Harp

Continuing up the street, Carmen and Doug were surprised by the cleanliness of the area. Chalking it up to the efforts of the group in the apartment building, they tried to leave the area as soon as possible. There was just something about them that didn’t sit well and if they had claimed an area, the pair had no desire to stick around in it.

Up ahead a single creature lingered, its attention drawn by the dappling light on a storefront window. Without any weapons, they had no chance. Spying a music store to their left, the pair quietly entered, noting the door which hung slightly askew, knowing there could be more of them inside.

They had no other option: staying outside was insane. It hadn’t smelled them yet, but it wouldn’t be long before it would, drawing its attention away from the show that currently held it captivated. And once it gave its keening cry, more of them would descend on the area and that would be an overwhelming problem they certainly couldn’t handle without anything to protect themselves.

The store had been picked over, and picked over well. Hardly anything remained that could be of use. No brass instruments hung from their displace hooks and the cases that held the instruments for sale were all gone. The only thing remaining was an imposing harp next to a stool in the back of the shop.

The pair stared around them, looking for anything they could use. Carmen’s eyes kept coming back to rest on the harp, her mind spinning, trying to work something out.

The shriek from the front of the store chilled her blood and propelled her forward, toward the harp. Somehow it had found them.

It was monstrous, its strings tightened to melodic lengths. And it was fucking heavy; too heavy for Carmen to lift.

She looked back toward the front of the shop, noticing the monster was having an issue pushing in the front door and the frozen stance of her husband. Shaking her head, she turned back to the harp.

Her hairs stood on end as it shrieked in anger, unable to get to its prey. Carmen knew more would be coming, knew she needed to do something fast…

She pushed with all her strength, just barely able to tip the stringed instrument over onto its side. The crash was a deafening cacophony of wrong notes which reverberated through her skull. Not wanting to lose a moment, she checked the frame for any breaks.

Spotting a weak point, she used her foot to separate the column from the neck at both ends. It took her precious minutes, the whole while the thing keened from the entranceway.

“Let me help!”

It was Doug and in that moment she could have kissed him. Tears sprung into her eyes, knowing that it must have taken a miracle to pull him out of his frozen stupor. She loved him more in that moment than she’d ever had before, but quickly stowed the feelings away. Soon the place would be overrun and there was no way the door would hold against a group of them.

In short order, the column had been completely severed and Doug was making his way toward the door, club firmly in hand.

The monster had to die. Their scent was in its brain and it would track them for as long as it took.

It went down on the third hit, its skull crushed, black oozing from the damage.

“We need to get out of here fast!”

Carmen looked at Doug, wondering what had gotten into him. He’d just killed his first zombie and it hadn’t gummed up his works. Could this be the corner she’d longed to turn with him since it all began? Could she finally begin to count on him?

It was still too early to tell, but she’d take what she could get.

“Let’s get out of here Doug.”

All rights reserved © 2014 Julianne Snow