“They’re here!” a woman screamed, hysterically stating the obvious.
My jaw dropped as I met Val’s gaze.
My sister’s terrified expression mirrored my own. “Turn around!” she screamed.
Chapter 4
Nick’s breath quickened as he weaved in and out of the line of vehicles. He threw the truck in reverse and turned around, but more cars blocked us, coming from the other direction.
“What the heck!?” Claire yelled, her voice trembling.
“Move it!” Nick yelled out the window, shaking his fist and, quite possibly, flipping a bird or two, though I couldn’t see for sure.
Snarls and undead growls echoed in the air, making me shudder. “Let’s ditch the truck and make a run for it.”
“And lose the guns?” Lucas asked. “No way! I don’t know about you, but I don’t exactly have a black belt in zombie kung fu!”
Nick beeped the horn and yelled at a woman in front of us, demanding that she move out of our way.
She opened her door, screamed hysterically, then hopped out and made a run for it.
“She can’t just abandon her vehicle like that! She’s blocking everybody in,” I said. “How are we going to get through?”
“Ever heard of a demolition derby?” Nick said.
“Yeah!” Lucas said. “Just ram right through them.”
Nick put the truck in reverse, then sped up to bust between the two cars blocking the road.
More and more zombies staggered onto the scene, and again, a cold chill shot down my spine. We needed to get the heck out of there and fast! “We’re never gonna get through now,” I said when even more cars blocked our path. “We’d better make a run for it before we’re completely surrounded by zombies.”
“Look!” Claire said. “That woman left the keys in the engine. If we move her car, we’ll be able to maneuver around the others.”
“Brilliant,” Lucas said.
“Can you guys cover me?” Val asked.
“You know we got your back, sis,” Nick said.
We all stepped out of the truck to take down any undead freaks who dared to come near us or Val.
Gripping her gun tight, Claire’s eyes widened. “Hurry! They’re flooding in.”
Val reached for a gun and jumped out. With perfect aim, she started letting off shots, taking down every zombie in her path.
A towering zombie in a tattered black suit lurched toward my sister, but with expert precision, I shot him down and watched him crash to the ground. Lucas took down a zombie in Army fatigues, and Claire shot a zombie with long, white, scraggly hair. Nick started firing, too, and more zombies dropped.
I glanced in Claire’s direction and swallowed hard. The guards were nowhere to be seen. They had either flown the coop or had already been killed. I peered more closely and realized zombies were squeezing in around the cars and through the gate, but they seemed distracted somehow. Instead of rushing into the city, they were gathering around something on the ground. My stomach clenched when I saw what it was. Others were gnawing on some unlucky person’s legs, like predators on some African veldt who’d taken down prey. The person was already dead, so there was nothing we could do to save them. In any case, the gruesome distraction would serve Val well, but she had to act fast.
My gun clicked, indicating that it was empty. Four zombies were quickly approaching, and I only had enough time to replace four shells, one for each zombie. Beads of sweat rolled down my face as I realized I’d have to make each bullet count. I carefully aimed and squeezed the trigger until every cursed thing lay dead at my feet.
Val started the abandoned car, and it puttered off to the side. I could hear the fence shaking, and I turned around in shock when it finally crashed down. The army of zombies had broken through the perimeter, and that was not a good thing for the people who’d chosen to linger behind.
“The car! It’s stalling!” Val yelled, frantically trying to get it started again.
“Hurry, Val!” I shouted, squeezing off another shot.
When I saw a gang of undead corpses heading straight for her, I hurriedly loaded my gun and squeezed the trigger and kept shooting, until I was completely out of bullets once again.
“Guys, get back in here!” Nick ordered. “We’ll pull up to her.”
I jumped in right behind Claire and Lucas. Just as Val jumped out of the woman’s car, with zombies approaching from all sides, Nick pulled up and started firing away through the open window. Val squeezed in, and the U-Haul tires squealed as Nick sped off.
“What are we gonna do?” Claire asked. “We’re still stuck.”
“We’ve got no choice. We gotta bust through those wooden gates on the other side of the city,” Nick said.
Everything was a blur again as Nick pressed the gas pedal to the ground. We still had a chance to get out. The zombies couldn’t possibly keep up with our truck, and we were sure they hadn’t yet reached the other side of the small town.
Val reached for my hand when she caught me holding my breath and biting my lip. “It’s okay, Dean,” she said. “We’ve been through far worse.”
Nick slowed the truck down when he reached the wooden part of the fence. People had gathered and were climbing up ladders in a frenzy, hoping to hop the towering wooden fence.
“Hear that?” Nick asked, gesturing out the window to the screams and zombie moans.
“How many do you think are on the other side?” Lucas asked.
“Only one way to tell,” Val said, jumping out of the truck.
I rushed out behind her and watched her scurry up the ladder.
She glanced down as screams pierced the air. “Dean, get me a rifle!” she shouted.
I threw mine to her, and she snatched it out of midair.
“They’re being massacred over there…and George’s daughter is down there! Get up here and start shooting.”
When I went to grab another gun, I saw that Nick was backing up to align the U-Haul with the eight-foot fence. Once he was parked, he jumped out and joined Lucas, who was already on the roof. I climbed up and scooted next to Lucas.
Women, men, and children were huddled together against the fence. A few brave guys were shooting and fighting with bats, but it was a losing battle, because there were far too many. Zombies came from every imaginable direction.
I took a deep breath. Nick lay flat on his stomach, Lucas knelt, and I stood. Game on, I thought. I picked up my rifle, squinted into the scope, and shot the zombie that had wandered closest to the women and children.
Nick barked out instructions, but my mind was focused on killing the zombies to give George’s daughter and everyone else a fighting chance. George had been kind enough to let us stay with him, and it was time to repay the favor; I refused to let his daughter die. I squeezed out my next shot. The children were screaming bloody murder, staring their nightmares right in the face, but I tried to remain focused.
My hands were sweaty, but I didn’t miss a shot. It was war, and I wasn’t as scared anymore. Sadly, fighting zombies had become commonplace, a normal part of life. I was mad, angry, and furious, and I planned to shoot every single cursed one of them and send them straight back to hell. “Die!” I shouted. “Die!”
Nick was shooting off to the left, and Val was aiming for those on the right. One by one, the zombies crashed to the ground. Some of the men threw ladders back over so the survivors could hurry back over the top of the fence. When George’s daughter finally made it over, I heaved a sigh of relief. I jumped off the U-Haul and ran to greet her. She hugged me, then ran off and hopped into a car that was already full of people.
I quickly studied the wooden fence. I was sure we could ram through it. Wiping the droplets of sweat off my face, I jumped back in the truck, and my brother turned it around.
“We’re gonna need a lot of speed for this,” Val said.
“And distance,” I added.
“I know. I got this,” Nick said confidently, then raced away to get eno
ugh of a running start.
“This is good,” Lucas said. “Stop.”
Nick put the truck in gear and turned around to face the fence.
“Y’all ready for this, boys and girls?” Lucas asked. “Please keep your hands inside the vehicle at all times and—”
“Wait!” Val screamed. “Look!”
I glanced in the rearview mirror and saw a group of people running toward us with zombies not far behind.
“We can’t save them all,” Lucas said. “It’s them or us at this point.”
“But they’re so close,” Claire argued.
“George is with them,” I said. “We can’t desert him. He’d never do that to us.”
Val shot Nick a look. “We have to help them!” she said, then jumped out of the truck.
“Val!” Lucas said. “Get your butt back in here! You’re gonna get yourself killed always acting like Rambette!”
Nick threw the truck in park and opened the door, and Lucas and I jumped out to go after her.
“Help us!” I heard the group screaming in the distance.
I reached for a gun, but Lucas grabbed my arm. “The zombies are far enough back. Let’s concentrate on getting these people safely inside and saving ammo.”
Nick and Val slid the back door of the U-Haul open.
“Get in the truck!” Claire yelled to the oncoming crowd.
I waved them in as they got closer.
A thin man grabbed my arm, his eyes bulging. “Help me!”
“Get in,” I said.
“They…those things have taken over half the city,” a woman said, panting.
“I know. We’re going through the fence, so everyone hang on,” I said.
“Try not to step on the guns,” Nick said. “Most of them are loaded.”
I swallowed hard, knowing everyone was at great risk of a gun-related accident as they piled in on top of our arsenal. Nevertheless, we helped everyone into the truck one by one. I glanced over my shoulder and noticed six women lagging behind the others. There were about ten zombies ahead of the horde, quickly gaining on the ladies, likely the fastest or the most hungry.
George stopped and started shooting to give the women a fighting chance.
Claire bolted toward them, and I shook my head, wondering what she was doing.
I darted after her and quickly caught up. “Go back!” I ordered. “I’ll help them!”
“They’ll never make it without both of us,” she said and began firing. She nailed the closest zombie to her, and blood and brains splattered. Claire gave it a hard kick as it twitched on the ground.
Val and Lucas aimed and started firing too.
Shot after shot rang out in rapid succession, and I fired until I ran out of ammo. A waitress with half a face and her blonde hair still up in a tight bun walked directly toward me, snapping her cursed jaws. My hands shook as I reached for some slugs. I quickly loaded bullets into the firing chamber, cocked the weapon, aimed, and fired, and the waitress went down without a fight. A horn beeped behind me, and I jumped. I glanced over my shoulder and was glad to see Nick waving me over.
“Get them in quick!” he shouted.
I slid the back door open and began helping the women into the U-Haul. “Careful now, ladies…but hurry!”
“I can’t find Angela!” George said.
“Your daughter is fine,” I said. “She got in a car about five minutes ago.”
“That’s all of ‘em!” Lucas shouted. “Let’s go!”
Just as I slide the door shut, a zombie grabbed the back of my shirt. I spun around and kicked the thing back with all my strength, then pointed my gun and blew its head off from point-blank range. More were coming, dozens of them, and another one lunged for me. A shot echoed in the air, the zombie dropped, and I turned to meet Lucas’s gaze.
“You owe me one,” he said. “Now move it!” He grabbed my arm and pulled me toward the truck.
I jumped in, and a zombie reached its rotting hands inside. I slammed the door shut, and its arm fell off as Nick peeled out. The zombie’s body flew, back but its arm was still stuck with me. My stomach clenched at its rotting smell and the maggots crawling in and out of the torn flesh. As we drove, I opened the door and kicked the arm out, then stomped on the remaining maggots that had fallen off. Again Nick pushed it to eighty, and I held my breath and prepared for the worst.
I clung to the dashboard and braced for impact as Claire hung tightly to me. We careened through the wooden fence with a loud crash. Wood splintered, and boards flew. My head crashed back with a jolt. Thuds echoed in the air as we ran over every zombie that dared to stand in our way; it was impossible not to hit them because there was a whole sea of undead in front of us. Another severed arm got caught in the windshield, and black goop smeared across the front window.
Seconds later, the truck came to a slow stop. My breath hitched in my throat, and I dared a look around. We were in a huge parking lot, next to some kind of factory.
“Great. A zombie hangout,” Lucas whispered, “and this isn’t my kind of party.”
Chapter 5
“Which way? We’ve gotta get out of this undead hell,” Val said.
“That one’s coming close!” Claire said, reaching for her gun.
“I got it,” I said, peering through the open window. I lined up my shot through the scope and fired. The corpse fell to the ground, limp and lifeless.
Nick started glancing around for the best way to go, the way with the least amount of zombies so we could shoot our way through. Screeching tires caught my attention. A few cars had followed us out, figuring that was better than being trapped in the gated community.
A zombie with a bloody, mangled scalp came too close for comfort. I took a well-placed shot with my rifle. Blood sprayed as it jerked back a step, then collapsed, staining a handicap parking space marker with crimson-black ooze. I took aim again and squeezed the trigger as another one walked past its dead buddy, unfazed by its demise; it dropped next to its dead friend. I squeezed my trigger and shot another and then another. Gunshots cut the air, and I knew the other survivors were fighting just as hard as we were. I blew the heads off of at least three more, then reloaded, but no matter how many I took down, more came to take their place. It seemed to be a never-ending, pointless battle, and the stench of rotting flesh made me want to gag.
“Roll up the window!” Val said. “There are too many of them.”
I sucked in a trembling breath at the realization that she was right, especially when a zombie in a dirty, tattered wedding dress pulled the severed arm off our window and began to devour it like she’d found a drumstick from KFC. It had to be the sickest thing I’d ever seen. “Move it, Nick!” I yelled.
“North is our best shot,” Lucas said calmly. “If we can get past them, we’ll make it to the main road.”
I jumped when rotting hands with black fingernails began to claw at the passenger window, leaving long streaks of fresh blood behind them. I stared straight into milky, white eyes and a face that looked like something straight out of a nightmare. It sucked its bloody fingers, and I almost puked right there in the cab of the truck.
Just as Nick threw the truck into gear, a red SUV screeched to a stop next to us. A woman in a hat and ponytail popped out of the sunroof, pointing her rifle directly at us. She motioned Nick to roll down the window. The driver was an older man and didn’t look threatening in the very least; I was more worried about the gun-toting chick.
Nick and Lucas whipped out their guns just in case, since it seemed things might turn very hostile and dangerous in a hurry. The zombies were one thing, but lunatic humans in a panic was another.
The woman didn’t even flinch and just motioned again for Nick to roll his window down.
“Seriously?” Nick said. “With zombies two inches away? Is she crazy?”
“Just open it a crack and see what she wants,” Val urged. “She looks a little trigger happy.”
“She looks like freaking Minnie Pe
arl on drugs,” Lucas said. “I’m not sure it’s such a good idea to talk to her.”
“Right,” Nick retorted. “I’m in no mood to have a conversation with somebody who’s pointing a gun at me.”
Zombies began pounding on the U-Haul truck, and I had to agree with Lucas and Nick; it wasn’t exactly the right time to have a discussion. I didn’t know what the woman wanted, but I really didn’t care. We had to get a move-on before more zombies surrounded us. The last thing we needed was to be trapped by an undead mob.
The woman fired three shots, taking down the zombies by Nick’s window.
“Lower your weapons!” Lucas said. “She’s on our side.”
Nick rolled down his window.
The woman’s lips pressed into a grim line. “Samson Road is our ticket out of here,” she yelled. “If we work together, we can do it. Are you in or out?”
He shot her a nod.
“Good. Follow us,” the woman shouted.
Nick pointed to the north. “There are less of them that way, north.”
She nodded. “Gotcha.” She then turned and recruited a line of cars behind us to join the caravan.
With all of us working as a team, I was sure we could mow through the onslaught. The SUV took off in front of us as shots sliced through the air. Zombies continued shuffling toward us, and I thrust my barrel out the window, aimed, and fired into the nearest ones. I would have killed to have a sunroof like the lady gunslinger in front of us, but U-Haul’s didn’t exactly come with luxury options. Val leaned next to me and started firing away, and in no time, we’d all fired off a round. We really only put a tiny dent in the slimy crowd, but it was enough to barrel through the approaching predators. I sucked in a deep breath, realizing that had we left five minutes later, we would’ve had absolutely no chance. We sped down the road, and I clung to the seat, still in shock.
Claire glanced up at me, then the others. “You came back for me,” she said. “You guys saved my life…again.”
Nick focused on the road to keep up with the line of cars now in front of us. “We were leaving the city when we came across the herd.” He shot her a sideways glance. “They were coming straight for the gated community. I couldn’t let all those people die. I couldn’t let you…” He trailed off, unable to say the words.
The Zombie Chronicles - Book 6 - Revelation (Apocalypse Infection Unleashed Series) Page 3
