... in which Leonid, Tolya, and Valya encounter problems with a car, random encounters, and unplanned children
Ford sped along the empty road. On the left side, occupying all the space with its darkening trunks and bare branches, stretched a large forest park. On the right, everything was lined with gray boxes of brick apartment buildings. Valentina tried in vain to spot even a single light in any of the windows. It seemed that the entire area was deserted.
"We should make it to the gas station," Leonid said with anxiety in his voice.
"Take it easy! We'll make it! We're already close to the turnoff onto the highway, and then it's right there..." Tolyan replied, though there was no real confidence in his voice.
Just a few minutes later, everyone could see how overly optimistic Tolyan had been. Pulling up to a small intersection, the car sputtered and stopped.
"We made it," Valya responded in a voice full of despair.
"Take it easy! We'll figure something out," Tolyan replied.
"You've already said that."
Leonid silently squinted, looking around, peering into the thickening yellowish fog, at the darkening trees, and at the dark boxes of houses.
"Look!" he suddenly caught the attention of the others, pointing to one of the windows where a light flickered through a gap between the drawn curtains.
"Do you think someone's alive?" Valentina asked.
"Probably."
"The fourth floor, apartment on the right side of the entrance, number 13 or 14," Tolyan calculated aloud. "Do you think we should check?"
"I'm not sure," Leonid hesitated.
"I don't like it here," Valya said, barely hiding her anxiety. "And this weather... I can't even tell anymore if it's night or day."
"It's twilight..." Tolyan replied thoughtfully, adding, "and there's someone there."
The fog, thickening more and more, slowly crept onto the road from the forest side. Along with it, it seemed, an icy cold spread. Tree branches, partially already covered with a thin layer of frost, began to freeze and crack in the deafening silence. But soon everyone gathered in the car realized that the cracking wasn't caused by frost at all. From the forest path, a line of five bent figures emerged onto the road about fifteen meters ahead of the car.
"Quiet!" Leonid hissed in Valya's ear, trying for safety to cover her mouth with his hand.
"Let go!" she snapped irritably, also whispering. "I'm fine."
"You can scream. Shouting increases survival chances," Tolyan said sarcastically in the same hushed tone, staring unblinkingly at the zombies. "They've already noticed us."
The figures indeed turned and began slowly approaching. Leonid quickly loaded the shotgun:
"Let's go!" he suddenly opened the car door and climbed out. "While there's still time."
Valya followed her friend, mentally preparing herself for a sprint to the high-rise building with the saving light in the window, but Tolyan correctly understood his friend's intentions. Keeping his gaze fixed on the approaching undead, he stepped onto the road and switched on the screeching circular saw motor.
The first shot rang out. The pellets hit the chest of the closest zombie to the group—a tall man in his forties—directly, causing him to stagger and fall backward onto his back. A second, more precise shot shattered half of the skull of a woman who had probably been the wife of the first walking corpse.
Tolyan rushed forward and swung the axe with force into the head of the next zombie with a contorted face and a grotesquely disfigured, bloodied skull. Shards of brain matter and clots of coagulated blood flew in all directions. Tolyan pulled the axe handle toward himself with force, dragging his prey along with it. In the next moment, with his other hand, he plunged the rotating blade into the zombie's neck, splashing everyone around with bloody droplets.
For Valya, the whole battle, including the gunshots, the sound of the running saw, the screams, and the muffled moans, seemed to remain somewhere off to the side. She stood frozen, watching as a dead body moved toward her. Very small, but terrifying and repulsive, it belonged to a girl about eight years old. Dressed in a pink jumpsuit and a knitted hat, the little corpse approached her, swaying slightly, staring directly into her eyes with its bloody eye sockets, either torn out or pecked out.
The girl came almost close enough to touch Valentina, evoking in her a strange feeling, a mixture of fear, disgust, and indescribable pity. Following some instinctive impulse and without fully realizing what was happening, Valya suddenly hugged the girl and pressed her against herself, as if trying to warm the cold dead body with her own warmth. But after a moment, she realized the futility of her efforts. The long-dead, disfigured child continued to snarl meaninglessly, trying to bite through the girl's jacket. Valya hugged the little girl's head tightly with her hands one last time and, sighing deeply with regret, sharply twisted the child's neck.
The child fell down with its head unnaturally twisted, but it continued to snarl and, moving awkwardly, tried to get up. Gathering all her determination, Valya repeatedly brought the bat down hard on the girl's head until she finally lay still.
Suddenly, the girl snapped out of her stupor. The surrounding sounds seemed to crash down upon Valentina. She looked around. Leonid was reloading the shotgun with trembling hands. Tolyan, leaning over the last zombie that was still twitching slightly, was sawing off its head with some frenzied determination. Nearby, other decapitated bodies were already lying around.
After a minute, everything was over. The group caught their breath and, breathing heavily, froze in the middle of the road. The yellowish fog became very dense, as if sepia-colored, painting the entire surrounding landscape in an unreal, phantasmagorical hue reminiscent of an old faded photograph. But the silence disappeared. Instead, a gradually growing, approaching noise appeared. Its source was immediately discovered. All the forest on the left side of the road, coming to life, trembled and cracked. Several hundred black figures loomed behind the trees and gradually approached, pushing straight through bushes and fallen branches. Without speaking, the group broke into a run toward the high-rise buildings.