Meanwhile, the snarls grew louder.
He reached for his handgun on his waist, but it wasn’t there. Like always, he hadn’t brought it with him on the hunt. His other weapons had been on his bike and wouldn’t do him much good anyway. He’d have been lucky enough to be able to raise and fire the pistol if he’d had it on his person. No way in hell was he going to be able to swing a bat or a hatchet.
The pain grew unbearable, and Jon couldn’t move himself any farther. He flipped onto his back, clutching his ribs where most of the pain was coming from. The snarls continued, but they were becoming more muffled by the moment. The trees around him and the sky above were fading into darkness.
Human voices joined the growls of the zombies, but he couldn’t lift his head to see what was happening. For all he knew, the voices could be just an illusion.
The snarls stopped, and Jon heard footsteps approaching him.
The blurred images of two people stood above him, each appearing to carry some sort of weapon. One of them leaned down and tried talking to Jon, but he didn’t hear them.
That was the last thing he heard and saw before his world went black.
9
Jon opened his eyes, the world around him still a blur. He blinked several times, trying to focus. Darkness shrouded his surroundings with only hints of light. Moving his hands around, he felt the softness of a bed as opposed to asphalt. He grunted as he tried to sit up, his body aching, and he coughed.
“He’s waking up,” a male voice said.
Jon followed the voice and saw the double image of a man coming toward him.
“I’m so glad you’re awake,” the man said. “We were worried you—”
Jon grabbed the man by the collar of his shirt and pulled him down to his level. “Where am I?”
“What?”
Using what strength he had, Jon wrapped his hand around the man’s throat. He squeezed tight enough to make it difficult for the man to breathe, and he pulled him closer.
“I said, where the fuck am I?”
“Whoa,“ a woman said, entering the room.
She pulled the man away from Jon, who felt the energy coming out of his arms anyway. His head hit the pillow and he breathed heavily as the adrenaline wore off and the pain continued in his body.
“What the hell was that?” the man asked, holding his throat.
“He just woke up, Dennis,” the woman said. “It’s okay. He’s probably just shocked.”
The fog fading from his world, Jon recognized the female voice. He looked over and saw Brooke. She stood next to a candle that illuminated her face. Jon bit his lip and shook his head.
“I told you to leave me the fuck alone,” Jon said.
“You must be really out of it, pal,” Dennis said. “She saved your goddamn life.”
Jon’s brow furrowed as he looked at her. Brooke crossed her arms.
“Dennis, give us a minute.”
“Are you sure?” Dennis pointed at Jon. “He just—”
“Now.”
Massaging his neck, Dennis shook his head. Then he exited the room, mumbling something under his breath.
“He’ll be okay,” Brooke said. “He just—”
“Where am I?”
“Hope’s Dawn. It’s what we call our camp.”
“What happened? How did I get here?”
“You don’t remember anything?”
Jon thought back, trying to piece together what had happened. He shook his head, a pain shooting into his neck in response.
“All I remember is laying my bike down. The sounds of deads nearby. Then I was out.”
“You’re lucky we found you when we did,” Brooke said. “Those things would have torn you up and you never would’ve known it.”
“You saved me?”
Brooke nodded. “Not just me. You’ll meet the others later. But yeah, we were out hunting and scavenging, and heard a crash and a scream. We got there just in time. A group of five zombies was approaching your body when we got their attention and took them down.
“I honestly thought you were dead, but you were breathing. Out cold, but breathing. We found you only about a mile from here, so I sent one of the other back here to get the truck. We loaded you up along with your bike and brought you back here. That was yesterday. You’ve been asleep for close to fourteen hours.” She smiled. “So, welcome back to the world.”
“Where’s my bike?” Jon asked.
Brooke crossed her arms and scoffed. “You know, a ‘thank you’ would be nice.”
“Where’s my goddamn bike?”
Brooke exhaled. “It’s in a garage a few buildings over.”
Jon pushed himself halfway up and grunted, pain shooting into his back and ribs. Brooke came over to him and gestured him to stop, but he ignored her. His arms and ribs screamed at him, but he managed to sit up and toss his legs over the side of the bed.
“Thank you,” Jon said. “For helping me and getting me to safety. Now, can you take me to my bike?”
“You really need to let Dennis come back and look at you. He’s not a doctor, but he was an EMT. He can—”
“Please, take me to my motorcycle,” Jon requested again, slightly raising his voice in irritation.
Brooke thought about it for a moment, swiping her bangs out of her face before nodding. “At least let me help you up.”
Sitting next to Jon on the bed, Brooke helped him raise his arm to put it around her. Then, together, they stood. Jon nearly fell back and took Brooke with him, but he managed to stay on his feet.
Jon struggled to take the first several steps. The stiffness in his legs wanted to bring him down, and his ribs ached with each breath he took. But he gritted his teeth and stayed up, moving out the door of the building they were in.
Dennis leaned against the wall outside, but shot up straight when the two walked out. “What are you doing? You need to be resting.”
“Is anything broken on me?” Jon asked the former EMT.
“You could have a cracked rib,
