Page 93

Maddie heard a faint grunt. Then they all went quiet. “Is that—”
“I got it,” Saff muttered. Maddie listened to her footsteps plodding away. Then she heard the sound of something piercing flesh, followed by a grunt and a thud. A sound that was becoming somewhat familiar to her. This time, she didn’t need to ask.
“Another,” Carter called out. “By the entrance.”
Maddie swallowed, adjusting her hand on his arm.
“Help me move this out of the way,” Dean said.
She heard the same distant fleshy pierce, grunt, and thud. Then, moments later, Saff’s footsteps approached again.
Carter moved forward, and she released her grip on his arm. She stood there, waiting, as she heard them both grunting in effort. Then a deep grumble of metal echoed around them.
“I’ll go—” Dean started, but was immediately cut off by the sudden sound of the infected. “Fuck—” he yelped, and then the crack of a gunshot rang out.
She instinctively raised her hands to her ears as it reverberated around them.
“Dude, what are you thinking?” Carter yelled. “Are you trying to—”
Suddenly, the ringing in her ears was replaced with the overlapping sounds of the infected.
More gun shots fired off, and Maddie froze. She grabbed for her knife, but before she could reach it, a strong arm wrapped around her. And this time, she knew exactly who it was.
Saff ripped her backwards, then she felt Saff’s back pinned against her front, just like it had been earlier that day when they’d run into Carter.
She grabbed onto the sides of her shirt, cringing as a barrage of gunshots ricocheted all around.
Saff suddenly spun them, then jerked forward.
Maddie heard the nearby stab of flesh and the thud afterwards.
Then Saff reversed course, and Maddie moved with her, still pinned against her back.
Finally, after a few seconds, the gunfire came to an end.
“We need to move,” Saff hissed. “Now.”
She felt Saff turning, and she immediately grabbed onto her arm.
“Wait, we—” Dean started.
“Go!” Carter yelled at him, anger coursing through his voice.
Saff charged ahead, but stopped abruptly. And Maddie could hear why.
“Don’t move,” she said. Then she pulled her arm out of her grasp. A second later, Maddie heard one infected after the next, dropping in front of them.
“Hold on to me,” Carter suddenly said beside her, grasping her hand.
She hesitated for a split second before holding onto his arm. “Saff?” she called out as he pulled them forward.
No response. Then she heard one last thud somewhere to her left.
She could see the orb of light that she recognized as the entrance up ahead of them. They moved quickly until she felt the familiar crunch of glass beneath her feet. She squinted and closed her eyes as they stumbled over it.
Once they’d moved away from the door and finally stopped, she pulled the sunglasses back down on her face, blocking the harsh sunlight.
Then she whirled around and waited, listening for the next set of footsteps to follow.