SurvivorZ: Grave Harbor

50

DANIELLE

Danielle followed her mother out the door into a carnival of madness. Screaming people clung to their meager belongings while a river of bodies swept them to the south gates. Gunshots cracked like Independence Day fireworks. Choking, dark smoke from dozens of fires filled the air. The roars of the dead echoed in the night, making her jump at every sight and shadow. The end of the world seemed like a dress rehearsal for tonight's gala performance.

She wasn't the only one freaked out by the bedlam. Lee and Emily squeezed her hands tightly and tried to burrow into her from either side.

"Don't worry. It'll be all right," she assured them in a voice cracked with self-doubt.

"This way. Follow me." Drew pointed east, away from the majority of the crowd escaping the attack.

Danielle quickly checked over her shoulder. Her mother nodded, flashing a tense smile. Behind her, Charlie exited the tent with Rusty by his side. He held open the flaps for Lily to emerge. She clutched her stomach and turned pale at the carnage all around them.

"Hold tight to me," Danielle said to the children.

She followed Drew, letting the big man run interference through any fleeing survivors crossing their path. Lacking weapons of any kind, only his brawn kept them from suffering the same trampling that already claimed the lives of Lee's grandparents.

She looked down at the boy on her left arm. Lee trudged along next to her, shivering and broken. His backpack had more substance to it than the lifeless wraith clinging to her hand.

"Lee?" she whispered, worried for him.

He raised his head and gave her a single grim nod. Then, with a sniffle, he returned his gaze to the dark trail ahead.

She looked over at Emily tugging on her other hand. Her baby sister peered up at her with anxious features for a moment, before going back to staring at the ground under her feet.

Another explosion ripped through the camp. Danielle started. The kids whined and tucked themselves tighter against her sides.

She looked over her shoulder at a fresh cloud of smoke rising to the sky. The army wasn't messing around anymore. They had started using grenades to hold back the swelling numbers of dead swarming Hanscom.

A wailing woman ran past them with her hand pressed against her neck. Danielle came up short with the kids and let her go by. Not even the blood spurting from her zombie bite slowed down her manic race to the camp gates.

After checking that the coast was clear, Drew waved them on from his position several feet ahead of them.

"C'mon," Danielle tugged the children along. She resisted the urge to check behind her again. Footsteps and worried muttering told her the others were still back there. One big terrified convoy.

Drew waited until Lily caught up to them with the others before saying, "We're past the tents. We should be able to head north from here."

Maureen stepped forward. "I'll look after the children," she said to Danielle. "You take the lead with Drew and show us the way."

Now that they were clear of the panicked throng rushing for the main gates and the clatter of gunfire echoing from the middle of the camp, Danielle moved ahead with certainty. Drew fell in alongside her, keeping a watchful eye out for danger.

Another explosion rocked the camp. They looked down the long row of burning tents at the war zone raging within sight. Panicked survivors ran blindly through the smoke, straight into the teeth of the waiting horde. Screams cried out, most of them for the last time. Flames from the burning tents transformed the spraying blood of hapless victims into glittering raindrops, quenching the charred earth.