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Kimber held my gaze and promised me, “Yeah, I’ve got her.”
I raced into the truck to grab my machete from where it was sheathed in my backpack, and I emerged as the first zombie came rampaging out of the trees. I planted my feet on the asphalt, and just before it reached me, I sliced through it with the machete.
Fortunately, I had spent the majority of the past six months training with Kerrigan and other soldiers back at the quarantine. I hadn’t been much of a fighter before, but I had worked hard to be able to hold my own against the zombies when I needed to.
Within moments, four other zombies appeared, all of them fast and fleshy. I was on the ground, fighting alongside Riva and Kerrigan. There may have been others, but I was too focused on staying alive to worry about everyone.
As I was slicing through any zombie I could, I was distantly aware of the screaming going on behind me. Some of the zombies managed to slip between me and Kerrigan, and they were trying to climb up onto the truck.
When I finally had a chance to look back, I saw the survivors baling off the roof. Zombies had made it up there, and so Harlow, Kimber, and all the others had to escape back to the ground.
“Lazlo, run!” Harlow yelled, and Kimber took her hand, helping her race toward the woods as quickly as she could.
“Go!” I shouted back. “I’ll catch up to you!”
Harlow and Kimber disappeared into the forest, the way the other survivors had. A couple zombies gave chase, but Kerrigan ran into the trees after them, wielding his gun.
I stayed back, less by choice and more because the zombies kept blocking my path. Everything was a blur of adrenaline and zombie blood. I didn’t think – I let my body move on the instincts I’d been honing and relied on the sharpness of my machete – and I dispatched the zombies as quickly as I could.
Riva let out a frustrated grunt as one pinned her against the side of the truck. The only reason she was still alive was because she had her baseball bat shoved in the zombie’s mouth, but it still kept reaching its long arms toward her.
No more zombies were running at me, so I went over and helped Riva by slicing straight through the zombie’s neck. The corpse fell to the ground, spilling thick greenish blood, while the head was still stuck on the end of the bat, dangling in the air.
“Is it over?” Drew asked, wiping his forehead as he came around from the opposite end of the truck. “Are all the zombies dead?”
Riva spun around, so she could appraise the area better. “I think so.”
“Okay.” Calvin let out a rough breath. “What was that? Did those zombies ambush us?”
“I don’t know, but I have to find my family,” Drew said, and he started calling the names of his niblings as he headed toward the forest. “You can come back now!”
My arms and shoulders ached from slicing through so many zombies, not to mention all the bumps and bruises I sustained in the vehicle crash, but I agreed with Drew. The only thing that mattered was making sure my family was safe.
3
Lazlo
The zombies were gone, and some of the other survivors that had scattered into the surrounding forest had already returned when they were called for. Drew’s children were safe and sound, along with Bâo and Vân.
I shouted Harlow’s name, again and again.But there was no sign of her.
“Lazlo, you’re being too loud,” Riva chastised me.
We were all clustered around the truck on its side, where the headlights still illuminated the area around us. Riva was crouched down next to Bâo, tending to a few minor scrapes and scratches she’d gotten while running through the thick pine trees.
“I won’t find Harlow by being quiet,” I said.
“You might not find her at all,” Calvin countered. He was sitting on a tire, hunched over, and his dark skin looked ashy in the headlights.
“‘Might’ isn’t reason enough for me to stop,” I said before shouting Harlow’s name again.
Riva glared over at me and tucked her dark hair back behind her ears. “We’re already down to eight of us. We don’t need to lose anymore by attracting zombies or wolves or any other dangers.”
“Eight?” I echoed. “Who else did we lose?”
Her frown deepened and her voice softened when she said, “Mason was killed in the attack, and Kerrigan and Kimber are missing too.”
Mason. That was the name of one of Drew’s nephews. Now I felt like an even bigger asshole for not remembering his name while he was alive.
