Spencer bound Jewels wound, but she still showed no signs of regaining consciousness and her breaths came in shallow wheezing gasps. Of their father there remained no sign, other than the sporadic gunfire that sounded from below.

“How could he just leave us up here?” Spencer asked, as he got to his feet.

“He must have some serious problems of his own,” she replied. “We’re going to have to save Jewels ourselves. Now get your pistols out, both of them, because here they come.”

Emily brought her rifle up as at least thirty zombies topped the cactus studded ridge to the west. Closing one eye, she took aim. A crack sounded and the first one fell. Within ten seconds, she had dropped three more.

Spencer tried to help, but the preteen wasted more bullets than undead.

“Spence, stop. Wait until they get closer. Right now just make sure we aren’t getting any surprises from behind.” Yet almost as she uttered those words, the zombies moved closer. She might have dropped ten more, but when she paused to insert a new magazine, they gained ground.

“Okay, Spence. Now, I need some help.” He opened fire and dropped two, but her magazine stuck. It wasn’t going in right. She had to pull it out and try again. Something was wrong. It didn’t click like her dad said it needed to.

The zombies drew in closer.

Spencer panicked and began to miss his shots again. “Emily, come on. Just put in the other one.”

“That will be my last one, though,” she said, but then saw that a dozen zombies were only twenty feet from them. Their thorn covered bodies made them fouler than their normal brethren and they looked like demons from that movie Hellraiser that she and her friends had secretly watched before the world had died.

She raised her rifle again.

One, two, three.

Nine left.

One, two, three.

Six left.

Spence shot down another two.

Four left, but the lead one reached out for her, she shot it through the forehead, but the one to its side grabbed a handful of her hair, which caused her to cry out.

While she struggled she saw Spence shoot down another, but the last one moved past the siblings and headed for Jewels.

“Spence, save Jewels,” she cried.

“But you’re in trouble and I can’t get a bead on the one fighting you.”

“Just do as I say!” She yelled and she tried to push the big zombie away with her rifle.

It leaned in and proved to be much stronger than a thirteen year old girl.

She wanted to bring her rifle up, but if she pulled it away from the zombie it would be able to get her.

She heard a three shots go off and hoped that was a good thing, but as it pulled her hair harder, she whimpered in pain.

She gasped when he face was sprayed with blood and gore.

Spencer’s young face wore a shit-eating-grin. “Quit fooling around.”

Feeling stunned, she wiped the blood from her face as she looked around. They had killed the group, which had come for them, but know they had new problems. More undead approached them. This time they were more spread out and there was a lot more of them.

“Oh no, she whispered.

“Where the hell is dad?” Spencer said. As if in answer, more gunfire and even more moaning sounded from the west.

“Come on,’ Emily said. “We can’t fight off that many even if we had enough rounds.”

“But how are we going to move Jewels?”

“I…I don’t know.”

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