Hugh twisted around and reached out to me. “We have to go!”
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this, guys. I think we’d better boogie,” Jase called out.
“It’s too late,” Maggie said, standing stoic, looking toward the north. “They’re already here.”
My brain finally deciphered the sound of a gigantic swarm of mosquitoes into a hundred thousand moaning zeds. Cold filtered through my blood, and my breath came short. My legs nearly gave out.
The first herd had arrived.
Chapter XXI
Clutch yanked open the back gate of the Humvee and motioned everyone in. “Move it!”
“But our things,” Noah said.
“We’re going to be packed like sardines the way it is,” I said.
“No time!” Jase yelled. “Move it, people!”
Hali didn’t even hesitate as she shook free from her father and bolted for the Humvee. Jase grabbed her arm and pulled her on board. No one else had yet moved.
I rolled my eyes. “We’ll come back and get it later,” I said. “Now, get inside or else you’re getting left behind.”
My words finally got through to Hugh, who then caught up with his daughter.
Maggie was still praying over Brenda’s body, and Don stayed by his wife’s side. “I can’t leave her here like this.”
I ran over and squeezed Don’s shoulder. “We have to go.”
He wiped his eyes and picked up his wife’s body. He laid her inside the minivan and closed the door.
“Come on, Cash,” Clutch said, climbing into the front seat of the Humvee.
I ran around the front of the vehicle and climbed behind the wheel. Don pushed Maggie in and then climbed in, holding his daughter in his arms.
“Daddy! Mommy’s still back there!” the little girl cried.
Jase pounded on the roof. “Everyone’s on board. Go!”
I stepped on the gas, and we lurched forward. Don’s kid was crying for her mother, and everyone was talking over one another. Clutch pointed to a lone zed on the roadside, and I swerved around it. Shots from Jase’s .30 cal echoed non-stop through the Humvee. Alana cried out and covered her ears.
I glanced in the side mirror and saw zeds pour out from the woods. I would’ve said, “Holy shit,” except my jaw was clenched too tightly to speak. I sucked in air.
Clutch said something, but I couldn’t hear.
“Would you guys please shut the hell up!” I yelled, rubbing a hand down my legs one at a time before gripping the wheel just as tightly again. “I’m trying to get us out of here.”
They quit trying to talk above the .30 cal.
“Drive,” Clutch said. “I’ll keep an eye out for the herds.”
I had the gas pedal floored and didn’t let up until we reached the bridge. Every muscle was tight. I slowed down only to pull off the road, and then drove down the steep slope of the east bank and stopped hard just before the ramp. Griz and his team already had their payload loaded on the pontoon and were waiting for us.
Griz’s smile faded when he saw us. “What happened?”
“The herds are here,” Jase said as he jumped down.
“Shit.”
Everyone tumbled out of the Humvee and toward the pontoon in a chaotic mess.
“Where are we going?” Maggie asked.
“Get us out of here,” Clutch ordered Griz.
“You don’t have to tell me twice.” Griz jumped behind the wheel and started up the boat’s engine, and we scrambled for seats on the pontoon. Little Alana clung to her father. Jase had managed to grab one of the duffels filled with canned food on his way out of the back of the truck. Maggie limped on last, nearly tripping over one of the deer carcasses as she found a seat.
I helped shove the pontoon away from the boat ramp, and Griz throttled the engine full forward to get us into the river. But we weren’t safe yet. We still had to get to the Aurora without attracting the attention of any zeds. It only took one zed to home in on us, and others would notice. Griz ran the engine full out to close the short distance to the barge.