She accidentally smacked his face, keeping her eyes locked on the structure, and the dark figure she noticed shifting position above it.
The blockade was much more intimidating than the one that was set up at the campgrounds. It actually seemed to envelop a whole area, rather than give the idea of such. There seemed to be a guard on each corner, each with sniper rifles.
Cars were stacked at least five high all the way around the road. Where the hell did they get all these cars from? She wondered.
“We have our methods,” said someone climbing on top of the wall. She must have said that out loud, damn.
“Who are you?” It wasn’t the best structured question, but it suited her well enough.
“Since we’re the ones with a big for and the guns, I’m going to have to ask you to answer that question first.”
Kim looked to Ronnie, who simply shrugged his shoulders.
Will stopped and leaned on one of the cars, trying to catch his breath. He didn’t know why, but he’d been running the last quarter mile. He knew if the others were heading west, he would have run into them by now, and he wanted to find them before they got into any more trouble.
It was only now, after he stopped running, that he realized they might have gotten off the road at some point and gone into the woods. That’s what he would have done, hell, that’s what he had them do after they left the campgrounds.
Refusing to give in, he jumped over the metal railing and into the woods. There was the occasional zombie or two milling about, but they shuffled so slowly he just ignored them.
He started walking straight ahead, and wondered if he made the right choice. Maybe they did stay on the road. Maybe they got into the woods on the other side, try to double back around. Maybe they’re all dead now. Maybe he should just give up on them and try to find another group.
But he kept walking, humming a little tune to himself to keep his mind off those unpleasant thoughts.
The thoughts didn’t go away, they lingered in the background. To counter, he started humming even louder. The thoughts turned into reminders; about Iraq and the man carrying his dead wife to the hunting stand. He started to hum louder still.
Soon it turned into screaming, as Will clutched his eyes shut.
It did such a good job that he didn’t notice he was drawing a crowd. When he opened his eyes, he finally saw the two zombies approaching him, just feet away.
He quickly pulled out his knife and stabbed the first one in the head, leaping at it like a Tiger pouncing on its prey. He then retracted the knife, and slashed at the second with lightning reflexes.
Yet despite his speed, he didn’t have time to attack the third one, lumbering up behind him. He ducked and rolled to the side as it slow, yet powerful arms shot forward.
As Will thought about his next move, a silent banging rang out. Again, he rolled behind, this time behind a tree as he tried to identify the source of the noise.
“You better hurry the hell up if you want any more help,” yelled a distant voice.
“What?” He peaked out from the tree and saw a woman perched in a tree twenty feet away, holding a sniper rifle.
Will, deciding to take his chances, ran over to the zombie he killed and retrieved his knife before running to the figure.
The woman jumped out of the tree as Will approached. “Come on, with me,” she said frantically.
“It was stupid of you to take that shot.”
“I know.”
Will recoiled in his mind. She was supposed to say something like “don’t worry about it” or “I’m not going to let someone die in front of me”, he thought. She was right though, that’s why he said it.
“Where’re we going?” he asked.
“Well I guess we’re going back to camp. I was hunting for food.” Will detected a bit of an edge in that last statement. Still, he thought, it could be worse.
The man standing on the car wall cocked his shotgun, for effect Kim knew.
“We’re survivors, just like you,” she said.
“Yeah? Where you from?”
“A camp ground just outside the city.”
“Ah, so you’re from the east?”
“That is the direction we came from,” Kim said.
“Don’t get snippy with me, these things ain’t for looks,” the man said sweeping the barrel of his shotgun across the group.
“No, they’re for killing people.” Ronnie gave Kim a sideways look.
“Yeah, got that right.” The man lowered the shotgun, just a little. “Alright then. I assume you’re looking for a place to stay?”
“Yes,” said Ronnie.
“No,” interjected Kim, “we just wanna pass.” Kim pointed up the road.
A zombie emerged from the woods, slowly shuffling towards them. Boyd was the first to see it, and didn’t know what to do about it. Any sudden move might get him killed, one way or another.
The man with the shotgun fired at the zombie, blowing its head off in twenty different directions.
“Damn it,” Kim said under her breath.
“What?” asked Ronnie just as silently.
“The thing is,” the man with the shotgun sat down on his perch of cars, “we don’t really get too many people around here, which is a shame. We got sturdy walls, a nice supply of food and medicine, hardly any trouble. Truth is I feel obligated to make sure you folks stay here. It can be pretty rough out there.”
Almost on cue, zombies emerged from the woods on either side of the road. Kim looked around, there had to be at least fifteen of them.
The man with the shotgun disappeared behind the cars, and quickly emerged on the
