Free Winter Apocalypse: Zombie Crusade V by J.W. Vohs, Sandra Vohs Page B

way,” Deb declared. “Not in your condition, in the middle of a blizzard, with thousands of hunters prowling this entire area. Stay put unless you have to run.”
    “You know we can’t do that. Even if we’re not under attack tonight, we’ll be sitting ducks out here tomorrow. Or the next day. Besides, we know that river; hell, even the kids know it better than any of you down there. We’re going to guide you, blizzard and hunters be damned.”  
        Deb didn’t know what to say. She had known Christy for years as David’s girlfriend, and the past three months as a sister. No, she thought, that wasn’t quite right. She knew Christy as only soldiers at war can know one another, with a love that can never be fully explained, though it’s certainly one of the most powerful bonds in the world.
    “You still there?” Christy pressed.
    Deb finally shook herself out of the brain-freeze she was languishing in and made a decision. “Yeah, I’m still here. Listen, I don’t have the time or energy for any of that code talk. The hunters assaulting us are all coming over the bridge from downtown. We don’t have any reports of attacks along the north wall. The Castle is four miles southwest of where you are; I think you can drive to Fort Wayne. Pick up a few canoes at Johnny Appleseed Park and motor down to the dam. If you run into any problems along the way you can always head back to that farmhouse on the river.”
    The radio was silent for a few seconds as Christy thought the suggestion through. “Good idea, Deb. We’ll drive to the park; I think you’re right: the hunters can’t be everywhere at once. Heck, we’ve killed most of the infected within a thirty mile radius of the Castle; all the helicopters in the world can’t round up the dead.”
    Deb smiled as she considered the possibility that the choppers could do just that; after all, only five months ago they’d been certain that they were facing George Romero-style, certifiably dead zombies. “Yeah, I think the Blackhawks are working with just what they could gather from the immediate area; there were thousands of them just across the river not long ago. They’ve been wandering away, chasing stray cattle, but they probably didn’t get far.” She felt a slight sense of hope for the first time since she’d heard about the breach in the wall. “If Barnes had been moving a new horde in this direction, our scouts would have picked up the activity. I’m pretty sure this is a knee-jerk reaction to what happened in Vicksburg.”
    “All right then,” Christy replied. “We’ll be on the road in a few minutes, and with any luck, we’ll see you within the next hour and a half.”
     
     
    Deb finished packing the mobile communications gear and bundled herself up for the cold. On her way to the docks, she almost ran into Devon Ferguson herding a group of civilians to the boats.
    “Sorry,” she shouted, “I can only see about two feet in front of me. I don’t know how we’re going to know when everyone is loaded.”
    “I think we’ve got most of ‘em ready to go,” he yelled back. “We just need to get ‘em out on the water, and they’re loading pretty fast now.” The human shouts and screams, combined with the howls and snarls of the hunters fighting to force a path through the hole in the wall, had spurred on the evacuation in spite of the weather.
    Deb left the radio equipment with Devon; he said he would secure it with one of his injured soldiers before rejoining the fight at the wall. He told her that they’d lost a lot of good people and couldn’t hold out much longer.
    She tried not to think about Andi still fighting near the bridge. Time was not on their side, but Deb needed to determine the status of their own captured Blackhawks and the pilots they’d taken as prisoners. The eldest and most experienced of the group was a veteran warrant officer named Chuck, who’d earned the trust of Jack and the other leaders as he’d flown