The Living Dead Boy (The Living Dead Boy #1)(26)

Beaux ran toward the road behind a few others. One of the men in the lead started to round the far end of the fence when he let out a startled cry. Before he could turn back, he was dragged out of sight.

The janitor slid to a stop a few feet from where the man had vanished.

“Not this way! Turn around!” Beaux shouted.

Beaux and the other adults started to run back toward the back of the store.

Around the edge of the fence came the bloodied, gnawed bodies of the undead.





Chapter 16


“Zombies! Zombies! Zombies!” Sam shouted.

“We know!” Troy shoved Sam to get him moving in the opposite direction. “Run!”

Swallowing hard, Josh felt trapped in his worst zombie nightmare where he couldn’t move or speak. He heard his friends scampering away, but his feet wouldn’t move. Staring at the creatures in deadly pursuit of the adults racing toward him, his brain registered fresh wounds on the limbs, faces, and necks of the zombies. He also calculated that there had to be at least twenty zombies closing in on his location fast.

The memory of his zombified mother lurching off the sofa toward him and Drake filled his vision. It was as if he were there again, but this time unable to move. Unable to save Drake. Unable to save himself.

“Run, kid! Run!” Beaux shouted at him, pulling his thoughts back to reality.

Heart thudding in his chest, Josh struggled to free his fear-locked limbs.

The rumble of the buses pulling away from the front of the store and the continuous pop of guns shooting overwhelmed him with despair. Was his dad leaving him behind? No, no. He’d never do that. Why was he leaving then? The answer came to him in a flash. The three cars with full fuel tanks were lodged in the building. How long would it take before the fires turned the vehicles into bombs? The convoy was getting clear. Josh and the others needed to reach the road where his father would be waiting for them in the bus.

If only he could convince his body to move...

“Josh! Josh!” Corina screamed.

Trembling with fright, he managed to move his head so he could peer over his shoulder. The other kids were far away from him, pumping their arms and legs as fast as they could. Corina hesitated, then double-backed toward him.

“Josh, c’mon! Don’t just stand there!”

The adults were closing in on his location. Terror filled their eyes and sped their pace.

The mangled bodies of the undead followed.

Lips quivering, Josh whispered, “Move, Josh, move.”

Flight, fight, freeze...

The words of his father pierced through his fear.

He’d frozen with fear.

But why now?

He wasn’t trapped in his house. Drake was safe with Savannah and on the bus.

All he had to do was save himself.

Whatever had paralyzed him dissipated just as Corina grabbed his hand.

“Run!” she ordered.

Bursting into a full sprint, Josh fled with Beaux and the other adults close behind. The zombies pursued them, grunting with hunger. It took all his willpower not to look back every second to see if the dead were closing the gap. Instead, Josh concentrated on the ground in front of him, avoiding pot holes and anything that might trip him. Smoke drifted across the asphalt and flames licked around the store’s back door. As Josh and Corina ran along the far edge of the back area, the heat emanating from the burning store washed over them in a suffocating wave. Josh pumped his legs harder, determined to put more distance between them and the store before the fuel tanks in the cars exploded.

Ahead, the other kids reached the high grasses that edged the large field behind the parking lot’s wooden fence. Skirting behind the dumpsters, Josh dared to look back. The zombies were still pursuing the adults, but had fallen behind.

“The buses left,” Corina gasped. “Where do we go?”

“The road. My dad won’t leave us,” Josh answered.

Side by side, the two kids ran toward the field.

The first explosion sent pieces of flaming debris spiraling into the air. The concussion wave caught Josh and Corina and hurled them to the ground.

Scraping the heels of his palms on the asphalt, Josh immediately pushed up to his knees. A quick look behind him revealed that the adults and front wave of the zombies had been struck by the blast and were thrown to the ground. Two people closest to the building were on fire. Rising, Beaux rushed to the nearest person to help them extinguish their clothes. Zombies staggered out of the black smoke and surrounded the other human rolling about on the ground attempting to put out the flames engulfing them.

“Beaux, they’re coming!” Corina screamed.

“We gotta go.” Josh stood and pulled Corina to her feet.

Shrieks rang out as they fled.

Josh didn’t look back.

He knew what he’d see.

The two kids plunged into the wild high grass and stumbled on the uneven ground. The painful knot in Josh’s stomach clenched even tighter than before. Worse yet, his arms and legs felt like they were made out of lead. Smoke drifted over them, making it hard for Josh to catch his breath and to see clearly.

Ahead, Troy and Chad were nearly to the end of the long fence. The two Latino kids were close on their heels with Sam coming in last. Troy arrived at the end of the fence and was wise enough to stop and sneak a look around the corner. Spinning about, he held up his hand in a stop motion. When Chad tried to dart around him, Troy toppled him over with a fierce shove.