‘Danton Rock. Maybe a mile.’
‘Then we need to make sure their way down here is clear.’ He helped Holly to her feet, and they stood facing each other awkwardly for a moment.
Holly opened her mouth to speak.
‘Thank you, Holly,’ Drake said. ‘You should go and find some clothes.’ He left her and shouted some orders, and two of his people started to collect the bodies of humans and furies alike.
11
The third zombie that their vehicle struck was thrown over the bonnet and smashed through the windscreen. Sean cried out and leaned back as its head struck him on the right shoulder, and the station wagon swerved but kept moving. Olivia shrieked, and as the zombie turned to face her Vic recognised Walt McCready, the friend whose house they had once partied in. Now he had no eyes.
They struck something else, and Vic was flung against the rear of Marc’s seat. He dropped the phone and it disappeared down by his feet. The vehicle skidded to a halt.
Jayne grabbed his shoulder and hauled him back, moaning with the pain it caused her. Lucy and Olivia were huddled back against the door – both of them had recognised the dead man. Lucy punched at his hand as he reached for Olivia.
Vic heard the snick of a door opening.
‘Don’t get out of the car!’ he shouted. He raised the M1911, pressed it against old Walt’s face, and pulled the trigger. His hearing was obliterated briefly but that didn’t stop him from seeing. Walt was blasted against the ceiling and bits of him were scattered throughout the car. Something sharp slashed across Vic’s cheek, and he wondered whether being cut by a fragment of a zombie’s skull could change him.
Soon find out.
‘Keep the fucking doors shut!’ he shouted. ‘Let’s go!’ His ears were still ringing from the gunshot as he looked around to make sure that everyone was okay. Lucy’s nose was bleeding from where she’d bounced off Sean’s seat. She dabbed at it, staring at Vic without expression. Rather she was screaming, he thought.
Someone grabbed his sleeve. Sean.
‘We hit one of the bikers!’ he shouted. The view through the windscreen had been obscured by the starring of the safety glass on impact, which had been held in place by its frame. Marc punched it out, and he and Sean heaved Walt’s dead-at-last corpse out onto the bonnet.
Ahead of them loomed Danton Rock’s first building, the small school and medical centre. Half of the school had burned down. Between them and Danton Rock was a confusion of cars and bikes, and the running dead.
Someone stood in front of the car and grabbed Walt, and for a second Vic thought it was a biker pulling the corpse away so that they could drive on. But then he saw the stained and torn summery dress, and Sean rested his rifle against the dashboard and shot the woman in the throat. She shook, her head flopping to one side where her spine had been shattered. But she did not fall.
Sean fired again. As the woman slumped back, a biker tried to stand, tugging to free his leg from beneath his crashed bike. He was bleeding from a terrible wound in his throat, the blood spurting across his chest and stomach with each heave on his trapped limb. He did not appear to be in pain.
‘Close your eyes,’ Sean said, but he didn’t wait for the others to heed his advice. It was far worse seeing a fresh one shot.
‘Give me the rifle,’ Vic said. ‘You’ve got to drive.’ Sean handed it back without a word and Vic leaned between the front seats, resting the rifle’s barrel on the dashboard.
‘We’re not even in the town yet,’ Marc said, his voice higher than usual.
‘Laptop okay?’ Vic asked.
‘Yes, but we’re not even—’