A massive crash echoes from the far side of the compound like splintering wood and tearing metal.
Everyone freezes.
“They’re coming over the fence!” Ramirez yells.
From behind the nearest cabin, a black shape launches into the open space. It moves too fast to track, a blur of twisted limbs and matted fur.
And it’s headed straight for my mother.
It leaps, colliding with her in a tangle of claws and teeth. The tray goes flying. Food scatters. Her scream cuts through the night, high and terrified, before choking off as the wolf zombie’s jaws close around her throat.
“Mom!” I lunge forward, knife raised.
“No!” Sienna hauls me back by my arm. “You can’t!”
“Let me go!” I thrash against her grip, as blood sprays from my mother’s neck, dark against her pale skin. “Mom! MOM!”
Ramirez fires, the shot cracking through the air. The wolf zombie jerks, shoulder exploding in a spray of black ichor, but itdoesn’t release my mother. Instead, it drags her, still twitching, toward the shadows between the cabins. Her hand reaches for me, then falls.
“Fuck!” Ramirez shouts, adjusting his aim.
Another wolf zombie emerges from behind the dining hall, loping on all fours toward Cameron. He fires his shotgun. The wolf shrieks, recoiling, but its eyes never leave Cameron’s face.
“Inside, now!” Ramirez jumps down from his perch, rifle still trained on the retreating wolf. “They’re coming over the fences!”
Sienna drags me toward the nearest cabin, her grip iron on my arm. “Move, Dakota! MOVE!”
My feet finally cooperate, stumbling backward, eyes still locked on the spreading pool of blood where my mother fell.
“Ramirez!” Cameron backs toward us. “Cover us!”
Ramirez fires twice more, driving back two more wolf zombies that appear at the edge of the compound. Regular zombies stagger against the gate, arms outstretched through the bars, moans building to a hungry chorus.
We reach the cabin door. Sienna shoves it open, towing me inside. Cameron follows. Ramirez is last, backing through the door, rifle at his shoulder. The moment he’s inside, Cameron slams the door shut, throwing the deadbolt.
“Windows.” Ramirez’s voice comes from somewhere far away. “Secure them all. Now.”
I stand in the middle of the room. Knife in my hand.
Mom brought food. She was bringing us food.
She screamed, and I couldn’t?—
The tray. Where’s the tray? Did someone pick up the tray? We can’t waste food. Mom would be so angry if we wasted food, she’d give me that look, that tight-lipped she just did a second ago before?—
“Dakota.” Sienna’s face swims into view. “Dakota, I need you to?—”
“She brought food.” My voice sounds strange. Hollow. “We should go get it. Before it spoils. Mom hates waste.”
“Listen to?—”
“She was just standing there.” My throat closes. Breathing hurts. Everything hurts.
Mom’s throat. The way it opened. Red and then redder and then?—
I’m going to be sick.
Cameron grips my shoulders, forcing me to meet his eyes. His mouth is moving, but I can’t hear him over the roaring in my ears, over Mom’s cut-off scream playing on repeat, over and over and?—
