Fight for your life

Chapter Seven

I cry out, running faster and grabbing my knife from my jacket pocket, until I see them. Donnie, Scout and Barrett running towards us, along with Puck, who's leash is in his mouth as he runs.
"Got all the bags," Barrett says as run away from the camp. "Left the warning stuff." He tosses my bag to me, which I quickly toss over my shoulder.
"How many?" I ask as Donnie begins to pant.
"It looked like three or four at first," Scout says, flipping her still-curled pink hair out of her eyes. "But as soon as we killed one, another would show u- Donnie!" Scout and I both stop as Donnie trips, panting and clutching her chest.
Anxiety attack. I think as Murdoc and Barrett stop as well. "Barrett," I say, gesturing for him to help me as I shove my knife back into it's pocket. We're closest in height, so it'll be easiest to support her with him. As soon as we get her off the forest floor, two zombies stumble into view, snapping their jaws. They look old, which means they aren't too fast, but they are hungry. We run as fast as we can, until a small clearing can be seen in the dark. Please don't be more zombies, I think as we run straight into a road, behind a group of seven or so zombies. Oh goodie.
They don't seem to notice us yet, so I quickly put a finger to my lips, and then gesture to the recked and discarded cars, which have been raided and drained for gas. Donnie shoves a hand over her mouth, doing her best to wheeze quietly, and it's enough to let us get behind a car undetected. Of course, as soon as the zombies follow us through the clearing, the noise grabs the other sevens attention. I quickly open the trunk of a truck, with a sturdy looking trunk bed cover. Puck jumps in first, then Donnie, followed by Scout and Barrett, but once it's Murdoc and I's turn, the zombies from the forest are just feet away. I slam the trunk, and as Murdoc quickly takes down the closest, I hear Scout cry, "Ricky!"
Murdoc and I both run farther down the road, frustratedly and yanking at all the doors and trunks. "How are these locked?" I ask angrily as the dead gain on us. After around the sixth car we try, a large black Subaru, we have some luck. I shout for Murdoc as I can just barely make out the open trunk, and groan as he sprints over, scowling at the four stacks of tires, barley visible in the large looking trunk. We both quickly start to yank them out, knocking over the stacks. Some of the zombies wander towards the tries, one of which starts to roll down the street. I throw my bag in before grabbing a tire and throwing it at the nearest zombie, 10 feet away. It stumbles backwards, and falls on top of another, but two quickly replace it, moving a little faster than the others. I jump into the trunk and kick out the last stack as hard as I can, but still only manage to hit two of the quickly- doubling six. Murdoc climbs in too, stabbing one before trying to force the trunk closed. Arms, hands, and a single head sits in the way, so I quickly try to kick them out. We struggle for a minute, until finally, with one last kick, the trunk clicks shut, and both sit, panting as the dead claw at the windows and doors. The horde is barely visible through the dark, but we both stay tense, ready to attack. With this number, they might be able to break the windows. We stay tense, until a flash of light makes us jump- it's the zombie that fell into the fire. Still flaming, and moving quickly down the road, followed by a small horde of his own. One stumbles forward and knocks him over, and after a moment, a doggie pile/bomb fire has formed, 20ft from the car, which gives me the chance to see what we're dealing with. Terror grips me as I look out the window, until a zombie's bloodied and mauled face blocks my view. They're everywhere. Pouring out from the trees and coming up against the other cars- and the zombies pushing against our car attract others, even if they can't see us in the dark. I sigh, wrapping my arms around my knees and hiding my face in shame. We got separated. And it's my fault- if I hadn't left the camp site, I could have helped carry things, got us out of there quicker, and maybe Donnie would have felt more at ease.
My mind races as our car is pushed and shoved, rocking violently, until I loose my balance. I quickly reach out to grab something, and end up grabbing Murdoc, who had reached out to help me's, arm. "Uh- sorry," I say, quickly letting go and leaning away. I can feel his intense gaze on me, and I silently plead with him to stop- I have enough to deal with right now, I don't want to think about his feelings. Why couldn't I have been with Barrett? He's less emotional. And funny. He's probably making jokes to Scout and Donnie to make things less terrible.
I stare back at Murdoc, silently willing him to make a joke or something. Something about the situation, or the rocking, or something. "Jones," he says in a serious voice, and I have to restrain myself from groaning.
Something tells me this is going to be a knock knock joke. "What?"
"I-" he pauses and furrows his eyebrows as the dead push our car, jostling him around. After a second he sighs and says, "I'm just glad everyone's okay."
"Me too," I say frowning and sitting up on my knees, trying to bend over the seats to look inside the car. "I just hope they're having more luck..." I say before my foot slips and I half- flip over the seat, landing on a seatbelt wrong. "Ow," I mutter.
"Are you okay?" He asks, sitting up to look down at me from over the seat.
"Yeah," I say, rubbing my shoulder. "I don't think this car was ever actually raided," I say, tilting my head at the closed compartments. "And hey," I say, grinning and leaning into the front, pulling out a small blanket. "Looks like we won't freeze."