The door to the trailer burst open with a tremendous crash and several zombies ran inside. All of them were snarling, covered in blood, and screaming maniacally.
Josey reached for his crowbar, but it was no longer where he'd put it.
They apparently didn't notice him sitting at the kitchen table and chased after Boris. The terrified dog had awoken from where he'd been sleeping fitfully by the front door. Boris yelped and ran down the narrow hallway to the back of the trailer where the old man and boy were sleeping.
Josey quickly looked around and picked up a mop leaning against the wall and ran after them after slamming the front door shut again as he hurried by.
Billy was screaming in the first room by the time Josey ran inside.
The attackers had already torn one of his slender arms off and were devouring the boy as he screamed and cried horribly.
Josey gripped the wooden mop handle tightly and hit the nearest ghoulish man who smelled faintly of vomit. But the wooden mop stick shattered into several small pieces on impact. He grabbed the nearest man and tried to pull him off the convulsing boy sprawled across the bed, but he was too strong to pull away and instead kept biting and tearing at Billy.
Josey stared at Billy as the boy's eyes turned black.
The boy stopped screaming as he fell to the floor and began to grunt and shuddered.
Hearing Boris barking further back in the trailer, Josey turned and ran down the hall. The hallway seemed to tilt as he ran toward the back bedroom.
“Run, Josey! Save Billy and get out!” The old man screamed as several ghouls ripped and bit at his body.
The dog’s blood covered body was held down just beyond the doorway. Boris was being eaten alive.
Josey saw one of Boris' front legs was missing as the dog violently thrashed, writhed, and fought on. Boris ferociously bit back at the man who was still chewing on the dog's stomach. The zombies that had been attacking the old man turned, that now appeared dead, stared at Josey and howled in unison.
It's all so hopeless, Josey realized as he turned and ran.
The hallway seemed to tilt more and shake like an intense earthquake were underway as he heard more screams coming from behind him.
The front room was a shamble of overturned furniture, blood was splattered everywhere making the floor sticky, and his boots were becoming harder to move as he tried to run for the door. There was no one else in the room except Billy. The boy stood in front of the once again wide open front door.
Billy was missing an arm, glistening ropy looking entrails hung out of his ripped open stomach, and his black shining eyes were vacant yet staring intently at Josey. His mouth was open wide, exposing tiny brilliant white teeth in the shadowy room. Billy shrieked the words, “YOUR FAULT!” and charged. The little boy’s intestines trailed along as he seemed to fly at Josey.
He raised his hands to ward off the small ghoul when Billy slammed him against the wall.
The boy clawed at the big man with his remaining hand while his sharp shining little teeth bit at his arm, while Josey screamed from the floor under him, “No! Please God, no!”
Josey yelped and his whole body shook in terror when something tugged on his sleeve. He pulled his arm away with a scream and started to punch whoever it was, until he saw it was Billy looking up at him with wide-open shocked eyes. Josey gasped for air while his whole body shuddered uncontrollably. Looking past the boy, he saw the dinette chair was still propped against the front door. Boris was curled up on the rug and looked up bleary eyed from his interrupted nap. Josey felt his heart pounding in his chest faster than a hummingbird’s wings in flight as he wiped his eyes. “Please don't ever sneak up on me like that, kid,” he finally managed to say with a shaky tremble in his voice.
Billy smiled nervously and asked if he could open a can of ravioli and help with dinner.
Nodding weakly, Josey took the can and saw that night had fallen beyond the window. He didn't notice that his cell phone was no longer on the kitchenette table as he stood and walked unsteadily over to the stove.
“It runs on propane so we can heat it up,” Billy explained, as Josey got the can open and dumped the contents into a small pan on the stove.
The big man was still shaking as he leaned against the wall by the stove and stared around the trailer with unbelieving yet very grateful eyes.
“Did you have a bad dream?” Billy asked as he leaned over the stove and stirred the ravioli.
“Uh yeah, you could say that,” he said while still breathing hard.