Thirty-Four
theo
My back straightened, and I stared at the opposite side of the rest area where vegetation grew dense enough to form a wall. The wind had been blowing steadily while we sat here, rustling bushes and eucalyptus trees, but this sound was different. Crunching leaves.
Brynn kept her eyes on me, her hands locked around the bottle. Sadie had just gone into the women’s side of the toilet block. If I yelled out for her to come back, I’d only attract more attention.
I angled my head, listening hard. The sound came again, and any doubt I’d had about what I was listening to disappeared.
Multiple sets of footsteps were coming this way, pushing through the grass and thick shrubs.
“Why don’t we get out of here, Brynnie?” I stood and grabbed the tin of formula with my free hand, sacrificing the jar of food.
She whimpered at the sudden shift in position, clutching the bottle tightly enough I didn’t need to worry about her dropping it.
I paused and waited for visual confirmation.
The first figure broke through the line of trees, a shadow emerging from the darkness.
Then another. And another.
Three more followed the leading cluster.
A red hatchback zipped past on the highway, the driver giving a few warning beeps despite having no intention of stopping. A glimpse of humanity hanging in there.
The group drifted toward us, bodies close enough they jostled one another.
The smell finally reached me, forcing me into action.
Sadie and I had taken on more infected together in that foyer this morning, but we didn’t have Brynn with us then.
The baby bobbed against me as I rushed to the ute and yanked open the passenger door. Pulse racing, I deposited her on the seat, reminding myself to be careful with her. Before she could register I was leaving her behind, I slipped the axe from the footwell and dumped the formula tin in its place.
I blew out a breath, unable to meet her eyes as I shut the door.
Axe in hand, I sprinted across the bitumen, focused on the next task.
Each of the infected showed signs of their violent deaths, clothes torn and smeared with blood, some missing body parts, and others with their insides on the outside. One man shuffled in bare feet, wearing only a pair of boxers.
“Sadie!” I ran straight inside the entrance on the left and pulled up short.
She tried the paper towel dispenser and came up empty. “What’s going on?” She wiped her hands on her jeans, then her gaze roamed over me and sharpened. “Where’s Brynn?”
“In the car. We’ve gotta go.”
The sword rested against the wall beside the sink. Sadie grabbed it, her body wired. “Infected?”
“Six—last I saw. They’re heading for the ute.” I hoped to God I wouldn’t regret putting Brynn in there.
Sadie swept past me and moved to the doorway.
Her breath hitched, and she sent me a fleeting look over her shoulder. “There's eleven now.”
And only two of us.
Fuck.
I joined her, my heart thumping wildly as I surveyed the scene.
Five infected had locked onto the Ranger as their target. In less than a minute, Brynn would be surrounded, with mangled faces pressed against the glass and no one there to shield her from the view.
“Hey!” I clanged the axe against the brick wall, raising enough of a ruckus to have all eleven turning toward me.
Just as I was about to smack the bricks again, Sadie grabbed my jacket in one hand and yanked my face down to hers. With a hard kiss on my mouth, she said breathlessly, “When they come for me, run to Brynn. Get the engine started. I won’t be long.”
My stomach lurched. “No—wait.”
She bolted away from me, sword at her side, one arm pumping as her footsteps ate up the bitumen. I stood frozen for a split second, like my heart had just been ripped out of my fucking chest. A breath wrenched from me, and I considered chasing her down, but she was fast. Faster than them.
If I had to, I could mow the infected down and get to her.
“Watch your back,” I shouted.
She made a shitload of noise, yelling and scraping the tip of her sword over the ground. More than half of them turned and headed for her, their slow, uncoordinated shuffling buying her some time.
I made the dash to my car, boots thumping in time with my pulse. Three infected still loitered near the side of the Ranger, the group tightening as they came my way.
I swung my axe at the first contender, a woman in a paramedic uniform with a tangled ponytail. She collapsed on her side, a halo of red spreading around her broken skull.
The second infected stretched out his arms, work boots dragging across the ground, ginger beard drenched in dried blood.
His hair colour reminded me too much of Tim, and I blocked his face from my mind as I took my first swing.
He landed beside the woman, and I risked a glance over my shoulder. “How are you doing?”
“On my way.” She’d evaded them so far without too much trouble, but a few had caught on to the activity near me and redirected course. If they all came for the car, we were fucked.
My gaze flicked to the passenger window. I couldn’t see the top of Brynn’s head or hear her crying. With any luck, she was low enough to miss the action.
With another wide arc of my axe, I took out the last of the three, an elderly man who dropped to the ground with a thud.
“Let’s go!” I ran around to the driver’s side and flung open the door.
Brynn jolted and dropped the bottle, her mouth turning into a sad little rectangle.
As she burst into tears, I slid behind the wheel and slammed the door, tossing the empty bottle in the back.
“It’ll be all right in a minute,” I said breathlessly, cupping her head.
I started the engine as Sadie ran for the car, slashing her sword at one of the dead when it moved into her path. She kept running, gaze locked with mine through the passenger window. I planted my foot on the brake and shoved the gear shifter into drive, lifting Brynn from the seat.
My eyes never left Sadie, and I held my breath.
Seconds later, she dived in, dragging the sword in after her.
“Watch the blade,” I said as she rested it beside her thigh.
“I’m good.” She shut the door fast and grabbed Brynn, drawing her onto her lap. “There’s no time to put her in the carrier. Go.”
Brynn hadn’t stopped crying. Combined with the pulse pounding in my ears and the drone of the incoming infected, my senses were on overload.
The dead closed in on us, their moans layered over one another, rising in a macabre chorus as they followed the sound of the engine. A couple came around the front while the others closed in on the rear.
I gripped the steering wheel and lifted my foot off the brake.
The only way out of this was straight through.
“Hold on,” I warned.
The bullbar hit the first zombie with a sickening thud, and it crumpled in half before sliding under the chassis. The ute jerked, and Brynn wailed harder, her face blotchy and red.
Sadie braced one hand against the dashboard, the other wrapped around Brynn’s waist like a seatbelt. “It’s okay,” she said, “it’s okay.”
Another thump, another body. For a breath stealing moment, the tyres skidded, fighting for traction over the mess underneath.
“Come on,” I muttered. “Not now.”
A shape lunged at the passenger window before we could move—a man in pyjamas, jaw hanging crookedly, blood smeared across his cheek. Spindly fingers dirtied the glass, and his mouth gaped, revealing red-stained teeth.
Sadie cried out and turned her back to the view, blocking it from Brynn. I pressed harder on the accelerator and broke free of the body under the tyre, swearing when we got moving again.
With a hard swerve, I shook the infected man off without losing momentum. His hand dragged across the window with a wet screech, then he disappeared.
I loosened my grip on the wheel and unclenched my jaw, aiming straight for the exit. We may have been splattered with blood and pushed to our limits, but we’d made it out safely.
“We’re free,” I said, watching the road.
Sadie didn’t answer, too focused on rocking Brynn and murmuring soft words.
A quick check of the side mirror, and I took off down the highway, desperate to put some distance between us and the dead.
Brynn’s cries slowed as Sadie patted her back, and before long, she was hovering in that quiet space between awake and asleep.
“You okay?” I asked.
Sadie nodded without meeting my eyes. “I just want to get to your dad’s farm so we can breathe again.”
“No more stops,” I said. The adrenaline crash had my hands trembling. “Even if she’s crying. We can’t risk it.”
We made quick progress down the highway, avoiding abandoned cars here and there, dodging a few more of the dead as they aimlessly stumbled.
The land opened up wide around us, with endless paddocks and scattered gums stretching as far as the eye could see.
The farther we drove, the less evidence I saw of the pandemic, and I finally felt hopeful.
“Not long now,” I said.
An hour, maybe less.
Then we'd be at Fairmarsh, and everything would change for the better.