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BEN
His attention narrows on the two speedboats. Ben can practically feel the smug bastards gloating. No way are these fuckers getting the best of them.
“Eric, Ash, Caleb,” he barks. “Rifles up! We’re going to take out those bastards. The goal is to kill them before they get close enough to kill us.”
“I’m a good shot.” Leo shoulders up with his rifle. “I’ve been hunting since I was a kid.”
Ben nods. “Line up, solider.” He, Caleb, Ash, Eric, and Leo spread out in a line along the stern.
“I need everyone else up here,” Kate calls. “We’re going to shoot through the ropes. The zoms will sink if the rope isn’t holding them up. Susan, keep the boat moving. We’ll clear the way for you.”
Kate wastes no time getting to work. The sound of gunfire is the best music Ben has heard since they started this insane mission. He can’t help feel a burst of pride as he watches Kate take aim from the bow.
He turns his attention back to the assholes in the speedboat. Ben raises his rifle and sights down the scope, looking for the first bastard who’s going to die.
He exhales and taps the trigger. His shot goes wide, splitting the windshield. Fuck. He’s a decent shot, but hitting a moving target at two hundred yards while standing on the back of a charter boat is a tall order.
The rifles crack on either side of him as his companions open fire. One man on a speedboat goes down.
“Hell, yeah,” Eric mutters. “Take that, asshole.”
As Ben sights through the scope again, he sees his next target raise his own rifle. Fuck. These guys really need to die.
Bullets pierce the water all around them, a few even hitting the Fairhaven. The rest of his companions crouch low for cover, but Ben maintains an upright position. He shoots three more times, finally dropping his target. He edges the rifle to the right, sighting on the next target.
Kate’s voice carries to him. “We’re through! The zoms are sinking. Gun it, Susan!”
Ben shifts his weight, anticipating the momentum of increased speed. The slight movement saves his life. A bullet whizzes just past his ear and hits the driver’s console.
“Shit!” Susan cries. “Will someone please get rid of those fuckers before they kill me?”
The charter boat picks up speed. They’re fully in the zombie dragnet now, the tethered dead thrashing as their bodies are dragged down by their own weight.
Ben once again takes aim, this time focusing his crosshairs on the driver of the closest boat. The man is hunched over the wheel while his companions fire on the Fairhaven. All Ben can see are his eyes and the top of his head.
It will have to be enough. He squeezes the trigger three times in rapid succession. The top of the driver’s head explodes in a shower of blood and windshield glass.
Then he hears the hollow thunk-thunk-thunk of bullets hitting flesh. He turns in time to see Leo. The man had propped himself up on one knee to fire at their pursuers. Red blooms across the front of his shirt. The rifle falls from his hands.
“Dammit!” Ben catches Leo as he falls. “Man down! Susan, get us the fuck out of here.”
The Fairhaven rumbles forward through the churning waters. Zombie hands scratch at the side of the boat. Susan ducks down, steering as best she can while gunshots ring behind us. Ash, Caleb, and Eric remain crouched down behind the stern and continue to fire.
“Leo!” Kate skitters across the desk, hunched over to avoid the bullets. “Ash, I need you over here!”
Even before Kate reaches Leo, Ben knows the other man is dead. He’s seen enough men die to know all the signs. The slack muscles. The unhinged jaw. The blank, staring eyes. And the blood. Too much fucking blood.
“Leo.” Kate presses her hands over the open wounds as blood fountains up between her fingers. “Ash!” she yells again.
Ash drops to all fours and crawls over to them.
“Leo!” Kate is near hysteria.
“He’s gone.” Ash, face crumpled with grief, presses her fingers against the side of Leo’s neck. “He’s gone, Kate.”
“No,” Kate snaps. “There must be something you can do.”
Ash stares, eyes moving between Kate and Leo. “I’m sorry, Kate.”
“No, no, no!” Kate pounds her fists on the deck. “Not another one!” Tears of anger and frustration pour from her eyes.
Ben watches the grief take her again. The guilt. It would be easier to have someone peel the skin from his body.
“We’re past the dragnet,” Susan calls. “I’m taking us into the ocean.” The hum of the Fairhaven’s engine increases as the boat picks up speed in the open water.
“They’re not following,” Caleb calls. “They’re slowing down!”
Probably because they don’t want to waste the gas it would require to pursue them out into open water, Ben thinks grimly. The fuckers put their zombie dragnet here for a reason.
Ben shifts, wanting to comfort Kate, but Reed and Eric beat him to it. They kneel on either side, each putting their arms around her. He watches her draw comfort from them. The tension inside him eases, even though the desire to go to her doesn’t subside.
He always thinks of Reed, Eric, Carter, Jenna, Johnny, and Lila as the “original” Creekside members. Even though the core group has opened their arms to new members—himself included—there’s a closeness between them that doesn’t include anyone else. Ben has never been much of a joiner, but there are times when he’s envious of them. Times like now.
“What the hell just happened?” Kate demands of no one in particular. She wipes at her eyes as Ash drapes a tarp over Leo’s body.
“Trap,” Ben says. “We triggered their alert back in Manila when we stumbled into their stockpile. They drove us neatly into a trap they set up to catch other boats.” At least his team had taken out a few of the assholes.
He doesn’t even want to think about how they’re going to get back to Arcata when the time comes. This area of the bay has definitely been taken over by a hostile group. It will be a problem they’ll have to deal with at some point.
No one speaks. They stand in a lopsided circle around Leo’s shrouded body. Poor bastard. Blood seeps out from under the tarp. The whine of the speedboats is gone, their pursuers no longer behind them
“Put Leo’s body over the side,” Kate says, voice hollow.