The Living Dead Boy (The Living Dead Boy #1)(28)

The undead, some still on fire, relentlessly moved toward him.

“Is he stupid? Your dad can’t shoot them without hitting him!” Troy threw up his hands, shaking his head.

“Are we going to run? Because I don’t know if I can make it. I...” Sam trailed off. “Josh? Are we going to run?”

“Dude, if we’re going to run, we gotta go when they catch him,” the Latino boy said while pointing toward the swarm of zombies in the parking lot. “They’re going to see us once they’re done eating that dumb kid.”

The image of Mr. Inmon racing to the school bus haunted Josh. The driver had rescued Mr. Inmon only to risk the lives of everyone on the school bus. The driver, Mr. Inmon, his teacher, and several kids had been killed, and the bus had crashed. Josh and his friends had escaped, but he was fairly certain the rest of the students had perished when they’d panicked and ran toward the infested area of town. Josh couldn’t allow the same thing to happen to the Metro bus. Though he knew his dad would do his best to give them cover, there was no way all the kids would reach the bus. Josh wasn’t even sure he’d make it. He’d vowed to protect Drake, and he was going to do just that by protecting the bus.

Rubbing his nose, Josh took a deep breath. “We have to get out of here.”

“To the bus?” Troy asked warily.

The sound of Jamie’s weapon firing cracked through the air. He was trying to keep the zombies from reaching the bus, but the situation was getting more dangerous with every passing second. Melissa dropped down beside him, firing at the zombies close by.

“No. It’s too late. We can’t make it. We need to go that way, away from here,” Josh said, pointing across the vast field at the tree line. “We’re going that way.”

Chad skidded to a halt as the zombies completely blocked him. Unable to get around the swiftly-growing crowd of the undead, he turned and started to run back toward the other kids. The zombies immediately fell into pursuit.

“But what about the FEMA camp? What about the bus? What about—” Corina fell silent, watching Chad screaming as he dodged away from the zombies that were dangerously close to grabbing him.

“The zombies!” Sam smacked Josh on the arm. “They’re coming!”

“Dad! Dad!” Josh shouted, his voice raspy. “Dad, we’ll find you! We’ll find you in San Angelo!”

Despite the gunfire, the growls of the zombies, and the roar of the fire consuming the building, Jamie raised his hand over his head. “Josh! I love you! You can do this! Go! Go!”

Relief filled Josh’s chest. His dad had heard him. He waved to his father, fighting back the sting of tears, and then turned to face the frightened kids.

“Follow me. Let’s go.”

Josh started across the field away from the store, the parking lot, and the bus. The other kids immediately joined him. They half-ran, half-skipped across the uneven ground. Sweat poured down Josh’s face and he brushed it out of his eyes. His lungs still hurt from the smoke and his body was exhausted, yet he knew he had to keep moving. Daring to look back, he saw the bus pulling away from the curb and rolling down the frontage. His heart was a heavy stone in his chest. It was difficult to believe that he was once again separated from his father.

“Where are we going?” Sam asked.

“I don’t know,” Josh answered. He kept his eyes on the trees ahead.

“But... but...” Sam faltered, breathing heavily.

“We’re going to get out of this area and find a way to get to San Angelo. That’s where the convoy was going, so that’s where we will go. My dad says that’s where they’re airlifting survivors to the FEMA camp.”

“But we’re kids,” Sam protested.

“So?” Troy responded.

“We’ve made it this far,” Corina added. “A lot of the adults didn’t even make it out of the store.”

Josh kept the group’s pace fast, but cautious. He spotted some rocks and a tree stump hidden in the grass and swerved around them. Now that they were getting closer to the trees, he saw that there was a barbed-wire fence running along the trunks. That explained why the mesquite trees were in such a straight line.

“I thought we were safe,” Sam whined.

“We were. And then we weren’t. That’s the Zombie Apocalypse for you,” Troy replied.

“I liked Beaux. And he got eaten,” Sam sniffed.

“A lot of people died,” the Latino boy said somberly. “Probably my whole family.”

“In the store?” Sam gasped.

“No. In Austin. My cousin, Dulce, and me were on our way to the bus stop when 28 Days Later started. I’m Danny, by the way.” He pointed to the older, slightly overweight girl with thick black hair and hazel eyes. “That’s Dulce.”

“I’d classify these zombies are more of a Romero Dawn of the Dead type,” Troy commented, falling back into the old Zombie Hunter mentality. They always categorized zombies by their favorite films.

“Are you Dulce?” Corina asked the teenage girl walking beside her.

“She doesn’t speak English,” Danny explained. “She just moved here from Mexico.”

“She’s a wetback?” Sam asked with surprise.

Corina smacked him. “That’s rude!”