Page 82 of Romancing in Rot

Another body hits the ground.

I glance up.

Clair is locked in, rifle braced, body flat against the roof like the whole world has narrowed to breath, trigger, target. Wind tears at her hair, but she doesn’t flinch. Her cheek rests against the stock, eye down the sight, breath controlled.

She fires again.

And again.

Each shot lands.

I keep Luis close, one hand fisted in the back of his jacket, hatchet up in the other. No time to switch back to my bow. A man in nothing but jeans lunges too close, blue and white paint smeared down one side of his dead face. I drive the blade into his temple, rip it free, pivot, and swing again.

“Joanie!” Trish shouts over the gunfire. “Hurry!”

“I’m trying!” Joanie yells from the other side of the fence. Metal screams as she wedges the crowbar between the gate and the latch post. “This thing is built like Fort Fucking Knox!”

The gate rattles.

Not enough.

I drag Luis toward it, cutting down an infected that grabs for his sleeve. Joanie’s face flashes through the chain links, red-cheeked, furious, hair wild around her face. She has Clair’s crowbar jammed between the gate and the post, both hands wrapped around the end as she leans her whole weight back.

I shove Luis behind me and reach through the links, grabbing the exposed curve of the crowbar from my side.

The metal bites into my palms, freezing cold and slick with grime.

I push.

Joanie pulls.

The latch groans.

Come on.

My teeth clench hard enough to hurt.

Luis sees what we’re doing and throws himself in beside me, wrapping both arms around mine and gripping the crowbar with shaking hands.

“Push!” Joanie screams.

Wesker launches at an infected that gets too close, slamming into its legs hard enough to knock it sideways. Carlos yanks his knife free from the skull with a wet crack, then hacks at another, blood streaking across his cheek. Jacob and Lyla keep the horde off our backs. Trish fires past my shoulder, so close the shot burns hot against my ear.

The gate screams.

The latch post bends.

Once.

Twice.

Then the metal gives with a shriek that cuts through the whole street.

A narrow gap opens.

I shove Luis through first. Joanie grabs him by the jacket and drags him to the other side.

Carlos turns back for the girl with the half-shaved head.