Free Resurrection (Apocalypse Chronicles Part II) by Laury Falter Page B

find the world had turned white. The trees and ground were covered with snowfall for as far as the eye could see. The view had become a stunning winter wonderland marred by twenty or thirty dark, dirty, hunched figures and the brown trail they left behind them. From my view above, it looked ominous, like jagged claws ripping down a solid white canvas.
    I heard Harrison stop at my bedroom door and was about to join him when one of the Infected stretched her neck into the air, sniffed, and broke into a sprint for the house.
    “We have less than a minute,” Harrison announced. “Kennedy, we have to go.”
    As I turned away from the window, the others began their dash for the house, reminding me of a pack of rabid animals zeroing in on their prey.
    I entered the hallway to find Doc, Mei, and Beverly dressed and heading down the stairs. We moved quietly but with speed, a formed unit that would have made my dad proud. On the first floor, we went straight for the front door. There was no hesitation in our maneuvering around the furniture, no shrieks of fear over what we were about to encounter. Our intentions were deliberate, planned. I watched our team, realizing that we had shed our teenage personas. We were no longer the frightened kids huddled in the main hallway of our high school waiting for our parents or the authorities to rescue us. Now, we were the authority.
    Doc opened the door and went through it, giving us a clear view of the Infected. They had reached the edge of the yard and were equal distance between us and the sedan.
    It was a game of chicken now.
    We ran as fast as our legs allowed but they seemed to run faster. Only by Harrison’s foresight, to move the car toward the road so that the doors opened to us, were we able to save the vital seconds we needed. Only two Infected were faster, coming down on the passenger’s side to target their closest prey: Doc and Beverly.
    I raised my rifle over the roof.
    “Get in the car,” Harrison bellowed.
    I took aim.
    “Kennedy!” he yelled.
    Then I realized the severity of our situation.
    I had only one round left, one bullet. And I had two targets.
    Doc and Beverly were both fighting for their lives, using the techniques we’d taught them, but it was a messy fight, with the Infected biting at them and craning their neck around Doc and Beverly’s blocks.
    Harrison disappeared from my view, moving behind me, and then came back into sight on the opposite side of the car. Knowing he wouldn’t find me in the car until Beverly and Doc were safely inside, he began to intervene.
    Beverly got the superior position, braced herself against the car and planted a punch into the Infected’s chest, sending him to the ground. It was a Wing Chun technique and I’d seen her practicing it relentlessly the past few weeks. And as The Infected fell away and I lost sight of him, I was proud of her. She remained standing just long enough to duck inside the sedan and slam the door shut. When the Infected sprang back to his feet, my heart tightened. Harrison was a foot away, but this didn’t seem to bother him. He effortlessly took the Infected’s head and snapped it entirely backward. He did this casually, like the Infected had been nothing more than an irritating obstacle in his way, before swiftly shifting around the car door and heading for Doc.
    His attacker was still going at it, so I rotated the muzzle and aimed before realizing Doc was in the middle of throwing the Infected aside, also using a technique we’d taught him. Pride swelled in me as he dove inside. It was stifled by Doc’s attacker bouncing up and charging Harrison. Again, fear pulsed through me, but there seemed to be no reason for it as Harrison easily finished off this Infected too.
    He was already marching back around the car to the driver’s side when he yelled, “Get inside, Kennedy!”
    We closed the doors just as the next Infected slammed into the hood. She did this full force, shaking the car and