Part 33 (1/2)

That was his sole purpose now.

He'd seen the good side to Mattius. For just a moment, he'd allowed himself to believe that Mattius would be capable of looking after Kesha and protecting her.

But then he'd seen the true Mattius, who made Riley throw Kesha through those flames and into his arms.

Mattius would rather see everyone die than see Kesha survive in someone else's arms.

That was the turning point for Riley.

He was about to start running towards the ladders, which ran up the side of the wall, when he heard a splat to his left.

He looked. There was a creature beside him. One of its ankles had turned in, but it was still getting to its feet.

Then another creature appeared beside him, falling from above.

And another.

He looked up and saw that ma.s.s of creatures all tumbling over the edge like lemmings, and Riley knew right then that he only had one option.

Run.

He pushed aside the first creature to his left and battled his way onwards. The gap where he'd stood just moments ago had been filled with more dead ma.s.s, just as he'd expected.

Which meant that the blank s.p.a.ce in front of him was surely going to be occupied in no time.

He pushed past more of the creatures. He swung at a few of them with his knife. But really, Riley's only focus was on that wall, on scaling it, and on getting down it somehow.

Unless there was another way.

Unless there was...

He saw it, then. And in that gap in time, Riley understood.

There was a small opening in the wall right ahead of him. It looked like it'd been pushed apart by creatures. Blood and flesh dangled from the sharp metal edges, some of it dripping onto the ground below.

But the thing he noticed more than anything was the piece of fabric dangling from one of those serrated pieces of metal.

It was the blue fabric like the clothing Kesha wore.

Riley's jaw tensed. At that instant, he heard the groans behind him intensifying.

When he looked around, he realised those groans weren't just coming from behind him.

There were creatures coming from the left now, too. And creatures from the right as well. The scariest thing about all this, though? The thought and the knowledge that what he was seeing inside Mattius' camp was only scratching the surface of the real number of creatures around them right now. There were more of them outside. They stretched onwards, further than the eye could see.

And sure, that had always been the case. There'd always been an unknown underbelly of creatures waiting for you wherever you went.

But this was different. Just knowing that a sheer ma.s.s of them was literally nipping at your heels upped the stakes.

Riley just had to hope that they broke up, or moved on, fast. Whatever it was-whatever reason they were congregating in this group-he was sure that it had to be something to do with the infection's evolution. He'd been told back in the day about its different stages by Alan, G.o.d bless him. How the virus itself adapted like a strain of flu.

Riley had seen all kinds of different versions of the virus. Enough to last him a lifetime.

And he knew more incarnations were no doubt coming in the near future.

But for now, he just had to focus on what was in front of him.

That was running.

He sprinted towards the gap in the fence. He could hear the groans and the footsteps of the creatures either side of him closing in, their jaws snapping together ravenously like piranhas.

He didn't turn his attention. He just kept on running. The gap in the fence got closer, closer until it was within touching distance.

And when it was within reach, Riley found himself stretching out his fingers as if it would get him there faster. He dared not look over his shoulder. He didn't want to see the ma.s.s of undead right behind him.

He thought of Kesha. Jordanna. Chlo.

He thought of them, and he told himself repeatedly that he was doing this.

He was getting to Kesha.

He was strong enough.

He was- He felt something pull him back.

He saw it vividly, then. Saw a horrifying sequence of events unfolding.

The teeth sinking into his back.

The sharp, bony fingertips sinking into his flesh, stabbing him like knives.

He felt his mouth filling up with blood as the creatures tore away his throat.

He saw it vividly, and he saw Mattius standing there too, Kesha in his arms, smiling.

When he saw it, he knew that's what failure looked like.

He snapped back to his senses then, out of his imagined downfall, dragging himself out through the gap in the fence. He cut himself on the way, right across the stomach, but that didn't matter. He could handle a cut.

He stepped out into the gra.s.sy surroundings and saw the woods up ahead. On the ground, which had been muddied by the rain, he saw footsteps. An area that had been surprisingly untouched by the undead.

He knew who those footsteps belonged to.

He started to walk when he felt the hand grab his arm from behind.

When he heard the ferocious growl, so hungry.