Page 85 of Grave Danger

“Busy signal?” Dave looked back. “Is that still a thing?”

“Apparently it is,” Cody said.

“Did you dial 911?” Dave asked.

“Oh, is that something new they just put into service?” Cody sniped back. “Of course I dialed 911.”

“What about the direct number to the sheriff?” Oliver said.

“I’ll try it,” Cody grumbled, and Demetrius could practically hear him bitching out Ollie in his mind.

A benefit, if it could be called that, of them being involved in all the crazy paranormal cases over the years was they had multiple law enforcement contacts in their phones. Cody tried a couple of different numbers they had for the sheriff’s department as well as the state police, but said they were all returning busy signals.

“I think this situation is a lot worse than we thought,” Oliver said. “We’re most likely on our own.”

“Are all the circuits busy?” Demetrius said, pulling his own phone from his pocket. He found Amelia’s number in his favorites and tapped it. The line rang, giving him hope, but as it continued to ring, that hope curdled. Her sweet and happy voice came on with the familiar voice mail greeting, and Demetrius wished she had picked up.

“Hi Aunt Amelia, it’s Demetrius. We’re in a situation here, out around the farms along Route 118, and I wanted to check in and make sure you and Otis and Eileen were okay. Give me a call.”

Cody put both hands on Demetrius’s shoulders from behind and squeezed. “I’m sure she’s fine.”

“Yeah.” Demetrius tried to put a convincing spin on it, but wasn’t feeling so certain.

“My dad’s not answering,” Agatha said, stabbing a finger at the end call button. “I’m not in the right frame of mind to leave a voicemail.”

“My grandma isn’t answering, either,” Oliver said. “I don’t like this.”

“Should we cut across the fields and head back into town?” Demetrius said, framing it as a question and hoping someone else would take control.

“My vote is we keep on toward the lab,” Cody said. “We’re almost there, and we might get some answers. All we’d manage to do if we head toward town is get into trouble if anything is happening there.”

“Second,” Agatha said.

“Agree,” Dave said.

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Oliver said. He sounded distracted, most likely worried about Eileen. Demetrius knew how he felt.

On the other side of the thin screen of woods, across the green fields visible between the trees, a dog started to bark. Demetrius looked back at the zombies. Half a dozen stopped and turned to look toward the sound.

“Shit, they’re going to go toward the farms,” he said.

Cody waved his arms overhead. “Hey, brainless zombies! Over here!”

Demetrius fought back the strong urge to tell Cody to shut the hell up. They would have to keep the zombies’ attention on them to keep them away from the farms. He whistled, waved his arms, and shouted as well.

“What the hell are you doing?” Agatha said.

“Some of them were looking toward the farms,” Demetrius said. “We’re keeping their attention on us.”

“Better keep walking while you do that,” Oliver said. “They’re getting pretty close.”

With a shock of fear, Demetrius realized a small group of zombies had come up almost alongside them on the opposite bank of the creek. The water level had risen quite a bit in the steady downpour, and was now at probably four feet deep. A strobing flash of lightning left the imprint of just how many pursued them, and how many were outflanking them.

“Oh, fucking hell.” Cody’s voice was quiet and flat, and Demetrius figured he’d seen it as well.

“Keep moving,” Demetrius said, forcing himself to turn his back to the horde as thunder crashed overhead. “Walk faster.”

It was too late. A cold, wet hand gripped his left ankle and pulled his foot out from under him. He shouted as he went down, throwing a hand out for help, hoping Cody would grab him, pull him up and away to safety.