Rodriguez and Daniels exchanged a glance, and Daniels strode toward the front.
Passengers craned their necks to get a view of the disruption at the front of the car.
"Mind your own business," the old lady snapped. "You don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh, I don't, do I?" Beer Belly lunged and grabbed the case. The older couple latched onto it like their lives depended on it.
"Help," the old lady screamed.
Daniels reached Beer Belly and put a hand on his shoulder. "Let it go and sit down."
Beer Belly let go of the case. "Who the hell do you think you are?"
The old lady and the old man fell backward with the suddenly freed case. It slammed into the wall and fell to the floor.
Jen stood to see. The coat had fallen off and exposed a plastic animal carrier with a wire frame door. The door had popped open and something inside stirred.
With a deep growl a bloodied cat with piercing yellow eyes sprung from the carrier and landed on Beer Belly's thigh. He screamed when the cat bit through his pants and shredded his leg.
12
Daniels stumbled backward and the old lady let out a wail. "My Buttons. Don't hurt my fur baby."
Beer Belly swatted the cat off his leg, tripped, and fell onto his seat. His wife shrank against the wall.
The cat leapt onto Daniels' chest and clawed his suit. Daniels pulled his pistol and bashed the cat with the butt, knocking it to the floor, where it skittered underneath a seat.
Passengers pulled their legs from the floor and stood on their seats while the old lady went to her knees and crawled down the aisle. "Here, Buttons. Mommy's here."
The old man stumbled, clutching his chest, then collapsed out of sight.
Jen pushed past Wayne. "See if you can bash the cat."
She pulled her tomahawk while Wayne picked up his bat and Zeke unsheathed his katana.
"Not a lot of room in here to swing," Zeke said.
Beer Belly's wife screeched as her husband pounced on her, pinning her to the wall. He clamped his teeth on her throat and her cries died in a gurgle as he shook his head and ripped her throat out.
A gunshot went off and the back of Beer Belly's head disintegrated. He fell off the seat and sprawled on the floor.
The cat sprang onto a woman's chest and bit her shoulder. Jen charged and swung at the zombie cat. It leapt onto another passenger, and Jen's blade ended up in the wounded lady's neck. "Shit!"
The lady's cloudy eyes turned to Jen. Already turning.
Jen freed the blade, twisted the handle, and slammed the pointed end into the lady's temple. She dropped to the floor.
Zeke stood at the back, his katana at the ready, but he didn't attack. He's afraid of hitting someone uninfected.
Beer Belly's wife jumped on a twenty-something man's back and bit into the back of his neck while the old man had turned and proceeded to peel the flesh from his wife's cheek.
"Daniels," Rodriguez yelled.
Daniels stood in the middle of it all, his back to Jen. He spun when his name was called, and drool spilled from his mouth as he eyed a meal.
Rodriguez fired, the bullet entering Daniels' eye and spraying blood, flesh, and bone as it exited from the back of his skull.
The cat jumped onto the seat in front of Jen, its gaze locked on her. A flash from the corner of her eye, and an aluminum bat slammed into the spot the cat had been a second earlier.
"This shit's out of hand," Jen said. She raced to the door to the next car and grabbed the handle. Through the window, nervous passengers stood and stared at her.
She jerked the door open. "In here. Now."
Wayne slammed the bat into a charging zombie, hitting it in the ribs and knocking it to the side. Jen grabbed his shirt collar and yanked him off balance. "Leave it."
He stumbled into the next car and Jen followed. Zeke rushed in and Rodriguez stood at the doorway, firing wildly.
The passengers in the second car screamed and mobbed the back door.
Several zombies rushed Rodriguez, one up the aisle, two more leaping from neighboring seats.
Halfway through the door, he pulled the trigger and his gun clicked empty. He stumbled backward and slammed the door, but two bloodied arms prevented it from closing all the way.
The passengers bottlenecked at the back door. Jen grasped Wayne's arm and pointed at the fleeing passengers. "Help them out. We need the way clear in case we have to retreat farther. Make sure you keep the door propped open."
Wayne nodded and dashed to the back of the car.
Jen rushed to help Rodriguez. She chopped at one of the intruding arms, but it didn't withdraw and the door pushed wider a couple of inches.
Zeke struck the best he could with the limited room, but it did little good.
His teeth gritted and face red, Rodriguez strained to keep the door from flying open. "You go," he said. "We need you to make it to Boston."
"You can't let this door go and get to the next car in time," Jen yelled.
"I know."
"We're clear." Wayne stood at the back door. The last of the passengers were already halfway through the third car.
Jen pointed to Wayne. "Let's go, Zeke."
Jen dashed down the aisle and through the door. She turned just as Zeke made it into the car. The door Rodriguez held had opened more than two feet. Two zombies had pushed their upper bodies partially in, and more arms had snaked their way through, putting pressure on the door.
Rodriguez gave a groan and collapsed. A zombie wave poured over him and into the car.
Jen shut the door and it latched. Seconds later several zombies slammed into it, smearing the window in blood.
Jen turned to the others. "That's one solid-ass door—"
Zeke and Wayne stood halfway down the aisle battling five zombies.
What the hell?
Jen unholstered her pistol and shot at a zombie in a beanie cap missing half its face. Rushing Wayne, it fell back as the bullet slammed into its chest, but quickly recovered.
Jen grasped the pistol in both hands and took a deep breath, then held it. She squeezed the trigger, absorbing the satisfying recoil and the sight of what remained of the zombie's face collapsing around its nose.
Wayne pounded the temple of another zombie with the bat and Zeke made an abbreviated slash with the katana and left a teen goth zombie with its neck halfway severed.
"Where they hell did they come from?" Jen yelled.
A blur zipped from her right, and she ducked just as the zombie cat sailed over her. Son of a bitch!
She holstered the pistol and yanked the tomahawk from its sheath as she scanned for the devil cat. "Where the hell did you go?"
Her eyes fell on the open door to the next car. "Tell me it isn't chasing the rest of the passengers."
She rushed the aisle, slashing and knocking zombies to the side. Wayne cracked the skull of a woman who collapsed back into two other zombies.
"Keep moving," Jen yelled. "Almost there."
Something grabbed her arm and she jerked back as a heavy man with a bloodied eye socket dipped his head to take a chunk out of her. Kicking out, she connected with one of his knees. He lost his balance and Jen threw him backward. He fell onto the floor in the doorway, blocking access to the fourth car. Jen brought the tomahawk overhead and jammed the point through the zombie's good eye and into his brain. He went limp.
Lungs heaving, Jen leaned on the doorway and looked into the fourth car. The outbreak had spread there and she faced more than twenty fresh zombies.
Wayne and Zeke had reached her. Eight more zombies pursued them, all the rest having been destroyed or moved into the next car.
"Change of plans," Jen yelled. "We stay in this car. Take the rest of them out."
Zeke stepped next to Jen. "Stay back." He pressed into the remaining zombies, his katana a blur around him. No longer worried about hitting a human, he spun, swung, and danced down the aisle, thinning out the remaining zombies un
til only one remained.
A shot took that one down, and Wayne stood behind Zeke with his pistol pointed at the zombie and a smile on his face.
More zombies entered the fourth car from the back and rushed up the aisle as Jen tried to close the door, but the heavy zombie she'd killed blocked the door from closing.
"Look," Zeke yelled.
Jen turned back to the third car. The old man was fumbling with the door latch.
"The old man's a fucking leader," Jen yelled.
The door between the second and third cars slid open and the horde burst through.
13
The old man lurched into the second car, his intense yellow gaze on Jen. She grabbed the dead zombie blocking their escape. "Help me."
Zeke and Wayne pitched in and they rolled the zombie out of the way.
Zeke ran into the fourth car and took a stance halfway down the aisle. Jen pushed Wayne through. "Back him up."
Wayne raced down the aisle and Jen stepped into the car, closing the door behind her. The horde up front held back, and the old man stumbled toward the door.
"Oh, hell no." Jen pulled her pistol and let the old man get closer. When he was only fifteen feet away, she slid the door open a foot and propped her gun against it for stability. A quick aim and a squeeze and she hit the old man in the neck. The horde roared and pushed forward.
Sweat pouring down her back, Jen aimed again. The horde had just about reached the old man and would be on her in a few seconds. Time slowed. Jen lined up the sights and held her breath. Fighting the urge to hurry, she squeezed slow enough to make sure she didn't pull the sights off target.
The pistol boomed and recoiled. A hole appeared in the old man's forehead and Jen leaned back, slamming the door shut. Three fingers made it through the doorway and were sliced off when the door closed.
The horde roared and banged on the door. Jen gave them the finger and spun to help out Zeke and Wayne.
Her breath hitched as she took in the scene. Zeke and Wayne stood side by side in the middle of the car. Waves of zombies pushed forward, the seats the only thing keeping them from sweeping over the brothers.
Jen aimed at a middle-aged woman in a bloodied pantsuit and put a bullet in her temple.
Wayne knocked back a zombie climbing over a seat.
Zeke beheaded a young man charging down the aisle, then spun and sliced at a teen goth girl who'd climbed on the back of a seat and squatted there like a gargoyle on a medieval church.
Jen shot another zombie about to reach Wayne. We are so screwed.
She holstered the pistol and drew the tomahawk. Darting forward, she planted her blade into a one-armed zombie's forehead. Stunned, but still undead, it struggled to its feet and Jen finished it off with a second blow to the same spot.
Another zombie pushed up the aisle between Jen and Zeke. Zeke was locked in a struggle with a wiry, athletic zombie coming over the seat. It had avoided the swings of his katana, but was kept off balance and unable to attack.
Jen took on the aisle zombie and swung sideways with the tomahawk, planting the pointed end in the zombie's temple. It dropped like its strings had been cut, but took the tomahawk with it.
No time to get it.
She yanked the pistol from its holster and shot the two closest zombies point-blank in the head. She shoved one on top of the other, which slowed a third that was creeping up on her.
Too many. Getting tired.
A booming voice came from the other end of the car. "Work your way to me."
Jen looked up. D-Day's head and shoulders towered over the zombies, his machete rhythmically mowing down the undead.
She retrieved her tomahawk and attacked with new energy. Maybe we can get through.
The bodies had stacked up in the aisle, which kept the zombies from rushing them full force, but also blocked Jen's way forward.
"We can't get them all," D-Day said. "Make your move now. Straight down the middle."
Zeke hopped onto the pile of bodies blocking the way and took out two zombies climbing over. His eyes were wide and maniacal and his face was splattered in blood.
Jen ran to Wayne. "Follow Zeke. I'll be right behind."
Wayne shook his head. "I'll take the rear and cover you."
Here comes the freaking testosterone. "I need you to help clear the way with Zeke. The rear is easy. Is that what you want to do?"
Wayne pursed his lips, then dashed to join Zeke. He leapt onto the body pile and jumped off with the bat over his head. He landed next to Zeke, the bat crushing a redheaded zombie's skull.
D-Day reached the brothers. Both of his bare arms were wrapped in clothing and taped. He used them to push back snapping zombies. Even when one latched onto his arm, its teeth didn't penetrate to the skin.
Smart idea.
D-Day glared at her. "Now."
Jen raced toward the others. She jumped onto the pile of bodies and used it as a springboard to leap down the aisle, avoiding several zombies spilling in from the seats.
D-Day turned and rumbled toward the back door like a human plow, his forearms pushing back the remaining undead.
Jen split one zombie's skull and avoided another's grasp as she hurried to catch up.
D-Day reached the back door and yanked it open. Zeke and Wayne sprinted through the door.
Six feet away, D-Day yelled, "Duck."
He swung the machete at Jen's head and she dove for the floor, tumbling through the doorway. She slammed into Wayne's shins, taking him down.
A zombie woman's head rolled in behind her and came to a stop between her outstretched legs.
D-Day slashed another zombie across the face, then backed into the car and slammed the door shut.
The zombies piled up at the door. Jen stood and brushed off her pants. "Thanks. Good thing for us you were on board."
He shrugged. "First thing I saw was people running down the aisle. It was like a cattle stampede. I looked to see what scared them and this car had a bunch of zombies tearing into people."
He patted his sheathed machete. "Figure I'd take a few of 'em out then join the cattle, but that's when I saw you guys."
Zeke sheathed his katana. "Maybe we should just stay in here. Both doors are secure."
A low rumbling came from beneath the seats. It grew into a maniacal growl, then a figure streaked across the aisle and disappeared under the seats on the left.
Jen hefted her tomahawk. "That fucking cat. That's what caused this shit storm."
"Then we've got to kill it." D-Day raised his machete.
"I'll get it." Wayne crept down the aisle, his bat cocked over his shoulder.
"Wait," Jen said. "We need to do this together."
The cat sprang at Wayne and he swung wildly, clipping the cat and knocking it back between the seats.
Wayne scrambled back to the others, his eyes wide. "Damn, that thing is fast."
Zeke kept his eyes on the seats. "How do you want to do this?"
Jen took a deep breath. "Zeke, you and I will each take a side of the aisle. We climb over one seat at a time together."
She pulled her pistol and handed it to D-Day. "Get down on the floor with the pistol. If the cat tries going underneath, take it out."
Wayne looked at her. "What do you want me to do?"
Now there's an attitude change.
"Stand back with D-Day and watch the aisle. In case D-Day misses, you're his backup if it charges him."
"I don't miss," D-Day said.
Jen climbed onto the first seat on the left. The next seat was clear, but she couldn't see all of the third seat.
Zeke crouched on the seat on the right, his eyes surveying the tops of the seats in front of him.
"Anything, D-Day?" Jen asked.
D-Day lay on his side with his back to the door and the pistol in his outstretched hands. "It ain't on the floor."
Jen caught Wayne's eyes. He nodded. "Ready."
"Next seat." Jen stepped onto the next seat as Zeke did the same acr
oss the aisle.
"I'm clear," she said.
"Same," Zeke said.
"Next seat," Jen said.
Jen froze as her lead foot touched the seat. She held up her free hand and listened.
A soft purring came from somewhere ahead. "Is that on my side?"
Zeke squinted and tilted his head. "Can't tell, but it's not far off."
"Still nothing on the floor," D-Day said.
Jen's heart pounded and her mouth went dry. Is this it? Am I going to be taken out by a cat?
She brought her other foot over and stood on the seat. Nothing in the next seat. She looked at Zeke and he shook his head.
"Next seat," she said.
With a high-pitched growl, the cat launched itself at Zeke's face. He ducked and brought his sword up. The cat sailed over him and missed the blade by a half inch. It landed on the floor in the aisle, then sprung at Jen without hesitating.
A shot went off and Jen flinched. The yellow-eyed beast sailed through the air, its claws out stretched.
Jen brought the tomahawk around with all her strength, but it would be seconds too late.
The silver barrel of an aluminum bat flashed by Jen's face, barely missing her, and slammed into the cat, sending it flying into the wall, where it hit with a crack and fell to the floor.
Another gunshot. "Got it," D-Day yelled.
Jen plopped to the seat and put a hand to her face. That was too fucking close.
Wayne stood over her, concern in his eyes. "Are you OK?"
Jen nodded. "Yeah. I'm good."
He nodded and turned.
"Thanks," Jen said.
He looked back at her and smiled. "We all watch out for each other, right?"
She found herself smiling back. "Right."
He held out a hand and she took it and pulled herself up. They stood face-to-face a few inches apart. His eyes were a deeper hazel up close.
He leaned toward her and her heart picked up again, but not from fear, not from exertion. His lips were inches away from hers. She closed her eyes in anticipation.
"Jen," D-Day said.
She blinked and stepped back from Wayne. What the hell was I thinking? About to make out with a guy in the middle of a zombie apocalypse? It's like a bad movie.
The Zombie Uprising Series: Books One Through Five Page 51