Like a shutter door closing, Anton wiped all signs of emotion from his face. "Nothing," he answered plainly. "I'm going to do nothing. Now run."
I blanched. I knew I should have expected his answer, but it still caught me completely off guard. Without him, everything was lost. My hands were quite literally empty and I knew I was pushing the limits of my luck running around without a weapon.
Make the choice.
There were mere seconds to decide just how far I was willing to go. I'd promised Ian I'd be smart, but if I wanted to save the group, it looked as though I was going to have to put everything on the line.
Whatever it takes.
Taking a deep breath, I knew my decision had long since been made. I just needed to find the courage to take it to the very end. It was one thing to tell yourself you'd be willing to die, but it was a whole other thing to actually act upon it.
Fuck it.
"How many are there?" I wasted my time to run to gather more information. "How many did you kidnap?" If Anton wasn't going to help me, I'd just have to do it myself.
Anton's eyes slightly narrowed and, for a second, I thought he wasn't going to answer. "Fourteen."
Okay... that's a lot.
I heard the sound of crunching as boots rapidly hit the snow and I knew my time was about to be up. My eyes flicked between Anton and the open fence gate that I was sure about filled with people. "And you guys don't use guns, am I right?" Anton's lips pursed slightly, giving me the answer I needed. "Thanks."
Turning heel, I ran. Only I didn't bother being sneaky. Instead, I let out the loudest scream my lungs would let me and held the shrill note as I ran back down the way I'd originally come.
They didn't like guns for a reason – the noise. They were afraid of what a loud bang would attract. It had taken me a bit to catch on to the reason behind their scorn for the weapons, but seeing the scattered zombies turn in my direction as my shrieks permeated the air, I began to understand the full extent of how easily noise could change the outcome of a situation.
I didn't dare look back. My focus had to be on the zombies. They had been building up during the trek, but my screams were urging them on, rushing them to come, gather, and feast. I was building my own horde and they were coming fast.
Panting between my screams, I barely heard the woman sprinting to catch up to me. I only noticed her when her outstretched hand grazed the back of my jacket. My shriek became a screech as I jolted in surprise.
Despite the agonizing pain in my side, I pushed myself even harder and dodged into a large gap between houses. I couldn't count the number of zombies I was gathering – not when they were coming from so many different directions – but I was sure that I'd seen at least ten.
It's enough. It has to be enough.
Another two figures appeared at the far end of the gap and they were headed right for me. I heard the woman behind me skid to a stop, but I kept going.
Add them to the horde.
Add them to the horde.
Add them to the horde.
They wouldn't touch me. There was just enough space to maneuver around them if I was quick and careful. I held my breath as I got closer to them and practically kept myself glued to the side of the brick house on my left to avoid the zombies as they lunged for me.
One zombie missed completely and faceplanted into the snow. The second zombie, however, caught ahold of my torn sleeve. Its bloody fingers clung to the fabric with frenzied determination, nearly shredding what was left of the sleeve in the process.
I grabbed at the fabric and tried to tear myself free, but I was losing the game of tug-of-war. Knowing I had seconds before more zombies would come from each end of the gap, I unzipped my coat and wiggled out of it, letting the zombie take the prize.
The cold hit my fevered skin, blasting right through my long-sleeved shirt to chill me all the way to my bones. The icy breath of wind blew against the beads of sweat that had built up all across my body, making me shiver as my skin puckered with goose bumps. My only relief would be found in the warmth I'd generate as I kept going.
My side throbbed and I held it as I picked my pace back up into a run. Once I emerged out of the gap between the houses and ended up on the main street, I began my screams again. Behind me, the two zombies I'd just confronted were being joined by another three. My last-ditch effort at a plan was working.
I would bring chaos and hell down upon the Judge's people. Sucking air back into my lungs, I let out another scream, watching the zombies that had been following the group on the road rush for me, hurrying in their jagged, unnatural pace.
I can do this.
Knowing that a terrifying number of zombies were now in pursuit, I altered my course, heading back towards the groups. I slowed down my pace, needing the zombies to be a minute or two behind me at most. In the end, though, everything would come down to timing.
If I caught up to the group too quickly, they'd gut me before the zombies arrived. If I was too late, then they'd simply escape. My heartbeat pounded frantically in my ears, reminding me of how vulnerable I was in my situation.
Zombies as a weapon. Brilliant.
Everything could go wrong and every step I took gave me the time to think about it. I turned a corner, hoping to see the groups in the distance only to end up a mere dozen feet away from them.
Most of them hadn't noticed me yet. However, what instantly caught my attention was Anton. He was arguing with a tiny woman with a massive machete.
Is he stalling them?
Hope tingled in the deepest part of my chest as I came to a stop, feeling more eyes on me the longer I stood by. Eventually, Anton's gaze flicked to me, making whatever he was saying cut off abruptly.
"Let them go," I stated loudly enough to be for my voice to carry above over both groups. "If you try to take them – you will all die."
The tiny woman's head snapped in my direction and I saw the combination of surprise and venom battling behind her gaze. "Who the hell are you?" she shouted before her eyes widened. "Oh, it's you isn't it." She turned to Anton. "It's her, right?"
Anton's gaze had never left my face. He was radiating frustration as he gave the woman a single, sharp nod.
Before she could speak again, I cut her off. "Congratulations. You found me. But I don't know those people-"
The woman scoffed along with a few other snorts of disbelief from the Judge's group.
I sneered at her in return. "It really isn't my problem if you believe me or not. You're out of time. You can either all die together or you can run and save your own lives. Pick."
The zombies were making a thunderous amount of noise as they got closer and I could almost feel their approach like their fingers were already on my spine. I wanted to run – desperately. However, my plan was to stall the Judge's group for as long as I possibly could and make them zombie food while the other group escaped.
My eyes left the tiny woman and danced around the different faces until I spotted the woman who'd been chased down outside of the salon. Her eyes were filled with confusion and every part of her rigid stance spoke to her fear. She didn't know what to make of my appearance and if I were in her shoes, I was sure I would have felt the same. To them, I must have looked like a crazy person standing in the snow without a coat or weapon threatening a heavily armed group of agitated individuals.
I did my best to give her a smile of reassurance. "Time's up. Run!"
No one moved. It was as though I'd sent an electric shock through them, but rather than it getting them to flee, they all froze. In the end, I had to be the one to make the first move.
Taking off like a shot, I made it across the few short feet that separated us before tackling the tiny woman around her middle, not even giving her the chance to raise her machete. It dropped to the snow with her.
Just like I'd hoped, utter chaos broke out after that. People began to run in every direction, but I didn't look up. I kept my focus on the woman, smacking her hard in the face as I tried to pin her arms down, preventing her from grabbing her weapon.
"Stop fighting me," I hissed. "You don't have to die here."
The woman didn't answer me. She thrashed about wildly, clipping me in the chin as one of her hands got free from my grasp. In the back of my mind, I knew the zombies had to have turned the corner – I could hear them – but there was nothing I could do. The woman would cut me down if I moved.
I was about to hit the woman again when an arm snaked around my waist. I barely had the chance to let out a yelp of pain before I was lifted clear off the woman. I began to twist and fight the hold, elbowing the person in the gut as I did.
"Stop," Anton growled. "Stop now." Even as he spoke, he didn't let me go. He dragged me back just in time for me to see a zombie fall upon the woman I'd just been beating.
I let out a choking wheeze as I watched the zombie bite down on her exposed neck. Her scream pierced my ears before it was cut off, ending in a gargle as the zombie pulled back her flesh until it ripped and her blood began to spurt freely. She writhed on the ground, choking on her own blood as the zombie went in for another bite, not caring that its mouth was full.
My stomach lurched and I could feel myself hyperventilating even as Anton shoved me into a run. Another man went down, snatched by a zombie to my right, and all I could do was pray that he was part of the Judge's group.
The captive group had been forced to march ahead of their captors and I hope it gave them at least a bit of a head start.
"Don't let 'em get away!" I looked past Anton to see the man with the wheat-colored beard raise his ax and bring it down on a zombie's head. "Catch 'em!"
The Judge's group was trying to retake control, but people from both groups were clearly missing and half of those that remained were in a struggle for their lives against the horde.
I began to fight Anton's grip again, wiggling until he was forced to let me go. He let out a curse under his breath, but I didn't give him the chance to grab me again. Ahead of me, the woman who'd chased me behind the houses had gotten ahold of an older man with oversized glasses.
He was trying to shake her off when I came from the back and shoved her with all my might. The woman toppled into the snow as I began to push the man away, urging him to leave the panicked scene. He hesitated, looking almost as if he was tempted to stay behind and help me.
I shook my head. "Go. Run! Find the rest of your group and get to Streamwood. My group will be going there too. I'll take care of the rest here, okay?"
The man looked baffled by my words, staring at me through his cracked lenses. "Alright," he eventually answered. He looked at me one last time as he turned away from me and began to run.
I let out a long breath, grateful I'd been able to get across my message to one of their people. Unfortunately, not everyone was so lucky.
As I turned back to face to foray, my heart sank. A good number of zombies had been taken care of with their brains and blood splattered across the snow. I could spot three of the Judge's people dead in the snow. Many of the zombies had turned away from pursuit in order to feast upon their fallen prey. To my dismay, it was because of that distraction that Judge's group was able to regain the upper hand.
They had banded together and were backing away from the horde while cutting down any that got too close. In their clasp, they also still held at least six hostages, having managed to have caught them before they could escape.
"Your chance," Anton warned with his back to me, acting as though he was keeping an eye on the group. "Leave."
I wanted to. I really, really wanted to. I could almost picture Ian and Ray and Jamie and even Prisha. They were waiting for me and all I had to do was run for them. But, as I looked at the six and saw the woman from the salon among them, I knew my job wasn't done yet.
Smiling, I raised my chin, knowing what would come next. "No. I won't."
Anton faced me and I could see the harsh line in his brow as he became resigned to his fate in the same way I was resigned to mine. "So be it."
He gave me no warning before hitting me in the gut and shoving me towards the other captives, herding us together for the last stretch of our march.