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Sid smirked, and Roland made a face as he went back to watching.
I spotted the lake ahead, and Sid saw a problem on the other side.
“Undamaged neighborhood coming up,” he called.
Molev sprinted up from behind.
The number of infected that came running from the nearby undamaged neighborhood was more than I knew he could deal with alone.Yet, he hit the lead vehicle three times.It immediately sped up as he jumped over it to head off the infected.
Rather than focus on him, I watched the road ahead.With him distracted, we couldn’t afford to run into anything else.The convoy dodged around abandoned cars, and I spotted the first section of damaged road where bombs had gone off too close.
More appeared beyond that with greater frequency, and I would have lost my seat a few times if not for my death grip on a bar bolted to the top.I glanced at Roland and Sid, who were hanging on like me and watching everything.
The intersection with a gas station on the corner was almost completely obliterated, and the drivers had no option but to slow to avoid the worst of the upheaved blacktop.The level of damage indicated how overrun the area would have been if not for the bombs.
The number of infected emerging from the rubble increased, and not all of them were burned.They ran after us in bursts.I looked back for Molev but didn’t see him at first.When I did, my stomach dropped at the mass of infected I saw running behind him.
He sprinted through the group collecting behind us and jumped to land on the last vehicle.As soon as he was clear, they opened fire.The reports rang out as the infected fell like toppled dominos.Molev jumped from vehicle to vehicle until he reached ours and squatted beside me.The scent of rot and old blood filled my nose.
“The sound will draw more.If you need me, call for me.”His gaze traced my face.“If anything happens to you, Andie—”
“You won’t let anything happen.I trust you.Now trust us to do what we need to do to stay alive and stay focused.”
He grunted and leapt down, racing ahead.
CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE
The next twentyminutes were filled with games of chance.
Whenever the road forced us to slow down, the number of infected would build up around us.We would use our firearms to thin their numbers until we could speed up again.We passed the second and third bodies of water that way before the city gave way to overgrown fields.
With a stretch of open road, we gained speed and increased the distance between the end of the convoy and the infected following us.When we took a left without slowing, I would have lost my balance if not for my low position and hold on the bar.
We raced down that road, passing a few scattered houses, until I saw a massive building and parking lot filled with semi-trailers ahead.All of it was encircled with a tall fence.
We took another left, arriving at the distribution center’s entrance a few minutes later, where the fence ended.As soon as the convoy stopped, those who’d been riding inside poured out from the vehicles.Someone was shouting orders.Those of us on top provided cover while people scrambled to close the gaps in the facility’s fencing.Another set of men had a ladder and were racing toward the building.
“Sid, go with them,” I said with a nod.“Keep eyes on Molev.”
He ran off to join them while Roland moved closer to me and Brandon took Sid’s place on top of the Stryker.
Back-to-back, we watched all sides.Shots rang out as the infected slowly caught up to us.They made things easier for us by trying to cut the corner instead of following the road to the entrance.The existing fence stopped them.So did Molev.
He roared and started beheading.
“Got some to the west,” Brandon called.“No fence.They’re going to need help over there, too.”
“Molev, stay where you’re at,” I said, pivoting to face the west with Brandon.
The soldiers setting up the temporary fencing ignored the oncoming infected and worked on stabilizing the fence as quickly as possible.I saw right away it wouldn’t be enough.Not with the number of infected appearing in the distance.
Shots rang out behind us, and the infected rushing toward the soldiers started to drop.I glanced back at Sid and the other two men on the roof and then at Molev, who was in the thick of over one hundred infected.He couldn’t help us.
We needed more firepower, or we needed that fence up now.
I looked at the trailers around us.Some of them were still connected to the trucks themselves.
“Patrick,” I yelled.“Can we use those?”I pointed.
