Flesh 02 Skin(89)

At which point Sean snapped. “Do not point that at her.”

“I am not going anywhere, Tom.” The woman crossed her arms. “All of you should be ashamed of yourselves. This is disgusting.”

The mob gathered around and the moaning picked up in volume. They were making plenty of noise to attract the zombies’ attention. Either side of the fence was fast turning into a massacre waiting to happen. Time to get out before more infected gathered. Inside this town their deaths seemed more certain by the moment.

Nick grabbed Matty’s arm, pulling him closer and pushing Roslyn behind the big man. He’d covered himself in every weapon, as usual. Matty nodded and held onto her elbow, keeping her in place. Ros stumbled against the man’s back.

The yelling continued.

Tom’s face turned beetroot in color and the gun trembled in his meaty hand. “Lila!”

Nick was getting Ros out of there right now. Getting her into a car, and getting gone.

Sean moved to cover Lila.

Tom screamed.

And bang! The first shot was fired.

Lila crumpled to the ground, blood pouring from her neck.

“No!” Sean’s cry carried clear through the night.

Tom turned the gun toward them but a bullet hit his hand, his gun fell and the man cried out in pain. Behind him the crowd roared as panic took over. The bulk of people took flight, but not all. In front of them, Cooper dropped, his blood misting the air. It all happened so fast. The surly prick was dead before he hit the ground, his face and chest torn apart by a man holding a shotgun. Matty aimed his semi-automatic and took out two of the men that had stood beside the still crying Tom. A woman behind them, caught in the chaos, clutched at her arm as blood slipped from between her fingers. An unarmed elderly man slumped to the ground, the victim of friendly fire.

Nick grabbed Ros, taking her down and keeping her covered. Sean cradled the dead Lila not three meters away. He said her name over and over as if he thought he could wake her up. More shots and Matty’s bulk crashed down on top of Nick, nearly flattening him before falling to the side. Nick pushed Ros toward the hole.

“Stop! Stop this!” the brunette yelled while her two guards did likewise. “No more shooting! Cease fire!”

Finn joined her, his face set. Fools. They were just as likely to be shot down where they stood. Blackstone was out of control.

“Leave,” a man said, a rifle in his hands pointing at the ground at Finn’s feet. “You take your people, and you leave. Now.”

“Hang on—”

“You stood with them, Finn. You too, Erin. Go. None of you are welcome here any longer.”

“This is my home,” the brunette, Erin, bit out.

“No,” said the man, his tone of voice absolute. “Not anymore. You made your choice.”

“You can’t be serious,” said Erin.

The man with the rifle looked beyond reason. “Enough! If you’d let them do what they wanted then only one person would have died. Just one, instead of all this. He isn’t even one of us. You’re traitors, all of you. Leave now or you will die.”

A dark-haired man as tall as the captain came forward, leading by the hand the pregnant woman who’d been at the cop shop earlier. “Let’s go, Finn.”

“Are you fucking insane?” the recently ex-sheriff said. “We can’t take her out there.”

“You can and you will. Right now.” The man with the rifle took a menacing step forward and five men backed him up. If people started firing again they would all die.

Eight bodies lay littered about on the ground. Tom and a woman who’d been part of the mob were injured but alive. Outside, the infected grew louder.

“Sean, that includes you.” The man with the rifle advanced.

The captain didn’t seem to hear at first. He stayed huddled over the dead woman in silence. When he looked up his face was stark with loss, embedded with lines. He appeared to have aged a decade in a moment. His hands were covered in blood.

“Will you bury her?” he asked.

“Yes. She’ll be given a proper burial.”

Sean carefully laid Lila on the ground. He picked up the backpack she’d brought and, slinging it over his shoulder, rose to his feet and looked around him. “Cooper and Matt, too?”

“Yes,” the man with the rifle said. “We’ll see to them too if you go peacefully. Now.”

Sean nodded and turned to Nick. “I’ll go first.”

“Right,” said Nick. He stood, pulling Ros up with him and holding on tight. She didn’t complain.

“We’re going to be fine,” he said, willing it to be true.

Anything less was unacceptable.