for them? Frank wanted to know that. He wanted to know if they'd run into any of the smart ones, the ones that seemed to enjoy murder for the sake of it. He hoped not.
9
It took more hiking and going through a mud bog, but they got to the edge of the Morrison property. Frank felt more nervous on account of not knowing if flying out would even work. Kelly was nervous just because she knew that everyone was counting on her. They all stopped at the edge of a big mowed field with a dip in the middle that looked like the makeshift runway.
"Are we going to do it?" said Kelly. "I'm ready."
"Not so fast," said Frank. "We have to be sure the place isn't crawling with freaks." He thought about how to guarantee that and realized he couldn't. He looked at Kelly. "Todd and I will go in. We'll clear the place if there's anything waiting for us in a dark closet. Soon as it's good we'll whistle and you guys come with us. If we don't come back in twenty minutes you and Josie take off and don't look back."
Jose stepped forward and said, "I'm coming with you. With Hutch. He can help us find anything that's there."
"You're not getting in harm's way again, not if I can help it," said Frank. He wouldn't let his own daughter do something that dangerous and Josie reminded him enough of her that he had to put his foot down somewhere. Frank usually cursed his ex for keeping his daughter from him, but on this fine night for the undead it was a blessing in disguise. Thank god she's not here, he thought. I'd kill myself if she got hurt by those things.
"Hutch will only listen to me," Josie said, standing up to him.
Frank shook his head. "I don't need the dog then."
"Yes you do. And you know it."
Frank gave Josie his tough-cop stare but she tossed it right back at him. Could an eleven year-old girl do that? He said, "You drive a hard bargain."
She smiled. "I know. My dad..."
If it wasn't so dark Frank might have seen that her eyes were getting red and moist after she brought up her dad. But now he had to admire her courage and let her do her part. Having a dog wasn't a half-bad idea.
Frank turned to Kelly and Todd and said, "No sense leaving you here alone while the rest of us go in. You two stay together. Don't engage unless you're threatened. Stay quiet. Good place to start might be the big barn. I'll take Josie and Hutch to sniff the fuckers out of the house if they're there."
Frank and Josie took Hutch and started walking. Todd and Kelly followed, and then they all split when they got closer to the buildings.
Frank got the nervous tingling on the back of his neck as they went toward the house, the one that made the hair stand up. It told him that they weren't the only ones here. But it was dead quiet. There was only the sound of their own footsteps in the grass and the panting of the dog.
Frank and Josie walked up to the front porch. There was an empty rocker on it. It was still. There were two windows by the door. Both of them were dark. One of them was busted.
Hutch was sniffing and he went up to the front door and scratched with his paw against the bottom of the door. He whined.
"Someone's here," said Josie. "Hutch knows."
"You stay out here," said Frank.
"No. I want to stay with Hutch. And it's scary outside."
Frank didn't see how going into the dark house was less scary, but he could see her point in wanting to stay with her dog. "You sure about this? If there's something inside, it might not be a cakewalk. "
"Hutch will help you find it so you can kill it. And you need me there if you want him to help us."
Frank almost cracked a smile. Almost. This girl had balls.
He put a hand on the front screen door and pulled it open. Then he opened the front door and slowly pushed it forward. It creaked. The creak was the only sound in the house. It seemed louder than it really was.
Hutch darted inside and ran into the dark kitchen until he disappeared, sniffing.
"Hutch," called Josie, "Come back here. Come, Hutch." She looked up at Frank, worried. "He's not coming. I don't know why he's not coming back. He always comes back."
Frank listened and took a few more steps inside. His eyes started to adjust to the dark. What bothered him was that nothing looked out of place. The kitchen was orderly. There was a loaf of bread, half of one, on a wooden cutting board on the counter. He heard the dog going through the house, sniffing.
Frank didn't like it at all. Hutch wasn't barking. Just hunting. It was something instinctual and it was enough to make the dog ignore Josie. That meant something.
"Do you think any of them are in here?" said Josie.
"Your dog seems interested in something. Stay close."
Frank felt the weight of having her close. He had to protect her.
They went through the kitchen to a hallway. There were pictures on the wall. Family pictures. He kept going, moving slowly, and saw something that made him stop. It was a vase of flowers that had fallen off a small table. The flowers looked freshly cut. They were on the floor and the vase was broken on the wood floor. Frank knelt down and touched the spot where the flowers were. It was wet.
Whatever knocked them over had just been here. It wasn't the dog, either. If it had been Hutch he would have heard them fall. No - this was something else.
Frank said, "I think we have company. Either they're still here or they came and left." Frank felt the weight of the assault rifle in his hands again. He was ready to use it. But going through a dark house with a girl in tow wasn't something he'd trained for.
Everything about this house was dangerous as hell, and Frank knew it.
There was a short yelp from Hutch. It came from upstairs. There was the sound of scuffling and something that sounded like a deep growl. Then a thump and silence. Frank felt his heart thud from adrenaline and he looked at Josie. He said, "Stay real close. Company sounds like it's upstairs."
Frank and Josie kept going down the hall until it opened up in a living room. There was a stairwell on the side, a wide one with a big oak bannister on it. Frank held the gun in front of him, ready to shoot at any instant. He and Josie went up the steps to the first landing. The stairs turned the other direction and Frank pivoted in the dark. He called out to the dog: "Hutch? Hutch boy, come here."
Josie joined him: "Come here, Hutch. Come on, boy. Come."
Nothing.
Frank thought, Either the dog likes to play hide and seek or something got to it in the dark. But how likely was that? A dog like Hutch wasn't supposed to get jumped in the dark. It was supposed to be the one with surprise on its side.
They got to the top of the stairs and Frank heard a noise down a long hall. It sounded like it was coming from one of the bedrooms. It was a wet sound. Now Frank's spine was tingling all the way to the top of his head. It felt like a trap.
When he was in Iraq, clearing houses, this was the kind of setup that got good men killed. It didn't matter how much you trained or how good you were over there. Some suicidal asshole could pop out at the wrong time with an AK or a grenade and you went from living, breathing soldier to casualty in a split second. Frank almost wished he was dealing with ragheads with guns right now. He'd take getting shot full of holes over having some freak try to eat the meat off his bones.
Gurgling and slurping noises. That's what they were. They were coming from the far bedroom on the left. Frank approached slowly, hugging a wall. He told Josie in a whisper, "You stay right outside the room. I'm going to go in and check it out."
"Okay."
Frank knew it was a risk to leave her outside the room by herself without a loaded gun, but it was worse to bring her in when he cleared it. Something was...feeding in there.
Josie stopped just outside. Frank crouched and pushed the door open and it all happened fast. He didn't have time to think.
There was a zombie hunched over the body of the dog, eating from the guts. It turned its head and hissed, then turned back to its meal. Frank brought the gun up and aimed for the freak's head.
There was a screa
m from just outside the room. It was Josie. Frank hesitated a split-second as he heard it and the zombie pivoted and went low, sprinting towards him with its head down and arms outstretched. Its clothes looked fresh.
Frank shot twice. One shot went wide, the other one struck it in the shoulder. The zombie tripped and fell on its face. It sprang back up, moaning as it did. Frank shot again and hit it low in the guts. The thing dropped to its knees and hissed at Frank, clutching its belly. Blackish red intestines were spilling out.
Josie screamed again from outside the room.
Frank beat it out of the room to check on her and slammed the door behind him. He knew he'd left one moving and that was too bad. He saw Josie all the way back up against the wall at the end of the hall closest to him. There were more of the fucking freaks now. These were shuffling toward them from the top of the stairs, nice and slow, mouths hanging open, arms outstretched. A hungry bunch.
Frank went to Josie and crouched, taking his time to aim with the iron sight. He shot the closest one twice in the head. Its brains exploded and it dropped to the floor. Another zombie tripped over it and got up.
Frank felt Josie pressing against him. He breathed out. This was a time to fall back on training and not panic. He fired another two rounds and dropped the next one, but there were more of them. It felt like a game he couldn't win. He'd drop one and another one would come climbing over it.
The one that Frank had gut shot in the bedroom came out. It opened its bloody mouth and hissed