"Dumbass," Caroline said from beside her.
Bunny jumped then stared at her in shock. "What are you doing?"
"Left you behind once," Bruno said from her other side. "Don't really care to live with the guilt of doing it again."
"I told you..." she snapped, but Caroline cut her off.
"Not again. Understand?"
Slowly, Bunny nodded then found herself smiling. "Fine, but you do as I say, got it?"
"Got it," they said.
Bruno chambered a round in the shotgun as Caroline lifted her handgun. Together, they turned to face the nightmare, and prepared themselves for the battle ahead. Though they knew they probably wouldn't make it, they would fight, and they would do it together.
Before them, the giants stepped into the Park.
Chapter Twenty
BUNNY JOGGED through the Park, stopping only when necessary, Caroline and Bruno right on her heels. Everywhere they looked, people were dying, attacked and bitten by the swift and smart dead, soon to turn themselves. Over their heads, more of the Blackhawks lifted off, moving away from the death trap, carrying what may well have been the last of humanity.
Putting her back to a tree, Bunny tried to stay out of the sight of the giants as they moved slowly through the Park, swatting at the military vehicles like toys. Through the breaches in the fence the monolithic dead had made, Shamblers made their way in as well, a rolling wave of horror that she knew had no end.
As she watched, one of the Blackhawks tried to skirt around a giant, only to be knocked from the air with a single swat. It spun wildly as it careened away, crashing outside the Park, consumed in a fireball. Bunny bowed her head and offered up a prayer for the passengers; thankful they wouldn’t have to suffer the horror of returning as one of the dead.
Waving her friends on, she continued their journey towards the motor pool, her only goal now gaining the Beast and getting as many as she could carry to freedom. The dead swarming around her, she fired at them, putting them down when she could. Caroline's handgun echoed hers, while the shotgun in Bruno's hands was an exclamation point.
Ahead of her, she saw a Humvee swing around, firing at a giant to no avail, the large caliber rounds simply not enough against the thing. The monster looked down at it, and swung an oversized arm, flipping the vehicle into the air. Seeing it coming, Bunny ducked, yelling at her companions to get down, narrowly avoiding the armored truck flying over their heads. She heard soldiers screaming inside, but could do nothing as they hit the ground, rolling inside their metal coffin.
"We need to get out of here," Caroline said.
"Ya think?" Bunny asked.
Bruno glanced around as thunder rolled overhead. "Where are we going?"
"Motor pool. There's a vehicle there that we can use to escape," she told them, leading them onward.
"Yeah, cause those things look to be doing a great job so far," Caroline argued.
Bunny shot a Shambler in the face as it lurched towards them. "I wasn't driving those."
“She's got a point," Bruno put in, leveling the shotgun at a cluster of dead and scattering them.
"Less talking, more running," Bunny ordered, dodging her way deeper into the madness.
Her friends trailed after her, hoping she knew what she was doing, believing in her ability to survive where others couldn’t. Through the smoke, fire, rain and screams they ran, avoiding anything that reached for them, alive or dead. It wouldn’t be much longer before there would be no escape.
Bunny pulled to a stop as she saw a familiar face, back to one of the concrete slabs the military hadn't used yet. Surrounded by Shamblers, Angel fought with a viciousness even Bunny had to fear, swinging her machete violently. Around her, the bodies were piling up, but there were too many and Bunny knew the former gang member wasn't going to hold out much longer.
"This way," she said, turning her small team towards the embattled woman, firing at the dead as she ran.
Bruno and Caroline followed her, thinning the dead as they covered the distance. Spotting them, Angel fought harder, knowing help was coming. By the time they reached her, the Shamblers lay still, no longer a threat to anyone.
"You’re a sight!” Angel yelled.
Bunny waved her over. "Come on, we gotta get out of here."
"Works for me," Angel replied, falling in with them easily.
Nearby, a giant crashed through the burning trees, bellowing as it reached out, snatching people up and devouring them whole. In the chaos, she saw Bixby as he tried to direct people away from the worst of the danger, either unaware of the monster behind him, or too concerned with others to pay it any mind.
She opened her mouth to warn him but didn’t get the chance. She looked up at the thing for a moment as it knocked Reverend Bixby to the ground then plucked him up, tearing him apart like a rag doll.
Distorted as the thing was, she recognized Peyton easily.
"Which way?" Angel asked.
Bunny pointed towards the motor pool, which now lay a good 50 yards from them beyond the med tent. She didn't look that way, though, her eyes on the thing that’d once been a man, one she’d shot and killed.
"Come on," Bruno called to her.
"Go, I'll catch up," Bunny told them, moving forward, her eye landing on something she suddenly realized she needed.
"That bitch is crazy," Angel said to the others.
Bunny ran, keeping herself low, until she reached a burning APC lying on its roof. In the hatch sprawled a soldier, either dead or near it from the looks of him. That wasn't what’d drawn her though, so much as what he still clutched
