“Nothing ventured, nothing gained.” Henry put the truck into gear and turned back for the warehouse. He just had to figure out how to tell Candy they needed to wreck one of their working vehicles to block the road.
Chapter 2
Hatcher leaned out of the window of the bouncing Humvee and popped rounds into the crowd as they rushed the transport. He couldn’t see if any of the rounds hit home, but watched as they slowly pulled away from the horde.
“Total waste of ammo, but it made me feel better.” He threw himself back into the seat and gave Hollis a stern stare. “I’m sick of these bastards screwing up my day.”
Hollis raised a brow. “No worries, Ranger. I’ll get you home.” He slapped the driver on the shoulder. “Mash the skinny pedal down, sergeant. I want plenty of room between us and the Zeds.”
“Roger that, sir.”
Buck remained quiet in the back seat until the Humvee crested the next hill. He tapped Hatcher’s arm. “That’s where I’ve been spending most of my time. They rarely travel this far out.”
Hatcher turned to see an RV lying on its side. He could see that something had rummaged through the interior at some point, as trash was scattered in a semi-circle near the back window.
He gave Buck a confused stare. “What about bears?”
Buck shook his head. “Haven’t seen any. I don’t know if they headed for high ground or if the infected hunted them.”
Hatcher tried to imagine a bear being taken down by a pack of feral humans. He couldn’t wrap his mind around the concept. “You won’t have to worry about going back any time soon, kid.” He glanced to Hollis. “You can crash with us for as long as you need.”
“If it’s all the same, I’d rather not hunt for family.” His eyes avoided Hatcher’s as he spoke. “I wasn’t close to my uncle and I got the distinct impression that my mom hated the man. The only time my dad had anything to do with him was if he needed something.”
Hatcher thought of Vicky. He couldn’t picture his life without his sister in it. She was the only family he had left. He wondered if the boy was mentally prepared to cut all ties to family, but one last look at the RV and he realized that Buck was no mere child.
Trying to stay alive in such a hostile environment couldn’t have been easy. He could only imagine what Buck had to do to keep breathing. He cast a furtive glance at the lean young man sitting across from him and noted the thousand-yard stare.
“You can stay with us as long as you like, Buck. Nobody’s gonna make you go any place you don’t want.” He fought a grin and added, “I’m sure Skeeter will be glad you’re alive.”
Buck gave him a small smile and nodded. “I’m glad she made it out.”
Hatcher bit back a smart-assed remark. “She’s been a real…handful. Maybe with you back among the living, she’ll calm down a bit.”
He turned his attention back to the front of the truck and the brush being knocked out of their path. “Are we almost to the secondary landing zone?”
Hollis pointed up and to the left. “Just over that ridge is a clearing. The chopper should be waiting for us.”
As the Humvee crested the ridge, Hollis’ stomach fell. The chopper was making a slow circle just feet from the ground with Zeds hanging from the landing gear. One was scrambling up the strut and reaching for the side door.
“No!” Hollis braced a hand on the dash as the driver locked up the brakes.
“I thought you said they never came out this far?” Hatcher threw an accusing glare at Buck.
Hollis threw open his door and took careful aim at the creatures hanging onto his ride home. He let loose a round and wanted to cheer as a body fell from the chopper.
He looked through his scope to the pilot and saw a figure making its way through the rear. He fired two rounds, praying he’d connected with the intruder, but the aircraft made one last spin before tilting downward, its blades slicing the topsoil before the entire craft sunk into the soft dirt.
Pieces of helicopter flew in every direction and Hollis instinctively ducked behind the cover of the door. He watched in horror as the Zeds dove into the broken craft and prayed that the pilot didn’t suffer.
“Son of a…” he trailed off.
“We need to move!” Hatcher pointed to the right and Hollis turned to see a large pack of Zeds tearing ass up the hill toward them.
He slammed his door shut and glared at the pilot. “Take the highways!”
The driver turned the Humvee around, heading back to the paved roads into the park as Hollis relayed the obvious bad news to his men over the radio.
Hatcher laid his head back and squeezed his eyes shut. He knew this was a bad idea. He turned slowly to Buck and gave him a tight-lipped smile. “I guess I jinxed us by promising you a real bed tonight.”
Buck shrugged. “Out of the frying pan…”
“City of Vision.” The biker scoffed. “Looks more like a ghost town.”
The bikers had parked in the middle of the highway and the lead man stood on the pavement, binoculars to his eyes, scanning the city ahead of him. “I’m not seeing shit.” He dropped the spy glasses and huffed. “If he’s gonna run off, he shoulda left bread crumbs for us to follow.”
“Stain, won’t the birds eat them?”
The lead biker, nicknamed Stain by Simon, turned slowly and stared at his riding partner. “You are joking, right?”
The man shook his head. “I reckon the birds would eat—”
“Did your momma drop you on your head as a baby?” Stain slipped the binoculars back into the saddle bags of his bike and straddled the machine again. “Fan out. If you see anything that looks like a
