SMACK!
Searing pain radiates from my head. The fucker hit me.
But there’s no time to react.
I run flat out, sliding the pack off my body and twisting so I can throw it at the feet of the oncoming dead.
I’ve never been so afraid in my life. Even the night the dead rose wasn’t this bad, probably because I was in shock.
Not to mention I was safer then, when the dead had more targets.
Now, there’s just me.
More dead join the small herd. I know looking back is death, so I push myself forward and forward again, until my lungs burn and I can hardly feel my legs.
The noise behind me grows. It’s deafening. How could I have been so stupid? How could I have thought I’d make it?
My hair flutters. Tiny pulls.
The bus is in sight. Lying on its side near the bridge with a big fucking arrow at the head, but the path isn’t clear. I’m going to have to dodge at least six to get to that fucking arrow, and once I do, I have no idea where the fuck Gage will come from or how he’ll get me.
I’m going to die waiting at that damn arrow.
My head yanks back. I nearly fall. I twist to see a dead, its mouth open and hungry.
I grip my bat and smash it against the side of its head, sending it into another.
There are at least a dozen others, with more behind them. I struggle to move again. I’m so fucking spent. I know I can’t stop, but the dead are quick.
A hand closes around my shoulder, but as I turn to slug it, a POP sounds and a black hole appears on its forehead.
POP! POP! POP!
The dead begin to drop.
For a moment, I’m shocked. Unable to move.
POP! POP! POP!
Gage!
As several more dead approach, I know I have to get moving again.
I rush toward the bus, sprinting as hard as I can, dodging the dead as they reach for me.
A hand reaches out, inches from my face.
POP! POP! POP!
The dead fall, but there are so many. Constantly more taking their place.
I focus on the arrow, willing myself there, hoping that wherever Gage is, he’ll come retrieve me quickly.
And then I see it. The black figure on the school bus.
No!
Gage isn’t a survivor. He’s one of them. A black suit. The men sent by the government.