We With Daisies Lie

Red

Four of them, that was all that remained. Six came to take the house, one lay dead near the porch, another further back by the tree line. Emily must have seen him coming, she didn't skip a beat, got him between the eyes. The others spread out and took cover around the farm. Now they were shooting back to the second story window. Bambi and I hid behind the bird's nest tree."I'll climb the nest and take as many as I can out from here," she started, "...you flank around the left, when I start firing they'll either turn around to shoot me or run, don't let them do either. I'll start shooting in fifteen seconds, go!"

I ran. One of the men was at the front door of the house. He kicked and kicked, the wood was starting to splinter. Whatever was blocking it began to give way. I ran as fast as I could.

Finally I reached the back of the barn and waited for Bambi's gunshots."Hurry up I'm here already," I muttered to myself as I lined the sights of my pistol with the head of the gaunt mad man we had seen in the town earlier. The man at the front door gave it one last good kick and the dresser behind it tumbled backwards letting the door hang open. I shifted my aim toward him. Someone grabbed me from behind. I heard the distant whip of Bambi's revolver in the distance. I turned and saw it was one of the dead, he opened his mouth and wrapped his teeth around my forearm. I felt the pressure of it, like a vice closing on my wrist, but he couldn't get through the six layers of leather and fabric- I put the gun to his head and fired. I knew the men on the other side of the barn would have heard it- as would the rest of the dead who I could now see stumbling though the woods. I had about half a minute before they reached me, anything behind the trees was too dark to see anyway, I couldn't shoot them from where I was. My only choice was to focus on the men in front of the house.

I peeked around the barn- Bambi had shot the one trying to get inside. The skinny one was gone, I didn't know where. The remaining two fired back at my sister from the other side of the house.

I moved alongside the barn as careful as I could, distinctly aware of the horde closing in from behind me and the gaunt man who knew I was waiting somewhere close by.

"Behind you!" I heard Emily call out from the window, I turned- the man had run out of ammo, he was swinging wildly at me with a small hatchet he found in the barn. The first blow hit my cheek and cracked the bone, sending me face first to the grass. My gun flew from my hands as I dropped. For a moment I lost my place, I lost time and understanding, and then I felt the pain and it sent everything rushing back. Half my face was covered in liquid red. The man came at me again, he held the hatched with both hands and brought it down like a pendulum- I grabbed his wrists, the hatchet stopped sharp in front of me. Still concerned for Emily- I tilted my head back, the world went upside down and I saw one of the two men running into the house.

"No! Emily, he's coming!" I screaming but I didn't hear any response, all I heard was the mad laugh of the gaunt man as he laid all his weight on both of his hands, the hatchet came slowly down toward me- the blade cut a long vertical gash across the side of my face and suddenly he was screaming as the dead had begun to chew his legs.I pulled myself from beneath him and yanked the hatched from his hands.

The dead ripped at his flesh. They clawed at his ribs and bit into his thighs. "Kill me!" he begged, I left him screaming.

As I ran into the house- the biker outside rose from his cover and pointed the gun at my chest. Bambi had left the nest and made her way closer, before the man squeezed his trigger she squeezed hers, his head popped and he fell over like a board. I bolted desperate for the front door, Bambi stayed on the lawn firing at the dead that had begun flooding into the farm.

"Emily!" I screamed as I ran inside, but before I could reach the stairs the last biker's body dropped down from above landing directly in front of me. Emily leaned over the broken banister above, looking down to me. The man at my feet had her knife stuck in his throat and a dog bite on his arm. She pointed to his neck, "Put that knife in his brain for me would ya?" she wheezed before collapsing to the floor. Bambi rushed inside, her gun out of ammo, she closed the door and began to barricade it.

"There's only a couple left I think," she said. I slammed the hatched into the biker's brain and pulled it out again. I took the knife from his throat and cleaned it as I climbed the stairs. As I reached the top floor I could see Emily at the end of the hall, her face glowed red with fresh punches, her lips bled, her eyes swelled. She gave me a weak wave. I breathed a sigh of relief.

Before I reached her, Oliver stumbled out of the bedroom he and Emily were shooting from and knelt beside her. I saw the small bloody hole in his chest as he snarled and ripped into her shoulder. She screamed. The air drained out of me. I ran and cut his head in half with the hatchet.

I put my hand on her wound. Everything turned red.