Jennifer nodded. She threw her arms around Cassie and squeezed the breath out of her lungs.
“It should have been me,” she said between sobs. “You’re a better person than I am.”
“Now you’re just being stupid.” Cassie gave her one last hug before firmly stepping away. “Let me turn this into something good.” She held up her bleeding hand for emphasis.
Jennifer swallowed and nodded. With one last anguished look at Cassie, she turned and ran to the jeep. When she sped away, Cassie wasn’t sure if she was running toward safety, or away from nightmare.
Chapter 48
Petals
CASSIE DROPPED HER brave facade as Jennifer disappeared from sight. Chills swept her body. Cassie slumped against the side of the bridge and cried.
She didn’t want to die. She was only eighteen years old.
She was supposed to graduate from high school. She was supposed to go to college. She was supposed to keep playing chess and make something of herself. She was supposed to take a road trip across country with Amanda and Stephenson someday, when they all had driver’s licenses and jobs.
She was supposed to do and experience so many things. Hell, she was supposed to go to the beach with Leo when the war was over. When she said goodbye to him at the bridge, she never dreamed that would be the last time she saw him. She wished she could see him one last time.
Maybe it was better that he wasn't here. Leo wouldn’t see her this way, wounded and dying of infection. At least he would remember her as a whole person. She glanced down at her hand. Blood still dripped out. She already saw the puckering signs of infection around the wound.
The immensity of her loss yawned before her. Less than two weeks ago, she’d had an entire lifetime in front of her.
Everything had changed in less than five seconds, when the zombie sank his teeth into her hand. A lifetime had diminished to blink.
What happened to people when they died? Did souls really go to heaven, like so many people believed? Or would she be reincarnated as something weird, like a crawdad? Or was there just ... nothing? What would happen when she closed her eyes for the last time?
A deep yearning for Leo opened up in her chest. More tears flowed from her eyes. She scrubbed them away, forcing herself to look south, toward the approaching busses. They were once again visible. They were close, no more than five or ten minutes away.
The chunks of broken concrete and broken trusses would slow them down. That could work in her favor. She wanted to make sure all four busses were on the bridge when she lit the last fuses.
In fact, the fuses could do with some shortening. Cassie didn’t want to leave them any chance of escape. By the time the Russians saw the fuses and figured out the danger, Cassie wanted it to be too late for them. Her death would mean something. She could keep all those invaders from moving into West County, taking over her home, and terrorizing everyone she loved.
Using her knife, she ripped off a piece of her shirt and used it to bind her hand. No need to risk a slippery grip on the trusses, especially since Cassie wasn’t a gymnast like her sister.
She considered her leg, where the bullet had hit her. It hurt like hell, but in light of her very short future, she barely felt the pain. She decided to leave it.
Resolute, she limped over to the truss and began to climb. The wind picked up as she crept steadily higher. She didn’t permit herself to look down; the last thing she needed to do was fall.
She stopped when she reached the second bomb. She made sure her perch was secure, dangling her legs between the metal supports that criss-crossed the trusses, just like Jennifer had done. The end of the first fuse was tied to her belt loop. Using her knife, she shortened the fuse on the second and third bombs.
There. That would give the Russians no more than two minutes once she lit the fuses. There was no way they could back four busses off the bridge that fast. She would take the enemy down with her.
There was nothing to do now but wait.
She glanced north, in the direction Jennifer had gone. Did that smudge at the end of the bridge belong to her sister, or was it a trick of the light? She decided it had to be Jennifer. Her sister was safe. She didn’t regret tackling that Soviet. Cassie would have done the same thing a thousand times over.
She stared out into the night, watching the headlights of the busses snake closer and closer to the bridge.
She was cold. Cassie hugged herself, looking down at the bandage around her hand. It was already soaked with blood.
She tried to make peace with her situation, but all she felt was fear and loss.
The busses arrived. The lead one pulled to a stop twenty feet shy of the first ripple in the concrete. The headlights blared across the road, illuminating the damage Jennifer and Cassie had done.
That gave her a sense of pride. Despite everything, that was good work. If you had to lose a chess game, it was better to lose playing a damn good game. She had played her best.
A few Soviets piled out of the bus, inspecting the damage. Turned out it was a good thing that detonating one location wasn’t enough to bring down the bridge. If it had been any other way, there was no way all those invaders would be lured into their trap.
“Come on,” Cassie whispered. “You know you want to cross.”
After several minutes of deliberating, the Russians returned to their bus. Cassie held her breath as she heard the brake release.
“Come on.” Surely they wouldn’t turn around, not when they were so close to their destination. Would they?
She nearly whooped with joy when the lead bus accelerated forward. It moved slowly, rolling over concrete and twisted pieces of metal.
Cassie pulled out her Zippo, thankful it wasn’t her right hand that had been bitten. She watched, waiting for the moment when the fourth bus entered the bridge and got near the center. Good thing the bridge was so darn long.
As the last bus entered the trap, her heart began to pound. This was it. Her time was up.
Swallowing, Cassie flipped open the lighter. She touched the tiny flame to each of the fuses. When all three hissed with life, she tucked the Zippo into the front pocket of her shirt.
Her fingers brushed something soft. The asters from Leo. She’d forgotten all about them.
Cassie pulled them out, a few tears leaking out of her eyes as she stared at the crushed purple petals. She closed her eyes and inhaled their soft scent. The burning fuses faded to a dim background noise.
Somewhere nearby, people started to shout. A horn blared. Someone slammed on the brakes. The Soviets must have spotted the sparking fuses. Too late for them. There was nowhere to run.
Cassie kept her eyes closed. She took one last inhale from the wilted asters.
She held the memory of Leo’s smile in her heart when the bombs exploded.
Chapter 49
Black Knight
AS FAR AS LEO WAS CONCERNED, Bruce couldn’t drive fast enough. His fists clenched in his lap as the land blurred by on either side of the jeep.
He tried not to fret about what he might find—or what he might not find. Jennifer and Cassie were capable. They were safe. They would be waiting for him.
“Captain.” Spill gestured with his chin. “Mutants.”
Leo glanced left and saw a pack of three mutants running up a small rise. They were on an intercept course with the jeep.
After the Russian zombies, the mutants didn’t even phase Leo. He and Spill stood up in the back seat, resting their machine guns on the head rest of the front seats. They opened fire on the mutants.
Leo aimed high, focusing on the heads. Satisfaction roared through his blood as bullets cut through the skulls of the mutants, turning their necks into bloody stumps.
Distantly, he wondered at himself. What did it mean that he felt satisfaction in murder and death?
A huge, metallic boom echoed through the air. Bruce slammed on the brakes. The three of them sat frozen, listening to the scream of metal. Somewhere above the
din, he thought he detected the cries of people.
“The bridge,” Leo said. “The girls brought the bridge down. Move, Bruce.”
Bruce slammed his foot on the accelerator.
Five minutes later, they arrived at Luma Bridge. Bruce threw the jeep into park as the three of them piled out onto the road.
The center of the bridge was gone. Three busses lay in the chilly waters of the bay, rapidly sinking. People trapped inside were screaming.
It wasn’t just soldiers screaming down there. There were screams of women and children in the air, too. It was a terrible sound that clawed at a deep place inside him.
Leo buried the feeling and hardened his heart. This was war. The invaders had left them no choice.
One bus remained, teetering on the edge. The front end dangled over the bay. The back tires were suspended above the concrete. People were trying to scramble out the windows.
But the balance of the vehicle was already shot. It was like watching a slow-motion video. The front end kept tipping. The bus gave a great groan as it slid against the ruined pavement. Chunks of concrete, disturbed by the friction, broke away into the water. They landed with loud thunks on the busses below.
The last bus followed the chunks of concrete. It sailed down to the water, propelled by the terrified cries of those inside. It hit nose-first, colliding with another bus that was already two-thirds submerged in the bay.
“Yes!” Bruce punched a fist into the air as the bus hit the water. “Take that, fuckers!”
The terrified cries of the drowning people made Leo's stomach clench. He should share in Bruce’s elation, but all he felt was exhaustion. He wanted to go home.
Where were Cassie and Jennifer? He cast his gaze around, looking for the girls.
He frowned when he didn’t see them. They should be here. They had accomplished the mission, after all. They should be here to celebrate.
He finally spotted Jennifer. She was slumped on the dirt to one side of the bridge, not looking at any of them. Dirt and blood and tears smudged her face.
There was no sign of Cassie anywhere.
Leo felt his heart skip in panic. “Jennifer?” He hurried over to her. “Jen, are you okay? Where’s Cassie?”
A long wail rose out of Jennifer’s throat. It was the worst sound Leo had ever heard in his life, even worse than the desperate cries of the people in the bay. When she raised her stricken eyes to his, anger bunched in his chest.
“Where’s Cassie?” he demanded.
Jennifer just looked at him, tears streaming out of her eyes.
“Goddammit Jen, this isn’t a game! Where’s Cassie?”
She opened her palm, holding it up to Leo. When she spoke, what came out was half words, half sobs. “She—she wanted you to have this.”
Leo stared at the tiny black knight pendant and silver chain cradled in Jennifer’s hand. He felt like he’d been hit by a two-by-four.
“What the fuck?” he screamed at her. “Where the fuck is Cassie? Where the hell is she, Jen?”
Jennifer didn’t answer. She crumpled into the golden grass, folding in on herself as she cried.
The black knight rolled out of her hand, coming to rest at the tip of Leo’s boot.
Author’s Note
THANKS SO MUCH FOR picking up a copy of this book! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
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BOOK 3 OF ZOMMUNIST Invasion will be released June 2021. What’s next for Leo Cecchino and his Snipers? Be sure to find out! You can pre-order the book to have it delivered to your inbox on release day.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to the experts who helped bring this book to life! I couldn’t have done it without your knowledge and wisdom.
Chris Picott
Linda Bellmore
Lorraine Summers
S. Stokes
D. Schwitzer
D. Taylor
J. Theisen
C. Robosky
Special gratitude goes to Lanette and Jeff Gordon, owners of Marin Chess School. Thank you for sharing your intimate knowledge of the chessboard. The Gordon Gambit saved the day!
Thanks to all the members of the Zombie Recon Team on Patreon! I am deeply grateful for your support. You guys help bring these stories to life. (Literally, since many of you are characters in this series!)
Linda Huggins
Amanda Pratt
Larry Guevara
Jenn Miola
Julie Wyatt
Jessica Stephenson
Tanya Griggs
Lisa Unciano
Brian Spillane
Nanciann Lamontange
Vanessa Marquand
Lisa Lewis
Princilee Collins
Join the Zombie Recon Team
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Also by Camille Picott
Sulan
The League
Risk Alleviator
The Dome
Touch
Escape
Death Match
Endgame
Sulan Series Box Set (Books 1-4)
Undead Ultra
Undead Ultra
Dorm Life
Dawn Patrol
Zommunist Invasion
Snipers
Watch for more at Camille Picott’s site.
Zommunist Invasion | Book 2 | Snipers Page 26