“This way.” Lindsay bumped her shoulder as she passed.
Selena had never been to Ann Arbor. She’d never had a reason to – she didn’t go to college and she didn’t follow college sports. She never really understood America’s obsession with football.
It looked like the quintessential “college town” - beautiful homes, tree-lined streets. The cute downtown was full of bars and restaurants. It was exactly how she’d imagined Ann Arbor – if it wasn’t the end of the world, because half of the town was on fire and the other half was deserted. Black plumes of smoke rose from the city. Trash littered the street. Sirens blared in the distance. A horrible stench filled the air – a burning smell that made Selena’s stomach churn.
“Campus is over there.” Lindsay pointed down the street.
“Stay close together,” Adam said. “No stragglers. Stay in a tight group and everyone keep their eyes peeled.”
Adam put Selena in the middle beside Lindsay. Selena pushed down the nagging thoughts of being useless. He was looking out for her – that was a good thing. Rachel and Cage took the front, while Nicky and Adam pulled up the rear.
Sunlight was fading fast. Deep shadows stretched out from the houses. Selena squinted her eyes, convinced that zombies lurked in every dark corner. She’d yet to see one zombie. Maybe Ann Arbor wasn’t hit as badly as Flint? Maybe the military handled the situation?
They ran down the center of the road, past a cluster of abandoned cars, and turned the corner. The road sloped at a steep angle. From this vantage point, you could see the downtown Strip (the street lined with college bars and restaurants) and the University of Michigan.
Selena’s stomach sank. Standing in between them and the university were thousands of walking dead.
Chapter Twenty-One
“You have got to be shitting me,” Nicky said.
For once, Rachel thought, Nicky was dead on. Zombies were everywhere - in the roads; on the lawns. There were so many zombies on the Strip that they were bumping shoulders. Rachel’s stomach flipped.
“Absolutely not. There’s no way I’m going down there,” Lindsay said.
“We have to rescue Morgan,” Cage said.
“Not at the expense of our own lives,” Lindsay retorted.
Rachel glanced at Cage. He was zeroed in on the zombies that had taken over Ann Arbor. She didn’t understand it. Why was he risking his life for her? Would she have done the same for him?
Yes. She would have. “What do you think?” Rachel asked Adam.
“I think we’re screwed -”
She swallowed. “I understand. I can go by myself.”
Adam placed his hand on Rachel’s shoulder. “How many times do I have to tell you that I’m not going to let you do this alone? You have zero faith in me.”
“No, I have faith in you. But -”
“But, nothing,” Adam said. “What I was saying before you interrupted me was – I think we’re screwed, but I have a strong feeling that every town we come across is going to look exactly like this.”
“What’s the plan?” Selena appeared beside Adam.
“This is suicide,” Lindsay said.
“See that alley behind the Strip?” Adam pointed to the street that housed all of the bars and restaurants. An alley ran behind the row of buildings. It was filled with dumpsters and trashcans and only a handful of zombies.
“That’s were Gianni’s is,” Nicky said. “See the one with the green roof? That’s it. I bet we can get inside from the back.”
Adam turned to Nicky. “We can’t risk bringing attention to ourselves. There’s too many of them. We won’t stand a fighting chance.”
“We have to move quietly,” Rachel said. “Don’t fire the guns, unless it’s absolutely life or death necessary.”
“Only strike when you have to,” Cage said. “We have to be quiet.”
“Ready?” Adam asked. “Stay close.”
They slid into the shadows, which made Rachel nervous, but they had to stay out of sight.
Cage ran beside her. She felt incredibly guilty that everyone was risking their lives to save her sister. Back in Flint, they had barely made it into the Wooden Barrel with only twenty zombies surrounding the building. Now, hundreds of zombies stood in between them and Morgan.
The ground crunched under their feet. It hadn’t rained in weeks and most of the grass was dead. Rachel slowed. A two-lane street divided the residential section and the downtown area. Most of the zombies were concentrated on the Strip – the street lined with college bars and restaurants. They hid fifty feet away in a row of bushes.
Adam held Selena’s hand. “We’ll go in pairs. See that brown dumpster? That’s where we’re headed. Sprint across the street to that deserted taxicab, check to make sure it’s clear, and then make a run for the dumpster.”
“Cage, will you go with me?” Lindsay whispered. “Please. I’m terrified. I can’t do this if you’re not with me. I know I can’t.”
Cage lifted his eyes to Rachel.
“Go with Lindsay,” Rachel said. She glanced at Nicky. “Someone has to protect Nicky.”
“Oh, please.” Nicky patted the top of Rachel’s head. “You’re the safest one here, because you are about to be escorted across the street by a certified zombie killing machine.” He flexed his muscles at Lindsay and Selena. “You two missed out.”
“We’ll go first,” Rachel said to Adam.
Nicky held up the axe that he’d found at the fire station. “See you all on the other side. Come on, hot stuff.” Nicky led her forward, but Cage grabbed Rachel’s arm.
It was hard to see Cage in the darkness, but she felt him towering over her. “Please be careful.”
“I will. You be careful too,” Rachel said.
“Dude, you’ll see her in like two seconds,” Nicky said.
Nicky crouched low, still holding Rachel’s hand, and they moved to the end of the bushes. It was a fifty-yard dash to the taxicab abandoned on the center yellow line. The zombies were to the left, on the other side of the taxi, walking down the Strip.
“Are you ready?” Nicky asked.
“Let’s go.”
They darted up the street and crouched to the ground. Rachel checked both ways. “Go!”
“There’s like a million of them.” They ran to the taxicab and Nicky crawled to the front bumper.
She lowered her cheek to the cement and looked under the car. Crowds of legs and shoes. Not good, but only four zombies wandered the alleyway behind the strip. She liked those odds much better.
Rachel pulled out the eight inch hunting knife that Cage had given her from his dad’s hunting gear. She didn’t want to have to get that close to a zombie, but the knife would be quieter than the baseball bat. It was surprising how loud crushing a skull sounded.
“This seemed like such a better idea from over there,” Nicky said.
“We can’t stay out in the open like this.”
“On three?”
“One,” Rachel said. “Two.”
Nicky grabbed her hand again. “Three.”
They raced across the pavement. Rachel looked straight ahead. The dumpster was the goal. She didn’t want to see if they’d been spotted by hundreds of zombies. It was better not to know.
Nicky was fast; much faster than Rachel. He hauled her behind the dumpster, but one of the zombies in the alley saw them. The zombie snarled. She let go of Nicky’s hand and ran to the dead man dressed in doctor scrubs. She thrust the end of the bat square in its chest, knocking the zombie onto the pavement. Rachel jumped over him and thrust her knife down into its skull.
It wasn’t as easy as she’d thought it would be. Vibrations surged through her arm as the knife hit the skull, but it worked. The zombie was dead and it hadn’t alerted the others.
“Bas ass.” Nicky quietly clapped. “Now get your butt over here and hide. Your boyfriend and that skank are next.”
Rachel cleaned the knife blade on the zombie’s shirt. “Cage isn’t my
boyfriend.”
“Technicalities,” Nicky whispered. “Besides, you can’t roll over and let Lindsay have him.”
Rachel didn’t say anything. She kneeled next to Nicky and leaned around the dumpster. Cage and Lindsay crouched near the road. His hazel eyes were dark under the orange street lamps. He had a lead pipe in one hand and Lindsay’s hand in the other.
Cage’s eyes flickered back and forth. He tugged Lindsay’s arm and they ran across the street. Lindsay sprinted with her eyes closed while Cage tugged her forward. They reached the taxi and he crawled to the edge of the bumper. The street in front of the Strip was jammed packed, but none of the zombies had noticed them. Rachel waved them forward.
They darted across the street to the dumpster. “We made it!” Lindsay squealed.
“Shh,” Nicky said. “Quiet! Adam and Selena are going.”
Cage crouched beside Rachel and pointed his thumb at the zombie that she’d knifed in the head. “Where’d you learn that move?”
Rachel smiled. “I didn’t want to give him the chance to moan and alert his friends.”
Adam and Selena sprinted to the taxicab and knelt beside the front tire. Adam had three bags in his hand while Selena awkwardly held his belt loop. A zombie walked around the back of the cab.
Rachel waved her hands in the air. The zombie practically stumbled on top of them. It reached its hands down, but Adam twirled and grabbed the zombie before it bit Selena.
Selena released a yelp – not a scream, but it was enough. Hundreds of zombies wandering the Strip turned their heads to the taxicab like a dog sniffing out a cat. Adam rammed his pipe through the zombie’s head, but it didn’t matter. It was too late. They were spotted.
“Oh no,” Rachel said.
Adam pushed Selena forward. She stumbled, but rushed to the dumpster. Rachel ran to the taxicab, passing a hysterical Selena.
A zombie dressed in an expensive suit lunged for Adam. Rachel reached the taxi in time and cracked her bat against the zombie’s skull. She whirled around to hit another as Cage wielded a pipe into a zombie’s face. Nicky had Lindsay and Selena hidden by the dumpster, but a crowd of the undead was growing near the alley.
“We have to go!” Rachel said. “Now!”
Adam kicked a zombie in the gut. “Run!”
“Rachel!” Cage held out his hand.
Rachel swung at another zombie and then slipped her hand in Cage’s. They reached the alley entrance with about fifteen zombies on their heels. The alley ran behind buildings on both sides, creating a long open-tunnel. Nicky sprinted ahead and killed two zombies. He stood rigid over the bodies.
Rachel didn’t know what he was doing. “Nicky? Run!” She dropped Cage’s hand and ran forward. What was he doing? Nicky turned around. His face was pale. Rachel didn’t understand, until the movement behind him caught her eye.
Zombies.
There were so many of them that she couldn’t see the street. They pushed through the narrow opening like cattle squeezing through a gate. Rachel glanced over her shoulder. The fifteen zombies that followed them into the mouth of the alley had grown to forty.
They were trapped.
Chapter Twenty-Two
When Rachel stopped in her tracks, Cage knew. He didn’t have to look. There was no need. Rachel had been in turbo mode since they’d lost the Suburban back on the highway. The way she slammed on the brakes in the middle of the alleyway couldn’t be good.
It wasn’t. Swarms of zombies filled the only two exits out of the alley. They were trapped. There were too many of them to fight off and there was nowhere else to go. They were dead. All of them.
Rachel’s shoulders slumped. He placed a hand on her back and she twirled around. To his surprise, she was crying. “I killed all of you.”
Before Cage could respond, Nicky ran to the building on the left. “Gianni’s!”
“What?” Adam held his pipe in the air like a club.
“Gianni’s Pizzeria is right there.”
“Do you not see the hundreds of zombies about to eat us?” Lindsay yelled.
“I’m not blind! Let’s hide inside the pizzeria,” Nicky said.
“But there’s more zombies on the other street,” Lindsay said. “Are you insane?”
Nicky ran to the door. “You can stay out here, but I’m going inside where there are no zombies. Who’s coming with me?”
“We’ll be trapped,” Selena said.
“And you’ll be eaten alive out here.” Nicky yanked the handle, but the door was padlocked.
“Shoot the lock,” Rachel said.
Adam aimed his gun at the lock and squeezed the trigger. The gun blast was deafening, but the lock shattered to the pavement. He opened the door and everyone ran inside just as the zombies closed in. The boys held the door shut as the zombies pounded against it.
“Lock the door!” Cage yelled.
Adam pressed his back against the door, his feet sliding over the linoleum. “Lock it with what?”
“That big arm-locking thing right there! Jeez people!” Nicky reached over Adam’s head and slammed down the giant lock.
“Why wasn’t this locked in the first place?” Adam asked.
“Who cares?” Nicky said. “Lock it before they beat down the door. I’m at least going to eat a slice of pizza before they eat me.”
Adam shoved the lock to the side and it clicked into place.
“Sweet,” Nicky said.
“What do we do now?” Lindsay asked.
“Try to find a way out,” Rachel said.
“We’re stuck in a pizzeria in the middle of an army of zombies,” Selena said. “I don’t think there is a way out.”
Adam flipped on the light switch. The bright light burned Cage’s eyes. He blinked to clear away the spots.
“We need to make sure the front door is barricaded.” Rachel turned toward the dining room, but a man stood in the doorway.
“Don’t move.” The man was covered in blood. He pointed a gun at Rachel’s head. His jeans were ripped, exposing a gash down his thigh. Bite marks trailed up his arms.
Rachel raised her hands. “Please don’t shoot.”
Cage inched forward until he stood beside Rachel.
The gun barrel swiveled to his face. “I said don’t move.”
“We don’t mean any harm.” Cage raised his hands, too. “We’ll be out of your store as soon as we can.”
“It’s not my store.” Blood pooled on the floor under the man’s right foot.
“We can help you,” Rachel said. “You’re hurt.”
“Why didn’t you lock that back door?” Adam asked from behind.
The man rotated the gun back to Rachel’s face. Sweat streamed down his forehead. “It was secured from the outside until you blasted it and alerted every dead thing around for miles that we’re in here.”
Cage shifted closer to Rachel. “Can you please put the gun down, sir? We’re not going to harm you.”
“Harm me?” The man coughed blood into his hand. “They already got me. I’m as good as dead.” The left side of his face twitched. His arm jerked in reaction lifting the barrel of the gun to the ceiling. He slowly lowered it back to eye level.
Cage was shoulder to shoulder with Rachel. His pinkie finger fluttered against her hand until it grabbed her finger. With one quick tug, Cage pulled her behind him and out of the direct line of fire.
“Cage,” she whispered.
“He’s going to shoot,” Cage said quietly to Rachel. Cage knew it. The man wasn’t stable. He was either crazy before this happened or the infection was making him crazy. Either way, Cage was sure he was going to blow their brains out.
Cage sensed movement behind him.
Everything happened so slowly. The pounding of the zombies at the door. The dripping of the man’s blood on the linoleum. Adam and Nicky positioning the girls out of the way.
The man’s gun shook at Cage’s head. “Tell me why,” the man’s face twitched again. His breathing sounded
wet. “You get to live and I don’t.”
The groaning from the alley grew louder. “Please don’t shoot,” Rachel said.
The man coughed. “You don’t want to live to see the end of the world. Trust me. We all just die in the end anyways.” A tremor rocked his body. The muscles in his hand contracted and he pulled the trigger.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Rachel’s heart plummeted. Cage threw her to the ground as the bullet spiraled out of the gun and sailed over their heads. Adam ducked, ran to the man and tackled him to the ground. The gun slid across the floor.
Cage fell on top of Rachel, pushing all of the air out of her lungs.
Nicky lifted the man’s rifle and pointed it at him. “Let’s see how you like having a gun pointed in your face.”
Cage was still on top of her. He shifted so he bore most of his weight on his elbows. The pressure on her chest lifted and she sucked in a gulp of air. She was about to thank Cage for saving her life again, but he placed his finger over her lips. “What you said on the highway, it’s not true. I don’t care how long I’ve known you. You,” he breathed. “Are the only thing that matters to me now. Do you understand? The only thing.”
Rachel nodded. She couldn’t find her breath.
“We could die at any minute.” Cage leaned closer. “And I’m not wasting another second without you.” He lowered his mouth to hers. His lips were soft and gentle. Tension melted from her body as she deepened their kiss. Her hand trailed up his biceps and slid over his shoulders. She ran her fingers through his hair, loving that it felt as soft and thick as she thought it would.
“That is some quality entertainment,” Nicky said. “I’m usually more of a sci-fi guy, but that was pretty good.”
“Shut up, Nicky,” Cage said with a smile. He was still lying on top of her; a silent question lingered in his eyes.
Rachel’s mouth lifted into a smile and a grin exploded across Cage’s face. He rose to his feet and held out his hands to her.
“Now, if you two are done sucking face,” Nicky said. “Can you help us deal with this lunatic and the thousand zombies pounding on the door? Then we can get some pizza, because my stomach is eating itself.”