Siege (As the World Dies #3)

Siege (As the World Dies #3)

Rhiannon Frater




Chapter 1



1. Return of the Tiny Fingers





The tiny fingers under the door were missing. Jenni stared down at the dark, terrifying crack under the front door, waiting for the tiny pink digits to suddenly appear and begin straining toward her. Standing on the front porch of her home, she felt the cool morning air teasing her dark hair and ruffling her pink nightgown and robe.



“Benji?” she whispered.

The hard, steady knocking against the door was a terrifying reminder that her zombified husband, Lloyd, was just on the other side. She could barely make out the dim outline of his form through its frosted glass panes set in the door. Blood was smeared in the inside of the windows, making it harder to see into the house. “Benji?”

Jenni waited for the tiny fingers, but they didn’t come. Slowly, she squatted down, her trembling fingers touching the cold cement of the front stoop. The crack under the door was far too big. She had told Lloyd that many times. It was so easy for someone to slide their fingers under it...or a tiny little hand, trying to reach its mother.

“Benji?”



Lloyd was throwing himself against the door now, and it shook beneath the impact of his body. Benji’s tiny little fingers should be pressed under the door right now, reaching for her, straining for her. But they weren’t there. The crack under the door, ominous in its promise, did not give birth to tiny bloody fingers.

“Mom!”

Jenni rose sharply to her feet.

“Mikey?” Her twelve-year-old son ran around the side of the house, barefoot and in his pajamas, clutching his toddler brother tightly in his arms.

“Mikey! Benji!” Jenni stumbled as she rushed toward them.



“We got out the back door, Mom!” Jenni crushed her sons tightly against her body, their small bodies pressing against hers. Benji’s arms wrapped around her neck, and she could feel his tears against her flesh.



“Mommy! Daddy is scary!” Benji wept and thrust one tiny thumb into his mouth. Jenni smothered her boys with kisses. Clutching them tightly, crying, and thanking God for their survival, she pulled them away from the house.

“Mom, we gotta get away! Dad is crazy! Mom, he’s crazy!” Mikey exclaimed.



“We’ll get away! I promise. We just have to wait a minute or two and Katie will be here in a white truck,” Jenni answered him, clutching his hand.

“Who, Mom?”

“Katie. She’s coming to save us,” Jenni assured him. She looked back toward the house warily and saw Lloyd was now banging on the window next to the front door. Katie would be here at any moment now. She remembered from...

Scowling, she stood on her front lawn, trying not to think too hard about what was happening, of what had happened before...

Shaking her head, she looked toward the house. The window splintered and glass rained down. Lloyd began to push his way out.

“Mom! Mom! Where is Katie?” Mikey was holding her hand so tightly, he was crushing her fingers. Benji sobbed loudly, his wet face against her neck, his tiny fingers gripping the collar of her nightgown.

“She should be here! She should be arriving right now!” Jenni dragged Mikey further from the house, her feet touching the cold asphalt of the street. The road remained empty. The white truck was nowhere to be seen. Jenni whirled around, her black eyes scanning her neighborhood for the white truck that should be their salvation.



“Mom! Mom!” Mikey’s voice was high and terrified. He was pointing at Lloyd, who had crashed to the ground outside the house and was struggling to get up.

“Katie, where are you?” Jenni screamed.

Lloyd staggered to his feet and looked toward her and the boys. With an unholy screech, he began to race toward them, his hands outstretched. Jenni screamed again and began to run down the street as fast as she could.

Benji clung to her as Mikey ran beside her. She could already feel her body tiring and her lungs burning. Benji felt so heavy in her arms and Mikey held onto her robe as they ran. Her bare feet slapping hard against the pavement, Jenni ran for her life and those of her children. She could hear Lloyd behind her, gaining on them, his terrible screech filling the morning air.

“Mommy! Mommy!” Benji was moaning and she felt his bladder release as warm urine poured down her leg.

“Katie! Hurry! Katie!” Jenni kept screaming, her body tired and sore. Then the doors of the houses began to fly open. Mutilated, bloody figures began to race into the street toward them, screeching their death cries, hands flung out before them.



“Mommy! Mommy!” Mikey and Benji’s voice chorused in terror.

“Run! Run!” Ahead, the street was beginning to fill with the hungry undead. All of them were racing toward her and her children. Their horrible, bloody mouths were opening wide, waiting to feast on them.

“Katie! Katie!” Jenni sobbed as her leaden legs weakened even more. “Katie, please!”

She ran as the undead began to close in around her.





2. Hitchhikers of the Living Dead

“Katie!” Jenni awoke with a start, banging her head against the passenger side window of the truck. “Ouch! Dammit!” She gripped her head with one hand and forced the nightmare back from her waking thoughts.