Chapter 5

"Can you do that for me, sweetheart? I want to go try and find your mom."

"No!" she suddenly screamed and wrapped her little arms around my neck.

She squeezed so tightly that it almost cut off the airways and if she had been a little stronger, it probably would have.

"Melissa, I need to go help your mother if I can. Please, let me do this," I begged.

"She's a monster," she whispered into my neck.

I wrapped my arms around her and held her close unsure of what to say back. There were no words I could find to reassure a little girl that her mother was not a monster if she had been acting anything like the people across the field. I held her for a moment longer until she sniffled then rubbed her forehead on my shirt. I silently begged her not to wipe her nose off on me as little kids were apt to do and then I set her away from me.

A rustling from the bushes drew our attention to it.

"Please, let that be a dog," I whispered to the sky.

Melissa buried her head in the crook of my neck again. "It's Mommy."

My heart started to race, and I knew she was right, something inside me told me it wasn't as innocuous as a dog or a cat. I pulled her out of our embrace and set her aside.

"Okay, do you remember the words I told you to tell Marcus?" I asked not taking my eyes off the bushes that had started shaking harder.

"Pico Pete."

Her voice shook with heartrending fear, but I didn't have time to try and reassure her this time. I gave her a quick bracing hug hoping that she would feel at least a little comforted by it.

"Close enough. Melissa, sweetie, I want you to run to my truck and I want you to scream that. Do not stop for anyone or anything, okay?" I said standing up giving her an encouraging shove.

She didn't budge as the rustling became accompanied by a hair-raising growl.

"Go, Melissa," I said urgently.

But it was too late as the cause of the noises came bursting into full view. It was indeed a woman although she looked more animalistic than human. She was crouched down on all fours as if she were the dog, I wanted her to be. But her normal white skin was pale to the point it was almost translucent; her hair and body were almost completely covered in mud. She was soaked to the bone as if she had just come out of the river. But the most disturbing feature was her eyes, they were completely black, devoid of all normal color.

"Mommy," Melissa whimpered behind me.

The black eyes of this creature focused in on her and I shoved her behind me to protect her. But this creature wouldn't be deterred, it let out a little noise that seemed to indicate pleasure of some sort and it was no less frightening than if she had let out another ear-piercing howl.

"Run," I whispered to her.

But she clung tighter than ever and stayed where she was hiding her face into my arm.

"Melissa, run."

The thing began to creep closer.

"Run now, Melissa," I said more urgently.

It began to stalk closer and closer, its dark eyes seemingly focused on something behind me.

I finally gave up and shoved Melissa away once again. "RUN NOW!"

I quickly turned back to the creature and the little footsteps behind me let me know that Melissa had finally listened. Around the corner, I could hear her little shouts of Pico Pete's, but I didn't have time to pay attention to them as the creature chose that moment to pounce on me. It slammed me into the ground making my breath fly out of me and I was momentarily stunned.

Her hands were in contorted claws as she grasped at whatever she could. Her nails digging a deep groove in the ground behind me. Horrified, I reached up and grabbed her head to begin trying to push her off me so I could get back to my feet. Her mouth opened as if she was going to bite me.

"I don't think so, you fucking zombie!!" I cried and began shoving harder.

Her fingers continued to dig into the ground next to my head making more grooves. I continued to push at her face as I tried to buck her off, that was when something weird happened. She began to suck like she was trying to draw in a huge breath. A pain bloomed from the center of my chest like someone was trying to rip my heart out. The necklace that I had forgotten about began to heat up warming the area that the pain was radiating from. Shockingly, it began to soothe it and the pain quickly receded.

The mouth on the thing closed as it slowly realized nothing was happening and the look on her face would have been hysterical if the situation hadn't been so drastic. While it stared at me in shock, I hastily shoved it off me and jumped up.

The creature still laid on the ground letting out pitiful whining noises almost as if it were crying because it had failed. Then it let out an angry shriek and jumped back on all fours with its resolve seemingly renewed. Before it could lunge at me again, I lifted my boot and kicked it square in the jaw with a strength that stunned it, and myself. The black eyes rolled back in its head, and it went limp immediately. I continued to stare at the creature for a long while; not sure if I were still in shock at what had happened or the fact I, a woman who would never resort to violence, had knocked out a weird, zombie creature out with one solid blow.

"Yeah!" I suddenly shouted feeling a rush of adrenaline, that I won't lie I really liked. "Take that, you freaking zombie. You messed with the wrong girl in Riverton!"