“Dan! What are you doing?”
“I’ll lure them away from the house! Get inside!”
“You’re coming with us!”
“I’ll draw them down the street, then I’ll come back!” Dad is about to say something else, but Dan cuts him off: “It’s okay, Dad, I can outrun them! Just please go inside the house!”
Dan doesn’t wait for an answer. He runs out the driveway, passing the toothless paramedic and Lone, who both have gotten back up. As he reaches the street, Dan looks back up to see his dad run inside the house, shoving Finn back and out of sight, and Dan feels a jolt of relief.
The paramedic without teeth and Lone come staggering at Dan, but the other one is headed for the front door. Dad sticks out his head and darts one last look in Dan’s direction, their eyes catching each other, but there’s no time to say anything, and his dad slams the door right in the face of the zombie, who immediately starts clawing at the woodwork.
Dan turns and jogs down the sidewalk. His plan is to draw the zombies down the street, just far enough for him to run back. As he looks over his shoulder to make sure the zombies are following him, his foot catches a crack in the pavement and he tumbles over, just managing to break his fall in the last second, resulting in a bad bruise on his palm.
A loud scream from down the street makes him forget the pain immediately. He looks up and sees the Arab from Finn and Lone’s house attacking a woman on a bicycle. He turns his head and looks back. The paramedic is still in pursuit, but Lone has lost interest and is instead headed across the street where one of the neighbors—John, a big fat man wearing no shirt—has popped out to see what the noise is about.
Dan wants to yell out to warn him, but his voice doesn’t seem to work, and besides, he’s got his own problems. The paramedic is just a few yards away now, eagerly picking up speed and reaching out to grab Dan. Dan scrambles to get to his feet, when suddenly he hears the angry roar of an engine. The car swerves right in front of Dan, crashing into the paramedic with a loud bang, sending the body flying through a hedge. The car comes to a halt halfway up the sidewalk. The front door is pushed open, and a young guy with tattoos all the way up his arm stares out at him. “You been bit?”
Dan just glares dumbly at the question. From the trunk of the car a big German shepherd is barking furiously.
“Have you been bit?” the driver shouts.
“N… no,” Dan manages.
“Then get in!”
And he doesn’t really seem to have a choice. At that moment, John cries out as Lone attacks him, and on the other side of the hedge, the paramedic has gotten back up, wobbling uncertainly on a pair of thigh bones obviously shattered, but nonetheless headed stubbornly back out towards Dan.
“Come on, goddamnit!” the guy in the car shouts. “If you don’t get in, I’ll go without you!”
Dan gets to his feet and staggers around the back of the car. He darts a glance down the street and sees the Arab getting up from the woman, who’s already dead and has lost her appeal, as the man heads for the nearest driveway, drawn by the scent of fresh, living meat.
Then Dan opens the car door and gets in.
The guy has already put it in reverse and now backs down from the sidewalk. He stops in the middle of the street, blocking the nonexistent traffic.
“Buckle up,” he says through gritted teeth. “Seems like he didn’t get the message the first time.”
The dog in the trunk has stopped barking, but is now panting and whining impatiently, as though it knows what’s going to happen.
Dan, however, is a little slower in catching up. Only when he sees the paramedic come barging through the hedge does he guess the driver’s plan, and he quickly grabs the seat belt and fastens it.
The driver floors the accelerator just as the zombie wobbles onto the street. The sound of the collision is even louder from inside the car, and this time the zombie is thrown under the tires. Dan feels the bumps in the seat, and they remind him of the little girl he and Linda ran over in the courtyard of the old lady’s house.
“Sorry about that,” the driver says as he speeds down the street. “I know that was gross, but I’d like to take out a few of them if possible. You know, weed out the herd a little.”
“It’s all right,” Dan mutters, and, before he can think, adds: “It’s not the first zombie I’ve run over.”
He notices the guy sending him a look. Then he smiles.
SEVENTEEN
“My name’s William and the dog is called Ozzy.”
“I’m Dan.”
William points a thumb over his shoulder. “I don’t know her name, but she’ll probably tell us once she wakes up.”
Dan turns his head to see the girl lying in the backseat, surprised that he didn’t notice her before. “Is she asleep?” he asks.
“Unconscious.”
“Did she …?”
“Don’t worry, she’s clean,” William says, immediately guessing the question. “I picked her up shortly before I found you.” He makes a right turn, coming out into the main street, where the traffic looks pretty normal for a Monday afternoon.
“Thank you for picking me up,” Dan mutters. “But I’d like to go back home now.”
William looks at him briefly. “You mean back from where you just came? Didn’t you notice the zombies attacking everyone?”
“Yeah, but … I need to get back. My mom and dad—”
“I’m sure your mom and dad will be fine without you for now,” William
