Free Catholic Guilt and the Joy of Hating Men by Regan Wolfrom Page A

Maybe apply a tourniquet, Amanda, so she looks the part. And so she doesn’t bleed out before the macoutes reach you.”
    I took off my shirt, trying not to dwell on the sweat stains on my sports bra. I did my best to remember first aid, wrapping the wound as tightly as I could.
    “You girls should start running around a little,” Kathleen said. “Spread out.”
    “Are you going to get me out of here or what?” Fallon asked.
    “We don’t need you anymore.”
    “I’ll kill you, Shannard.”
    “That’s not how it works, Fallon. Being killed by a zombie doesn’t make you a zombie... it makes you dead.”
    Fallon sat down on the ground. “I’m not going to run and hide,” he said.
    “Whatever, Fallon. I don’t really care, as long as you’re dead and eaten at the end of this.”
    I saw Fallon looking at one of the handguns lying on the ground. I knew what was coming.
    He somersaulted towards the gun.
    The man with the assault rifle started shooting.
    Fallon stopped moving.
    “Now go on, girls,” Kathleen said. “Get moving.”
    I helped Julia up, her arm wrapped along my shoulders. She was unable to use her right leg, but working together she and I were able to get her hopping on her left.
    We walked together as a group, along the fence, moving away from Kathleen and the assault rifle while trying not to get any closer to the oncoming zombies. But there wasn’t really anywhere to go. With Julia we were slower than they were.
    “We need to make a run for the front entrance,” Tiara said. “Maybe one or two of us will get through.”
    “What about Julia?” sayra asked.
    “We need to run.”
    “No,” I said. “We should make a run for the horses. We’ll have a better chance on horseback.”
    I helped Julia over the fence into the nearest paddock, and a couple of old mares walked up to greet us.
    I boosted Julia up on one of the mares. She groaned from the pain, but she was able to hold on.
    “I’ve never ridden a horse,” sayra said as she came up behind.
    “It’s easier than you think to ride a horse,” I said. “It’s only near impossible to ride one well. I’ll help you.”
    I knelt down on one knee beside the other mare and made a step with both of my hands.
    “Climb up,” I said.
    sayra hesitated for a moment, but then she stepped into my hands and I boosted her up. She almost went over the far side of the horse’s back, but she soon steadied herself.
    Tiara and Cadance both climbed onto mounts of their own, Tiara hopping on from a jump and Cadance awkwardly climbing up the front of a Trakehner. I managed to find a quarterhorse, a short little chestnut that stood out among the taller warmbloods. I hopped on, and we started trotting our horses along the fence. If we were lucky we’d reach the stables.
    We were circling around the macoutes , but they’d been watching us, shifting direction and heading toward the stables as well. They weren’t mindless; they were matching our moves.
    “We’re going to make it,” Julia said.
    “We need to speed up,” I said. I brought my quarterhorse up to a gallop.
    The other horses did the same, with or without being cued by their riders; no horse wants to be the one that’s left behind.
    I heard a scream, and turned to see sayra fall; she was clear of the mare’s hooves, but I knew she wouldn’t be able to catch her horse or get back on.
    I didn’t know enough about riding bareback to turn around and help her. I’d have to either get off my horse or leave her.
    There was no way I’d be able to help her and still outrun the macoutes .
    I started slowing my horse.
    “I’ve got her,” Tiara said. “Just keep going.”
    She brought her horse around and pulled sayra up.
    “They’re too close,” I said. “They’ll catch us when we dismount.”
    “Then we don’t dismount,” Cadance said. “We need to ride up the stable aisles. There should be enough clearance.”
    “Should be?”
    She brought her horse up to the front and kept