“This zombie on the hood is doing a damn good job of scaring me shitless,” Arnold testily replied.
“Just keep driving.”
“He’s got the one corner of the grill bent back. You better save me if he breaks through the window!”
“It won’t happen.”
Emma had seen a fresh zombie shatter a window with its head, but it had taken on so much damage she’d easily dispatched it. Of course, she’d been in a parked car at the time and not driving backwards down a narrow incline. With Nerit at his side, Arnold was in a better position
than Emma had been.
“How am I on the left, Emma?” Arnold called out.
Once they hit the curve, there wouldn’t be any more trees on the left-hand side. “Trees are thinning out. You’re coming up on that big curve.”
“Clear on the right. So far,” Monica reported.
That was not unexpected since the rock face of the hillside was on Monica’s side.
Arnold again attempted to scrape the zombies off the side of the bus by running them through the low hanging branches of the trees lining the road. A few tumbled off into the greenery, but the big one continued his assault on the windshield grill. Zombies clung to the side of the vehicle, their claw-like fingers hooked into the protective mesh. There were a few digits without a body stuck in the metal grill near Emma.
“You might want to slow down!” Juan shouted. “We got zombies on the road. Looks like stragglers from the horde.”
“How many?” Nerit asked.
“Maybe thirty,” Juan replied.
“Older?”
“The slow ones, but they’re not too rotted,” Juan said.
“Can we catch a break?” Arnold groused.
The bus slowed as it neared the intimidating curve with the sharp drop off.
The view below was beautiful, but deadly with its steep incline and tall oak trees. Emma caught a flash of light from below. Concentrating on the spot, she made out the crumpled remains of a vehicle.
“Someone crashed below,” she said. “Looks like a Durango.”
Struggling with the wheel, Arnold said, “That won’t be us.”
Kurt spoke up. “It’s the other Durango that was with us. It went off the road trying to avoid the zombies.”
“We’re the only survivors,” Ted muttered. “No thanks to Ed. I never should have listened to him.”
“My dad was doing what he thought was best,” Kurt snapped back. “He gave his life so we had a chance to escape.”
“We’re not out of here yet. And this redheaded jackass can’t drive.” Ted gestured toward Arnold.
“You can get out! I’ll pull over and throw you out myself!” Arnold again shifted gears, the bus decelerating even more.
“Slowing down is not the best idea right now,” Juan said, waving toward the zombies.
“We’re on the curve. We don’t have a choice,” Nerit replied in her steely, no-nonsense way.
The bus backed into the small herd, the impact of their bodies against the exterior sending shudders through the frame. Blood and gore painted the rear windows and door in thick dark ochre. Emma was flung into the seatback in front of her. The impact stung her ribs, but she managed to grip the seat to stabilize herself. The bus shimmied, bouncing over zombie bodies and across the road to sideswipe several trees on the right. Arnold overcompensated, sending the bus in the opposite direction toward the drop off. It careened through the zombies, skidding toward the ledge.
Everyone on the bus shouted at the same time. “Stop!”