Trepidation by Chrissy Peebles Page A

doorknob tightly, and I called for Nick again.
    A long, intimidating hiss was my only reply.
    Still, I had to see if Nick was okay. As soon as I opened the door, a black-haired zombie lunged at me and snapped its jaws. I gasped and instinctively kicked it hard in the chest, sending it whirling backward. What the heck is a zombie doing in this room? Was it Nick? It had thick, black hair like Nick’s, and it was just as tall.
    The zombie came back and leapt for my throat. My vision blurred, and strange, multicolored spots, like moving Smuckers jelly, seemed to fill my eyes. A gunshot echoed, and the zombie collapsed in a gory heap. I screamed, certain that Rita had killed my brother. My heart ached, and I was suddenly paralyzed with grief. I reached for the bedside table. As I fell, I grabbed the tablecloth, and a vase shattered into pieces next to me. I stared at the colors of the broken pieces. I knew I needed to get him, but I simply didn’t have the strength. All I could think about was my brother.
    Rita’s voice broke into my thoughts. “Get up!”
    “I-I can’t.”
    “Yes you can. Try.”
    I stumbled to my feet as anger washed over me. I refused to let the heinous old hag win. I was going to take her down, gun or not, was going to make her pay for the stomach-turning things she’d done. She was a skinny, bony little woman, and I knew I could easily overtake her, even drugged as I was.
    In spite of my resolve, though, to conquer my feeble foe, everything was a blur, and the next thing I knew, Rita was guiding me down the stairs and outside. Why am I not even trying to escape? I couldn’t make out the details, but I heard a door open, a creaking sound. I couldn’t hold on any longer, and within seconds, I melted into darkness.

Chapter 10
    I woke up to the steady, rhythmic dripping of water. Lying on my stomach, I glanced around and tried to figure out where I was. My mind was still a bit cloudy from whatever the crazy woman had put in our food and drink. I shouldn’t have had a V8, I thought, but the joke wasn’t enough to make me smile in my condition. It was dark, and I couldn’t see a thing. My mind raced as I tried to make sense of it. Where am I?
    I felt something scratchy beneath me. Hay or straw or something . I wasn’t out in the open air, and the place had a foul stench to it. I would have bet a million bucks that I was in a barn.
    A drop of water hit my face, and I assumed it was from all the rain coming through the leaky roof. When I sat up, I hit something hard. I couldn’t see what it was, but it really made no difference. I just wanted out of here.
    I took a cautious step, feeling through the darkness to find the door and praying to God that the others were alive and okay. I gasped when the memories of the most recent events flashed through my mind in severed fragments: Nick’s room. He’s...a zombie. But Rita shot him!
    Glass crunched, and a chill shot down my spine. I could hear tiny footsteps, and that meant only one thing: I wasn’t alone. That thought alone made my stomach gurgle. When I heard a tiny growl that didn’t seem to come from a human throat, only one thought occurred to me: Zombie !
    To make matters worse, the creature had a distinct advantage over me, because I couldn’t see anything. I didn’t have a weapon or even know where the exit was. I wondered if I’d been put in there on purpose, to feed the zombie, maybe the woman’s dead husband or one of her sons or even her alleged cat.
    The crunching grew closer, and I sucked in a deep breath as fear coursed through my veins. I could barely hear the footsteps over the sound of my pounding heart and frantic breathing. I clenched my fists, ready to fight. It let out another soft growl, and I could hear it breathing. Blood pumped hard through my head, almost dizzying me. I couldn’t even see my opponent, but I was sure it was stalking toward me. Terror gripped me and squeezed even tighter as I strained to see in the