Wildfire - A Fanfiction

Chapter Fifteen

Georgia jumped up onto the fence and started climbing. She was nowhere near as fast as Trinity, but she made quick progress. At the top, she glanced down and saw Alex and Kami right behind her. A gnarled figure emerged from the shadows and launched itself at them.

"Watch out!" Georgia screeched. The zombie's sharp teeth were inches from Kami's ankle when a pair of hands grabbed its neck and shoulder and pulled it away.

"Hurry up and climb!" Marc yelled. He pulled out a belt knife and sliced a tendon behind the zombie's knee, causing it to awkwardly tumble down. He jumped on the fence and climbed behind them.

Georgia pushed off the top of the fence, landing with a soft grunt on asphalt. Scanning around her she realized that more zombies were running towards them from the shadows. She vaguely recognized the other three landing behind her when she started to run in the opposite direction, dodging around strange buildings in a town that wasn't hers.

A small horde snarled and ran at them, clawed hands outstretched.

Without thinking she ducked down an alley between two abandoned shops, but was quickly stopped by a dumpster that had been shoved inbetween the two buildings. There was no way to squeeze past, especially with their heavy bags, nor was there any footholds to climb over.

"Dead end!" Georgia said, panicked. The others slowed behind her, turned towards the oncoming zombies.

Scanning the area, Georgia saw a way to shimmy inside a charred shop, although debris blocked the top half of a suspicious looking doorway. "This way," she called as she ducked inside, praying that there would be a way out.

The building used to be two stories, but the top floor had collapsed in the fire, leaving large beams and other debris all over what used to be a shop. Georgia tried to climb over and around the blackened debris, around vaporized shelves to the front of the shop where the display windows had shattered. Ignoring the glass on the ground, she leapt out of the window and continued running through the town, heading back towards the river where they arrived from.

A scream ripped through the air so bloodcurdling that it made Georgia want to suddenly curl into a ball and hide. Despite every instinct she couldn't help but glance over her shoulder. The other three were running close behind as fast as they could, but where several zombies were struggling to focus on them at the end of the street was a zombie that was much faster. It pulled ahead by leaps and bounds, snarling.

"Runner!" Georgia yelled, pressing on as much extra speed as possible.

She wouldn't look behind her anymore, she couldn't. She knew the Runner must be close, but she didn't want to find out by how much. It wasn't until she noticing Kami and Alex start to pull ahead of her in her peripheral vision that she realized just how much breathing became more difficult.

Something hooked on her backpack, causing her to shriek, pulling harder despite the sudden resistance. Kami and Alex shot ahead of her. A second later it let her go. She sprinted to keep up with the others.

"Marc!" she realized suddenly. She couldn't help but glance over her shoulder one last time.

Marc had the Runner on the ground, a knee in the middle of its back, wrestling it away from his ankles or any other way for it to snag him. A wound on his leg stained his jeans red. The horde of zombies was still steadily approaching.

He looked at her, his mouth in a straight determined line. He returned his attention to the Runner.

"Marc! He's not going to survive!" Part of Georgia wanted to turn around and help, but the rational part knew that if she did, she wouldn't make it either.

Kami was running too hard to say a word. She hooked her arm around Georgia's and pulled her along down the hill.

It seemed like no time at all when they finally stopped at the rotting stump from so long ago.

Gasping for air, Georgia rested her hands on her knees. "If Marc had never taken us here, he might still be alive," she said shakily between breaths.

The others didn't respond.

Georgia was surprised to notice hot tears joining the sweat running down her face. She let herself catch her breath, then began to walk into the woods.

"W...wait," Alex struggled.

"Where are you going?" Kami followed, equally out of breath.

Georgia's lip quivered. "Back to the car. We need to keep moving and I refuse to let Marc's sacrifice be for nothing." Soon the others could walk faster and stayed close in a single-file line, with Georgia at the head. But with her back to the others, only the dark enclosing forest could see Georgia's growing tears.