Voodoo Plague - 01 by Dirk Patton Read Free Book Online Page A

themselves into the
windshield in an attempt to get to us.  In front of us was a crashed VW and
there was a small Toyota behind us with no room to steer around either one.  I
put my foot on the brake and shifted the Ford into reverse, the heavy duty
transmission going into gear with a satisfyingly hard thunk.
    I said, “Hold
on,” and hit the accelerator.  The truck lurched backwards and crunched into
the side of the Toyota.  I kept feeding throttle and the oversized tires
grabbed the pavement and we pushed the Toyota back ten feet. 
    One of the
female infected on the hood had lost her balance and fallen off when the truck
suddenly moved, but the other held to the lip of the hood closest to the cab
with one hand and pounded her fist on the windshield with the other.  The one
who had fallen off was on her feet and would have already leapt back on the
hood, but the crowd that had been on either side of the truck had flowed into
the empty space left when I had backed up and she was temporarily blocked.  In
the rear view I could see several infected that had been between the back
bumper and the Toyota that were now crushed.  What would have been mortal
wounds to a normal human, rendering them unable to move, seemed to have little
effect on the infected other than to slow them down because of damaged hips and
legs.
    I shifted into drive,
turned the wheel to point us around the crashed VW, and fed throttle to the big
truck.  We moved and immediately started feeling thuds from the suspension as
the push bar on the front of the truck knocked infected down moments before we
rolled over them.  Large males held onto the mirrors on each side of the truck
and the females in the back of the truck began smashing their heads against the
rear window.  My adrenaline surged when I heard the rear window crack from one of
their impacts and I started swerving across the road to throw them off balance.
    Our speed
quickly built to 40 and I kept swerving.  This kept the females in back
distracted just trying to stay in the truck and the males on each side held on
with a death grip, legs swinging almost horizontally every time I cut the
wheel.  The female on the hood was now holding on with two hands and smashing
her head into the windshield, but the thick glass was harder than the human
skull, infected or not.  She cocked her head back and launched a massive head
butt into the glass.  I felt as much as heard the impact, and watched the feral
light in her eyes die just before she went limp and slipped off the front of
the hood and under the big tires.
    “Holy shit,”
Rachel said.  “Did you see that?  She just bashed her own brains out trying to
get to us.”
    I was
concentrating on driving and keeping our unwelcome passengers occupied and
didn’t answer.  The males on either side of the truck started smashing their
heads into the side windows each time the momentum from the swerve brought them
back against the truck.  I risked a glance in the rear view mirror and did a
double take.  The two females in the bed of the truck had found a way to brace
themselves and were preparing to start attacking the rear window again.  I
turned my attention back to the road and slammed on the brakes, the big truck
skittering across the asphalt in protest.  The females in back slammed forward
into the back window, but not as an attack.  One of the males lost his grip and
tumbled forward, coming to rest 30 feet down the road and immediately lurching
to his feet and starting towards us.
    I sat watching
him and watching the two women in back in the mirror.  The remaining male was
on Rachel’s side of the truck and he started pounding on the window with his
fists and smashing his head into the glass.  Infected were hurrying towards us
from surrounding parking lots and the horde that had previously surrounded us
was in hot pursuit about 200 yards behind us.
    “What are you
doing?  Go!”  Rachel’s voice pitched up an octave on the last