Zombie Road: The Second Omnibus | Books 4-6 | Jessie+Scarlet Simpson, A. (pride and prejudice read txt) 📖

his leg, snapping at him as it scrambled up the leather, hunting for skin. The sky darkened above them and the first of the birds dove in, beaks deadly and sharp, aimed for eyes. He batted a turkey vulture away only to have ravens slash at him, a fox latch onto his arm and some other rodent snap at his ankles. He grabbed the tail of the little horror running up his chest for his face and swung it like a club at the birds.

“The car!” he yelled, “GO!”

He shot the fox in the hindquarters and it lost its grip on his arm enough for him to shake it loose. He flung a vulture away that had its talons in his hair and raking bloody furrows across his scalp.

Scarlet had her batons whirling like rotor blades to keep the attacking birds away from her face and the smaller animals were darting in, trying to take nips out of her legs. Jessie shot another coyote that was leaping for her and kicked more opossums out of the way as he led her away from the bloody massacre.

Once they cleared the rocks, they were in the woods and outrunning even the fastest of the coyotes by dodging and jumping from boulder to boulder. The trees slowed the bird attacks but the flocks of them circled and followed, darting in when they could and trying to get a taste of flesh. Scarlet was a natural, springing gracefully from rock to rock, darting left and right to avoid attacks and sprinting full out when she got a chance. Jessie plunged on behind her, shooting anything that leapt at him or swatting away the birds aiming for his face. The animals were screeching and howling and hissing, all of them ignoring each other even if they were natural enemies. They only had one goal, the humans, and ignored everything else.

They found the elevated walkway of the president’s path and sprang for it. The birds still dove and attacked but once they climbed over the railing, they had a raised, flat surface to run on and left the other animals behind and below. They turned on the speed and even the birds had to work to keep up. They ran for their lives, feet pounding the boards, arms pumping, both of them bleeding from dozens of scratches and bites. They were fast. Four-minute mile fast. Their armor, the leather and their inhuman speed was all that saved them. No one could stand against hundreds of attackers. Sooner or later they would have tired, teeth would have found their mark, ripped something critical. It would have been over quickly then. A feeding frenzy with a hundred hungry mouths ripping and shredding.

They leapt over the railing when they got near the amphitheater and sprinted across the dirt towards the shops, the entrance and the safety of the car. Bob met them half way, barking and growling then joined in the mad dash back to the Mercury when the first of the birds started attacking him in their blind frenzy. They all dove in and slammed the doors as the cat watched from the package tray in the rear window. A few of the ravens made it through the bars before they could get the windows up and Nefertiti pounced, pulling one out of the air and sinking her fangs into its head. Bob snapped at the other, chasing the screeching thing around the interior, ripping open grocery bags, smashing water bottles and filling the car with his barks and growls. Jessie and Scarlet pushed themselves into corners of the car and let the animals battle it out, both of them laughing at the spectacle of it all. Nefertiti finally helped when she got a claw into a wing and Bob clamped down hard, sending blood spraying across their blankets as he ragged it back and forth. Jessie and Scarlet were both bleeding from the hundreds of talons and beaks ripping at them but neither could stop giggling. It had been close. They’d almost gotten killed by a few birds. Their laughter finally subsided but threatened to break out again every time they looked at each other.

“You have bird poop in your hair.” she snickered as he tried to wipe it away.

Three of them were a mess, hair tangled and tinged with red, scratches on their faces or in their fur. One of them preened, licked her paw and cleaned behind her ears. It was ludicrous and the two teenagers couldn’t stop chuckling at the absurdity of it. Almost killed by birds.

The other animals had caught up and were throwing themselves at the car, climbing on the hood and biting at the windshield. They were a little scarier with their bared fangs and frothy snarls and maddened eyes.

Jessie hit the switches, fired it up and tried to run down as many as he could. They were as bad as the zombies in their bloodlust or maybe they’d forgotten the big metal machines could kill them. Either way, they died. Jessie circled the parking lot and kept slamming into them, the bars over the grill bouncing and breaking the fur covered bodies. The oversized tires crushed them. The birds still attacked, still dove in and suicided themselves against the steel. The fresh, flowing blood from their wounds had the animals insane with desire. Crazy with the same cravings the undead had from so many months of eating the rotting meat. When the animals wavered in their resolve, when they stopped attacking, the pair would get out and goad them, driving them insane with the smell of fresh blood and sweat. Jessie emptied round after round of birdshot into the circling, diving flocks and they fell like rain. The parking lot was covered with hundreds of dead or dying animals. The ones who had spent the summer eating easy meals, the ones who forgot how to hunt and had grown accustomed to eating whenever they felt a little hungry. The ones