Empty Bodies (Book 5): Damnation by Zach Bohannon Page A

point after The Fall.
    A few miles down the road, Karl hit the brakes. Will looked up from double-checking that his handgun was loaded.
    Trees lined either side of the road. Every fifty to a hundred yards was another driveway. The houses out here were older, ranch-style homes, each sitting on several acres of land.
    Fifty yards ahead was a herd of Empties—six of the creatures. They spanned the width of the road, making it impassable.
    “Shit,” Karl said.
    “It’s all right,” Will said. “This happened quite often to us out on the open roads. We’ll have to get out and take care of them.”
    Karl reached between the seats and grabbed his pistol. He’d started to check that it was loaded when Will reached over and grabbed onto his wrist.
    “If we can, we need to try and use melee weapons. Guns will be far too noisy, and we need to try and conserve ammo. If there’s other creatures or any people in the area, firing guns will surely bring them out.”
    “You mean we’ve gotta get close to ‘em?” Spencer asked. “No way, man.”
    Great, Will thought. He said, “Charlie and I will go first, and we’ll try to spread them out. I’ll try to get a couple of them to follow me to the right, and Charlie, you take the left. If we can each draw a couple of them, that’ll make things easier for the two of you.”
    Spencer slapped Karl’s shoulder. “We should just shoot ‘em, man. Shoot ‘em, jump back in the car, and get the hell out of here.”
    “No,” Will demanded. “Don’t fire unless you absolutely have to.”
    Karl peeked over his shoulder. “Listen to them, Spence. They’ve spent a lot more time out here than we have.”
    As Will checked his handgun again for the umpteenth time to make sure it was loaded, he felt a tap on his shoulder. It was Charlie, handing him the same machete he’d used to severe Dylan’s arm. Will accepted the weapon, examining the blade. Charlie had taken the liberty of wiping it clean of Dylan’s blood, though the blade had been forever tainted with a crimson stain.
    The other weapons had all been scoured from garages in the cul-de-sac. Charlie and Spencer each held an ax while Karl wielded a large knife.
    “That going to work for you?” Will asked, looking at the knife.
    “I’ll be fine,” Karl said.
    “Want to trade?” In truth, Will would have loved to pass the machete off to someone else after what he’d had to do to Dylan with it, and he’d killed plenty of Empties with a knife.
    Shaking his head, Karl said, “Really, I’ll be fine.”
    “All right.” Will looked back to Charlie. “Ready?”
    Charlie nodded. “Let’s go.”
    Sitting behind the driver’s seat, Charlie exited the vehicle just before Will.
    The creatures had made it a mere twenty-five yards, cutting the distance to the van in half. A narrow shoulder and shallow ditch divided the trees from the road. The next driveway was past the pack of Empties. Will wondered if he could drive the creatures down into the ditch as he started to make his way for it.
    “Come on, you bastards,” Will said, waving his arms with the machete in one hand.
    “Hey, ugly,” Charlie said, pointing at the creatures nearest him. “Yeah, you. Come on!”
    With that, four of the creatures headed toward Will and two toward Charlie. The plan worked. But when Will glanced back to the van, Karl had remained frozen in the front seat, and Spencer was still in the back.
    “Come on!” he yelled, waving toward the van.
    The first creature slipped as its feet left the pavement, and it rolled down into the ditch. The second and third kept their footing, and the fourth fell like the first. Under Will’s feet, the ground was still muddy from rain, and he found it hard to keep his own footing. In front of him, the Empties seemed to be having a similar problem. Will stopped moving backward, readying himself to attack.
    The Empty leading the way came within a few yards of Will. He almost slipped again, but managed to rear