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A horn blasted, long and loud, as an engine roared from somewhere far back in the line.

I stepped away from the others to see around the slight bend.

A white dual-cab ute tore down the wrong side of the road, bouncing through potholes, throwing muddy water across the trapped cars.

“What’s going on?” Tim asked, stooping to grab his hammer.

“Someone got sick of waiting. A car’s coming,” I said to Luke. “Too fast.”

His jaw set in a firm line. He waved at the nearby occupants of the cars. “Get out! Run!”

He didn’t hang around long enough to see if they’d make it out in time. Luke dragged me off the road as I called for Tim and Varesh to follow.

The four of us charged through the mud and grass at the side of the road, backing a safe distance away from the wreck.

I waved my arm above my head, and Luke shouted at the driver to stop, pointing to the crash.

The man behind the wheel didn’t slow. Then, as soon as he rounded the shallow bend and saw the blockage, he braked hard. Tyres screeched, and the vehicle smashed straight into the rear end of the Mazda.

The impact rocked both cars, and the trapped infected broke free, limping toward the nearest person.

Behind the ute, more cars came, racing down the road toward what they thought was freedom. By the time they discovered what had happened, no one had enough distance left to brake. One after the other, cars crashed. Glass exploded and steam hissed from crumpled bonnets.

The first scream came as one of the remaining infected latched onto a bystander, dragging a man to the ground by his scarf.

Trying to save himself, the guy with the golf club shoved past a woman in a raincoat. When she hit the ground, an infected seized the opportunity and dived on her.

“They’re coming!” someone shouted. “Run!”

The situation could have been salvaged if everyone had just stopped for a minute to think. But panic moved faster than the dead ever could.

Luke caught my eye. “We’re leaving.”

Tim already had Varesh by the arm, dragging him backward.

“What about the road?” I faced the growing line of vehicles wedged across both lanes. Even if we went back to our car, it wouldn’t be safe to sit inside it anymore.

“It’s gone,” Luke said, his voice eerily calm.

As we ran together, more screams rose behind us, and one question played over and over in my mind.

How was I supposed to get to Sadie now?

Twenty-Eight

luke

“Keep moving,” I said over my shoulder, splashing through murky puddles.

“Hey!” a voice I didn’t recognise called out from the road. “Where are you going?”

I ignored him and powered ahead, my backpack thumping with each step.

Mud sucked at my boots and threatened to pull them off my feet. More than once, I had to plant my pickaxe on the ground for leverage.

Ava stayed by my side, knees lifting as she dragged her own boots free from the muck. Every few strides she looked behind her. “It’s getting worse.”

“We’ll find somewhere quiet,” I said. “Wait it out.”