Free Survival by Rhonda Hopkins Page A

passenger window with one hand, the other pulling
on the handle. He yelled and hurled obscenities as she squealed
away from him and onto the street.
     
     

CHAPTER
TWO
     
     
    I n the few hours
they had been held captive, things had deteriorated drastically in
the city of Fort Worth. A smattering of abandoned cars littered the
streets along with the dead. Bodies savagely torn open and covered
in blood had fallen along the roadway, across cars and railings.
But even worse . . . some of them walked. Some of them walked with
hideous gashes and missing appendages. Some of them walked with
their guts hanging on the outside as they shambled along the dark
streets. Some of them walked—while dead.
    Zombies . There was no other word for
them. People had joked about this kind of thing happening, but
that's all it was - jokes. It wasn't supposed to really happen.
Right?
    She jumped as something crashed into the
back of her car. Sarah shook off the disbelief. Well, however it
happened, it was real and there was no time to try to figure it out
now.
    Sarah maneuvered around the unmoving
vehicles, searching for police or anyone who could help. The blue
and red flashing lights from police cruisers and ambulances
indicated an emergency personnel presence. But they were
overwhelmed. Those she saw either fought the dead or assisted the
wounded. Some were injured themselves or had become one of the
reanimated corpses. She would find no help there.
    Her body shook from shock and cold.
Goosebumps peppered her flesh. But she drove on until she came to a
dark side road and pulled into a group of trees, cutting the engine
and the lights. She listened carefully for a few precious moments,
but heard nothing.
    Blood dripped down her face from the gash at
her hairline. Sarah reached for the injury with a trembling hand.
Warm wetness coated her fingers and she jerked them back, startled
by the amount. The coppery smell filled the car.
    "It's okay. It's okay," she whispered to
herself. "Even minor head wounds bleed a lot."
    Lightning flashed and thunder boomed
instantaneously. Startled, Sarah screamed. She clamped a hand over
her mouth, cutting off the sound. "Got to get a grip. Dana's
counting on me." Her breath caught in her throat as she thought of
her twin still in the hands of lunatics. "I can't fall apart
now."
    Turning on the overhead light, she stretched
around to the back seat and pulled her gym bag into her lap. She
unzipped it and dug out the towel she had packed that morning.
    How could things have gone to hell in such a
short time?
    She pressed the towel against the laceration
and held it there, while turning off the light with the other hand.
She looked out at the darkness. Other than the rain, wind, and
other forces of nature, there was nothing moving. But that could
change in the space of a breath; she knew only too well.
    The area looked familiar. She was just on
the outskirts of Fort Worth and knew someone who lived a couple of
blocks away. Hopefully she would be able to get some help. But
considering the animosity between them, she was just as likely to
be turned away.
    "Not gonna freakin' happen."
    Her skin prickled with the low temperatures.
She hadn't dressed for the cold front which came in while being
held inside the building. She had expected to be home well before
it hit. She threw the towel in the back seat, grabbed a T-shirt
from the gym bag and pulled it over her head, ignoring the smell of
dried sweat from her workout earlier in the day. The handcuff
snagged in the armhole, halting its descent. Sarah jerked it loose
and pulled her arm through. The black tee was better than nothing,
but she still shivered.
    She started the engine, jacked up the heat,
and slammed the car into gear. She drove with the lights off,
hoping to avoid any unwanted attention.
    Some areas were completely dark. Electricity
seemed to be out in some places, but not all. And some people
appeared to have backup generators as there were lone spots