I threw Adrian into the back first, and he hit the floor hard but didn’t react. Lucas grabbed the doorframe, trying to pull himself in, but was moving much too slowly.
I rushed in his direction and moved in front of him just as one of the infected lunged.
The knife came up again, and I stabbed her directly under the chin.
It collapsed.
The second one was already on me. Hands grabbing at my clothes, teeth snapping. I drove my shoulder into its chest and shoved, hard. It flew back and hit the pavement, trying to claw its way up.
I pushed Lucas into the van and slammed the door shut. Moving around to the driver's side, I reached for the handle, but just as I was about to open it, another infected lunged forward, slapping its hands against the hood, leaving behind streaks of blood and something darker.
It stared at me, its head twitching, and jaw working like it was chewing on something.
“Yeah,” I murmured. “Not today, you bastard.”
I yanked the door open, slid inside, and slammed it shut. Turning the key in the ignition, I threw it into drive.
The thing on the hood didn’t move fast enough as the van lurched forward. There was a dull, heavy thump—then nothing.
I glanced in the rearview mirror and saw more coming. They must have been drawn in by the noise.
I hit the gas harder.
The road out was a clusterfuck. One car sat crooked in the lane ahead, its driver's door open, and the engine still idling.
Something moved behind it, and I swerved, clipping the car's edge. Metal screamed, and the van jolted, but I kept going.
“Fuck,” I jerked the wheel again to dodge three infected that lurched into the road.
In the passenger seat, Lucas sagged against the window, eyes barely open.
In the back, Adrian hadn’t moved. Not once.
The town blurred past in pieces. Empty stores and abandoned cars. A woman standing in the middle of the road, swaying—then turning too fast as we passed.
I kept going without slowing down, stopping, or looking back.
My hands tightened on the wheel as my head pulsed. It felt like pressure was building up behind my eyes.
My vision sharpened, and the edges became too crisp. All the lights we encountered felt overly bright. Even Lucas and Adrian’s breathing sounded too loud.
I could feel the heat rising in my body.
“Not now,” I shook my head to clear it. “Come on, Ben, you can do this. Just a little further.”
I tried to focus on the road and on getting these two men home. But the heat kept creeping in, low and rising.
I wasn’t sure how much longer I had before I joined them.
The road cleared the further out we got. I didn’t let up on the gas until the house came into view.
I pulled up short of the gate and sat there for a second. I slowly scanned the perimeter, making sure nothing was out of place. It looked as perfect as it had when Adrian and I left.
I stepped out of the van. The air felt different here. Cleaner. Like the world hadn’t caught up yet.
It would.
It always did.
