The Mortis Desolation (Book 1): Mortis by Logan Rutherford Page A

were up on the parts of The Wall that hadn’t fallen down shot at us.
    Julia weaved and swerved, making it hard to hit us. She turned left, going around another corner of The Wall.
    Up ahead, I could see the dirt bridge in the trench that led to the outside. To freedom.
    We came closer and closer.
    Thirty yards.
    Twenty.
    Fifteen.
    Julia started to turn the steering wheel to the right to line the tires up with the narrow bridge.
    But as she did, one of the bullets from a Rove up on The Wall tore through her arm. It exited her and grazed my leg. I yelled out in pain, but then in fear.
    The van veered toward the trench. Julia tried to get back on track, but she overcorrected. The van flipped across the ground.
    One time.
    Two times.
    Three times.
    Four.
    I was vaguely aware of those in the back grunting and yelling in pain as they were tossed around like rag dolls.
    The van came to a stop. My eyes were closed, but I could tell I was upside down. I opened them, aware of every bit of pain I felt.
    My heart fluttered. We were upside down, alright… in the trench .
    The zombies started banging on the van, desperate to have a taste of the meals inside.

Chapter Sixteen
    I pulled my gun to my shoulder, and unleashed a flurry of bullets that exploded through the cracked windshield and tore through the zombies that were trying to make their way inside.
    I unbuckled my seatbelt and fell in a heap to the ground. I flopped over onto my stomach, and looked in the back seat. We weren’t going too fast, so everybody was alive. Daniel and John had huge gashes on their heads, and were bleeding pretty heavily. And from the way Peter’s arm twisted, I could tell it was broken, even though he was too dazed to realize the pain yet. Rachel seemed to be the least hurt, as she was already checking on Daniel’s wounds.
    I turned my attention to Julia, who clutched at her arm as she hung in the air. Her seatbelt dug into her body as it kept her from falling on top of me. Blood seeped from between her fingers, and dripped onto my shirt, absorbing into the fabric. “It’ll be alright, Julia,” I told her. “We’ll get out of here.”
    She mumbled something, but her face was beginning to turn white. She was close to losing consciousness.
    I shot a few more zombies that were getting a little to close for comfort. I turned to the back. Daniel and John almost had their wits about them, but Peter was beginning to feel the pain from his broken arm. “You guys help Julia, I’ll get out and lay down some cover fire.”
    I could hear the Roves shouting and coming our way, but I also became aware of the stomping sounds on the side of the car above us. The zombies began to use our car as a bridge, as well as coming across the dirt-packed bridge that was already there for cars. These two walkways provided enough distraction for the Roves, but it wouldn’t be long until either they, or the zombies, got to us.
    I shot a couple more zombies who laid in the trench, reaching out for us. I used my arms to help push myself forward. I pushed my leg on the seat behind me, but as I put pressure on it, pain coursed through it and I let out a yell. I looked down, remembering that the bullet that shot through Julia grazed my leg. My pants were torn, but the wound was more of a burn from the heat of the bullet then it was a gash. The bullet barely nicked me, but damn did it hurt.
    I gritted my teeth and pushed through the pain. What the zombies and the Roves had in store if they caught us would be a lot worse then a little pain from a bullet. I again pushed my leg on the back of the seat, and ignored the pain that traveled through me. I crawled out of the van, glass tearing into my arms. I grabbed onto a dead zombie, and used it to pull myself out of the van.
    The zombie oozed black blood, and I fought the urge to throw up from the smell. The blood mixed with the dirt creating a disgusting mud that began to cover me. I got off my hands and knees and into a crouching