Fighting to Survive (As the World Dies #2)(80)

“The road is narrow. Take one of the trucks, but make sure you are facing away from the town. We'll stay here and provide as much cover as we can, but make it quick,” Nerit said firmly. “The longer we are here, the more dangerous it is.”

Katie headed toward the red truck. “C'mon, Jenni. We'll do this.”

Bill jogged after Jenni as she headed back to join Katie. “I'm coming with you. There weren't no vehicles left with the survivors. We don't know who is in that truck.”

Jenni slid into the back seat, while Bill got into the passenger seat. Katie shifted gears and slowly drove up the road.

“Maybe they'll rush the truck so we can run them over,” Katie mused.

“We're never that lucky,” Bill answered.

As they drew closer to the stranded vehicle, they could see that it was lodged firmly in deep ditch nose first. The hood was smashed up against the cracked windshield on the right side and only the left headlight remained shining into the night. The zombies were pounding on the windows, obviously trying to get into the cab. Inside, two young girls were screaming in terror.

“I'll take the two on the left.” Bill said, gripping his rifle tightly.

“I can get the ones on the other side. The two on the windshield are not going to be easy. We'll have to get all the way out for those,” Katie decided.

“We need to make this fast,” Jenni agreed.

Katie stopped the truck, Bill did a silent countdown with his fingers. At three, they both flung open their doors. Jenni scrambled over Bill's seat and dropped into the road. She darted past Bill and aimed at one of the zombies rearing back off the windshield to screech at the new flesh. She fired. The zombie jerked back and fell into the tall grass. Bill and Katie picked off the other zombies as the remaining zombie, trying to pry its way through the shattered windshield, ignored the attack. The two girls screaming inside disappeared from view as they took cover. Jenni aimed and fired again. The last zombie tumbled over the hood and disappeared from view.

“Get them fast,” Katie shouted at Bill. “We've got company coming!”

Jenni looked up the road to see zombies materializing out of the darkness of the trees onto the moon drenched road. “Fuck!”

Bill waded into the tall grass, his form illuminated by the red truck's headlights, his gun and gaze aimed downward, wary of anything lurking there. Jenni kept him covered as Katie stood ready to jump into the truck and drive them out of here.

One of the girls popped up and shoved the truck door open. Bill reached for her and she jumped into his arms. Another girl, younger than the first, also dove into his arms. He clutched them tightly.

Jenni watched the terrain around him. “Hurry, Bill. Hurry!”

Bill hurried out of the grass and onto the road. He glanced over his shoulder at the moaning forms drawing ever closer. Katie rushed over to him and grabbed one of the girls. Together, they hustled them into the truck as Jenni continued to keep her gun trained on the zombies closing in.

Katie slammed the driver's door shut as Jenni and Bill squeezed in beside her. Bill yanked the door shut as Jenni scrambled into the back with the two girls.

“Are either of you bit?” she asked, and felt like a bitch doing it.

“No! No!”

One girl was blond with huge blue eyes. The younger one was Hispanic with the darkest eyes Jenni had ever seen.

The zombies were closer now. Their mutilated forms were slow, but relentless as they stumbled down the country road.

“What drew them here?” Bill wondered. “Couldn't be the gunfire this fast.”

“Don't know. Don't care,” Katie answered, and shifted the truck into reverse. Looking over her shoulder, she began to drive backwards toward the church parking lot. The other two vehicles waited for them.

Suddenly, a man ran into the glare of the headlights. Waving his arms, he was covered in sweat and breathing hard.

“I have a feeling we now know what is drawing them here,” Jenni said. “I think they're chasing him!”

One of the girls peeked around Bill's chair. “That's the bad man! That's the one that opened up the door and took us away!”

“A bandit!” Katie slammed on the brakes.

“No, leave him. Fuck him!” Jenni said.

“We can't leave him,” Bill protested.

Katie looked at Bill. “He did this! He did this!”

Bill looked torn for a second, then said, “We can't risk it. Leave him.”

Katie looked like she wanted to run him over, but instead hit the accelerator and the truck roared backwards. The man screamed in anguish as the truck roared away, leaving him to the zombies.

Once Katie cleared the other vehicles, she turned the truck around, switched gears, and headed back down the road.

Jenni looked at the two girls huddled beside her. They were both trembling and staring at her with wide eyes.

“Tell me what happened,” she said in a gentle voice.





3. The Devils in the Darkness

“So then the f*ckers show up saying they're there to rescue the people, that they were there to evacuate them to a safe place,” Jenni explained to the group gathered in the city council room in city hall. It was all the usual suspects; Nerit, Juan, Travis, Manny, Peggy, Katie, Bill, and Curtis.