Free Erik Handy by Hell of the Dead

Those who protected the targets were now considered fair game as well.
     

Chapter 34
    Two villagers ran into a hut for protection. One was the man Nolan stood off with twice.
    Two soldiers followed closely.
    Once inside, the four men worked together to barricade the doors and windows with any furniture or loose objects they could find.
    It was too late.
    A zombie appeared from the unlit rear of the hut. He assessed his options.
    The soldiers opened fire until their guns ran dry.
    The zombie took every shot and still stood.
    The villagers didn't recognize the revenant because he was a stranger to them. Now, all the rules were lifted. All the living were fair game for the vengeance of the dead.
    One of the soldiers struck the creature with the butt of his rifle, but was caught by the zombie's maggot-infested arm. The zombie pulled the soldier close and bit his face. Nose and cheek sloppily came off in the monster's teeth like chicken skin.
    The other three men fled the hut.

Chapter 35
    The zombies were making short work of everyone. A group of soldiers held one down, but the zombie gained some kind of reserve strength and powered out. He then fell upon a slow soldier and broke the man's neck.
    A reason the soldiers and the villagers had a difficult time defending themselves was the sheer unbelievability of the whole situation. Some simply looked on in horror as their compatriots fell. Others turned numb and tuned everything out.
    Another reason was that the zombies were invincible.
    A few villagers had heard rumors of a vengeance ritual used to revive the dead. But they were only rumors. Fiction. Now, just fact.
    Raymond was in the middle of the chaos, firing his revolver at the zombies, carefully avoiding his men, but not so much caring about the villagers. In fact, he shot one of the male villagers in the back of the head. He quickly shrugged the mistake off, then proceeded to his next target.
    Were there really this many villagers before, Raymond thought. They seemed to come out of the wood work, fodder for his bullets and the tribe that were laying waste to them.
    Rosalo tackled Raymond and began to choke the man with his unwounded arm.
    The struggle was brief.
    Rosalo managed to swipe Raymond's gun and shoot him dead. Without remorse, Rosalo turned and emptied the gun into anything that moved. Once the gun was empty, he tossed it and sought a way out from the killing ground.
    He didn't feel any exhilaration from all the death around him. This was much different. Here, he wasn't in control of a man's life. He was barely in control of his own. He was close to death now, but he feared the death would be his own.
    ***
    Nolan made for a jeep. The priest's rifle was slung clumsily over his shoulder, baby Jean Paul in his arms.
    He thought these newcomers were another death cult or a rival tribe, but in the recesses of his inner core he wasn't entirely sure they were of human origin. The way they tore at the villagers and policeman alike -- and to do so without so much as anger on their faces -- made the priest consider the possibility that they came straight from Hell. But there was no time for such musings. Nolan had to get out of there. Now.
    A hut burst into flames.
    Two zombies pulled a female villager out of the engulfed hut by her bare feet. Once out of the burning hut, the zombies bombarded her with punches.
    She screamed the whole time, more so when they shoved their hands into her stomach and stretched out her innards.
    Nolan tried to ignore the hell around him and strapped the baby into the front seat of a jeep as much as a bundled baby could be without a proper car seat. The priest discarded his rifle and jumped into the vehicle. As he revved the jeep, he spied Jacoby already taking off in a jeep of his own.
    Damn him, Nolan thought.
    He pulled out after the constable.
    Rosalo jumped in the back of Nolan's jeep just as it sped off.

Chapter 36
    After Jacoby and Nolan left, the chaos wound down. Some soldiers who had