Free Wild Strawberry: Book 3 Ascent by Trevor Donnelly

sharply towards her.  It had a large portion of the side of its head missing, a part of its brain clearly visible.  Time slowed down.  Siobhan wondered if these injuries had caused its death, or if they had come afterwards from a fight with the living.  She swung the club.  She wasn’t in a position to hit the exposed brain, so her first blow was an uppercut to the creature’s jaw.
                  Siobhan almost lost her balance, her feet sliding in the mud; but it was the zombie who fell to the ground.  She ran a few steps forward till she was standing on the creature’s chest.  She felt ribs crack under her weight, and brought her club into contact with the zombie’s open head wound.
                  There would be more monsters here in a few seconds.  Looking up she was relieved to see the front runner, a burly man in a nun’s habit, slide in the mud and fall face down.
                  The sight was almost comical, but Siobhan could only think that the poor man had probably been at a party, and now he was denied any dignity in death.  Her brain was working fast in the slowed down hyper-reality caused by adrenaline and cold water.
                  She didn’t have time to check if the zombie under her feet was properly laid to rest, but leapt off and started to push the back of the car.
                  “Drive, you stupid bastard!” she shouted over the din of the storm.
                  The chilled metal of the car was even colder than the rain.  She pressed her back against it and pushed.
                  The wheels spun again, plastering Siobhan with mud.
                  She pushed, her feet skidding, dug herself into the mud and pushed again.  She laughed out loud, then shouted at the heavens, “Talk about a bloody farce!”
                  She was soaking wet, covered in mud and zombies were slipping and sliding their way towards her.
                  “God, you have one sick sense of humour!”
                  As she shouted the car started to roll forward and she fell back in the mud.
                  She paused a fraction of a second, and snapped back to reality with the noise of the car horn.
                  Will was speeding across the field away from her, flashing the lights and beeping the horn.
                  “What the fuck?” She looked at the car driving away, leaving her alone with unknown numbers of the dead.
                  But the zombies started to follow the car, and Siobhan realised that Will wasn’t leaving her, but leading the monsters away.
                  She stayed down low: in the dark and the rain she was almost invisible.
                  The creatures followed the car, and Siobhan saw the man in the nun costume grab hold of the car’s wing mirror as it passed.  He was pulled along for a few metres before the mirror slid out of his hand and creature was once more sprawled in the mud.
                  When Siobhan’s part of the field was empty she got to her feet in a crouch.
                  The car looped round and it was quickly obvious to Siobhan that while the zombies could not see her, neither could Will.
                  She would have one shot at this, so she stood up tall and waved her arms.  If Will missed her but the zombies didn’t she would not last long.
                  Luckily, Will caught sight of her, but in the dark and rain he could not be sure it was her and not a wildly waving zombie until he was up close.
                  To both their reliefs, Siobhan pulled open the passenger door and bundled back into the car as it bumped along the field.
                  Will looked at his companion, she was covered in mud from head to toe; only her teeth and eyes glinted white.  She was too