Instead, her attention was focused on the sound of a hornblasting in the street outside the building.
"Do you hear that?" she yelled over the soundof gunshots and crushed skulls?
"What is it?" Mort said.
Chloe, covered in sweat, edged to the bank of floor-to-ceilingwindows that looked over the street. "It's a truck!" she yelled,triumph and hope edging into her voice. She leveled her pistol at the windowand blasted out the glass without a second thought. The survivors worked theirway towards the window, the dead following closely. As Amanda neared thewindow, she saw what Chloe was talking about.
Below them was a truck, with a trailer pulled up snugagainst the building. On the passenger's side of the cab, she saw the familiarshine of Lou's bald head. He hung out the window and yelled at them, one handmaking a C next to his mouth to project his voice. She only need to hear itonce, and then she was tumbling out the window as the mob of the dead closed inon her. "Jump" he had said... and she had done it.
She flew through the air, her arms pinwheeling as if shecould swim down to the truck. Her mind spun as the air rushed past her face,fresh air, untainted by the stench of the dead. She saw the shock on Lou'sface, and he yelled again. She couldn't make out the words, she didn't want to.All she wanted was to land on top of the semi-truck without breaking something.
The top of the semi-truck's trailer rushed up at her, andher stomach felt as if it were in her throat. Then it was there, cold metal. Itwas forgiving, and it dented as she landed upon it, almost cradling her. Itstill hurt, and she sat up on the roof and watched as the others came tumblingdown.
Chloe landed next to her almost immediately, landing sogracefully that Amanda couldn't help but hate her for it. Then came Katie andMort, landing almost on top of each other. Their grunts and groans spoke ofpain, perhaps more. The others followed, each managing to land on the traileragainst all odds.
The last person left was Rudy, sword in his hands,backing up and looking over his shoulder. From below, she could see the fear inhis eyes, his mouth pulled back as if even the very skin of his face refused tojump. Rudy turned and looked at the dead, and Amanda thought he meant to die inthe office building. When he dropped his sword, she knew differently.
Her turned and jumped out the window, and she saw that hehad his eyes squeezed shut. Without looking, he flew through the air performingthe world's most ill-fated belly flop. He was going to land right on her fromtwenty feet above. Then she felt arms under her shoulders dragging her out ofthe way.
The clang of Rudy's body hitting the roof sent echoesthroughout the truck. She vaguely heard Lou, yelling "Go! Go! Go!" tosomeone as Rudy's body plummeted through the roof of the semi-truck's trailerand into the dark interior, and then they tumbled in after him as the roof buckledand turned into a giant slide. She slid down the tilted roof and landed onsomething soft, and then the others piled on top of her. Her mind was dazed,and she scramble around in the darkness of the semi-truck flailing about herwith her fists as she tried to get to her feet.
Eventually someone grabbed her in a bear hug, and whenshe felt no pain from the clamping jaws of the dead thing that held her, shecalmed down enough to let her mind register the situation. Mort was behind her,clinging to her, and whispering that into her ear. "Everything wasok." She let her eyes adjust to the darkness of the trailer, and then shelooked up. The ceiling of the semi-truck had been caved in by Rudy's descent.At the front of the trailer, the roof was still attached, but the back had beenundone by Rudy's swan dive so that the rest of the roof had acted like a slideat a playground, depositing the rest of them in the hold of the trailer in anuncomfortable pile of limbs.
Inside the trailer, there were boxes of unknown goods,but these were secondary to Amanda. The boxes were a then problem. Thepeople around her were a now problem. She saw Rudy lying on his back,his great belly pointing up at the sky. His eyes were closed and Joan and Claraknelt next to him, trying to wake him up. She saw a thin stream of bloodrunning from his nose. Others were hurt as well, but she didn't care. At thatpoint in time, she only cared about Rudy.
She walked over to his body and knelt down. She placedhis hand in hers. It was still warm. Blood still pulsed through it. Amandabegan to cry.
Chapter 9: Burnside Bridge
Blake had felt Lou's command to go. He certainly hadn'theard it, though there were times when he could almost trick himself intothinking that he could hear noises. He accelerated down the street, weaving inand out of stalled cars. Behind him, in his side mirror, he saw the dead tumbleto the ground as if they were a wave composed of legs arms and torsos. Blakespared them a single glance, and then he accelerated down the street in thedirection of the river.
He had no idea what the plan was. He just knew that hewas going to drive until they couldn't drive anymore or until they were safe,whichever came first. If he had to bet on it, he would bet more on the former.He focused his attention on the road. It was only a few blocks to the firstbridge, the Broadway Bridge, a steel monstrosity that always reminded him ofthe opening credits of the TV show Taxi when he went across it. WhenBlake had pulled the
