The only good thing about hearing the moans of an approaching zombie was that James' attention was fully and completely on getting Petra to safety and no longer on his crotch.

"Pants! Now!" Petra barked.

With half an eye on the unknown numbers approaching through the trees, the three of them ripped their trousers down.

"How have zombies gotten everywhere so fast?" Viktor asked. He was watching the trees carefully while Petra worked.

She did nothing more complicated than laying two pairs crotch to crotch with the legs sticking out the opposite ways to make handles and the larger top making a natural seat. She draped one leg over each boy's shoulder and wrapped the other around their waist for them to hold.

"Don't let go," she warned and half-lifted Ian onto the seat it made between them.

They grunted when he sat down. Ian was sniffling in fear and kept half-turning to look into trees.

"Dude!" Viktor griped. "If you want us to carry you, you have to sit forward and hold us as best you can. We can't do this without as much help as you can give us."

James hadn't looked away from the woods. "Pet, whoever it is is almost here! We've got to hurry!"

She stretched her jeans behind Ian and tucked one end into the hand at Viktor's shoulder and the other into James' hand at his waist to create a kind of belt that kept Ian more secure.

"Let's move!" Walking sideways to make them more single file for slipping between the trees, the boys set off.

"The guns!" James reminded her.

"Just go. I'll get them out!" She swung the backpack off and put it on from the front, then unzipped it and took out a nail gun.

The first zombie entered the clearing.

"I have no idea who this guy is. We can't have zombies from too far away already!" she called.

James risked a look back. The man was wearing a long-sleeved Henley with a large fish printed on the front and cargo pants with pockets down the sides. "He's probably from that fishing competition that's on this weekend."

"He's trying to eat us. That's all we need to know!" pointed out Viktor.

"There's three, four, six of them!" Petra called. "How fast is this zombie-thing spreading?"

James heard the soft pfft of the nail gun firing once, twice.

"FUCK!" Petra screamed. "The battery ran out!"

"The other one!" James called. He ducked under a low-hanging branch. Ian's head snapped back when the branch hit him square on because he was trying to see what Petra was doing.

"Dude! Watch it!" Viktor ordered, hastily adjusting so Ian didn't fall.

"Petra, baby! Talk to me! Please!" James hollered. He dodged around a small maple.

"I've – got – it!" Pfft! Pfft! "Gah! Viktor, where is your ax?"

"You've got to be freakin' kidding me!" James cried.

"It's in my pack, Petra. But I can't get it!" Fear had crept into Viktor's voice.

"Mommy!" Ian whimpered. He tried to wipe the snot and tears running down his face on his shoulder.

"Ian! Do NOT move!" screamed Viktor, narrowly catching the boy from falling again.

"There are only two left, but they're right beside each other. What if the ax gets stuck? I can't risk it!"

"Then we keep running, chica! Vamos!" Viktor yelled.

"Viktor?" a woman called from ahead of them.

"Anna!"

They went around a large maple and almost collided with Anna, Robbie and Marty running towards them.

"Mi vida! You are a sight for sore eyes!"

"We followed the sound of your smart-alec mouth," Anna said, but the teasing smile on her face took away any sting.

"Biters!" Robbie exclaimed when the two shuffled into view. He lifted the hoe he'd taken from their shed and stabbed the man deep in the eye.

Marty swung his shovel at the other zombie. The flat side connected square in the face and the man flew backwards slightly and fell. Marty jumped forward and stabbed down with the edge. Ian retched at the sound of the thunk.

Anna pecked Viktor on the lips. She grimaced at Ian who had turned deathly pale. "That kid doesn't look good."

Ian leaned forward and puked.

"Whoa!" shouted James, jerking back and nearly losing his grip on the pant legs he held.

In what seemed like slow motion, Ian pitched forward and landed heavily on the ground, narrowly missing his pile of vomit. His body began to twitch and his eyes rolled back into his head.

Eyes bugging out, Marty shouted, "What's happening?"

"He's having a seizure!" Petra said, dropping beside the boy.

"Could it be the venom?" Viktor asked.

Petra shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. Maybe he hit his head when he fell. Maybe he's epileptic. But he's not a big kid, and from the bite it seems like a big snake that got him. That amount of venom..."

James dropped on the other side of the boy, still holding the ends of the pants in his hands. "Should we hold him down?"

"No!" Petra asserted. "He's not in any danger and the ground is soft. We just have to wait it out."

All of them stood immobile, watching the boy jerk and spasm on the ground. A mixture of uncomfortableness and helplessness on their faces.

"How did you find us?" Viktor asked the Thorntons quietly. He stepped closer to Anna to take her hand.

Anna said, "The Chief found us on McLaren road just before we went through the shortcut. He took everyone into town, but we wouldn't fit in the car. He told us to meet him at the rectory, but..."

Viktor spun her by the hand and kissed her soundly. He pressed his forehead to hers. "I'm so glad you didn't listen to him."

"The seizure is over, I think," Petra said.

Ian lay panting. His eyes were partially open and a string of drool stretched from his mouth to the ground.

Petra laid a hand gently on his shoulder. "Ian?" He made a low sound in the back of his throat. "I'm sorry, buddy, but we've got to get you into town. Can you move?"

The boy shifted his body ever so slightly. Incoherent noises came from his lips.

She put a hand on his clammy forehead and looked at her friends. "We'll have to rig something up with the trousers to carry him laying flat. I doubt he'll be able to sit up or support himself."

Anna began to undo her pants. "We'll add my pair. That'll give us four. We can make like a bed and lay him on it, then carry the ends like a stretcher."

"Good idea. There're enough of us to carry him that way," Petra agreed.

Within minutes they were underway. Ian lay on his side in the makeshift sling. His head supported by Anna as they walked.

"He looks really bad now," Anna said. "It's like he's barely breathing."

"We need to run, guys. Pray that Chief Koch is at your place to meet us."

They burst from the trees near the Thornton's potato patch. The dog Rex came tearing across the field toward them. His tongue lolling from the side of his open mouth in excitement.

"Where is your mother?" thundered Old Man Thornton who was standing in their path.

"Oh, shit!" James said.

"Yeah, boy, you all went and stepped in it when you took my wife away. Now where is she?" Thornton roared.

The Thornton sibling's trembling came through the fabric.

"She's safe, Dad," Anna said. Her voice warbled slightly.

Old Man Thornton stepped menacingly towards them and his children stepped back unexpectedly, pulling the fabric from James' and Viktor's hands. Ian tumbled to the dirt again. The group cried out in panic, reaching out futilely to catch him.

Rex sniffed curiously around the boy. He licked Ian's ear, but the boy gave no response.

"And who is this useless lump of flesh?" Thornton sneered.

Anna pleaded with her father. "He's been bitten by a rattler. We've got to get him into town."

Thornton flapped a hand in dismissal. "I don't care about someone else's stupid kid who gets himself bit."

"Look at him, Dad! He might die! Please, please let us get him help."

Old Man Thornton spat out a glob that landed just shy of James' sneaker. "The others can do what they want. But you and your brothers are staying put. When I get the rest of you good-for-nothin's back here, I'm gonna chain you to the house! You'll only be able to go far enough to take care of my still!

"As for your mother. She belongs to me. I'm gonna find her, and she won't be walkin' until Christmas!" Thornton's voice rose during his speech until it was a roar at the end.

"Mrs Thornton does not 'belong' to you," Petra said, her voice heavy with castigation. She made little air-quotes with her fingers. "A person cannot own another! That's slavery."

"Why don't you just shut your gob, little girl. You don't know nothin' about it."

"No, you know nothing about it," she screamed back. A lifetime of hatred at the people who used her mother for their own ends, paying her off with a few bottles of beer or cheap wine, rose up in Petra and directed itself at Thornton.

With fists clenched at her sides, her voice was deep with emotion. "I hate you. I hate all people like you. You think the world is there to serve you. That you don't have to give back to the world, just take, take, take. That you're somehow better and more deserving simply because you woke up this morning."

"And your shit don't smell like roses, Old Man!" Viktor added. He returned the narrowed eyes Anna's father directed at him.

Red had begun to creep up Thornton's neck.

Anna held out a warning hand to her friends. With her eyes glued to her huffing father, she quickly and quietly said, "Petra, he's gonna blow. You three get out of here. Get Ian into town."

Petra lifted her chin in challenge. "No way am I leaving you to this animal who treats his own family like slaves. We protect the people we love."

Viktor got closer to Anna to take her hand. Thornton's brows lowered in anger at the sight. The red finished creeping all the way over his face. "And there's no way I'm leaving your side, mi vida."

Rex gave a few excited barks and raced around the group.

"Get out of my way, you useless, stupid mutt!" Thornton drew back a booted foot and swung it forward, fast and hard. The tip connected with the side of Rex who yelped in pain.

The children watched helplessly as their beloved pet flew through the air and skidded to a halt several feet away. He lay still, whining, his side heaving.

"You motherfucker!" screamed James.

Lowering his head like a bull, James charged forward, fists extended. His fists and shoulder connected with Thornton's soft middle.

Taken by surprise, the much-larger man stumbled backwards. His arms pinwheeled to regain his balance. With a cry of "Ugghh!" he crashed down. The side of his head connected with a half-submerged rock jutting from the hard-packed dirt.

Old Man Thornton didn't make a sound or move.

From the pit of his stomach, icy dread spread over James. "Oh, fuck! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to kill him!"

Robbie ran over and felt for a pulse in his father's limp wrist. He announced, "He's not dead. Just unconscious."

James sagged with relief. The tightness that had gripped his chest let go.

He knew the Thornton kids hated their dad, but he didn't want to be the one responsible for his death. There was no telling what kind of backlash that might create when the rosiness of death overshadowed the memories of the all-too real horrors of life.

"We can't leave him out here," James said, even though that was the opposite of what he thought the man deserved. "Biters might find him."

"Well, we don't have time to haul his fat ass all the way around the house, either. Ian is in a bad way," Viktor said. Concern etching a line between his eyebrows at the greyish tinge to the boy's skin.

"The potatoes!" Anna cried, jumping up from where she'd knelt beside her brother.

"Say what now?" Viktor queried.

"We roll him into the potato garden. It's just over there. Zombies won't be able to get in the deer fence. They won't even see him. If we close the gate he'll be safe."

The fence boards had little space between them to keep out any of the smaller pests, like rabbits, that would eat the tender potato plant leaves.

"Can he get out though?" Petra asked, mentally measuring the distance to the fenced enclosure against the bulk of an overweight man a foot and a half taller than the tallest child there.

Anna gave a sour look. "Unfortunately, yes. He just has to pull the rope we've strung through to open the latch. Come on, everyone. Let's roll him."

It took all six kids to roll the unconscious behemoth the twelve feet. They couldn't fit him through the door and had had to lift his legs and jackknife him through.

"Stop it, Marty!" Anna called from where she was giving the potatoes a quick once over out of habit. Her back was to her brother whose foot was raised, just about to give his father a swift kick in the ass.

Viktor's eyebrows shot to his hairline. "How does she know?"

Anna snorted. "I raised these kids. I've got eyes on the back of my head."

They pulled the door closed and ran to the prone boy Scout.

"Oh, God, he looks like death," Viktor said.

Petra checked for a pulse at his wrist and watched his chest. "He's alive, but we've got to run!"

"Petra, are you there?" the Chief's voice crackled over the radio.

She clawed at the backpack still strapped to her front and ripped it open so forcefully the nail guns and radio spilled to the earth. Snatching up the walkie, she pressed the button and sobbed into it, "Chief! Ian is almost dead! We need you!"

"Where are you?" The sound of the car accelerating came through with his voice.

"We're still at the Thornton's. Old Man Thornton wouldn't let us past. He got knocked out by accident, but he's locked up with the potatoes, so he's safe."

Their eyes popped in surprise when they heard the Chief say very softly at the beginning, "Pity. I'm almost there. Sit tight!"

Within a minute they heard a car fishtail onto the dirt driveway. The Chief's black and white car exploded onto the property and spun in a circle. They lifted their hands and dodged away from the spraying dirt and small rocks. The car stopped pointed back down the drive.

"Wow!" exclaimed Marty. "That was just like from a movie!"

The Chief ignored the praise and ran to the ill boy. "Get in the car, everyone! I'll lay the boy over your laps."

"Rex!" screamed Anna.

"Get in! I'll get him." Viktor ran to the dog and gently cradled him in his arms. The mutt whined and whimpered with every movement as Viktor ran and got in the front seat of the cruiser.

The Thornton kids scrambled into the back seat, but Petra held James back. Working as the team they were, the Thornton's helped the Chief lift in Ian safely and quickly. They secured him in place with their hands.

"I need to check on my mom, Chief!" Petra said, bouncing from foot to foot beside the tall, uniformed man. "James and I will meet you in town. Okay?"

"We don't have time to argue about it. Keep each other safe!" He squeezed them both on the shoulder, then hopped into his seat and the car was gone in seconds.

"I know this is bad timing, and we need to get to your Mom's like yesterday, but I'm starving!" James held his stomach which growled on command.

Petra's peals of laughter rang out through the quiet farm. She snagged her ruined backpack from where it had been abandoned earlier and opened the side pocket. Producing a granola bar, she said, "I've got you covered."

James almost quipped, "I love you", but it stuck in his throat. He didn't want to even joke with the words. A plan hatched in his brain. As soon as he could, he knew exactly how he was going to show her what she meant to him.

Around a mouthful of snack, he said, "Let's go check on your mom."

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

What are your predictions for Ian's survival?

What will they find at Petra's mom's?

Thank you for reading!

In Spanish (according to the blog I consulted and Google translate):

Chica means 'girl'

Vamos means 'come on'

WORD COUNT: 2797

NANO WORD COUNT: 31, 797

TOTAL WORD COUNT: 33, 622