The Zombie Chronicles - Book 2 (Apocalypse Infection Unleashed Series) (6 page)

Claire grabbed a board off the floor. “For starters, fetch some hammers and nails and let’s start barricading this door!”

“
I like the way you think, girl,” Lucas said, picking up a hammer.

The pounding of nails echoed throughout the room as we all worked together and boarded up the door with plywood. We knew it wouldn’t keep them out for long, but at least it would give us some time to think of a Plan B.

As the door shook, I gripped my axe tightly, watching the knob wobble and turn.
Crap
! I knew what loomed behind that door, and it wasn’t doing my nerves any favors. “We gotta get out of here!”

“
No kidding,” Nick said.

I shot him a glare, then shook it off. I went to the window and gazed out, staring at the open window on the second floor in the barn next door. “Guys, I have an idea!”

“
What?” Claire asked.

I darted over to a long, wide board, about two by twenty, and struggled to pick up one dusty end. It seemed sturdy enough to hold our weight.

Lucas rushed over. “What’re we thinking here?”

I pointed out the window. “We could use this to make a sort of bridge and climb over to the barn. There might be a vehicle inside—an ATV, a motorcycle, or even a freaking lawnmower. Plus, I bet there’re tools too—pitchforks and axes and all kinds of other stuff.”

Nick
grasped the board and turned it over as if he were testing it.
“You’re right,
if
we can actually get over there.”

“
That thing’ll
never hold all of our weight,” Jackie said. “It’s too thin!”

Lucas’s lips pressed into grim lines. “Looks like we just became tight-rope walkers. What other options do we have?”

“
But i
t’s gonna break,” Jackie repeated.

Lucas shook his head. “Not if we go one at a time.”

Claire grabbed his arm. “I barely made it across the balance beam in gym class, and that didn’t come with an army of bloodthirsty cannibals.”

“
We have no other choice,” I explained.

She bit her lip as she stared down at the zombies roaming the yard.

“
It’s not that far,” Nick assured her. “Let’s slide the board across to the other window.”

Lucas squinted. “It’s gotta be a good fifteen feet.”

He and Nick took the front of the long board, the girls took the back, and I took the middle.

“
You sure it’s long enough?” Jackie asked, heaving a terrified sigh.

“
I dunno,” I said, “but it’s pretty darn heavy.” Drops of sweat rolled down my back as we scooted it out the window. I was just as uneasy as she was about it, but I couldn’t let that show.

After multiple attempts, one of which nearly lost our plank to the hungry mob below, we were able to maneuver and
slide the other end into the barn window
. It was one crazy plan, and I could only hope it would work. If even one person lost their balance, I’d never be able to live with myself.

Chapter 8

Walking the plank never sounds like a good idea, but walking across one in midair to get to a barn window seemed absolutely insane. Really, we had no choice, and at least there were no pirates involved.

“
Since this was
my
idea, I’ll go first to see if it works,” I said sullenly.

“
No, Dean!” my overprotective big brother said. “Absolutely not. I’ll go first.”

Lucas threw up his arms in exasperation. “No. If the board breaks, I won’t have your brother watching you get torn into shreds.”

Nick pointed his finger in Lucas’s face and was about to say something, when Jackie interrupted. “Then I’ll go first,” she spat. “Besides, I’m more acrobatic than any of you guys.”

I loved her attitude and her bravery and gripped her hand tightly.

“
Listen, Jackie,” Lucas said. “I admire your newfound courage, but you don’t know how to secure the perimeter over there.
I
do.”

She crossed her arms. “Fine. You
go first, but I’m going second, and Claire is going third. Dean is fourth. Nick, you can come over last, since you’re the protector. I know that’s the way you’d want it.”

Nick nodded.

The door began to rattle and shake violently, until I was sure it was going to pop right off its rusty hinges. I began to question how well we’d sealed it. My heart pounded against my ribs as I grabbed more boards and started hammering.

Lucas stepped up onto the plank.

“
Be careful!” I yelled. I wanted so much to watch to make sure he got across okay, but I had to keep the zombies out, so I just kept hammering away like a madman.

“
He made it!” Claire said after a few tense moments, her voice brimming with excitement.

I let out a long breath that I could have sworn I’d been holding the entire time, then grabbed another handful of nails, hammering them one at a time in rapid succession.

“
Okay. He’s securing the perimeter now,” Nick said.

After a minute passed, Jackie began to pace. “Where is he? I hope he’s okay.”

“
Don’t worry,” Nick said. “Lucas and I have been through much worse.”

I began to wonder what could have been worse, but then I shook the thought from my head. It wasn’t the time for questions—especially those I didn’t really want to know the answers to.

“
All
clear!” I heard Lucas’s voice echo from outside. “C’mon over!”

“
I’m coming,” Jackie said as she crawled out the window.

“
You can do it. Just don’t look down!” I yelled as I continued to hammer and pound.

“
Please be super careful,” Claire said.

I
was nailing the last available board in place when I heard Nick yell out that she was safe. I let out a massive sigh of relief and let the rest of the nails tumble from my hand as I stepped over to the window.

C
laire slowly and awkwardly stepped up onto the board, then out between the windows. She moved at a painfully slow pace, taking baby steps forward and trying not to look below her. A sudden gust of wind sent her hair flying, and suddenly Claire was waving her arms around madly, trying to regain her balance, even as the board wavered with her sudden movements. Halfway across, another massive gust of wind sent Claire teetering to the left, then right. She took a quick step forward to balance herself again and slipped off the board.

We all screamed in terror at
the exact same moment.

Luckily enough, she caught hold of one side of the plank with both hands and managed to hold on to it as the zombies, just feet below, surged and howled for her blood.
The board bucked, twisted, and bounced, threatening to drop her to the waiting mouths below.
She screamed and kicked her legs as nearly every zombie in the yard began reaching up to claw and grab at her legs, like they thought she was manna from above.

Lucas jumped on the other end of the plank in an attempt to steady it with his weight.

Instinctively, I began to crawl out the window to help her when my brother grabbed my arm.

“
Your weight on that board isn’t gonna help her one bit. It might break with two of you on there,” he wisely warned.

I yanked my arm away. “But she needs help!”

“
Yeah, well that kind of help is gonna get you both killed!” Nick yelled. “If she can’t get back up, I’ll go. Just give her a sec.”

As Lucas scurried out the barn window, Nick yelled for him to stop.

Claire grabbed the board with her fingertips and with immense difficulty, managed to pull herself up
, into a sitting position.

I could see the bloodstains on the wood, and I knew her hand had to be practically raw.
“Start crawling!” I shouted.

Jackie and Lucas cheered her on from the barn window, as Nick and I just kept shouting for her to crawl forward and not to look down. She slowly scooted across and finally reached the other end of the board, where she collapsed into Jackie’s arms.

“
You’re next,” Nick said, staring into my eyes with absolute seriousness.

I slipped the axe through my belt, handle first, then crawled out of the window onto the plank, then slowly rose to a stand. The sound of cracking wood echoed from behind me as the zombies began to break through the door.
No flipping way!
My jaw dropped as the bottom half of the door splintered apart and the zombies began crawling through it, swarming into the room. We had to get over to the barn fast. My heart thundered as I tried to move quickly, without falling. “C’mon, Nick! We
both
gotta go now!”

“
It’ll never hold all that weight.”

“
Chance it!” I yelled.

“
No! You go on and get across. I’m right behind you.”

He fired a few shots, and I hoped he wasn’t going to play martyr. “
I’m not moving a muscle till you are standing on this board with me!” I demanded.

“
Fine!” he said, knowing I could be just as stubborn as he was.

I let out a breath as he crawled out the window and fired off a few more shots. I knew he needed to give me a head start so the weight would be evenly distributed. That was our only chance of the board not breaking.

“
Don’t look at
me
,” Nick shouted. “Focus on your steps.”

I put one foot on the plank, lifted the other, and then had to trust the narrow board to support all my weight.
Don’t look down. Don’t look down.
I scooted three feet using baby steps, and then I forgot my own advice: I looked down. I forced myself to ignore what I saw; there were now dozens of mutilated hands and faces all thrashing around violently, just waiting for their free meal to fall from the sky above. When I thought about what could happen if I fell, I started to hyperventilate. My breathing became shallow, and I struggled to catch my breath.
Okay, time to move.
I took a couple quick, deep breaths, until I was able to think again. Moving as quickly as I could with such poor balance, I worked on keeping my feet moving, one in front of the other, to some imaginary beat in my mind.

With my balance about to give out, I tried to regain control by using my hips and keeping my arms out straight, but it just didn’t seem to help.
I can do this. I can do this. I’ll pretend I’m only three feet off the ground.

I hadn’t even reached the middle when a gust of wind hit me in the back. It was as if I was being pushed by an invisible bully. I looked at the finish line, only a few feet in front of me, and continued forward. My foot suddenly caught on something, nearly sending me toppling into the sea of zombies below.
What was that?
Everyone else had managed to cross over without difficulties, with the exception of Claire. Holding my breath, I looked down.
Nails
? I hadn’t seen them when we’d picked up the board.
Why couldn’t they have been pounded in from this side?
I complained in my head, furious that I had to pick my feet up to get over them. Another gust filled my shirt like a sail, and I waited for the cruel draft to die out. One foot was over, and the second foot followed. The wood wobbled, and a bead of sweat rolled down my face. I had to play it cool, fighting the urge to just sprint over.
One slip and…
I glanced over my shoulder. Nick was right behind me, just out of the reach of the zombie intruders who were flailing their hands out the window.