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Alma looked towards the sound of Kimber’s screams, and she pulled Honora closer to her.
“You can’t do this!” Kimber yelled. “Stop it!”
I started running down the corridor, and Alma called after me, “Harlow! Where are you going? Harlow! Get back here!”
But I never stopped or even slowed.
I raced alongside the wire mesh fence that held back the zombie herd, and their loud groans and growls almost drowned out the sound of Kimber.
I found her outside one of the barns I hadn’t been to before. It had been a cattle barn at one point, with open walls, but those were covered with sheet metal and thick metal wiring. There were layers of it on top of layers, welded into place, and it honestly looked like overkill, even as a zombie defense.
Kimber was, fortunately, on the outside of the barn, but she clung to the metal gate across the entrance. Her arms strained between the gaps, reaching for something on the inside, while Wyatt and Bly stood several feet back, watching her.
“Kimber!” I yelled as I ran over to her. “What’s going on?”
“Gacy!” She turned back to me, and her eyes were wide with horror. “They’re feeding Gacy to the zombies!”
“It’s the only way he’ll eat,” Bly told her haughtily. “Like how some snakes prefer to eat live prey. The King is like that. He enjoys the hunt.”
I peered through the large gaps in the gate, but it was dark inside the barn, with most of the light coming in through the gate where we stood. Inside it looked like any other dirty barn, but it was empty. The only thing in there was a scrawny teenage boy – presumably Gacy, since he didn’t seem to be a zombie.
“There’s nothing in there,” I said in confusion.
“No, he’s in there,” Bly assured us. “Can’t you hear him?”
From inside the barn, there was a rumbling sound, almost like a zombie breathing, but it was such a deep timbre and too loud.
“Gacy, come here,” Kimber said. “Maybe you can fit through the gaps.”
“We made sure a human can’t fit through,” Bly said. “And I wouldn’t recommend sticking your arms through when the King comes out, but if you wanna lose a limb for that dipshit Gacy, that’s on you.”
When the King finally emerged from the shadows, I gasped and grabbed onto Kimber’s arm. She was still reaching for Gacy, but we had to get back, as far back as we could.
What came out toward us was definitely a zombie, but it was not a human. This was a massive gorilla, and his black fur came off in thick patches, revealing leathery gray skin taut over rippling muscles. His bottom lip had been torn, exposing his terrifying large and sharp teeth. One of his eyes was glassy and fogged over, but the other was bloodshot with green blood.
Even on all fours, the King was taller than Gacy, and he stomped toward him slowly. Gacy screamed, and he turned back and ran toward us, toward the gate.
I tried to pull Kimber back, but she was stronger than me. When Gacy reached through the gaps, Kimber grabbed his hand, and they clung to each other as the gorilla zombie came up behind him.
“You have to get me out of here,” Gacy sobbed. “Please. I’m sorry. I promise I won’t screw up again. Just please, don’t let me die like this.”
“Gacy, hang on,” Kimber said, and she turned back to yell plaintively at Wyatt and Bly. “Let him out! Please! I’ll make sure he never makes a mistake again! This is inhumane! You can’t do this!”
“The King is hungry, and he needs to eat,” Bly said with a smirk and an indifferent shrug of his shoulders.
The gorilla exhaled, and he was close enough that I could feel his hot fetid breath on my face. I looked back, and he was standing behind Gacy.
“Squeeze through the gaps,” Kimber told her friend, as if he wasn’t already trying, as if his skull could even fit between the slats.
The King grabbed Gacy by his legs, and he started screaming. He gripped Kimber’s hands tightly – I could see the way his fingers dug into her skin – and then, the gorilla yanked him backwards.
It happened so quickly and so slowly all at once. Gacy was alive and screaming, then there was the sound of tearing flesh, and blood was pouring out of his mouth. His hands still clung onto Kimber, even as the zombie gorilla ripped his torso in two.
Gacy’s grip finally relaxed, and Kimber was screaming as his blood spilled all over her.
“Let go of him,” I told her, because we couldn’t get away until she did, and I wanted to be away from all this. The air smelled of blood and shit, and I could hear the gorilla crunching on bones and flesh.
Finally, Kimber released him, and I pulled her away. We didn’t make it very far, though, because she collapsed on the ground and threw up. I knelt beside her and rubbed her back. I didn’t know how else to comfort her after she’d watched her coworker get torn in half by a zombie gorilla.
