Life After The Undead (Book 2): Death to the Undead (27 page)

“We’ve
made
it this far. We
have
to
chance
it.”

I
climbed
out of
the
truck
and
took one
step
when
it
happened.
The
moment
I’d
been
dreading
since
we
got
off
the
roof.
A low, loud moan
echoed
through
the
streets.
I
glanced
at
Quinn, his
face
was a
reflection
of
mine:
 
disbelief
and
anger. Zombies
crawled
out
of
everywhere,
from
under
cars,
from
buildings,
from
cars
that
were
open,
and
converged
on our
position.
There
was
no
way
we
were
going
to
make
it to the
end
of
the
block,
let
alone
five
to find a
car.

I
jumped
back into the truck
cab.
Quinn
fired
at
the
closest
of the
creatures.
The
truck
whirred
again. I
pumped the
gas.
I
knew
it
wasn’t
going
to
start.
I
didn’t
know a
lot
about
cars,
but
I
knew the
whir,
whir,
whir
wasn’t
a
good
sound.
Tears
threatened
to fall
as
my
life
flashed
before
my
eyes. That
street
was
going
to
be
my
grave.
I
turned the
key
again.
Whir,
whir,
whir.
I
slammed
the
steering
wheel
and
pumped
the
gas
a
few
more
times.

“C’mon!”
I
screamed.

I
turned the
key
again.
The
engine
roared
to
life.
I
stared
at
the
wheel,
confused,
not believing
I
heard
what
I
actually
heard.
For
a
moment,
I
thought
it
was
all
in
my
imagination. Then,
I
thought
maybe
I
was
dead.
Maybe
a
zombie
grabbed
me
from
under
the
vehicle
and
devoured
me on the
street,
but in my
mind,
I
was still in the
truck.

The
passenger
door
slammed shut, and
I
turned
to
look. Quinn
was
next to
me,
sweat
on his
forehead,
horror
on his
face. Beyond
him,
through
the window, the zombies
closed
in. A
few
more
steps
and
they’d
be
at
the
truck.
Still,
I
was
convinced
the
truck
wasn’t
really
running.

“What
are
you
waiting
for?”
Quinn
asked.
“Go,
go,
go!”

I
put the
truck in
gear,
slamming
my
foot
onto the
gas.
The
tires
squealed
before
pushing
the truck down the
road.

The
zombie
horde was
huge.
I
couldn’t
move
the
truck
anywhere
without
hitting
an
undead.
The
truck
bounced
and
bucked its
way
through
the
streets,
blood
and
body
parts
covered
every
inch of
the
outside.

Keeping
control
bordered on impossible. I
only
had one
hand
and
attempted
to drive
at
a
high
rate
of speed.
The
truck
wasn’t
as
protected
as
a
semi.
It
was
way
lower to
the
ground,
making
it possible
for
the
creatures
to
break
the
windows.
Plus, it
was
a lot
lighter,
so if
enough of
them
surrounded
us, they
could
tip us
over.
I
had
to
get
out of the
crowd
as
quickly
as
possible.

Something
clunked
in the
bed
of the
truck. I
glanced
in the
rearview,
but couldn’t
see anything.
Quinn
heard
it
too, he
turned
in his
seat,
gun
in hand,
waiting.
The
creature
plastered
itself
against
the
back
window,
pounding
on the
glass.
I
jerked
the
wheel
to the
right.

The
zombie
flew
to one side but didn’t
fall
out.
It
tried
to
regain
its
balance,
but
I
zigzagged
through
the streets. A
group
of
five
creatures
emerged
in
front
of me, and
I
pressed
further
on the gas. Two of
them
bounced
off
the side, one
went
over the
top,
and
the
other
two
were
sucked
under
the
tires. I’m
pretty
sure
we
caught
air,
and
we
came
down hard. The
creature
in
the
back
bounced
out. I
glanced
in
my
side
view
and
saw
his head shatter in
blood and bone
on the
sidewalk.
After a
few blocks, the
zombies
thinned,
the
road
cleared,
and
I
was
able to
ease
up on
my
speed. As a
moving
target,
they
still
followed
after
us,
but we
could
outrun
them.
I
headed
toward the
mall.

I
pulled
into the parking
lot
and
put the
truck
into
park. There was
no
way
to
sneak
up on the
mall,
no
secret
entrance
we
could
take
so
Duncan
and
his people
couldn’t
see
us
coming. Even
if
there
was,
I
probably
wouldn’t
have
taken
it. I
was
infuriated.
I
wanted
them to see
me
coming.
I
wanted
them
to know
vengeance was
on its
way.
I
half
expected
to have
been
gunned
down
before
making
it that far,
but
was
thankful
we
weren’t.

We
stared
at
the building. The
particleboards
that
usually
covered
the
windows
had
been
torn
off.
A
few
articles
of
clothing
and
a
suitcase
lay
in
front
of
the
doors.
A
zombie
lurched
around
the
corner
and
walked freely
into
the
store.
Quinn
sighed
next to me.

“They
left.”

“What?” I
jerked
my
head to the
side to
stare
at
him.
“Where
would
they
go?”