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held the kite up and tested it against the wind. The fabric bowed and puffed out. It looked like it would fly.
    “You ready?” I asked Jared. He gave me a thumbs up from where he stood on the ladder.
    I angled the kite and let it go, feeding the thin wire through my hands. It climbed higher and higher. Jared continued to feed out the wire. I squinted, trying to keep the kite in view.
    “Hold up,” I said to Jared. I felt the wire go taut in my hands. I reached to my belt and withdrew my Leatherman from its sheath. Flicking my wrist, I opened the pliers. After the wire had been wound around the antenna, I cinched the wire with the pliers. A few belt clamps completed the job after I tightened them around the antenna with the flathead screwdriver. I checked the wire again. It looked like it would hold. It would have to, there were no more kites in the basement.
    “Is it all set?” Jared asked as I shimmed down to the ladder.
    “We’re good,” I said. “Now let’s go check the radio before we lose our chance.”
    I was almost to the bottom of the ladder when I heard Danni cry out. Jared leapt the last few rung and landed on the ground in a black cloud of ash. I was close behind.
    Ian, or what had once been Ian, stood in my backyard. A leathery corpse, clad in Ian’s clothes, shuffled towards Danni. Its hair was gone and eyes a dull, dusty gray, but it definitely had been Ian. She held my shotgun I left it near the ladder. Now it was in her trembling hands. The barrel danced all over the place. There was no way she would be able to get a clean shot off.
    “Ian?” Danni asked. Her words sound weak and distorted through the mask. She looked frozen.
    “Mom,” Jared yelled and ran to his mother’s side. “Come on.” He tugged at the sleeve of Danni’s NBC suit. Danni didn’t move.
    I got there just as Ian lunged for Danni. His fingers were little more than bone wrapped in hardened, yellow skin. The boils on his face had burst and dried into black rings with jagged points of skin surrounding them. Images of that ice mummy some scientists had found flashed through my head.
    I swung my arm, smashing it into Ian’s neck. He stumbled back a few steps and then dove for my extended arm. I felt a strong squeeze on the sleeve and realized Ian was biting my arm. The thick fabric and layer of charcoal lining in my NBC suit kept him from getting through, but it still hurt like hell.
    “Give me the gun,” I said as I reached with my free hand. Jared grabbed it from Danni and passed it to me. I drove the stock into Ian’s face and felt his nose crunch beneath it. He stumbled backwards and fell to the ground with his legs splayed out like a giant toddler.
    I aimed the barrel in Ian’s face. “Get the fuck out of my yard.” He showed no recognition of the threat or command and scuttled forward on all fours.
    Jared leapt past me and dropped onto the middle of Ian’s back with both feet. I heard a dull snap and Ian’s legs stopped moving.
    We all watched, stunned and silent, as Ian continued to crawl across the yard. He showed no reaction to the damage or pain that had just be inflicted. His yellowed teeth chattered and clacked as he pulled himself forward.
    “Shoot him.” Jared pointed at Ian. “Shoot him.”
    I didn’t hesitate. Ian’s head exploded in a cloud of black and red. Bits of him splashed across my dusty yard, getting lost in the drifts of ash.
    “I thought you said Ian was dead?” Danni asked, waking from her stupor.
    “I checked him,” I said. “He was dead.”
    “He is now,” Jared snorted and toed the headless corpse with his boot. A thick black gel oozed from the ragged stump that had once been Ian’s neck, but there was no blood.
    “Let’s get inside,” I said and racked another shell into my shotgun. I had a feeling I was going to need it.

 
    -13-
     
    After rinsing off in the decontamination shower, I hung my suit and went to check the radio. Jared and Danni joined me soon after.
    “Is