Bruno grabbed a handful of her blond hair and yanked, jerking her back and dumping her on the ground beside Sarah.

"You fucking whores," Paris said.

Bruno withdrew his sidearm and shoved the barrel against Joelle's head.

"Should I kill them now?"

Paris got to his feet. He clenched and unclenched his fists. The expression of pure hatred spread across his face, smashing away any pain he felt in his finger.

"No. We're going along as planned. Put them into the sedan and let the bullets tear them apart."

"But what about me, boss? I'll be the one driving," Bruno said.

"Then jump out before it crashes into the fence you moron. Now get them out of my sight before I decide otherwise."

Bruno pushed the ladies down the hill and back to the camp. He made sure to shove them hard enough to knock them down but not to render them totally useless.

Chapter 7.

Joelle's breasts jiggled under the black straps. She leaned forward and sucked in her stomach, hoping to free herself of the confining bonds holding down her arms, legs and midsection.

The armored sedan started without a problem and drove them toward their doom.

"We're going to die here aren't we?" Joelle said.

"I wish," Sarah answered, confident.

Bruno's voice grunted from the front, "Shut up back there!"

Sarah winked at her friend and slipped one hand from her cuffs.

Joelle's mouth dropped.

"How did you . . ." she whispered and paused.

Sarah worked on freeing her other hand, then withdrew her small knife and quietly cut herself free.

Bruno drove faster, and the school appeared in front of them from behind the fence. He raced toward the back of the school, avoiding the walking dead, and picking up more speed.

Machine gun fire rang into the sedan, but the armor held strong and made the bullets sound like heavy rain.

Sarah crept toward the driver's seat, keeping the knife low just in case it caught a reflection and made Bruno turn his head. But he never did.

Twenty feet before impact, Bruno opened his door to leap out.

Sarah jumped at him like a bolt of lightning, slammed the blade below his chin, through the artery in his neck and out the other side. Blood gushed out, splashing along the reinforced windshield and covering the dashboard.

Joelle screamed at her from the back but the hail of gunfire increased and drowned out her cries.

Sarah ripped the knife free in time to witness the sedan crashing though the crowds of zombies and smashing into the fence. The wheels bucked over the hordes of rotting bodies trapped under the tires, but the car wasn't slowed down enough to halt. The sedan crashed through the chain link fence and headed for the school. She was thrown backward and landed on her side and stayed there, gripping the back seat just before the final impact.

The sedan slammed into the side of the school building. The windshield blew out, tires squealed, and the front of the vehicle bunched up like tinfoil.

The gunfire came to a sudden halt.

Sarah groaned and staggered to her knees. She was bleeding from a gash on her forehead.

Joelle thrashed in her bonds. She had avoided being thrown around but now sought to free herself.

Hungry moans filtered through the sedan as the dead flooded into the school yard.

"Sarah, get me out of here."

Sarah wobbled over, almost drunk, the knife still clenched in her hand. She cut the black straps holding her friend down and then she fiddled with the handcuffs until Joelle was released.

"We have to get out of here before they tear us apart," Joelle said.

Sarah pressed her palms to her forehead and trembled in pain.

An endless wave of shuffling feet scraped along the pavement and the stench of hundreds of decaying corpses wafted into the small enclosure, making the girls gag and choke. Through the windows they could see the undead horde break into separate groups: one going after the people in the school, and the other heading for the sedan.

Joelle pushed Sarah out of the sedan. They managed to slip out of the side that wasn't completely destroyed and hugged the building for support. Once they'd almost caught their breath a teenage girl popped around the side of the building and aimed a rifle at them "Don't move or you're dead," she said, trying to sound strong, but lacking the will to be so.

The zombie horde flooded over and through the totaled sedan. The teenage girl pointed the rifle at the wave of dead. That was all the incentive Sarah needed. She snapped out of her stupor and ripped the rifle from the girl's hands. Within seconds she had the barrel rammed in her gasping face.

"What are you going to do now, bitch?"

The girl stumbled backward and ran toward the entrance to the school.

Gunfire erupted from the rooftop and rained down on the approaching horde. The bullets cut into their rotting flesh. Some were struck in the head and remained dead, but most survived and continued coming.

Sarah grabbed Joelle by the arm, "This way, follow her."

Joelle didn't argue. She hopped on her good foot and held onto Sarah tighter. They raced around the building until they spotted the girl running through a pair of double doors beside the main entrance.

More gunfire came from the top of the building, but the bullets were going in another direction. The people on the roof were shouting orders as more and more zombies poured through the ruined fence. Then they spotted the Watchers barreling full throttle toward the main gate. There were twenty or more vehicles headed for the school; each had light armor plating and the lead truck had a snow plow blade attached to the front.

"Come on, Joelle. Let's get the fuck inside before the shit really hits the fan."

"What if we get trapped in there? Let's find a way over the unoccupied side of the fence and head for the woods."

Sarah dragged her closer to the school. "There's no time. We'll find a way out eventually, I promise." She shoved open the double doors and was surprised to find an empty hallway.

"Where is everybody?"

Sarah let go of Joelle's hand.

"Let's hope they're either on the rooftop or hiding behind a locked door."

Together, the two made their way down the lone passage and came to another door. Sarah pressed it open slowly and peered out. She could see the shiny linoleum floor, a smashed trophy case set in the far wall, and two separate paths to take. The left hall had a few classrooms and a stairwell going up, and the right corridor seemed to branch out more.

Sarah chose the right path. She hugged the wall and inched forward until the hallway opened into a large cafeteria. She scanned the long wood tables and plastic chairs for people but found none. The cafeteria was vacant, and yet they could still smell the last meal of spaghetti and tomato sauce hanging in the air.

"Let's go back the other way and find somewhere to hide," Joelle suggested.

Sarah nodded.

They were just about to turn around when someone sneezed. It came from the far corner of the cafeteria and didn't repeat itself.

Sarah motioned for Joelle to stand guard while she checked out the disturbance. She proceeded through the tables cautiously and kept her finger on the rifle's trigger. A small dark shape formed in the shadows as she advanced. Sarah trained the rifle on the girl.

"Don't move."

"Don't shoot me, please," the girl begged.

Sarah got closer and noticed the curly brown hair tumbling down her slender shoulders. The girl was shaking like a frightened bunny.

"Where is everyone?" Sarah said.

"Most of them are on the roof and the children are hiding in classrooms," her face sunk in, regretting spilling the information so freely.

"There are children here?" Joelle said, and twisted her head around as though she could suddenly picture the end of the world going down and hundreds of kids locking themselves in the school for protection. "What are we going to do now, Sarah?"

Sarah sucked in her lips in thought, then, withdrew the rifle from the girl's face. "We're going to help them defend this place and kill as many Watchers as we can along the way," she said.

"Who are the Watchers?" The girl asked.

Sarah offered her hand.

"They're the assholes trying to break in here. Now get off the floor and lead us onto the rooftop. We still have a chance to win this battle."

She took Sarah's hand and used it to get on her feet. She was shorter than both of them, vampire pale, and had freckles on her cheeks.

"I'm Mindy," she introduced herself.

"This is Joelle, and my name is Sarah."

Heavy gunfire exploded from outside.

"They're getting closer," Joelle confirmed.

"Hurry, follow me," Mindy urged. She led them back the way they'd come and came to an abrupt halt when she reached the entrance.

Sarah got in front of her.

"Oh fuck," she said.

The Watchers had broken through the front gate and poured inside the school yard, bringing all the zombies crowding around the fences with them. The Watchers made a single line with their vehicles and took turns firing at the people on the roof. They tended to ignore the dead creeping up behind them and the ones pouring in from the other downed fence. Three men broke away from the security of the armored cars and headed for the entrance.

"Don't worry, its locked. They can't get inside," Mindy said.

The men aimed at the glass facade and blew out the front, sending hundreds of shards skittering across the floor.

Sarah aimed for the closest one, a man wearing a camouflage hat, and pulled the trigger. His head jerked back as the bullet slapped his forehead.

The other two witnessed their fallen comrade and opened fire into the school building.

"Get back!" Sarah ordered, shoving Joelle and Mindy into the hallway. "Stay in the cafeteria until I say it's okay to come out."

Joelle snatched Mindy by the collar and raced back into the large room.

Sarah peeked around the corner once the men had stopped shooting. The two other Watchers were stepping through the broken glass frame. One carried a shotgun, the other held an Uzi. Sarah aimed at the guy with the Uzi. The bullet dug into his upper chest and out the other side. She ducked back into the hallway before the shotgun blew apart the piece of wall she was leaning against.

"You fucking slut!"

Sarah ran down the hallway. She lay flat on her stomach and waited.

The man continued to curse at her, "I'll kill you, you dirty whore."

The Watcher with the shotgun ran into the hallway shooting wild, but he didn't expect his target to be on the floor. The buckshot soared over Sarah's body and slammed into the wall. She shot him in the throat. The man toppled to his knees, gurgling as his lifeblood leaked out.

Sarah got off the floor and strode over to him. She took his shotgun and found spare shells in his pockets.

"Its all clear," she called into the cafeteria. "You can come out now." She heard the now familiar THUMP of Joelle's cast on the bare floor as she hopped on her foot toward the hallway. Sarah handed her the shotgun when she got within reach.

"Where's Mindy?"

"She ran off once the shooting started. She wanted to warn the others."

Sarah checked the ammunition in the rifle. She had two rounds left. She dropped it in favor of the Uzi.

"Let's head for that stairwell we saw earlier. Maybe they'll let us on the roof and we can take out a few of those bastards," she said, and handed Joelle the spare shotgun shells.

Sarah peered out from the hall before moving forward. The entrance was littered by chunks of broken glass and pools of blood seeping out from the men she'd shot. In the distance she spotted the Watchers gaining more ground. They continued to fire at the people stationed on the roof and moved toward the entrance as the zombie threat became apparent.

"How does it look?"

"It doesn't look good, Joelle. The way I see it we've only got two options. We either kill every last Watcher here, or run away now and forget about this place."

"What do you want to do?"