red hill - jamie mcguire

Walter’s lips turned into a hard line. “Goddamnit. God damn those things.”
We all retreated inside the house. Joy scrambled around to pack, and the boys stood next to the
windows to keep watch. Miranda and Ashley helped Joy put as much food as they could carry into
bags, and then we met in the kitchen.
“I don’t . . . have a lot of room in my car,” Miranda said.
“My Taurus is in the garage,” Walter said, grabbing a set of keys hanging from a nail on the wall.
The key ring was made of multi-color plastic that spelled ORLANDO.
“Okay, Zoe and I will ride with Walter and Joy. Problem solved.”
Miranda nodded nervously.
“They’re starting to fan out!” Bryce said.
A muffled, high-pitched yapping came from next door, and we all froze.
Joy blanched. “Dear Jesus, it’s Princess.”
Bryce and Cooper leaned against the windows to get a better look. Princess continued to bark
excitedly at the horrifying procession. It didn’t take long for the first of them to notice the barking and
veer away from the others.
“We can’t wait,” Bryce said. “We have to go now before any more come down this dead end.”
Miranda nodded, and then looked to me. “He’s right, Nate. It’s time to go.”
“But what about Princess” Zoe asked.
Joy leaned down to Zoe with tears in her eyes. “We’ll come back for her, sweetie.”
Walter held out his hand to his wife, and we followed them to the garage. Miranda and Joey lifted
the garage door while Ashley and Bryce loaded Joy’s bags into the trunk. Zoe and I settled into the
backseat of the Taurus and waited for Walter to start the car. After a few seconds, the engine made a
sickly whirring sound and then Walter turned to me.
“Walter” I said.
“I . . . I don’t know. I just changed the oil and filter thinking we were headed to see Darla.”
“Try it again,” I said, trying to keep my voice calm.
“They’re coming!” Ashley cried.
“Shit. Shit!” Cooper yelled, pulling Ashley toward the house.
Walter tried the ignition again, but this time the Taurus’s engine wouldn’t even turn over. “Mmaybe
it’s the uh . . . alternator. I had trouble with it last year . . .”
“We don’t have time to figure it out, let’s go!” I said, opening the door and pulling Zoe with me.
Bryce and Joey were already fighting with a few infected by the time we made it inside. A shot
was fired off, and then they were inside with us.
Cooper had a look of bewilderment on his face. “I’m sorry,” he said, a gun in his hand. “It almost
bit Joey.”
I rushed to the window. More were filing down the street. Princess’s barks were at an even higher
pitch as the infected climbed up onto her porch and pawed at the window where she stood. Bryce and
Miranda pulled the refrigerator in front of the door in the kitchen that led to the garage. A dozen or
more infected were on and around the porch, pounding on the front door and windows. The glass
broke, and I threw Zoe over my shoulder. “The bedrooms! Go out the back!”