The Horde

Chapter 9

The woman looked over her shoulder towards the back end of the house and the staircase. Henry had stomped upstairs, leaving a large dent in the wall from where his fist had made contact, breaking through the drywall. A large weight lifted from Hannah's chest at the sight of their neighbour, but the feeling left as soon as she heard Henry running back down the stairs towards them.

Alice paled slightly but still managed a confident nudge of her chin toward the front door, "You need to get out of here. I can hold him off, but not for long."

Thomas shook his head and lifted his gun, "We aren't leaving you here."

Hannah was still holding her side, just below her ribs, as she stood. The pain had decreased dramatically as adrenaline surged through her. Alice was forced to take a fumbled step backwards as she was pulled out into the hallway. Henry was holding her shoulder tightly and his hands were shaking from the effort, a single vein sticking out from his temple.

"I almost gave up too," His eyes were bulging and he smiled without humour. His grip was like steel and Alice was trying not to scream from the pain of her shoulder crushing.

Alex was the first to spill out from the closet and she screamed, "Let her go. She hasn't done anything!"

"It's been too long," Something over their shoulder seemed to have caught his eye, despite there being nothing but an empty closet behind them.

He hadn't stopped smiling and Hannah watched as he shakily began to raise his gun. Alice kicked his shin with a tremendous amount of force, only gaining a small grunt of discomfort from him. The grip on Alice's shoulder was unwavering and her arm was becoming numb. His unnaturally wide smile had been replaced with an expression of annoyance and he rolled his eyes as he sighed in disgust.

"Henry, let go of me," Alice had dropped her weapon but refused to back down. She understood what he was capable of. She had seen it.

He completely disregarded her attempts at diplomacy as the gun slowly reached her head, resting against her temple.

Thomas took a step towards him and Henry immediately pulled the trigger, releasing Alice and dropping her body to the floor. Blood splattered both of them and Thomas jumped back to avoid Alice's body weight toppling onto him. Alex had lifted her gun and pulled the trigger. Thomas' movement had provided an opening and she hit Henry's ear. It was chaos.

Henry stumbled backwards and hit his arm against the wall. The teenagers seized the opportunity to dash for the door. Hannah was forced into the lead by Alex's forceful push on her lower back. Henry clasped a protective hand over his ear, attempting to stifle the steady stream of blood running down his jaw and neck.

As Hannah burst onto the front porch, she froze as she was faced with the barrel of a gun. She looked around it and noticed Sophia's thin, blonde hair.

"I didn't think I would need to shoot you twice," She smirked, ceremoniously placing both hands on the gun to steady herself.

They didn't have time for this. Hannah dropped herself to the ground and she kicked out Sophia's foot just as she pulled the trigger. The woman tripped and Hannah laid on the cool ground for a moment. She used her strength for the moment. Alex shoved forward and grabbed a fistful of Sophia's hair, dragging her down the porch steps and hitting her head on the cement pathway with a the sound of a bone splitting crack.

"Let's go!" Thomas pushed Alex over Sophia's unconscious body as she lifted Hannah upward. They sprinted towards Henry's truck.

"I can drive. Someone take the passenger seat and cover me," Hannah yelled as she jumped into the vehicle, slamming the door behind her. The truck shook from the force as Thomas jumped headfirst into the backseat.