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

Gunny hit him hard, no finesse, not fancy pit moves. He rammed him and sent the Mustang skidding on the edge of control. He let off on the gas then nailed it again, slammed into the sliding car and sent it’s back end into a boulder. It bounced off with a shower of sparks, ripping metal and flying parts. The car got sideways in front of him and Gunny hit the gas again, driving his busted-up push bar into Casey’s door. The halogen lights on the roof lit up his wild, wide eyes and the voodoo woman who was asleep in the passenger seat. Gunny kept pushing. They were going fifty, the Mustangs tires sliding on the dirt road and the all terrains of the Chevelle digging in and slinging sand. Gunny kept the go pedal mashed and watched in fascination as he saw the black girl wake up and snarl. She launched herself at Casey and he screamed as the car flew over the edge of the ravine. Gunny slammed the brakes but it was too late. With a plume of dust trailing them over, both cars plunged. The Mustang dropped and the Chevelle sent the old Ford spinning when it shot over the top, the rear tires inches from Casey’s face and they seemed to float for a second before gravity started pulling them down. The creek cutting through the sandstone wasn’t very wide and Gunny held white knuckled the steering wheel, foot still mashing the brake pedal as he flew through the air. If I’d had a ramp, I probably could have made it across he thought as the nose started diving for the cliff wall on the other side.

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Gunny

Gunny braced for impact as the nose of his Chevelle smashed into the limestone on the other side of the gully and felt the shoulder straps dig into him. Everything not bolted down went flying forward and a can of SPAM slammed him across the ear, exploding it in pain and blood. The soft rock broke away from the crumpled doghouse, his head bounced off the seatback and the car fell, hitting an outcropping and balancing precariously for a moment before the fragile rock collapsed and he fell thirty feet straight down, landing hard on the rear bumper. Dirt, debris and sand showered down as the car finally stopped moving, nose in the air resting against the canyon wall, back section sunk into the soft sand that would be under a few feet of water when the rains came. Gunny’s hand went to his ear and it took him a moment to quiet the pain. A tin can across the ear hurt hella worse than a punch to the nose. His eyes watered as he tried to stem to flow of blood pouring out of the gash. When the blinding white stabbing throb let up a little and he could finally breathe again he took a quick inventory of himself, making sure nothing was broken. He was fine, except for his ear. Jeez, it stung, fragging can had nearly cut it in half.

He slipped out of the harness and pulled himself out of the deep bucket seat. He had to move fast, there was at least one zombie in the chasm with him. The voodoo woman had turned and a little car wreck wouldn’t slow her down very much. He rolled out of it and slid down to balance with one foot on the package tray, the other against the headliner. The rear window was gone, just bits of glass in the corners. He heard the godawful keening of the undead, the sound of hunger they made when they were attacking, then he heard Casey scream. He jumped down to the sand, felt the car shift and start leaning. It was going to fall and he rolled away to get clear. The Mustang was laying on it’s roof, one of the tires still spinning and he heard the snarl of Lucinda as she spun to face him, her eyes a solid black, her teeth bared. She was on her belly fighting to get in the Mustang but turned towards the noise and smelled his blood. Her hands dug into the sand and she lunged for him. It was nearly pitch black in the shadows of the gully but the moon shone down in the middle. It was enough for Gunny to see her hideously mangled legs. She had been thrown free during the mad, tumbling ride to the bottom and the car had landed on her, breaking them in a dozen places. She tried to stand again but they folded, the muscles and skin ripping when the jagged edges of bone tore through. She screamed at him and started forward, mouth wide open, bloody and hungry. Her fingers clawed the sand and she scrambled towards him like a freakishly huge hunchbacked spider.

Gunny reached for his knife and came up empty. It was somewhere in the car. He backpedaled on all fours and could only stare in disbelief as she launched herself at him, her powerful arms jerking towards him with long, springing leaps. He looked for a rock, a chunk of metal from his car or anything he could use as a weapon but there was nothing. He jumped to his feet and ran, he had to get a little distance from the thing. He had to find a big rock and bash her head in. She kept coming and Gunny kept running. The creek floor was bare, just tumbleweed and sand and gravel. The crawling thing was fast, unbelievably fast for something with no legs. Gunny ran, a jog wouldn’t keep ahead of the thing. The crevice wasn’t very wide, maybe thirty feet in places but the farther he went, the steeper the walls were. He was starting to get tired, he needed