Free The Truth is Contagious (The Contagium Series Book 4) by Emily Goodwin Page B

it!” he shouted over the growling. The
crazies were inching toward us. He swung the rifle around and
started firing. “Riss, come on!”
    The bow was several feet away. I hesitated
for a second and then dove for it. My fingers wrapped around the
grip. And a crazy took a swing at me. I leaned back and he
missed.
    I brought the bow up hard, hitting him under
the chin. Pain did nothing to hinder his attack. He curled his
fingers into fists and let out a harrowing growl. The gun fired and
he fell.
    “Orissa!” Hayden yelled. “Now!”
    I turned on my heel and sprinted away. As
soon as I was by his side Hayden picked up the pace. Another crazy
stood in the entrance to another ruined building that was labeled
the Honey House. She was young, with once pretty curls and big,
blue eyes.
    She hissed when she caught sight of us.
Hunched over with fresh blood streaming down her front, the crazy
girl turned away, hiding her stomach—one that she had plucked from
a dead or infected body—from view as if she was afraid we would
take it.
    “This way,” Hayden called and dodged off the
pavement and back into the weeds. Sweat dripped down my back. We
pressed on, racing through the overgrown grass. A patchy area of
trees was several yards in front of us. I stole a glance behind me.
The crazies were still on our ass and growing in number.
    We had to get to the truck. That was the only
way out of this. Hayden and I were in excellent shape, but we were
human, after all. Noninfected, healthy humans. We would get tired
and winded. Would the crazies?
    They had to! They fucking had to. They might
not feel it, but their bodies would react to the physical exertion
on this hot day. Maybe they would just collapse. It would make for
an easy kill.
    The weeds gave way to the trees. Once we were
in, we would be out of sight of the crazies. It could give us a few
yards advantage…I hoped. If not—no, I wasn’t going to think about
it. Getting caught by crazies would be worse than zombies. Zombies
ate you—all of you. You’d be ripped apart and dead in seconds.
Crazies, on the other hand, liked organs and other meat. You’d stay
alive and feel every bit of agony as they shoved their hands into
your abdomen.
    I jumped over a dead tree. Prickers caught on
the thighs of my jeans. They ripped off, tearing into my flesh
before I even realized they were there. I didn’t have time to let
the pain register. We had to keep moving. Underbrush loudly
crunched under our feet as we tore through the trees.
    Suddenly, I skidded to a stop. Hayden halted
next to me. Panting, we looked at each other, then at the old
broken down train. The engine was separated from the open passenger
cars. Spiderwebs and moss wove along the rusted metal bars and the
smell of animal droppings was heavy in the air. Taking a deep
breath, I took off again, going down and around the train. I had
just pushed into a run when the air left me.
    The zombie’s head was down. Crusty black
curls hung in her face. The long dress she had on at the time of
death was tattered and filthy. Something mental jangled with every
shaky step.
    A low moan escaped her when she heard the
crashing of trees and leaves as Hayden and I came to an abrupt
stop. Her movements were jerky and it seemed to take all of her
remaining energy to lift her drooping head. Half of her face was
gone, eaten away by the maggots that crawled and wriggled around
her empty eye socket. Her jaw hung loose, and her tongue flopped
out of her mouth.
    I didn’t consider gummies much of a threat.
They were too far gone, too slow to get you in situations like
this. But she wasn’t alone.
    I snapped my head up. My eyes widened.
Zombies staggered through the trees. Heart racing, I grabbed an
arrow without even thinking about it. Then it hit me. Hayden and I
were stuck in between two herds: zombies and crazies.
    I whipped around to Hayden. I didn’t have to
say anything. His wide eyes and blank face said it all. We were
royally