While the van built up power, the driver Zephyr had hit watched as the van became swallowed by the horde.
A smirk spread across his face. "Serves you right, idiot!"
He was glad he wasn't stupid enough to try something like that. He still seethed over the earlier collision, and now seeing Zephyr's demise brought a twisted sense of satisfaction. Fear and shock had warped his mind. All that mattered was reaching the highway entrance and the supposed safety of the military.
Anyone in his way could go to hell.
Then a roar shattered the air. An engine revving, tires screaming.
The driver whipped around, eyes widening in disbelief.
The van, submerged moments before, erupted from the horde like a monster truck, sending zombies flying. It roared forward, crushing bodies beneath its wheels, a spray of blood marking its path.
In seconds, it was bearing down on him, picking up terrifying speed.
"Ahhh!"
He swerved frantically, barely avoiding being crushed. The van's impact still clipped his car, sending it spinning into the guardrail with a screech of metal.
Dazed, his head throbbing, the airbag exploding in his face…
Inside the van, the force of the acceleration threw the girls from their seats. They screamed, slamming into the floor. Thick carpeting saved them from serious injury.
The van bucked like a bronco. Serena and Lyra rolled across the floor, unable to stand. They saw zombies ripped from the van's exterior, bodies flying, blood splattering against the doors.
The van, a steel beast, tore a bloody path through the horde, emerging coated in gore. Crushed bodies littered its wake.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Zombies slammed against the windshield like bugs on a highway. Dozens of them.
Serena and Lyra, still on the floor, barely recovered from the impacts at the door, looked up in horror. The windshield was covered in bodies, obstructing their view. The glass seemed about to shatter. A stone could crack a windshield…what about this?
Zephyr, eyes locked on the road, processed the Etherscope's data stream.
"Left flank impact, no damage. Right flank impact, no damage…Windshield impact…Energy consumption…Fuel remaining…"
The impacts looked horrific, but the armored van was unscathed. The windshield held.
As the van finally cleared the horde and stabilized, the girls, pale and shaken, slowly regained their senses.
"It…it didn't break…"
The windshield was intact. The doors were sealed.
The breakout had lasted mere seconds, but it felt like an eternity. Now, in the sudden quiet, it felt like a nightmare.
Serena cautiously got to her feet, peering out the blood-streaked window.
A few zombies still followed, lagging behind. Most were on the ground, tearing at the remains of the fallen. These were zombies mutated from the living, not the reanimated dead of movies. Even zombie cannibalism was gruesome.
Serena quickly looked away, needing only to confirm their escape. She hadn't expected such power, such durability.
"We're out…we're alive." Relief washed over them both.
After a moment, Serena, staring at the blood-splattered windshield, asked, "Zephyr, how is this glass so strong?"
Zephyr hadn't wanted to explain the van's modifications, but… "It's bulletproof."
Of course, that wasn't the whole story. He'd used the van's "ram" and "acceleration" functions. If those hadn't worked, he had "weapons" ready. But they hadn't been necessary.
"Bulletproof!" Lyra stared at the door. That was movie stuff. Bulletproof cars weren't common. She knew a little about cars. Some high-end manufacturers offered them, but they were custom jobs, ridiculously expensive. Ten times the price of a regular luxury car.
And who would bulletproof an old van?
She looked to Serena for an explanation, but Serena just shook her head, mouthing that she didn't know him well. She had no answers.
"We should be safe for now. Find a seat and buckle up," Zephyr said.
"Okay, thank you," both girls said, grateful.
"No problem," Zephyr replied. For him, it hadn't been a big deal. A calculated risk. A small effort.