by Chelsea Luna
“Take a right at the light!” Adam rolled down his window and hoisted half of his body outside.
“What are you doing?” Lindsay screamed.
“They’re shooting at us, if you haven’t noticed.” Adam raised his gun and fired.
“Give me a gun,” Rachel said to Cage.
“What?”
“A gun!”
The van moved from side to side across the trash-filled road. Cage pulled his backpack from the hatch. “How many guns do we have?”
“Three, I think,” Rachel said.
Morgan squirmed on the floor.
“Stay there.” Rachel pushed her down.
“There are only two bullets left in this one.” Cage handed the gun to Rachel and crouched under the broken hatch window.
Rachel climbed out the back driver’s side window. The wind whipped her face as Nicky sped down the streets of Detroit. Gunfire crackled in the air and a bullet struck the SUV under the broken window.
“Cage! Are you okay?” Rachel yelled inside.
“I’m all right!”
The guy in the van had some type of assault rifle. He fired off dozens of shots, spraying holes in the back of the Traverse.
Rachel glanced across the top of the car. Adam fired off another round. His eyes quickly flitted to her before returning to the van. “Don’t think about the moving car. Only think about the target. You can do it.”
“I can’t shake them!” Nicky yelled. “Shoot out their tires!”
“Do you know how hard it is to shoot out tires?” Cage yelled back.
“Just do it!”
Rachel positioned her shoulders and lined up her target. Her gun had only two bullets. There was no room for error. A bullet buzzed by her ear, but she ignored it and sighted the van’s front tire.
Bullets rained down on the Traverse. Rachel held her breath and squeezed the trigger. The bullet blasted the cement in front of the tire, blowing bits of gravel into the air.
Someone screamed inside the car, but Rachel took a deep breath and closed one eye, concentrating on the van’s front tire. Concentrate. Adam’s voice floated in her mind — Only think about the target. You can do it.
She inhaled, squeezed and exhaled.
The bullet spiraled through the air and buried itself deep in the tire’s rubber. The wheel exploded and the van skidded wildly across the road. The van’s front bumper clipped an abandoned car and flipped over. The roof crushed into the cement before the van screeched to a stop.
Rachel smiled.
Nicky slowed to a stop.
“Why are you stopping?” Rachel slid inside and her heart skipped a beat. “Morgan?”
Morgan lay across the back seat with her head in Finn’s lap. The front of her yellow butterfly shirt was bloody.
“Morgan?” Rachel repeated. “What happened?”
Adam’s face was pale. “One of their bullets hit her.”
Rachel moved beside Morgan. Her eyes were open, but she was taking quick little breaths. “Morgan, are you okay?”
“It hurts.” She squeezed her eyes shut.
Blood had soaked through her shirt. Cage handed Rachel a wad of fabric and she pressed it against the wound to stop the bleeding.
“Hold on, we’re going to get help. Right now.” Rachel turned, looking for Adam. “Where’s the first aid kit?”
Rachel kissed Morgan on the nose. “We’re going to get you fixed up.”
Morgan gasped.
“Morgan?” Rachel leaned over. “Stay with me!”
Adam shuffled through the back hatch, grabbing the first aid kit. He pulled the door open and Finn scrambled out of the way.
“Let’s move her outside. I need more room.” Adam scooped up Morgan and gently laid her on the pavement. “I need something to stop the bleeding.”
Rachel held Morgan’s hand, not knowing what to do. Morgan would be okay. Adam could fix her.
Morgan gasped for air again. A few drops of blood dripped from the side of her mouth.
“Why is she bleeding from the mouth?” Rachel squeezed Morgan’s hand.
“I think the bullet hit her lungs,” Adam said.
“What do you need?” Cage asked.
Adam tossed the bloody fabric aside and pressed a clean one to Morgan’s wound. His dark eyes met Rachel’s. “I can’t fix it.”
“What?”
“Rachel, there’s nothing I can do.”
She swallowed. “No, you can save her! I know you can. Please, Adam. Try.”
“Her lungs are filling with blood. I’m not a doctor, I can’t —”
Rachel couldn’t see Morgan’s face anymore. Tears filled her eyes. “Morgan? Can you hear me?”
She nodded, gasping for air.
“I love you,” Rachel said. “Morgan, I love you. You’re going to be okay.”
Morgan blinked. A small wet gasp fell from her lips and then she went still.
“Morgan?” Rachel said. “No! Morgan?”
It felt like a vacuum had sucked all of the air out of Rachel’s lungs. She couldn’t breathe. How had this happened? So quick. So fast.
Rachel buried her head in Morgan’s neck, but she hated the way her body felt limp in her arms. She gently laid Morgan’s head down on the cement. She glanced at Cage and then at Adam. “She’s dead.”
“I’m so sorry,” Cage said.
Adam swallowed. “Rachel….”
She was already on her feet. Anger swelled inside of her. She scanned the street for the white van.
“Don’t do it,” Cage said. “You’ll regret it.”
“No, I won’t.”
“The guilt will eat you alive. Trust me. I still see Jorge’s body when I close my eyes.” Cage wrapped his hand around the upper part of her arm.
“He deserved to die, too.” Rachel shrugged off Cage’s grip and stalked across the littered highway.
The van was toppled over. The smell of gasoline filled the air, but there wasn’t a fire. Not yet. She stepped over a discarded suitcase and zeroed in on the two men in the van.
The man in the driver’s seat was bleeding from a two-inch gash across his forehead. His legs were pinned in the wreck, but he was alive, hanging awkwardly out of the van. His buddy in the passenger seat was dead.
Rachel’s sneakers crunched over glass as she closed in on the wreckage. She vaguely noted a torn teddy bear on the road.
“Rachel!” Adam’s voice carried in the wind behind her.
She ignored him.
A shotgun and a semiautomatic rifle were lying on the road, thrown from the van during the accident. Rachel scooped the shotgun off the cement without breaking her stride. It was sticky under Rachel’s fingers. Blood. She’d get the other gun later.
The man in the driver’s seat locked eyes with Rachel.
“Rachel!” Cage yelled. “Don’t do it!”
Cage’s footsteps pounded on the cement behind her. The man in the van raised one hand in a show of surrender. A scuffle sounded behind her, but Rachel didn’t care what was going on.
“Let go, Adam!” Cage yelled. “Let go of me! Rachel! Don’t!”
Rachel stepped over a twisted piece of metal and raised the shotgun. The butt of the rifle felt reassuring against her shoulder.
“Please don’t shoot!” The man said. “I’m hurt!”
“You killed my sister.” Rachel’s voice sounded hollow in her ears. “She was eleven years old.”
“It was an accident. Please! I’m sorry!”
Rachel closed one eye. Adam’s voice filled her mind. Only think about the target. It was unnecessary to aim because she was standing over the man. She couldn’t miss from this distance.
“Rachel! Don’t!” Cage yelled. “Adam, let me go!”
Why? He didn’t show Morgan mercy, why should she show him any? The man started crying. He lifted his hands over his face as he pleaded for his life.
Rachel squeezed the trigger.
The gun kicked back, almost knocking her off her
feet. The bullet blasted the man through his hands and into his forehead, silencing him. Rachel turned on her heel. The hollowness in her chest was still there. Killing the man hadn’t made it go away.
The others stood behind her, their eyes locked on the man she’d just shot in cold blood. Adam held Cage back.
Morgan’s tiny body lay on the road. Rachel glanced away, unable to look at her. Cage broke away from Adam and ran to Rachel. He tried to take the shotgun from her, but Rachel pulled away. “Don’t.”
“Fine, keep it. Are you all right?” Cage asked.
She walked past him. “I’m fantastic.”
Cage was on her heels. The anxiousness was plain on his face, but she couldn’t deal with that now.
Adam placed his arm across Cage’s chest again. “Give her some space.”
Rachel made eye contact with Adam. He nodded.
Adam understood why she had to do it. Understood what it felt like to lose someone so abruptly. So unnecessarily. Death. They’d all dealt with it. Death and the Zombie Apocalypse. That’s what their lives were now. She understood. She understood Adam’s words after Selena’s gruesome death.
We’re all going to die.
It was just a matter of who was next.
Nicky sighed. “What should we —”
“We’re going to bury my little sister.” Rachel walked toward Morgan without looking at her body.
“And then what?” Lindsay said.
Rachel rested the shotgun on her shoulder. “Then we head to Las Vegas.”
END OF BOOK TWO
Now Available
Revenge & the Zombie Apocalypse
(Book 3, Zombie Apocalypse Trilogy
Revenge & the Zombie Apocalypse is the epic conclusion to the Zombie Apocalypse Trilogy. The zombie outbreak has ravished the country for over two weeks. Rachel and her friends are at their breaking point. They have suffered casualties, unspeakable horrors, murder and betrayal.
To survive, the battered group must continue on through the great expanse of the American wasteland. Their only hope lies at Camp Freedom Two in Las Vegas—the last major survivor camp still safeguarded by the military. The long journey from Michigan to Nevada is filled with the undead. Danger lurks in every twist of the road. Will the group survive? Can they work together and overcome their struggles?
Acknowledgments
I am having so much fun writing this trilogy. Of course, none of this would be possible without the help of a handful of people. First, I have to thank my parents, for their continued love and support. Especially, my mother — she always knows what to say to make me smile. Thank you to the world’s best brother, Chano, who was my weapons and zombie expert. To my son, Jackson, I love you more than words could ever say.
I cannot give enough thanks to my editor Jane Haertel at Crazy Diamond Editing. You are amazing! Your edits and comments made this story so much better! Thank you Rahul Philip for the amazing cover. It’s always a joy working with you. Check out his website at http://www.rahulphilip.com
For more information on the Zombie Apocalypse Series or other novels by Chelsea Luna, please visit the following websites:
http://www.chelsealunaauthor.com
http://www.facebook.com/ChelseaLuna.Author
Follow me on Twitter: @Chelsea_Luna_
BOOKS
by Chelsea Luna
Zombie Apocalypse Trilogy (Young Adult)
Love & the Zombie Apocalypse (Book 1)
Death & the Zombie Apocalypse (Book 2)
Revenge & the Zombie Apocalypse (Book 3)
The New England Witch Chronicles Series (Young Adult)
New England Witch Chronicles (Book 1)
Conjured (Book 2)
Wicked Betrayal (Book 3)
All Hallows Eve (Book 4)
Angel & Sinners Novella Series (Young Adult)
Torment of Shadows (Novella 1)
Mortal Sin (Novella 2) – Coming 2015
Monster Club Series (Middle Grade):
Monster Club: Case of the Ivy Hollow Werewolf (Book 1)
About the Author
Chelsea Luna is the author of two best selling young adult series, New England Witch Chronicles and Love & the Zombie Apocalypse. Chelsea received a Juris Doctorate from New York Law School in New York, New York in 2007, and a B.A. in Sociology, with a concentration in Criminal Justice, from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee in 2004. Chelsea lives in middle Tennessee.