"You're a saint," they said as they lined up infront of the muzzle of his rifle.
The line went quick, and when his rifle clicked empty heshrugged in apology at the remaining refugees. He looked around the arena andsaw that they were surrounded. There was no way out. He flipped his riflearound, and swung at the first Annie that approached him. He connected solidlywith the rifle, but the creature still came. He swung again, knocking it to theground. His arms and hands stung from the impact.
All around him, the people fought for their lives. Hestumbled over one of the bodies he had executed, and went to the ground. Thedead lay on top of him, grasping and squeezing at his body. He grit his teethas they crushed his arms and legs in their fervor. Screams filled the arenafloor, and then the lights went out for good as the emergency lights of theColiseum died.
Private Bryant heaved one last time, freeing himself fromthe Annie that was on his chest. He rose, kicking and punching. He didn't knowif he was punching the living or the dead. None of it mattered. He walked oversoft chunks of flesh, unmoving beneath his feet, pushing and shoving his waythrough the nightmare. Screaming among the screams. Grunting, heaving, fightingfor every last breath. In the darkness a rifle exploded, and he moved towardthe source of light. Someone was still alive. Someone was still fighting, justlike him. Arms groped around him as he swam through the sea of the dead,towards the source of the rifle fire.
"Fire in the hole!" a voice yelled, and therewas a clank to his left. The world lit with a brilliant white light. He had notime to blink as shrapnel tore through his body. It was over quick. When herose again, he felt no pain. He stumbled about in the darkness, hungry.
Chapter 35: Into the Night
Katie was in the middle of the pack. Behind her, shecould hear Brian's labored breathing as they pounded down the stairwell. Whenthey reached the bottom, they readied themselves, with Zeke taking the lead.Katie watched him, desire in her heart, as he pushed open the door.
The door opened onto the loading docks underneath thebackside of the Coliseum, and the sight was anything but calming. While notcompletely jammed full of the dead, it was going to be a tough slog to get outof there. They moved through the door, their feet shuffling them over the concrete.Zeke was the first to fire, and she saw one of the dead drop to the ground. Asif he had given the order, the rest of the group opened fire as well. Katiebrought up her handgun, the one that Fred Walker had given her, and she linedthe sight up with the head of a hulking white man, his eye hanging by a scrapof flesh. Her shot missed the eye, but buried itself neatly in his forehead.
They advanced through the covered area, mowing the deaddown as if it were a walk in the park. Behind her, Katie could hear Brian'ssnot-nosed whelp shrieking in terror. She glanced over her shoulder to seeBrian's sweaty face, shining in the moonlight, his child's face buried in hisshoulder. The sound grated on her ears, and she wanted nothing more than toturn around and put a bullet through the brat's head. This wasn't a world forchildren. It wasn't a world for family either. She bit her lower lip and firedagain, as the group stepped out from underneath the overhang of the loadingdock's roof.
The sky was clear, lit by a sliver of moon, which wasgood because the streetlights were out, and the city was a mass of darkness,seething with the dead. She shivered, as they shot their way through the throngof the dead surrounding the Coliseum.
They were almost on the other side of the mass whendisaster struck. The worried wailing and whimpering of Brian's child hadchanged; it was now more of a shriek. She turned around to see Brian gnawing onthe child's neck. Blood flowed from her wound, and his beard was turning a truered color. Without thinking, she aimed her pistol at his head and shot himdead. His long lanky body collapsed to the pavement, and the girl rolled fromhis arms.
Blood shone black in the moonlight as Katie stood overthe injured girl. Her teenage sister was there, placing her hands over thewound in her neck, and putting up a fuss. Katie looked around to see the othersgathered in a circle, the dead approaching them. Their weapons were at theirsides, and they all seemed lost. Katie did what she thought was right, what thecold-hearted presence that had taken root in her chest told her to do. Sheshoved the older girl to the side with her shoe, and then fired a bulletthrough the brain of her sister.
"Let's move," she yelled, as if she had juststopped to tie her shoelace. The looks from the others in the group botheredher, but not enough to stand there and become a meal for the dead that wereencircling them.
****
Lou picked up Jane, pulling her away from all thatremained of her family. Now they were just two more slabs of meat lying in theroad. If he had been inclined, he could have left her there, and let the entirefamily tree turn brown and die right there. Yet, he didn't. He never wanted tosee people hurt, and he had seen so much of it over the last couple of days. Hegrabbed the girl and threw her over his shoulder, where she lay like a deadfish sobbing her sister's name.
He tapped Zeke on the chest as he ran by, and they movedthrough the crowd, firing into the dead. They were wandering, spun off from theColiseum
