pulled him from the vehicle. Stewart saw the legs of several men standing outside the car, the men pulled both of Max's hands behind him and double handcuffed them together.
Looking around frantically Stewart saw her gun had been thrown from the vehicle, but her machete had fallen to the ceiling from where she had stashed it in the door.
Outside the car Max was coming around, he was face first in the rubble of the collapsed highway bridge. A moment of struggling and he realized that his hands were cuffed behind his back. There was a group of zombies in uniforms with guns milling about and Max saw two trucks on the street just clear of the rubble. This was all he noticed before Stewart flew out of the car in front of him, machete in hand. The zombie closest to the car had his head sliced horizontally in two just above the bridge of his nose before he even knew what hit him. Stewart vaulted off another gun toting zombie and into a third before the gunfire started.
Max rolled to his back and struggled to sit up, that's when he noticed that Bill and Javier were trussed up not too far away from him. There were two zombies standing above him, one had a length of rope in his hands, obviously getting ready to truss Max up like his friends, in addition to the handcuffs. Max kicked the other man in the knee, buckling it and causing him to drop the Taser he was reloading.
Stewart was unable to get in another killing blow on the remaining half dozen zombies, now that they knew she was there they were reacting quickly. She pushed her machete through the torso of one of them and twisted it as she pulled it out in an effort to slow him down. The zombie standing next to him brought his shotgun up and pointed it in her direction, Stewart was still moving, but it was the zombie dressed as a police officer who knocked the gun sideways and spoiled the shot.
'No guns!' the officer barked, he was limping away from Max and his crew, hearing that order, switched to short clubs. The officer continued to back away and inserted a fresh cartridge into the Taser.
Stewart was fast enough to trade blows with two of the zombies and still get in a few licks of her own, but when the third, a massive man wearing army fatigues stepped up she knew she was in trouble.
The army zombie came forward fast and low, swinging to take out Stewart's legs while one of his buddies aimed high. Stewart leaped sideways and lashed out with her weapon, it hit the muscle bound army man mid- chest. There was a loud tearing sound and the blade rebounded from the body armor he was wearing beneath his jacket. Stewart made a clumsily landing and backed another two steps away from the army guy and his buddy. Behind those two the other zombies were fumbling with their belts, it looked like they had Tasers as well.
'
One of the zombies in the second row stepped up with a bottle that looked like a miniature fire extinguisher.
This caught the smaller of the two zombies in front of her by surprise and she lopped through his upraised arm and into his melon like she was chopping wood. Stewart pulled the blade free with a spray of black zombie blood and launched a quick attack on the army zombie. He was, as usual, quicker than he looked. He deflected her blade using the Billy club and punched her in the face with his free hand. The blow sent Stewart reeling back into the cloud of pepper behind her and immediately she felt her eyes swell up and she started coughing. Stewart didn't stop moving; she darted sideways and came through the cloud well out of range of her army nemesis. As soon as she emerged the itching and burning from the pepper spray stopped.
A loud ping sounded and Stewart swept the machete blade in front of her by instinct alone, the blade deflected the metal prongs from a Taser round and earned a respectful eyebrow raise from the army zombie who was coming at her again. Stewart had no interest in fighting him, not until she could clear out his helpers. She dodged towards Bill and tried to circle the big zombie, coming close to the one with the pepper spray. He raised it up to defend himself as Stewart brought her machete down towards him. A bullet struck the machete blade as it descended; Stewart tried to correct it and pull it back on track with the zombie's head, but was only able to sink it into the thing's shoulder, partially severing its arm.
Another gunshot rang out, followed by, 'Stop, or I will kill him.'
The other zombies halted in their tracks, except for pepper man, he dropped the spray can and stumbled backwards clutching his nearly severed arm. Stewart glanced over to the zombie in the police officer garb and saw that he was pointing his gun at Javier's chest.
'So shoot him, I know what happens if we give up. He's better off dead.'
The officer put two bullets into Javier's chest, the young man convulsed upwards and a low moan escaped his gagged mouth. The gun shifted to aim at Bill, 'I don't bluff. Drop it and let us take you in.'
Stewart was rattled by the casual killing of Javier, the shock must have shown on her face, but she quickly regained her composure, 'Nothing's changed except one of us isn't coming back.'
'Maybe I'm aiming at the wrong target.' The zombie shifted his pistol to aim at Max. The officer watched Stewart's expression and smiled, 'I guess I was. Your boyfriend is next little lady, or you come with us and no one else dies.'
The Taser caught Stewart in the upper thigh from behind and dropped her like a stone. She fought against the pain of the electricity coursing through her body, but lost control of her limbs and felt the machete being kicked from her hand even as her feet collapsed beneath her. One of the zombies sat on her head while another pulled her arms backward none too gently and locked handcuffs around them.
'Get off my head asshole!' Stewart shouted into the dirt. The zombie didn't move, except maybe to grind himself down harder. Stewart felt her legs being bound up in the rope that had tied Bill and Javier, and then she was turned over and sat up. She saw the police officer looking at her for a moment, then a bag went over her head and she lost even that small privilege.
She could still hear though and their conversation was short and concise.
'Tie him as well, leg shackles for all of them. Clayton get the cuffs and rope off the dead guy.' She was pretty sure the officer was calling the shots.
'She about lopped off my arm.' said a whiney voice.
'You're fault for letting her get that close. Sentry told you they would be fast.' The officer replied.
'Did you even see her come out of the car? I know Matthew didn't, it's like she just fucking appeared.' came the whiney voice again.
'Shut it, Jamie. We all knew the risks.' said the officer.
'Jeezus Scott, cut us a little slack here, you don't have to play hard ass all the time.' Came a deeper voice.
'I don't? Maybe I am not playing. Did you ever think of that? Now get them loaded up and let's go.
Stewart was lifted up and thrown into the back of what she assumed was one of the trucks she had seen. She felt two other bodies thrown in beside her, one on each side.
'Xavier, Johnny and Bobby, you ride in the back with our guests. Jamie you ride shotgun, I wouldn't want to stress your arm anymore.' said the officer's voice, who Stewart now pegged as 'Scott'.
'Fuck you, Scott. Fuck you with a horse dick.'
The gunshot came so rapidly that Stewart jumped. There was complete silence in the back of the truck, where the zombies had been getting in.
'If Sentry asks, the big guy shot Jamie too. Everyone agree on that?' asked Scott, the malice in his voice weighed heavy on the air.
'I never liked that little prick anyway.' said the deep voice Stewart thought belonged to the army guy.
'Sure, no problem. The fat one shot him.' said a new voice.
'No problems here.' answered another.
'Good. Bobby, hop down you'll ride up front with me.'
'Me? Why? I'm okay. Really. I…' Bobby stammered.
'Now, Bobby! Before the big one shoots another one of our team.' Scott ordered, 'Get on the radio and tell Russell to meet us with the van. We're heading in.'
