Free The Renegades (A Post Apocalyptic Zombie Novel) by Jack Hunt Page B

its face over the horizon.
    As we made it to the corner of a building, we were about to run across to the next when we noticed a huge group that was busy chewing away on what must have been fresh kill. The bottom half of the body didn’t have any blood on it. We crept by thinking they would be distracted with their human Big Mac when Baja tripped. His nunchucks hit the ground. The group turned. Old and young cast their milky eyes on us. Had they been the slow ones, a light jog would have done the trick. But these fuckers were the ones that shuffled like apes.
    “Don’t shoot. Whatever you do…” I called out.
    A gun fired, taking the left half of one of the Z’s face off. I glanced at Specs, who was holding the gun.
    “Sorry, my finger slipped.”
    “Run,” I yelled. We unleashed round after round as we ran. To our dismay, most of them weren’t head shots, so they kept coming at us. I slung my assault rifle over my shoulder. It was attached by a strap. It was easier to run that way. I pulled out two handguns, the Glock 17 and a Beretta, and started firing.
    “In here.”
    I slammed my foot against a partially open metal door. I had no idea where it led or if there were more Z’s inside. I just knew we weren’t going to make it to the cruiser in one piece. There were too many. Even if we had reached the car, we would have been trapped. One by one they piled in. I continued dropping Z’s. Then we slammed the door shut. Except it wasn’t fully shut. A head and foot had squeezed in as we closed it. I fired a bullet into the face and the foot snapped. Pressing our backs against the door, we could feel the Z’s smashing into the other side. Our bodies jerked forward with every hit. The door clattered.
    “Get something to jam between the handle,” I said.
    Inside it was dark. I had attached a flashlight to the end of my AR-15. I flicked it on and swept the light around the room. Big mistake. The place was full of Z’s. I unloaded an entire clip taking them down. I popped the empty one out and slammed another one in. Specs and Baja and Jessica were against the door. All three of them were trying to keep the door closed while trying to assist me. It was pure mayhem. Then it stopped. The last one dropped. My heart was racing, my eyes darted around the room. I reached for a crowbar that I had seen beneath a table. I ran back and wedged it beneath the door. Specs leapt up and I took his place. I pushed my shoulder against the door while he looked around. He disappeared into the darkness then came back with what looked like a noose.
    “What the hell?”
    “Seems someone hung themselves.”
    “Joking?” I replied.
    “Nope.”
    After we got the door tied off, we checked our ammo. Made sure we were loaded back up and then moved into the building. The ground had become like a bouncy castle. Except instead of it being inflated plastic, it was bodies. Chest cavities broke beneath our feet. Bones could be heard snapping. But that wasn’t the worst thing.
    We were all still trying to catch our breath as we rounded the corner. We found ourselves in a room with thick wooden beams above us. A cross hung at the far end of the wall. That’s when I realized where we were. It was used for a religious group.
    Bodies hung by their necks. There had to have been eight. Two of them were just kids. They couldn’t have been more than nine. Their lower extremities had been eaten by Z’s that had made their way in. Intestines hung out of a young girl.
    “Why wouldn’t they wait? Why kill yourself?” Specs asked.
    “Some lose hope fast. Who knows? Maybe they were part of a cult. Perhaps they saw this as an end of the world scenario.”
    It was sick. I turned and felt my gag reflex kicking in.
    “You OK there, bud?” Baja said.
    “Give me a second.” I wiped the corner of my mouth with the back of my sleeve.
    They were still moving. While they had taken their lives, their brains were still intact. How long had they hung there