Lost Roads (Benny Imura 7)

Ledger shook his head. “Not enough for all of that.”

And yet he did not look worried. Not nearly as much as he should be.

Ledger looked up at the billboard and then at the approaching wall of death. “I like your plan,” he said.

“Really?” asked Gutsy.

“No. But it’s what we have.”

“Even though it involves us dying before we can make it work?”

“Remains to be seen, kiddo,” said Ledger. “Let’s see what Sam and I can do to slow these bad boys down a tad.”

“?‘A tad’?” Gutsy echoed. “By the time the wild men infect enough of the army, we’ll be long dead.”

“Maybe,” said Ledger. “And maybe not. Look—half the wild men are burning, and five times as many zoms. It’s cool.… Sam and I have been in worse situations.”

“No, we haven’t,” said Sam.

“Work with me here, man,” said Ledger. His jokey manner was completely at odds with the reality of the moment.

“Joe—” Gutsy began, but he pointed to the billboard.

“You two get back up there. Do it now.”

“But—”

“No time to argue. Go.”

Benny took Gutsy by the elbow and pulled her away. They went to the other side of the billboard, and then every part of the plan fell apart.

A figure came racing out of the shadows, a glittering knife in each fist. It was the reaper, Brother Mercy, screaming a single word that didn’t make sense to either of them.

“Leafy! Leafy!”

The first cut caught Benny completely off guard and he staggered back, blood erupting from a deep slash across his shoulder. He fell, his sword dropping to the grass as Brother Mercy jumped over him and slashed at Gutsy.

Then the Raggedy Man’s ravagers opened fire on Ledger and Sam.

104

LEDGER DOVE ONE WAY AND Sam the other, each of them grabbing one of the dogs and pulling them down as bullets filled the air like a swarm of hornets.

Grimm, trained for combat, stayed low, flattening out in the tall grass, but Sombra panicked and tried to get up. Sam yelled at him to obey, but the coydog tore free and ran.

Ledger rolled down behind the crest of the hill, drew his sidearm, and began firing into the oncoming mob. There were at least twenty armed ravagers, though not all of them had guns. Ledger fired from forty feet away, one hand steadying the other wrist as he took fast, careful aim. With every shot one ravager went down, but not every shot was fatal. Some of those who fell struggled to get back up again.

Sam rolled down the hill, then got up and ran in a fast zigzag pattern to the hilltop behind, where he and Ledger had left their gear bags. The fight was too close for the grenade launchers, so he tore the bag open and pulled out an M4, pivoted, dove, rolled, and came up with the stock of the weapon tucked into his shoulder. He opened up on the ravagers, careful of his friend and the armored mastiff.

* * *

Gutsy backpedaled fast and felt the whoosh as the reaper’s blade sliced the air an inch from her face. Then Sombra was there, leaping at the killer, mouth opened to bite.

But the reaper checked his swing and stabbed at the dog. The thrust missed the coydog’s throat, but the wicked edge slashed a deep red line along Sombra’s breastbone. The animal yelped in pain and fell hard on the ground, right on top of Benny.

That gave Gutsy a fraction of a second to whip her machete out of its scabbard just in time to parry Brother Mercy’s next vicious cut. Steel met steel with a sound like a ringing bell, and a shock shivered all the way up her arm. The reaper’s blow was so powerful that it nearly tore the machete from her hand.

Behind him other figures moved. Ravagers with scythes were hustling up the hill, grinning as they saw Benny struggling to get up.