"Damn it!" the driver swore. "That lunatic!"
He'd actually squeezed through. Not even that fast, in that beat-up old van. If he'd gotten stuck…abandon vehicle or wait to die.
Now the other cars had no choice but to follow in his wake.
Suddenly, screams erupted from behind. Zephyr flipped on the rearview camera. The screen next to the dashboard showed hundreds of zombies swarming over and between the stalled vehicles.
They poured from the end of the street, a tide of growling, blood-soaked bodies, sprinting towards them. They were fast, agile, scrambling over cars with inhuman speed.
People near the back turned, only to be instantly overwhelmed. Some managed a few desperate steps before being dragged down.
Zephyr saw two people running. One, hearing the approaching horde, shoved the other to the ground.
"Ah!" The fallen screamed, already surrounded.
Zephyr's scalp prickled. This was a massacre. These zombies were faster, stronger than ordinary people.
"Move! Move!" Horns blared from the trapped cars. Terror was setting in.
Zephyr pushed forward, but the traffic was barely moving. Panic filled the air. Screams. Horns. People shoving, desperate to escape.
Then Zephyr saw the small car that had cut him off. Two girls were running alongside his van, pounding on the back door.
"Please! Let us in!"
"Help us! Please!"
They were terrified. They'd probably tried other cars, but no one had stopped. Now, with the zombies closing in, they were begging him.
They couldn't outrun the horde. Not on foot. They had maybe two, three minutes left.
Zephyr gauged the distance. He could stop, open the door…
He accelerated.
"Please! You don't even have to stop!"
The door was locked.
The driver of the small car yelled, "Get away from my car!"
One girl lunged for the driver's window. "Please!"
"Get lost! I'll run you over!" He swerved violently. The girl went down, screaming. The other girl stumbled.
"Are you okay?" She scrambled to help her friend up.
They stared at the receding car, their faces ashen.
Zephyr frowned, then his eyes widened. The girl who'd fallen…she looked familiar.
He yanked the wheel, making a sharp U-turn.
"What the hell!"
The cars behind him were still pushing forward. U-turns were suicide. Those who tried were instantly swarmed, their vision obscured, their cars slamming into light poles, guardrails. They were dragged out, still alive, and devoured.
Everyone was focused on escape. No one played hero.
Zephyr knew that. Survival was paramount. Helping others was a luxury you could only afford after you'd secured your own safety.
But he was safe inside the armored van. He could help them. And he knew that girl. Sort of.
With the Etherscope guiding him, correcting his maneuvers, he weaved through the oncoming traffic, heading back towards the girls.
In a sea of taillights, his van was the only one going against the current.
The girls were resigned to their fate. The closest zombies were less than a hundred yards away.
They stared at the oncoming traffic, tears streaming down their faces. They held hands, waiting for the inevitable.
Then they saw it. A van, heading straight for them, the only one moving against the flow.
Was it going to run them over?
Better that than being ripped apart.
They closed their eyes.
A screech of tires. A rush of air. They opened their eyes.
The van had swerved, stopping directly in front of them. The door was open.
A young man, looking like a college student, waved frantically from the driver's seat. "Hurry! Get in!"
The horde was almost on top of them.
The fallen girl scrambled to her feet, pulling her friend. "Come on!"
They tumbled inside just as the first zombies slammed against the van. They huddled on the floor, staring at the snarling faces pressed against the glass, the clawing hands, the growls.
Their hearts hammered against their ribs. They were alive.