“We’re screwed.” Skeeter turned and stared at him wide-eyed.
Buck grabbed her by the shoulders. “Grab your bag!” he hissed through gritted teeth. “We gotta move!”
Almost on cue, a scream broke the night air and they both turned to stare back down the way they had come. Without headlights to light up the area, they couldn’t make out any figures racing down the hillside, but Buck knew they were close.
“Now!”
Skeeter picked up her bag and the two took off again, hugging the vehicles along the side of the road, yet trying to stay concealed.
“Should we try to find another car?” she asked.
“They’re too close.”
As they crested a slight rise, the road came to a ‘T’ with cars parked along both sides and going both directions. Skeeter gave him a panicked look and grabbed his shirt, balling it in her hands.
“Which way do we go?” she asked, the screaming behind them getting louder.
Buck stared at the line of cars going both directions and shook his head. He tried to sound like he knew where he was when he spoke.
“Left.” It continued downhill and the only thing he remembered during the drive coming in was that it was nearly continuously uphill. “Yeah, we go left!” He grabbed her by the pack strap and the two took off at a dead run.
This time they ran down the middle of the road, not trying to conceal themselves. The screamers were getting too close, and although Buck was exhausted, the sudden rush of adrenaline had his feet moving just fine. He reached his hand out and grabbed Skeeter’s hand while he ran. “Stay with me!”
Buck could feel his legs burning and knew that Skeeter had to be about worn out as well. He was slowing down and his lungs were burning, too. He could only hear the crunch of the gravel under his sneakers and the beating of his heart mixed with the huff of his breathing as he willed himself to keep going. He could feel himself slowing even more, with Skeeter pulling him back a little at a time as they rounded a bend. He saw one more long line of cars going down yet another steep slope and he cursed to himself. How many freaking people drove to this stupid concert, anyway?
Buck felt his feet slow to a mindless walk, even though his brain was screaming at his legs to step it up, go faster. Skeeter had let go of his hand and stopped completely. Hands on her knees, she was bent over, gasping for air.
“We…need…to keep…moving,” Buck wheezed out. Skeeter just waved at him with her hand as she turned around and attempted to throw up.
Buck grabbed her hand and pulled her over behind the cars one more time. They both fell to the ground and tried to use a large SUV as cover, but if anything came down the hill, their wheezing and coughing would be a dead giveaway.
Skeeter pulled her bag around and twisted the cap on a bottle before taking a long draw from the lukewarm water. She handed the bottle to Buck, and even though his mind told him to sip it, he swallowed three big gulps and felt his stomach churn. He sat leaning against a tire, sweat running down his back and into his underwear, when he heard the distinct sound of small engines running full out. He tapped Skeeter and pointed out into the woods.
“You hear that?” he asked breathlessly.
She tilted her head a moment, then rolled forward to look around. Buck came to his knees and peered over the fender of the SUV. Slowly, he chanced standing. He couldn’t hear footsteps approaching, nor had he heard a scream, but he didn’t want to let them know exactly where they were.
Slowly, he stood and scanned the area. He thought he saw light coming through the trees ahead. It almost looked like a set of headlights were cutting through the woods and would intercept the road they were on.
“Look,” he said, pointing. “There.”
Skeeter saw the lights, too, and shoved the bottle back in her pack. “Can we catch them?”
“I don’t know.” Buck shook his head. “But we can try.”
He grabbed her hand again and the two took off down the road as fast as their weary bodies would take them.
Hatcher waited for a bullet to rip into his back as he drove the ATV out of the makeshift compound the military was erecting. When it didn’t come, he wasn’t sure if perhaps the colonel was bluffing with all of his grandstanding, or perhaps he assumed Hatcher would meet his doom out here in the wild with all of the crazy infected people. Either way, Hatcher felt pretty ridiculous as he slowed the ATV and assessed his situation. He had a flashlight, a custom .45 with one magazine, and no backup.
Great freaking plan, pal.
Daniel did his best to clear his mind. “Okay, where would they most likely come in from?”
He stopped and looked at the crossroad ahead of him. If they came the shortest and most direct route, they’d arrive on the forest road at his left. If Mitch was aware of it. If Mitch wasn’t aware of it, they’d come through the secondary campgrounds and come through the road on his right. Hatcher debated waiting right where he was until a helicopter flew overhead at a diagonal to him. He remembered what he’d overheard about air support and seeing the soldiers with the night vision goggles.
“If that crazy-assed colonel thinks I’m just going to sit back and let him write off people like Mitch, then he has another thing coming to him.” He kicked the ATV into gear and shot off down the fire road on his left. “Please be on this road, Mitch,” he muttered as he accelerated up the rocky hill.
Hatcher road like the Devil himself was on his tail as he tried to close the distance between himself and Mitch. He tried to visualize the
