Page 84 of Grave Danger

“Let’s go,” Oliver said. “They’re getting closer.”

Dave took the lead once again, and they made their way through the trees. Rain and wet leaves soaked them, branches left scratches, and their feet slipped in the mud. When Demetrius looked back, he was shocked to see the number of their pursuers and how little the distance between them.

“We’ve got to move faster,” Demetrius said.

“Where are we? Does anyone know?” Agatha asked.

“Way past the cemetery,” Oliver said. “Now we’re mostly near farmland.” He looked over his shoulder. “Farmer Wilkes’s place isn’t far. Think we could find a chupacabra to take out the zombies?”

Demetrius glanced over his shoulder at Agatha, wondering how she’d take that comment. But she was focused on her footing. If she’d heard Oliver’s comment, she didn’t give any sign of it.

“We should avoid the farms,” Demetrius said. “We don’t want to endanger people.”

“You don’t think our uninvited friends will find those people anyway?” Cody said.

“I just think we can keep from leading them right to their doorsteps.”

Cody didn’t respond, and Demetrius wondered if his suggestion to stay away from the farms would come back to haunt him. Was that another example of him controlling a situation? Had it been right of him to say what he thought was the right thing to do? Should he have just remained silent? Or should he have suggested they stop and discuss the matter as a group? Yeah, right, while a zombie herd closed in on them. Too many options and too much to consider in that moment. What he knew for certain, however, was that he and Cody needed to seriously talk about things once they got home.

If they got home.

He glanced back again. The zombies were closer, and there were even more of them. Add to that the pounding rain and steadily rising level of the creek, and the situation was quickly becoming more dire.

They were all silent for a time, focused on their footing. The trees thinned, allowing the rain to drench them even more. It also allowed the zombies to group closer together, and it was alarming to see the building number of their pursuers. Had they all come from Hollow of Eternal Rest cemetery? Were there any bodies left there?

“Hey,” Cody said. “We’re close to Farmer Wilkes’s farm, right?”

“That’s what Oliver said,” Demetrius said.

“So that means we’re close to GRUNT, aren’t we?”

Cody pronounced it ‘groo-nt’, and just the mention of the place gave Demetrius a chill. It had been an experimental laboratory run by Agatha’s father, Llewelyn Tisdale, located in the woods outside of town. Llewelyn had told Agatha her beloved greyhound, Deloris, had had to be put down while she had been at veterinary school because of an aggressive form of cancer.

In reality, Llewelyn had used Deloris as a guinea pig for a cancer fighting drug. The side effects of the drug had caused a radical change in her appearance, and when Deloris had escaped from the facility, people in the area around the lab thought she had been a chupacabra. Including Agatha herself.

“Oh, shit,” Agatha said, stopping to look at them. “You think my dad’s back in business?”

“No idea,” Cody said. “I was just thinking aloud.”

“Oh, shit,” Agatha said again.

“Hey, guys,” Dave said, pointing back behind them. “No matter where we’re headed, we need to keep up the pace.”

Demetrius looked over his shoulder and saw the multitude of undead plodding after them. They might be slow, but they were relentless. And terrifying.

“Let’s keep following the creek,” Cody said.

They stayed ahead of the zombies, and Demetrius comforted himself with self-assurance that none of the herd wandered off toward the farms.

“Should we call the sheriff?” Agatha said.

“Might as well,” Cody said. “Maybe they can meet up with us at the lab.”

Demetrius heard Cody mutter something about the rain as he pulled his phone from his pocket. After a moment, he said, “Huh.”

“What?” Demetrius looked over his shoulder, making a point not to look past Cody at the zombies.

“I just get a busy signal.”