The smile on Timmy's face faded as the first zombie was joined by another, then another.

Everyone stood immobile in shock.

James felt his muscles tense again with the rush of adrenaline, this time ready for flight. He could hear the others' shallow breaths that matched his own.

"Back up!" James called. He pushed his hands on the air behind him, motioning to get them moving. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the growing horde if he wanted.

The group took a collective step backwards with whimpers of fear and terrified gasps. James felt a modicum of relief when they continued to shuffle in reverse.

Old Man Thornton looked over his shoulder and gave a yelp of terror. He stumbled and fell over his own feet in his haste to run away while turning to face the threat. He gave a loud "Oomph" as he landed, his cheek mashed in the dirt.

As her father struggled to gain his feet, May, the third youngest Thornton, whistled for the dog, who was still hunched down ready to defend and growling at the approaching mob. "Rexy! Come here, boy! Come here, Rex!"

The dog's fur brushed the ground as it backed away. His lips were pulled back, baring his teeth.

James cast a look around. "Everyone! Go back the way we came and get into the house!" His voice sounded high to his ears.

There was a scream. James spun just in time to see the backside of one of the boy Scouts crashing into the forest. They could hear his shrieks as he went.

"Ian!" cried Scout Leader Dan. He took a lurching step after the boy, then cried out in pain when he put down his injured ankle. He fell over in the dirt holding it and gritting his teeth against the pain.

"No! No! NO! This isn't happening!" said a boy Scout with a short brown crew-cut who ran for the driveway.

"Don't leave me here, Lenny!" called a curly blond-haired Scout who ran after his friend.

A clot of dirt flew the air and hit Lenny's shoulder. The boy didn't slow down if he noticed at all. Marty lowered his sling shot and shook his head.

James saw Robbie dig into the pocket of his jean shorts. He loaded his sling shot and fired a rock at the front zombie. It landed with a solid thunk square in the middle of the zombie's forehead, but had no effect otherwise.

"Lenny! Josh!" screamed Dan from the ground where he was attempting to push himself to standing. "Joe! Ben! Stay here!"

"Stop them!" James called.

Timmy and Mark tackled the two remaining boys who were just starting to flee. "Take them inside!"

The two youngest Thornton's dragged up the protesting Scouts and pulled on their hands to get them moving down the back of the house.

"Get in the house, you twits!" Timmy said, yanking on the hand of the boy who was stumbling along, whimpering, with his head twisted back to watch the zombies. "Move faster!"

Old Man Thornton pushed them out of the way as he barrelled past.

"Dad, you sum'bitch!" shrieked Timmy. He hopped on one foot and hastily laid a hand on the unpainted grey board to catch himself from falling.

May struggled to hold back the dog who was breaking into frantic barks between low menacing growls.

Petra ripped off her backpack as she ran back a few feet to put a safe distance between her and the oncoming danger. She squatted with it and tore at the zipper. Her voice rose in panic. "It's stuck! James, I can't open my backpack!"

"Someone help Dan inside!" James called to the other Thornton siblings as he ran to help Petra, working to get off his own pack as he went. He slid slightly as he dropped to his knees, sending small bits of dirt flying in the air.

Grabbing the backpack, James yanked on the zipper. But it wouldn't budge. He put the nylon in his mouth and tried to bite through it.

Petra raced around James and zipped open his pack. She ran forward with his nail gun to shoot the nearest zombies.

"Viktor!" yelled Anna and James looked over.

She and Marty were helping Dan up from the ground. One of the zombies had almost reached them.

Viktor's mouth dropped in horror. He was in the process of pulling the ax from his backpack, but the edge was caught under the lining. He jumped around and shook it violently trying to free the two. "Get out of there you damn thing!" He let off a line of hot Spanish.

Anna and the others were screaming and pulling Dan back by the arms. They were too distracted by the zombie only feet away to notice that although Dan's feet were scrambling in his effort to stand, none of them were getting anywhere.

James' eyes bugged out with fear. Two more lurching steps and the zombie would be on Anna and her siblings.

He had to get the pack open to get the other nail gun! He got his eyeteeth securely on the fabric and pulled as hard as he could with his hands. He grunted with the effort of trying to rip the pack but it just slipped out from between his teeth which ended up snapping down on his lip. "Ow!" he screeched.

"Screw it!" Viktor yelled. The backpack whizzed through the air as the ax swung.

"Mierda!" cried Viktor when the ax sliced into the zombie's shoulder but not the head. He'd aimed too low because the man was taller than him.

He pulled on the ax and the zombie lurched back towards him. "Joder!"

He yanked the ax handle up, then down, and up again, working the blade free, bringing the zombie back with him a step every time.

Viktor grunted with the effort of force he exerted. With one final tug, the ax pulled free. Viktor stumbled back and fell. The blood-covered weapon flew a couple of feet away and the backpack, finally free, fluttered to the earth.

Muscle memory made the zombie flap its arms comically to remain standing. Once it regained balance, it took a step towards Anna's group again.

"Mr Morrison, please don't eat us!" May sobbed at the zombie.

Rex surged forward, finally breaking free of the girl's grasp. He started racing around the group and barking incessantly, nipping at zombies who tried to catch the swift canine.

Anna let go of Dan and searched around for something to stop the oncoming horror.

"Vik!" yelled James to warn him of the threat to Anna. James was holding the bag with both hands and trying to pull the zipper apart with brute strength.

Anna rose with the branch Dan had been using as a crutch. She thrust it into the zombie's chest, toppling it backwards, but it grabbed the branch as it fell, pulling Anna down on top of it.

She grunted as the branch crushed into her chest. She did a push up on the zombie's chest, effectively pinning its upper arms down with the tree branch that had fallen between them.

Instead of being jarred by the fall, the zombie simply reached for the fresh meat lying so close in Anna's body. Its hands closed on her upper arms and pulled her down with his superior strength to bite her.

Anna craned her head away with a "Noooo! Viktor! Help me!"

They had fallen beside Viktor who had flipped his body over. He stretched for the ax handle that was still slightly out of reach.

Anna pushed with her knees to get more leverage to jerk her arms free but couldn't break its grasp.

"Mi vida!" Viktor screamed when he saw the zombie stretch its neck out and come dangerously close to biting Anna's arm.

James leapt up and felt for the nail gun through the bag. Maybe he'd be able to feel the controls well enough through the material to shoot it. He dug his fingers into the fabric but there wasn't enough give fully depress the trigger. The walkie squawked as he pressed the button while trying to get it out of the way.

"Petra! Anna and Viktor need help!" he screamed, not able to tear his eyes away from the possibility of losing one of his best friends or the woman he knew Viktor loved.

"Dammit! There's too many here!" Petra called back.

James turned to see her dodge a zombie swiping at her and took a step in her direction.

"I'm fine! Help them!" she yelled, shooting the zombie.

James looked between the woman he loved and the friend he adored. He let out a scream of frustration as his fists tore at the fabric he couldn't penetrate to help either of them effectively.

"Go, James!" Petra yelled again. "Just distract it, even!"

"James! Here!" Dan tossed something through the air he had just pulled from the side pocket on his trouser leg. Shiny metal caught the sun as it flew, sending off spikes of light.

Stretching out his arm, James could have cried when he caught it perfectly. He uncurled his fingers to see the characteristic red background and white cross in an emblem of a Swiss Army pocketknife.

He dropped to a knee and put the bag on the ground. His fingers trembled. It took him two tries to pull open a blade. He stabbed the knife into the top of the bag. An odd feeling of satisfaction filled him at the rip sound as he sliced.

"James, to your left!" Robbie called. He fired a stone at another zombie with his slingshot. His brother Mark doing the same beside him.

Rising as he pulled out the nail gun, James fired at the zombie that was approaching his side then ran forwards. "I'm coming, Anna!"

Viktor had commando crawled towards the fallen ax. His fingers grazed the handle.

"Viktor!" Anna screamed as the zombie's hand moved to her shoulder.

It pulled harder and she jerked downwards for an awful second. The zombie's jaws snapped millimeters from her chin. Anna gave a herculean cry and jerked her body to the side to flop onto the brown dirt yard.

Viktor's fingers finally closed around the ax handle. With a grunt of effort, he flipped his body back, swinging as he came. The blade sang through the air. With a sickening crunch it severed the top half of the head just as James arrived.

Anna threw herself over the zombie's body onto Viktor and sobbed into his chest. He release the blade, sticking out of the ground where it was buried, to crush her to him.

With Viktor and Anna safe, James immediately pivoted away to help Petra.

Dead zombies lay scattered around her. She danced away from the grasping hands of another, her long black ponytail flying out behind her as she ducked and wove until she was behind it. With fluid grace, she lifted the nail gun and shot it in the back of the head.

Love filled James' heart so completely at her beauty that his chest pained him.

Viktor rushed by him at another zombie saying, "You gonna admire your girlfriend all day or come and help her?"

Taking better aim, Viktor buried his bloodstained ax in the forehead of Mr Baxtor, one of the hardware store employees.

Pitching himself toward Mrs McNichol, James heard Viktor say "Damn! It's stuck again!"

Within seconds, the remaining three zombies were down.

James sought out Petra with his eyes. She was standing with her hands on her knees, chest heaving, the nail gun tucked up in her armpit.

He jumped over the bodies and pulled her into his arms. Burying his face in her hair he squeezed her tightly, but she didn't complain. She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed back.

Scout Leader Dan was shifting his weight preparing to stand with the Thornton boys watching him.

They were all safe.

"You stupid, stupid boy!" Anna called.

They all looked to see her marching up to Viktor, who had one foot on the side of Mr Baxtor's head in an effort to get the ax free. With a slight sucking sound, it gave way and, thrown off balance, Viktor stumbled back.

Anna reached him and stood with her hands on her hips. She swatted her sweaty, dishevelled, long brown hair out of her face.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she accused.

Viktor looked at James and Petra for help, but they could only shrug.

She tapped her foot. "Mi vida? I know what vida means from that Ricky Martin song 'Living la vida loca'. So why didn't you tell me how you felt before? Huh? It took zombies almost eating my face for you to fess up?"

Viktor grimaced slightly and gave a half-shrug. He kept his eyes down when he replied, "I was scared, Anna. What do I have to offer you?"

She got in close to him and tipped his chin up with a finger. So gently she said, "You're all I need, Vikky. Everything else is just window dressing."

The uncertainty didn't fade from Viktor's face, so Anna placed her hands on his cheeks and pressed her lips to his. He dropped the ax and wrapped his arms around her waist. Her hands slid into his hair to pull him down and allow her to deepen the kiss.

"No fireworks, huh?" James whispered to Petra who giggled. He was amazed he could still find something funny after what they'd just been through.

Petra snuggled in under his chin. "Let's call the Chief and tell him about these bodies here. We know it's hit Parry Sound, for sure." She pointed to a man lying facedown several feet away. "He lives on John Street. He sells paintings in the park in the summer, or used to sell, I guess it is now." She heaved a deep sigh.

"Holsters," she continued. "As soon as we get back into town, we are rigging up some kind of holster to hold these nail guns."

"Agreed, said James. "And we are never, ever leaving without at least two different types of weapons again!"

They laughed, then their eyes locked. James became intensely aware of the softness of Petra's body against him. Ever so minutely he felt her press in a bit closer.

James caught a stray lock of her hair back and tucked it behind Petra's ear. Her eyes searched his face, jumping from his eyes to his mouth to his forehead and back to his mouth.

He smiled gently. "Petra, as much as I want to kiss you, and you know I do, I don't want it to be because we just kicked some zombie ass. Which you rock at, may I add!"

Petra laughed and ducked her head. She peered up shyly. "Why are you so patient with me?" she asked. A frown line appeared between her eyebrows.

His heart hammered in his chest. He didn't know exactly how he wanted to tell her he loved her, but it was definitely not while surrounded by the undead.

He ran his hand down her long ponytail and up her back. "I'm in no rush, Petra. I'm not going anywhere."

The sound of Timmy's voice from the other side of the house cut off her reply. "Open the door, you sum'bitch!" the boy screamed.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Thank you for reading!

The characters have gone off-plan, so I'm going to be pantsing the rest of the book. If you see anything that interrupts the flow of the story, please feel free to tell me (this goes for any of my works! I really appreciate hearing about typos or passages that just don't work – as well as ones that do! Your comments mean so much to me 😊 )

For any non-Spanish speakers (and I got this from a blog, so Spanish speakers forgive me if I use them wrong and please correct me):

Mi vida = an endearment that means 'my life'

Mierda = means 'sh*t'

Joder = means 'f*ck'

WORD COUNT: 2571

NANO WORD COUNT: 25, 343

TOTAL WORD COUNT: 27, 168