bullets wouldn’t penetrate to its brain, but maybe they could at least blind the monster.
Thomas joined the team jabbing their makeshift spears at the ZK’s face. It reminded him of a Ray Harryhausen movie–– One Million Years B.C., where the characters fought a giant purple turtle. The beast’s teeth chomped, and its great paws swept. One assailant was thrown against the wall with bone-crunching force. Somehow, Curt Johnson found an opening and charged. Instead of an eye, he stabbed a nostril. Thomas saw what was going to happen and dove out of the way. The beast, still governed by reflex even if it was dead, sneezed. Rotten snot doused several boys, and they ran screaming, trying to rip their clothes off before the fluid soaked into their system and infected them.
Meanwhile, the unarmed students stood caught between a rock and a hard place. The battle with the ZK happened in front of them while Zs simultaneously attacked them from behind. A few kids with spears tried to hold the infected teenagers back, but Thomas could see it was a losing battle. Danielle was tossed back and forth as the unarmed kids tried to move as one to stay out of the way of everything.
The clock in Thomas’ head ticked into the red. Screaming, he ran forward, ducked a giant hand, rolled away from the other and come up in front of the ZK’s face. The monster’s breath seemed bad enough to sear his skin. Ignoring it, Thomas plunged his spear into the beast’s eye and shoved it as far as he could. The ZK roared, going rigid like bolts of electricity shot through its body. Then it simply went limp and stopped moving.
“Come on!” Thomas shouted.
The students scrambled onto the ZK’s back. They climbed its snagged leg, using the monster’s fur as handholds, and onto the school roof. By the time Thomas joined them, some were already filing down the fire escape.
Determined, Thomas sought out Danielle and budged into line behind her as she climbed onto the ladder. “Danielle,” he said.
She looked up, all beauty and possibility. “Yes?”
“Would you go to prom with me?”
Danielle paused, and Thomas felt like he lived a hundred lifetimes in that few seconds of silence. Finally, she answered, “I guess that would be okay.”
“Great!” Thomas smiled. “Call you tomorrow?”
“Sure,” Danielle nodded and descended. She reached the street, walked toward home and disappeared around a corner.
Thomas remained on the roof. The sun shone down, and trees threw dappling shadows. There was the water tower, the church steeple, Main Street, the pool and softball fields. The town’s volunteer militia was finally organized and heading toward the school in fire trucks and APCs. Surrounding the town were corn and soybean fields. Farm sites stuck up like odd rock formations, and ZKs wandered on the horizon.
As Thomas watched, another began to stomp near…
ADRIAN LUDENS
The Elephant In The Room
I.
“A Fly on the (Circus Tent) Wall”
“Hurry, hurry! Step right up, friends! Beyond this point you’ll find everything you’ve ever dreamed about and so, SO much more! Dare to meet the Human Piranha! Cast your eyes upon the Two Thousand Pound Albino! Arm-wrestle the World’s Strongest Dwarf! Just five dollars, ladies and gentlemen; don’t delay!”
Simmons paused to mop his brow. The Louisiana humidity had soaked his tattered tuxedo and pasted it to his skin. He felt claustrophobic, constricted by his own clothes. He was about to renew his pitch upon the jaded masses when Hobart, a roustabout for the Freak Show, came hurrying up from his left.
“Mr. Simmons, sir, Mr. Quincy wanted me to pass along an urgent message.”
“Well make it quick, man,” Simmons hissed. “I’m making my pitch.”
Hobart put his mouth up to the barker’s ear. “Quincy says not to mention the gorilla act because the gorilla has up and died.”
“Oh Christ!”
Plato the Gorilla was always a good draw. ‘Smarter than most
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