Together, Eric and Stacey reached the second floor and ran down the hallway. Eric was relieved to see Pepe waiting for him at the window with the fire escape ladder. He unlatched the window and shoved it open as Stacey yanked the slide out of its box and hooked it over the windowsill. The slide was barely in place when she ripped the cord and it inflated.
Without hesitation, Stacey heaved herself out the window and slipped down the slide to the ground below. She immediately sprang to her feet and dashed to the waiting four wheel ATV. Eric snatched Pepe up into his arms and followed her. He gasped as he slid down far more quickly than he anticipated and almost didn't catch himself as his feet hit the ground.
Ahead of him, Stacey reached the ATV and straddled the seat. He ran with Pepe in his arms and was relieved to see her twist the key he always kept in the ignition.
"I'll drive," he said and thrust Pepe into her arms.
She hastily slid back on the seat to make room for Eric. Holding down the brake, he quickly turned the killswitch on and hit the starter. The engine grumbled to life and he gripped the handlebars tightly.
"You can't wait to let it warm up!" Stacey looked back toward the house as tears streamed down her face. "Just go."
Eric nodded and pulled on the accelerator and the ATV lurched forward. He aimed it toward the route he had already planned just in case this sort of thing ever went down. Of course, he hadn't anticipated anyone being with him. Sweat was pouring into his eyes and his heart was thudding so hard, it felt like it was about to explode, he drove the vehicle away from the house alongside the fenced in pasture.
"Wait!"
It was a desperately barked out word.
Stacey looked back as Eric hit the brake.
Sean was at the window.
"He's still alive!" Stacey almost dropped Pepe in her surprise. "Hurry, Sean!"
Eric grabbed Pepe from Stacey's grasp and shoved him into his light jacket and zipped it up.
In a panic, the young man flung himself out of it as greedy dead hands grabbed for him. He landed on the slide too far to one side and he fell off it onto the ground. The zombies scrambled out the window after him. A few slid down the slide to land hard on the ground, while a few others fell near Sean.
"Get up! Get up!" Stacey's voice was shrill.
Sean managed to get to his feet and deftly avoided the grasp of the zombies lunging toward him. Hobbled by his fall, he rushed toward the ATV, dragging his one leg behind him. The zombies continued to fall out of the window and land hard on the ground. A few busted open their heads or broke their necks. The zombies sliding down to the ground piled up in a heap of twisting arms and legs. Luckily, they didn't seem to know how to untangle themselves and get up.
Sean was almost to the ATV when some faster, fiercer zombies rounded the corner of the house.
"We gotta go," Eric exclaimed and the ATV lurched forward.
There was no time to wait for Sean and they both knew it.
With an unbelievable amount of willpower, Sean pushed his body to the limit despite his pain and managed to throw himself onto the trailer behind the ATV. The hands of the pursuing zombies grabbed for him and one or two managed to snag his clothes. Sean twisted his body in an attempt to get free from the grasping creatures and shouted for Eric to go faster. He kicked his legs to dislodge the zombies while trying to hold onto the edge of the trailer.
"Sean! Sean!" Stacey's arms were painfully tight around Eric's waist and she screamed as one of the zombies tried to pull itself onto the trailer as the ATV gained speed.
The scarily fast, still fresh zombie tried to use its handhold on Sean's shirt to pull itself onto the trailer. Sean managed to get one foot on the creature’s chest and shoved it as hard as it could. It tumbled away into the high grass as the ATV turned onto the dirt road that led into the wooded hills.
"He made it," she gasped with relief. "He made it!"
Eric kept his gaze steady on the road ahead of them. He wasn't sure if he felt relief or not. His body was tight with fear and frustration. He felt Pepe squirming around in his jacket and took a deep breath to steady his nerves and his hands. The dog poked his head out of the collar of the jacket and Eric felt the comforting softness of the dog's fur underneath his chin.
Stacey laid her head against the back of his shoulder and he could feel her body shuddering with her sobs. In the rear view mirrors, Eric saw the more fleet footed zombies trying to chase after them, but slowly, they began to drop away as the ATV rode faster up the dirt road and away from the bed and breakfast that had been his safe haven. Behind them, on the trailer, Sean curled up in a tight ball, exhausted and overwhelmed.
"Where are we going," Stacey asked.
"I don't know," Eric answered.
Chapter Fifteen
War Stories
As the ATV grumbled up the dirt road dragging the overloaded flat trailer behind it, Eric took deep breaths trying to soothe his frazzled nerves and bring his heart rate down so it wouldn’t feel like it was about to burst out of his chest.
Stacey clung to him, her head still on his shoulder, her sobs fading as she gained control. They were both soaked in sweat and the warm breeze did nothing to soothe their hot flesh. Pepe adjusted himself so he could rest his chin on the edge of Eric's jacket collar and snuggle against Eric. His little heart had been racing, too, and Eric could feel the small dog slowly relaxing.
"I don't see any following," Stacey said in his ear. Her voice sounded ragged with emotion.
Eric checked his mirrors again. The roof of bed and breakfast was dropping away from view beneath the treetops as they climbed the hill. He still couldn't believe it was over. His safe haven had been destroyed so quickly it did not seem real. How he could have ever believed that he could stay in relative comfort until the rescue team arrived? In this world, nothing was truly safe anymore or stable.
"Can we stop? My brother is in a lot of pain." Stacey's voice was very strained.
Eric shook his head. "Not until we crest the hill. Not until we're out of sight of them for sure. I don't want to risk us, okay?"
He glanced into the rearview mirror on his right side to see that she had turned to look back on the form on the trailer. Looking forward, she caught sight of his reflection in the mirror. Their gaze met in the reflective glass and she nodded slowly.
"I understand," she answered and her voice was full of despair.
Eric could see that her brother, Sean, was lying in what looked to be a very uncomfortable position on the blue plastic tarp Eric had used to cover his boxed up supplies. He quickly returned his gaze forward as they climbed higher up the bumpy dirt road. The trees thinned out as they traveled and one side dropped away to reveal the colorful carpet of wildflowers in the pasture far below.
Again, Eric was struck by how beautiful the day was and yet so deadly. At last they crested the hill and the amazing panorama of the Texas Hill Country came into view.
Pulling over to the side of the road, Eric shifted gears and the ATV grumbled low as it idled. Stacey immediately slid off the back of the vehicle and ran back to the trailer. Eric followed, unzipping his jacket and pulling Pepe free. The Jack Russell Terrier looked around with interest but did not fall into a barking fit. Eric took it as a good sign. He set Pepe on the ground and slid the loop at the end of the leash onto his wrist.
Pepe immediately began sniffing the tires, the ground, his shoes, Stacey's shoes, etc…
Stacey leaned over her brother and he awoke with a start. He had passed out from the pain. For a second he didn't recognize her and drew back sharply, and then he realized where they were and relaxed.
"We made it?"
"Yeah, Sean. We made it. But you're pretty banged up," Stacey answered, relief slowly filling her voice. "We need to stop the bleeding…" Her hand hovered over his bloodied arm.
"What happened?” Eric untied some of the rope holding the blue tarp in place and fumbled for the First Aide kit.
" To get out of the community center, we had to bust out one of those damn extra thick Plexiglas windows," Sean explained wincing as his sister studied his still bleeding wounds. “Who makes windows five inches thick? That was freaking crazy.”
"I only saw dead things through the windows. Where were you guys?"
Eric pulled open the big tin box and Stacey grabbed up some cotton and alcohol.
"There is an office block in the back. It's where the Chamber of Commerce folks are. There are these huge old metal doors between that area and the Community Center. We've been on the Chamber of Commerce side," Sean explained. He winced as his sister began to clean up his arm so she could see where he was bleeding from.
"So you couldn't get out?" Eric asked.
"Nope. They chained all the doors shut," Sean answered then gasped as his sister found what she was looking for and began to apply hard pressure to staunch the bleeding.
"To keep us safe," Stacey said sourly.
Eric handed Stacey some gauze and she took it gratefully. Her fingers were red with her brother's blood and Eric felt a little lightheaded by the sight. It made him think of all the blood in the car where Brandy had died.