But Cole didn’t miss a beat. He took a swing that would have knocked her across the room hours ago. Not now. The new Anna was stronger and faster, ducking under his arm and fist in a fluid movement. She swooped behind him, crawling like a demon child, and stabbed the pen into the soft flesh at the back of his knee. He cried out in pain as she thrust it through to his kneecap and twisted hard. She gave one more twist and half the pen broke off, leaving the other half embedded inside.
He fell to his other knee, wild with pain and gasping. She spun around and kicked the gun out of his hand. A wild shot blasted into a wall. Anna viciously kicked him in the nuts, and then flung him into the closet. Slamming the door closed, she grabbed a chair and shoved it under the door handle.
Wasting no time, she gathered his gun and most of the others, stuffing handguns into her pockets and carrying an armload of rifles.
The blasting music brought waves of energy that flowed through her, as she realized it was also doing the same thing to the mass of undead gathered in the stadium. She left the outer door open, hoping they would come for him, the man screaming in the closet. Then Anna Carter raced through the hall and down the stairs, to join the biggest battle of her life.
Chapter Twenty-three
Blood, bone and grey matter covered the bright green grass field as the five men fought their way closer to Carla.
Joe and Jared paired up back to back, Jared fighting off the oncoming undead as Joe cleared the way to Carla. By now, Jack had seen them, along with Mike, slaughtering his way from home base.
Joe was the closest though, and he could see Carla had been roughed up. She was barely recognizable, covered from head to toe with blood and sweat. He shouted to her. She turned to him and he tossed her a handgun. He overthrew a little high but she jumped to catch it, and then emptied it in seconds into the nearest pair of zombies trying to climb onto the truck’s hood. But it bought enough time to bring Joe and Jared closer. When they reached her, Joe gave her his last gun. Carla jumped off the car, fighting for her life, for their lives, too.
Soon, all six of them fired with their backs to the SUV. When the guns were emptied, they used their knives. And the zombies kept coming, drawn by the smell of fresh blood and driven by the blasting music, which looped over and over. The living humans were at the end of their ropes, exhausted, fighting, and killing one mindless fiend after another.
“Look!” Jared hollered, and pointed.
Tearing into the field came the Escalade, with Julie behind the wheel. She hauled ass to reach them. Mike smiled, perhaps at the thought she had decided she couldn’t carry all the weapons Mike ordered her to and she had made the executive—and smart—decision to bring everything to them.
But Julie looked terrified. She wouldn’t open her door until the rest rallied to the back and opened the trunk. Mike jumped in and threw out weapons, whatever he came upon first. The group caught them and renewed their attack.
* * *
Of course, Jared spotted Anna first.
She was wielding a baseball bat at any crazy that dared to approach. Anna was strong now, Jared could tell. She battled with fury and strength he’d never seen in her before. She fought off the closest enemies and arched her body into the battle, eager for more. Jared saw that she had some ammunition of her own laid out; where she had obtained it didn’t matter. He was sorely impressed.
But Jared also detected the redness within her eyes, and in an instant understood everything going on with her. She was changing, fighting both emotionally and physically. Surely she was at war within, having the zombie urges and yet fighting for the human side of things. How strong his girlfriend was to fight off the physical and mental illness that pervaded her body and changed her to a super-strength zombie. He admired and loved her all the more.
“Anna!” he roared, and pointed to her so the others would also notice her.
Anna managed to create a space for them to run to near one of the dugouts. She cleared the way, swinging left and right, lopping off zombie heads as she swung. Everyone moved toward her and toward the dugout. Julie jumped out of the car and found Mike, and from then on remained by his side.
Once inside the dugout, they fled deeper through an underground hallway. Anna tore some lockers free, and with help moved them to the entrance, blocking off their enemies.
* * *
Cole heaved a shoulder into the locked closet door for at least the fifteenth time. Finally, it crashed open.
He limped to the window, the pain in his kneecap excruciating. As his fingers dug unsuccessfully at the broken-off pen embedded in the back of his knee, he groaned and watched them come together as a unified and organized force. His rage at the sight of Julie coming to their aid added to his growing insanity. I should have killed that bitch!