Free A Dark Evolution (Book 2): Deranged by Jason N. LaVelle Page B

time.
    “We’ll run right through them, but it's going to be rough,” she said, aiming in the direction of the highway and pressing the accelerator. The six-cylinder engine shot them forward, blasting through two nearly dead humans, sending one doing aerial cartwheels over the car. It would have been funny, she thought, if anything was funny anymore. Kala continued to gain speed and tore through the residential district, aiming for I-75. She flew up the on ramp and was immediately shocked to see that the highway was…empty. She had expected a wasteland of cars to dodge, but there was nothing in sight. She smiled. Finally, something in our favor, she thought, and pressed the accelerator harder. When they hit eighty, she turned on the cruise control.
    “We’re going to be okay guys, we’re going to be okay.”
    She looked over. Sophie was sleeping on Dylan's lap already, and Dylan was looking at her with a mixture of sadness and admiration. He started to speak and his voice cracked, then Kala saw the tears in his eyes.
    “Thank you Kala, thank you so much for saving my Sophie.” Kala grinned at him, not sure how to respond without bursting into tears herself. Instead, she patted his leg, which was still trembling. “Go to sleep, I’ll take care of us.”
     

Chapter 8
     
    “What’s your name, son?” Rosa asked.
    “Kevin, sir,” was the clipped response.
    Rosa rode in the front seat of the Humvee next to an iron-faced soldier. The man couldn't have been more than twenty, with his smooth skin and lack of wrinkles, but his jaw was hard with determination and pride. A half-shell helmet decorated with urban camo was pulled down over his forehead, and his hands gripped the wheel at precise marks. Mindful that he was staring, Rosa turned away from him, watching the city fly by. The radio jumped to life, with a man's voice spitting out what to Rosa was completely incomprehensible. His driver’s eyes widened just slightly.
    “Is there a problem, Kevin?”
    “Hold on tight, sir.”
    “Oh great.”
    A moment later the lead vehicle radioed back again. “We’ve broken through on the road, but they're coming at us from all sides, they're everywhere!”
    “What kind of response authorization do we have, sergeant? Mike? Mike!”
    Mike did not respond, but ahead of them gunfire erupted. Even over the roar of the Humvee’s turbocharged diesel engine, the sound was unmistakable.
    “Sparks, get on the fifty cal, now!” Kevin yelled. Sparks, a.k.a. Mr. Sparkles, or so he was called on account of his one shiny gold tooth up front, scrambled to get up to the top gun. He fell twice because of the way Kevin was driving the big vehicle, dodging parked cars and vehicles trying to flee, as well as bloody, mindless swarms of zombies flooding into the street.
    “Holy shit!” Rosa yelled. “Did half the city just up and change?”
    His driver was out of breath and frightened. That was understandable, Rosa thought, as he watched the Hummer plow through a teenage girl with blood and gore hanging from her mouth. Her body made an audible crunch beneath them.
    “I feel a little sick,” Rosa mumbled, to no one in particular.
    Apparently Kevin heard him because he shouted, “Puke on the floor, and keep your head down!”
    A moment later, the loud rhythmic chop of the fifty caliber roof-mounted machine gun roared, and bodies started to fly all around them. Sparks mowed down the zombies with impudence. At least Kevin hoped they were all zombies, a court martial and prison time were not in the plans for him and his fiancé.
    “Oh shit!” the driver suddenly screamed and slammed on the brakes. The other Humvee was stopped diagonally in the road in front of them, smoking and overrun with the dead. They hadn’t hit the brakes fast enough though, and their front end smacked into the vehicle. Kevin heard a cry from above and saw Mr. Sparkles body fly over their hood and crash into the disabled Humvee in front of them. He slumped down to