Infection Z (Book 2) by Ryan Casey Page B

the bonnet.
    “What d’you think it means?” Sammy asked, reluctance in her voice.
    Ally looked up at her as he reached into the engine. Smiled. “It means they’re on course for Warrington. And it means we’re gonna be there to welcome them.”

Nineteen
    T hey ran further and further through the woods, and it didn’t take them long to get lost.
    Hayden stopped and rested his hands on his aching knees. The sound of the cold wind whistled through the trees as Clarice and Newbie panted beside him. Hayden had never been the fittest of people. Probably the healthiest period of his life was back in high school when he was actually forced into doing physical activity. But even then, he found ways to worm out of the classes. Stubbed toes, dodgy knees, things like that.
    He regretted the day he’d ever lied about having dodgy knees now he knew what actual knee ache felt like.
    “Sounds like we’ve lost ’em,” Newbie said. It threw Hayden to see him standing still for once. He’d kind of got used to Newbie powering onwards, no matter what. He could sympathise with Newbie’s plight to find his daughter. Sympathise, but lament it at the same time.
    “I’m not so sure being lost is such a good idea,” Clarice said. She looked around, examined the trees as they shook in the whirring wind. Hayden tried to listen for gasps, groans and footsteps, but there was nothing.
    And sometimes, nothing was the eeriest sound of all.
    Newbie took a few deep breaths and carried on walking. “We can’t be too far off route.”
    “I admire your confidence,” Clarice said, as she started to hobble on after Newbie.
    “I never insisted you joined me,” Newbie said. “I never forced you here.”
    “Let’s not go there again,” Hayden said. He struggled to catch his breath and tried not to tumble over with how dizzy he was feeling. “We just … we just need to focus on getting to Warrington now. And getting there in one piece.”
    “We’re already torn into pieces,” Clarice said. “Sarah isn’t here.”
    Clarice had a point. Hayden had been trying not to think too much about Sarah. About what she’d given up to try and help the rest of the group. It was a sacrifice he wasn’t sure he’d be able to make given the opportunity.
    A sacrifice he’d make for nobody but his family.
    They waded through the trees and over the fallen leaves, which crunched beneath their feet. “Newbie’s right,” Hayden said, trying to change the subject. “We … we can’t be too far from Warrington. Even if we went way off route, I’m pretty sure we were still heading in the same direction as we were on the road.”
    “Again, your blind faith impresses me,” Clarice said, as she stepped over a pile of broken twigs. “I wish I could share it.”
    They walked further. It felt like hours, but in truth it could only have been minutes. They tried to stay headed in the same direction, but it was hard to keep track when there were nothing but trees around them, sky above them. Hayden tried to use the sun as some kind of marker—he knew it rose in the east and set in the west—but he couldn’t even keep track of that right now, as it peeked through the grey clouds directly above them.
    He had to face the truth. Accept the truth, as a cold shiver wrapped around him.
    He was lost. They were all lost.
    What felt like another hour later, Clarice asked if they could take a breather. But Newbie insisted they had to keep pushing on. They couldn’t hang around. It was afternoon, it was winter and it was Britain, which meant that the sun would be setting in a matter of hours.
    They didn’t want to get caught out here when night fell. That was good for nobody. Nobody but the cold.
    And the zombies.
    They were walking for a while longer, Hayden’s legs feeling like they were going to shatter to pieces with every step, when Newbie stopped.
    He lifted up a hand and halted Hayden and Clarice’s progression. Hayden swore he could hear Newbie’s