Chapter 24 Summer
Standing on the tower, Iris could almost hear the shrill screams and blaring horns drifting over from the city ahead.
“Boom, boom, boom.”
At the far edge of the infrared camera’s range, she spotted a stream of vehicles bursting onto the highway at the end of the narrow road outside her bunker.
They were fleeing like mad, pouring out of the city, with a long, writhing line of zombies hot on their heels.
In the pitch–black night, many of the escaping vehicles crashed. The screech of brakes and the thunder of collisions rang out with brutal clarity.
Half a month was more than enough time for people to face reality, especially the fact that no rescue was ever coming. The citywide blackout today became the final straw. At this point, no one cared about anything except getting out of the city alive.
Iris knew it. A new wave of flight had begun.
Early the next morning, she climbed the tower again. This time, the road outside her path was littered with wrecked cars.
7:10
The number of zombies roaming the main road had increased:
+3 Bonus
<Chapter 24 Summer
Some clustered around the crashed vehicles, tearing into the bodies. Others wandered aimlessly nearby.
Quite a few even drifted into the edges of her territory.
Iris grabbed her crossbow and was about to put down a zombie that had wandered too close, then paused.
Why kill them?
Zombies were not a real threat to her.
Better yet, zombies wandering around her territory were basically free guards.
Let anyone try to come this way.
The thought stopped her hand. Peering through the binoculars, she even felt a twinge of regret that there were not more zombies blocking the entrance to her base.
If only there were more than enough to choke off the road completely.
With that thought, an idea clicked into place.
Half an hour later, Iris drove her armored vehicle to the outer
edge of her territory.
2/7
17:10
(4)+3 Bonus
<Chapter 24 Summer
She parked it in the woods, got out with Summer, and headed toward the highway on foot.
The farther they went, the thicker the stench of blood became.
She stopped atop a broken stretch of mountain wall and looked down at the road below.
Seeing the scene up close was far more intense than watching it through binoculars, especially the section just beyond the city limits.
Cars were flooding out of the city, and behind every single vehicle came a massive swarm of zombies.
The creatures seemed to know no fatigue. They flailed and sprinted after the moving cars with feral hunger.
Anyone unlucky enough to slow down even a little was swallowed whole in an instant.
Zombies clung to the vehicles like leeches, smashing and clawing at the windows in a frenzy.
The view of the drivers was completely blocked. One loud crash later, they slammed straight into other cars.
Once a vehicle went down, the zombies only grew more excited,
3/7
17:10
+3 Bonus
< Chapter 24 Summer
swarming over it and tearing into whatever was inside.
The luckier ones, driving sturdier cars, weaved and sprinted through a road choked with wrecks, screaming as they fled the city.
The stretch of road beneath Iris‘ feet was relatively calm.
At a glance, there were only four crash sites and about a dozen wandering zombies.
They drifted along both sides of the road and immediately latched onto any passing vehicle.
After Iris saw the traffic thin out and three cars in a row tear past at high speed, drawing most of the zombies away, she led Summer down from the about 300–foot–high ruins, climbing carefully to the ground.
Summer was steadier on his feet than Iris.
They landed near one of the crash sites.
“Grrr!”
A middle–aged female zombie was trapped inside an overturned car. The moment she spotted Iris, she thrashed wildly, trying to claw her way out.
4/7
17:10
+3 Bonus
<Chapter 24 Summer
She looked filthy, her hair unwashed for ages. Her face was sunken, the muscles all but gone, though her features were still mostly intact. Her chest had been torn open, and a withered, bony hand wearing a diamond ring stretched out through a gap in the wreck, grasping for Iris.
But with the seatbelt still strapped tight across her chest, she could do nothing at all.
Iris glanced inside the car. It was empty. It looked like when disaster struck, her husband had ditched her and bolted. This unlucky fool hadn’t even unbuckled her seatbelt before getting bitten.
“Try to have a little dignity, even as a zombie,” Iris muttered.
With a swift shovel strike, she sent the trapped zombie off to heaven to find her husband.
After clearing the threat inside the car, she moved to the back, grabbed the crossbar, and heaved.
“Crack!”
She dragged the abandoned vehicle all the way to the entrance of her home.
A few stray zombies stumbled onto the road, charging at her.
5/7
17:10
+3 Bonus
<Chapter 24 Summer
She didn’t even have to lift a finger. With a single growl, Summer leapt forward, sinking his teeth in and tearing them apart.
The silver lining of this zombie crisis was that they only infected humans.
Animals were safe.
This was a disaster made for people.
Summer, a German Shepherd with explosive combat skills—and boosted by the system–handled these zombies like they were nothing.
Killing them was ridiculously easy.
“Don’t kill them outright, Summer, just maim them,” Iris
ordered.
Summer barked in acknowledgment, sparing the head of a zombie about to crush him with his paw. Instead, he tore off its upper body.
Iris watched the half–bodied zombie writhing and squealing
forward.
Well, her dog’s execution was definitely top–notch.
6/7
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
