Until the End by Tracey Ward Read Free Book Online Page B

enough arrows for this. I’m about to either pee my pants or go back inside or both when Jordan grabs my hand and yanks me toward the crowd.
    “Run!” he shouts, and once he gets me moving he releases me and starts swinging.
    He’s not aiming for the heads every time, he’s mostly just trying to clear a path and with how slow these guys move it’s actually working. I pop my arrow back into the quiver on my back and follow his lead, swinging my bow and bracing it between my hands to slam against shoulders and chests, knocking them out of my way. A lot of them go down and roll on their backs like turtles trapped on their shells. They snap and claw at us as we run through, but we’re careful to never get close to too many at one time. Two or three it seems you can fight off, but I worry that if more than that get around me, or if even two get their hands on me, I won’t be able to fend them all off before one takes a bite. I’m also stressing my back, wondering if a crowd of them is forming behind me, reaching for me, grabbing at my hair—I lock the panic down as I am so skilled at doing and force my way forward. I can’t do anything about what’s behind me. The best I can do is forge ahead.
    I lock my eyes on Jordan, shut out the rest of the world and I run.

Chapter Seven
     
     
    After leaving the crush of undead behind us at the apartment we run for several blocks, away from campus and heading east. I’m not sure where we’re going or how far away he parked, but I’m getting seriously winded. After the adrenaline rush of fighting our way through the horde, I ran with what seemed like unending energy. Now, however, I am crashing down and my lungs are starting to burn. We’re still going full tilt, running at a sprint, cutting down side streets and weaving between cars crashed onto the sidewalks and stopped at angles on the street. Finally I notice that we’ve taken four lefts and I call out for Jordan to stop.
    I lean over, putting my hands on my knees and gasping. “Where are… we going?”
    He stands in front of me with his bat raised over his head and stretches out. His stained shirt lifts with the movement and in my hunched position I’m eye level with his stomach. With his abs. Jordan, it seems, works out. His breathing isn’t as labored as mine but I find myself mesmerized but the steady movements of his stomach in time with his breathes.
    “Alissa.” he says, and it doesn’t sound like the first time.
    “Yeah.” I say, snapping to attention and wincing.
    “Are you okay?”
    I groan and stretch from side to side to loosen a stitch that’s building. “I’m great.”
    “We shouldn’t stay stopped like this. We need to keep moving.”
    “You’re running us in a circle. Where are we going? Where is your car?”
    “Truck.”
    “Whatever. Where is it?”
    His face is flushed from running, but I still see the blush of embarrassment hit his cheeks.
    “I don’t know. I thought I parked it on this block but I don’t see it.”
    I look around, but for what I’m not sure. I have no idea what his truck looks like.
    “Maybe someone stole it?”
    “Maybe.”
    “Okay, so what’s the plan now? You’re right, we can’t just stand here. We need a car, right?”
    “Preferably.”
    “Okay.”
    I jog down the street to where a car has plowed into a yard and sits parked on the lawn. My thinking is that the owner was overtaken by The Fever while driving and crashed when they changed, and from what I’ve seen I doubt they had the presence of mind to take their keys with them. When I poke my head in the window of the little green Ford Focus, I give a quick shout of triumph. Jordan comes running up behind me and I turn to smile at him.
    “Are you driving or am I?”
    Jordan is driving because I have no idea where we’re going. We have reached the extent of my knowledge of The Plan. We make slow progress through the streets and I can feel Jordan’s anxiety rolling off of him.
    “This is exactly