Issy dragged a chair with her as she fled from the kitchen with Dr. Sophia. Both of them leapt off the four-meter-high wall without hesitation the moment they heard cars pulling up nearby.Sophia, disheveled and battered but still clear-headed, led the way toward the hidden ATV near a clump of banana trees.
"Are you okay?"Issy placed a firm hand on Sophia's shoulder, getting a small nod in response.
BOOM!The explosion shook them both.
"Let's go!"Issy straddled the ATV. Once Sophia climbed on behind her, clinging tightly around her waist, Issy twisted the throttle to full blast, sending them hurtling down the rugged dry stream bed without a second thought.
Though the busty Russian girl had never ridden an ATV through dense forest at night before, the surge of adrenaline and her seasoned driving skills carried them safely down the rocky, root-strewn trail to meet Limo and Molly, who were waiting at a makeshift camp about five hundred meters from the village.Other than a few bruises on her rear from the brutal bumps, they made it relatively unscathed.
"Take care of her, Molly. I'm going back—"Issy's words were cut off by a sudden, thunderous burst of gunfire like a Chinese New Year fireworks display.
"Be careful,"Molly said, her face dripping with sweat as she helped Sophia down from the ATV and handed her a bottle of water.
Issy nodded grimly, spun the ATV around, and took off toward the village entrance, about a kilometer away.The narrow, winding asphalt road climbed steeply through cold, misty mountain air. The chill whipped through her hair as reflective roadside markers flashed by.
Suddenly, the engine sputtered.She glanced down — the fuel warning light was blinking frantically.
"Damn it, why now?"Only a few dozen meters to go before reaching level ground and the village entrance.
"Hraaah!"A zombie — an elderly man — lurched toward her out of the mist, making her heart skip a beat.Issy remembered how Kantsuke had forced her to train shooting pistols with her non-dominant left hand, and how she had silently cursed him for it.But now, in the dark, with the zombie less than ten strides away, that training might just save her.
Keeping her right hand on the throttle, Issy drew her pistol with her left hand and fired.
Pew pew…Two rounds hit the zombie's left shoulder, staggering it — but it kept coming.
"Shit!"Pew pew pew pew pew pew!She emptied her magazine into it, but the creature lunged forward, inches from grabbing her arm.
"Hraaah!"The zombie opened its mouth wide to bite her—
Pew!Issy fired a final round directly into its head at point-blank range.The decaying hands flailed uselessly, and she was showered with warm blood and flesh.
"Ughh!"She wiped her face with her sleeve, gagging at the stench of rotting fish that clung to her.
The ATV sputtered and died. Issy jumped off, sprinting the last stretch toward the wall where Meenda and Mari were holed up.
"I'm here. It's crawling with them down here,"she gasped into her radio, struggling to catch her breath.The streets inside the village were crawling with forty to fifty zombies, all dragging their feet uphill toward the sound of gunfire.