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“Amen, cuz.”

Emma turned away from Juan's hopeful face and looked out the window at the passing scenery. A zombie impaled on a broken tree branch flailed weakly as the bus climbed past it. It had probably been knocked off the road by a fleeing vehicle. No matter how hopeful the cousins were about saving their friends, one thing was certain.

Zombies were definitely up on the hill.

The question was just how many were there.

18

Keep Calm

“Emma!” Nerit called out, waving her toward the front of the bus.

Grabbing her rifle, Emma immediately joined her. “How can I help?”

“You spent a lot of time scouting through dangerous areas, right?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“What’s your assessment of the situation?”

“The main horde didn’t follow Ed’s people up to the picnic area. They might have been able to turn off the road without being spotted by the zombies. There’d be more damage to the terrain if they had been seen and followed,” Emma explained. “That being said, I am certain that there will be zombies up there to deal with because of that zombie impaled on a tree back there.”

Nerit looked impressed with her evaluation. “We never did clear this area of town. There wasn’t anything worth salvaging out this way. There could have been zombies up here all that time.”

“There’s also the possibility of zombies climbing up from a different direction we can’t see from the road.”

Nerit nodded. “I agree.”

“That’s not a comforting thought,” Arnold muttered under his breath.

Emma struggled to keep on her feet. The road was cracked from disuse. Grass and other plants pushed up from underneath the broken asphalt. A few more corpses, old and rotted, littered the road. They were clearly not Ed’s people, but dispatched zombies. The bus ambled around a curve, revealing a clear view of the hotel and the Fort around it. It was a pretty sight, the green hills framing the hotel with its windows glimmering with morning sunlight.

“Hold up,” Nerit ordered.

Arnold immediately obeyed, the engine idling as Juan and Monica joined the group at the front of the bus. Nerit opened the side door and dropped out next to a body lying at the edge of the asphalt. It was face-down with the back of its balding head blown out. Nerit kicked the corpse over, revealing the dead man’s face. A bullet hole punctured the wrinkled forehead and a bite was visible on the sagging skin of his neck.

“Ed,” Monica whispered.

Juan punched the ceiling with a fist and swore in Spanish.

The noise startled Emma and she shot him a disapproving look. He acted far more on edge than yesterday.

“This doesn’t mean they’re all dead,” he said defensively to Emma, misreading her expression.

“Someone had to have shot him,” she agreed.

“Right, Em. Right.” Juan nodded vigorously, clearly grasping onto a tiny shred of hope.

Climbing back onto the bus, Nerit clucked her tongue with annoyance. “Dammit, Ed. You shouldn’t have left, you stupid old fool.”

Arnold shut the doors. “That confirms that Rune saw his ghost, doesn’t it? So we’re on the right track.”

“Yes, we are.” Nerit frowned, her hands settling onto her narrow hips.

“Bullet to the head,” Monica noted. “Was he a zombie?”

Nerit glanced at Ed through the glass panels in the door. “He doesn’t look like he turned. The bullet wound isn’t self-inflicted since there aren’t any weapons on him.”