“You up for a little crazy?” he asks.
“Are you kidding?” Steve replies, wheezing for breath. “Marines live for crazy. Oorah.”
That’s enough for Niles.
With a wild shout, he charges straight for the cliff. He punches off the edge and flies through the air—straight for a tight cluster of madrone trees. He flings his arms wide, grabbing at the branches as he flies into their grasp. The wind is knocked out of him. Pain screams along his arms and legs as he grapples with the branches.
He grinds to a stop, resting in the crook of a tree. The insides of his legs and arms are scraped raw.
But he’s alive.
Nearby, a wild cackle splits the air. Niles cranes his head, grinning at Steve. The big man dangles from a nearby tree.
“You are one crazy motherfucker!” the man crows.
Niles laughs, madness tingeing his voice. Euphoria pounds through him. They made it.
The first of the zombies appears at the top of the rise. Niles and Steve shout and catcall, urging them forward.
“Catch us if you can, motherfuckers!”
“Hope you brought your parachutes!”
“Fresh meat is right here, you undead assholes!”
The first of the zombies, arms outstretched and mouth gaping, steps right off the cliff. His moaning disappears as he plummets two hundred feet to the ground below. His body bounces, then rolls down and down to the shoreline.
One by one, the rest of the zombies follows suit. Niles and Steve keep up their catcalls. Nearly two dozen of the undead take the plunge.
Niles and Steve laugh in crazed triumph the whole time, exchanging grins every time one of the zombies plunges over the side.
Finally, it’s all over. The last of the zombies has stepped off the cliff. Every last one of them is broken and mangled. They might eventually make their way back to the trail, but Niles and his companions will be long gone by then.
The euphoria fades, forcing Niles to take in his situation. He’s in a tree, suspended a good two hundred feet above the ground.
Now what?
He hadn’t thought past getting rid of the zombies. Now he has to get back to the trail.
“Don’t worry,” Steve calls to him.
“Worry about what?” Niles calls back.
“Getting out of the tree. Just crawl up one of those long skinny branches. It’ll bend back toward the trail.”
“Yeah, if it doesn’t break.”
“You got any better ideas?”
Niles doesn’t. Grimacing, he begins inching his way up a long branch.
This isn’t quite as bad as being the fat kid in gym class who couldn’t climb the rope. At least he’s agile enough to climb. He just doesn’t like climbing. Or heights, for that matter.
“Should have thought of that before you leaped off that cliff like a skydiver,” he mutters to himself.
Steve is right. There’s only a ten-foot gap between the tree and the trail. All he has to do is get far enough out on the branch to tip it toward the ground.
Hands wet with nervous perspiration, Niles shimmies farther up. He can outrun zombies, but put him in a tree and he’s reduced to a scared kid in high school gym class all over again.
As Steve had predicted, the branch bows under his weight. Niles dangles as he is lowered back to the trail—and then the branch snaps.
Niles gives a shout and falls the last five feet to the ground. He splays on the trail, the wind knocked out of him.
Back in the tree, Steve cackles. “Way to go, spider monkey.”
Niles gets to his feet, dusts dirt and leaves from his legs and clothing, then flips Steve the bird.
“Now it’s your turn, big shot,” Niles calls back. “Let’s see how graceful you are.”
Steve sobers. Niles frowns, confused at the sudden turn of emotion. “Steve?”
“This is the end of the line for me, Niles.” Steve turns, pulling up his undershirt.
Even through the tangle of tree branches, Niles sees the ugly bite mark. Red lines of infection spider across Steve’s torso.
“When?” Niles demanded.
“Before I found you and Rayford. I told you I had a run-in with a group of zombies in Bummer Peak Campground. By the time I figured out only a head shot would kill them, it was too late.”
“You told me it was pig’s blood!” Niles can’t help but feel betrayed. He likes Steve. He hadn’t worked his ass off to save him only to have him die.
“There was a little pig’s blood too,” Steve replies. “I needed to make sure Rayford got to safety. I’ve done that.”
“We’re out in the middle of the woods,” Niles shouts. “None of us is safe!”
“The immediate threat is eliminated. I can feel myself weakening, Niles. I don’t know how much longer I have before I turn.”
Niles turns away to hide his stinging eyes. Not knowing what else to do, he picks up a branch and hurls it with all his might over the cliff.
“I can tell you’re a good man, Niles,” Steve continues. “I can rest easy knowing Rayford is with you. Promise me you’ll look after him.”
“How do you know there isn’t a cure? We just have to get back to town, get you to a hospital—”
“And risk me turning before then? Tell me, how many more miles to get back to your car?”
Niles grimaces. “Thirteen, give or take.”
“I could turn before then. I could hurt you, hurt my son. I won’t be one of those things, Niles. Promise me you’ll look after Rayford.”
I’m twenty-seven years old, Niles wants to yell. I can’t be responsible for a teenager!
But what is he supposed to say to a man doomed to death?
“You have my word,” he says. “I’ll look after Rayford.”
Steve smiles at him. And then, without another word, he leaps out of the tree.
8
Fetid Adder’s Tongue
NILES DOESN’T STAY any longer. He turns, trudging back toward the tree where he and Steve left Rayford. His steps are slow and plodding, his heart heavy.
Steve is gone. What is he supposed to tell Rayford? How do you tell a kid his father has died? It isn’t right, losing a mother and a father in a few short hours.
Something in his periphery catches his attention. He turns, breath catching in his throat.
There, nestled on the edge of the trail, is one of Celeste’s favorite wildflowers: fetid adder’s tongue. It’s a rare lily with cream petals laced with purplish-brown stripes. It grows low to the ground and is difficult to see because of its colors. The scent emitted by the lily attracts ants, which carry away its seeds and bury them in the ground for propagation.
Rare beauty in the midst of all this death and fear. It gives Niles hope.
He snaps a picture. And even though he doesn’t have cell service, he texts a picture of the flower to Celeste anyway. Maybe by the time they climb back into range of a cell tower the message will get through to her.
I love you, he types. Zombies are real. I’m coming to get you.
He hits send. Just as he returns the phone to his pack, a voice calls out.
“Niles?”
He looks up to see Rayford hurrying up the trail toward him. “Where’s my dad?”
Niles stares at him, at a loss for words. He thought he’d have another half mile to work out exactly what he was going to say to the teen.
Rayford’s face crumples as he takes in Niles’s mute expression. He turns away, shoulders shaking with soft sobs.
Niles wracks his brain for something appropriate to say. He comes up empty. He might know how to keep a runner going to the finish line, but this is new territory for him.
Rayford sniffles, straightening to look at him. “I knew he was bitten. He tried to hide it, but I saw the wound when he took off his camo shirt.”
“I’m sorry.” Niles wants fancy, comforting words, but he is at a complete loss.
“You guys got rid of all the zombies?” Rayford asks
.
Niles nods. “Yeah. At least all the ones following us.”
“Now what?”
“Now, we hike back to my car. There aren’t any campgrounds on this side of the lake. If there are any other zombies out here, it’s probably just a backpacker or two. Nothing we can’t handle.”
Rayford’s fist tightens on the knife he wears at his belt. “Right. Nothing we can’t handle.”
It might be Niles’s imagination, but he swears he sees Rayford age five years before his eyes. The boy he met at dawn is a boy no longer.
“It’s a long hike,” Niles warns, feeling like Rayford can handle the truth.
“As long as we don’t have to run. I don’t ever want to run again. Ever.”
Something in the vehemence of Rayford’s words tells Niles just how broken and devastated this day has left him. He rests a hand on the young man’s shoulder. “We do whatever it takes to finish and survive. Together.”
Side by side, they set off down the trail.
FIVE HOURS LATER, THEY reach the parking lot on the far side of the lake.
Niles kept them at a brisk walk. He made sure Rayford drank regularly, even going so far as to lend him the hydration pack. Parceling out energy gels, they each had enough calories to keep them adequately fueled to the end.
The rest of their journey was uneventful. They came across a boar that looked like it may have been taken down by a zombie, its stomach disemboweled and pieces of intestines strewn about the forest floor. But there had been no actual zombie encounters.
The final climb to the parking lot is steep, an easy fifteen percent grade. Rayford pants, sweat dripping from his chin, as he hikes the final steps. He’s barely spoken a word, keeping his grief and his physical discomforts to himself.
He looks ready to keel over from exhaustion. All told, Rayford went twenty miles on foot today. Five of those were hard, intense miles with zombies on their tails. On top of that, he lost both of his parents.
As Niles’s bare feet step onto the crushed rocks of the parking lot, he pauses to wait for Rayford. The big teen’s feet crunch loudly on the gravel. His mouth hangs open as he sucks in air.
“Is that it?” Rayford stares at the blue station wagon next to the trailhead.
“This is our ride out of here.” Niles lays an affectionate hand on the car, opening the back hatch.
Rayford beelines for the car, crawling into the back. He groans from the effort, flopping over onto his side. Within seconds, he’s asleep, snoring loudly amidst Niles’s jumbled running gear strewn around him.
Niles takes a moment to absorb the sleeping form. He’s filthy, covered with dirt and dried snot and tears, but he’s in one piece. He is gloriously intact and alive.
Niles did it. He kept his word to Steve and got Rayford safely out of Lake Sonoma. Now it’s time to head back into town and find Celeste.
On the way out of the lot, he spots a familiar white hatchback. Kate, the owner of the car, is an old-time ultrarunner. Her son went to school with Niles’s little brother. Kate and her best friend, Frederico, have both run Western States. They must be out here training.
Niles murmurs a prayer for the two old-timers, hoping they’ll be safe out there on the trails. If they stay on the south side of the lake, they might be okay.
He rolls out of the lot, pulling onto a deserted, two-lane road lined on either side by tall pine trees.
There’s no telling what the future holds. He and Rayford might get back into town and discover the zombie outbreak is a small, isolated phenomenon. On the flip side, it could be a global pandemic. Until they know for certain, there’s nothing to do but move forward.
Life isn’t so different from ultrarunning. Out on the trail, there’s nothing to do but put one foot in front of the other. Until Niles knows what the world has in store, he’ll continue forward, one step at a time.
THE END
Author’s Note
THANKS SO MUCH FOR picking up a copy of Dawn Patrol! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
If you’d like to see more ultrarunners take on zombies, check out Undead Ultra, the next book in the series. You’ll get to meet Kate and Frederico, the two “old-timers” Niles mentions at the end of Dawn Patrol. If you think Niles had it tough, just wait until you see Kate and Frederico attempt a two-hundred-mile run through zombie-infested roads and towns. There is blood, blisters, and bedlam.
If you enjoyed Dawn Patrol, please consider leaving an honest online review. Reviews really help independent authors spread the word about our stories. I sincerely appreciate every review. Each one helps me find more readers.
Thanks for being part of the journey!
Visit Camille at
www.camillepicott.com
or follow on Facebook @ultrawriter
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End of the World book bundle! The bundle includes Hacker, a YA dystopian adventure, and Dawn Patrol, a zombie apocalypse.
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HACKER
HER FAMILY TEETERS on the jagged edge of poverty. Hank must barter her hacker skills for food and rent money.
All she has to do is work that is illegal. And deadly.
If she turns a blind eye, people will die. If she acts and gets caught, she and her family will pay the ultimate price.
If you liked the high stakes of Ready Player One and the fast action of The Hunger Games, check out Hacker, the Sulan prequel. This fast-paced YA dystopian adventure will keep you turning pages.
DAWN PATROL
A MAN WITH AN OBSESSION for long-distance running.
A zombie outbreak that will put his endurance skills to the test.
It was just another training day for Niles. Getting ready for a one-hundred-mile footrace takes dedication.
Twenty-five miles into his run and Niles is faced with the unthinkable.
A campground overrun. People dead. Corpses reanimated, eating the living.
With his skills and training, Niles could outrun the zombies. But when he stops to help two hunters, he needs to slow his pace and teach them to run.
Can endurance running be taught on the go? Will they make it out alive?
Dawn Patrol is the prequel to the Undead Ultra series. This action-packed zombie adventure takes running for your life to the extreme.
Want your free End of the World book bundle? Subscribe to Camille Picott’s newsletter and receive your free books!
Ebook and audiobook formats available.
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Acknowledgments
Thanks to everyone who helped bring this story to life!
Victoria DeLuis
Chris Picott
Chrissy Wolfe @ EFC Services, LLC
Also by Camille Picott
Sulan
The League
Risk Alleviator
The Dome
Touch
Escape
Death Match
Endgame
Hacker
Sulan Series Box Set (Books 1-4)
Undead Ultra
Undead Ultra
Dawn Patrol
Watch for more at Camille Picott’s site.
Dawn Patrol Page 5
