Page 4 of Bound in Ashes

It kinda reminded me of the ten pound vats of mozzarella cheese I’d made at the factory job I’d worked between college and law school.

I hadn’t eaten pizza in years because of that job.

Wouldn’t ever eat it again because of everything that had happened.

But that realization didn’t stop me from swinging again.

Neither did the wave of nausea that washed over me as the crowd of zombies drew closer.

But it wasn’t like I had a choice.

I could be squeamish, or I could die.

Let all the others—let Jack—die, too.

I grunted again when I swung this time and didn’t even look at the zombie I took down.

“We gotta try to lead them away,” Jack whispered urgently.

My mind raced as I tried to think of next steps.

My gaze landed on the rolling green hills circled with wire and wooden posts. “Maybe the pasture.”

Barbed wire ran along the sloped hills to our right. It wasn’t perfect, but there was a fence there. Might give us some protection. Plus, the horses—my aunt’s horses—might be enough of a diversion.

Jack nodded and then moved.

“It’ll buy some time,” I said.

Those things followed, their unnerving footsteps, that inescapable stench of death trailing behind us. I couldn’t hold back my sigh of relief.

It was premature, because we were still in a world of shit.

But it was something.

I risked taking a moment to look and saw that the others had reached the house and gone inside. None of the windows were broken, and the door frame looked undamaged.

Not surprising.

One of the things Uncle Levi said he loved about this town, other than the space and the peace and quiet, was that feeling that you didn’t have to keep your doors locked.

I’d always told him he was just looking for an excuse to use one of the arsenal of weapons he kept at the ready.

Uncle Levi had just laughed and reminded me that two things could be true at once.

I hoped an armed response wasn’t waiting for my friends, but I couldn’t be preoccupied with that now.

“They’re getting closer,” I whispered, my voice rough and wavering with urgency.

Jack, as always, was unbothered. “Yeah, but it’s working.”

You’d think I would be used to it now—his absolutely unshakable calm under the most awful circumstances.

I wasn’t.

I couldn’t even begin to comprehend how he maintained his composure, especially when I was barely hanging on.

It was a literal miracle that I hadn’t pissed myself yet. Another point in pride’s favor, I supposed.