Flesh-&-Bone(43)

Sarah clutched Eve to her chest and dove into the tall grass.

Chong staggered backward from the blast and stood teetering on the edge of the ravine, his arms pinwheeling, while below him the zoms let out a renewed moan of hunger.

Benny had to drop his sword to grab him, but he spun fast and flung Chong with unintended force straight into Riot. They slammed down on the ground and vanished into the brush.

For a moment only Benny was left standing.

Then Nix and Carter both rose to their knees, guns coming up. Benny dove for his sword and skidded five feet on his chest.

“Don’t!” he cried, but Nix fired again, forcing Carter to dive sideways again.

Benny heard a thwop sound, and something whipped through the air a finger’s width from his cheek. He saw Riot lying on her side with the slingshot in her hands. She’d aimed at Chong, who was already on his feet, but the stone missed him and almost hit Benny.

Riot’s hands moved with incredible speed as she fished out another stone and seated it into the sling.

“Chong—run!” yelled Benny, but Chong was already in motion, cutting away from them toward the nearest stand of pinyon trees. His only weapon was a wooden bokken, and that was the wrong thing to bring to this fight. Benny was relieved to see Chong dive into the shadowy woods.

Carter got to his knees again and put his shotgun to his shoulder.

“Riot!” he yelled. “Get out of the way.”

Benny turned to see that Riot was aiming her next rock at Nix. Benny dove into Nix, knocking her out of the way. Riot’s stone hit hard on his hip, and it hurt like hell.

He landed sloppily but got up fast, bringing his sword up.

Riot snarled at him, and there was murder in her eyes as she fished out another stone.

“Don’t,” he warned.

She drew back the sling—and froze.

Carter and Sarah and Eve froze too, all of them staring at the eastern woods, their eyes wide.

Benny heard it then.

The motor sound he’d heard earlier.

It was back. Louder.

And it was heading their way, closing fast from at least three different points in the forest.

“Reapers!” screamed Sarah.

Riot shot a brief look at Benny and Nix, and then she spun on her heels and ran full tilt into the woods, following the same direction Chong had taken.

“What’s going on?” begged Nix, her pistol still held out in a two-handed grip.

Carter began backing away from the forest, edging toward a thin stand of trees due south. Sarah rose, clutching Eve to her chest; the eyes of both were wild with fear.

“Nix!” called Eve, reaching a hand toward her.

For a split second, Carter and Sarah looked at their daughter’s face and then across the field to Nix and Benny.

Carter lowered his shotgun.

“Run,” he said.

The motor sounds were everywhere now, getting louder and louder.

“RUN!” screamed Sarah.

She and Carter whirled and ran for the trees.

Benny glanced at Nix.

The ravine was behind them and there were woods all around the clearing.

Nix pointed her pistol at the closest of the motor sounds. “What is that?”

“I don’t know,” Benny said, pushing her arm down. “But let’s not find out. Let’s go.”

They backed up several steps, then together they turned and ran as hard as they could for the forest.





26

LILAH TRIED TO PULL HER PISTOL AS THE MONSTER RACED TOWARD HER.

But it was too fast and too close.

She tried to get up, but her left side was a furnace of heat and blood. Her leg buckled, and she fell back.

Over the edge of the cliff.

The darkness below swallowed her—body, screams, and all.





27

LOU CHONG RAN FOR HIS LIFE.

It was, he realized with some despair, something he had to do way too often.

Chong was lean and fit, but he was not a good runner. He felt that his body was better suited to climbing a tree with a good book in his back pocket, wading out into slow streams with a fishing pole, or sitting at a picnic table eating apple pie and discussing either fishing or books. Eluding hot pursuit had never been on his list of things to enjoy before he got old. Neither, for that matter, was fighting zoms in a ravine, staring down the mouths of lions, or looking into the barrels of shotguns.

Nevertheless, he ran.