The Rot

Chapter 21

"Reid, what are you doing?" Cynthia asked me before I walked out of the building.

"We're going to use that hatchback out on the curb to our advantage, Cyn," I responded.

"But how?"

"Cynthia, I know what I'm doing...sort of," I kinda whispered that second part.

Cynthia frowned at me. "I heard that."

"Just come on."

Right when I opened the door, a stench grabbed me by the shoulders. It was an older man in a short sleeve dress shirt and khaki pants. He was kind of portly and was bald headed. He had a bandage on his right hand that was dripping with dark red blood. Before he could sink his teeth into my throat area, or anywhere else for that matter, I grabbed the sides of the stench's head and pushed the dead thing away from me.

I rammed the back of the eater's skull up against the door jam, and he loosened his grip on me. I was then able to toss the dead guy back outside of the building. Janice and Cynthia ran up to try and help me out. Janice was about to crack the undead creature in the head with her pipe wrench, but I stopped her.

"I got this," I said.

I brought my axe above my head, and then swung it down, slicing into the back of the stench's skull. The eater collapsed on the sidewalk in front of the building. When I pulled the axe blade free from the corpse's skull, it made a quiet popping sound.

"That was nasty," I said.

Cynthia grabbed her stomach and grimaced. "Yeah, that sound was, not pleasant."

"I hope the next time the world ends, it's a lot less gross," added Janice.

"Me too," I replied.

Making sure the rest of the area was clear of the undead, I went up to the hatch back and opened the driver's side door.

"All right, what are you thinking now, Reid?" Cynthia asked me.

"We get a stick from somewhere and wedge it between the horn and driver's seat. I'm hoping that the noise the horn makes lures the dead fuckers this way."

"Oh it will," Janice said. "All of them."

"Good. The more the merrier. We lay low until enough of the undead have gathered around the car, and then we take off to the apartments and get back to your sister," I told Cynthia. "What do you guys think?"

Janice and Cyn looked at one another. "I think that can work, Cynthia," Janice said.

"Whatever gets me back to Angie," Cyn replied.

"We have to get a stick now," I said.

Janice pointed back down the road, at the first house to our left. "There's a tree in that yard right there."

"Let's go then."

The three of us hurried over to the backyard. That meant more climbing over fences of course. We ran up to the tree to find a suitable branch. And hey, guess who had an axe he could use to start chopping? This handsome fellow right here!

"Start your chopping," Cynthia said.

"Do you have a thing for lumberjacks?" I asked Cyn, shooting her a wink.

"No. Can't say that I do."

"Me either," Janice added.

I looked at the two ladies. "Your loss."

"Not really," Cyn responded.

Janice started to chuckle.

"You're making fun of a guy wielding one sharp axe. You two do realize that, right?" I asked my rather rude companions.