The Demented Z (Book 3): Contagion by Derek J Thomas

to a
firing position. Despite her serious
determination she let out a gasp as the door swung fully open.
    “Stay left.” Hank
said from the back.
    She had barely shifted to the side when Hank’s rifle thundered .
  An odd silence followed.
  The only sounds were Hank working the bolt, a
brass shell casing clattering to the floor, and Hank racking the bolt to jam
another round in. Another boom .
    Hannah dropped to a knee and fired a shot down the hall.
    Tom used his foot to give the other door an easy shove,
swinging it fully open so he could see what they were seeing.
  Demented stared back.
  Three lay in a heap on the floor, blood
oozing out across the tile. More were
racing over the top of their dead. A
pair of five gallon buckets propped open the far set of double doors.
  All of the demented wore heavily soiled civilian
clothes, tattered to near ruin. There
was another boom from Hank’s rifle
and Tom watched the nearest demented’s head explode
in a shower of red.
    The crack of a
rifle sounded. It was distant, causing
Tom to turn. Before getting all the way
around there was a loud grunt and he saw Bear’s huge frame crash to the floor.
  Tom couldn’t see where he was hit, but blood
was spreading out from under his body, forming an ever growing crimson pool.
    Everything was happening fast.
  April began screaming when Bear fell to the
floor in front of the couch. Axel dove
to the floor just as the closest window exploded inward.
  Gunfire ripped into the floor and wall,
sending chips of tile flying. Hank was lying
prone next to the pool table, continuing to fire down the hallway.
    Tom shouted, “We gotta move!”
  He looked to Bear.
  “I need cover.”
    Hannah shouted, “Covering!”  
She spun sideways, still down on one knee, and began firing out the
recently shattered window.
    “I got the hall.”  
Hank said between shots.
    Tom ducked low and crouch-ran over to Bear’s motionless
body. Gunfire erupted from somewhere straight
ahead. The bullets kicked up chunks of
cement and tile, stinging his exposed flesh.
    “Axel, help us out. I
need cover fire out the front.” Tom
shouted. He didn’t know how far out the
shooters were, but Axel’s shotgun might at least get them to duck down.
  Tom hunched down next to Bear.
  He pulled one of his MAC9s and began firing
blindly out the front window.
    Axel finally pulled himself together.
  The loud boom of his shotgun joined the cacophony
of noises. Hoping this would be
enough, Tom holstered his gun and checked on Bear.
  At a glance he knew Bear was gone.
  He lay on his back, lifeless eyes staring at
the ceiling, a ragged hole punched through his throat.
  Tom took his Kabar
to Bear’s skull, making sure he wouldn’t be coming back.
    “Loading.”
  Hank shouted from the floor.
    Hannah twisted her head to check the hall.
  Seeing only a couple of walkers slowly plodding
along, she continued to provide cover fire for the others.
    Tom stripped the AR15 off of Bear and pulled a pair of
mags from the front of his tactical vest.
  “Moving.”
  He shouted while scooting across the floor
toward the double doors. Searing pain shot
along his arm as a round caught him above the wrist.
  Ignoring the pain, he continued along the
floor until reaching the cover of a large bookshelf.
    Hannah dropped back to the edge of the hallway and fired
several rapid shots. “Hall’s
clear.” She shouted.
    Tom looked down and was panicked to see his hand covered in
blood. The red stream flowed freely from
a ragged wound just above the wrist.   Blood
began dripping to the floor. Knowing it
wasn’t mortal…yet, he raised his rifle and shouted, “Everyone move!
  Get to the hall.
  Covering!”
  He twisted away from the bookshelf and began
firing rapidly out the windows.
    “Covering.”
  Hannah shouted.
  She began firing out the windows as
well. “Hank, grab April.”
    Axel turned and