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risk being on the wrong side of the seam once the Fire Wall was turned on. The Wall lasted for at least a full day, and if she wasn’t on the same side as Liam once it went on, it might mean that she’d never see him again.
She’d have to get closer to Liam, and quickly, in order to determine what side of the seam he and his group were on, as she was too far away to tell with certainty. But she’d have to risk being seen by the zombies and being too close to the seam once it erupted.
She ran forward, out of the woods, feeling the cold air burn her lungs.
As she raced closer, she saw that Liam and his group had killed all but 10 or so zombies. They were, however, down to just three people. Liam, Black Beard, and a skinny, curly-haired guy with a pistol. They were, to her delight, on the right side of the seam, though. But they were also perilously close once the Fire Wall was turned on.
Liam and Black Beard worked in tandem, slicing through the remaining zombies as the third man took down zombie after zombie with nearly perfect precision with his pistol.
The group continued drifting toward her and was 50 yards away, close enough to see her, if any of them bothered to look up. She stopped, not daring to go any closer and risk being seen by the zombies. Once they’d killed all but four zombies that had yet to reach them, Ana waved her hands over her head, trying to draw Liam’s attention.
The horn’s second blast warned of 30 seconds to go before the Fire Wall burst through the seam.
Suddenly, the skinny man with the gun turned the pistol at Black Beard and Liam, who were looking away from him, at the oncoming zombies. Liam was in the lead, closest to the zombies, with Black Beard just behind him, holding his mallet, readying for more deadly swings. They were both oblivious that their partner was about to betray them.
“Liam!” Ana screamed, earning the attention of all three men, along with several of the surrounding zombies.
The moment froze, and several things happened at once.
The skinny man fired point-blank at the back of Black Beard’s head, sending the big man to the ground in an instant. At the same time, Liam had spotted Ana and was frozen as their eyes locked onto each other. He opened his mouth and screamed at her, waving her toward the forest as the zombies began to run after her.
Oh God!
The skinny guy then turned his gun on Liam, who was still looking at Ana and waving her away. She wondered if Liam hadn’t noticed the skinny guy murder Black Beard. Perhaps he’d heard the shot but figured the man was just shooting more zombies. She tried to scream and warn him of the gunman’s threat.
As the skinny guy took aim, Liam surprised both the gunman and Ana by swinging his machete without looking. The blind swing sliced through the man’s gun hand, lopping it off at the wrist in a swoop and sending his hand, still holding the gun, sailing through the air and into the ground where the snow had already melted away.
As the skinny man screamed, his left hand clutching the bloody fountain spraying from his stump, Liam thrust his blade through the man’s chest, then ripped it back out, grabbed the gun from the man’s dead hand, and looked up at Ana.
The horn screamed again as the four zombies raced toward Ana, now 50 feet away. Liam fired twice but missed both times.
No way he could kill all four before they reached her; there wasn’t time. Zombies rarely fell at a single bullet unless you hit them in the head. Even if he had more than the scant seconds he did, there was a damned good chance he’d wind up shooting her instead.
The zombies were a dozen yards off, and Ana was again frozen with fear.
The horn brayed a final time — five seconds until the Fire Wall would ignite. Ana looked down. She was practically on top of the seam and would be fried in moments if she didn’t move one way or another.
To the right were the zombies, fast approaching.
To the left, nothing but woods.
Liam was 20 yards behind, racing toward her and firing shots as he ran. She moved without thinking — racing across the line, glancing back long enough to see that three of the four zombies were following, but still on the other side of the seam.
She closed her eyes and pushed herself to run faster, hoping she had managed to lure the zombies into the path of the coming fire.
Then the line bisecting the field erupted in a wall of ungodly heat behind her, hissing loudly, charring the debris that
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