THE ZOMBIE PLAYGROUND

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Brin pressed the pedal a fifth time. Again, nothing.

“The key! It’s on the OFF position!” Paul shouted. He leaned forward to turn the key back to ON, but such a task seemed easier than it proved to be.

“Well?” Brin said.

“It’s stuck. Damn it.”

Anaya jumped on the back of the cart. “Go, go, go, go!”

“We’re trying!” Brin said.

“What do you mean you’re trying? We have five seconds!”

“The key’s stuck!”

“Paul,” Anaya said, her voice deepening, the distress in her demeanor running a chill through Brin’s body. She turned around to see Anaya tighten her grip on the roof of the cart. “Paul, move your head down.”

If Paul hadn’t dove down to the floor of the cart at that second, Anaya might have taken his head off. With the zombies close to overtaking the cart, she swung through the back of the cart Tarzan-style and kicked the stuck key up to the ON position.

Brin heard the engine rev, and she slammed her foot against the pedal. As the boy zombie leapt for her face, the cart started up and zoomed forward.

The boy didn’t jump far enough and got his head crushed beneath the wheels. The cart went faster and faster, and soon they were mowing down the rest of the zombies like a lawnmower over dog shit.

The last of the zombies jumped for Anaya but she punched his face in mid-air and watched with glee as he slammed his head against the pavement.

“Woo hoo!” Ash shouted. “Yeah! We made it!”

“Oh my God,” Brin said, shaking her head in disbelief. “That was close.”

“Tell me about it,” Paul said.

“Are they still following us?”

The boys turned around. Not all the zombies were decimated; some were still walking past the clubhouse toward the paved road. But they were too far behind to pose a threat.

“We’re OK,” Ash said. “They can’t catch up to us now.”

“They better not,” Paul added.

“We’re not exactly going the speed of light in this thing,” Brin said. “Let’s not celebrate until we find civilization.”

“Can you go any faster?” Anaya said from the back.

“We’re in a golf cart, Anaya! Not a race car!” Plus you’re weighing us down! Brin wanted to say, but she didn’t. She turned to Ash. “Here, give me your cell phone. I’ll call for help.”

“No, let’s use yours,” he said. “I left mine in my bag.”

“I left mine in my bag.”

They both turned to Paul. He put his hands up in the air. “Hey, don’t look at me. I still don’t own a cell phone. No reception in Bodie.” He laughed, but nobody else did.

Ash leaned back and yelled at Anaya, “Hey, do you have your cell phone on you?”

“Oh, I left mine in my bag! What about you guys?”

Ash narrowed his eyes and leaned forward. He looked ready to dry heave.

“What’s the matter?” Brin said. “What’d she say?”

“I just saw way too much of our friend Anaya.”

“Ash! What’d she say?”

“She doesn’t have it. We’re phoneless.”

“Damn it,” Brin said. They were slowing every minute. Worse, the winding road that lead to the clubhouse went on forever. Brin figured it would take another ten minutes just to find the main road.

“Is there a faster way out of here?” Paul said, pointing to the right. “There’s a bunch of dirt roads along here.”

“We don’t want to get lost. We want to stay on pavement. Zombies can’t burst through pavement.”

The road veered left. Brin couldn’t see up ahead. She didn’t see the main road, but at the same time, she didn’t see any creatures of supernatural origin.

Except for the guy sitting next to me, she thought.

“Look!” Ash said, pointing. “There’s Grisly High!” It was a speck in the distance, but viewable from the road nonetheless.

Brin peered at the school. She wasn’t sure how she’d be able to go back to classes tomorrow. She still hadn’t gotten over the Bodie tragedy. How could she show her face after now surviving two deadly incidents?

“That is, if I do actually survive today,” Brin whispered.

“What was that?” Paul said.

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?” Ash said. “That’s not nothing!” He pointed again, this time forward.

Brin looked at the grisly sight up ahead, opened her mouth in shock, and slammed on the brakes.

“What are you doing?” Anaya said. “Push through them!”

“No,” Brin said, trying to remain calm. “There’s too many. Oh my God, there’s way too many of them!”

Brin looked forward to see a small car flipped over on its side, roaring with fire, two dead bodies sprawled out on the pavement, a hundred zombies or more fighting for a scrumptious bite of burnt but succulent human flesh. They were all wild and ravenous, all slugging each other, seemingly ripping through their own skin just so they could consume the humans’.  

Anaya stepped down from the back of the cart, and Brin joined her. They huddled together, crossed their arms, and tried to assess the new dire situation.

“What are we gonna do?” Anaya whispered.

“I don’t know,” Brin said. “At least they don’t see us.”

But see them the zombies did. It only took a second. One zombie noticed the very much alive quartet in the cart, then five more, then twenty more.

“Spoke too soon,” Anaya said.

The zombies returned to their feet and stared at the group by the cart. Ash stepped out on the right side and brought his hand to his mouth. “Oh God,” he said. “Is that…”

“I don’t believe it,” Brin said. “It is.”

The massive horde of zombies had a leader. Her skin had turned bright yellow, most of her hair had been hacked off, and one of her eyes was missing.

But it was the cheerleader, all right.

Lavender stared at the quartet, grinned, and motioned for all the other zombies to follow her.

“He-he-he-he,” Lavender said. “LUNCH TIME!”