Deadly Night: Jenni and Katie's Untold Tale: A Short Story From the As The World Dies Universe (As The World Dies Untold Tales Book 4) (5 page)

“This is the area that had those slower zombies a few days ago,” Curtis answered. “I’d like not to stir them up.”

“If those men came this way, they’re stirred up,” Jenni retorted.

“Caution don’t hurt nobody,” Curtis replied sourly.

“Let’s hurry. Something’s wrong back there,” Shane said, sounding very nervous.

A second later, the pops of gunfire echoed through the night.

“Yup! Things are going to hell!” Shane took several sharp steps toward the others.

Jenni peered around Juan. The flash of headlights briefly blinded her as a pickup did a U-turn to head back to the fort. Dark shapes raced after the truck, and the screech of the dead filled the night.

Instantly, Jenni’s group dove into the recessed entrance of an old store.

“Runners,” Juan whispered. “Shit.”

Runners were fresh zombies and very dangerous. They appeared to be smarter than their shambling brethren, so the fort survivors were always cautious when they appeared.

Curtis scooted up to the threshold of the entrance and cautiously peered up the road.

“What do you see?” Jenni asked in a whisper.

“Looks like they’re following the truck. Or at least the runners are.” Curtis sank back against the wall and wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. “That big group might follow the runners or keep coming this way.”

“Are you sure the runners are heading to the fort?” Juan asked.

Jerking his head toward the road, Curtis said, “Pretty sure. Hard to see. One of the runners kicked that flashlight, and it’s aiming this way now. So we best stay put or they might see us.”

“Fuckin’ great,” Shane groused. “Gawddammit.”

“Keep it down,” Jenni ordered. “We don’t want them coming this way.”

“I say we keep heading to the gas station,” Juan said. “But get off this street and head to the next one. It’s only a few blocks long and doesn’t connect up to a road heading out of town.”

“It’s also more likely to be infested because it’s closer to the school that got overrun,” Curtis pointed out.

“Or we could take the reasonable option and head back to the fort now,” Shane said.

“It’s going to be hell getting back inside if the herd swarms the wall,” Curtis agreed.

Juan tilted his head back and exhaled. “We can try to get over the section by city hall. Take a different route back. The zombies will be concentrated near the gate.”

“I say we head back now,” Curtis said. “We can’t risk staying out here.”

“We promised we would find those men,” Jenni protested, taking a sharp step toward Curtis.

“Katie got the woman and the kids in the truck,” Shane said. 

“It’s over,” Curtis replied. “We head back.”

“No, we can’t!” Jenni poked Curtis’s chest.

“
Loca
, calm down,” Juan said, pulling her back toward him.

“No, we promised.”

The shrieks from the undead grew in volume, and Jenni’s protests died on her lips. Freezing in place, the small group stared at each other in fear. Curtis again dared to peer out at the road. Instantly, he ducked back, pressing his back to the wall. A quick shake of his head silenced all questions. Motioning with his hand, he indicated they should move to the darkened area near the door. Shane instantly obeyed. Juan followed and tugged Jenni against him. His rough, calloused fingers pressed against her hips, keeping her close.

The pounding footsteps resonated along the street. Jenni fought to keep her breath steady. It was difficult when her respiration sounded obscenely loud to her own ears. Fingers flexing around the Beretta and crowbar, she readied herself to fight.

The small pack of runners raced past the store front, their ungodly shrieks filling Jenni with terror. For a second, she flashed on Lloyd and Mikey chasing after the battered white truck on the morning Katie had rescued her. Shivering, she closed her eyes to abolish the image.

“Six,” Shane counted in a lowered voice.

Jenni exhaled. “We can take them.”

Curtis shushed Jenni and Shane, then dared to glance at the road. Leaning toward the group, he whispered, “Slow ones only a few blocks down.”

The smack of the runners’ feet against road incited the need to kill inside Jenni. They were getting away. She started toward the sidewalk.

Juan maintained his hold on her. “Hold up,
Loca
. I say we let them keep running. Who knows what they’re chasing? Probably shadows and moonlight. Let them run.”

“I say we head back to the fort,” Shane insisted.

“I agree. It’s getting dicey out here, and we don’t got any fallback positions out this far,” Curtis said, bobbing his head in agreement.

“But what about those men?” Jenni stared at the group incredulously. “We said we’d find them and take them to the fort.”

“That crazy bitch and the kids are back at the fort, where we should be, so I say we did our good deed,” Shane retorted. “Let’s call it a night.”

“Juan, we can’t go back.”

“Yeah, we can, Jenni. Runners change everything. How many more might be heading this way?” Juan gently brushed her cheek with his fingertips, but she ducked away from him.

“I don’t break my word.” Jenni started forward, but Juan again dragged her back.

Bending over, he whispered in her ear, “You can’t save everyone, but save us right now.”

Spearing him with an angry look, Jenni shrugged his hand off her. “Fine.”

The three men visibly relaxed, and Jenni realized just how fearful they’d been that she’d run off. Letting the disgust she felt at their refusal to help her radiate out of her gaze, she checked the road herself. There were slow moving zombies several blocks away, and the runners had vanished into the night.

Jenni slipped out of the entrance and rushed around the corner onto a street that bypassed the fort. Juan and the others followed in her wake. They all moved as quietly as possible and stuck to the shadows. At each alleyway, they hesitated, checked for zombies, then hurried onward.

Every little noise they made echoed about them. Jenni tried to run on her tip-toes, but her boots still slapped loudly against the red brick road. The sound of gunfire nearby was hopefully diverting the attention of the dead. As she crossed an intersection, Jenni glimpsed the shambling crowd on the parallel street moving in the direction of the fort wall.

Juan cursed under his breath. “That new wall better fuckin’ hold.”

The runner erupted out of the abandoned lot behind a string of stores that faced the fort. It was a huge man with powerful arms, and it was on them in seconds. Shrieking, it lunged at Juan. Jenni gasped, but Juan was quick and ducked out of the way while swinging his ax at the zombie’s head. He missed and hit the creature’s shoulder. The zombie tried to seize Juan again, the movement wrenching the ax handle from Juan’s hands.

“Shit,” Juan gasped, ducking away.

Realizing the crowbar was useless against someone so much bigger and stronger than her, Jenni raised the Beretta and fired off a shot. The zombie darted toward Shane, the bullet missing. Shane skittered out of the zombie’s way, trying to get distance. Curtis darted behind the zombie and fired at the zombie’s head. Again, the runner was so fast, the bullet punched into its back, not its head.

“Someone fuckin’ kill it!” Shane shouted while continuing to dodge and scamper out of the grip of the zombie.

Jenni fired again, missing.

Shane howled at her in rage. “Bitch, you almost hit me!”

The runner continued to pursue Shane toward the fort wall. In his haste, Shane stumbled but managed to catch himself before the huge creature grabbed him. Jenni sprinted after the zombie, again attempting to get a good shot. The creature’s movements were jerky and so random that it was impossible.

The sentry on the wall started shouting, but Jenni couldn’t discern his words. On the other side of the fort came a fresh volley of gunfire, distracting Jenni. The pickup from the fort sat in the middle of the road. The doors were open, and it was abandoned. Hopefully that meant Katie and the others were safely inside.

“Someone fuckin’ kill it!” Shane shouted.

The zombie managed to grab the hem of Shane’s jacket, and the man barely squirmed out of it in time. Jerking the empty jacket toward his mouth, the zombie shrieked in frustration. Shane ran along the edge of the wall toward a ladder the guard on duty was lowering.

Finally finding a clear shot, Curtis, Jenni, and Juan fired at the same time. The marauding zombie tumbled to the ground, its head pulverized. Gasping for breath, Jenni glanced toward the truck half a block away from their location. The area around it was littered with the bodies of zombies. Most of the herd was up against the wall, reaching for the armed people killing them with makeshift spears and firearms.

Patting her shorts, Jenni realized she only had one spare clip left.

“Get to the ladder,” Curtis shouted, running ahead of Jenni and Juan.

“Jenni, c’mon. Before they notice us,” Juan said, gesturing toward the rowdy crowd at the other end of the block.

“I made a promise,” Jenni said, then turned and darted in the opposite direction.

“Jenni, no!”

Not paying any heed to those yelling at her, Jenni ran toward the truck.

Chapter 7

-Minutes Earlier-

Katie braced herself as Travis obeyed her order to “go” and swung the truck around. The slap of the runner’s hand against the passenger window startled her. Out of the corner of her eye was the rabid, snarling face of a zombie. The wounds on his face were fresh and still bleeding. Katie glanced at Julie, worried that the man was one of her friends, but the traumatized woman remained mute as she stared at the zombies swarming around the vehicle.

The pickup accelerated, leaving the undead man and the other runners behind.

“They’re keeping pace,” Bill exclaimed.

Katie glanced into the side mirror to see the runners in unwavering pursuit. The interior of the truck stank of rotting flesh, blood, refuse, and vomit, and it took all her willpower not to roll the windows down.

This was the reality of the new world.

It was ugly and rank.

The pack of runners managed to keep pace with the truck for about a half block, then started to drop behind. The illuminated fort ahead was a comforting sight, but the runners were not that far behind.

“Go faster,” Julie yelled at Travis over the sobbing of the children.

“I can’t go too fast. We’re nearing the fort.” Travis gripped the steering wheel tightly and intently watched the road.

“Travis, we need more space between us and them. Once we stop, they’ll be on us in seconds,” Katie said calmly but urgently.

“I can’t risk a hard stop with Katarina and Felix in the back,” Travis reminded her.

“Shit,” Katie groused, realizing he was right.

“We’ll have to fight our way into the fort,” Bill decided. “Got no other choice.”

Katie acknowledged this truth with a nod of her head. “Okay, this is what we’ll do. Julie, the second we stop, get out. We’ll cover you. Get you and the kids to the ladder. Travis, you help her. Bill, you, me, Felix, and Katarina will have to cover them.”

“I can help cover,” Travis offered, but he didn’t sound very certain. He was still learning how to shoot a gun and didn’t have the best aim.

“No, just get them over the wall.” Katie understood his need to help, but he was a risk to the group. “She’ll need help with the little ones.”

Travis appeared about to protest, but one glance at her grave expression silenced him. “Fine.”

Bill tugged the small pane open in the rear window and shouted the plan to Katarina and Felix.

Watching the side mirror, Katie shivered. The pickup’s rear truck lights illuminated the pursuing dead, granting them an even more inhuman appearance in the red glow. Travis attempted to put a little more speed into their escape, but Katie wasn’t sure it was actually going to help. The dead didn’t feel pain or fear. The zombies would relentlessly pursue the living to their own destruction.

Reaching the final block, Travis was forced to gradually decelerate the vehicle. When he turned the corner instead of pulling up to the gate, the people on the wall scrambled to relocate the ladders they had already placed near the entrance to where Travis was parking the vehicle.

After rolling to a stop, Travis killed the engine and leaped out of the truck, abandoning it. Katie followed suit and jerked the rear passenger door open. Grabbing Julie’s arm, she hustled the woman around the front of the pickup as Travis collected Parker from Bill. On the wall, the ladders were handed along a chain of people lining the rickety wood walkways set against the interior perimeter.

As Travis claimed Julie from Katie’s care, he lightly touched Katie’s hand, and she impulsively gripped his fingers for a split second.

“Be careful,” Travis urged.

With a half-smile, Katie answered, “Always.”