The other zombies charged with their poles. I ducked left, right, and they stabbed at empty air.

I threw the ax tomahawk-fashion at a fifth zombie. The ax hit him squarely in the face, his head split in an eruption of gore, and he flopped backward. I grasped a pole from another zombie and wrenched it free. Twirling the pole like Robin Hood with a quarterstaff, I beat the remaining zombies until they huddled one behind the other. I lanced them with the pole, skewering all four into a zombie kebob that I pinned to the wall.

Bus Driver zombie pushed up onto the stumps of his legs and tottered for me like a pissed-off munchkin.

More zombies gathered at the exits from the lab, blocking the doors and the broken windows.

I pushed the shelves aside, scattering cardboard boxes and glass jars. Plastic tubes carried bubbling liquid to a row of stockpots along the wall to my left. Vapor from the cryogenic plumbing drifted from the steel bowls at the base of the stockpots-more decapitated heads à la mode.

A zombie jumped on my back, his cold hands digging into my naked shoulders. I grabbed his hair and punched him in the face. Undead goo shot from his flattened nose. I spun him though the air, holding on to his head for a hammer throw. I let go and he smashed into the other zombies, dropping them like bowling pins.

When I got close to Phaedra, I used my talons to cut the cable around her neck and sever her wrist restraints. She clutched my arms and drew herself against me.

A pipe sailed inches from my face and stuck into the wall. The zombies advanced across the laboratory in a ragged phalanx. They brandished lengths of pipe like spears.

I lifted Phaedra across my shoulder. I dashed around boxes marked biological waste-to-go food for zombies? — and sprinted out the front door and onto the deck and into the cool, fresh night air.

I sprang off the deck. My powers of levitation were weak, and with Phaedra on my shoulder, I crashed to the ground.

I got up and grasped Phaedra’s hand. I began to run and dragged her behind me.

My truck was miles away. Phaedra couldn’t make the run. But we had no choice.

We staggered into the gulch. My bare feet pounded the cold dirt and hard rocks. Thorns stung my heels and toes.

Up ahead, a zombie appeared on the high ground beside the gully. He carried one of those improvised spear poles.

I tightened my grip on Phaedra and yanked her along. She stumbled behind me as fast as she could. I put a good hundred feet between us and the zombie before I slowed down.

I was scraping the bottom of my reserves. Phaedra was doing worse. Her chest heaved and she sucked for breath in whooping gasps.

A faint whistling approached. I took no mind of it until I felt Phaedra shake and give a painful moan.

I smelled fresh blood.

Her blood.

The spear pole fell from her side, its sharpened point shiny and dark.

Phaedra’s aura grew faint. Her legs started to bend and I hugged her tight to keep her from falling. I tore open her parka. Blood poured from a hole in her blouse along her ribs.

My kundalini noir slinked back in dismay and sorrow. We were so close to escaping.

I tore a strip of material from her blouse and jammed it into the hole.

Zombies silhouetted themselves against the night sky. Kimberly and more zombies followed through the gulch. They shambled in the darkness, their feet dragging across the sand so that the sound was like a giant serpent grating its belly. A second spear pole clanged across the rocks by my feet.

Phaedra’s eyes rolled back into their sockets. Her face and hands became cold, almost zombie-cold.

I grasped Phaedra as if she was a sack of stolen loot. I held her around the tops of her legs. She put her arms around my neck and pressed her clammy face to my neck.

I could outrun the zombies if I knew where they were. But they had the uncanny ability to direct their numbers around me. All they had to do was slow me down enough for them to gather like army ants and overwhelm me.

I stood and adjusted my grip and took off in a run.

Fatigue took over my brain, a sensation as thick and heavy as mud. How many bad decisions had I already made? I couldn’t afford to make any more or Phaedra would die.

CHAPTER 48

I took gliding strides and let my knees absorb the bounce of my steps. I tried to keep Phaedra still, but the jostling aggravated her wound. Warm blood pumped from her blouse and pooled in the crevasses where my arms gripped her legs.

The aroma from her blood was the last temptation I needed, famished as I was. A quick stop for a taste, that’s all I needed. But if I did that, she’d die.

I chose a straight path over the open ground. Zigzagging cost precious moments we couldn’t afford.

Up ahead, a juniper seemed to come apart. It was a zombie coming from behind the bush. The zombie loped for us, adjusting his track to intercept mine.

If I didn’t have Phaedra, I could’ve easily sliced the zombie to bits with my claws. Hell, I could’ve sprinted away and not bothered fouling myself with its filthy body.

The zombie swung a chain fastened through a cinderblock brick. He let go and the brick spun at me, the chain flailing.

Instead of aiming for my center of mass, he’d gone for my legs. I skipped and took a long bound. The brick and chain flew under my feet.

Missed me, you rat shit bastard.

I landed when a sudden painful jerk took my left leg from under me. I collapsed and rolled onto my back to keep from landing on Phaedra.

We smacked the earth and she gave a loud “Uff.” Blood and bile sprayed from her mouth. Phaedra was minutes from dying.

The chain from another cinderblock missile was wrapped around my ankle. A second zombie loomed from behind a pile of rocks. He advanced in low simian crouch with a metal pipe in his hand.

I kicked the chain free and stood. Phaedra sagged in my arms. Her aura faded to a low burn.

Things were getting worse by the second.

I held Phaedra tight and took off again. I ran from the gully and crested the rise.

A Jeep charged up the other side. No lights. No aura. A zombie was at the helm.

The Jeep came straight at me. With Phaedra in my arms and dying I froze with indecision. Jump? Run? What?

I needed those wheels to escape.

I let the zombie come right at me. At the last possible instant I jumped out of the way.

The zombie swerved to hit me. In a flash of vampire speed, I snagged the steering wheel. Hard. The front tires bit into the dirt and the Jeep flipped onto its side.

I put Phaedra down and hustled to the Jeep. The zombie lay squirming where he’d been flung against the firewall of the vehicle.

“You should’ve worn a safety belt.” I gave him a karate chop across his neck to break his upper spine. His head lolled to one side, eyes bulging and drool gushing down his face. I grabbed him by both arms and threw him out of the Jeep.

I ran to the other side of the Jeep, hooked my hands under the front fender, and heaved it upright. The strain stabbed my back, and my right leg felt like it had gotten shot again.

I lifted Phaedra, hobbled to the Jeep, and buckled her into the passenger’s front seat.

I flopped behind the steering wheel and twisted the ignition key. As soon as the engine kicked over, I stomped the gas. The rear tires threw tails of dust and pebbles as I spun the Jeep around.

The road was two hundred feet away. We bounced over the uneven ground and skidded onto the road. I straightened the track of the Jeep and raced north.

Zombies closed upon the road, moving stiff as fence posts. I zoomed beside them, seeing their pale faces gaze at us.