Deadman's Switch & Sunder the Hollow Ones by Saul Tanpepper

air. They fall apart, each to the floor. Reggie quickly scrambles away, waving his arm frantically and slapping at the stub of Mabel’s hand still attached to him. “Get it off! Get it off!”
    I spin and kick out at Jake, directing my foot at his elbow. The pistol goes flying out of his hand.
    â€œWhat the fu—”
    Ashley screams.
    I turn just in time to see her drop the machete—the blade stained almost black from Mabel’s clotted blood. She turns and starts to run as the zombie hisses at her.
    â€œAshley!”
    Mabel spins and lunges at me, her teeth gnashing. I step back. She falls, gets back to her feet and takes a lurching step forward, reaching out with both arms. One of them ends in a grisly stump that leaks a vile, thick goop. The fingers of her other hand claw the air. She moans with hunger and desire. In an instant, the distance between us closes.
    Jake and I stumble into each other as we try to get out of her way. I’m knocked off balance. My ankle twists on something and I go down. Jake spins and stumbles but plants a hand on the floor and manages to stay on his feet.
    Mabel’s on me in an instant, the bones in her stump pressing down on my neck, tearing at my skin as she leans in to bite. She bares her bloodstained teeth at me, her tongue reaching out like the fetus of some kind of evil parasite emerging from the belly of its host. I reach up and grab a handful of her shirt, feeling it squish in my fingers. With a sickening, slurping sound, my hand sinks into the gaping gunshot hole in her chest. She pushes down on me, extending her neck, dripping blood and saliva onto my cheek. I try to push her away, but she arches her spine, and now I’m up to my elbow inside of her, pushing against the back of her ribcage and hoping my hand doesn’t slip through the exit wound.
    Her mouth gapes wide, a black maw cavern of death. My mind goes blank with terror.
    But then she shudders and jerks to the side. Out of the fog of my shock, my mind registers something slamming into her face. A thick, putrid fluid splatters over me. Mabel jerks and tumbles away. I manage to pull my arm free from her chest and scramble off in the opposite direction.
    Reggie steps into view again, brandishing the stump of Mabel’s arm. He hits her with it again, square in the face, but it does little to stop her. It only draws her attention to him.
    â€œJessie! Get out of there,” Kelly shouts.
    Mabel spins around, spraying blood and spittle in a wide arc.
    â€œOver here!” Reggie shouts.
    For a moment she can’t decide between them, but then she turns back to Reggie. He’s closer.
    â€œThat’s it, bitch! Come get your arm back.”
    â€œDon’t piss her off, Reg,” Kelly warns.
    It’s such a ridiculous comment that I bark out a crazy laugh. Mabel hears it and turns back to me.
    â€œUse the machete, Jessie!”
    I realize it’s in my hand. It must’ve been what I’d tripped over. I quickly get my feet beneath me and stand.
    â€œI killed you once already, bitch. You should’ve stayed dead!”
    â€œHey!” Reggie shouts. Mabel spins toward him again, exposing the back of her head to me. “Over here!”
    â€œGet that column between you and her,” I hiss. “To your left, Reg!”
    His eyes flick in the wrong direction.
    â€œYour other left!”
    â€œThat’s my right!”
    He starts edging toward the column, but Mabel has turned back to me again.
    â€œGod damn it, bitch!” Reggie shouts. “Make up your mind!”
    Mabel doesn’t listen. Her eyes lock on mine, those inkshot, blackened orbs that show me what hell must look like. There’s a hint of something in them, the ghost of a fire, a spark of life. But then it’s gone as she passes into the shadow of the column.
    Reggie hits her one last time with her arm. It smacks against the side of her face with a sickening sound. Quick as a