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  “We never went in, but Sam said it was a mess in there.” Naomi responded putting on her clothes. She had rummaged through the drawers of the previous owner and was able to fit into a pair of the woman black sweatpants. The woman that lived here was obviously a smaller woman, compared to Naomi’s full figure and height.

  “Well my foot is killing me, so I need to find something.” He stood up and almost fell when he put weight on his left foot. Eric fell back to the bed and picked up his foot. “I can’t go anywhere right now.”

  Naomi turned to him, “I’m not going alone.”

  “I can’t make it. I just can’t do it. My foot is killing me.”

  “Well good luck, there’s something in that barn and I’m not going in there.”

  Eric lifted his foot and Naomi cringed at the site of it. The entire outside of his foot from his small toe to his heal was blood red and the middle of the gash was covered with a yellow scab. “I can’t make it. Naomi I’m sorry, but it’s not going to happen.”

  She turned and walked out of the room in anger, but she could not blame him. “I’m taking the gun then.” She hollered back.

  They walked out the front door and the outside greeted them with a Maryland winter. Naomi and Sam immediately recoiled back into the house. Eric pulled his coat tight around him, but stepped out as something caught his attention. Drew saw it too and followed him out into the yard.

  At the end of the driveway two lone figures stood motionless. Drew began to walk toward them and Eric stopped when he got to the edge of the porch. “Sam come on.” He turned and hollered to her. Drew had an aluminum bat at his side and waited for Sam.

  They walked down with Naomi following behind. She carried the black pistol in her cold hands and Eric was left at the porch sitting on the step with the twelve gauge resting on his lap. She had an empty camouflage back pack strapped over her shoulders, to gather whatever supplies she could.

  The two undead were standing straight up with their feet shoulder width apart, one just slightly in front of the other. The one that was in front was wearing an orange loose hoodie and looking straight down at the ground and the one behind was in an endless stare straight ahead with a cream colored snowboarding jacket that was zipped all the way to its chin. Both of them were grown men, that must not have turned too long ago. Their skin was still intact and they did not appear to be decomposing as fast as the other undead during the summer.

  Drew put the bat between the rear one’s eyes and pushed it back. It fell straight back like a flat board. He then took the bat to the top of the front ones head. It was looking straight down, so his swing came down directly on the back of its skull causing it to split down the middle and then fall to the side and then to it’s stomach. He kicked it over to its back and used the end of the bat to separate the two sections of skull. “I split its head.”

  Sam looked away in disgust, but curiosity took hold of her and watched as Drew slowly opened its skull in two complete frozen pieces revealing the intertwining brain of the ghoul. She expected the brain to be what she had always seen on TV, red and shiny, but that is not what she saw. The brain was covered in a thick black mucous and the red intertwining pieces of brain was replaced with a grey substitute. “You have to kill it.”

  Drew pressed on the brain with his bat, but it was hard. He pulled his sun glasses over his eyes, stood over its body and swung down again. The bat sent shock waves through his hand and up his arms, and the brain stayed intact. He shook off the shock and came straight down on the top of the brain again, only this time he smashed down on the brain with the end of the bat, not swinging it high over his head. He repeated this motion over and over again until the head was only an empty cavity of crushed grey brain ice. After taking a quick break and regaining his breath he performed the same act on its partner.

  The sun was shining on the other side of the stable, forcing them to lower their shades until they entered the long shadow of the building. The plan was for Sam and Drew to open the double doors and Naomi was going to shoot whatever came at them, but Drew and Naomi were able to see inside the windows of the stable doors. On the other side of the stable, beams of light shined on a small lone figure sitting against a stall pillar.

  “I think there’s only one of them in there.” Naomi said

  “I could go in and take care of it. If you want me to?” Drew sounded excited about it and his grip on the bat said he was looking forward to it.

  “Do you not care, that at one point and time these things were living, loving people?” Naomi argued his lack of sympathy.

  “It’s only one of them and it’s frozen just like the other ones.” He looked back through the windows and the lone figure was now looking in their direction. Drew almost fell over in shock and let out a nervous chuckle. “This one’s not so frozen.”

  Naomi looked back inside and saw it press down on it’s hand then lean to the side to try to stand. It was moving slowly, so Naomi hurried and opened the door. “Drew go get it before it stands.”

  The door swung open and dust from the sitting straw twisted in the fresh air as the stable breathed it in. Drew stepped hesitant as he passed over the threshold and looked to his sides nervously. The closer he got to the ghoul the more detail began to appear. The undead was a small boy, dressed in blue overalls and a white crew t shirt that was covered in dried blood.

  It crawled to it’s hands and knees and began to stand. Drew ran in quickly not looking to either side before it could look up and took the bat to the back of its skull. It dropped flat to the ground, but began to writhe it’s body trying to regain it’s composure. He brought the bat to the back of it’s head again. This time it laid still.

  Happy with this outcome he watched for just a second and skipped backward toward the open stable door. “Oh my god that was intense.”

  “You’re sick. Let’s just get what we came for.” Naomi said as she walked through a freshly painted white door just inside to her right that led to the office.

  He was smiling at Sam, but she paid no attention to him. She walked into the stable kicking up dust as she walked. She stood over the boy and tapped his head with her black sneakers. After she was positive it was dead she grabbed hold of its shirt and rolled it to its back.

  The boys face was smooth. He was very young when he changed; he had to be younger than seven or eight. Blond hair that maintained a part to the left side of his head, but black veins stretched up his neck from a wound that was hidden under his overalls.

  Just then shuffling could be heard directly across from her. A figure began to emerge from the dark stall. This figure is just a little taller than the boy and was moving toward her. Drew stood with his bat drawn.

  He gripped the bat and stood in front of Sam in a defensive posture waiting for this ghoul to enter the light. A black dress shoe was the first to appear and then the frill of a dress and then a hand stretched from the shadow spreading its long fingers. Drew raised the bat ready to swing when Sam grabbed the end. Looking at her confused he lowered his eyebrows. Sam shook her head and whispered, “not yet, I want to see it.”

  A clean blue frill dress and then long flowing golden hair entered the main path of the stable. This ghoul was a girl the same age as Sam. Her face entered the sun light and beautiful blue eyes with perfectly clear skin were able to be seen. Her face was perfectly draped by her clean curly golden blond hair and her face showed no emotion as it walked forward. Even in the afterlife this ghoul was as beautiful as it was before it died and the emotionless feature entranced them both.

  “She is pretty.” Sam said quietly and Drew just nodded in agreement.

  Drew pulled the bat from Sam, but she grabbed hold of his shoulder. “You can’t kill her.”

  The sound of a cabinet closing made Drew do some quick thinking. He took the end of the bat and pressed it hard against the girl’s chest and pushed hard forcing it back causing the ghoul to trip. “We’ll kill her tomorrow.” He said. Sam agreed and then ran to the of
fice.

  “I hope this shit doesn’t kill him.” She held up a bottle that read antibiotics. “Good thing is, if we ever need anything for worms his old boss has a medicine cabinet full of stuff to get rid of them.”

  Drew locked up the stable and they began looking for a hose to hook up the well. They found one coiled in a bath tub hooked up to a black float that was used in the back of a toilet. As the water level got low the float would energize a pump to fill the bath tub for the horses and as it rose the float would shut the pump off. The hose was stuck in a thin sheet of ice, so Drew commenced freeing it by crushing the ice.

  Naomi caught a glimpse of something, as she watched the young boy beat the ice. She looked to her daughter and a dark spot looked as if it were seeping through her blue pants just below her butt cheek.

  She walked toward Sam and turned her around, but Sam pulled away from her. “Turn around girl, let me see something.” She turned hesitantly and Naomi knew exactly what the stain was. “Come with me.” She told her softly and they walked away, but not too far from Drew.

  After Drew broke the hose free he dragged it back to the house. Sam and Naomi walked into the house without saying a word and went straight up stairs and into the bathroom. After what felt like forever they came out and took Drew by the arm, “You’re coming with us.” Naomi demanded and they walked out. Eric remained quiet, but very confused, so he lit the wood in the fire place and began to warm some food over the fire.

  They went to the closest house and Drew was the first to enter this time carrying the pistol. The house was clear of undead and also food, but Naomi was not looking for food. She went directly for the bathrooms, and found what she was looking for.

  That night Naomi taught Sam how to keep herself clean and Drew brought a few lengths of hose in from the barn and laid them next to the fire to thaw. They ate another warm meal and Eric finished taking the other half of a pill from the mysterious bottle that read Antibiotics in black permanent marker. He figured if these were literally strong enough for a horse, less than one would do the trick, so he took one half early in the morning and the other half after dinner. Darkness set in over the house, so did the boredom and everyone called it an early night.

  Eric and Naomi laid in each other’s arms absorbing each other’s warmth. “I got a feeling it’s going to be real cold tomorrow.” Eric said.

  “God I hope not, but it is pretty nice not having to worry about any of them running up on us.” A slight pause and then she continued. “Oh by the way, there’s going to be two bitches in the house from now on.”

  Eric found this quite humorous, but didn’t exactly understand where she was going. “O,K?”

  “Sam got her period today.”

  “For the first time, like ever?”

  “Yeah like ever.” She didn’t find his statement humorous, “You’re an idiot you know that.”

  Eric didn’t know how to respond, but felt he had to say something. He couldn’t sit in an uncomfortable silence at this point in time. “So you helped her and told her what to do?”

  “Yeah, but we are going to have to get some stuff. I wanted to go into some of the other houses and see what they got. I don’t have enough for two of us right now.”

  Eric always knew why she wanted to go searching through the medicine cabinets of the houses they went through on their way here, but never imagined it would be such a big issue, but then again he is not a female and never cared to know anything about this kind of thing. “I don’t think anyone will fight you on that. Can’t you just use toilet paper?”

  “You truly are an idiot. You know that!”

  “What, it was just a question I don’t know these things.”

  “Fuck you, go to bed.” She turned away from him.

  Eric decided to cut his losses and just give up.

  **********

  First thing in the morning Drew was ready to go back to the stable and start hooking up the hoses and Sam couldn’t stop thinking about the female zombie with the golden hair and blue eyes. Eric dreaded waking up and dumping half a bottle of peroxide onto his open wound. After soaking his foot in a tub of peroxide the white foam from the infection started to calm.

  The morning was incredibly cold and billows of smoke rose with each breath fogging their sun glasses and as Sam and Drew walked to the stable, frozen grass crunched beneath their feet. “I’m going to hook up the hoses before we kill the zombie.” Drew said as he shook off the cold.

  “Won’t the hose just freeze?” Sam said being the pillar of wisdom.

  “I have to find a valve for the end and then we can let it trickle out.”

  “Does that actually work?”

  Drew shrugged, “How the hell should I know? Eric said it would work. He said if you let water run out, it won’t freeze.”

  “I don’t think it’ll work?”

  Sam walked toward the stable, but Drew began to walk toward the well. She didn’t turn around and was completely focused on the white building and Drew began to think about her going in there without a weapon. He dropped the length of hose and then called out, “Do you want me to go in with you?” He didn’t want her going in unarmed and he was the one holding onto the bat.

  Sam thought about it for a second and then shook her head in approval. She opened the door and the undead stood in the middle of the stable facing away from them. The sun was shining through the windows from the double doors across from them and square beams of sun light shined down around her black shoes. They approached her slowly and cautiously.

  Drew took his bat and tapped it on the top of her head. He let out a laugh, “She’s frozen stiff.”

  They walked in front of her, but they were unable to see through their sun glasses in the dark stable. Sam opened the double doors the ghoul faced, allowing the sun to fully enter the stable and created a wind tunnel that blew hard through the isle and caused them to pull their jackets tight against them. Sam quickly ran to the other side and closed the opposite doors.

  As she walked toward the ghoul she saw Drew looking at it closely. He was standing in front of her examining her. Sam stood next to him and studied her. “She has no sign of a bite or those black veins that run up their neck or anything.” Sam said examining her flipping up her hair.

  “I’ve never seen one with such pretty eyes.” Drew said. He rubbed his fingers over her cheeks. “You are a pretty one aren’t you.”

  “You got a thing for undead now?” Sam said and pulled his hand down from her face.

  “Yeah that’s it.” He handed her the bat, “I’m hooking up the hose.” He walked out without saying anything else to her.

  The ghoul’s eyes drew her closer and she caught herself gazing into their still orbs. She stood directly in front of her now very close to her cold pale face. Sam whispered, “You are pretty.” Her heart started to beat a little faster and a little harder. “You’re so fucking pretty aren’t you.” Her body became warm and her sun glasses started to fog even more. “You’re fucking dead.” She said a little louder and then jumped back startled by her own excitement. “You want to eat me don’t you bitch. You want to fucking bite me. Bite this!” She let her anger out and then swung the bat at her left leg. The bat moved freely into the thick frill of her blue dress and then struck her solid leg causing it to fall to it’s left. Sam was surprised with the shock that went through the bat and she alternated holding onto the bat as she opened and clenched her free hand working the shock from them.

  This is what Sam wanted. She wanted to hurt one of them and this was her chance. The undead girl was face down, but she swung the bat again at her legs. She wanted to look at her face as she beat her, so she rolled her over. The blond haired girl was stiff, but now her hair covered her face. She moved the blond strands with the end of the bat, that hid her beautiful young features and revealed those striking eyes that made her hate her even more. She beat on her hips and stomach taking pleasure in the shock that she received from each blow of the bat. She watched
her emotionless face with each hit and with no emotion Sam was not getting the satisfaction of inflicting pain to her.

  She heard footsteps moving around the stable and then Drew appeared. Sam stopped hitting her and stepped away from the ghoul. “Hey I need to look for that valve and don’t really want to go without something, like a bat.” He pointed to the one she had in her hand. “Did you kill it or what?”

  “I think so?” She said, lying. “I’ll be out in a second. I wanted to cover her up.”

  “We should probably pull them out eventually because as soon as it gets a little warmer their going to start stinking.” He walked toward her and looked down at her. “She’s not dead. You didn’t hit her in the head. You want me to do it?”

  She held onto the bat and pulled it from his reaching fingers. “Nah I’ll do it, just not now. Lets cover her up and we can do it when we pull them out.”

  Sam grabbed hold of her hair and tried pulling her into one of the stalls, but her hair pulled from the scalp causing her to fall backward into a pile of hay. Drew laughed out loud and Sam covered her embarrassment by cursing and then throwing a grey wool blanket over it’s body.

  “You want her to be comfortable while were gone?” Drew said mockingly.

  She began to walk out. “I’m going to get something to eat first. Fuck your valve.” She began to close Drew in the stable, but he jumped out before she latched it close.

  Drew began to mock her, but Sam closed her mouth and tried to ignore him, but he began to press on her last nerves and she took a slow swing at him with the bat that he easily dodged.

  “God no wonder that thing in there isn’t dead yet.” He was jumping around her laughing. “If you are going to swing at her like that she’ll thaw out, take the bat from you and beat you with it before you do any damage to it.”

  “If I wanted to hit you I could. Stop being such a dick.” She walked in silence the entire way back to the house fighting her urge to scream at him.