Ryan grinned. “Deal.”
They gripped hands, palm to palm.
“See you later, Ry,” Jonathan said.
“Later,” Ryan agreed.
Chapter 6
Ryan pushed open his door without hesitation. He slammed it hard with his shoulder, kicking off with his feet at the same time. Behind him, Kerry screamed at him to come back, but he ignored her. He was doing this for her, and he wouldn’t allow her to distract him from his mission.
The door swung open with terrific force and hit the zombie kid flat in the face. The boy fell away, and Ryan scrambled through the opening with the hatchet gripped in both hands. He ducked beneath the grasping reach of another infected and sprinted toward a small gap in the crowd.
A hand latched onto his shoulder, nearly pulling him off balance. He scrambled to find solid footing before lashing out at the pale forearm with his ax. The blade bit deep into the flesh, chopping through the meat. The fingers fell away.
The others in the group had now moved closer. Ryan spun in a tight circle as they closed in, lashing out to keep them at bay. Snarling mouths in bloodied faces surrounded him, their features of every hue and ethnicity. The virus knew no mercy and changed any and all into its soulless victims. Men, women, children, the young and old. It didn’t matter.
Their groans filled his ears. The sound of death. The smell of decay filled his nostrils. The gnashing teeth got closer, hungering for his flesh. Fingers plucked at his limbs.
For a moment, he hesitated as the old fear flooded back. It burned through him with the acid of cowardice. It almost brought him to his knees. Almost. But Kerry’s distant cries reached his ears, and his spine stiffened. I will not let them get her. Not today.
Ryan focused on the two that looked the weakest, a young girl and an older man. They both sported debilitating injuries, the kind that made them slow and awkward. It’s now or never.
He dropped his chin and ran toward them with a fierce battle cry bubbling up his throat. He slammed into the duo and forced his way through. They staggered aside, and he found himself on the outside of the crowd.
Ryan gasped for air. He dragged in a lungful of oxygen before he turned and ran. “Come on, you rotters!”
They followed with all the eagerness of a pack of starving wolves. On his heels were the fastest of the lot. They stumbled and staggered but kept pace, never tiring. Their bodies knew no pain, no fatigue. They would keep going until something stopped them, or they fell apart.
Ryan sprinted away from the car. He dared not stop to make sure he’d drawn them all away. He could only hope Jonathan got Kerry and Lucy to safety. I’m counting on you, my friend.
Meanwhile, he had his own problems to contend with. His route was taking him back to town with a bunch of zombies on his trail. The sun was dropping toward the horizon with the onset of night, and he had nothing and no one to help him.
He glanced toward the tree line on either side of the road but decided against it. It was unfamiliar territory and could be crawling with dead people for all he knew. A quick glance showed him that the zombies were falling back a little. He was a lot faster than he’d ever thought possible.
Still, the past few days of running and hiding had taken their toll. He couldn’t run forever, and already a stitch had made itself known in his ribs. He dared not stop. “Come on, Ry. Push yourself.”
His legs carried him another half a kilometer before they began to tremble. The stitch was now a burning pain in his side, and his lungs wheezed for air.
His pursuers had thinned, the weakest and most decayed falling away. Now, there were only three that still clung to his trail like bloodhounds. They showed no signs of stopping, however, unlike him.
Ryan began to lose hope. Fighting three zombies at once was a death sentence. He’d never kill all of them before they got him. Yet, if he continued running, he’d be too tired to fight at all. They’d rip him to shreds. I’d rather die fighting.
With this thought in mind, he groped at his tool belt with his left hand and pulled out a long screwdriver. Then he stopped and turned to face them with a weapon in each hand.
They pelted toward him without pause, and he readied himself for the nearest. It looked to be a headlong collision, but at the last moment, Ryan stepped aside and stuck out his leg. The zombie tripped. Its flailing arms never even tried to brace itself as it plowed into the ground with grinding force.
He stepped up to the writhing figure and hacked into the back of the skull with the hatchet in one smooth blow. It stilled.
Abandoning the ax that was now stuck in the bone, Ryan turned to face the other two. They were neck and neck, racing toward him. Once more, he ducked. This time, however, he was too slow. The nearest infected grabbed him by the arm and wrenched him off his feet.
Ryan fell hard. The breath left his lungs as his body hit the tar. His right elbow smacked into the road, rendering his arm numb. By pure instinct, he stabbed upward at the zombie’s face with his other hand. The screwdriver entered through the mouth and exited through the brain stem in the back. It collapsed on top of him, pinning his legs with its weight.
Wriggling like a worm on a hook, Ryan tried to escape, but the other infected was already on him. A burly man with fleshy pink wounds on his arms, he grabbed Ryan by the throat. He was strong. Far stronger than Ryan.
The fingers around his neck tightened. They squeezed his windpipe shut until he thought his eyes would pop out. At the same time, the infected man snapped at his face, desperate to get a bite.
Ryan pushed at his chest, but it was no use. His oxygen-starved brain screamed for air. Flashing lights exploded behind his eyelids. Before he blacked out, Ryan had the fleeting thought that he’d at least get to see his parents again. It all faded to darkness.
He awoke to the sensation of someone slapping his cheeks. A voice shouted at him from across a great distance. His lids fluttered, and he gasped for air through a throat that burned with pain. His vision focused on a figure that hovered above him.
“Hey, you! Are you okay? Breathe, damn it.” Another slap rattled his brain.
“Ow,” he groaned.
The figure became clear and revealed itself to be a girl. Her vivid red hair shone in the failing light, casting a halo around her head. He reached up to touch the wondrous sight, and she slapped him again.
“Ow! Why’d you do that?” He rubbed his burning cheek with numb fingers.
Her lips twitched into a reluctant smile. “Just making sure you’re alive.”
“I am.” His elbow felt shattered, and he became aware of all his aches and pains. “Wish I wasn’t, but yeah, I’m still here.”
“Can you get up?” she asked. ‘We need to get out of here.”
“Sure.”
He allowed her to help him to his feet. As he sucked in a deep breath of air, he noticed her appearance for the first time. Black lipstick and eyeliner decorated her face, complemented by chipped nail polish of a similar hue. Studs shone in her ears, brows, and nose, and she wore an outfit that would make a hard-core biker proud. A dragon tattoo on her neck and a gun on her hip rounded off the look.
She noticed his regard and flashed him a smile that spoke of secrets. The kind that got you into trouble. Then she stuck out her hand. “Casey, but you can call me Dee.”
“Ryan,” he replied while they shook hands. He looked around and noticed the zombie who’d nearly killed him lying on its back with a bullet hole in the forehead. “Thanks.”
“Where were you going in such a hurry, Ryan?” she asked with a quirk of an eyebrow.
“Riverbend, I think.”
“You think, or you know?”
“I know,” he amended.
“Then I guess we’re traveling partners.”
“Are you going there too?”
“I should say so. It’s my home.”
“Oh.” He was too surprised to come up with a better answer and stared at her like a dumb cow with a mouthful of cud.
&
nbsp; She eyed him, her gaze thoughtful and appraising. “Can you fight?”
His cheeks reddened under her regard, and he shrugged. “I can handle myself.”
“We’ll see about that,” she replied, handing him both his hatchet and his screwdriver. “Here, you’ll need this. The shot will draw more of them, and we’ve got a long ways to go still.”
She turned away and strode off. When he didn’t follow at once, she paused. “Are you coming or not?”
His mind raced over the implications of her words. So she was the daughter. The hotty who’d gone to university. That much he remembered Jonathan telling him. And what a hotty, indeed.
Suddenly, his school crush Shannon paled in comparison to the fiery Dee, her dimpled smile fading in his memories to be replaced by Dee’s wicked grin. “I’m coming, but there’s a ton of zombies that way.”
“That explains why you were running in the opposite direction.” She paused and patted her hip. “Don’t worry. I’ve got this baby here to protect us.”
He didn’t doubt her for a second.
“As long as it isn’t a horde, we should be fine.”
“There’s a few, maybe a dozen or so. We crashed our car, and they came from the woods.”
“We? So there’s more of you?”
He nodded.
“Great. Along the way, you can tell me all about it. We can call it a fair exchange for the bullet that saved your ass.”
“All right.” He hurried to catch up and fell into step next to her. “Where do I begin?”
“At the start.” She flashed him another cheeky smile, and he found himself liking her far too much for comfort.
He returned her gesture with a shy nod and sidled closer to her side. “The start it is then.”
THE END
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You’re a survivor!
So we’ve reached the end of Ryan’s Luck but not the end of the adventure. This is book 2 in the Death’s Children Series. Would you like to find out what happens next? If you do, keep turning the pages for a sneak peek at the sequel and decide for yourself. Happy reading!
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Sneak Preview
This is the first chapter of Lucy’s Chance, Book 3 in the Death’s Children Series.
Available Here!
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Chapter 1
Lucy huddled on the couch underneath a blanket. Only her eyes stuck out while she watched her favorite cartoons. She clutched her stuffed bear Caramel to her chest, named after her favorite treat.
With her head buried in the soft wool, she tried to drown out the sounds from the kitchen. As usual, her parents were arguing. They fought about everything. From the color of the living room curtains to what they ate for breakfast.
Their non-stop fighting was the one constant in her life. The one thing that never changed. Everything else did. From where they stayed, to the schools she attended, and the teachers she had. Daddy changed jobs a lot, so they moved often. This meant that Lucy never had any friends. Except for Caramel, of course. But Mommy says he doesn’t count.
With that thought, Lucy burrowed a little deeper beneath the covers. This muffled the strident voices until she could almost fool herself into thinking they were just talking. “It’s okay, Caramel. They’re excited about today, that’s all.”
She pretended to listen as the stuffed bear answered in her head, asking her what they had planned for the day.
“We’re going shopping. Me and Mommy. Isn’t that fun? Maybe Daddy will come too. Wouldn’t that be spectacular?”
Spectacular was her new favorite word, one she’d learned in school the week before.
She listened to Caramel’s reply then shook her head. “No, you can’t go, you know what Mommy says. You’re to stay at home.”
After another pause, she said, “I won’t be long, I promise. Now let’s watch the rest of the show.”
Silence fell as Lucy and Caramel focused on the TV screen. This fragile peace lasted only a few minutes, however, before her mother called. “Lucy, are you ready to go?”
“Yes, Mommy.”
Lucy wriggled off the couch, and ran to the kitchen, leaving her bear on the couch with a sigh of regret. She wore her Sunday best, a dress usually reserved for church. It was her favorite, red with white polka dots. Shiny black shoes over socks with lace edges completed the outfit, and in her hair, she wore a velvet ribbon of the same color as her dress.
She paused inside the entrance to the kitchen and waited. Sure enough, her father eyed her with warm approval over his newspaper and patted his knee. “There’s my pretty little girl.”
She ran over and climbed onto his lap, ignoring the sour look on her mother’s face. He hugged her to his chest, and she breathed in the familiar scent of cologne and cigarettes that always clung to his clothes. “Morning, Daddy.”
“Morning, sweetheart. How are you doing today?”
“I’m okay.”
“She’s fine. Now let the child go, or we’ll be late,” her mother said with impatience coloring each note.
With tender care, her father lowered her to the ground but only after placing a kiss on the tip of her nose. “Goodbye, sweetheart. Be good.”
“I will, Daddy.”
“Hurry up, Lucy. I haven’t got all day,” her mother said, one court shoe tapping on the floor. Click, click, click.
“Let her be, Eleanor.”
“Don’t start with me, Harold. If you didn’t have to work all the time, you could come with us.”
“You know I can’t. We have bills to pay.”
“Is that all you care about? Bills? What about us? Me?”
“You know I love you, Ellie. Both of you.”
“Don’t Ellie me. I know you’ve only got eyes for that little tart that works in your office.”
“Eleanor.” His face reddened.
Lucy’s eyes darted from one to the other, her limbs frozen in fear. Her father’s voice had dropped to a warning growl while her mother’s continued to rise until it became a shrill screech.
“Why don’t you spend a little bit of time with your family for a change? Instead of running after that cheap hussy all the time.”
Her dad stood up so hard his chair fell over backward with a loud bang. Lucy flinched while silent tears poured down her cheeks.
“Now see what you’ve done,” he roared while pointing at Lucy. “What sort of mother are you?”
“A better parent than you’ll ever be.
At least, I’m there for her and not off doing other things. Or people.”
“Get out. Now.” Harold gripped the edge of the table as if to prevent himself from moving, as if he feared what he would do once he let go.
“Oh, don’t worry. We’re leaving.” Eleanor grabbed Lucy by the arm and dragged her out of the house. “Come on, baby. Let’s go.”
“But I don’t want to…I want to stay with Daddy,” Lucy protested, choking back a sob.
Her mother stared at her for a second with compressed lips until she spat the words, “If you only knew the truth about your precious Daddy!”
With her arm firmly clenched between her mother’s fingers, Lucy had no option but to obey even as she begged to stay. She was hustled into the car and her seat belt clipped into place without further ceremony. Her mother got into the driver’s side and started the engine. As they pulled out of the driveway, Lucy stared at her father’s figure silhouetted in the doorway.
He stared at them with a sad look on his face, his shoulders bowed. Lucy’s heart ached, and she raised a small hand to wave. He waved back and kept waving until they turned a corner.
After a while, her mother looked at her and sighed. “Lucy, sweetie, please stop crying.”
“But what about Daddy?”
“Your dad will be fine, trust me. He’s a grown man after all.” Her mother fumbled for a tissue. “Here, dry your face and blow your nose.”
Lucy obeyed though she still sniffled from time to time.
“Now, let’s forget all this nonsense and have some fun,” her mother said with forced cheer.
“Okay.” Despite herself, Lucy felt a twinge of excitement grow within her chest.
Once a month, without fail, she and her mother went to town to do the grocery shopping. It was an event, one which she looked forward to with great anticipation. They’d put on their nicest clothes, ride in the car, and even listen to music on the radio. At the shop, her mother would buy her a cold drink and a sweet, and afterward, they’d stop for ice cream. Sometimes, they even got to buy new clothes or shoes, and if she was really lucky, a toy.
Ryan's Luck Page 4