Crowded Yet Desolate: A Zombie Novel by Lee Dunter Page A

blood collecting in the grass and the large severed hand, a twitching island amidst the sea of red. Finally Kyle passed out.
    After a while, Albert said, “There’s not much we can do with what we have. We need to stop the bleeding. Let’s get him in the house and see what we can find.”
    As they went towards the house, the glass doors slid open. A large black man in athletic shorts and a white tank top walked out and crossed his arms, puffing his already huge chest out further. Behind him, standing on her tiptoes to cautiously see over his shoulder, his wife held a swaddled baby to her chest. The baby was silent. Great , Ryan thought, just what we need right now . The grouped stopped, startled, and the two parties stared at each other. Ryan again thought of the old western movies, John Wayne walking through a silent town and staring down the man he was about to kill.
    “What in the hell are you doing in our yard?” the black man yelled, his as booming as Ryan expected.
    “Nothing,” Roe said, putting his hands reassuringly in front of him. “Nothing at all. We’ll see ourselves out.”
    “Oh hell no,” his wife said. The man stepped to the side to let her have her say. She stepped into the grass. “You think you’re just gonna walk up in here, screaming and making a bunch of noise and then leave like nothing happened?” She took a step towards the group, and her husband grabbed her shoulder, beckoning her back. “Never mind you leaving bloodstains all over the place. You know that’s just gonna ‘tract them even more of them things! The only way to survive this shit is to stay quiet. When our neighbors went bat-shit crazy, runnin’ around all over the place, we stayed in here. We turned the lights off. We waited. And now you mother fuckers come in here, ruin it all, and you think you’re just gonna leave us here to die?”
    Although he was terrified of her, Ryan saw her point: now that they exposed the family, they couldn’t just leave them behind. It was also crucial that they get into the house, or Kyle might bleed to death. It seemed taking them in would benefit both sides.
    “Fine,” Joe said, walking forward. The others followed. “You’re coming with us. But I’m taking the damn baby. You’re gonna slow us down enough as it is.” Now face-to-face, the wife backed away from Joe. “Come on, give it,” he said.
    After the man reassured his wife, she gave Joe the baby. “It’s not an it. She’s a she . . . please be careful.”
    Tears flooded her eyes as she stepped into her husband’s arms. Over his wife’s head, he studied Joe. Joe secured the baby in his left arm, making sure he could still access his handgun with his other hand. Roe and Ryan picked Kyle up and followed the couple into their home, Kyle’s toes dragging on the ground.
    Albert’s face lit up once they were inside the house. “I need you to do me a favor.”
    The woman hesitated. “Um, okay.”
    “Go into the kitchen and heat a pan on the stove. Then get me any sheets you have and start ripping them up.”
    She furrowed her brow, her eyes dancing from Albert to Kyle’s arm. “Lord have mercy.”
    Ryan agreed. This was going to be nasty. But if it could possibly save Kyle’s life, it was worth a try. Fortunately, Kyle was still unconscious. Ryan allowed Albert to assist Roe in carrying Kyle into the kitchen, and then he waited with the others by the door.
    The black man left to change his clothes, and when he returned, Ryan gathered that the black man was Tavaris and his wife was Kayla. Roe then immediately began filling Tavaris in on the plan. He seemed not to listen, uninterested. But he did act as if he were glad to be part of a large party with a decent stockpile of weapons.
    As they waited, Ryan heard what sounded like sizzling bacon, but the horrid smell and piercing shriek that followed told him otherwise. A few minutes later, they returned from the kitchen with Roe and Albert supporting Kyle. White sheets