The sheer, suffocating numbers rendered the shotguns useless.
The guards stared, bewildered by the unnatural behavior.
"What are they doing?"
"No—their target is HIM!"
Muriel screamed the order, lunging for the crane lever, trying to hoist the bait up and out of reach.
Too late.
Thousands of dead hands seized the bait's body, their collective force wrenching against hers.
The crane arm snapped.
"Kill him! Don't let him turn!"
The squad leader's voice cracked with panic.
An arrow split the air and punched straight through the bait's skull.
He killed him.
He was destroying the evidence.
Rage whited out my vision. I charged forward without thinking, without caring.
One thought. Only one. Climb that wall and kill the squad leader.
With the bait gone, the hunt was over.
They pulled back fast.
The scene left behind was carnage.
The zombie legion had taken devastating losses.
The man lay in the center of it all, like the ruined heart of a flower blown apart.
"No. Please don't let it be—please, God, don't let it be—"
I stumbled through the piled corpses and pulled what was left of him into my arms.