“Sometimes, I wonder ... I think about how life would have been different if I’d been ready to get married like you were. Maybe we’d be parents by now.” Jennifer glanced away. If possible, she looked even sadder than she had before.
“Parents?” Leo wasn’t even old enough to buy alcohol. He’d always planned to have a family, but not until he was at least twenty-five.
Jennifer just shrugged, still not looking at him. Her silence had a weight to it he didn’t understand.
Anton chose that moment to pedal up to them. “What’s up, guys? Why are you stopping?”
“We were just talking about high school,” Jennifer said.
“Oh, okay,” Anton said. “Well, let’s get going. We’re burning darkness.”
They avoided all the roadways into Bastopol, instead choosing to cut through farmland. They circled around the town and came out on the south side. The group paused on the periphery, taking a moment to absorb the sight in front of them. Through the neat rows of apple trees, Bastopol was nothing more than an indistinct smudge in the darkness.
The nezhit could be heard in the distance, making those odd howling and barking sounds. Leo did his best to ignore the unease stirred up by the sound of so many zombies. They were going into the lion’s den.
“This is where we split up,” Dal said.
The two friends exchanged a long, silent look. Leo hadn’t realized how hard this moment would be.
His eyes flicked to Lena, who balanced on her bike a few paces behind Dal. He didn’t have to ask Dal to watch out for his little sister. He already knew his best friend would die for her. “You have thirty minutes to get into position.”
“We need to synchronize our watches.” Dal gave him a lopsided smile. “Too bad all we have are cheap Timexes.”
Leo turned his watch, letting the light of the moon glance off the face. “One thirty-five.”
“Mine says one thirty-seven.”
Lena shouldered up between them with her bike. “Now you guys are splitting hairs. We’ll be ready to broadcast when the bombs start going off. You only have to keep the Russian busy for five minutes. That’s all we need to get the message out.”
“This is really like your junior year,” Tate said. “Only we’re going up against zombies and Russians instead of Hornets.”
Leo could still remember how the way air smelled the night he used the Statue of Liberty play. A light rain fell. The scent of wet earth and grass had permeated his nose. The wet metal of the school bleachers squealed under the sneakers of the spectators who had come to watch the game. He was only a junior, but he had been picked as first-string quarterback.
The Hillsburg Hornets, a neighboring football team, turned out to be better players than anyone expected. Leo’s team was driving hard down the field, but an impressive Hornet defensive line was holding them. It was fourth down at the fifty yard line with only ten seconds left in the game. If they didn’t score on their next play, the game would be lost.
It had been Leo’s idea to try the Statue of Liberty. He’d read about it, but they’d never practiced it. Still, when he explained the concept to the team in the huddle, he knew it would work.
And it had. They’d won the game, twenty-one to eighteen.
The play had forever changed Leo in the eyes of his older teammates. They took him seriously after that. They began looking to him for leadership.
He could only hope tonight’s play would go as well.
“Thirty minutes,” Leo said. “Be ready for us to light up the night.” With one last look at Dal and Lena, he rode away into the night with his team.
Chapter 34Fifth Grade
THE TRANSMITTER WAS once again strapped to Dal’s back. He and Lena approached Bastopol from the south side of town. They’d chosen the elementary school for their entry point. It was at the end of the downtown strip, only two blocks from Guy’s Electronic Superstore.
He and Lena were each armed with a Russian machine gun and a knife. Dal hoped they could avoid using the guns, but at least they were Soviet-issued weapons. With any luck, if they had to shoot, enemy soldiers would assume the shots came from Russian soldiers.
“Do you think the whole town has been turned into zombies?” Lena asked as howling pierced the night.
“I don’t know. I imagine there are some survivors.” Which was another reason they had to get their broadcast out. If anyone out there had an infected friend or family member who hadn’t turned, they needed to know the danger they were in.
They reached the back of the elementary school. The soccer field bordered the orchard. He and Lena paused to scan the field. There were bodies there, both dead and—based on the way they moved—zombified. The bodies were small, clearly the figures of kids.
The elementary school had been attacked with the same ruthless efficiency as everywhere else. God, the Soviets were such sick assholes. Who killed kids in an invasion? It’s not like they were a threat.
“Look.” Lena raised her hand and pointed. “Over by the gym.”
Past the soccer field was the gym. The door was open, light spilling out. Dal saw Soviets inside.
“We need a closer look,” Lena said. “Maybe we can learn something else important for the broadcast.”
Dal shifted uneasily and glanced at his watch. “We only have twenty-eight minutes to get to Guy’s.
“I know.” Lena chewed at her bottom lip. “But the more information we have, the better.”
“We won’t have any information to share if we get ourselves shot.”
Lena reached across the darkness and pressed a hand to his knee. “We won’t take any unnecessary risks. We have to go past the school anyway. Three minutes. That’s all I ask. Let’s just see if we can learn anything else important.”
She was right. If they were careful, and if they
