Live Another Day by Baileigh Higgins (reading in the dark .txt) 📗

across the street. She gripped the top of the palisades and vaulted up and over before any of the infected at the gates even realized she was there.

A few shuffled over, but she was already gone. Her feet carried her across the length of the yard toward the open door Michael, and the other had disappeared into. At the same time, she took out her gun and clipped the safety off.

At the entrance, she paused and peered around the corner. Immediately she jerked her head back and squeezed her eyes shut. The sight was burned into her corneas, however.

A room of torture and blood. A boy was tied to a chair with crimson blood puddling around his feet onto the white tiles. A man stood next to him with a smirk on his face while vomit leaked from the boy’s lips onto his lap.

Two more men held down a girl, her legs spread-eagled while another cut away her clothes. Michael hovered next to another man with a blind eye and a scarred face. Ke Tau.

Lisa swallowed hard as she realized what she was up against. Ke Tau and four of his men. Too many for her to take on. But there’s Michael. He’ll help. I can’t let them...that poor girl.

Another piercing scream from the girl’s lips decided Lisa, and she cast around for a plan. Her eyes fell on the truck, and an idea formed. She ran toward it and opened the door. The keys dangled inside the ignition. “Yes!”

She turned toward the gates and aimed her gun at the chain and padlock that held it shut. Three shots. That’s what it took. The metal links broke apart, and the gate opened inwards, a floodgate letting in a wave of infected.

Even as shouts rang from the house, Lisa threw herself into the truck and slammed the door shut. A second later, the first zombies clawed at the windows. They surrounded the car, but she ignored them and reached for the ignition.

More yelling and gunshots drew the crowd of infected away from her and towards the tantalizing meat inside the house. A garbled scream signaled the end of somebody’s life just as the engine caught on. The truck roared to life.

Lisa jammed it into reverse and shot back several meters before shifting into first. She aimed the nose at the doorway where a man fired shots at the oncoming swarm. Not far from him lay another man, curled into a defensive ball as several zombies ripped into his flesh. His screams could hardly be heard above the din.

Another shooter joined the first. Together, they cut down a swathe of infected. When it looked like they might be gaining, Lisa jammed her foot onto the accelerator and raced toward them. They froze in wide-eyed terror, mouths hanging open.

The nose of the truck slammed into the doorway. The first shooter crumpled beneath the hood in a spray of blood and gore. The other managed to leap aside.

Once more, she reversed, leaving a clear path for the remaining infected to get inside the house. Screams and shots rang into the air. Lisa cast around for a way to help Michael, but her mind had hit a blank. Her plan had never progressed beyond this point. “Shit, what now?”

She debated getting out and going in herself. It would likely mean her end, though. The yard was full of the undead, all jostling to get into the house. Movement on the upper story drew her attention. Her eyes fell on a large window facing the street as the curtains were swept aside. Michael’s face appeared in the glass, flanked by two others. One frightened and the other bloody. He’s got them.

He dropped out of sight and returned with a chair, smashing the window wide open. Lisa caught on and maneuvered the truck forward until it rested underneath the opening. She craned her head and spotted Michael lowering first the girl then the boy. A third thump indicated he was down as well. A fist on the windshield was accompanied by a loud yell for her to move. “Go, go, go!”

Wasting no time, Lisa reversed out of the driveway, parting the sea of undead with the mass of metal at her disposal. She was careful not to jostle too much and made it out with the roof party intact. Then she gunned it down the street until they were clear.

Rolling to a stop, she opened the door and got out. Two young faces met her eyes, pinned to the roof by Michael’s ham fists. “Ready to go?”

“More than ready,” Michael growled.

Chapter 11 - Max

After Breytenbach and his party left, Max got down to the business of survival. First, he pulled everyone off the outer walls and shut the gates. Next, he went around and assigned each person to their new duties. It was hard. They were low on numbers and even lower on morale, but it had to be done.

Sean, Michelle, Dr. Lange, Dave, Abraham, Sharyn, Thembiso, and Peter were assigned to guard duty and put on rotating shifts of four. Liezel was placed in the watchtower and given a long range rifle and binoculars. She’d proven herself a good shot in the past and had good eyesight well suited to the job.

Joseph, Abe, Nick, Phillip, Jonathan, and Ben were hard at work repairing the damage to the wildlife reserve’s fence and clearing out the area. This left only a few others.

Hannah, he put in charge of the infirmary. When he left, she was hard at work sorting out supplies and preparing extra beds. “We never know when we might need them,” was her sage advice, and Max agreed.

Erica and Tumi, occupied with their infants, volunteered to tidy up the bungalows, sort out washing, and repair clothes. It was a menial job, but an important one. It would help to keep people’s spirits up when they returned home to a made bed and clean clothes after a long day.

Nombali was given the