Read Surviving the Day for Free Online

twisted her arm down and out. The creature was forced to let go, and she followed the motion, spinning around, and brought her baton down on the creature's head. She struck it again and it stopped reaching for her and lay still. She looked at me and held up her right arm.
     
    “Zombie armor,” she said. Her arm was wrapped in one of the rags from my garage. I let out a sigh of relief and walked over and hugged her. She stiffened, and I remembered her rule. I started to let go and apologize, but she relaxed and hugged me back.
     
    “Sorry, I keep forgetting,” I said. “I just... I...”
     
    She nodded. “Get the stuff,” she said, looking past me. “We might have company soon.” I looked back and saw a couple of zombies watching us. I looked down and didn't meet their eyes, but shuffled into the room, trying to pretend I was one of them. I reached the bag and grabbed it before it hit the fan. They moaned and started climbing into the window.
     
    The fan has been officially hit.
     
    I turned to Erin. “Time to go,” I said.
     
    She turned and picked up her shotgun, put the baton in her belt, and walked slowly toward the living room, stepping over and between, and sometimes on, the piles of zombies laying everywhere. I pulled the door closed, dragging a zombie out of the way as I did. It might hold them for a bit since it opened inward—they'd have to push it out of its frame to get through. I heard a loud “CRACK” and looked back toward the garage where the zombies were breaking through. The door bowed inward and a big split appeared in the wood from the ceiling to the floor.
     
    I turned back toward the living room and went as fast as I could, stepping on zombies and trying not to slip and fall into the gore. There weren’t any more in there—lucky for us, all of them apparently went back out the front windows to follow the ones trying to get into the garage or the storeroom I’d just left. Erin was putting on her ALICE pack and I pulled mine on, then slung the weapons bag over my shoulder.
     
    Erin looked askance at me. “Couple hundred pounds of gear there, Camo?” she asked.
     
    I hefted it a couple of times. “Maybe one fifty,” I said. “Walk in the park.”
     
    She took on a serious look. I'd seen that look before. Scary “ninja girl” look. She'd had it just before she kicked that one kidnapper in the face and told me to never touch her. “Will it slow you down?” she asked.
     
    I was about to be flippant, but her expression stopped me. She was serious, but also a little worried. “A little, but not at first. I carried this much when I was younger. At my age now? I figure I'm good for at least two miles at a fast pace.”
     
    Erin nodded. “It's about six blocks to my boat. You're coming with me.” It wasn't a question.
     
    “Thank you,” I whispered.
     
    She smiled. “You should use a low voice, it doesn't carry as far as a whisper,” she said.
     
    “Brat,” I told her, smiling back. I started to ask her to lead the way, but stopped myself.
     
    She gives the orders, I carry them out.
     
    That means I’m the grunt who gets stuck with point.
     
    I held my hand up, palm open. “Wait here,” I said in a low voice.
     
    I walked to the window, gun at low ready, and looked out. Seeing nothing, I stepped out, crunching the broken glass. “Clear,” I said, then beckoned her with my right hand. I arched my hand toward the front door. “Use the door,” I said, even though Erin was small enough to easily step through the window. She opened it, creaking a little bit, then stepped out. I put my hand up again, palm out, motioning her to stop and wait. She nodded. I gave her a thumbs up, then walked slowly off the porch, looking right and left. There were a few creatures toward the right, and a man running past the intersection on the left. I didn't see anything chasing him, though.
     
    The kidnappers lived down the street to the right. That’s the direction Erin had been