“Ozzy!” William bellows, realizing finally it’s a losing battle and runs towards the nearest car. “Come on! Heel!”
Ozzy is still fighting the ambushers, having wrestled one of them to the ground and is tearing at the leg of the other. He lets go only reluctantly at William’s call and runs after him.
William yanks open the door to the car and throws himself inside. Ozzy jumps in after him and William slams the door shut just seconds before the girl reaches the car and begins groping the window. Her brothers soon join her, and William watches as they shove each other around to get closer to him.
Ozzy has gone to the backseat and is barking at them.
“It’s okay, buddy,” William pants, wiping sweat from his forehead. “We’re safe now.”
He’s only just uttered the words when there’s a growl from the other side of the car, and the tattoo guy pokes his head and arms in through the open passenger window.
“Oh, fuck me!” William shouts, scrambling to turn over the rifle as the guy reaches for him. The guy leans in and grabs William’s T-shirt, trying to pull him closer, just as William pulls the trigger.
Nothing happens.
“Fuck!”
William thrusts the rifle at the guy, hitting him in the eye with the barrel, causing the eyeball to burst with a ripe, wet sound, like someone stepping on a grape. It doesn’t deter the guy in the least, though, but it does give William a couple of seconds, which is all he needs to turn in the seat, lift up both legs and start kicking the guy with the soles of his shoes.
Several of the kicks connect, and the guy’s head is thrown back and forth. William can hear the teeth crack and rattle around in his mouth, and the busted eye is dripping from the guy’s cheek and onto the seat, as William kicks more and more frantically.
Finally, the guy is forced backwards far enough that William can reach his pocket, pull out a shell and reload the rifle. He takes aim and is careful to place the butt end against his shoulder this time, leaning his back against the door.
He pulls the trigger just as the guy regroups and lunges forward again. The shot is absolutely deafening, hammering painfully against his eardrums, but William hardly notices. The top of the guy’s skull breaks open like a tin can, as the bullet removes part of his brain the size of a fist.
He collapses with his torso still inside the car. Immediately, the bus driver comes up from behind and tries to push himself through the window, but tattoo guy is blocking most of the open window, and the bus driver only manages to squeeze one arm inside the car, his fat fingers groping the air.
Ozzy is barking fiercely, but William can only hear it as a faint murmur; his hearing has been replaced with a shrill dial tone reverberating inside his skull.
He feels someone bumping against the door behind him and he turns to see the three kids still trying to get in—by now, their fingers have greased up the window pretty good, and he can only make out their faces as pale, blurry circles, their open mouths forming dark Os.
William looks out the other windows and sees more dead people surrounding the car. In fact, there’s several dozen of them, and more seem to be coming every second.
Shit … I’m royally fucked …
His hand goes to the ignition. But there’s no key.
Ozzy is still barking from the backseat, and now he begins to jump around, too. William finally looks back to tell him to calm down. He sees why Ozzy is acting crazy, and his heart stops.
A dead woman—who apparently was hiding in the trunk of the car—is clumsily making her way to the backseat, ignoring the barking dog, her eyes fixed on William …
FOURTEEN
Dan can only watch in horror from atop the van as the group of zombies approach William from behind, making their way through the parked cars.
For once, Ozzy doesn’t pick up on the oncoming threat right away—probably because he’s busy barking at the three dead kids right in front of them, or maybe because his ears are still ringing from the rifle shot.
When William finally sees the zombies, it’s almost too late. Dan can tell he reacts instinctively, thrusting the rifle over his shoulder and connecting with the chin of the guy just about to bite him.
While the guy is flung back, another one immediately steps in from the side, and this time, there’s no time for William to swing the rifle.
Luckily, though, Ozzy has caught on to the threat and lunges himself at the dead guy, wrestling him to the ground, giving William time to regroup and take a swing at the boy, who’s now within striking distance.
“There are too many of them,” Dan says, staring at the zombies suddenly appearing from every direction. It’s almost like they were hiding between the cars. Or maybe inside of them. Which, for all Dan knows, isn’t that unlikely. Perhaps it was the gunshot that called them all out. “We need to help him …”
He’s about to jump down from the van when Åsaa grabs him by the arm, digging her nails into his skin.
“Wait!” she cries.
Dan assumes she doesn’t want him to leave her alone on the van and is about to tell her that he needs to go, that he can’t just watch while William gets killed, but then he follows her gaze and sees the fat lady right below, clawing at his shoelaces.
“Shit,” Dan breathes and steps back.
