Page 47 of Hollow Valley

As the gates creaked open, Benedict strode in with three other guards at his side.They took deliberate steps walking between the unmoving zombies on their way toward us, occasionally giving an uncertain glance around them.

Chase the threat away, I thought, but the pheromones that came from me smelled like rage and hunger.

The courtyard was small enough that all my commands reached them near instantaneously, and when they came to life, they practically moved in unison.The zombies ran around me and Boden – leaving us a safe island in the center of chaos – as they all overwhelmed the guards.

Benedict managed to break away and race back toward the passageway.If he locked the north gate again, it would make the rest of our plan so much harder.

Run, I commanded, and the zombies surged forward, knocking Benedict down as they raced into the passageway.

“Let’s go,” I said, still holding Boden’s hand to keep him close to me.

We moved with the horde, an untouched eye of the storm while zombies swarmed around us like a hurricane.

Benedict was on the floor of the passageway, his armor protecting him from being trampled by the zombies.

“Wait,” Boden said as I started to walk by Benedict.

The zombies parted around us when I did, and Benedict was on his back, rocking like a turtle on the dull spikes.When Boden bent down and picked up a discarded spear off the floor, Benedict held up his gloved hands out in front of him, palms out.

“Please, Nell was the one who decided,” Benedict tried to plead for his life.

“Now I’m the one who decides,” Boden said flatly.

In one swift motion, he drove the spear through the mesh of Benedict’s helmet.Straight into his good eye, deep enough to kill.Boden pulled the spear out, with the eyeball and some brain matter still stuck to the spike, then motioned for us to go on.

The zombies were all piled up at the gate at the other end, slamming into it as they tried to escape, so I stilled them long enough that Boden and I could get through.We removed the crossbar, and then I commanded the zombies to run again.

The gates popped open, and the Loved Ones were unleashed on Fort Lately.

28

Stella

Boden grabbed the keyring of Benedict’s corpse, and we ran down the narrow corridor back to our bunkroom.As soon as we unlocked the door, Edie rushed over to Boden and me, and she immediately began inspecting our wounds.

We had a few scrapes and bruises from being thrown around, but it was the gashes down our calves and arms that were the worst of it.She had torn strips of fabric from the blankets, and she attempted to bandage us before we could even say anything.

“We need to hurry, we don’t know how long the chaos outside will hold,” Boden said, practically swatting her hands away.

“An open wound is ripe for infection,” Edie insisted, tending to his wounds despite his protests.And then, distracting him by going over the plan again, she asked, “Does everybody remember where they need to go?”

“Just so you’ve got it straight, you and I are after the Wellness Center, which is a squat blue building, to the west of the barracks,” Fergus said, answering for himself and Edie.“There’s a sign over the door with a big white solar cross on it.”

“Boden and I are going to the nursery in the northwest corner and looking for a pink cottage,” I said.

“There is a sign in front painted with a crescent moon cradling a star,” Alphie added.

“Alphie and I are going to the hayloft above the stables where all the stolen gear is stored,” Leandro said.

“We need the keys you got from the Sentries,” Alphie said, holding her hand out to us.“The nursery and the Wellness Center probably aren’t even locked, but the loft is so close to the main gates that we’ll get there first, and we will need the keys to get out of them.”

Boden winced as Edie tightened his last bandage, and he handed the keys to Alphie.“And you’ll wait for us to all meet at the south exit, and then we all get the hell out of here.”

“And if you’re not near me, I can’t protect you from the zombies,” I once again clarified.“They can’t understand specific commands like that.”

The sounds of havoc echoed from the other side of the walls – shouts, crashes, and the unmistakable groans of the undead.

“Right, I’m off now,” Fergus said, slipping past us toward the door.“I’ve no time for this.You’ll catch up when you’re done, won’t you, Edie?”