Will continued firing the pistol at every zombie he saw, alone. He ran ahead and got behind a tree.
“Keep going ahead, I’ll stay here and cover you. Go!” he proclaimed.
Without any argument the group continued on, clutching whatever they were using for a weapon, too afraid to help Will.
Kim looked back at Will and saw him firing at more zombies. They were stupid creatures, slow moving and easy to kill provided you could aim for the head. But she wondered how much ammo he had left, and for a shadow of a second, she swore she was worried about him.
Kim looked back to the group. They were running through the woods without any direction, and the rain started to pick up. The ground turned to pure mud in an instant, making it that much harder to run.
They slipped and slid through the woods, not stopping for anything, including Will. With the sound of footsteps, heavy rain, thunder, and Ronnie constantly yelling “come one” as if it made any difference, the sound of gunfire died away.
Soon, Kim stopped looking back at all.
The group continued running, stopping only when they come to a deserted road. It was littered with empty cars that all looked pretty good given the circumstance. No one bothered to search roads in the middle of nowhere, who would have thought?
They huddled around one of the cars. Everyone was covered in mud, and panting heavily despite the cooling effect of the rain.
“What we gone do now?” asked Boyd.
“I don’t know,” said Ronnie, “but we can’t say here.”
Three zombies approached them from three directions. Kim took out her lead pipe and bashed in the head of one of them. Blood and bits of brain splattered everywhere, landing on Kim’s shirt and shoes, making her wish for more mud.
Boyd hesitated, but took his 2x4 and did the same to the second zombie. His swing was slow, but he hit with so much force that its head came off, sending even more blood and guts flying into one of the cars. Anna turned to the car they were huddling behind, grabbed the side mirror, and reproduced her breakfast.
Ronnie took the last one, ripping its jaw off with his hatchet.
“Let’s go,” he said.
“Is there a reason we’re going this way?” Kim asked.
“We need to go east obviously; we came from the west.”
“I know,” Kim didn’t want to be upstaged, “but how do you know that way is east?”
“Because the sun’s setting that way.”
“The sun sets in the west dumbass. Besides, there are so many rainclouds we can’t even see the sun.”
“Fine, then you lead.”
Kim didn’t say anything. She just pushed past Ronnie, in the way he was going, and the group reluctantly followed behind her.
Will fired his last shot at the closest zombie. It made sense, why shoot the one on the other side of the clearing? That’s what he told himself to feel better anyway. He wondered just why exactly he stayed behind. He could have easily covered the group while still advancing with them. Now they were out there alone without any leadership.
No, he thought, they had Kim, and she could guide them well enough. Right now he was more worried about himself.
He almost threw his gun to the ground, but thought better of it and put it in his back pocket, taking out his knife.
Clutching the knife in his hand, he took off back into the woods, ignoring the last few zombies that shambled towards him. He slashed one in the face as he made his escape, but it wasn’t enough to kill it.
He ran through the woods, flicking his head back to see the zombies and forward to see any trees in his way.
Just keep running. Just keep running. He repeated it ad nauseam in his head, until it became silly nonsense. But his legs kept churning, so he had to give it that at least.
There were no more zombies. He either out ran them or they just gave up, knowing they could catch their prey. Like hell, he thought.
He got to a small clearing, as the rain continued to pour down through the thick forest canopy, and stopped to give himself an inspection. All his bits were still there, and he was quite fond of some of those bits.
“What now?” he mumbled to himself.
He squinted his eyes and looked into the distance, and for the first time he noticed a flat stretch of land. He approached it slowly, and ran into a metal railing. How could I miss this road, he asked himself?
The road was soaked, as tended to happen in the rain, so that was a useless bit of knowledge. The rain did stop though, so that was something. Two zombies were approaching him from the forest on the opposite side of the road, just those two though.
He could see the sun just poking out from behind the clouds. Damn it, he wondered, does the sun sets in the east, doesn’t it?
The two zombies were caught up on the metal railing, desperately trying to get at him rather than break free. He thought about ending their suffering for them, but thought better of it.
Without knowing which way was which, he tossed a coin he didn’t have, heads that way and tails this way. He tossed it, and since it didn’t exist, he decided it landed on heads. He decided to go this way, which turned out to be east.
Kim stopped dead in her tracks. There was no other reaction that could be had at the face of the massive makeshift blockade before her. The rest of the group was so transfixed that they nearly ran into the back of her, Boyd the one dumbest to do so. But
