Chapter 10

  Blood and Water

  Lee tightened his grip on the rusted rebar. He held his breath, counting the beats of his own heart. One. Two. Three.

  He lunged.

  It wasn't elegant. It wasn't like the movies. Lee wrapped his left arm around the walker's neck, muffling its growl into his sleeve, and drove the jagged metal point into the base of its skull.

  CRUNCH.

  The sound was sickeningly loud in the silence—like stepping on dry leaves. The walker went limp instantly, its dead weight dragging Lee down. He lowered it slowly to the asphalt, grimacing as the body settled with a soft scuffle.

  Lee looked up, sweat stinging his eyes. The herd outside the gate didn't react. The roaring waterfall of moans continued, uninterrupted.

  "Nice," Glenn breathed, his face pale.

  Carley didn't speak. She just nodded, her grip on her pistol white-knuckled.

  "Ground floor is clear enough," Lee whispered, wiping the black grime from the rebar onto his pants. "We head up. Watch your step. One creak on those stairs, and it's over."

  They moved like shadows toward the staircase. Glenn took the lead, light on his feet, stepping over crushed soda cans and broken glass. Carley followed, checking their six. Lee brought up the rear, his eyes fixed on the balcony above.

  Thump. Thump. Thump.

  The sound of the walkers banging on the door of Room 10 grew louder as they climbed. It was a rhythmic, obsessive pounding.

  "They really want in there," Glenn whispered, crouching low as they reached the top of the stairs. "That girl must be making noise."

  Lee reached the landing. On the wall, encased in a dusty glass cabinet, was a red emergency box. Inside sat a heavy, red-handled Fire Axe.

  Lee looked at the rusted rebar in his hand. It was flimsy. It wouldn't hold up against three of them.

  He used the rebar to pry the latch of the cabinet open. It gave way with a soft pop. Lee discarded the rebar and gripped the axe handle. It was heavy, balanced, and sharp. A real weapon.

  "Stay low," Lee hissed.

  They crept along the balcony, pressing their backs against the peeling paint of the motel wall. They passed Room 8... Room 9...

  And then, they saw them.

  Three walkers were clustered around the door of Room 10. They weren't wandering aimlessly like the others. They were focused. Hungry.

  One was a large, older man in a torn, bloodstained cardigan. He was hammering on the wood with grey, rotting fists.

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  Next to him was a woman in a floral Sunday dress, her hair matted with dried blood, scratching uselessly at the doorknob.

  And behind them, a younger man—tall, broad-shouldered, wearing a Macon Pharmacy staff polo shirt.

  Lee stopped.

  The world seemed to tilt on its axis. The axe felt suddenly impossible to lift.

  "Lee?" Carley whispered, noticing him freeze. "What is it? We have to take them out."

  Lee didn't answer. He couldn't breathe.

  He knew that cardigan. He had bought it for his father two Christmases ago.

  He knew that floral dress. His mother wore it to church every week.

  And the young man... the one with the jaw hanging slack, snapping his teeth at the wood...

  "No," Lee choked out, the word barely a breath. "No, no, no."

  The young walker turned its head. Maybe it heard him. Maybe it smelled him. The dead eyes locked onto Lee.

  It was B. His little brother.

  "Lee!" Glenn hissed, grabbing his arm. "They see us! We have to move!"

  "That's my family," Lee whispered. His voice broke, shattering the tactical silence they had fought so hard to keep.

  Carley’s eyes went wide. She looked at the monsters banging on the door, then back at Lee’s devastated face. "Oh my god."

  The brother—B—let out a low, gurgling hiss. He stepped away from the door, shambling toward Lee. His arms reached out, not for a hug, but to tear flesh.

  Behind him, Lee’s father turned. Half his face was missing. He groaned, a sound that was a twisted mockery of the voice that used to tell Lee to study hard.

  "Lee, snap out of it!" Carley urged, raising her pistol to strike. "They aren't them anymore!"

  "Don't!" Lee snapped, pushing her arm down. "Don't touch them."

  B was five feet away. Then four.

  Lee stepped forward. Tears blurred his vision, hot and stinging. He raised the Fire Axe. His hands were shaking so hard the wood vibrated.

  "I'm sorry," Lee sobbed softly. "I'm so sorry, B."

  The walker lunged.

  Lee didn't flinch. He swung the axe.

  THWACK.

  The blade buried itself in his brother’s shoulder, knocking him to the concrete deck. B snarled, trying to get up, snapping at Lee's legs.

  Lee screamed—a raw, guttural sound of pure heartbreak—and brought the axe down again. And again. Until B stopped moving.

  He didn't stop. He couldn't stop.

  He stepped over his brother’s body and walked toward his parents. His mother was still scratching at the door, her fingernails gone, leaving bloody streaks on the white paint.

  "Mama," Lee whispered.

  She turned, her mouth opening in a silent scream.

  Lee swung the axe in a wide arc. It caught her in the chest, shoving her back. She fell against the railing, flailing. Lee kicked her, sending her tumbling over the edge to the courtyard below.

  Only his father was left. The big man loomed over him, growling, reaching for Lee’s throat. Lee looked into the dead, cloudy eyes of the man who raised him.

  "Goodbye, Pop," Lee said, his voice cold and dead.

  He swung the axe with everything he had left.

  The blade struck bone. His father collapsed instantly.

  Silence returned to the balcony.

  Lee stood there, his chest heaving, the axe dripping red onto the concrete. He stared at the bodies of his family.

  "Lee..." Glenn stepped forward, reaching out a hand, but Carley stopped him.

  "Give him a second," she whispered, her voice trembling.

  Creak.

  The door to Room 10 opened slowly. The chain rattled.

  A pale, terrified face peeked out from the darkness of the room. It was a girl with red hair, her face streaked with sweat and tears. She held a small knife, shaking violently.

  She looked at the dead bodies on the balcony. She looked at the blood on Lee’s axe.

  "Is... is it over?" she rasped.

  Lee lowered the axe. He wiped his eyes with his forearm, smearing dirt across his face. He looked at her. His eyes were red, hollow, and terrifyingly empty.

  "Yeah," Lee said hoarsely. "They're gone."

  "Thank you," she sobbed, stepping out into the moonlight. "Oh god, thank you. I thought I was going to die in there."

  "We need to go," Carley said, her voice urgent. "That noise is going to draw more."

  "Wait," the girl said. She winced, grabbing the doorframe for support. "I... I can't walk very fast."

  Lee looked down.

  The girl was wearing only one shoe. Her left foot was bare.

  And right above her ankle, deep and purple, was a bite mark. The veins around it were already turning black.

  Glenn gasped. "Oh no."

  The girl followed their gaze. She looked down at her leg, then back up at Lee, her eyes filling with fresh tears.

  "I tried to fight him off," she whispered, her voice breaking. "But he got me."

  The girl is begging for a way out. Lee is holding the gun/axe. What do we do?