The Living Dead Boy (The Living Dead Boy #1)(27)

“Don’t,” Troy ordered.

Chad climbed to his feet and pushed Troy into the fence. “Don’t touch me, you lil’–”

“What’s wrong?” Corina called out in a raspy voice.

Troy shook his head and raised a finger to his lips.

Sam wheezed as Josh closed in on him. “Josh! Josh! Are the zombies coming?”

Daring to look over his shoulder, Josh had difficulty seeing what was happening behind the store. The smoke covered the entire area. None of the adults were following now.

“We need to get to the road.” Chad sneered at Troy, pushing him again for emphasis.

“Don’t.” Corina grabbed Chad’s arm, stopping him from stepping around the fence. “We need to be careful.”

“We got those things coming from over there,” Chad said, pointing to the store. “When they get done eating those people, they’re coming for us.”

“Zombies are eating Beaux?” Sam asked, a quaver in his voice.

“I don’t know,” Josh answered. “How bad is it, Troy?”

“Bad. Real bad.” Troy’s dark eyes were large with fear.

Josh pressed close to the fence and inched along the rough wood until just one eye could see into the parking lot. Inhaling sharply, he again felt his body start to freeze. He pushed his fingernails into his palm to steady himself.

Unlike horror movies, the undead weren’t afraid of the flames. Quite a few were gathered around the crashed cars imbedded in the front of the store, clawing at the bodies inside. Even as their clothes and hair caught fire, the zombies continued to eat. More were gathered in smaller groups and crouched on the ground. It was clear they were consuming people. It appeared that the zombies had crested the overpass and swarmed the area. Some were still stumbling down the sloping side of the highway.

But what was even more terrifying was that there were more than a hundred wandering through the parking lot and trailing after the single Metro bus parked on the frontage road. There weren’t any signs of the rest of the convoy and at least seven vehicles were crashed ruins near the pumps. The leading zombies were swiftly closing in on the lone bus that Josh knew was waiting for them. His father would give him a chance to make it back safely.

“Josh, we got a butt load of zombies between us and the bus,” Troy said in a lowered voice. “A butt load.”

“I can see that,” Josh whispered back. Already he was plotting a course across the parking lot utilizing the cover of a few decorative bushes and crashed cars.

“What do we do?” Troy asked.

“We run for it,” Chad answered.

Before anyone could grab him, he darted past the fence and into the parking lot.





Chapter 17


Josh made a grab for Chad as he zipped past him, but only managed to snag his shirt for a split second. The older teenage boy pounded across the parking lot toward the waiting bus.

“Do we follow?” Corina asked, uncertainty in her voice.

Josh was about to say “yes” and guide them along the path he’d plotted when the teenager did something else completely idiotic.

“Wait! Wait for us!” Chad shouted at those onboard the waiting vehicle. “We’re coming!”

Josh watched in horror as the herd of zombies redirected their focus from their fallen victims and the bus to Chad.

“Oh, man!” Troy muttered. “It’s over.”

“Josh?” Sam whimpered. “Josh, what do we do?”

The blonde boy was fast, but the undead had numbers and were closer to the frontage road. Almost immediately the front of the herd shifted direction and moved to cut Chad off.

“I... I...”Josh tried to plot a new path through the crowd of zombies, but his brain only projected the worst scenarios. Shadowy forms were moving inside the bus. He could imagine the passengers watching Chad’s race across the parking lot. Despite the zombies descending on the location of the bus, it looked like a safe haven, and he yearned to be inside with his father and younger brother. At least Drake and the smaller kids were safe.

“Josh, do we follow?” Corina pulled him around to face her.

“Can your dad come get us?” Troy asked.

The other kids were gathered in a tight group around him. He could feel their fear washing over him, making it even harder to think. Spinning about, he once again tried to plot a way through the parking lot to the bus. The frontage road curved away from the store and the kids’ location. There was no way the bus could circle around to get to them unless it drove over the thick curb, and through a bunch of bushes. The bus couldn’t risk it. It wasn’t built for speed, and Josh imagined that going over the divider and also hitting so many zombies could do some damage to the undercarriage and wheels.

“The bus can’t make it,” he said, his heart sinking with despair.

“So do we run?” Troy asked.

Josh saw all the ways they wouldn’t make it. Sam would be lost for sure.

The front doors to the bus opened and Jamie appeared. A split second later, the sound of his weapon firing resounded through the morning. Not willing to risk hitting the kids, Jamie picked off the zombies closing in on his location.

“Shoot them! Shoot them!” Chad shouted, pointing at the zombies between him and the bus.