Karmen shrugged, wrapping her arms around herself. She looked scared.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I guess so. I’m just afraid that if I miss one or two, we’re going to get overwhelmed. I don’t know for sure how many I can hold at once.”
“Just do your best,” Crash said, touching her arm. “You can do this. I’ll catch any that get through, okay?”
They had a pretty solid plan in theory, but Parrish had no idea how it would really work once it came down to it.
They would stay in a tight group. Karmen would use her mind control to create a circle of zombies around them, like a wall of protection. If possible, she’d make it two or three rotters deep.
“Put in your earbuds,” Crash reminded them. “If they get loud, it might be hard to hear each other without them.
Parrish and Noah would slice and bash the ones in the front row, while Crash would keep an eye out for any on the other side who broke through the barrier.
Slowly, they’d inch forward, continuing to stay inside the wall.
If too many broke through at once, Crash would use his chain lightning spell to stop them in their tracks, and Parrish would use the flash of blue light to cut as many down as possible, just like she’d done back at the compound.
Of course, the issue with that was the fact that her light would most likely cut her own group’s legs off if she wasn’t careful. If it came to that, they’d have to climb onto something like a car or a bus or some steps.
It wasn’t going to be fast, but all they needed to do was survive.
Of course, if super zombies attacked in large groups, there was no plan for what they could do. Run and hide. Barricade themselves into a building somewhere and try to take them on one by one? She wasn’t sure, but she hoped it wouldn’t come to that.
Parrish pulled her sword from its leather strap on her back and poured her power into it. A bright blue flame engulfed the blade, and she’d barely had to even think of it. Her powers had definitely come a long way in a very short period of time.
“Do you feel that?” she asked as a new sense of power surged through her.
“What?” Karmen asked, turning around, as if to look for something.
“No, in here,” Parrish said, placing a hand over Karmen’s heart. “Do you feel the power there?”
Crash lifted his hands and smiled as bolts of lightning danced between his fingertips.
“Oh yeah,” he said. “There’s the juice.”
Karmen slowly nodded. “I do feel that. What is it?”
“David,” Noah said, lifting his bat into the air. A blue light similar to Parrish’s flame pulsed against the wood. “We’ve never been this close to him before, but I can feel it now. He’s alive, and he’s only a few miles away.”
“Hopefully that means we’ll all get stronger as we get closer to him,” Parrish said. “We need to get moving, though. We’re wasting daylight.”
“Oh, wait. Before we go.” Karmen grabbed a black duffel bag from the boat and pulled out four long knives. “We have these, too.”
“Dang, where did you get those?” Crash asked.
“Tank gave them to me,” she said, handing one to each of them.
They were hunting knives, long and sharp. Toward the hilt on one side, the edge was serrated. Parrish was pretty sure they could do some serious damage with those if things got too close for comfort.
Once again, Karmen had surprised her.
Each knife had its own leather sheath that could be attached to a belt, so the guys strapped theirs on. Neither of the girls were wearing belts, though, so they tucked them into the back of their jeans.
Parrish grabbed her backpack, double-checked she had everything in there she needed, and hoisted it onto her back.
After all this time, hoping she could come to New York and save her sister, the moment had finally come.
And she was scared to death.
They weren’t ready for this. Who could ever be ready for something like this?
But ready or not, they were going in. Fate would have to determine the rest.
She took a deep breath, trying her best to calm her heart and her nerves for whatever cruel ideas fate had in store.
“Alright,” she said, finally, taking a deep breath and lifting her sword. “Let’s go get my sister.”
Part Three
The City
Thirty-Four
Zoe
Zoe leaned out the window, looking for any sign of David. He didn’t seem to be on the ground, which was a relief. She’d just about convinced herself that he’d fallen and was dead out on the streets.
Instead, she looked up, squinting at the bright sunlight.
There was someone up there, but she couldn't quite tell from this distance who it was. And she didn’t have time to think about it.
Within seconds, a terrible roar sounded in the streets, like a chorus of groans.
The sound startled her, and she turned her attention downward again, backing up slightly so she could hide behind the curtain.
At first, she thought maybe a large horde had been pushed their way by chance, but it only took a few seconds to realize this was no coincidence.
These rotters didn’t just happen to be passing by. They were coming from every possible direction in swarms, practically falling all over themselves to get into her building. They ran up the steps and tore their way into the building, pouring in like a rushing river.
Something deep inside her reacted to the sight. Like this was the beginning of the end. For all of them.
Zoe stumbled backward, letting the curtain fall back into place.
What have I done?
Her entire body trembled, and she turned in a circle, looking around for anything she could use as
