Jane awoke to a firm shaking on her shoulder. She tightened her eyes and tried to ignore the intrusion to her blissful sleep. "Jane! Jane! Someone's trying to get in to your house!" Her eyes shot open to see Hannah's small, scared face looking down at her. She could hear grunting and moaning and clawing at the front door. More worryingly, scraping against the floor. The couch barricade was beginning to move.
Jane lept up off the floor and pressed up against the couch, pushing it back. Hannah quickly ran up to the door and started attempting to push it shut. The first rotten, crusty arm inched its way in, desperately clawing the air. The stench of death wafted its way into Jane's nostrils, causing her and Hannah both to stop for a moment and catch themselves. That was all it took for the hand to find its way to one of Hannah's braids and grab it, jerking her head towards the door. A piercing scream rang in Jane's ears. She ran over to the door and to her horror saw what was happening. "Oh my god!" In between her wails Hannah looked at Jane with a tear soaked face, stained with pain and fear. "Mommy! Mommy! I want my mommy!" Jane was snapped out of her shock after another high pitched wail sent an electric shiver down her spine.
She ran to the kitchen and grabbed the mallet out of the drawer. She felt the cool metal of the handle between her fingers. She sized up the weight of her weapon and took a deep breath. She then sprinted to the front door and Hannah's howling screams. She grabbed the wrist of the undead attacker, feeling the dry, wrinkled skin writhe in her hand. She was used to the texture and the feel of dead skin, but feeling it move made her stomach turn. She rose the mallet and swung it down with all her force. The sickly crunch of breaking bones gave her chills, but she kept bashing until the arm hung loose in the doorway, releasing its grip on Hannah. Jane grabbed the back of her collar and gave it a forceful pull, pulling her away from the corpses and throwing her to the ground. She raised the mallet and gave another swing, this time dislocating a shoulder that was trying to force its way past the door.
She turned back to Hannah and pulled the sobbing child to her feet. "Go hide! Get in the kitchen and get a knife! Now dammit!" The little girl sprinted towards the kitchen with a terrorized scream. Jane turned back to her door to see that a corpse had crawled its way through. She looked and saw that its right leg was horribly mangled. It clawed at the carpet, dragging itself closer and closer towards her, leaving bits of old skin and black blood on the floor behind it. "Ok. You can do this. Its just like Pat said. It has to be the head."
She remembered holding his hand, squeezing it tighter with each stroke of his thumb back and fourth against hers. Feeling sick watching him grow paler and paler. Wiping the blood off his face when he coughed. Helping him struggle to drink water. She lost count of how many times they told one another they loved each other. She remembered the heart wrenching pain she felt watching him taking his final breath. She remembered clutching his face, sobbing, preying, begging, willing him to wake up. And he did. Those eyes. She will never forget those eyes.
The corpse reared up its head and snarled, saliva swirled with blood running down its face. It looked up at her with those same eyes. White, sick, soulless. Just as it was about to lunge for her thigh, she raised the mallet above her head and swung down with all her force, knocking it to the ground. It slowly raised its head, making a sick groaning sound and she bashed it again and again and again. Falling to her knees, and bashing it one more time.
She stopped, caught her breath, and wiped the sweat and blood from her forehead. She looked up to see another corpse stagger in through the doorway. She quickly got up and sprinted towards him, yelling as she charged. She slammed the corner of the mallet into its left temple, causing it to become stuck.
She adjusted her grip on the slick, bloodied mallet handle with her left hand, steadied her stance and landed a hard powerful kick to the square of the corpses face, forcing her body into a near split. The power sent it straight out the door and tumbling down the stairs outside. The mallet flew out of her hand and flew straight into her framed diploma, settling into the wall behind it. She slowly lowered her leg into a normal position. She rubbed the muscle of her inner thigh, only slightly shocked at the sudden change in position. She rolled her shoulders and walked towards her weapon. "Thank you yoga." She muttered to herself, shutting the door behind her.