She was about to do as Richard said when her eyes fell on his leg. He stood with it raised in the air, and it hung at an awkward angle. Broken. How he’d managed to drag her ass out of the car was a mystery.
“Richard, no!” she sobbed.
“There’s no time. I’ll hold them off for as long as I can,” he said, his tone brooking no argument.
“But—”
“I said go, damn it,” he roared, shoving her up the road with brutal force.
Missy broke into a stumbling run, tears streaming down her face. She sobbed as she went, her limbs floppy and weak. No, Richard. Not you too.
“Faster! My grandma can do better than that,” Richard shouted, prodding her on.
The first shots sounded as he picked off the closest infected, followed by more. Within seconds, he clicked on empty. “Don’t look back, Missy. Don’t look!”
She looked.
He was using his rifle as a club, fighting off the hands and teeth that surrounded him. With a roar, he smashed a woman’s face into a pulp before thrusting the barrel into the gaping maw of another.
He fell sideways onto the car, using it as a prop. Dropping the rifle he pulled out his pistol, snapping off as many bullets as possible. Bodies piled up around him even as more pushed forward. Surrounded, he did the only thing a sane man could. He thrust the barrel against his temple.
Across the distance, their eyes locked. His pleaded with hers to live, even as hers witnessed his death.
He pulled the trigger, and she jerked her head away. Forced to run, Missy pushed her body to the limits—anything to get away from the awful sounds that rose behind her. Smacking noises and wet rips filled her ears as the infected pounced on Richard’s form and fed on his rich, giving flesh.
She didn’t look back again.
Chapter 20 - Nick
Nick paced up and down in front of the gate, ticking tasks off his to-do list. All around him, the base was a hive of activity as the final pieces fell into place. Like a giant puzzle, every person formed a part of a whole.
Davis and his team had finished fortifying the defenses. Mandy’s team had stocked vital supply points with water, protein bars, and first-aid kits. Mac’s team had made sure every fighter had adequate weapons and ammunition, and the towers were equipped with machine gun turrets. Each building boasted extra defenses and guards, and the vulnerable were safe inside the community center.
“Grissom,” he shouted, spotting the man in question.
“Yes, Sergeant,” Grissom replied.
“Are all the civilians safe inside the community center?” Nick asked.
“All those who aren’t fighting, in the lab, or inside the infirmary,” Grissom confirmed.
“Including Mandy, Davis, Andrew, Tara, Amy, and Jenny?” Nick asked.
Grissom frowned as he ran through the list in his head before nodding. “Yup, all of them. Even that monster of a dog.”
Nick had it in him to laugh. “That thing is a nuisance.”
“That thing tried to eat my gun,” Grissom grumbled.
“Anyway, please look out for the bridge teams,” Nick added. “They’re not back yet, and neither is Mike Hansen’s group.”
“I heard they didn’t make it over the river,” Grissom said.
“No, but one can hope,” Nick said.
Grissom scurried off, and Nick resumed his pacing. Finally, Jackson’s truck roared up to the gate, and Nick ran over. “Dylan?”
Dylan didn’t reply, her body slumped on the back seat.
“She’s okay, Nick. It’s just a bang on the head, nothing serious,” Jackson said.
“She doesn’t look okay to me,” Nick said.
“All the more reason to get her to the hospital,” Jackson said.
“Fine, but hurry,” Nick said. “And you’d better report back to me on her condition.”
“Will do, Sergeant.’
The rest of the morning passed in a blur as he oversaw the final preparations. It wasn’t long before the reports came flooding in from the observation posts. The horde was inside Frederick, wreaking havoc, and triggering kill zones. Soon, half of the city was on fire, and Nick prayed it didn’t spread any further. Imagine killing thousands of zombies only for the fort to burn to the ground.
Corporal Parker and his forces were giving it their best, and the horde’s numbers were dwindling rapidly. It wasn’t enough, however, and before long, Parker’s troops were falling back. With each fall-back, Nick’s heart sank lower in his chest.
When Corporal Parker called the final retreat, he prepared himself for the worst. It took every ounce of self-control he had not to give in to the dread that gnawed at his guts. As the remainder of their forces poured in, he was appalled to note that more than half were missing.
“Corporal Parker,” he cried, jogging forward as the man climbed out of his vehicle. “Is this all that’s left?”
“We dropped as many as we could, Sergeant, and the kill zones got a lot more, but the cost was high,” Corporal Parker said with a grim look.
“I am sorry.”
“Now it’s up to the decoys to divert the rest of the horde,” Corporal Parker continued.
“Do you think they can?”
“I hope so,” Corporal Parker said. “Because if they fail, the fight’s coming right to our doorstep.”
“All right. Take care of your wounded and deploy those able to fight wherever you deem best,” Nick said.
“Yes, Sergeant,” Corporal Parker said, turning back to the weary men and woman that awaited his commands.
Nick stared out into the distance, wondering how many of the things were still out there. Hungry. Relentless. He hoped the decoys would do the job and slam the final nail into the proverbial zombie coffin. But, he doubted it. So far, they’d been shit out of luck.
When the first news report came in, his fears were confirmed. The observation points reported that only two sections of the horde had followed the decoys along the interstate. The rest of the infected were still headed their way. Even worse, one of the decoy vehicles had crashed—Richard’s.
With dwindling hope, he waited until the first decoy vehicle roared through the gates. In the back sat Missy. They’d
