Free Web NovelChapter 247: Chapter 247 - On Their Last Legs
"Look!" Harry shouted. His head was turned back toward the road while running.
Iyisha turned.
The tank was standing again. ƒrēewebnovel.com
It should not have been. Its arm was gone. Its chest was open. Its head had been hanging wrong a moment ago. But it stood in the middle of the road, breathing hard through its ruined mouth.
Then its remaining hand reached down.
It grabbed one of the undead beside it and lifted the body to its mouth.
Iyisha stopped breathing.
The tank ate.
It tore into the head, crushed bone between its teeth, and swallowed. The torn flesh at its neck shifted. Its head straightened a little. The wound in its chest pulled tighter around the broken ribs.
It reached for another undead and bit down again. The torn parts of its body shifted as it fed, pulling tighter around bone and muscle in a way no wound should move.
"What the fuck! Marybeth said in a high-pitched voice. "It’s regenerating."
"Run!" Malcolm shouted.
They ran harder.
The river was close now. Two blocks then the river bed. Someone shouted it from the front, and the words passed through the group like a fever.
"The river!"
"Keep going!"
"We’re close!"
Iyisha forced her legs to move. Her lungs burned so badly each breath felt sharp. Her arm bled from the scrape, warm and sticky down to her wrist. Her hand dropped to her belly before she could stop it. They’ve been running for hours now.
Everyone is on their last energy.
Behind them, the thumping started again. The tank was running again. The ground shook with its weight.
Harry and Archie dragged the wounded woman between them now. She sagged so low her shoes scraped the pavement. Lance tried to run on his own, but his knees kept buckling. Marybeth shoved him forward from behind while Aljun stayed at his side, one arm locked around his ribs.
"Move, Lance!" Marybeth snapped.
"I’m moving," he gasped.
A man near the front stumbled.
Iyisha caught him by the back of his shirt before he hit the ground fully.
"Up!"
He twisted toward her.
She saw the clouded eye first.
Then the bite on his cheek.
Her blood went cold.
The man lunged.
Iyisha fell back as his hands clawed for her face.
Malcolm hit him from the side.
The kick drove the man off her and sent him crashing into the side of a car. He came back up snarling, mouth wet, clouded eye fixed on nothing.
Malcolm stepped in and drove his machete through his skull.
For one second, she stared at it. He had been just running with them. Her eyes went to Harry. He still doesn’t look like affected with the virus. They need to be cautious of him too.
Malcolm grabbed her arm and hauled her up.
"Don’t stop."
The thump came again.
Iyisha looked past Malcolm.
The tank shoved through the bodies behind them. Walkers broke around its legs. Twitchers scattered and returned. It lowered its ruined head and kept coming straight for them.
The river glinted between the buildings ahead.
So close.
Still too far.
Malcolm pushed her forward.
"Run."
Malcolm cursed under his breath and shoved Iyisha forward.
"Go."
He turned before she could answer and raised his gun.
Iyisha bit down on her lip, hard enough to taste blood.
Then she turned too.
The tank was coming through the road behind them, head lowered, chest torn open, the gone arm looked like a stump growing.
The last people ran with their faces pale and open, mouths dragging in air like they could not get enough. Harry and Archie still had the wounded woman between them. Her feet barely touched the ground now.
"Run!" he shouted at them
Iyisha drew her pistol and fired at the tank’s head.
The shot missed.
She fired again too fast, breath breaking with the recoil. The bullet cut past its skull and disappeared into the road behind it.
"Fuck."
Two bullets left.
Malcolm fired at its leg. The shot hit low and tore through the knee. The tank dropped hard, one hand smashing into the road to catch itself, but it did not stay down. Its damaged leg bent under its weight, shook, then pushed slowly back into place with a wet pull of muscle under skin.
Iyisha aimed again.
This time, the bullet struck its eye.
The dark eye burst.
The tank jerked back, its ruined head snapping to one side. It slowed for only a second. Then it came again, crooked now, dragging one leg harder than the other, but still gaining.
"Run!" Malcolm shouted.
They ran off the road and into the grass toward the river.
The ground changed under Iyisha’s feet. Pavement turned to dirt and weeds. Tall grass slapped against her legs. The river showed ahead, gray under the broken light, close enough to make people shout.
"Keep going!"
"Don’t stop!"
Then a screech cut through the air.
Iyisha cursed harder.
A hunter came from the side, running on all fours through the grass. Its pale body moved low and fast, shoulders rolling, claws tearing into the dirt.
Malcolm fired.
The hunter dodged.
He fired again.
It twisted away so fast the bullet tore through the grass behind it.
It was gaining.
The hunter leapt straight toward Harry, Archie, and the woman.
Arnulf stopped, turned, and fired the shotgun.
The blast caught the hunter midair.
It snapped backward and skidded across the grass, tearing up dirt before it hit a broken post. It twitched once, claws digging into the ground like it was trying to rise again.
Arnulf fired again.
The second shot punched through its chest and threw it flat.
Harry and Archie fell with the woman. They hit the ground hard, then scrambled up fast, both grabbing her again before the hunter could move.
Iyisha looked back.
Her breath died.
The tank was coming again, biting into another undead as it ran. Its damaged leg bent wrong with every step, but each time it forced itself straight again. The wound in its eye was still black and wet, but it kept its head pointed toward them.
Then it grabbed a bent signpost from the side of the road.
Metal screamed as it tore free.
"Incoming!" someone shouted.
Iyisha turned to see the tank threw it.
The signpost spun through the grass like a blade. People dropped flat. It cut over Harry’s back by inches and slammed into the mud ahead, throwing dirt and water into the air.
The woman screamed.
Harry almost fell under her weight.
Archie grabbed his shoulder and shoved him forward.
"Move!"
The tank reached for another piece of metal. A broken rail. A car door. Anything it could throw.
"Incoming!" someone screamed again.
Iyisha gritted her teeth.
The woman cried out as Harry and Archie dragged her. Each step tore another sound from her throat. Blood soaked her side. Her head rolled back. Her hands clawed weakly at the men holding her.
They were too slow.
Everyone could see it.
No one said it.
Except Malcolm.
"Leave her!"
The words came out raw.
The woman’s eyes flew open.
"No," she wailed. "No, no, please."
Harry froze for half a second.
Archie looked at the tank, then at the river, then at the woman between them.
"Harry."
Harry’s face twisted.
The woman grabbed his shirt with both hands. "Please. Please, don’t leave me."
Behind them, the tank tore loose another strip of metal.
Harry cursed, dropped to one knee, and turned his back to her.
"Get on."
Archie stared at him. "Harry."
"Get her on my back!"
The woman sobbed as Archie shoved her forward. Harry caught her legs and forced himself up with a broken sound, her weight dragging him backward.
He almost fell.
The metal screamed behind them again.
The tank was throwing.
Archie grabbed Harry’s shoulder and shoved him forward.
"Move, then!"
Harry moved, bent under her weight, every step slower than the last.
Behind them, something huge cut through the air.
