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When we reached the truck, some of the survivors were arguing. The two who seemed to be clashing the most were Riva – an outspoken medic who always tried to help everyone – and Pvt. Kerrigan – the young soldier who had been put in charge of the rest of us civilians.
The others were still hiding in the back of the truck. I leaned against the tailgate, avoiding putting my full weight on my injured ankle, and I peered inside. Bâo was tending to her sister’s split eyebrow, and Drew was consoling his distressed niblings as best as he could.
Another of those long zombie howls rattled the night, and it sounded louder and closer than the last.
“We can’t stay here,” Lazlo said quietly, and then he turned and went over to where Kerrigan and Riva were still arguing. “If we stay, we’ll be sitting ducks.”
“How can you suggest that?” Riva asked, aghast. “Can Harlow even walk?”
“I’ll carry her on my back, and everyone will have to move as fast as they can,” he said.
“Finally, someone with some –” Kerrigan was saying, but a whistling sound cut through the air, followed by a wet thwock, and he cursed loudly. “What the hell was that?”
Kerrigan looked down at his shoulder in dismay, and there was an arrow sticking straight out of it. He’d been shot.
“Get down!” Lazlo shouted, and he immediately dropped to his knees. “Someone’s got a bow and arrow!”
Kimber took my hand and helped me crouch down. The two of us huddled together just out of the glow from the taillights.
In the woods that surrounded the road, the sound of breaking branches and crackling leaves grew louder. The zombies were close enough that I could hear their ragged breathing and their quieter death groans, as well as a couple more of those earsplitting howls.
“Women and children, get on top of the truck!” Kerrigan commanded. “Everyone else, grab a weapon and get ready to fight for your fucking lives.”
Kimber climbed up on top of the truck first. Lazlo gave me a boost up, and then she took my hand to help me the rest of the way.
“You got her?” Lazlo asked her.
“Yeah, I’ve got her,” she replied.
Once I was up, I knelt beside her and hung my arms over the edge, so I could help hoist up the children, Alex, Chloe, and Mason.
Within moments, the zombies appeared, all of them fast. Lazlo, Riva, Calvin, Drew, and Kerrigan were on the ground, doing their best to fight off the rabid monsters that surrounded us.
Barely audible over the fighting, I heard the whistle of the arrows. I opened my mouth to tell everyone to get down, but it was a moment too late. An arrow pierced the chest of Mason, the eldest of Drew’s nephews, and he fell backward off the truck, onto the ground with his little brother and sister screaming his name.
I grabbed Chloe before she dove off the truck after him, and I held her close to me because it seemed like the only thing to do.
A zombie suddenly leapt up onto the canvased cover of the truck, and this one was a fast-moving female in a bloody sundress, who struggled to keep her balance on the uneven footing. Kimber roared – a righteous, angry sound – and she charged at the zombie, kicking her right in the chest. The zombie tumbled off and fell to the ground.
“This isn’t safe,” Kimber said as she crawled back to us. “We have to run. We have to find somewhere safer to hide.”
I didn’t argue with her, even though I wasn’t sure if I could run or even walk, but it didn’t matter. Staying here was certain death, and I didn’t want that for anyone.
Kimber took my hand, and we used the canvased roof to slide down to the ground. Everyone else jumped off the side and started running, and they quickly disappeared into the tree line. One zombie ran after them, but the others stayed back, dodging Kerrigan’s bullets and Lazlo’s machete.
Into the trees we went, but I couldn’t move very fast, especially not in a dark forest full of broken branches and unstable ground. Kimber kept an arm around my waist, dragging me and carrying me along.
“You should leave me behind,” I told her. “You’ll go faster without me.”
“I won’t leave you,” she declared.
I didn’t argue with her, because I didn’t want to be left behind to die, but I wasn’t wrong. We weren’t moving fast enough, and the zombie howls echoing through the trees sounded like they were surrounding us.
“There’s a fallen log,” Kimber said, motioning to a thick hollowed out tree lying flat on the forest floor. “We can hide in there.”
It was barely wide enough for the two of us, thanks in part to it being half-full of mud and leaves, and it hurt to crawl on my hands and knees, but I grimaced through it. The two of us managed to squeeze in, and we clamped our hands together.
“If we die tonight, I’m glad I got to know you,” I whispered.
