Thicker Than Blood (Thicker Than Blood #1)(54)
As it continued to come at me, I hurried backward, not watching where I was going, and ended up snagging the back of my foot on something. I glanced down, only for a second, though long enough to realize I’d stumbled on the two previous infected, one dead and the other still alive beneath it.
It was only a matter of seconds, the time I spent looking down, righting my balance in order to avoid the teeth of the pinned infected, but it was enough time for the approaching one to reach me, to wrap its decaying hand around my wrist and lurch forward. Screaming, I shoved at its chest, desperate to avoid its teeth. It nearly bit me, its chin grazing my forearm as I struggled to free myself from its grasp. I felt a tug on my pant leg and then another, and when I spared a glance downward, I found the pinned infected had managed to somewhat free itself, and with chomping teeth was about to take a bite out of my leg.
Still screaming, I gripped the throat of the infected, its skin dry and yet rubbery beneath my fingers. I pulled and sent us both sprawling to the right, where we fell in a heap of tangled limbs. The thing writhed on top of me, and just when I thought it was hopeless, its mangled face mere inches from my own, there was a flurry of movement, a crack and a thump, and though its body remained on top of me, its head was suddenly gone.
Above me stood Leisel, holding her hammer in a two-handed grip. She was covered in sweat, but her brown eyes were gleaming. “You okay?” she asked, breathless.
Shoving the headless body off of me, I rolled over and jumped to my feet. I gave Leisel a winded whisper of thanks, then scoured the area for Alex, finding him surrounded by six infected, with several more on their way toward him.
“Let’s go!” I shouted, taking off across the field.
What used to be a woman shambled into our path, its tattered dress swaying over its bony body. It growled loudly, sounding pained, and the sound sent shivers down my spine. Running behind it, I slammed my blade into the base of its neck, and though it fell to the ground, it continued to twitch and groan. From behind me, Leisel came forward swinging and sent her hammer into the infected’s temple, crushing it like a watermelon. Black sludge poured out amid the shattered bits of its skull, and a toxic foul smell was released.
More growls erupted to our left from a small group making their way toward us. Waving frantically at Leisel, I motioned for her to help Alex while I took off running into the oncoming fray.
As I was running, I ducked and wrapped my arm around the waist of the first infected in the group. With a grunt, I shoved it into the ones behind it and they all fell like bowling pins, one by one, leaving them all piled on top of one another.
After wiping the sweat from my eyes, I bent down and took out the first of the pile, sending my blade into its eye and twisting. After that, it was easy pickings. Over and over again, I slammed my blade into each of their heads and finished them off quickly.
Turning, I found Alex and Leisel down to two remaining infected, a walker and a crawler. Leisel was bent down in the tall grass, her hammer lifted high above her head, waiting as it crawled closer toward her before sending the blunt end down onto the top of its head, shattering what remained of its skull.
Alex was wrestling with the walker that used to be a man, tall and large, and not nearly as decayed as the others. There wasn’t enough room between them to manage a good swing with the iron. Grunting, Alex sent his fist into the base of its jaw, knocking it back a few steps, and giving him the space he needed to lift the tire iron over his head and send the lug end of it directly onto the top of the infected’s head. Skin split and rotten blood, both black and red, sprayed out from the wound, a sign that this infected had been recently turned. With a shout, Alex lifted his arm, shielding his face from the splatter.
Unfazed, and despite the blood running down its face, the infected kept coming for him. Just as I was beginning to worry, my stomach sinking as it quickly gained on Alex, Leisel appeared behind it, sending her hammer into its side.
It turned to face her, reaching for her just as Alex righted himself and again brought the tire iron down on its head. This time, its skull split wide open, and after swaying for a moment, its large body folded and crumpled to the ground.
Without the growling and moaning from the infected, it was suddenly eerily quiet as the three of us made our way toward one another. Sweating, all of us breathing hard, we came together in an awkward hug, Leisel sandwiched between Alex and me.
Leisel was grinning, her eyes lit with an excitement I was positive I’d never seen on her before, while Alex was staring down at her in a stupor. I mirrored his feelings, completely taken aback by how well she’d fought, how determined she’d been, and how it had been her alone who’d saved us both.
“We did it!” she exclaimed, and I could tell she was more proud of herself than either of us.
“We did,” I said, smiling at her.
“And you were right, Eve,” she said, still smiling. “That was f*cking awesome!”
I choked on a laugh. Leisel almost never cursed, and to hear her do so was yet more evidence of how far she had come and how much she had changed. The timid Leisel I knew was slowly disappearing as a stronger, more independent woman appeared before my eyes, and I was proud to witness it.
Alex pulled away from us, his gaze lifting over my head and beyond. “There’s still the barn, and whatever is inside it.”
Across the way, the barn loomed ominously over us, the setting sun in the distance causing the dilapidated structure to cast a large shadow over the field. An answering shiver rippled up my spine.