Excerpt: Zombie Proof Fence

Though she could hear their cries, Kayla did see any of the grownups anymore. She tried to look away but she couldn’t take her eyes off the horror unfolding before her. Four children had made it out of the chute: A pair of girls, the oldest one carrying a little girl in a lacy white dress, a little boy in a blue hat and a shoeless girl a couple years younger than Kayla.

A few dead stumbled out of the chute pursuing the children. The slow awkward things quickly fell behind, however, many more approached from the wall, the lurkers, the ones who waited outside day and night, rain and shine, aware on some unthinking level that the living waited just out of reach. Now they left the wall in threes and fours, a skirmish line of grabbing hands and biting teeth.

Drake keyed his radio. “Coolidge, Drake. Is your ladder clear?”

“Yep, but it looks like they’re all headed your way.”

Drake leaned into the fence and shouted, “Run to the other tower. That way. Follow the road, it’ll be clear up there. No that way! North, God Damn you! The other way!”

If they heard him, they ignored him. The boy and the shoeless girl ran straight ahead, dodging the first scattered lurkers but quickly running into more. They made it to the top of the ramp, the first line of New Perth’s defenses, where they came face to face with three of the walking dead. The boy darted to the side and fell. The shoeless girl froze, as if unsure whether to help him or save herself. A pursuing lurker took her from behind, one clumsy arm encircling her while bared teeth bit into her neck.

The boy got to his feet, but his eyes, as big and white as golf-balls, remained fixed on the girl as the dead thing tore savagely at her. He never saw the dragger, a legless corpse with just one arm left as it raised its head high enough to bite into his skinny leg. He cried out and fell back. His blue cap popped off his head and landed on the white, concrete ramp.

Kayla stared, her fingers white as she clenched her hands on the fence. Four dead had piled on before the boy’s screams and cries for help fell silent.

A few shots, just three or four would have cleared the way, opening a path for the children so they could reach the wall and climb the escape ladders. It’s why the ladders were there. That wasn’t complicated. Just clear the way so they could escape. They weren’t thieves or scavengers or deserters, they were just kids. Just kids trying to find someplace safe.

Drake stood still, his head tucked against his arm, the proud soldier in his uniform, with his rifle, pistol and plenty of bullets. Frozen. Useless.