Free Empty Bodies (Book 2): Adaptation by Zach Bohannon Page B

“Dylan.”
    The boy was crying with his hands over his ears and didn’t look up.
    “Dylan!” Will yelled.
    The boy looked up, and Will looked into his bloodshot eyes.
    “Buddy, I know you’re scared, but we need your help, okay?”
    The boy nodded.
    “You need to watch Marcus’ back and let him know if any danger is coming from behind him. Can you do that?”
    Dylan nodded again, then sat up straight in his seat, moving his hair from in front of his eyes, though still crying.
    “Good.”
    Will looked down at Holly and ran his fingers through her hair. He could feel a lump right where he figured their heads had collided during the turbulence of the crash. He leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll be back,” he whispered. He then hopped over the seat and sat next to Marcus. They switched places so that Will could be next to the door. There were two Empties right on the other side of it.
    Will took a deep breath. “Alright. On the count of three, I’m gonna break open the window so we can clear a path before I open the door and run for it. You ready?”
    “Ready!” Marcus said.
    “One… two…”
    Will took a deep breath and mumbled to himself, “Please, be with me.”
    Then, at the count of   “Three!” Will shattered the window with the butt of the rifle and fired consecutive shots into each of the two Empties’ skulls, then opened the door and jumped out.
    A creature came at him from behind the truck, and he saved a bullet by pulling the knife off his waist and driving it into the thing’s skull. He then looked back and saw that a couple of the Empties were pulling away from Miranda’s body and moving toward him.
    “Go!” Marcus yelled.
    Will watched Marcus turn to shoot the Empties leaving the body, but they were already behind the truck and out of the view of any open window. Will knew that Marcus couldn’t break the rear window with Holly lying unconscious in the back. It’d be too easy for one of the things to reach in and hurt her.
    “Fucking go!” Marcus yelled again. “Or I’m gonna shoot your ass and run to one of those cars myself!”
    Finally, Will came out of his trance and hurried away from the truck.
    He had to dodge the remains of the dead in the middle of the road, and a couple of vultures flew away from the rotting corpses when he began to run.
    There were an array of abandoned vehicles to choose from, but Will just ran to the first one he could get to. When he tried to open the door, it was locked, and an Empty appeared in the window and banged on the glass. Will fell backward, landing on his tailbone, grimacing. He then heard a snarl, and one of the creatures was over him. He quickly drew his Glock and unloaded a round into the Empty’s head, rolling out of the way before it fell on him.
    He jumped to his feet and ran to the next car he could reach. Behind him, he heard gunshots and bodies hitting the pavement. He took a quick glance back and saw Marcus firing at the Empties out of the window. It looked like the entire group was migrating away from Miranda’s body now.
    Will readied his firearm and pulled the handle on the door to a four-door sedan. It opened, and he prepared to shoot if one of the creatures jumped out at him, but none did. He slid into the driver’s seat and looked for keys. He checked in all the obvious places—under the sun visor, in the glove box, in the sunglasses compartment—but he couldn’t find any. He got out of the seat and squatted down next to the car, and opened the compartment under the steering wheel, exposing the wiring.
    As he started to mess with the wires, he heard a continuous snarl amidst a fury of gunshots.
    “Will! Look out!” Marcus shouted.
    Will stood, and an Empty was in his face, pushing on the door and pinning him between the door and the body of the vehicle. It was dressed in a fireman’s uniform, wearing a helmet with a shield covering its face. It leaned in to Will’s face, and if it hadn’t been for the