Broken World (Book 6): Forgotten World (12 page)

Behind us, Lila, Al, and Joshua are frozen in place while Angus, surprisingly, is still standing in front of his seat. I can tell he’s itching to run out, but for once, he follows instructions and stays put. His hands grip the seat in front of him, and even through the crowd and darkness, I can see how white his knuckles are.

At the back, people jump from the emergency exit, pouring out into the chilly night as more gunfire erupts with every passing second. In front, they do the same, charging down the stairs. Dax and Axl stand in their original spots, one desperate to get back to me, and the other determined to protect the last hope for humanity.

But all I can think about right now is Jon. How is Ginny going to deal with this if something has happened to him? It’s too dark to be able to see how much of the truck in front of us was damaged, but the fire is still going.

“We don’t know what happened,” I tell Ginny, my gaze still on the fire raging in front of us. “We can’t see anything back here. They could be okay.”

“I know. I know. I know,” Ginny says.

The trembling in her voice goes straight to my heart, but I do my best not to focus on it. We need to plan. To figure out what’s happening and get Angus to safety. To get all of us out of this alive.

The bus finally clears of everyone but our group and Dax, but outside, the world has turned to chaos. Light flickers through the darkness as men fire at each other, illuminating figures here and there. It’s impossible to tell who’s firing from inside the bus, whether it’s just our group or someone else is out there with them. I do know that it won’t be long before the noise draws zombies our way, though. Then we’ll really be in trouble.

“We have to get out of here!” Dax calls as he and Axl charge down the aisle to our group. “They’ve got us surrounded!”

“Who?” Lila screams just as Ginny says, “I’m not leaving without Jon!”

“There’s no time,” Dax shouts as he grabs Angus’s arm.

“We ain’t leavin’.” Angus grunts and shoves the other man off. “Not ‘til we know what’s happenin’.”

“That is
not
the goal of this mission and you know it!” Dax growls. “Our objective is to get you to safety. If everyone else dies along the way, so be it, but I’ll be damned if I fail at keeping you safe.”

Angus takes a step toward Dax, putting his face so close to the younger man’s that there’s less than an inch of space between them. “You’re gonna hafta carry me.”

“Shut up!” Axl calls, forcing the two men to tear their eyes away from each other. “We go, but not ‘til we know what’s happenin’. It’d be dumb as shit to run out there right now when we got no idea where the shootin’ is comin’ from.”

“What the hell do you suggest?” Dax spits at him.

“We need to look around,” I say, pulling my hand from Ginny’s. “If one of us climbs out and keeps low to the ground, no one will notice us. We’ll be able to get a better idea of where to go from here.”

Dax lets out a deep breath as he glances back and forth between the two exits: the one at the back and the one at the front. Then he nods. “Fine. But I stay with him.” He jerks his thumb toward Angus.

“Wouldn’t have it any other way,” Axl says.

He shoves his way past Dax and Angus, heading for the emergency exit, and I run after him.

“There is no way in hell you’re going alone,” I say, grabbing his shoulder. “We do this together. Do you understand me?”

Axl purses his lips, but he nods before turning to head back down the aisle. “Fine,” he says, pulling one of our only loaded guns out of his belt and shoving it my way. “Take this. I got the other.” He pauses at the open door, studying the road behind us through the window before turning back to me. “Just remember. We got fifty rounds. That’s it.”

Perfect. “Okay,” I say instead of throwing my sarcasm his way.

Axl slips out the door and crouches at the back of the bus, and I’m right behind him. The air chills my exposed arms, but the goose bumps covering my skin have nothing to do with the cold. The gunfire has let up, and all around us, people scream and yell, but it’s the moans that have my heart beating faster.

“Low,” Axl whispers as he moves around the side of the bus.

I follow, practically on my hands and knees as I make my way past the bus at Axl’s side. All around us, the night explodes with violence. A woman screams, taking me back to the Monte Carlo, and I search the darkness for the source. With as crazy as it is, though, it’s impossible to see anything other than a few shapes darting through the black night.

The truck in front of us is still burning, but when we get closer, I’m able to relax just a little. It’s only the engine, and the rest of the cab seems to be intact.

My eyes adjust to the dimness of the night and the constant bursts of gunfire a little better, making it easier for me to distinguish some of Dax’s men. All their firepower seems to be directed toward the road in front of us, meaning if we have to make a run for it, we might be able to head back the way we came.

“There,” Axl says, pointing toward the forest in the distance.

I stop and squint, trying to see through the darkness. A couple seconds later, a burst of light breaks through the branches.

“They’re in the trees.”

“They ain’t firin’ much. Most of this is our guys. I got a feelin’ they’re waitin’ us out. Hopin’ we run outta ammo so they can swoop in. At this rate, it won’t be long neither.” His eyes hold mine. “We gotta move.”

Axl starts moving again, and I follow, forcing the lump that’s formed in my throat back down.

When we reach the front of the bus, Axl only pauses for a second before charging forward. A couple people look our way, but they ignore us. Whoever has attacked us is too focused on the men with guns to pay any attention to Axl and me. Lucky for us.

Someone jumps from the cab of the truck before we’ve even made it all the way there, but the sudden brightness of the fire makes it impossible for me to see who it is. My right hand automatically tightens on my gun as I lift my left hand, shielding my eyes so I can get a good look at the person. It still takes a second for Jim’s face to come into focus against the fire blazing behind him.

“You’re here,” he says, nodding once before turning back to the truck. “Good. I need your help.” Jim doesn’t even bother trying to stay low or out of sight, and he doesn’t have a weapon drawn. Instead, he’s focused on the truck, which doesn’t do anything to ease the pounding of my heart. Jon must be in trouble.

“Is Jon okay?” I ask, getting to my feet at the same time that Axl does.

“He’s been hit.” Jim pulls himself back up into the cab. “Help me get him down.”

Axl tucks his gun away, his eyes searching the area. “Keep close to the truck,” he says to me. “Stay outta sight, but be ready.”

I press my back up against the side of the truck. “I will.”

Axl climbs up after Jim, blocking my view of the cab completely. With him out of the way, I’m able to get a good look at the road in front of us, and I can see now why Donovan had to stop. A roadblock of some kind has been set up, making it impossible for anyone to drive across the bridge. It’s a trap. I’m not surprised, since we tried to warn everyone, but I’m also not happy about being able to say
I told you
so to Dax. I’m sure he won’t be happy to hear it, either.

I look up where Axl and Jim are crowded into the cab, straining to get a glimpse of what they’re doing inside. I’m too low and the cab is too high, though, and all I’m able to see is Axl’s back. What they’re doing up there I don’t know, but I do know the gunfire around us seems to have slowed down even more, and in the intervals between the shots, I’m able to make out the moans of the dead. Only I have no idea which way they’re coming from.

I look back toward the bus, searching the darkness for movement or some other indication that our only way of escape is blocked. It’s pitch black, so it takes a few seconds for my eyes to focus after looking into the brilliant flames raging from the truck’s engine. When they do, I’m able to make out some movement, but it’s impossible to know what it is for sure. It could just be my eyes playing tricks on me, or it could be zombies heading our way.

When Axl hops down next to me, I nearly jump out of my skin. I tear my eyes away from the darkness as Jim and Axl help Jon out. He’s bleeding, but I’m not sure where it’s coming from or how serious it is. With the expression of pain on his face and the amount of blood on his shirt, it can’t be good though.

“What happened?” I ask, hurrying to their side.

“Shot,” Axl says. “No sign of Parv.”

“She left you?” I ask Jon.

“Went to get help. She must not have made it.” His voice is strained and can barely be heard over the moans and grunts surrounding us.

“We need to get moving,” Jim says.

He pulls Jon’s arm around his shoulder, bearing most of the injured man’s weight as he takes off. Axl and I turn to follow just as a bullet pings against the truck above my head. He grabs my arm and pulls me forward so hard I stumble, but I don’t have a chance to fall. Not with Axl’s arm around me or the way he’s holding me up. Not with how he propels me forward.

“We gotta get off this bridge,” I say as we follow Jim toward the bus.

Behind us, the gunfire has eased off even more, but the moans of both injured men and zombies are louder now.

“I got a pretty good look when I was in the truck. The way in front of us is blocked. I ain’t sure if it’s men or zombies, but I ain’t waitin’ ‘round to find out.”

“Me neither,” I say, moving faster.

Jim has just made it to the front of the bus when the first zombie comes into view, stumbling down the road we just drove in on. Five more figures are visible behind him. Instead of heading to the back of the bus, Jim pulls Jon in through the open front door.

Axl shoves me in after the other two men, and I stumble up the steps behind them, my heart pounding and my breath coming out in gasps.

“Shut the back door!” I call as I scurry up the stairs.

Axl rushes in, slamming the door behind him, and Dax hurries toward the emergency exit at the back. I don’t look at him long enough to see when it’s shut, because I’m already focused on Ginny. Her eyes are on Jon, who is being eased onto a seat, and her skin has lost all its color.

“What happened?” Ginny asks, dropping to her knees in the aisle. Right next to her husband.

Axl and Dax and Angus are at the back of the bus, looking through the window. Trying to figure out how we’re going to get out of here. The gunshots have stopped, and in their absence, men are yelling and screaming. I’m not even sure if it’s from the zombies that have crowded onto this bridge or if it has to do with the men who ambushed us. I only know that those of us on this bus are on our own.

“Shot,” Jim says, looking up. His eyes searching the bus for Joshua, who is already on his way.

“I need space,” the doctor says, dropping his bag into the seat behind Jon.

“Ginny.” I push through the men, past Jon and Jim and Joshua, grabbing Ginny’s arm and forcing her back. “We need to give Joshua space.”

She nods, but she doesn’t take her eyes off Jon. “He’s going to be okay. Tell me he’s going to be okay.”

“Joshua is going to do everything he can.”

“How bad is it?” Jon asks, but the seats are too high to be able to get a good look at his face.

“It’s not good,” the doctor says.

Ginny’s body trembles next to mine, and I wrap my arm around her tighter. If I can help hold her together, I will. I just don’t know if it’s possible.

“We have to leave!” Dax growls from somewhere in the back of the bus.

“Shut the fuck up,” Angus replies, not looking at Dax.

“This isn’t part of the plan,” Dax says, and then he turns on us. His eyes on Ginny. “I knew you would slow us down.”

I’m shaking now. Anger and hurt swirl through me, making it hard to stay still. In my arms, Ginny is trembling, and in front of us her husband may be bleeding to death, and right now all I want is for Dax to shut the hell up. This is his fault. We tried to warn him, and if he and his men had taken us seriously, this wouldn’t have happened. Donovan shouldn’t have driven down this bridge. The second he saw it was blocked, he should have stopped and radioed to Dax, and we should have found another way.

I’m ready to tell Dax exactly what I think of him when lets out a Jon scream. Ginny’s body jerks and all my anger melts away, and in its absence, all that’s left is hurt and worry and fear.

“I’m sorry,” Joshua says. “The bullet’s still in there and if we don’t get it out—”

He doesn’t get to finish explaining, because his words are cut off once again by Jon’s scream of pain. Ginny’s sobs increase, and outside, zombies start banging on the doors. Lila and Al stand across from me, clinging to each other. All I can do is hold Ginny and hold my breath and pray. Pray that we make it out of this. Pray that this isn’t the end, no matter how horrible it looks. There has to be a way out of this shitty situation.

My eyes meet Axl’s, and the fear in them chills me to the bone. He’s at the back again, looking out. We must be surrounded, because I’ve only seen that look a few times. Once in Vegas, when we were trapped in a car. So sure it was the end that we were ready to end it. To use the last bullets we had to put ourselves out of our misery before the dead bastards could get us. The second time was in that basement, when we thought Angus was going to die. Only the really close calls make Axl look at me like that.