The Zombie Virus (Book 1) by Paul Hetzer Page B

concealment.
    The sound of breaking glass came from the
besieged building and immediately another blast from a shotgun. The
cacophony of noise coming from the Loonies, which was a mixture of
snarling growls and keening wails, nearly drowned out the gunshot.
I motioned Holly to stay low behind the blackened car we were
concealed behind and I peeked up over the hood at the building not
more than fifty yards away.
    One of the infected had run full force into
the glass doors of the old brick building, shattering them. It lay
dead at the entrance, a hole in its chest from being shot.
Undeterred, the others were pushing past en masse and into the
doorway. They all seemed to have sensed that they had breached the
building and the pitch of their growling increased. They ran toward
the entrance, pressing those before them as they fought to
enter.
    There was one more shotgun blast from inside
and then no more.
    “It’s time,” I said to Holly, checking down
the street to make sure we weren’t going to be flanked by any of
the creatures. “I’m going to move down about twenty yards and take
a firing position. Be ready to start firing when I do. Try not to
shoot through the doorway or windows and hit the person
inside.”
    “Maybe the noise will draw those things back
out,” Holly said.
    I shrugged. “Then hopefully we can kill them
all. Be careful.”
    I ran at a low crouch down to another burnt
out vehicle and raised my rifle over the warped trunk, aiming at
the mass of bodies trying to get to the doorway. I was about
fifteen yards closer to the horde than Holly. We started firing
nearly simultaneously.
    I pulled the trigger as fast as I could,
trying to send the rounds center mass into the group of infected.
They dropped like mowed weeds, some writhing on the ground and
howling pitifully in pain from mortal wounds. They halted in their
push forward and one by one turned to face this new
disturbance.
    I completed a quick mag change. Those closest
to me finally registered my presence and charged. They screamed
their guttural call, racing the short distance between us, enraged
with bloodlust. Some had spotted Holly and sprinted into her
withering gunfire. I couldn’t help her.
    At this range I was placing the reticle of
the scope on one head after another, dropping in their tracks when
the bullets tore through their brains. There were just too damn
many of them. I backed up, changing mags as they reached the other
side of the car. My back came up against the cold steel of another
vehicle.
    The infected scrambled over and around the
car to get to me, a savage wildness alive in their bloodshot eyes.
I began shooting indiscriminately. They were nearly on me, clawed
hands reaching for me. I slammed one with the butt of the rifle and
shot it in the face. Three more moved in to take its place just as
the rifle’s bolt locked open. There was no time for a mag change. I
reached down for my pistol even though I knew they would be on me
before my hand could touch it.
    I heard three close consecutive shots and the
three Loonies dropped lifeless at my feet. I looked over and Holly
was there not twenty feet away with the smoking rifle pointed at
the lifeless forms on the ground.
    There were no more of the infected in our
immediate vicinity. I thumbed the magazine release and slammed a
new mag in place.
    “Thank you, that was too close!” I said
breathlessly. Holly was terrified, although she was holding it
together admirably.
    “I didn’t have as many come at me,” she said.
“I didn’t think I would get to you in time!” She ran to me and
hugged me tight.
    I let my rifle fall to my side and hugged her
back. “You saved my bacon, hon.” I kissed her and turned my
attention back to the situation. The ground around us and leading
to the building was littered with the infected, most dead but a few
were still alive, crawling toward us despite their horrible gunshot
wounds.
    I headed toward the building with my wife
close behind. The