Murphy's Law (Roads Less Traveled Book 2) by C. Dulaney

?!”
    I jerked my gun from its holster and opened fire on what I thought were three crazy, half-naked assholes. Assholes who were also missing chunks of flesh. Their guts weren’t hanging out (like that was a comfort), and they were wicked fast for being dead. Just as fast as normal, living people . I couldn’t let my mind go there, couldn’t think that these were indeed zombies, but new ones.
    Fast ones.
    One was swinging a baseball bat around like he was Shoeless Joe or something. At least now I knew what had broken my nose.
    It just wasn’t possible.
    What was possible, however, was getting our asses torn apart and killed right there in the IGA if I didn’t get my head back into the game.
    Zack began firing again, and since I had opened up, he settled himself down and picked his shots carefully. He hit two of the things between the eyes, dropping them flat. The third kept coming and was almost on top of us when I finally lucked out and nailed him in the forehead. It fell forward with its arm outstretched, and landed with its fingers touching my boot. We held our fire and listened for more of those things. That was it. There were no more. I was breathing so harshly I was starting to get dizzy. With my gun gripped in both hands I stared at Zack, who in turn stared back at me, and was unable to speak for quite a while. The radio snapped me out of it finally, so I kicked the thing’s hand away and climbed to my feet. My nose hurt like a bitch and my vision was still blurry, but I could see that Zack wasn’t injured, just in shock.
    “Kasey, answer me! We’re comin’ in!” Jake’s voice screamed out of the walkie.
    I swallowed hard, my throat making that clicking sound, and answered him as steadily as I could. Zack was bent over with his hands on his knees, trying not to puke.
    “Jake, this is Kasey. We’re alright. Just get back to the stockroom door, we’re almost there.”
    I finally got a good look at our surroundings and saw Zack had led us in a big loop around the store. The swinging door leading to the stock room was right in front of us. For a moment, I was too afraid to go through.
    What if there were more of those things back there?
    “C’mon, we need to get the hell out of here.” Zack kicked the door open. We wasted no time in getting to the back. He kicked that one open too, afraid to holster his gun.
    I couldn’t blame him.
     
    * * *
     
    We were all but running as we carried load after load out to the packhorses. Nancy and Mia stayed outside to keep watch, both armed with rifles, and Zack, Jake, and I scavenged as much as we could and as much as the horses could hold. We’d quickly filled them in on what we had encountered, but of course Jake said we couldn’t leave until they’d had a good look at these “men.” After we finished loading the horses, Zack and I stayed outside while the others went in for a look. It didn’t take them long to come to the same conclusion we had: new zombies. The when and how, we’d have to discuss later. The day was getting away from us and we needed to get moving, especially in light of this new development. I didn’t want to be caught out in the open after dark. It was also safe to say we wouldn’t be sleeping under the stars anymore.
    “First the church, now this,” Zack muttered while we waited and he fussed over my nose.
    I couldn’t be certain, of course, but after what we had just experienced, I was positive that church was bursting at the seams with deadheads-that-should-not-exist. I’d definitely had enough crazy for one day.
    Gus whined at my feet again, spotting the other three coming out of the stockroom. Their faces were pale and Nancy looked like she’d been crying. Zack and I mounted up and waited for the others to get over their initial shock before getting the horses moving. Everyone was quiet, riding up Main Street at a slow trot. I’m sure I could guess what was going on in all their heads. If it’s not one thing, it’s