Carrion (The Bren Watts Diaries #1)

Chapter 115

"I'm getting to it! I'm getting to it!" Paloma reached in, trying to pry the button loose, but the thing wouldn't budge. She tried shaking it, but that didn't work either. "I need help here!"

Logan looked around the growing crowd around them. One man already smashed the window at the back of the Volkswagen before Deon came running and hit him on the head, pushing him back to the sidewalk. They were surrounded.

Suddenly, the cry of a honcho pulled Logan into overdrive, and all hell broke loose.

"Fuck! It's here!" Logan exclaimed.

"What the hell is that?" Paloma asked.

"You don't want to fucking know. We have to move fast!"

The vectors turned their attacks into a frenzy. There was a different gait into their posture: it had more purpose, more malice, and definitely with extreme prejudice against their prey. It was only a matter of time before they reached the van.

Logan took out his knife and ran to the van's front, gently pulling Paloma out of the way. He cut the seatbelt loose and pulled Monica out of the seat.

"Oh, thank you! Thank you!"

"Don't thank me yet! We have to run!"

"I-I don't think I can!"

Logan looked down, but Monica was moving her ankle around properly when he dragged her to the sidewalk, and it looked fine to him. "You're fine. You can run."

"Didn't you hear me? I can't!"

"Yes, you can. Pretend like your life depends on it." Logan spat. He didn't like losing his temper like this, but it convinced Monica enough to compose herself.

Paloma sidled to her side. "Come on now, Monica. We have to get out of here."

Edgar, Marie, and Nico finished grabbing their backpacks and running up to them. "Where did Bren and the others go?" Marie asked.

"I don't know, but we need to get away before this crowd starts tearing us apart!" Logan said.

They ran a block away from the van, ignoring the pain radiating through his body after that awful crash. At some point, Deon, Noodle, Magnus, and Darren joined them, leaving their truck at the mercy of the crowd. Like piranhas, they took apart anything that they left behind.

"There goes our stuff!" Nico exclaimed, leaning against the stoplight pole. Nico had a five-inch survival knife in his hand. Looking around, Logan also noticed that Edgar had a fireman's axe as a weapon, Marie had another survival knife that was an inch shorter than Nico's. Paloma had a baseball bat with the color of black cherry.

One man tried to approach them, looking greedily at Deon's backpack, but Deon merely glared at him and showed him his pistol. "Don't you fucking think about it, man." The guy fled back into the crowd, hoping to score a pack in the van.

Then, the CB radio crackled to life. "Logan, if you hear this, get to the first meeting point," Bren said.

Bren! Logan took out the radio from his belt and held tight on it.

"We don't have room in the Humvee! Wherever you are, keep moving, you understand? If you're not in the cemetery, I swear I'm gonna hunt you down so that I can punch you myself." A pause, but it felt like forever. "Head south, okay? And good luck."

Shit.

Logan looked around above the crowd, and it took him a few to spot the Humvee a block away. They were too far, and they wouldn't make it before they start to leave.