She continued bravely, "Good. We need to be ready to pound the pavement the second Nick comes back."

I felt my pocket, just to make sure the keys were still there, but they weren't. Much to my dismay, I suddenly remembered that I'd left them on the table. I pointed at the living room. "No flippin' way! I left them...they're down there!"

"I can't believe this!" She took a trembling breath as she regarded me. Her face became an impenetrable mask as her mind began to weigh the possibilities.

I breathed in sharply to calm my nerves. With the staircase gone, no zombie could climb up, but we couldn't climb down either. Unfortunately, the keys were down there. Our chances of getting out before the walls collapsed down on us were pretty slim, and I felt it was my fault for stupidly leaving the keys downstairs.

"How are we going to get down there to get them?" Jackie asked, her eyes wide, mirroring my own thoughts.

"We aren't," Val finally said, "but I can hotwire the truck."

Earl and Tahoe came from behind, making me jump.

Earl's eyes shimmered with malice as he looked at me. "We need a big, giant distraction. How about some blood?"

"Yeah," Tahoe said. "You know how predictable the little freaks are."

"One whiff, and we've got ourselves a huge distraction," Earl mumbled, still looking at me, making it impossible to miss his vile and threatening insinuation. "Hmm. Blood. Where can we possibly get any of that? Any suggestions, boy?"

My heart raced. I put my hand on my holster, already determined that if I had to shoot either of the bushy-haired crazies in self-defense, I wouldn't hesitate to use a bullet.

"Do you have any more explosives?" Val asked, unfazed.

"Fresh out," Earl snapped, "but you know what? You reek of death." He suddenly reached for her.

Val let out a scream as he ripped the bandage off her arm, revealing the infected flesh. I couldn't help but stare at the darkening gash and the white bone peeking from beneath.

"I knew it!" Earl yelled. "She's nothing but zombie bait!" His eyes shined, his sneer revealing tobacco-yellowed teeth.

For a moment, I thought he might be talking about himself, because everything about him was far more grotesque and rotting than Val's wound-including his soul, if he even had one.

Val kicked him in the nuts and turned to run, but he grabbed her around the waist and forced her to stay put.

My hand instinctively moved to the gun in my holster, but someone gripped my arms from behind and yanked them hard, sending jolts of pain through my shoulders. Crap. My weapon flew out of my hands and clattered to the floor, not far away from my feet. I peered at it and pulled toward it, but the guy was in the more advantageous position, making it impossible for me to twist out of his grip. Earl followed my line of vision and kicked the weapon under the railing. It sailed across the floor and under the banister, landing in the crowd of zombies below.

Glancing over my shoulder, I yelled, "Tahoe, let me go!"

He continued holding me in his iron grasp as he hissed, "I have my instructions. He'll kill me if I don't follow them."

"No!" I shouted. "Then at least let her go!"

"Ain't happenin', boy. You might as well just give up now before the same fate befalls you!" Earl said.

"Take me instead!" I begged.

"You're not infected. She, on the other hand, is. She's one bacteria away from being one of those nasty things!"

Jackie whipped out her gun, her eyes shifting nervously from Earl to Tahoe, then to me. She seemed hesitant about shooting another human being, and I knew we were losing the battle. Before she could even make up her mind, Earl shoved her back, and she crashed helplessly through the glass banister, almost plummeting into the void below. She clung on the second-floor railing as her legs dangled dangerously close to zombies. The way they kept reaching up made it obvious they wanted nothing more than to devour her legs as an appetizer.

My stomach clenched as their mouths started to snap open like hungry piranhas. "Val!" I flailed against Tahoe, but he only tightened his grip on me.

Earl grabbed Val and swung her over the banister, hissing, "Sorry, sweetheart, but you're gonna die soon anyway. Might as well go out like a hero and save our butts in the process."

"Don't do this!" she yelled. "Try and show some compassion. At least put a bullet through my head first so I don't have to feel them...so I won't know they're eating me."

"No!" I squirmed and desperately tried to free myself. I knew Jackie wouldn't be able to hold on much longer, and my sister desperately needed my help. I yelled for Nick down the hall, but I doubted he could hear me over the screams and chaos of the zombie frenzy.

"I can't hold on to him any longer," Tahoe shouted. His grip loosened a bit, and for a moment, I thought he might have done so on purpose, as though he wanted me to escape and save Val, but at the same time he feared for his life.

"Well, goodbye." In one swift motion, Earl hurled Val into the herd of zombies. Her scream chilled my blood, etching the memory into my brain forever.

In disbelief I watched as hands and arms pounced on her like a lion on a piece of raw meat. "Nick!" My own voice sounded alien in my ears, as if it couldn't possibly be coming from me.

Finally, Tahoe let go and stepped back.

I tumbled forward, my arms reaching out to strangle the guy who had killed my sister, but Earl was faster, or maybe he had the advantage of being emotionally unattached to the whole situation. My forehead exploded in pain as he threw me against the wall so hard that I blacked out for a second. When my vision cleared, I saw the two mountain men running off. I crawled to the balcony and grabbed Jackie's hand; I managed to pull her to safety, even though my arms were on fire.

As soon as she stepped over the balustrade, she buried her head into my chest.

"Nick!" I yelled again, almost choking on the sudden nausea in my stomach and the bile in my throat. Tears threatened to spill down my face. "Nick!" I yelled again, but no one answered. I looked for Val below, but I couldn't see any sign of her under the hissing pile that had pounced on her. I'd never seen anything so horrible in my entire life. The images threatened my sanity, yet I couldn't look away. I was suddenly fueled by thoughts of revenge, and I swore to myself I'd avenge my sister's death, no matter what. Even though I had yet to make it out of there alive, I'd already contemplated the different ways I could accomplish that goal. Earl is gonna pay...and so is every freaking zombie I ever come across!

Chapter 10.

Standing on the balcony, I stared at the monsters who had killed Val. In one moment, my sister and I were there, valiantly fighting back to back, stubbornly determined on making it out of there alive, but in the next moment, she was gone, just like that. My mind spun in an endless loop of memories that didn't quite make sense to me. My heart raced, pumping blood through my body. My fingers twitched, and my skin prickled, which made the whole situation even more surreal. She was dead, and I was still alive. The world seemed more unfair than ever before. I was caught in a daze, and not the pleasant kind, until Jackie's words snapped me out of it.

"We have to find Claire and your brother," she said softly, though her voice betrayed a frantic edge.

The sudden urge to get moving didn't go unnoticed. I turned to face her. Her eyes were burning with something: Pain? Disbelief? Anger? I couldn't tell because my own pain had numbed me. My own shock and disbelief wouldn't allow me to comprehend that experiencing a comrade's death couldn't be easy on her either. "I'm-I'll stay," I whispered. "I'm not going anywhere until every single one of them is dead."

"No, Dean. You can't. We need you. Your brother needs you. Think of those who are still around, those who care about you, and the pain you'll cause if you give up now and sacrifice yourself for some impossible try at revenge." She grabbed my arm and yanked hard. "She...Val wouldn't have wanted you to do something so foolish. Your sister would want you to get yourself to safety. That was what she was fighting for."

I didn't budge. Her words registered with me somewhere, somehow in the back of my mind. She was right, of course, but I also felt as though I would be betraying Val if I ran away.

"Please," Jackie continued. "Nick has already lost one sibling. Don't make him lose both."

"Let's go!" Claire's voice called from around the corner a moment before my brother and she appeared in my line of vision.

"Dean," my brother said with a nod, "thanks for holding it together here, man."

I turned away, avoiding his gaze. I couldn't bear to tell him what had happened.

"The bathroom window in the back seems like our best bet," Nick said. "We can make a clean getaway. So c'mon, let's go!"

My brother's gaze sliced through me. A single worry wrinkle creased his otherwise smooth skin. I peered into his blue eyes, begging him to understand; I couldn't dare speak the words that burned a hole in my heart.

"What are you waiting for? Let's go! This place is turning into Zombie Central." His gaze became stubborn, and his hands clenched to his sides, as though he already sensed something was wrong but didn't want to acknowledge it just yet.

I froze and closed my eyes to avoid his probing stare.

"What's wrong with you?" he hissed, grabbing me hard by the shoulders.

I opened my eyes again and saw him scanning the open landing, his mind putting two and two together.

"Where's Val?" his shout echoed in my ears. His arms yanked me around like a ragdoll, forcing me to face him.

"Those men...they..." I stammered, my voice barely snaking its way out of my constricted throat. "Earl... he, uh...Tahoe wouldn't let go, and I couldn't...Earl just threw Val over the balcony! He used our sister as a distraction." I pointed a trembling finger to the pile of zombies where she'd been tossed in. The spot was covered in squirming bodies now, and on the remote chance that she was still alive, there wasn't a thing we could do to save her.

"No!" he screamed as sudden realization set in. "Why didn't you stop them?"

"I tried!" I shouted, shoving him as hard as I could. "Why would you think I didn't try!?"

"Well, you should've tried harder!" he said, pushing me back. "For goodness sake, she was our sister, and you just let those jerks-"

"Hold on now! We both tried everything we could," Jackie interrupted. "They took us by surprise. The older one, Evan or whatever his name is, almost killed me."

"It's Earl," I corrected, for it was a name I would never, ever forget.

"He pushed me over the balcony," Jackie continued, "but I was able to hold on until Dean helped me back up."

"Oh my gosh!" Claire said, throwing her arms around her. "That's horrible. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she breathed out.

"Where's Val?" Nick bellowed. "Maybe we can still help her."

I shook my head. "She's dead, Nick, and even if she weren't, she'd be torn into pieces by the time we made it down there. There's nothing you-or anyone, for that matter-can do." The sudden realization that I was right hurt me more than Nick's pained expression. My jaw clenched until I thought my bones might snap.

Claire placed a hand on Nick's back, trying to steady him, but she didn't say a word.

"Don't!" Nick said, violently shrugging her off.

"I'm so, so sorry," she whispered, ignoring his command not to touch him. Even though her words were thin and sparse, I could hear the sincerity in her voice.

Nick nodded and kept his head low, and for a second I thought he was choking back tears. Then, letting out a sudden loud yell, like a war cry, he tore away from Claire and began pounding the wall with his fist, threatening revenge on every single one of those cursed things and on the two men who had done such an awful thing, throwing two helpless women over a banister.

I wanted to stop my brother, but there was no chance. Instead, I fought back the urge to join in his cursing. "I'm sorry, man." My voice trembled, and I felt a tear roll down my face. Even though Jackie wrapped her arm around me to comfort me, I could barely breathe, and the room around me seemed to grow hot.

"There was nothing we could do," Jackie said. "You can't blame anyone for this except Earl and Tahoe."

"We gotta go," Nick whispered, ignoring her. "If we don't get outta here, we'll be next. But first there's something I need to do for Val." He disappeared into one of the bedrooms and reappeared a minute later with a gas can. Leaning forward, he started pouring it down from the balcony, soaking the zombies below.

I wanted to stop him before he set the house on fire and risked our lives in the process, but his grim expression stopped me.

"Fire and explosions are fantastic ways to destroy the walking dead." Grabbing his lighter, he yelled, "Die, you undead suckers! DIE!"

"Dean!? Nick!?"

At the sound of Val's muffled scream, we froze, dead cold.

Claire grabbed Nick's hand. "STOP! Listen...that's her!"

I leaned over and saw Val crawling out from under the pack, unscathed. What? How is that possible? They didn't even touch her?

"I hit my head," she said. "Blacked out for a minute. But I'm fine." She stumbled through the moaning crowd and over to the table. There, she bravely snatched the keys for both vehicles and held them up high.

I shot Nick a confused look.

He smiled, mirroring my relief that she wasn't dead.

"Meet me out back!" she yelled up.

I nodded and pulled Nick's arm. "How is that possible? She's still alive, but how?"

His eyes widened. "It must be because she carries their scent. That wound of hers means she's turning into one. I've heard they don't eat their own kind, but..." He shook his head. "To tell you the truth, I'm not even sure."

I laughed, relieved. "Yeah, they must have thought she was one of them. Then again, I'm not sure that's a good thing."

"I can't believe it," Claire said. "If you're bitten, then you get reprieve from the zombies."

"It appears that way. And since you haven't been bitten, no reprieve for you." Nick thrust a bat into Claire's hands and motioned her forward.

She let out a shaky breath but didn't protest. The poor girl was terrified; I could tell from the way her eyes darted to and fro, and her knuckles had turned white where she touched the smooth, cold wood. "What am I supposed to do with this?" she whispered.

My brother cupped her cheek. "Well, it isn't for playing baseball, that's for sure. I know you're scared of guns, but you're gonna need a weapon of some sort. Just beat the crap out of anything that tries to bite a chunk out of you."

"I'm sorry, but I just...can't," she said eventually. "I can't hit a-"

"A what? Another person? They aren't people anymore, Claire. They're monsters, animals, waiting to eat you alive."

I felt sorry for the girl to some degree, but my patience was growing as thin as Nick's. "You know what? Just give it to me." I snatched the bat out of her hands. After all, my gun had flown over the balcony, and I was in desperate need of a weapon to protect myself. I knew I'd be okay once I got to the Jeep, because my half-zombie sister had packed plenty of weapons, but in the meantime, I had to make do with anything I could get my hands on. I thought my words might talk some sense into Claire, but she just shrugged and let me have her only weapon without protest. I didn't get the girl, but at that point, with survival on my mind, I didn't even care.

"Ready, Val?" Nick yelled.

"Yep! Let's make them pay, boys and girls!" she replied from somewhere to our right.

I craned my neck until I thought I could distinguish her brown locks from the mess of dead people around her, and I saw her standing near the edge of the house, where the glass wall and the door had been.

"C'mon!" Nick said with a wink. Once Val was safely away from the horde, Nick went to work. He pulled a lighter out of his pocket and threw it onto the gas-drenched crowd, starting a zombie roast. Smoke and fire engulfed the small undead army while Nick yelled for us to run down the hall, then motioned us into a small bathroom with a narrow window that we hoped would be just big enough for us to squeeze through.

"There's a huge tree we can shimmy down," Claire said.

I nodded. Squinting, I could see the Jeeps in the driveway, and it was a relief to see that there weren't any zombies in that general area. It appeared as if they had all headed toward the front of the house, where the glass walls had collapsed. I could only assume the noise from the explosion had attracted them and drawn them in that direction.