Death's Awakening

Chapter Fifty-Two: Parrish

Red glowing eyes stared at her through the window at the front of the building. Parrish forced herself to breathe, but the air came in ragged gulps. What was that thing?

She turned the lock on the door and backed away. Noah pushed a large desk in front of the door while Karmen searched for something she could use as a weapon. The fight against all those rotters earlier had been scary, but once they had a few down, it was pretty easy to pick the rest of them off. Slicing a slow zombie in a room set up like a maze was kind of easy as long as you had good aim and a sharp weapon.

The thing outside with the red eyes was different. It looked like a woman, but was crouched low to the ground like a dog. And Crash said there were five of them? Parrish shuddered.

The entire front of the office was made of glass, and Parrish watched in horror as the first one was joined by two others. The new ones were different. Tall and grotesque. It looked like someone had taken them and stretched them like taffy. Their arms were long and skinny and the torso on one of the men was stretched so far his guts were spilling out.

"Holy Jesus," Parrish said, covering her mouth to keep from gagging.

"Oh, great," Karmen said, coming up beside her. "As if the regular zombies weren't bad enough. Now we have to deal with some kind of mutant zombies? Seriously?"

Parrish hated to admit it, but for once she agreed with Karmen. When were they ever going to get a break?

As if to answer her question, the glass of the front window smashed. Parrish saw a blur of red as something charged through the window and scurried into a dark corner of the office. She and Karmen both ran toward the back of the room on the opposite side

"Forget the barricades," Parrish shouted to Noah. "They're in."

"I heard the glass break," he said, joining them, "but what the hell was it that came through?"

"I have no idea, and I don't think we should stick around to find out. They'll all be able to get in now that the window is cracked."

"Well, how do you propose we get out of here?" Karmen asked. "This back door is still blocked off from earlier, and for all we know, there are more rotters on the other side. We're trapped."

"I'll take the normal kind of rotters over whatever these things are any day," Noah said.

He got to work pulling the desk and bookcase away from the back door. With his enormous strength, it didn't take long, but they didn't have any time to waste. In the front of the office, Parrish watched the two stretched-out zombies step through the broken window.

"Hurry, Noah," she said, backing toward him. She turned and helped him move away the last of the barricade. As he threw open the back door, all three of them froze in terror.

Standing at the back door was a monster that looked like he could be Frankenstein's twin brother. He towered above them, glowing red liquid dripping from his pointed teeth. Parrish couldn't move as she stared up at it, her heart slamming against her chest. The man—or what used to be a man—was wearing a black trench coat that was long and coated in blood. The side of his face was worn away and she could see his teeth through the part that used to be his cheek. He let out a low, rumbling growl that made Parrish want to curl up on the floor and cry.

Luckily, Noah recovered faster than she did. He slammed the door shut and shouted for the girls to run. Parrish tried to move her feet, but it was like her brain had gone on vacation. All she could do was stare dumbly as Noah re-stacked the desks in front of the door.

Karmen's screams woke her up. She shook her head and looked around, slow to process all that was happening, but desperately aware that she was in danger.

Just as she turned, something lunged at her from the half-darkness. At first, she thought it was some kind of dog. The thing was hunched over on all fours and growled like a rabid animal, but then she felt its hands on her and she knew it was, or had been, human. She summoned all of her strength and pushed it off of her, then reached for her sword.

The zombie flew through the air, but was agile enough to land on its feet, more like a cat than a dog. It lifted its head and focused its red eyes on Parrish once again. In its gaze, she saw pure evil. This thing was after her. Not just after her like the rotters were. Those mindless things went after anything with a pulse.

This thing, whatever it was, wanted her. Specifically.

Something inside her switched on like a light and she was overcome by the intense desire to live. To destroy this evil and figure out why all this was happening.

The hunched-over zombie ran toward her again, but this time she was ready for it. She swung her sword at its head, but the zombie was too fast. It leapt past the sword, then came back toward her. She ducked out of the way at the last second, dodging to her right.

Parrish whirled around, looking for it. It had completely disappeared in the blink of an eye. How was she supposed to kill it if she could barely see it?

Then, its eyes opened, lighting up the area around it like a red lantern. It was clinging to the wall on the far side of the room.

How is this possible?

She put her sword back into her pack and pulled out the shotgun instead. She fired as soon as she could get a good aim. The zombie jumped down and the bullet tore through the wall where it had just been perched.

Parrish shot again, but again the zombie was too fast. It jumped from wall to wall, mocking her. Parrish fumbled in her pocket for extra shells, but she couldn't move fast enough. The zombie was on her again, its mouth opening wider than Parrish ever would have thought possible. Its jaw had practically come unhinged. She tried to reach for her sword, but it was too late. She didn't have enough room. Enough strength.

She struggled hard as the zombie brought its teeth down on her shoulder, bracing herself for the pain.

I appreciate you guys so much for reading along with the story so far! Hope you are loving it! Thanks!