Karen looked at Ellis through watery eyes, trying to keep her emotions in check.
"Is there an attic?" McCall asked. He was watching the burning men stumble around on the stairs.
"No," Ellis said.
"What would we do in an attic? Wait until we burned to death?" Karen asked. She had no idea how he'd stayed on the run from the law with decision making like this.
"I came in through a window down the hall. I didn't expect to leave the same way, but I don't see much of a choice."
With that, McCall walked into the darkness of the hallway and disappeared.
"Ok, what do we do after we climb out a window? No wonder you're a criminal; you’re an idiot," Karen said, calling after him. She couldn't believe that she was following an incompetent outlaw.
"Could be, but he's still alive and he has guns. Gold ain't worth as much as these guns right about now," Ellis said. He followed McCall down the hall.
"Damn," Karen said to herself.
Moments later she was crawling through the window and looking at thirty mangled people, all wanting to tear her apart.
Ellis stood to her left, swaying slightly on his feet. She could see the transformation in him already. Even his smell had changed; it was similar to soured milk.
A train whistle pierced through the night, catching all of them off guard. Karen figured it was still miles away, but would cover that distance in a matter of minutes.
McCall was on the other side of her, loading two bullets into one of his pistols.
"That train stop in Gehenna?" he asked.
"No, that's a cargo train. Only a handful of compartments for people and they're usually for big wigs heading to the mines out west," Ellis said.
"Maybe they'll slow down when they see the entire town is burning down," Karen said. "When they see the fires, they might even stop and let us on."
She'd wanted out of this town for years and now she may get her chance. All it took was the deaths of her friends, the destruction of an entire town, and an incredibly contagious plague. And all of the money she'd been saving was about to burn in its 'safe' place under a floorboard in her room.
"Maybe," Ellis said, not meeting her eyes. "The two of you at least. I don't think I'm going to be followin' along much further."
"There's a whole lot of moaners standing between us and the rail," McCall said, spitting off the roof. The spittle landed in the hair of what used to be a little girl, no more than ten years old.
Karen studied him for a moment, trying to see if his attitude was a façade or if he just had a terrible personality. She couldn't tell.
"You keep calling them 'moaners'."
"Well, they moan. A lot."
"But the best you could come up with was 'moaners'? What about 'the living dead', or 'the eternal hungry.'"
"I'm shooting them in face, not writing a book."
"I hate to interrupt, but we're standin' on a burnin' building and surrounded by 'the livin' dead', whatever that means. Any ideas on how we can get to the track? It's about three hundred yards west, at the end of town," Ellis said.
"I guess we're gonna have to shoot our way out of here. Don't think we have enough ammo though," McCall said. He was eerily calm, as if he were discussing the weather. Karen didn't know if that was good or bad.
Another whistle, much closer this time, signified their need to get moving.
"I'll hop down first, since I'm already bit," Ellis said. He coughed into his mitt of a hand. Karen saw some blood on his palm as he wiped it across the front of his shirt.
"Ellis, there has to be some kind of−"
"We both know that getting bit is a one way ticket to a dirt nap," he said as he hunched down at the edge of the roof. "I'm goin' to drop down and clear a spot out. You jump down behind me," he said.
"Ellis, don't−"
"Damn it, Karen! Listen to me for once in your life."
Tears stung her eyes yet again. She'd cried more today than she had in her entire life.
The distance from the porch roof to the ground was about ten feet. The problem was the throng of people that stood all around it.
Karen felt something bump against her shoulder. Looking down, she saw the butt of the rifle that had been slung over McCall's back. She took it from him without either saying a word. Mad Dog pulled his other pistol from its holster.
Ellis shot first, unloading both barrels of his shotgun into the crowd. Two of the creatures’ heads exploded like a melon hit with a hammer. He immediately fished two more shells from his ammo belt and reloaded.
Karen sighted a woman in the front. Both of her eyes were gone; only empty, pus-filled sockets remained. Karen shot her between them and worked the action on her rifle before aiming at a man missing most of his left hand. His stump pointed at her as she dropped him.
McCall was shooting with alternating hands, firing one bullet from his left then shooting with his right. He dropped three or four times as many of the monsters as Karen did, though she tried to keep up.
Because his shotgun only held two rounds, Ellis had to reload constantly. The devastating effects from each shell made up for the lack of quantity.
The bodies piled on top of one another, covering the earth with blood, tissue, and bone fragments.
Karen anticipated the next kick from the rifle as she squeezed the trigger, but received only a click.
"Ammo!" she said to McCall, yelling above the thundering gunfire.
"Left pocket," he said. He kept shooting as she fished the bullets out.
She marveled at the dexterity of McCall's hands as reloaded his pistols. It took him seconds to drop six rounds into each cylinder before a flick of his wrist snapped them into place.
Ellis fired two more shells and then stopped, peering through the smoke.
Karen couldn't see anything yet, but apparently Ellis could because he dropped from the roof and out of sight.
In the brief interlude between shots, the squealing brakes of the train cut through the night. They were stopping, or at least slowing down.
"Come on down. I'll catch you, but you better hurry," Ellis said.
Moving carefully, she perched on the edge, squinting through the haze. She could barely make him out, standing in the middle of a sea of bodies.
Closing her eyes, she hopped from the ledge, falling into his open arms. A grunt escaped him as her weight pulled against his wounded back. Karen felt the strength drain from him as he lowered her to a small section of ground that wasn't covered with the deceased.
McCall dropped down beside her, his boot crushing a hand that protruded from the pile of bodies. Without hesitation, he turned away from them and shot down more of the approaching dead. He marched forward, mowing them down like a scythe through wheat.
Karen pulled more bullets from his pocket and jammed them into her rifle. Ellis maintained their rear, blasting anything that came within five feet of them.
As they moved through the alley, Karen's heart sank at the incredible number of them. It was clear that the entire population had been infected.
Emerging from the alley, the devastation played out in front of them. Not only had McCall blown the jailhouse to smoldering pieces, but he'd managed to set every building in the area on fire. Thick smoke hung in the air, billowing from the inferno.
Through the front door of the saloon, she watched in horror as her former friends stumbled around in the burning bar area, oblivious to their fate. Chancing a few glances between shots, she saw the entire town in flames.
McCall had burned all of Gehenna to the ground − infected people and all. She hoped there weren't any other survivors left in the blazing homes.
Ellis gave her a rough shove from behind, jolting her back to the moment. "Keep moving!"
Her rifle had run dry again. "Ammo." She didn't have to yell this time, as Mad Dog was reloading.
After clicking his cylinders closed, he patted his pocket. "You're out,
" he said and started shooting again.
"What about your other pistol?"
"No one uses that gun but me."
"What do you mean no one−"
"It's my good luck charm. Just stay close."
"We're going to die because you're superstitious?"
"You're still alive, aren't you?"
"I've only got six shells left!" Ellis said from behind her.
Karen examined the ammo belt draped across McCall's shoulder and didn't like what she saw. All of the loops on the back were empty − she hoped the front wasn't as sparse.
Their pace was just above a slow jog as they sliced their way down the street. Karen could see small reflections on the tracks another two hundred feet in front of them. She didn’t think they had enough ammo to make it.
To her left, down another alley and through the sea of bloody, mangled faces, Karen saw the train approaching the edge of the town. It was going too fast to stop at the station, and would probably still be moving if they could meet it at the track.
A gust of wind blew the hair up on the back of her head while the boom of Ellis' shotgun threatened to deafen her.
She turned to chastise him, but stopped herself when she saw how much his condition had worsened. Judging from her limited experience with everyone else, he had only minutes left.
"Ellis−"
His yellowed face pinched in anger at the concern on Karen's. "Run, damn you! You gotta get on that train. And don't let them stop, or it's all over!"
Turning around, she saw that McCall had pulled away from them, not slowing for anything. The street was clearing ahead of him as he neared the end of the road. Fewer houses meant fewer cannibals.
Karen flipped the rifle around, holding the barrel in both hands, and swung at everything that drew near. She connected with the shoulder of a large, burly man. The impact sent shockwaves up her arm and nearly jarred the gun from her grip. He didn't budge.
He stood a full foot taller than her, his massive frame blocking most of the light coming from the fires behind him. The silhouette of his body scared her more than the disfigured skin it hid.
As she turned to run, his hands curled into her hair, jerking her head back. The smell of death emanating from him made her nauseous all over again. At the edge of her vision, Karen saw his large jowls quiver as he bent forward to tear at her forehead.
"Get away from her!" Ellis came up behind the gigantic monster and thrust the double barrel in his puffy face. The metal pushed against his nose, bending it up like a snout.
Karen closed her eyes, bracing for the blast of shotgun. All she heard was the anticlimactic click of a misfire. They'd been shooting round after round since they left the saloon and the only misfire came when she was inches from becoming a late night snack.
"Shit!" Ellis stared in disbelief at the weapon in his hands.
The giant, seemingly oblivious to Ellis' presence, brushed the gun away and bit at Karen's face again.
Ellis swung the shotgun, throwing his weight behind it, and smashed it against the man's mouth. Teeth exploded from his mouth, flying in every direction. Karen felt his fingers loosen and she spun away.
More people swarmed her, cutting off any hope of escape. She searched for McCall but couldn't see past the closing crowd.
"McCall, help us!"
Ellis battered the man with the gun, connecting with powerful blows that would have killed a normal human being. This thing, as big as it was, absorbed the damage, staggering a half a step back from each strike.
A woman with tiny strips of skin still remaining on her arms grabbed onto Ellis and bit into his neck. Stopping his assault on the mountainous man, Ellis fought to free himself from the woman's clenched teeth.
The momentary lapse allowed the giant to recover. He clawed at Ellis face and chest, tearing deep, ragged gouges in his flesh. Ellis howled, the pain forcing him to his knees, finally succumbing to the accumulating damage.
More people piled on, partially cutting off Karen's view of the massacre, biting and tearing at her friend.
"No!"
She started forward, intent on killing them all, when a bony hand grabbed her ankle. Looking down as she kicked her leg, she saw the hand belonged to a naked man. His legs were missing. Intestines covered in filth trailed behind him.
Shrieking in fear and rage, Karen lashed out with a ferocity that shocked her. She struck the back of his head with the butt of her rifle over and over, finally stopping after his skull caved in. The still intact half of his body lay motionless in the dirt, oozing things Karen never wanted to see.
The area around her grew brighter, shortening her shadow. Snapping around, she was confronted with the burning, scuffing corpse of Doctor Randy.
His skin had blackened and split, revealing the red muscle beneath. Pieces sloughed off, leaving gobs of burning meat trailing behind him.
She set upon him like a feral beast. Swinging the rifle over her head, she struck him dozens of times, cutting him to his knees. The stock of her gun cracked after the third strike, but her fury wouldn't allow her to stop.
The last burning remnants of his black robe, dislodged from her attack, landed on her skirt.
When he finally stopped moving, Karen backed away, her chest heaving. She swatted at her smoldering clothing, smearing bloody hand prints across it.
A hand latched onto her shoulder, pulling her backward and off balance. She jammed the butt of the rifle against the ground, attempting to break her fall but the crack in the wood split open, sending her sprawling in the dirt. From her back, Karen watched as they closed in around her. She caught a glimpse of the starry sky in a small break in the tower of smoke.
As hands descended upon her, she closed her eyes and visualized the beautiful stars.
Chapter 16