Free Road's End: Apocalypse Riders by Britten Thorne Page A

left, aiming my path in the opposite direction of the body of the herd. They could smell us and hear us, and the commotion was drawing many of them around from the side of the building.
    I heard a whoosh and felt a blast of heat at my back. “Keep going,” Adam grunted over my shoulder. He knifed a corpse that got too close and kicked it away. I pushed past another, splashing the alcohol again as I went. Hands grabbed; gaping mouths reached for me; my clothing tore. Their stench was overwhelming, and I gagged. I was being pulled down. Oh, God, they’re going to bite me, I’m fucked. It was like running through molasses. “Run!” I splashed the rest of the liquid out, smashed the empty bottle against the nearest corpse’s head, and ran. I lashed out with the knife, knowing it was useless but hoping it might slow the the grasping hands just a fraction, just long enough for me to blow past.
    Somehow, we made it through. My hand was soaked in rotten blood; the blade dripped with gore. “Run!” I took off. I passed corpses in the parking lot, but they weren’t gathering, weren’t pressed in like the crowd in front of the store. They were just stragglers. I ignored them and ran.
    Adam steered me onto the road with a hand on my shoulder, pointing out the way. His own hands were smeared with the blood and guts of the dead, and I could only hope that none of it was his own. Now was not the time to stop and find out. Now was the time to dig in, put one foot in front of the other, just keep going until I either reached safety or collapsed.
    Neither of us had recovered enough to run for as long and as far as we had the day before. I barely made it a mile before I had to stop for a minute and catch my breath. I could just make out the first of the herd behind us, lurching up the road - far away, but they’d be on us soon enough. They’d never quit.
    Further behind them, I could make out trails of smoke. I guess it worked. Sort of. It was enough.
    “Are you bleeding?” I asked Adam, observing the mess all over him. Even his normally immaculate leather jacket flaked with dried blood all over the arms.
    “No, it’s not mine. Come on. We’ll just walk for a bit. But we can’t stop moving.”
    We didn’t manage to lose the dead. We walked along the two-lane highway with nothing to see but scattered trees and the shambling corpses behind us. We watched the smoke continue to rise. “They’ll see it,” Adam assured me repeatedly, “They’ll come.” His brothers.
    “We have to get off this road,” I said.”We’ve only got the one can.” But Adam shook his head.
    “We can’t stop and scavenge with them this close on our tails. They’ll trap us somewhere again, or worse.”
    “So we’re going to just count on your buddies just magically showing up?” The late afternoon sun beat down on us. We’d been walking for so long, I could barely feel my feet.
    “They’ll see the fire. They’ll see the trail, they’ll know the dead are chasing something. Josie.” He grabbed my hand. “We’re going to make it. Just keep moving.”
    His touch was a comfort. I composed myself with a deep breath and kept walking. They’ll find us. They’ll find us. Funny how “they” weren’t so scary anymore. Not now that we needed rescue. How long ago had I met Preacher and Van? How frightened had I been, then? I wondered if Sunny was well, if they found those girls they’d talked about. I looked down at our hands, our fingers entwined. I guess I sort of trust him, now. Funny how much he changed my mind.
    I didn’t recognize the sound immediately when I heard it. Dogs? Bees? “Engines.”
    “Finally.” He kissed the back of my hand.
    Fear gripped my heart again. “Are you sure they’re yours? Devil’s Ashes?”
    “It has to be. We’re in our territory.”
    “Did you forget that we were being chased in the first place?” The sound was getting closer. It was coming from the opposite direction of the herd. “Adam…” I