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“Emma, we’ll get you! Hold on!” Monica yelled.

A second later the remaining part of the roof caved in on the zombies below. Emma’s safety line was snagged on the edge of the corrugated metal and she was wrenched from the wall. She swung over the heads of the downed zombies and slammed into the other wall.

Trapped at the far end of the bathroom opposite the open doorway, she could see the exterior of the bus. The zombies knocked over from the collapsing roof were struggling to get up, giving her a little precious time. It took only a second for her pistol to be in her hand. She immediately aimed at the zombie closest to her. It was male, fresh, and on its knees a few feet from her. With a howl, it lunged toward her. She put a bullet through it

s brain and straightaway aimed for the next nearest zombie.

“There’s no way in hell I’m dying here,” she muttered.

Just as she was about to unstrap herself from the harness so she could risk running over the fallen zombies for the exit, she was hoisted upward. A second later, Juan set her on the top of the outer building wall and steadied her with his hands. She noticed they were bloody from where he had gripped the rope while pulling her up. The line remained caught on the fallen roof, so Juan swiftly helped her unbuckle the harness.

Glancing over her shoulder at him, she managed to rasp out, “Thank you.”

Juan gave her a brief nod and pointed to the bus where Monica was lowering Belinda through the hatch. “We gotta go.”

Emma gratefully took his hand and he pulled her to her feet. He guided her along the narrow pathway back to the bus. She broke her own rule and glanced down once or twice. The tilted heads of the zombies below pivoted as she moved along the wall to safety. They raised their gnarled hands toward her and moaned in unison. A chill swept down her spine. She wouldn’t have made it if she’d tried to run for the doorway.

When they reached the gap between the building and the bus, Juan grabbed her under her armpits, swung her over the heads of the zombies below, and tossed her onto the bus. She landed with a hard thump on the roof. It took only a few seconds to climb through the hatch into the safety of the bus. Juan dropped down behind her. Emma noted his eyes instantly sought out Belinda. Rune’s words echoed in her mind, but she muted them.

“Arnold, get us out of here,” Nerit ordered.

The bus started backward, Arnold skillfully maneuvering through the growing herd of zombies. The older dead splattered against the rearguard, splitting apart like overly ripe melons. The newer, faster dead attempted to grip onto the sides, desperate to reach the living inside.

Emma held onto a seat to hold herself upright. Now that she was out of immediate danger, the adrenaline was leaving her system and making her knees a little wobbly. She didn’t want to show any weakness in front of her new companions, so she remained standing.

“Monica, where’s Belinda?” Juan asked, panicked.

“She’s with Kurt at the back of the bus,” Monica replied. “Leave her alone. She’s really shaken up and he’s the one she turned to.”

Juan whirled around to observe Kurt in the back row of the bus with his head bowed over his lap. Belinda wasn’t visible, so she had to be lying down. Emma didn’t know Juan well enough to read his gaze, but she got the impression he was both relieved and possibly disappointed.

When Juan started down the aisle, Monica grasped his arm.

“Monica, I should-”

“No, you shouldn’t.

When the bus reached the road that wound down the hill, zombies flowed out of the woods. There had been many more than they had realized. The faster ones assailed the bus while Arnold futilely attempted a three-point-turn. The bus rocked under the onslaught.

“I knew it! I knew it!” he grunted. “I can’t turn around. We’re getting boxed in and the tires are gummed up with zombie guts. We’re stuck!”

22

Not Part of the Plan

“We need to get out of here!” Ted exclaimed. Face flattened against a window to peer out, he was visibly shaking.

“We’re working on it, bro. Calm down,” Juan said.

The space around the bus was filled with the undead, making maneuverability difficult. Emma had faced similar circumstances in the past and knew that driving through such a large throng was not a good idea. A few months into the apocalypse, Emma and her grandfather had tried to drive through a pack of the undead. Shattered bone had punctured a tire and the blood and guts had gunked up the wheels. Her grandfather had barely saved them from the jam by reversing down the road until he could do a sharp U-turn. Even without the zombies, the current area wasn’t ideal for doing a U-turn in such a large vehicle.

“We’re stuck!” Arnold pounded on the steering wheel. “Nerit, this bus doesn’t have that much horsepower. I can’t risk a turn with all those zombies. They could be hiding things like boulders or barbeque pits that could take out the axle.”

“You said you could drive in reverse. It looks like you’ll have to do just that,” Nerit answered in such a way it was obvious that she wouldn’t allow an argument.

“Shit! Do you know how hard it’s going to be going down a winding road backwards with my tires slipping and zombies following and-”

“We don’t have a choice, do we?” Nerit motioned to the zombies crowding the area making maneuverability difficult, if not impossible. “And you said you could do it.”