Free Ashton Memorial by Kody Boye, Robert R. Best, Laura Best, Deedee Davies Page B

getting my family
home! And you will unlock the gate or I will pound you and your
stupid bitch girlfriend into paste!”
    “Back off, fucker!” yelled
Tom, stepping up and shoving the man.
    The man roared and punched Tom across the
jaw. Tom staggered back.
    Behind Ella, the giraffe shuffled its feet
and gave a nervous snort.
    The man turned to punch Caleb then stopped
as they all heard a rifle cock.
    Frozen mid-stance, everyone turned their
heads to see Lee holding the tranquilizer rifle. His hands were
shaking as he kept the barrel trained on the balding man.
    “Everyone just settle down,
please!” said Lee.
    “Lee,” said
Caleb.
    “You gonna shoot me now?”
said the man, face turning red, but staying still. His fist was
still up in the air, mid-punch. “You gonna gun down me and my
family to cover up your little mistake?”
    “It's just a tranquilizer
dart, sir,” said Caleb. “Please, Lee, put it down.”
    “No!” said Lee, his voice
shaking in time with his arms. “He's crazy. He's crazy and we need
to sedate him.”
    “Lee, it could kill him!”
said Shelley.
    “No,” said Lee. “It's a low
dose. Enough for a monkey. Enough for a big punch-happy monkey like
fuck-face mcgoo here. I dealt with fuckers like you in high school.
Now you calm down or I will calm you down myself!” His shaking
voice went up in pitch as he ended the sentence. He panted, ragged
and wheezing. He kept the gun trained on the man.
    “Dad,” said one of the
teenage boys behind him.
    “Stay out of this, son,”
said the man, licking his lips and looking among the group of
Keepers. “Listen, buddy. We don't want any trouble.”
    “Fuck you don't,” Lee
said.
    “Lee,” said Caleb, taking a
slow step toward him.
    “Stay back, Caleb!” said
Lee.
    Tom stepped over quickly
and grabbed the barrel of the rifle, moving it a few inches off its
target. “Lee, let it go!”
    Lee screamed in surprise and pulled the trigger.
There was a sharp “crack” as the rifle went off and a whistling
noise as the dart flew from it.
    The bald man grabbed his throat and stumbled
back. Blood shot from between his fingers and over the dart
embedded in his throat.
    “Dad!” yelled one of the
teenage boys, rushing forward.
    “Shit, Lee!” yelled Tom.
“What the fuck did you do?”
    Lee recocked the rifle and
pointed it at the rushing boy. “Back!” he yelled. His voice shook
violently. “Everybody back! That was an accident! I swear it was an
accident.”
    The bald man clutched at his neck. Blood
raced down his arm and splattered onto the ground. His eyes were
wide. He choked and gurgled.
    The woman behind the man screamed. The
giraffe behind Ella snorted and stamped its feet.
    The man's face turned red. He bellowed in
rage, blood spattering from his mouth, and rushed at Lee and the
other Keepers. Lee screamed and fired again.
    With a high-pitched
whistle and thwack the dart lodged in the man's forehead. The man stopped, legs
wobbling. He toppled down and was still.
    “Dad!” yelled both the boys
in unison. The woman screamed and cried.
    Caleb looked around in panic.
    “We'll kill you!” yelled
one of the boys.
    “Run!” yelled Caleb.
“Everyone run!”
    The Keepers and Ella ran back the way they
had come. Ella turned back to see the boys and their mother
crowding around the bald man's body.
    One of the boys saw Ella.
“You're all dead, bitch!” he screamed.
    Ella turned and ran.

Four
     
    Ashton was chaos.
    Homes were torn open,
their contents spilled onto lawns and driveways. Businesses were
looted and broken. Bodies littered streets and sidewalks. And
everywhere, everywhere , corpses wandered and ate.
    Angie took side streets everywhere she
could. Any time she took a major road, any time she got anywhere
close to downtown, she saw mobs of corpses and screaming victims.
The asphalt was streaked with blood. The side streets were quieter,
more manageable.
    Rain pattered on the windshield as she drove
up a residential street. The