Trepidation Read Free Page B

was sure they were going to exterminate us once and for all. Claire and I had escaped the warehouse after they’d set it on fire, and they didn’t seem too keen on gratitude for  saving their friends and relatives from that crazy lab. 
    Claire took careful aim and positioned her gun out the window, then started firing. If I wanted to live another day, I knew I also needed to fight with everything I had. It really was all about survival. As much as I hated firing on humans, I refused to die like that, trapped in a Mazda in a ditch. If I had to go, I was going to take some of those jerks out with me. I exhaled as I squeezed my trigger, letting off several shots. Another spray of bullets came at us, bursting our tires, so loud that it sounded like someone was beating the car with a Louisville slugger. Almost in slow motion, I saw a bullet fly beside my head, and I ducked and gasped. 
    “I’m not in the mood to die today, Dean!” Claire said. “If we stay here, that’s exactly what’s gonna happen. We gotta distract ‘em somehow so we can make a run for it. I’m sure we can lose them in those weeds and that brush over there, but we gotta move fast. Got your steel-toed sneakers on?”
    “I’ll cover you,” I said as more bullets rang all around me, dinging the car. I returned fire and let out one shot after another. My ears were ringing, and I knew it wouldn’t be long before one of those bullets pelted my head.
    “No, Dean! We’re both going. I’m sick of being a damsel in distress.” Claire slammed another magazine in. “I’ve got the better weapon, so don’t argue with my plan. I’m gonna go full force. Open the door, get to those weeds, get low, and start crawling. I’ll be right behind you.”
    “Fine,” I conceded. “On the count of three. One—”
    Before I even got the chance to put the plan into action, a man’s voice echoed from my right. “Cease fire, John!” he said. “Tell ‘im, Marla .”
    Marla was the name Claire had used when we spied on them at the warehouse.
    When I turned, I gasped at the sight: One of the thugs was holding the barrel of a gun up to Claire’s temple.
    “My name is not Marla,” she snapped.
    “I know, Claire,” he said with a smirk. “Just havin’ a li’l bit of fun.” He looked at me harshly, and the smile from his sick joke left his eyes. “Now drop the gun, boy, or she’s dead.”
    I pondered my options for a second, wondering if I could take the guy out. Before I could contemplate any further, I felt the cold barrel of a gun against the side of my own head.
    “Hand over your weapons,” the thug said.
    Glaring at him, I handed my gun over.
    “Get out!” he shouted in my ear.
    Due to the tumble we’d taken, the door was dented and wouldn’t open. The next thing I knew, several men were brutally jerking and tugging me through the shattered window, then pulling me through the snow by my hair and jacket.
    “Get up!” a bearded man commanded like some kind of angry drill sergeant. “On your feet now!”
    Claire screamed when they pulled her by her hair, dragging her next to me.
    The presumed leader approached, his footsteps crunching in the deep snow.
    Pain exploded in every nerve of my face when he pistol-whipped me, and the last thing I heard as I slipped into darkness was Claire’s long, shrill, helpless scream.
    ***
    A s I slowly came to, I could hear snapping and a thudding sound. My ankles hurt, and my feet felt numb. My eyes fluttered open, and I glanced around as they slowly focused. It was dark, and the stench of death made me want to vomit. I noticed I was tied up by the ankles, bound and gagged and suspended upside down in the air. When I glanced at the floor, I gasped. Dozens upon dozens of decapitated zombie heads lined the ground below me. What kind of butchers are we dealing with here? This takes a special kind of sick.
    Gruesome, cut-off heads thrashed and chomped, lunging for me, desperate for a bite of fresh meat.
    Great, I