Rise of the Undead Box Set | Books 1-3 | Apocalypse Z

A man lay slumped over the wheel, and she cleared her throat. “Hello? Are you okay?”
It was a dumb thing to ask. The man clearly wasn’t okay. Not once you noticed the color of his skin or the blood pooled onto the seat. Old blood.
“Dead?” Maddie asked.
“Yup,” Dylan said, swallowing hard. She walked over to Maddie, and together, they circled the truck. The third car had come off the lightest of the three. Its windows were still intact, and overall, it looked fine. Just the front bumper had a dent in it.
The windows were lightly tinted, and Maddie leaned in for a closer look before jumping back. “Whoa! Movement, definitely movement!”
“Let me see,” Dylan said, peering through the glass. A lipless apparition smashed its face into the window, hissing at them, and Dylan screamed. “Zombie!”
“I thought so,” Maddie said from behind Dylan. “He or she must have turned while driving and caused the accident.”
“You’re probably right,” Dylan said. “Look, its seatbelt is on. It’s trapped.”
“Just another monster,” Maddie said.
Dylan frowned. There was something in the woman’s voice that triggered an alarm bell in her head, and she began to turn.
“A monster like you,” Maddie said, swinging her arm.
Dylan caught the blurred movement too late, and a heavy weight crashed onto her head. Her knees buckled, and she fell to the ground with a grunt. The world swam around her as she raised her arms to ward off another blow.
The rock Maddie was using as a weapon landed on her wrist, and pain lanced through Dylan’s body. It rendered her hand useless, and she couldn’t get a grip on her gun.
Maddie picked it up instead and stepped back, the barrel pointed at Dylan’s face. “You’re infected. Don’t think I didn’t notice. It was so obvious, the way you tried to hide it.”
Dylan looked at the crazed woman between the runnels of blood that poured across her face. Her lips fumbled when she spoke, the words slurred. “Are you really going to kill me? After everything I’ve done for you?”
“Shut up. You’re a zombie. That’s all. A filthy cannibal,” Maddie screamed, waving the gun around.
“A zombie who saved your life and that of your son’s. You’d have died if I left you there by the side of the road. Killed by real zombies.”
“I don’t care what you did. The fact remains, you’re a monster, and you deserve to die,” Maddie said. Her arm straightened, and the cold eye of the gun stared at Dylan with unwavering precision. “Your road ends here.”
Dylan grinned, tasting her blood where it pooled on her lips. The taste of copper pennies. “I hope you get eaten by my kind, Maddie. I hope they tear you to pieces, bit by bit, while you scream for the mercy you wouldn’t grant to others.”
“You won’t be there to see it,” Maddie said, her finger tightening on the trigger.
Here it comes, Dylan thought.
“Mom, no! What are you doing?” Kyle screamed. He crashed into his mother and wrestled the gun from her fingers, catching her by surprise. “You can’t kill her. She saved our lives.”
Maddie’s face tightened. “Kyle, give me the gun.”
“No.”
“Kyle!”
“Forget it, Mom. You’re not killing her,” Kyle said, backing away from his mother.
Maddie’s expression changed. It softened, and she reached out a pleading hand. “Kyle, please. She’s evil. Infected. We have to kill her before she starts killing others.”
Kyle shook his head. “Not like this, Mom. If we do this, then we’re worse than the zombies.”
“Kyle, please. Be reasonable,” Maddie pleaded.
“I won’t let you,” he insisted, taking another step back.
Maddie threw her hands in the air. “Fine, have it your way.”
She marched past her son toward the waiting car, leaving a confused Kyle gaping after her. “Mom? What about Dylan? We can’t leave her like this. She’s hurt.”
“Yes, we can, and we will,” Maddie said. “I’m letting her live, aren’t I?”
Kyle took a step toward her. “Mom, please.”
“Get in the car,” Maddie screamed, waving a warning finger at Kyle. “If you don’t, I’m leaving you here with her.”
Kyle hesitated, his gaze jumping between his mother who’d resumed her march, to Dylan who was fighting to remain upright on her knees. “What do I do?”
Dylan blinked slowly. Her vision was wavering, and black encroached on the edges. “Go with your mom, Kyle.”
“What about you?” he asked, tears shimmering in his eyes.
“I’ll be okay, I promise,” Dylan said.
“But…”
“She’s your family, and I can’t take care of you. Not now,” Dylan said.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
“Yes, just…leave me the gun.”
He looked at the weapon and handed it to her without hesitation. “It belongs to you anyway.”
“Thanks,” Dylan said, taking it from him. “Now go. Before she leaves you here.”
Kyle stood still for a split-second before raising his hand in a last goodbye. “I’m sorry.”
The next moment, he was gone, and seconds later, Dylan heard the car spin away with a screech of the tires. She shook her head to ward off a wave of dizziness, and warm droplets of blood dripped onto her hands. “I can’t stay here. I’m too exposed.”
She pushed herself to her feet and leaned against the car, ignoring the zombie scrabbling at the window. It couldn’t undo its buckle or open the door, so it wasn’t a threat. Still, she was injured and out in the open. There could be others, and night was falling. She had an hour at most.
A growl from the nearby bushes sent a shiver of fear rippling through her veins, and she scanned the vicinity with wide eyes. A second and a third growl sounded off to the right, and Dylan knew she was surrounded.
With adrenalin kicking her into high-alert, she considered her options. She had nowhere to run, couldn’t fight in her condition, and didn’t have enough bullets anyway. I need to hide. Now.
That left the pile-up. The first car was out of the question. Its windows were all smashed. The truck’s windows were intact, but its passenger door was wedged shut against the body of the first car. She looked at the