direction like we could catch him from a few hundred yards away. It was Victor who vaulted the rail and slid down the concrete embankment to the rescue.
Shoving the slow-moving, uncoordinated, and thankfully still spread out undead aside, instead of taking the time to fight each one, Victor reached Jonathan quickly. By then, the creeper had been taken out and the two men methodically made their way back through the ever-thickening horde. Lynn started to cry and it was Jenifer who, after pulling the increasingly distressed-due-to-being-squeezed baby from her arms, slapped the near hysterical woman in the face and shoved her towards the uphill slope that would take us onto the actual bridge.
I stayed back—Coach standing alertly at my side, growling deep in his chest—taking the occasional shot with my crossbow at the corpse that wandered too close in my direction or might be too much of a hindrance to Jonathan and Victor reaching me. I tried to be careful with my shots, not wanting to exhaust my finite supply of ammunition.
I heard a shriek behind me, but Jenifer and Lynn had already crested the rise onto the bridge and were no longer in sight. I had to make a decision. The sound of a baby wailing a shrill, painful sounding cry made my decision for me. The men would have to make it the rest of the way on their own.
I can’t say I ran because I can only walk fast as of late. But I made it up the slope fairly quick. I could see a few dozen of those things spread out along the length of the bridge, weaving through the empty and abandoned vehicles that sat, sometimes apart and sometimes in congested bunches, along the span in all lanes.
Jenifer was standing in an open space between a fire-blackened city bus and an SUV that contained several zombies noisily beating on the windows trying to get out. She had Adam between her feet on the ground and stood over him using the Centurion Sword to drop any ghoul that was within range. Only, there were seven of those things moving in from every side. Lynn was crouched down behind Jenifer with her face buried in her hands and proving once more to be positively useless. I had absolutely no clear shot that didn’t have the risk of clipping Jenifer, who I could only see in flashes, as the arc of undead staggered closer and closer to their prey.
I sped up, knowing in my gut I would be too late. One of the zombies was drawn to the sound of the shrieking baby between Jenifer’s feet, bending down with hands reaching. I saw the sword flash, but it bit into the thing’s shoulder. It had been male and wore the tattered remains of blue jeans and a flannel shirt under a filthy, but strangely intact reflector vest. It crumpled to the ground under the force of the blow…ending up right at the tiny kicking feet of Adam.
I felt beyond helpless knowing I’d never get there in time as three more flesh-hungry zombies—all children—moved in, clutching at Jenifer; meanwhile, the one on the ground reached out and snagged the blanket that Adam was kicking his way out of. That was when Lynn finally snapped.
At some point she must’ve dropped her hands from her face and seen what was happening. I actually stopped in my tracks, stunned at what transpired in those next seconds. Lynn leaped up and forward, launching herself at the monster dragging the bundled baby from under where Jenifer was busy fighting for her life. I hadn’t known Lynn to carry any sort of weapon, but suddenly she had an ice pick in her hand and she was beating the zombie’s head to a pulp. Black, viscous goo flew away in ropy strands of odd-shaped gobs; splattering the ground as well as Lynn’s sky-blue blouse.
Scooping her baby under one arm, this crazed woman became a flurry of doom for every zombie within an arm’s reach. I was moving again, but still in awe at how this mousy woman had suddenly turned so fierce. Even more surprising was how she turned her fury on the handful of child-zombies. In effect, she literally
Shoving the slow-moving, uncoordinated, and thankfully still spread out undead aside, instead of taking the time to fight each one, Victor reached Jonathan quickly. By then, the creeper had been taken out and the two men methodically made their way back through the ever-thickening horde. Lynn started to cry and it was Jenifer who, after pulling the increasingly distressed-due-to-being-squeezed baby from her arms, slapped the near hysterical woman in the face and shoved her towards the uphill slope that would take us onto the actual bridge.
I stayed back—Coach standing alertly at my side, growling deep in his chest—taking the occasional shot with my crossbow at the corpse that wandered too close in my direction or might be too much of a hindrance to Jonathan and Victor reaching me. I tried to be careful with my shots, not wanting to exhaust my finite supply of ammunition.
I heard a shriek behind me, but Jenifer and Lynn had already crested the rise onto the bridge and were no longer in sight. I had to make a decision. The sound of a baby wailing a shrill, painful sounding cry made my decision for me. The men would have to make it the rest of the way on their own.
I can’t say I ran because I can only walk fast as of late. But I made it up the slope fairly quick. I could see a few dozen of those things spread out along the length of the bridge, weaving through the empty and abandoned vehicles that sat, sometimes apart and sometimes in congested bunches, along the span in all lanes.
Jenifer was standing in an open space between a fire-blackened city bus and an SUV that contained several zombies noisily beating on the windows trying to get out. She had Adam between her feet on the ground and stood over him using the Centurion Sword to drop any ghoul that was within range. Only, there were seven of those things moving in from every side. Lynn was crouched down behind Jenifer with her face buried in her hands and proving once more to be positively useless. I had absolutely no clear shot that didn’t have the risk of clipping Jenifer, who I could only see in flashes, as the arc of undead staggered closer and closer to their prey.
I sped up, knowing in my gut I would be too late. One of the zombies was drawn to the sound of the shrieking baby between Jenifer’s feet, bending down with hands reaching. I saw the sword flash, but it bit into the thing’s shoulder. It had been male and wore the tattered remains of blue jeans and a flannel shirt under a filthy, but strangely intact reflector vest. It crumpled to the ground under the force of the blow…ending up right at the tiny kicking feet of Adam.
I felt beyond helpless knowing I’d never get there in time as three more flesh-hungry zombies—all children—moved in, clutching at Jenifer; meanwhile, the one on the ground reached out and snagged the blanket that Adam was kicking his way out of. That was when Lynn finally snapped.
At some point she must’ve dropped her hands from her face and seen what was happening. I actually stopped in my tracks, stunned at what transpired in those next seconds. Lynn leaped up and forward, launching herself at the monster dragging the bundled baby from under where Jenifer was busy fighting for her life. I hadn’t known Lynn to carry any sort of weapon, but suddenly she had an ice pick in her hand and she was beating the zombie’s head to a pulp. Black, viscous goo flew away in ropy strands of odd-shaped gobs; splattering the ground as well as Lynn’s sky-blue blouse.
Scooping her baby under one arm, this crazed woman became a flurry of doom for every zombie within an arm’s reach. I was moving again, but still in awe at how this mousy woman had suddenly turned so fierce. Even more surprising was how she turned her fury on the handful of child-zombies. In effect, she literally