Twenty

Maylee frowned down at Brooke's phone. The display complained of low battery, then winked out completely. It was dead. "Guess we won't be going back to the house to see if Brooke brought the charger with her."

Dalton looked back at the house, then back at Maylee. "They had her insides, Maylee." He had a look Maylee hadn't seen on him since he was very small.

"I know," said Maylee, pushing down her own fear. "But we just have to try not to think about it. Let's get this car and get to Mom, okay?"

Dalton looked down, then back up. "Do you think... do you think I got Brooke killed?"

Maylee bit her lip and looked at him. "No, Dalton." She knelt to look him in the eye. "Listen to me. Those things are what killed Brooke. We were just trying to get the phone so we could call for help. Okay?"

Dalton looked at her. For a second he was a scared little kid. Then the braver Dalton, the Dalton who had knocked a hole to the basement and crawled through it, resurfaced. "Okay."

She smiled at him. "Now, let's steal a car."

She stood. Dalton looked up and down the street. "Won't we get in trouble?"

Maylee shrugged. "Maybe. But I think there's more important things to worry about."

"Brooke has ...had a car."

Maylee looked at him. "You want to go back to get the keys from her?"

Dalton looked back to the house, then back to Maylee. He shook his head.

"Me neither," she said. She turned back to the car and pulled on the door handle. "Damn."

"What?" said Dalton.

"It's locked. Whoever's car this is must have locked their keys in the car."

"Should we find another one?"

Maylee looked up and down the street. She could hear moaning, this time a little closer than before. "Don't think we'll get lucky like this again. And besides, we have to get moving. Can't stay in one place very long tonight."

"Those corpses are everywhere," said Dalton.

"Yeah," said Maylee. "Stand back." She took a step back from the car and swung her bat at the driver's window. It shattered with a loud crash, sending glass to the street and all across the front seat of the car.

Dalton walked up, wide-eyed. "Damn. It's your fault if I get glass in my butt."

"Just get in.” She reached inside and hit the unlock button.

Dalton went to the other side and opened the door. Maylee opened the driver's door and brushed as much glass as she could out into the street. She tossed her bat in the back seat and sat, wincing at the sound of crunching glass but feeling no pain that would indicate injury.

"Okay," she said. "This should work. Put on your seat belt."

"What? We're stealing a car, Maylee. Car thieves don't need to wear seat belts."

She turned to glare at him. "Will you just do it?" She fastened hers. "I'm not going to get us this far and then kill us both in a crash."

Grumbling, he fastened his seat belt. "I wonder why the person whose car this was left their keys in it."

Maylee shrugged. "Probably rushing to get inside. Probably heard about all the trouble on the news."

"What if he died in the car?"

Maylee rolled her eyes at him. "If he died in the car, he'd still be sitting in the front seat. Dead people don't move."

They both looked at each other, realizing.

A corpse grabbed at them from the back seat.

Maylee and Dalton both screamed. The corpse, a thin man in a business suit, clutched Maylee's head and pulled back. Maylee frantically scrambled with the seat belt latch. The thin man pulled Maylee's cheek close to his mouth. The seat belt came free. Maylee grabbed the hard metal end of the strap and shoved it into the man's eye. He made no reaction.

Dalton was struggling with his seat belt. Maylee balled up her hand and slammed backward at where the seat belt was lodged in the corpse's eye. She heard something pop and the corpse let go and seemed to lose focus. I must have hurt the brain.

"Dalton!" she said, twisting in the seat to help him with the seat belt. "The brain! You've got to hurt the brain to stop these things." She undid his belt and he slid out the passenger door.

She opened her door and jumped outside. Dalton ran around to her side of the car. "My bat?" Maylee said. "Where's my bat?"

"You left it in the back seat," said Dalton. He tugged at her hand. "Come on. Let's just go."

Maylee shook her head. The corpse was thrashing around in the back seat, sluggishly and slow, but still dangerous. "No. We need this car to get to Mom."

She reached back inside the open driver's door, around to the back seat. The corpse was thrashing just a few feet away, so she moved quick. She pulled up the lock on the driver's side rear door. Then she hurriedly grabbed her bat and pulled her arm back. Looking around the pavement, she found a fallen tree branch and tossed it to Dalton. The she stepped back, holding the bat.

"Now, go unlock the other door."

"What? No way."

"Come on, Dalton!" She looked up and down the street. "We don't have much time."

"What's the stick for?"

"To push him out this side," said Maylee, using the bat to indicate her side.

"You're nuts!"

"Will you just do it!"

Dalton grumbled as he walked around and opened the passenger front door. He looked through the window at the corpse. The corpse was closer to Maylee's side and seemed not to notice Dalton at all. He reached in very carefully, and quickly pulled up the lock on the passenger rear door. He drew his hand out quickly and stepped away from the car.

"Dammit! That thing could have bit me."

"I know," said Maylee. "But you did good. Now open the door."

"Maylee..."

"Dalton, hurry! Those things are wandering around everywhere and we have no idea when one's gonna find us out here. Maybe even a bunch of them. We have to get in this car."

Dalton made a very worried whine and opened the back door.

Maylee opened hers. The corpse heard the sound and whipped its head from side to side, grunting. The seat belt fell from the corpse's eye.

"Now push!" said Maylee.

Dalton steeled himself and shoved the corpse in the shoulder with the branch. The corpse toppled out of the car onto the pavement, right at Maylee's feet.

It had just started to right itself when Maylee slammed her bat down on the corpse's skull. There was a horrible "crack" and the thing moaned.

Dalton came around to Maylee's side, mouth hanging open, watching Maylee.

"Dammit," said Maylee, slamming the bat down again. The corpse's head crumpled and blood seeped out a crack in its forehead. But it still moved, grabbing weakly at her.

"Just fucking die!" she screamed, slamming down one more time. The corpse's skull collapsed and Maylee's bat rang off the pavement. The corpse was still.

"Crap," said Dalton, looking down.

Maylee panted down at her handiwork. "We're gonna have to get something better than a bat." She looked at the blood and flesh coating her bat and grimaced. She wiped it on the corpse's clothes.

"That's gross, Maylee," said Dalton.

"Well I'm sorry. Do you have a hanky on you?"

"No."

"Then shut up." She checked the bat again. It was clean. "Let's get out of here."

She shut the back door on her side and Dalton went around and did his. They both climbed back in the car and shut the front doors. Maylee wiped her seat belt on the seat, then put it back on.

"The seat belt again?" said Dalton.

"Just do it."

He sighed and did.

Maylee let out a long sigh and turned the ignition.

Nothing. Not the slightest attempt at starting.

"What's wrong?" said Dalton.

Maylee tried a few more times, then groaned. "Oh shit. The dead guy must have died with the car running. The gas is gone, Dalton." She pulled the keys out and sat back in the seat.

Dalton took off his seat belt. "Looks like we're walking."

"For now," said Maylee, undoing hers. "I'll think of something." She climbed out of the car and the corpse of a woman hissed at her, inches from her face.

Maylee screamed. The woman's brown hair was matted with blood and her eyes rolled back into her head. The woman leaned in to bite.

With a grunt, Dalton came running around the other side of the car and shoved the woman down. The woman fell to the pavement, squirming and moaning.

"Hurry!" said Dalton, pointing at her. "Bat her!"

Maylee shook herself out of her shock. "Oh, right." She reached back into the car and grabbed the bat.

The woman was sitting back up and groaning just as Maylee slammed the woman across the cheek. The woman's jaw split and blood flew off to one side.

"The brain!" said Dalton.

"I know! I'm the one who told you!" said Maylee. She brought the bat over her head and slammed downward as hard as she could. The top of the woman's head bent inward. Blood seeped out her ears. She fell backward and was still.

"Dammit!" said Maylee. She wiped sweat from her forehead. "This is why I told you we have to hurry." She wiped the bat on the woman's clothes, noticing the woman was wearing pajamas and a bathrobe.

Dalton noticed it too. "She must have come from the house."

Maylee nodded. "Yeah, probably." She looked up and down the street, still winded. "Okay, let's go."

She and Dalton started walking toward the end of the street. Then she stopped.

"Wait," she said, looking at the keys in her hand.

"What?" said Dalton, turning back.

"There's a bunch of keys on here, and two car unlocker-things," said Maylee, showing Dalton the key chain.

Dalton walked back to her and looked. "So? Maybe that was his wife there, and that's the thing to her car."

Maylee nodded. "Yeah. And do you know what this is?" She indicated a small device hanging from one end of the chain.

"No. What?"

Maylee pointed the device toward the house and clicked it. With a whine and a squeaking of gears, the garage to the house's left opened. The door slowly rose up and shuddered to a stop.

Another car sat in the garage.

"Please work, please work, please work," said Maylee, pointing the key chain at the new car and pushing one of the unlock buttons.

The car beeped and lit up.

Maylee turned back to Dalton and grinned.