Escape under fire
The evacuation signal had barely faded when thunderous zombie roars surged in from every direction.
Maggie and Glenn rushed out of the alley and stopped short-the horde originally drawn east was frantically turning back. More walkers poured from corners near the pharmacy's broken windows, heading straight for the living people in the street.
The zombies that had been sleeping had been awakened after all.
Back to back, Lynn and Davis fought their way toward the west end of the street.
Every blast of Davis's shotgun sent approaching walkers flying, scattering chunks of flesh.
Lynn fired bursts from his assault rifle, landing precise headshots on the walkers flanking them.
But there were too many, and their perimeter of fire kept shrinking.
"Damn it! They're all coming back!" Glenn's voice shook, fear making it hard for him to move.
"Run! Don't stop!"
Maggie shouted sharply, working her lever-action rifle.
Bang! Bang!
Two shots dropped the walkers pouring from a side street, but more filled the gaps.
She pulled Glenn by the arm, trying to cut diagonally toward the west end of the street.
Boom! Crash!
Just then, the tremendous crash of splintering wood and shattering glass tore through the silence. At the eastern entrance to the main street, an abandoned grocery store burst into flames. A thick column of black smoke rose, and spreading tongues of fire painted half the sky red.
The sudden blaze and tremendous noise instantly became a stronger lure. On the outer edges of the horde surging toward the west end of the street, swathes of walkers fell into confusion.
Their faint fear of flames and the stimulus of the enormous noise made them change direction and surge toward the burning building.
"Through the gap! Go!"
Lynn's eyes flashed, and he gave Davis a hard pull.
With the zombies ahead drawn away, the pressure abruptly eased.
Lynn and Davis unleashed their full firepower, tearing open a bloody path and joining Maggie and Glenn as they rushed diagonally toward them.
Glenn was pale, his bulging backpack making it clear he had secured plenty of medicine.
Glass had cut Maggie's arm, and blood kept seeping from it.
"This way!"
A low, hoarse voice rang out.
Daryl roared out of an alley on his modified motorcycle and stopped.
Merle stood on the roof of a low building nearby, swinging a Molotov cocktail and hurling it at another empty house.
Boom!
Another sea of flames rose, drawing more walkers away.
"Get on! Hurry!"
Daryl roared, the seat behind him empty.
"Glenn! Go with Daryl!"
Lynn gave the order. Glenn was carrying what they had come for; nothing could happen to him, or all their efforts would have been wasted.
Glenn scrambled onto the rear seat and wrapped his arms around Daryl.
"Maggie! Stay close!"
Lynn shouted to Maggie and sprinted toward the west end of the street with Davis.
Davis brought up the rear, blasting the scattered walkers that closed in with his shotgun.
Merle jumped off the low building, grabbed his crowbar, and charged into the nearest pursuing walkers. He swept the crowbar across them, smashing skulls and breaking necks.
Clearing them away as he followed, he let out a strange laugh. "Hey! Rotten meat! Over here!"
The five of them, plus the two on the motorcycle, used the chaos and the divided horde created by the fires to break out along the edge of the zombie tide.
The burning buildings collapsed behind them, firelight illuminating their backs and the drifting ash as the stench of burning mingled with the stink of corpses.
The firelight and commotion drew in all the zombies wandering nearby, leaving walkers roaming all along the road.
Had they been any slower, they really would have been trapped there.
They dared not stop. They rushed out of the west end of the street and plunged into the sparse woods outside town.
Only when the roars and explosions behind them grew quieter, and they confirmed that no large group of walkers was following, did they stop in a sheltered hollow, panting hard.
Sweat mingled with dust, gun smoke, and filth.
Glenn slid off the motorcycle and leaned against a tree on weak legs, gasping for breath. Maggie tore a strip from the hem of her shirt and hastily bandaged the wound on her arm.
Davis reloaded his shotgun while keeping watch over their surroundings.
Merle panted, leaning on his blood-dripping crowbar, his gaze fierce. Daryl killed the engine and listened warily.
Both of them were keeping watch as well.
Lynn stood behind an oak, scanning the direction of the town they had escaped and the route they had taken.
"The medicine?" Lynn's voice broke through their panting.
Glenn jolted and hurriedly took off his backpack and opened it. "It's... it's here!"
He held out medicine boxes covered in dust and sweat: children's ibuprofen suspension, amoxicillin granules, and several boxes of adult antibiotics and painkillers.
"Found... found these! And..." His voice stopped, and he glanced quickly at Lynn. "Maggie's bandages and alcohol."
Maggie took out veterinary dewormer and thick nylon rope. "The farm needs these."
Lynn's gaze lingered on the medicine for a moment, confirming they had the crucial drugs. "Good. Objective achieved. Rest for ten minutes, then pull out immediately."
Having this medicine meant Sophia could be saved.
"Fuck, we nearly got surrounded!" Merle spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva. "Next time we lure mobs, I'm charging extra!"
No one paid him any attention, and ten minutes soon passed.
"Move!" Lynn ordered.
The group set off again. Daryl scouted ahead on his motorcycle while the others followed on foot, staying on high alert. Following the traces they had left in the overgrown grass on their way in, they moved quickly toward the farm. Exhaustion weighed heavily on them, but they kept moving. They had to get the medicine back as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, on the second floor of a half-collapsed motel at the edge of Greenville's firelight.
Behind a shattered window, several pairs of eyes watched through binoculars in the direction Lynn's squad had disappeared.
"Did you see that, Dave?"
Tony, a burly man with a scar on his face, lowered his binoculars.
Dave, dressed in a filthy suit, adjusted his cracked glasses and lowered his binoculars. "Six people. No, seven. The ones on the motorcycle joined them later. Well equipped... assault rifle, shotgun, crossbow, melee weapons. Heavy firepower, good coordination."
He paused. "Did you see that long wooden crate? On the big guy's back at the end-Davis? It was covered with cloth, but that shape... the way they carried it off..."
Tony's breathing grew heavier. "Fuck... could it be... that thing?"
"Looks like it." Greed flashed in Dave's eyes. "An RPG! Definitely. Scarface's goods from the motel are in their hands now. And those guns... the ammunition... These people are tough nuts to crack, but they're fat sheep too."
"Where are they going?" a small, skinny man beside them asked eagerly.
"Judging by the direction, probably the farm," Dave said with certainty. "Toward Hershel's Farm. The two sides have made contact, or they're staying there."
"The farm?" Tony clenched his fists. "Hershel? His handful of people and lousy guns?
"Ha! Perfect! Avenging Scarface, his stuff-it should all be ours. We'll take the farm and the fat sheep in one go."
"Don't rush, Tony," Dave warned. "These people aren't easy to mess with. Hershel's Farm has fences and high ground. That won't be easy to crack either." He gave a sinister smile. "I heard them saying just now that they have a little girl who's sick and nearly dead, and they're rushing back with medicine... That means the farm has a weak spot. They have family there they care about."
He walked to the window and looked toward the farm. "Send people to keep a close watch on the farm's perimeter.
"Find out their guard changes, their personnel, and especially... where that sick child is.
"Once the medicine arrives and they let their guard down... that's our chance.
"Scarface's goods, the farm's supplies, those people's stuff... it's all ours!"
In the shadows, several figures nodded silently.
A gun barrel rested on the shattered windowsill, reflecting the distant firelight.
A new threat had set its sights on Lynn's squad and the farm.