The Dead Walk The Earth (Book 3) by Luke Duffy

continued to race along the street, whipping past just centimetres from his huge frame, and snapping close to his head.
    “Moving,” he screamed, informing the others that he was breaking cover.
    Raising his rifle as he bounded away from the crumbling wall, he loosed off a hail of fire into the general direction of the enemy. His weapon juddered in his hands as the muzzle flash burst from the tip of his barrel like a series of lightning bolts. His fire was inaccurate, sailing through the air with no real aiming point, but that did not matter. All he wanted was to cause their attackers to flinch behind their guns, giving Al and the rest of his patrol the precious few seconds they needed to get out of the killing zone.
    The enemy fire wavered, and for a short moment their bullets sailed high and away from Tommy and Tina. Al fired his rifle again, aiming at the multitude of muzzle flashes he could see from various points at the end of the street. His rapid fire caused the weapon to jerk violently in his hands, spraying his rounds over a wide arc as they smashed into buildings and glided harmlessly over rooftops.
    “Move, move now,” he screamed across to Tommy and Tina. “Rally on me, rally right. Fucking move.”
    Tommy was the first to react, leaping from the shallow depression he had been lying in and bounding towards where Al waited in the cover of the nearest building. He stopped in his tracks, realising that Tina had not moved and remained in the shallow dip behind him. He turned and lunged into the hole, grabbing her by the collar.
    Again, the enemy guns opened up with the same ferocity as before, having recovered from their moment of shock when Al’s rounds had headed towards them. Their fire was still not as accurate as it had been, but that would soon change as Tommy became aware of another sizzling flare that was racing up into the black sky. It was only a matter of seconds before it exploded with its dazzling light and exposed them as they stood in the open.
    “Tina, move,” Tommy screamed down at her, yanking her to her feet and dragging her along behind him. “Come on, we’re bugging out.”
    Tina’s legs refused to cooperate. She knew what she needed to do, but no matter how hard she tried, there was a part of her brain that would not comply. It was as though her mind had left her body. She could see herself being dragged along as tracers streaked between them and thumped into the ground at their feet. She could see Al, blasting away with his rifle on full automatic, hollering at them to get into cover behind him. Yet no matter how loudly she screamed at herself from within her skull, her empty body stumbled along in a daze, seized with terror and being hauled to safety by Tommy.
    She was suddenly shoved forward, catapulted through the air and into cover by Tommy as he leapt across towards where Al was standing. As Tina landed, feeling her body crash into something hard and then collapsing into a painful heap, she became aware of the second flare bursting to life like an exploding star.
    Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack… Another stream of deadly fire rained in towards them from along the street.
    A cry rang out from somewhere close by. Tina looked up in time to see Tommy spin, his left arm flailing out to his side, and his body crumpling to the ground. More glowing red bullets zipped into the spot where Tommy had fallen, slamming into the earth and sending up splinters of smashed brick and tarmac. The noise was deafening as the cracks and thumps of the speeding rounds hammered away at the air, leaving all attempts at communication utterly useless.
    Al was still firing while Tommy squirmed close by at his feet, trying to pull himself to safety before the enemy fire found its mark and chewed him up. Tina stared at him, unable to make sense of anything that was happening around her. She could see them all and hear their shouts, screams, and the barking gunfire, but none of it seemed real.
    Suddenly,