Where were they? Had they found Site B? Or had they encountered an overwhelming force of zoms or wild men out there in the Broken Lands?

“Come on,” he said to the people, “hurry. Hurry.”

The last of the refugees were sorted into groups and sent on their way. Morton and Flores still waited, though, because Benny wanted to provide them with his own protection. Chong and Grimm stood with them, all of them silent and frightened. Even the big dog looked small and lost.

Morton limped over and pulled on Benny’s sleeve. “We have to go,” insisted the doctor. “We have to go right now.”

Benny swatted his hand away. “Gutsy and Spider are still in there.”

Morton got up in his face, furious and terrified. “We’re trying to save thousands. Don’t be a sentimental fool. Do you want to get us all killed? Do you want your friends to have died for nothing? Let’s go now.”

* * *

Gutsy and Spider barricaded the door that led to the hall with every piece of heavy furniture and file cabinet they could find. The howls were louder, and definitely coming their way.

“Will that hold?” Spider asked, but a split second later the whole fortification shook with unbelievable force. Howls seemed to punch through the barrier as if mocking its ability to keep the wild men out. The mad killers rammed it again. And again.

Gutsy looked around, but there was nothing else they could use to reinforce the barricade. Sombra barked at it but then retreated, whining as pieces of furniture toppled down.

“Maybe it’ll hold for a few minutes,” she said, but the words tasted like the lies they were.

She pushed Spider toward the tunnel entrance.

“Let’s go.”

They pulled the false cabinet closed behind them, but Gutsy did not for a minute think it would fool the wild men. At best, it would slow them down for a bit. Maybe long enough for her and Spider to get to the car wash and barricade that door too. If Site B was really there, then the townsfolk would need the better part of the night to reach it.

The tunnel was long and empty now, and they ran past tons of food and supplies that she ached to take with her. Canned goods, bottled water, kerosene for lamps, and boxes of military rations. All of it useful. All of it going to waste now.

Behind them the sound of the howling wild men grew louder, proof that they’d broken through the barricade. They would be in the tunnel soon, and then there would be no way to stop them. The doors at the far end hadn’t been properly repaired after the fight in the car wash. There hadn’t been time. And they didn’t hold the wild men back the last time anyway.

There was renewed pounding, and Gutsy turned in horror.

“They broke into the office,” Spider gasped. “They’re at the tunnel door. How’d they know it was even there?”

How indeed, Gutsy wondered. Was it possible that one or more of them somehow, despite disease and madness, remembered the hidden tunnel? It might explain why that group of them had attacked her and Ledger at the car wash. Maybe they had some primitive reasoning powers. That terrified her, because it meant the fleeing people could have walked into a trap.

No, she told herself. If that had happened, she would have heard the sounds of fighting. But that didn’t help her right now. The wild men were going to break into the tunnel. That was inevitable, and from the fury of their attack on the door, it would be very soon.

Too soon.

Please, she begged silently, we just need a little more time.

They kept running, but Gutsy felt something tugging at her mind, wanting her to stop, to turn and go back. She fished for what it was. Something she’d seen… ?

Then Gutsy suddenly stopped and stood there, looking back the way they’d come. Spider ran another dozen paces before he realized that he wasn’t being followed. He wheeled around.

“What’s wrong?” he demanded. “Why’d you stop?”

“Kerosene,” she blurted so loud it made Sombra bark in alarm.

“What about it? We can’t carry lamp oil.”

“No, no,” she said quickly, and began running back.

Confused, Spider followed.

The rows of big plastic containers of kerosene were close to the tunnel entrance. Gutsy skidded to a stop, grabbed two of the containers, and dragged them to the base of the short stairs. Then ran back for two more.

Tags: Jonathan Maberry Benny Imura
Source: readsnovelonline.net