Zombies & Cake

Was any of it worth it?

I tried not to think about the blood that was drying on my arm. It was starting to itch.

There were three on my right and one on my tail as I rounded the corner and found my saving grace. It might as well be pure gold as far as I was concerned when I saw the old bug sitting inside Tim’s Auto Repair.

“Lizzy you are not going the right way. At this point, you will be outside when the sun goes down. You know that is when they are most active. Patty wanted me to tell you that there is always tomorrow.”

I shook my head.

How I wish that I could respond. Noise would attract more, and I can’t have that, not until I got into the garage.

I didn’t have to look back to know that I would be overrun if I did not get into that garage. I stupidly forgot my bat this morning, my mind too absorbed with the idea of cake. It's the reason I am out here, alone, risking my life.

The garage door was locked, of course. I shook the handle again, hoping that maybe it was just stuck, and nope, it was locked.

I wanted to cry, but I couldn’t. I had to stay focused and keep moving.

The building was small, but not too small for another door. I smiled, maybe I would be able to pull it off.

The second door was unlocked. I crept inside and shut the door as quickly and silently as humanly possible. It felt like I had to pee, it happened like clockwork, every time I got nervous.

I squatted. Waiting. Hoping that there was nothing inside the building with me. It was dark inside the small office. I slowly inched my way over to the door that would lead into the garage and braced myself as I grabbed a nearby broom and opened the door.

“I hope you are hearing this, Liz. Chocolate cake is not worth this. Come back. We can’t help you in the dark.”

I ignored the voice in my ear as I applied all my focus to getting to the bug without making any noise. Staying alert, I scanned the room as I inched more and more into the room, until my hand was on the door handle of the bug.

CRRReeeeaAAAaaakkkKKk

My heart fell into my stomach. The door was loud and there was nothing I could do about it. I was too far in to give up and there was nowhere else I could go in the dark without a car. As soon as the door was open wide enough, I jumped in and hopped over to the driver’s side. I checked the visor in hopes that the keys were there and sighed when nothing fell out.

BANNNG BANG BANG BANG

I was so rattled when they started banging on the door of the garage that I screamed.

“That’s going to draw even more,” I moaned as I banged my head against the head rest and stopped to think.

Where else could the keys be? The office maybe?

I didn’t want to get out. I didn’t want to chance that they would break through the door before I could make it back with the key.

“Does anyone know how to hot wire car?” I whispered.

“Finally, Liz, we were worried that something had happened to you.”

“Something might happen, if I can’t get the bug I found started.”

There were muffled voices and shuffling as I waited for a response.

“Did you look to see if the keys were in the ignition?”

I rolled my eyes.

“Of course…”

I paused. There they were. The keys were in the ignition.

“Oh my God. Yep, there they are, right in front of me.”

I turned the keys, hopeful that my luck would hold up. I held my breath and didn’t let it out, until the bug roared to life. With a shuddering sigh, I buckled up, because safety is important, and punched the gas. The green bug broke through the buckling garage door. I had to turn on the windshield wipers to clear away the various zombie parts that were splattered on it.

“I am on the way back. As a plus I was able to find all the ingredients we needed, even the powered milk and eggs.”

It was a long drive in the dark, luckily I knew the route by heart, and I was not easily distracted by all the zombies that were following me.

As soon as I saw the first post I ditched the bug and ran for the fence. This one was unmanned so I had to slide under it with great care not to touch the wire. I wasn’t in the mood to be roasted like a chicken. I ran for the second fence and breathed a sigh of relief when someone opened the gate and let me in.

After I was inside the relative safety of the second fence I looked behind me. There they were, attempting to climb over the first gate. The electrified fence was not made to fend off so many zombies at one time.

“Take this bag to Pam, she will know what to do with it. Call Bryan and have him send a team of six shooters my way.”

I picked up an assault rifle from the zombie elimination kit and aimed, as I turned dismissively away from the girl who had let me in.

“There you are,” I whispered as I fired the first shot.

“Great. I missed again.”

I was not the best shooter, but believe it or not I was better than some. I kept shooting until the zombies stopped moving and fell down next to shimmering lake that was between the two fences. I was good for about five minutes, before ten zombies broke over the fence.

“Two on me and three on Liz’s position. Liz, go help Pam. Stop wasting ammo.” Bryan dismissed me without so much as a smile or a welcome back hug. I shrugged, he was a no nonsense type of guy and I was tired. I was becoming too tired to care about anything, but getting rest as I climbed through the kitchen doors.

Pam was just reaching into the oven and pulling out the cake.

“I’ve been out there dealing with the zombies longer than I thought,” I whispered in awe.

Pam laughed as she plopped the steaming chocolate cake onto the stove top.

“Time flies when you are fighting zombies.”

I laughed.

“I want to spend the rest of my time tonight eating cake.”

My mouth was watering just thinking about what it would taste like. The smell grabbed my stomach and roared it to live.

I watched the icing that Pam put onto the cake melt down the sides. Instead of waiting for it cool off, she kept adding globs of chocolate icing onto the cake. By the time she was done there was a puddle of chocolate surrounding the cake on the counter.

I pulled out a knife and cut out a small piece of the hot cakey mess and smiled.

“I think this was worth risking my life,” I mumbled through a mouthful of cake.

“Hey now, don’t exclude the rest of us from your little cake party.” Bryan’s voice boomed as everyone crowded into the kitchen.

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