“They maneuvered us into an ambush!” Melvin shouted. There was no need for noise discipline now.
True did not have time to voice his agreement. Although the moon was out, there was still limited visibility, and he was trying to make every shot count. They eventually created a gap between the zeds and the route to their truck, and at Melvin’s prodding, they took off in a sprint. Melvin dropped his magazine, a valued item these days, and inserted a fresh one into his weapon while he ran.
“Green!” he shouted, letting True know he had reloaded.
True performed the same task just as another group of five zeds emerged from behind an overturned semi. Fred McCoy would have given a nod of approval if he saw how Melvin expertly double-tapped head shots to each zed.
Their respite was short lived. Five more zeds emerged from the open doorway of a fast-food restaurant and charged toward them. Both men fired, killing the zeds in under two seconds.
“To the truck!” Melvin shouted.
Both men increased their pace and were soon sprinting. They still had a little over a mile to go, but more zeds were joining in on the fun and they were preventing the men from running directly to their truck. At one point, one of the zeds jumped out from behind a wrecked Honda and actually had its hands on Melvin before he was able to push it away. Once he got a little wiggle room, he stuck the barrel of his assault rifle under the zed’s chin and blasted its face off.
True was dealing with two zeds that were in the road and coming right at him. There were also others coming in from both sides, but they were not yet a threat, only the two coming at him. True shot one but the other kept coming toward him. True didn’t break stride until he was right on it, and then he raised his right foot and stomped down hard on the zed’s knee. Zeds may not feel pain anymore, but with his knee destroyed, immediately after putting weight on it, he stumbled and fell.
“This might not end well for us!” Melvin shouted.
True was too winded to give a proper answer. All he could do was keep firing.
Chapter 23 – Who the Hell is That? (Part 1)
True reached the truck first. He threw his rucksack in the back before jumping inside. Melvin was right behind him. He did the same with his rucksack, jumped into the driver’s seat and turned the key.
“It might take a few minutes before it starts,” he said.
True grunted. He knew the truck had one of Josue’s refurbished batteries. He hoped it had enough juice to start the cold diesel engine.
There were several dozen zeds surrounding the truck by the time it started. The windows were covered with thick hardware cloth, but it didn’t deter the zeds from banging against it with their fists in hopes of breaking through.
When he first tried it, the engine turned over with agonizing slowness. Melvin gritted his teeth and waited for a full minute before trying again. After a couple of attempts, the engine cranked to life.
“I wasn’t worried,” True said.
Melvin glanced over. True appeared calm, as if they were out for a Sunday drive. Melvin put the truck into drive and ran over a zed as he began driving away. He glanced at the mirror before turning and looking behind them.
“We have four zeds in the back of the truck, and we need to get our fuel trailer without their interference.”
“Get us some distance from that horde and I’ll take care of them with my knife. Unless you want to join in too,” True said.
Melvin chuckled. The snow and ice prevented him from going too fast, but after a series of turns, he lost sight of the zeds. He spotted a good-sized church and parked behind it. The two men got out, knives in hand, and made quick work of the unwelcome passengers. Dragging them out of the way, they wiped the blood off their respective knives in the dirty snow and dried them on their pants leg before storing them back in their sheathes.
“Do you happen to know how we get back to the trailer?” he asked.
True chuckled. Melvin took it as a good sign. The only time he ever saw True happy was when he interacted with Prairie, the little girl he had rescued back in Tennessee.
“We’ll get the tanker first, and then find a safe spot to transmit a message to Weather,” Melvin said.
“Mmhmm,” True answered.
It took a little back tracking before they were going in the right direction toward their tanker when Melvin spoke.
“Hmm,” he remarked.
True was staring out the passenger window, but instantly jerked around and focused on what had piqued Melvin’s interest.
“Who the hell is that? It ain’t a zed.”
“It sure looks like a regular human,” Melvin agreed.
A figure was standing on top of an old U-Haul box truck and was surrounded by six zeds. They were all clawing at and trying to climb up on the truck, but at the sound of their truck and its lights, they paused in their efforts and turned. One of them immediately began ambling toward them. Melvin stopped their truck. The zed walked directly to the driver’s side and began clawing at the wire mesh covering the door windows. Soon another zed joined him.
“He’s wearing one of them long gray coats, the same as those soldiers,” True said. “You think he’s one of them?”
Melvin considered it. “Could be. Let’s check him out. Or her, whatever it is.”
Melvin lurched forward, running over one of the curious zeds. He then parked and threw open the truck door, knocking the other zed down. The two men jumped out and made quick work of them. When they were finished, Melvin pointed at the man standing on top of the truck.
“Come down from there,” he ordered.
The man
