Flash FIction: Under a Dead Sun

Chapter 32

Elma let out a wail as Claire slipped on the steps, falling in a clatter of ammunition. She tumbled backwards hitting her head in the stair frame as the undead lay in wait below. Reny, still covered in blood and pus, looked on helplessly as Billy and Sheriff Root pulled him up the stairs forcibly. Katee, already at the top of the stairs, moved aside as Root and Billy pulled him up.

"IT'S TO LATE. GET INSIDE AND SHUT THE DOOR. THERE'S TOO DAMN MANY."

Elma flashed Root a murderous look and plunged down the stair case. Over and over she fired the rifle, working the rifle's lever, ejecting the spent shells faster than she would have thought herself capable, obsessed only with the saving of her daughter. Katee drew her revolver to try to pick shots to help her, but Elma was a woman possessed. When her rifle finally clicked empty she simply struck the first creature she saw with the barrel, catching it across the jaw. At the bottom of the stairs, she saw Claire.

The little girl was a fighter, despite the nasty fall and the bruise on the back of her head, she was feebly kicking at the creatures, trying to keep the hungry mouths at bay. Elma waded into the creatures uncaring as to the cuts or bites she sustained, solely locked on her daughter.

"CLOSE THE DAMN DOOR KATEE!"

Root was screaming as he held back Reny, sure that if the door stayed open to long they would be unable to hold their position. Katee looked to him, then to Billy, and turned down the stairs. She held her gun out, ready to fire but Elma was thrashing so much that a clean shot continued to be impossible. She watched as Elma, in what seemed a superhuman effort, pulled her girl up and headed up the stairs.

Elma was hurt and hurt bad. Her right leg was shredded and she had long claw and bite marks along her neck, arms and back. Katee could see in her eyes that she was going to die. In a final shove, Elma pushed Clair forward with a soft murmur, into Katee's waiting arms.

"Save her."

With that Elma turned back to the monsters and threw herself at them, distracting them in a feeding frenzy long enough for Katee to get Claire to the second floor. Billy shut the door behind her and proceeded to barricade it as Katee gave a sobbing Claire to her father. The two sat on the floor holding each others as tears ran down their faces. Katee left them to help Root and Billy, all the more concerned for the bite marks she saw on the both of them. Out of one fire....and into another.

End of Line.
Gerrad!