She wasted no time, darting as quietly as she could, keeping her profile as small as possible. It took only seconds and she was kneeling beside him, back to the car. He looked at her and smiled, looking for all the world like he was having fun.
They moved slowly this way, one car to the next, sliding down back alleys whenever possible, for almost an hour. It was slow going, and Bunny felt as if her nerves were going to fry from the tension of running a gauntlet of the dead.
Calling it a gauntlet was no understatement. They were everywhere, shuffling, standing, even sitting and staring blankly, like a minefield. One wrong move, or sound, and she knew, they would be on them.
She'd tried to count the number of them she saw, but soon gave that up. It was impossible. There were simply too many. She’d wondered why, but as soon as they slipped out of another alley, she understood.
Half this neighborhood was residential. Long rows of 2-story homes lined the streets, just blocks from the commercial area where the clinic was located. Just as many apartment buildings flanked another street. Hundreds of people had lived in this area, and now roamed it in search of food.
She swallowed down her fear as she realized that more of them could be there than she was seeing, lurking in the now quiet buildings, waiting for the sound of a meal. She scanned the windows for any sign of them, but saw nothing, and found herself hoping they were all out in the streets.
Even Peyton's normally eerie demeanor was gone, replaced with a quiet intensity as he ducked and darted from hiding place to shadowed corner. His eyes were focused, and for the moment, Bunny thought, he seemed more stable than she'd seen him yet.
The silence, however, was unnerving. Everywhere they went, it was dead quiet. Only the occasional groan of a wandering dead broke the unearthly stillness, reminding them of the danger that lurked at every step. The heavy air, once filled with the sounds of traffic and people, now held nothing but the stench of death.
Bunny found herself missing the normal sounds. Sirens, and car horns, people yelling to one another, even her neighbors' noisy arguments and louder reconciliations. The daily sounds of life, gone now, left a void she couldn't fill in her mind, and her soul. It felt as if the stillness was seeping into her.
She dropped into a crouch beside Peyton as he eyed the street ahead. Glancing about, he leaned in close to her, his mouth almost touching her ear, pausing as something nearby stirred. He remained frozen for a long moment, listening, looking into Bunny's eyes not with fear, but patience.
"Around the next turn," he whispered at last.
She glanced back the way they’d come then ahead. "It seems there are fewer here."
He nodded. "They move a lot. If they don't find food in one area, they move on. Least, I think they do. Seems that way to me."
She nodded. "Ready?"
"Hell yeah," he told her with a wide grin as he braced himself.
A moment later, he was sprinting, low and fast, across the street. Bunny watched him go, glancing around for any sign of movement and seeing none. As he reached the far side of the empty street, he planted himself to the wall and looked around the corner.
A moment later, he was waving her on. Bunny followed suit, keeping low and moving fast, until she reached his position. It was a few seconds that felt like hours. How could it not, though, she thought. They were playing a game of hide and seek with death.
Peyton pointed around the corner and Bunny leaned around him to look, seeing the APC laying overturned in the north end of the intersection. As he had reported, several soldiers lay around it, and of the dead, there was no sign.
Peyton pulled her back and signaled her to wait. Then, slowly, he eased around the corner, waving her to stick close. All but stepping on his heels, Bunny followed as he moved towards the vehicle at a snail's pace, eyes darting everywhere.
Soon enough, they were across from it. Peyton held them there for a bit, watching the soldiers. Frowning, he looked at Bunny, who shrugged. There was no way to know from here if they were just dead, or the bad kind of dead. If they were the wrong kind, this would quickly turn into history's longest and worst timed pizza delivery.
Peyton slid down the wall at his back, picking up a piece of gravel from the sidewalk. Motioning Bunny to be ready to either fight or run, he lobbed at the soldiers, hitting one of them square in the back of the head.
Tensing, Bunny waited, but the soldier didn't move. Peyton looked at her and shrugged then pushed off from the wall and ran towards the vehicle. Bunny reached for him, trying to stop him, but he was already gone.
Reaching the soldiers, Peyton looked down at them, nudging one then another with his foot, but getting no response. Methodical if nothing else, he kicked each one of them before waving her over. Bunny shook her head at his method of checking and darted over, joining him as he moved to the back of the APC.
They found the rear door hanging open and exchanged a look. Peyton motioned her to go first and she nodded, easing into the vehicle as quietly as possible. Inside, it was dark, and treacherous. Gear had fallen from the overhead bin and was scattered everywhere, forcing her to choose her steps wisely.
As she neared the front of the vehicle, she spotted a radio hanging off an abandoned jacket. Reaching down, she lifted it carefully, checking to make sure it was switched off. The last thing she wanted was a
