like she had dished the juiciest of gossip. Karen rubbed Valerie’s little shoulder. “That’s a good secret. I won’t tell anyone. Now I have to go help him.” Karen turned and headed out of the bedroom. When she got back to the kitchen Steve was slumped over the sink. His injured arm hung at his side. The bite mark had risen and become swollen. The tear in his skin had darkened in color and black lines had spread up his forearm. It added to the intensity of the tattoo that spiraled up into the sleeve of his blood soaked shirt. The water poured out onto the back of his head. Steam rose off him. It must have been blistering hot. The infected monster banged at the back window. Karen couldn’t think straight. What was the plan? Was there a cure for this disease? Could she save him if she stopped the bleeding? Or should she drag Steve out the front door and leave him to die? Why wasn’t Jim here to help her? Steve’s body twitched. Karen was frozen. Steve’s body shook violently against the sink. The bowls and glasses rattled in the cabinet above. The puddle of blood pooled from the sink across the floor all the way over to the refrigerator. “Steve?” she called to him with a whisper. His head turned immediately to face her. Steve had the same black eyes as the man she shot. Karen reached for the gun in its holster. It was not there! “Shit!” It was on the range behind Steve.
Chapter 6
Steve lunged toward her. Karen sped back down the hall for the bedroom. She couldn’t let him into the room with her children. She grabbed the knob and pulled the bedroom door shut closing her children in behind it. The doors in this apartment were practically made of paper. A notch above cardboard at best. It would take nothing for Steve to smash it down. The sudden movement scared both girls. Their startled little screams made her heart ache. Karen took a protective stance outside the door. She reached into her back pocket for the knife. Steve stumbled down the hall. She worked the blade open and snapped it into place. At the exact same time Steve hit her. He shoved her through the doorway that led into the computer room. Infected-Steve’s teeth were so close to her face that she could feel the heat from its open mouth. It landed on top of her as they crashed to the floor. The knife was knocked from her hand and lost. She forced her knee up and in between their chests. It gave her a little extra space to work. Karen anchored her elbow into its neck and pushed away its jaw. For years Jim had tried to get her to go to his Krav Maga class, but she was never interested. She now realized what a mistake that was. When Karen was a kid she wrestled her older brother and father. Plus Jim loved to wrestle and show her some of the moves he had learned in class. She was slightly aware of where to put her legs and hands to keep his mouth from tearing into her. Infected-Steve weighed so much and he forced himself onto her. Her lungs were crushed as the top of her thigh was pushed deeper into her sternum. She couldn’t breathe. Her arms were going to give. She couldn’t push him away for much longer. Behind infected-Steve the bedroom door opened. Valerie stepped out into the hall. “MAMA!” she cried. The child had no sense of the danger she just stepped into. All she could see was her Mama getting attacked by a scary man. Valerie walked into the room and turned on the light. It got infected-Steve’s attention and he sat up. Valerie let out a terrified high-pitched scream. The monster was easily distracted and it shifted its focus to the little one. In an instant Karen went from pushing it off of her to fighting to keep a hold of it. It reached and clawed at the five-year-old. Karen wrapped her legs around its waist and threw her arm around its neck. She hit it so hard in the neck with her forearm that it would have killed a regular human. Robin came out of the bedroom to see what all of the noise was about. She