If Only to Forget by Camryn Lynn Read Free Book Online Page B

dead. The pole is probably six feet long, which will make it difficult for me to lift. There’s no way I’m going to be able to swing that thing, but if we don’t do something, we’re not going to make it.
    “Here!” Riley shoves the bat toward me before going for the flag.
    I take up where he left off, hitting zombies in the head. Only my whacks aren’t powerful enough, and I have to hit them several times before I can make a dent in their skulls. Riley joins me, swinging the long pole as hard as he can with it’s awkward size as we move down the hall, further away from the exit and closer to the zombies who were just a few minutes ago clawing at the door.
    They’re closing in on us, but we keep trying to fight them off. With each slam of my bat against a zombie’s skull, my heart beats harder. Faster. I can’t catch my breath and my whole body is covered in a layer of sweat. Riley is panting at my side, and the moans of the advancing zombies are so loud they echo in my ears.
    “There are too many!” Riley yells, and his words have so much impact on me that it feels like I’ve been hit by sledge hammer.
    He’s right, of course.
    My eyes fill with tears making it impossible to see, so when I swing my bat I miss the zombie’s head by a mile. The thing lurches forward and I let out a scream as I stumble a few steps, my back slamming into the wall. Riley is next to me in the blink of an eye, and suddenly we find ourselves cornered as half a dozen zombies swarm us.
    “Shit!” Riley yells, swinging the pole, only being this close to the wall has made it almost impossible for him to get any good momentum. “I’m sorry! Dammit, I’m so sorry, Kyra.”
    My shoulders shake from the sobs that force their way out of me, and when I swing my bat the power behind it probably couldn’t kill a fly. The zombie I hit barely slows in his advance, and I know he only has to take a couple more steps before he’ll have me.
    Suddenly, the door the zombies were just clawing at swings open, slamming against the wall. The sound is so loud it breaks through the moans of the dead, distracting a few from their assault. Two stumble that way a second later when Tori runs out, followed closely by Jim.
    “Look!” I scream, pointing toward the other survivors.
    Riley glances that way as the others pause, and the sight of them seems to give him a second wind. He slams his pole into the horde, then swings it to the left. The thing is so long it knocks them down, and they topple over in a way that reminds me of bowling pins. Only two are left standing. The two between us and our friends.
    Jim is holding a bat, and when he sees the zombies around us fall he takes off toward the two still standing. The monsters at our feet are down, but not out, and before they can get up Riley grabs my hand and jerks me forward. We stumble as we run over the fallen creatures, their hands grabbing at our legs as they try to figure out how to get us and get up at the same time. Their dexterity is off though, and trying to perform two actions at once seems to slow them down even more than they already are.
    Jim knocks down the first zombie in our way, his aluminum bat slamming into the thing so hard I can hear the bone crack. Behind him, Tori screams for us to run, and Riley pulls me harder. As we close in on the remaining zombie, Riley releases me and grips the pole in both his hands. He then thrusts it forward, spearing the end through the monster’s stomach. The thing doesn’t go down until Riley jerks the pole to the right, slamming it against the wall.
    “Let’s go!” Jim shouts, urging us to move as he turns to run, grabbing Tori’s hand on his way by.
    Behind us, feet scrape against the floor and my swiftly pounding heart almost stops. I look over my shoulder long enough to confirm that the things made it up, then turn to focus on the hall ahead of me. Jim and Tori run, their ragged breathing audible even over the zombies at our backs, and at my