Part 9 (1/2)

Running away from Kane was the last thing on Riley's mind right now.

In the distance, far in the distance, Riley could see a tall hotel block. He'd seen it before. One of those wilderness escape places, right on the edge of the forest.

But this time, he saw someone standing in the fifth story window.

He saw the man standing there.

The ginger hair.

The burns on his face.

And he saw the baby in his arms.

”It's him,” Riley said, as his skin went warm, as all thoughts faded from his mind, as a tunnel vision drove him towards Mattius, towards Kesha.

He was here.

He'd found him.

He was getting his rev- ”Don't you dare move,” Kane said. He put a hand in front of Riley's chest. There was fear in his voice. ”Not now.”

Riley blinked a few times, broken from his vengeful stupor.

And then, even though he'd already seen it, it dawned on him why Kane was so scared.

What the smell was.

What the movement was.

In front of him, between Mattius' camp and the edge of the woods, there was a ma.s.s of undead.

Not just a lot of them.

Hundreds of them.

An absolute sea of them.

As far to the left as Riley could see.

As far to the right as Riley could see.

He stood there, heart pounding, Kane by his side.

He stood there, and he looked back up at the window, Mattius looking out towards him.

”We need to go,” Kane whispered.

”I c-”

”Riley, we need to go.”

It was that moment-that exact moment-that one of the creatures nearest the back turned around and looked right in Riley and Kane's direction.

There was a pause. A moment of silence. A fragment of time where Riley saw the cogs in whatever thing resembling a brain in that creature's skull tried to process the stimuli.

”Riley, we have to go right now. Before they...”

But it was already too late.

Another creature turned around.

And another.

And another.

And before Riley knew it, there were tens of them looking right at him.

Then there were hundreds.

Another pause.

Another moment where time felt like it'd stopped completely.

Then they started to walk in Riley and Kane's direction.

Riley and Kane might've thought about running.

But if they'd seen this scene from above, they'd understand what was happening.

The ten undead that'd chased them earlier were just the other side of this thousand-strong group of undead.

And there weren't just ten of them.

There were hundreds more of them, all approaching, all getting ready to block them in.

They circled them. Completely surrounded them.

And Riley and Kane were right in the middle of the biggest wave of creatures either of them had ever experienced.

They were trapped.

EPISODE FORTY-FOUR.

WE'RE STILL HOME.