James turned and pushed Petra and Viktor ahead of him back down Acorn Road toward Division Street. "Go, go, go, go, go!"

"My spear!" Petra yelled. She hesitated when she saw how much closer the shuffling group of zombies had gotten. Clenching her fists, she darted over and grabbed it from the ground near Mrs Marsten.

As soon as she'd turned in their direction, the boys took off running again.

James called over his shoulder, "Let's loop around to Robins Road and come up behind the bar. I think that's the end of Main where the shooter was."

Within a minute their sneakers gripped the concrete as they peeled left around the corner.

"Why do we want to go where all those zombies are headed again?" Viktor called as they approached Robins Road.

"The Chief and Father Lee! We've got to find them. Right, Petra? Petra?"

James stopped so fast Viktor crashed into him. They tumbled into a swearing heap on the ground. James scrambled up to look behind them. There was no girl wearing patched clothes to be seen. The street was empty.

"Go!" Petra's scream came from somewhere down near Onion Seed Road. Two roads away from where they were now.

Her voice was the starting gun that set James and Viktor streaking towards her.

The crowbar was heavy and James wanted to chuck it away so he could run faster, but the sight of the first zombie shuffling onto Division Street from Acorn was all the reminder he needed to keep hold of it.

The boys loped across to the far side of the street, taking to the sidewalk to avoid the cars parked along the side.

"Shit!" came a man's voice from up Onion Seed Road. The zombie group turned to the beacon of noise. "You cut me, you fucking bitch!"

"I'll do a hell of a lot more than that if you touch me again!" Petra yelled back. "Stay back!"

"Fuck!" yelled the man.

James and Viktor pushed themselves harder. They knew that voice. Billy Pierce's right hand man, Joey Jackson, although everyone just called him JJ.

It was well-known JJ was a cheat and a liar, but he was also such a dirty fighter no one would take him on.

There has been enough locker room talk to know JJ wasn't above forcing himself on girls, even though he had a girl friend. James was pretty sure the bully had never tried anything on Petra, but she was good at fading into the background so people would talk about all sorts of stuff while she was there. Whatever she'd heard she kept to herself though.

Coach Ryan turned a blind eye to a lot of his behavioural problems because JJ could sink a three-point shot from almost anywhere on the court.

As James and Viktor turned up the street, they saw JJ dodge one way and then the other in an attempt to get around Petra's spear. His ability to feint and the fast feet that served him so well on the court also helped him in dodging the swinging knife.

He led with a foot and lunged one way, then flung his body back the other, allowing the knife to swing away so he could get around it. With a long arm, he snatched at the spear and tore it from Petra's grip. With one thrust it went flying behind him, across the road, to bounce off the building opposite with a clatter.

"No!" Petra screamed, involuntarily throwing herself after the weapon and directly into the grip of JJ.

He grabbed her hard by the top of the shoulders and propelled her backwards into the wall. Her head thumped in contact.

JJ put his face close in to hers. Petra titled her head in effort to get away, but he held her tight against the wall. She could only twist her neck to keep her face away.

He pressed his body against hers and Petra whimpered. "None of those filthy little rug rats are here to save you this time, Patches. Let's see what the whore's daughter has been holding out on-"

Without breaking stride, James lifted the crowbar and brought it down across JJ's back as hard as he could.

"Ugh!" cried the larger boy. His body arched back in pain, arms splayed out.

James motioned to Petra who pushed JJ's body off her. He stumbled backwards but managed to stay upright, snatching out with an arm as she ran past him.

Wrapping Petra's trembling body in a bear hug, James said, "She told you not to touch her, prick. She meant it."

JJ stumbled but keep his footing. "Ah! You fucking prick! You fucking hurt me!"

Viktor jogged over with Petra's spear. He juggled it awkwardly in the same hand as his ax so he could give Petra a brief hug, too. "Here, Pet. Why don't you give him a poke with this?"

Petra peeked up from James' chest and gave a wobbly smile. She sniffed and took her spear with one hand, while wiping her tears with the other. "Thanks, Vik."

The shiny ax glowed gold where it caught the nearby streetlight. "You know, hombre, I'm of a mind to castrate you with this."

JJ struggled to stand upright. He held one hand to his back. "Why don't you quit it with that Spanish shit? I don't know why you're so proud of having a dad who's Mexican anyway. He's a fucking fruit-picker!"

Long immune to attacks on his parentage, Viktor took a deep breath in. "You know nothing of my dad, JJ. I, on the other hand, know that your dad is wife-beating, child-beating, philandering gambler. If it weren't for your mom setting up to have her paycheck automatically sent out the day she receives it to pay the bills and food for the month, your family would be getting the same welfare check I get. Where is your dad, anyway, JJ? Last I heard, he was drunk in a ditch outside Casino Rama."

A long growl came from JJ. His lips drew back in anger and his fists balled at his sides. "You fucking prick!" he shouted. He gripped his back with a cry when he attempted to stand erect.

Viktor shrugged and taunted him with a smile. "Dude, it's a small town. Everyone knows everyone's business if you keep your ear to the ground."

"Well, you just stay out of mine!" Hatred glowed in JJ's eyes when he looked at James. "You've seriously hurt my back, asshole. If this affects my basketball game... I was just going to smack you around a bit. Now I'm really going to mess you up."

"Have you noticed that we are the ones with the weapons? I think any messing up will be done by us, thank you very much," Viktor said, wiggling his ax in the air for JJ to see.

His eyes moved between them, clearly assessing his strategy to take them all on. "You're going to pay for hurting me. Then I'm going to have my way with her and leave her in the gutter just like the piece of trash she is!" He ended the last bit shouting and trying to point authoritatively from his stooped position.

Petra gave a muffled sob and buried her face in James' shoulder.

James frowned at him and put an arm around Petra. "What is wrong with you? Haven't you noticed we're in the middle of a zombie outbreak, and all you can think of is raping the first girl you come across?"

JJ narrowed his eyes at Petra. "She's a whore, just like her mother. She's been teasing me for years now, but wouldn't give it up. It's time she-" He gave a cry of pain and grabbed his back when he tried to stand upright again. "Fuck, man! You've fucking hurt me. You are really going to be sorry you did this."

At the far end of Onion Seed Road, the zombies that had followed them from Main Street appeared.

"Shit," whispered James. Petra gave a fresh sob and clung to her spear.

Viktor caught their eye and spun a finger in a circle and gave a slight nod to the zombies. He dropped the ax on the ground with a clatter. "Damn!"

JJ eyed the weapon hungrily.

"Sorry, I'm a bit clumsy when I get nervous," said Viktor as he retrieved the ax.

James stared at him in disbelief. Viktor was anything but clumsy.

"So, where were we? Ah, yes, discussing your piss-poor father and his wayward manners," Viktor continued. The zombies had turned up the road and were headed towards them.

"How about we talk about your mom, Vikky?" JJ said.

The nickname was the one thing that got Viktor going. Red stained Viktor's cheeks, but he took a deep breath in through his nose and blew it out his mouth.

"What do you want to know about her, you piece of toilet paper?" Viktor replied conversationally. Even JJ paused to look at him in surprise. "What? I'm not going to call him a 'son of a bitch' because his mom is really nice. He's not a bastard like me, because his parents are legally married. I'm not going to call him a jackass, because that's just an insult to donkeys everywhere."

Petra burst out laughing. After a second, James and Viktor joined in.

JJ lurched forward a step trying to take advantage of the moment. All three weapons swung to him at the ready.

"Not another step, you amoeba's slime trail," Petra said. She kept her spear just out of his reach.

"Oh, good one, Petra!" Viktor congratulated.

"So, does that mean we can call you the 'son of a crack whore'? Your mom is so much worse than my dad," JJ threw out with a sneer.

"Yeah, technically, she is a crack whore, and I am her son. If she's worse than your dad is up for debate, though." Viktor let the ax swing in his fingers so he was holding the end of the wooden handle and the metal head was on the ground. He began to tap it rhythmically as he spoke.

The zombies were halfway to them.

James' heart sped up. His palms began to sweat, making the crowbar slightly slippery. He wiped his hands on his jogging pants, cursing that he hadn't thought of grabbing a pair of work gloves from the shed.

Viktor swung the ax back up and pointed at JJ then at himself, before placing it casually over one shoulder. "The difference between you and me is that I don't try to hide from myself or anyone else what my mom is. Or my dad. She could be dead in a ditch somewhere for all I know. The welfare checks keep on coming in, though, so if she had died, her body either hasn't been found or it hasn't been identified."

One of the zombie's moaned. JJ began to turn his head, so Petra thumped the ground with her spear and said, "Same with me you piece of shit. If it weren't for men like your father who can't keep it in their pants, my mom wouldn't have any customers, maybe she'd dry out and be a real mom."

JJ narrowed his eyes at her. "Are you saying your mom is a drunken whore because of my father?"

"She only has herself to blame for how she is, but having people knocking on her door offering her booze to sleep with her doesn't help."

"What about you, Petra? What did they offer you?"

Her face crinkled in distaste. "You're sick, JJ, just sick. But you know what," she leaned into him, capturing his attention, "I'm not going to miss you one bit when you're gone."

"What?" he asked, glancing between them in confusion and eyeing their weapons warily.

"Oh! I want in on this," Viktor said and bounced on his toes. "JJ, I'd like to tell you that last year, I hocked a big booger into your burger when you and your friends chased Billy Thornton out of the cafeteria."

"What?" screeched JJ.

Viktor grinned, resplendent in the telling. "All the popular kids were watching you from the windows. Everyone else who saw was happy to see you get pranked. You ate that burger up and you enjoyed it! You enjoyed eating my snot!"

"Viktor, please!" Petra held a hand out for him to stop. "That's making me feel sick to think about."

JJ's face was red with rage. "You're going to pay for that, you fucking bastard!"

"JJ," James said.

"What?" exploded the boy. His chest was heaving in his anger.

Casually, James said, "I just want to tell you that I'll be happy when your gone. I won't miss having to watch over my shoulder for you anymore one little bit. Neither will any of the other kids who's lives you made a living hell."

"What the fuck are you talking about? Are you three going to fucking murder me?" JJ hollered. He managed to stand upright more with the adrenaline pumping through his system.

"You swear an awful lot," Petra pointed out. "I'm not going to miss that either, and I will definitely be happy to not have to look around corners to see if your lurking there waiting for me anymore."

"Just tell me what the fuck you are planning to do! You guys are freaking me out!" Fear had replaced the anger on JJ's face. He was used to being the one other's cowered before. Now the tables were turned, and he didn't understand why.

He began to back up, taking him closer to his ultimate demise.

"Just tell me-"

The first zombie grabbed JJ and bit down into his shoulder. JJ screamed loud and long as a bloom of red spread over his pale yellow t-shirt.

Two more had reached him and dragged him down to the ground.

The three friends stood frozen as the worst of their high school nemesis shrieked and lashed out with his fists at the creatures eating him alive.

James' had to suck on his tongue a few times to get enough saliva to say, "We have to go. Now." He twitched Viktor's sleeve and took Petra's hand. "Come on. They won't stop with him."

They stumbled back a few feet, making sure the gorging horde wouldn't notice their departure and follow. At ten feet away, they turned and started walking fast towards Main Street.

James looked back one last time. JJ's screams had stopped. All that was visible of him were the twitching fingers of one hand and his sneakered feet.

WORD COUNT: 2445

NANO WORD COUNT: 8107

TOTAL WORD COUNT: 9932

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

This book is for NaNo, so it needs some pretty hard core editing afterwards because I've been overusing adverbs left right and center (it feels like to me).

I'm also attempting to write this with omniscient point of view. If any of my readers have experience with this, I'd appreciate the bits where I slip into 3rd person POV pointed out. I've never done omniscient before, but had studied up on it before NaNo. Please let me know how I'm doing, so I know where to edit later on (If it's just all over the place in POV, please tell me that too!)

Thanks for reading and onwards to the next chapter! What will they find out on Main Street?