While We Fall (The Eva Series #2)

Chapter Eight

I watched from the window as the cracked earth of the outback turned into murky swamp land, followed by the fullness of the rainforest. We were driving down a narrow, twisting road, the midday sun drowned out by the giant trees.
Everything seemed much spookier under the shade of the forest. Mist cloaked the rainforest floor while vines and branches intertwined to create ghostly shadows all around us.
To our right, a river trailed alongside the road, the muddy water stagnant and stale.
“We’re so close.” Wyatt said, a smile forming on his tired face. “We’ll be there by this afternoon.”
My impatience grew with every kilometre we gained, I just wanted to be at Elliot’s house already. I couldn’t wait to finally be out of this RV, to finally be able to take a deep breath without worrying if it would be my last. I hadn’t even thought about what we would do once we were there, how we would live our lives. But I didn’t care. I just wanted to feel safe again.

We turned a sharp corner and came to a halting stop in the middle of the road. 
“Shit!” said Ben, smacking his fist on the dashboard.
I leaned out of my seat to peer out the front windshield. We had reached a narrow bridge crossing the river into a small town, but it looked as though even this tiny place in the middle of nowhere hadn’t been spared of the virus. Four cars had slammed into the back of each other on their way out of town, blocking the bridge, and a boat had crashed into the middle pillar, creating a heavy slant on one side.
“We have to find another way.” Ben said.
Wyatt shook his head. “We can’t. If we go back now that’ll add another day of driving, and we’re running low on petrol as it is.”
“So what do we do?” Asked Jo.
“We have to move the cars off the bridge.” I said. “It’s the only way.”
“Yep.” Said Wyatt. “There’s four cars, we’ll take one each and move them slowly. The boat seems to be holding the weight of the right side of the bridge, if we go slow we can drive the RV over.”

Wyatt put the RV in reverse and moved it off the road to make room for the cars to come across. We grabbed our weapons and got out of the RV, leaving Dixon inside so there was no risk of running him over.
The silence was eerie as we walked towards the bridge, and it was only amplified by the dark shadows cast by the thick rainforest surrounding us. My eyes darted every which way, scanning for movement on the bridge or between the trees. I held my axe so tight my knuckles had started to ache, but I couldn’t let my guard down for a moment.
As we neared the first car, I could see blood spattered on the windows and seats.
“Be careful, guys. Make sure there aren’t any zombies in the cars.” I said as we each claimed a car and started inspecting it.
“What’s that say?” Jo pointed to a yellow sign poking out from under the first car, a white mini-van. It was bent out of shape from being knocked over by the van, but I could still make out the first word: DANGER.
We walked over to investigate and froze in fright as we read what it said.

DANGER: Crocodiles.
Stay in vehicle.

“Crocodiles!” Jo whimpered.
My chest tightened in fear, knowing we stood a better chance against zombies than crocodiles right now. All my instincts told me to run as fast as I could back to the RV, but I knew I had to keep going. I had to push through the fear.
“Quick. Get in the cars.” I said as I started jogging over the bridge.
Wyatt climbed into the mini-van, followed by Ben in the small green Kia behind, then Jo in a brown station wagon. I headed towards the black four-wheel drive on the other side of the bridge, carefully stepping over devoured body parts along the way.
The driver’s side door was open, with a woman’s body slumped half-way out of the car, still wearing a seatbelt. Her arms had been completely torn off and her legs eaten. A bullet hole peaked out from under the fringe of her hair, right between the eyes. I hoped that whoever shot her had done it before zombies tore into her, and not after she had already been gorged on and turned. I’d hate to think that her limbs were torn off and eaten in front of her while she was still alive.
Trying carefully not to touch her, I pressed the seatbelt buckle in and jumped out of the way as her remains crumbled out of the car and onto the road in a thud.

Wyatt had already started driving the van off of the bridge, so after a quick check of the backseat for zombies, I climbed in and slammed the door shut before starting the engine.
I stared straight ahead, careful not to look at the river below out of fear of seeing hungry reptilian eyes watching me eagerly. Ben had begun moving off the bridge now, and Jo was waiting in front of me.
As I waited to move up the bridge, I saw something moving in the back of Jo’s station wagon. A head rose up, it’s dead eyes looking straight at me before turning around towards Jo, who had no idea a zombie was crawling up behind her.

“Jo!” I called, but I was too far away for her to hear. I slammed my palms onto the horn again and again, but it didn’t work. It must have disconnected in the accident. Without thinking, I put my foot down hard, slamming into the back of Jo’s car.
She turned around, her expression quickly changing from anger to terror when she saw the zombie reaching it’s mangled arms out to grab her.
I heard a scream as the car door swung open and Jo fell out onto her back, scrambling away from the car as the zombie started climbing into the front seat.
Jo was so focussed on getting away from the zombie that she didn’t realise she was teetering towards the edge of the bridge.
“Jo! Look out!” I yelled as I jumped out the car, but it was too late.
I watched in horror as she disappeared over the bridge and into the crocodile infested water.