Free Web NovelChapter 248: Chapter 248 - To The River
Behind them, something huge cut through the air.
"Down!" Malcolm shouted.
The car hit the grass hard and rolled.
Someone screamed.
Iyisha dropped flat. Mud and weeds scraped her cheek. The car slammed past her, bounced once, then crushed down over one of the men near the front.
The sound was thick and final.
Metal folded around his body. His legs kicked once under the weight, then stopped.
The man beside him ran back.
"No, no, no."
He grabbed the edge of the car and pulled. It did not move.
Another man joined him. Then another. All three shoved at the frame, faces red, arms shaking. The car only rocked once before settling heavier into the mud.
The trapped man cried under it.
Small broken sounds came from beneath the metal. Wet. Terrified.
"Help me," he gasped. "Please. Please."
Iyisha stepped toward him.
Then she saw the blood spreading under the car.
Too much.
His eyes found hers through the gap between the ground and the crushed door. He was still alive, and he knew he would not be for long.
Iyisha shook her head once.
Her throat closed.
She looked back.
The tank was gaining again.
Fuck this world for making them decide who was worth carrying.
Arnulf ran back and dropped beside the car. "Can we save him?"
Iyisha shook her head.
Arnulf looked at the blood.
He understood.
Tilly raised her gun.
"Tilly—"
The shot cracked.
The man under the car stopped crying.
The silence after it hit harder than the bullet.
Iyisha stared at Tilly.
Tilly did not look at her. Her face was pale. Her eyes stayed on the car, flat and empty. The man under it had been one of the two Arnulf brought back.
Chanse grabbed her wrist and pulled the gun down.
"Tilly."
She let him.
That scared Iyisha more.
Malcolm grabbed Iyisha by the arm. "Let’s go."
They ran.
The riverbank opened ahead, wide and gray, with broken concrete sloping into the water. The front line had already reached it. Harry, Arnulf, and two others fired at the walkers gathering near the shore. More undead turned from the bank and reached for them with wet hands and open mouths.
"Clear the edge!" Arnulf shouted.
Gunfire cracked across the riverbank.
Walkers dropped into the mud. Some fell forward into the water and kept clawing. Others slid down the broken concrete, arms reaching even as the current pulled at them.
"Into the water!" Malcolm shouted.
The first people went in.
The river took them badly.
One man slipped and vanished under the surface before coming up choking. Tilly and Chanse jumped together, and Chanse caught her waist when the current pulled her sideways. Marybeth and Aljun dragged Lance into the water between them. Lance tried to help, but his legs barely answered.
Iyisha’s lungs burned. Her legs felt gone. She looked back once and saw the tank clearing the last stretch of grass.
It was running faster now.
Malcolm pulled her forward.
"Don’t look."
They hit the water as the tank bent for something behind them.
A chunk of broken concrete.
Too big.
Too close.
"Jump!" Malcolm shouted.
Iyisha threw herself forward.
The water swallowed her legs, her waist, then her chest.
The concrete hit behind them.
The impact punched the river open. Water exploded over her head. The force shoved her under and scraped her knee against something hard beneath the surface. Her eyes opened by instinct, and the dirty water burned them at once.
Gray.
Bubbles.
Dark shapes kicking. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
A hand grabbed her wrist.
Malcolm.
He hauled her up.
Iyisha broke the surface coughing.
The current pulled hard. Harder than it had looked from the bank. Her boots dragged her down. Her bag twisted against her shoulder. She kicked and forced her head above water.
"Swim!" Malcolm shouted.
Around them, the group broke apart into ugly pieces. No one swam clean. They kicked, clawed, and dragged one another forward. Bags floated loose. Someone lost a machete. Someone screamed when a walker surfaced too close and grabbed at his sleeve.
Harry and Archie were trying to keep the wounded woman above water.
She floated badly, head tipping back, mouth open. Harry had one arm under her shoulders. Archie had her legs, with the weapons bag still strapped across his back. The weight pulled him down every time he kicked.
"Archie!" Iyisha shouted.
His face went under.
Harry cursed and yanked him up by the collar.
Archie came up choking, eyes wide, still gripping the woman with one hand and the bag strap with the other.
"Drop the bag!" Iyisha shouted.
Archie shook his head once.
It had the remaining weapons.
The current pulled him under again.
"Drop it!" she screamed. "You’ll drown!"
He surfaced, coughing hard. For one second, his face went blank with rage and refusal.
Then he let go.
The backpack slid from his shoulder and vanished under the water.
His expression did not change, but his body rose higher without the weight. Harry grabbed the woman again, and together they kicked forward.
Iyisha looked back. freewebnovёl.ƈom
The riverbank was full of undead now. Walkers stumbled into the water and sank, then came up again with arms reaching. Twitchers paced the edge in jerking bursts. Some fell in. Some stopped short, like the current confused them.
Then the tank reached the bank.
It stopped.
Just stopped.
Its chest rose and fell. Its ruined eye socket leaked dark blood. Its remaining hand hung at its side, fingers opening and closing. The raw stump of its missing arm twitched under new skin.
It stood there like a statue.
Watching them.
Iyisha’s skin went cold despite the river.
Malcolm followed her stare.
For once, he did not tell her to move faster.
The tank tilted its head.
Aljun’s voice broke through the water.
"We did it!"
He was crying when he said it. "We fucking did it."
No one cheered.
The river pulled at their bodies, cold and strong. The opposite bank was still far. Their arms were dead, their legs were cramping, and the dead were still falling into the water behind them.
The danger is far from over.
