"Behind you!"
The infected was closing fast. Sarah didn't even think about her own condition—she just screamed the warning.
But Bryan was already moving.
He spun, planted his foot, and drove a savage kick into the creature's legs.
The impact sent it sprawling. Before it could recover, Bryan stomped on its back, drew his knife, and plunged the blade into its skull.
The infected went limp.
"..."
Sarah stared at this suddenly decisive, lethal version of the boy she'd known for a month. It was like looking at a stranger.
Bryan yanked the knife free and studied the corpse. So these things weren't as dangerous one-on-one as he'd feared.
Then he noticed the dark stain spreading on Sarah's right pant leg.
"Sarah, your leg—you're hurt?"
"Ah!"
The pain she'd been ignoring came rushing back. Sarah let out a cry, finally registering the injury.
Joel had just extracted himself from the wreck when he heard about Sarah's leg. His heart sank. In their current situation, a leg wound was potentially fatal.
"Can you walk?"
He rushed to his daughter's side and helped her up. When she shook her head, his expression grew grim.
Bryan hung back, wrestling with himself. He'd done everything a neighbor and friend reasonably could. The infected were converging. Their numbers would only grow. And Sarah couldn't walk.
She was deadweight now, and Joel would never abandon her. If Bryan stayed with them, getting caught was only a matter of time.
He wasn't a saint. He wasn't about to die for people he'd known barely a month.
Then Tommy appeared from nowhere, sprinting toward them.
"They're coming! We gotta move!"
While they'd been unconscious, the infected from the highway had pushed into town. The fleeing crowds were now running back this way—which meant the monsters were right behind them.
Joel handed his gun to Tommy, then lifted Sarah into his arms.
"Cover me."
"On it."
Tommy took the weapon and looked at Bryan. "Kid, you've got a gun too, right? Stay close to them. I'll bring up the rear."
Bryan hesitated for a heartbeat, then nodded. Whatever his doubts, the immediate priority was getting the hell out of here.
The four of them joined the flood of refugees. All around them, people burst from buildings, screaming, with infected on their heels.
As they passed an intersection, a car careened out of a side street and plowed directly into a gas station.
BOOM!
The pumps exploded. A pillar of flame erupted skyward, engulfing everyone nearby. Dozens caught fire instantly, their screams filling the air. Some rolled on the ground trying to extinguish themselves. Others ran toward bystanders, spreading the flames.
The crowd behind them recoiled. The fire blocked the road ahead. Panic scattered people in every direction.
"This way!"
Joel didn't slow down. He called for Bryan and Tommy to follow, quietly telling Sarah to close her eyes.
Bryan stayed on their heels. The Madrigal Theater was just ahead. Past that, the highway was a short distance away. They just needed to find a working vehicle.
But fate had other plans. Just as they neared the next intersection, another burning car exploded, blocking their path. The fleeing mob reversed course—and ran straight into the infected pursuing them.
The front runners tried to turn back, but the crowd behind them kept pushing forward, shoving them directly into the monsters' waiting arms.
Trapped. Fire ahead. Infected behind.
"Over here! There's an alley!"
Tommy spotted a narrow gap between buildings, blocked by a metal gate. Mercifully, it wasn't locked. They piled through, and Tommy found a bar to wedge it shut—right in the faces of two unlucky souls who'd hoped to follow.
Around the corner, an infected lunged from a garbage bin at Joel. Bryan fired reflexively, dropping it with a headshot before his brain caught up to his hands.
They pushed deeper into the alley. Just when it seemed they'd lost their pursuers, infected began scaling the fences and walls behind them.
Joel's burden slowed them down. The creatures gained ground with every step. Desperate, they ducked into a bar, hoping the door would buy them time.
They almost made it. As Tommy tried to close the door, infected hands thrust through the gap.
Bryan rushed forward, emptying his magazine through the crack until the creatures fell back. The door slammed shut.
No time to rest. They bolted for the bar's rear exit, took out a lone straggler, and rescued a man about to become a meal. Through a gap in a crumbling wall, they emerged onto the service road paralleling the highway.
They fought their way forward, picking off scattered infected, until finally—
A blinding light appeared on the slope ahead. A fully armed soldier blocked their path.
"FREEZE! Hands where I can see 'em!"
They'd known the military had the highway locked down, but this was nowhere near the checkpoint. Nobody expected to run into a soldier here.
Tommy dropped his gun immediately, hands raised high.
The soldier relaxed slightly upon seeing the armed man comply. The other adult was carrying a child. Didn't seem like threats. He paid less attention to the second kid.
Bryan quietly shifted to his right, positioning himself half-behind a rocky outcropping. He'd seen this scene in enough movies. Survivors encounter military. Soldier radios for orders. Command coldly orders the civilians eliminated.
Maybe it wouldn't happen that way. But it paid to be careful.
"Please, you gotta help me!"
Just as the soldier reached for his radio, a figure burst from the shadows behind Bryan's group—the man they'd rescued outside the bar. He'd been following them this whole time.
"HALT! Don't move or I WILL fire!"
The soldier snapped his rifle up, warning the newcomer.
But the man was beyond reason. He kept running, kept babbling "help me, help me," like a broken record.
The soldier didn't hesitate. His rifle barked three times.
The man's body jerked with each impact. He crumpled, riddled with holes.
The aftermath hung in the air—heavy, silent. The survivor's death was partly his own fault, but the soldier's cold efficiency left everyone shaken.
Joel stared at the twitching corpse. A very bad feeling settled in his gut.
Then he noticed Bryan had already taken cover behind a boulder. An idea began to form.
Sarah was in his arms. If the soldier opened fire on them, his daughter would be right in the line of fire.
The thought crystallized. Without making it obvious, Joel began edging toward Bryan's position.