I, Keveny - Pt 6

I floated. I could get a better perspective from in the sky and it didn't take long to spot them.

Two men in construction orange in a blind about a football field's distance from the zombie they'd shot.

 

Were they doing this for sport?

 

As if in reply another shot rang out, this one clipping my body. It didn't hurt, but I felt it. I made the sudden connection that if my zombie body were destroyed I would be too, that I would go back to that dark-dark place with that sleeping things.

 

Living or no, if these men were putting themselves in harm's way, they got what they were looking for. I didn't ask to be murdered—I needed to find my killer. No way was I going down so someone else could have a good time.

 

My body turned. I looked and saw the other ones turning with it. Maybe they were sensing me like some kind of homing beacon or maybe they'd heard the hunters. I zoomed in closer and saw the two men. One of them aimed and shot, popping one of the zombie's heads like a watermelon. The stink of alcohol was all over them. They howled with victory then clinked matching bottles of Wild Turkey before taking long pulls.

 

"They're coming! They're coming!" The two hunters grabbed up their rifles again and took aim.

 

Perhaps they were getting drunker by the moment or they were more nervous because the zombies were approaching. But they didn't seem to notice two zombies had begun approaching from the rear.

 

The intervals between their shots shortened and they began missing even more. One shot whizzed by my body's ear, another hit it in the thigh.

 

They were so focused on the zombies in front of them, they didn't see the two coming from behind until it was too late.

 

The first one wrapped its arm around the hunter wearing the raccoon hat like a lover. He spun on her right as it tried to sink its teeth into his neck, pushing it away, but not before getting bitten on the arm. He screamed, but it looked like the coat hadn't been torn. The other man turned as his partner attempted to shove the corpse off of him, but it had both hands on him and leapt at his face.

 

It took his nose off in one bite and the man screamed again, much higher this time. Coon hat's friend's eyes bugged out and he ducked and rolled away from the second zombie, coming up on one knee, his rifle aimed at it. He squeezed the trigger and the creature's back exploded. It took two more steps as he chambered another round, the other man screaming as the first zombie munched on his hand.