.

  She leaned against the glass fence separating the visitors from the

  exhibits. She leaned her head out over the deep, concrete-lined trench

  that kept the bears in their enclosure. "You poor girl. What happened?"

  Tina noticed Ella. She bared her teeth and growled.

  Ella blinked and took a step back. "Tina?"

  Tina roared at Ella and limped to the edge of the trench. Rain

  pounded the ground.

  "Tina, please," said Ella, feeling like she might cry. Why did

  everything hate her? "You're hurt."

  Tina bellowed and leapt at Ella. She leapt out over the trench.

  Ella screamed and jumped back. Tina made it halfway to the fence

  before dropping down into the trench. There was a horrible crunching

  sound, and Tina howled as she hit the concrete bottom.

  "Tina!" yelled Ella, running back to the fence. She leaned out

  and looked over. Tina lay crumpled in the bottom of the trench, her legs

  at odd angles and obviously broken.

  Ella gripped the glass fence and leaned down farther. Tears ran

  down her face, mixing with the rain. "Tina!"

  Tina looked up. She roared and bit at Ella. She strained upward,

  and Ella had no doubt she'd jump again if she was able to stand.

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  Ella heard new growls coming from the exhibit. She looked up

  from the trench to see Tony, the other polar bear, crouching next to the

  inflatable ball Ella had watched him play with many times. Tony bared

  his teeth and growled. He strode forward, toward the trench. Ella knew

  what was coming.

  "Tony don't," she said, shaking in the cold rain. "You can't

  make it."

  Tony roared and leapt. Ella jumped back reflexively. Tony

  plummeted down into the trench, just like Tina. Ella screamed as he

  fell. She braced herself, flinching at the yelp and crunching of bone as

  Tony connected with the concrete bottom of the trench. Ella stepped

  over and looked down. Tony lay next to Tina, twisted like his back was

  broken. He roared up at her, blood coming from his snout.

  Ella stepped back from the fence, crying. She walked

  backward, away from the exhibit, until she couldn't hear the growling

  of the bears anymore. She wiped her eyes, forcing herself to calm

  down. She had to keep it together. She had to find Lori.

  She stopped, listening. She wasn't sure. It could have been the

  rain or the wind. But she could have sworn she heard the sound of

  metal banging. And people shouting.

  * * *

  Angie gripped the gate and shook it as hard as she could.

  "Hey!" she yelled, forcing down the thought she was shouting to no