The Boss Is Dead

Chp: 20 The baby

"Mark," Sarah gasped, scrambling to the fallen van. Dana was inside, digging frantically through the debris.

"I've got a pulse but it's very faint," Joel said, expression grim as he worked. "We need to get him out of here, now."

"Do we have anything still driveable?" Ben asked the group. Amanda checked under the hood of one of the vans. "Maybe this one if we can push start it."

As they organized, putting aside their injuries to work as a team, Sarah spotted it—shambling figures emerging down the road behind them, drawn unerringly toward the blaring horns and smoke. More emerged from the treeline on either side of the wreck.

Dozens at least, picking up speed as they caught sight and scent of fresh prey. Ben saw them too, cursing even more vehemently.

"We've got company! Load up, double time people, we've got to keep moving!"

Julia cried out as another painful contraction ripped through her swollen belly. She gripped Joel's hand so tightly her knuckles turned white. "Breathe Julia, just breathe," he said calmly. Diana sat beside Julia, dabbing her sweaty forehead with a wet cloth.

Outside, things were becoming even more chaotic. Tom and Jake had returned from scouting ahead and were helping load the injured into the vans. "Zombies incoming from all sides, we gotta go NOW," yelled Tom. But he was right, as usual. If they would have listened to Tom about taking shelter away from the city then none of this would have happened. The sounds of the screaming vans had drawn the undead in masses now.

Sarah heaved with all her might as she and Ben pushed the wheezy Luton van. "Almost there guys, keep pushing!" she grunted. Finally, it sputtered to life with a plume of black smoke. Amanda and Carver quickly loaded the stretchers bearing Mark and helped Diana who had a injured leg got into the back. Mark's face was deathly pale but Joel gave him a thumbs up, "Hanging in there man."

Sarah helped Julia climb painfully into the front seat. Her water had broken minutes ago and the contractions were coming faster. "You're doing great Juls," Sarah encouraged as she squeezed in next to her friend. The van was overflowing with injured survivors. Every bump and turn caused moans of pain.

In the last functioning van, Tom slammed his foot on the gas as Jake laid down covering fire from the passenger seat window. "Eat lead ya dead bastards!" he whooped.

Their caravan raced down the debris strewn highway, dodging abandoned vehicles. The gas stations and strip malls they passed were ghost towns, picked clean long ago. Sarah watched out the back window as the city faded into the distance, a smoky wasteland under an orange sky. A wave of sadness and nostalgia washed over her, thinking of the lives that used to be lived in those empty buildings. But there was no looking back now.

Up ahead, Tom led the way down an old back road, veering off the freeway and into the surrounding woods. They had passed this way before on supply runs and it seemed mostly abandoned. With Julia's labor progressing rapidly, they needed to find a safe place to stop.

Julia let out another groan as another contraction hit. They were definitely getting closer together now. Ben looked over at her worriedly from the front passenger seat of the van. "Any updates on the baby?"

Dana responded from the back, "Contractions are about five minutes apart now. We're getting close." She shifted her focus to Julia. "Just keep breathing through them, you're doing great."

Ben glanced behind him and saw Joel and Dana tending to Mark's gunshot wound while Amanda helped Diana patch up her own injuries. At least Mark was now conscious again. Sarah sat beside Julia, letting her squeeze her hand through each contraction.