This Would Be Paradise (Book 3)

Chapter 17

I stared dumbly at Roy's dead body. He had just died saving me. Why did everyone have to die? I turned to the goon leader but he was very much dead. I wished he hadn't been and that I'd had the honor of doing it. I was shaking with my anger and need for revenge. The fighting and shooting in the street had stopped. Either people were dead or they were ducking for cover out of sight from the street.

"What dis here?" I froze at the dialect, recognizing the voice. "Now turn 'round slowly, cher."

I dove for Roy's gun and whirled around, pulling the trigger. It clicked empty. A big, toothy grin spread across Byron's face as he straightened himself from his ducking position.

"Now dat no way to say hello."

"You fucking led them here!" I screeched.

"Naw, dis bunch wanted Wyatt and I needed a ride," Byron said. His eyes landed on Roy. "Sorry 'bout yer friend." He paused. "Speakin' of dem der friends, where's dat pretty one of yers."

I grinned back, looking very much the psycho. "Like I'd ever fucking tell you." Even if I did know, I would never sell out a friend.

Byron frowned. "Dat no good, cher. 'Cause den I don't need ya."

He raised his gun and time seemed to stop. This was it. I was going to be blown away by a serial killer of the apocalypse. After everything, I was going to be executed in the streets.

"I don't think so."

Byron and I turned in time to see Zoe shoot off the shotgun she had aimed right for him. The blast was deafening. Shards impaled Byron and he flew back a good couple of feet. Not to be half-assed, Zoe walked briskly over to Byron and shot him again at close range. His feet actually flew up in the air from the impact. She turned to me covered in specs of blood, hatred in her eyes.

"You okay?"

I nodded. I wasn't sure I could speak over the ringing in my ears. Shotguns were really loud. She ran over to me and offered me her hand. I took it and she helped me to my feet.

"Oh my God, Roy," she said, her hand cupping her mouth. She looked at me. "Amanda?"

I shook my head to dispel the bells chiming in my head. "I don't know. We need to find her. What about Chloe?"

"She's fine. Some of the others had come into our cabin for safety and they're all tucked away hiding. I heard all the gunshots and decided to help."

"Thank you, Zoe."

She smiled, but it wasn't a happy smile. "I'm just glad you're okay. Not sure how I feel about shooting him, though."

She hefted her thumb towards Byron, but refused to actually look back at his dead body. I didn't blame her. Going from a regular person to someone whose killed is a tough transition.

"What do we-" Zoe was cut off by the sound of rasping.

We turned towards the front to see an army of infected heading our way. Fuck. As if the mercenaries hadn't been enough, now we had to fight the infected.

"Ethan!" I screamed, having momentarily forgotten about him.

We ran to Ethan's unconscious form and tried to rouse him. He let out a moan, but didn't wake up. That guy had whacked him hard. I frantically looked around, my eyes landing on a fallen mercenary. He was the one who had stripped me of my guns and ammo bag. I reached into his waistband where he had tucked away my Beretta. I tried not to think about where I was reaching.

I pulled out my gun. The guy hadn't even flicked the safety on. He was lucky he hadn't shot himself in the nuts. I also grabbed back my dropped AR15 and ammo bag, slinging them over my shoulder.

"We need to move inside somewhere," I said, "Grab his arm and we'll drag him."

Together we each grabbed one of Ethan's arms, and half drug, half limped him to the nearest condo. His head lolled to the side and I got a good view of the bloody spot where he had been hit. He more than likely had a concussion. Welcome to the club. He was in for a major headache when he woke up.

I opened the door and we lugged Ethan over the threshold, immediately shutting the door behind us. The first wave of infected reached Wyatt and the mercenaries' fallen bodies and went into a feeding frenzy, momentarily distracted. Oh God, Roy ... His body was still out there. We didn't have time to move him too. I'm so sorry, Roy. I turned from the window, unable to watch my friend get devoured.

I raked a hand through my hair. "We can't kill that many with gun the guns we have."

"Need an extra pair of hands?" I jumped at the voice.

"Jesus, Rose. Don't do that," I growled. We must have ended up in her condo.

"He all right?" Leo jerked his head at Ethan who we had placed on the floor.

"He got knocked out," I said.

"He's bleedin' all over my floor," Rose groused.

"Then fucking help me dress his wound!" I was fried at this point. If anything else happened, my sanity would finally snap.

Rose shot me a look, but grabbed a roll of paper towels and bent over Ethan. She placed a bunch of waded up ones on his head and pressed. Leo ran to the front window.

"Holy crap, that's a lot of dead ones. How'd they get in?"

"Someone bulldozed the gate," I answered. "You guys get any of the guns Henry was handing out?"

"Yeah, got one between us," Rose said.

I took the gun bag and AR15 off my shoulder and passed the weapon to her. "You know how to use one of these?"

"I grew up in the south. Of course I know how to shoot a damn gun."

"Don't you need a weapon?" Leo asked.

"I'm much better with my Beretta."

I crouched over the gun bag and began rooting for some more 9mm ammunition. I ejected the magazine in my gun and filled it up, pocketing as many bullets as I could. If I carried around the bag out there, it was one more thing for the infected to grab at so I would have to leave the bag here.

"You're not going out there," Zoe said firmly.

I was still crouched over the bag when I answered. "How else are we going to kill them? If we start shooting from in here, they'll just swarm the building. We need to stay on the move as we kill them."

"Then I'm going with you." I could tell she wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"Us too," Leo said.

"No, you need to stay here. Ethan is still unconscious."

"You're kidding. You want us to stay and protect the guy who turned you in?" Leo sounded half angry, half surprised. "You should've left him out there!"

I took a deep breath through my nose. "I wasn't asking."

Everyone looked at me like I had grown a conjoined twin in the last few seconds. I grabbed a box of shotgun slugs and shoved them at Zoe. She took them and reloaded her gun, then pocketed all that she could fit.

"I'm going to leave the ammo bag here. If they try to get in, shoot them. You should have enough rounds here to kill all that wander over here if you need it."

I went to the windows and peeked out. The infected must have finished their ... meals. Most were up and about again, while a few remained crowded over the fallen people-intent on cleaning the bodies down to their bones. I gulped as I thought of Roy. There won't even be a body to bury. I would give myself time to dwell on that later.

"Zoe, stay right behind me. We're going to try to lead them back out the gate. Whatever you do, don't stop moving," I instructed.

Zoe nodded. I must have sounded sure, but inside I wasn't. This was a long shot and who knows how many mercenaries were still out there. All I knew, is that if the infected converged on one condo, they would knock it down and Ethan was still unconscious in this one, so we really didn't want their attention to swing this way.

I took another deep breath and opened the front door. Here goes nothing.