As They Rise (The Eva Series #1)

Ten

Wyatt slowly creaked the door of the stairwell open, peering carefully into the diner. I could see through the crack that dozens of zombies crowded around the diner, growling as they pressed up against the windows.

I held my breath as Wyatt quickly snuck through the door and behind the counter, running low and fast so the creatures wouldn’t see him. 
I moved forward and watched as he stayed low, making his way over to the other side of the diner, pressing his back up against the counter to stay out of sight.
For a moment, I thought about praying for him, for us, to make it out of here unscathed.
I stopped believing in God the moment I found out my parents had been killed. When the Police woman with those melancholy eyes sat me down and told me the driver of the taxi they were in fell asleep at the wheel and veered directly into the path of a semi-trailer. In an instant, they were gone, and my faith died along with them.
But, as I watched those mindless zombies sniffing and clawing at the glass, their sinister eyes searching for signs of life, and saw Wyatt coming dangerously close to them, I wished more than ever that some omnipotent being was watching over us, keeping us alive.

Slowly, Wyatt reached his hand up towards the cash register, crinkling his nose as he pushed the eject button, causing the cash draw to ‘ding’ as it popped open. 
Peering around the corner of the counter, he breathed a sigh of relief to see the zombies hadn’t heard it over their moaning, and he reached into the cash drawer, picking up a coin. 
He hurriedly crawled back towards the other end of the counter, close to the hallway where Ben, Jo and myself were watching him, waiting.
He rose up over the counter and slid the coin into one of the jukeboxes. 
Carefully, he started flipping through the song choices.
“Wyatt!” Jo whispered impatiently. “Just pick one! It doesn’t matter!”
“It does matter!” He whispered back, searching the song list. “We’re about to do something completely insane and extremely dangerous – we need a power song!”
Jo sighed, exasperated, but I couldn’t help but smile to myself.
Finally, his eyes landed on the perfect song. 
“Oh yeah,” he grinned. “That’s the one.” 
Wyatt pushed the button and rolled back into the hallway, just as Rock Around The Clock by Bill Haley and His Comets started blaring throughout the diner.
“That should distract ‘em long enough.” He said as he locked the door.
This was it. 
Our only chance to make it out of here alive. 


Wyatt and Ben held the trolleys still while Jo and I climbed in, already loaded with our bags and the weapons we gathered from around the diner.

“Ready?” Asked Ben as he and Wyatt positioned the trolleys up against the double doors in the stairwell. Hearing a loud smash from back inside the diner, I knew the zombies had made their way inside. It was now or never.
“Let’s do this.” I answered, holding my spear in position.
They pushed the trolleys forward, slamming us through the doors and out onto the street.
Even though the majority of zombies had been lured towards the front of the building by the music blaring through the outside speakers, and most were now making their way into the diner, at least a dozen still stood between us and Wyatt’s car parked two blocks away.
They gave the trolleys one last push before Ben climbed in alongside Jo and Wyatt jumped in with me. 
Jo ignited the fire extinguisher to help cloud us from the zombies and I began slashing at any who got too close.
I could feel my heart pounding and my arms shaking as we sped down the street, hacking off zombie heads as we zoomed passed.

“We’re nearly there!” Yelled Wyatt as he fought off one of the zombies, gutting it like a fish with a butcher knife.
I could see his yellow Chevy parked by the sidewalk on the next block, and I knew we would be there in a matter of seconds considering how fast we were flying down the street. 
“How are we going to stop?” Yelled Jo as the fire extinguisher started to sputter.
Before anyone could answer, the trolleys hit the curb and toppled over, sending us all flying onto the hard concrete.

I winced as I skidded across the ground, grazing my arms on the footpath and coming to a stop against the brick wall of a building.
Opening my eyes, I could see a giant hoard of zombies running down the hill, literally falling over each other to get to us as we lay on the ground helplessly.
“They’re coming!” I yelled as I picked myself up and held my hand out for Ben.
I helped him to his feet while Jo and Wyatt quickly snatched up a few of the knives strewn along the ground from the fall. 
Feeling a sharp pain soaring down my arm, I started running fiercely towards the car, too afraid to look at what was causing it.
Wyatt made it to the car first, fumbling around in his pocket for the key and frantically sliding it into the door, throwing a knife, the hairspray and lighter into the backseat. 
I jumped into the passenger seat and slammed the door shut behind me as Ben slid into the back.
“Where’s Jo?” I heard Wyatt ask, fear in his voice. 
Turning around, I saw Jo was still running towards the car, clutching her spear tightly, with at least six zombies right behind her.

“She’s not gonna make it!” I said as I reached into the back seat, grabbed the hairspray and lighter, and jumped back out of the car.
“Eva! What are you doing?!” I heard Wyatt yell as I ran, but I didn’t stop. I had to help Jo.
“Just start the car!” I yelled back.
One of the zombies jumped at Jo, falling short and clutching her ankle, causing her to fall to the ground.
Jo held her spear high and started stabbing it repeatedly until it let go of her ankle, while I ran up next to her and lit the lighter as I held it in front of the hairspray can. I had no idea what I was doing, but I had to do something fast.
Just as the other five zombies were about to close in, I pressed down on the hairspray can, sending a huge flame bursting into the air in front of me.

I felt my fingers starting to burn, but I sprayed the flames on the zombies as they came running towards us. I looked in horror as they continued running towards us, now as ferocious fireballs.
Jo stood behind me now, pulling on my singlet, urging me to run.
“Come on, Eva! We can make it!”
I turned and together we ran to the car as fast as we could, Wyatt putting his foot down on the pedal as soon as we jumped inside.
“Eva! You’re hurt!” Wyatt said, glancing at me as he sped down the street towards the city centre.
Looking down at my right arm, I saw a huge gash just below my shoulder, blood pouring out of it.
“I must have landed on one of the knives when we tipped the trolleys.” I replied, suddenly feeling the pain a whole lot more.
“Here, you gotta put pressure on it. Give me your scarf.” Ordered Ben as he leaned forward from the back seat. 
I unwrapped my scarf from around my neck and handed to him, and he proceeded to tie it tightly around my arm, stopping the bleeding but intensifying the pain.
“Good thing we’ve got a medic with us.” Said Wyatt, relief washing over his face.
I looked in the rear view mirror to see the hoard as they chased after us, trying to ignore the pain in my arm.

Their rotting limbs and decimated consciousness made them slower than us, shuffling more than walking or running. But their animal instincts and ever-expanding numbers made it easy for them to corner their prey. That’s how they were quickly overthrowing the entire population of Australia.
“Fire doesn’t work. I lit those bastards on fire and it slowed them down a little, but it didn’t stop them. Maybe if it was a huge explosion or something that engulfed them enough to melt their brains, but just lighting one or two on fire isn’t enough. We need to remember that. I say we just stick to knives and weapons that we’re sure will destroy their brains.” I said, turning to everyone to make sure they understood.
“But when you threw hot oil on the one in the diner, it stopped it… for a second.” Wyatt added, confused.
“I know. Maybe because he was so new? He’d only just turned. The ones chasing us looked more… decayed. And they were definitely more brutal.” I said, trying to understand how the virus works.
Everyone nodded as we drove further into city, passing half-eaten corpses and straggling zombies on the way.
Melbourne had fast transformed into a war-zone, and I cringed at the thought of what awaited us at Melbourne Central.