red hill - jamie mcguire

est thing I could do for my daughters was to pick off the infected from high ground. Nathan, Skeeter,
and Bryce, with various weapons in hand, ran off to reach my girls before anything else did.
Jenna and Halle were still running toward the house, but they would be cut off by the herd that was
walking through the field toward them. They had no idea what was hiding behind the wheat, but they
didn’t stop running, even when I began to shoot into the field.
“Jesus! Jesus, Scarlet!” Miranda said. She scrambled to the ladder and then climbed down,
sprinting at full speed toward the road, screaming for the girls to hurry.
Ashley chased after her a few steps before Miranda pointed back at her. “Stay with the kids,
Ashley! Stay with the kids!”
Ashley tossed her sister a handgun, and then looked up at me. I pressed my cheek against the rifle,
looking through the scope. I pulled the bolt handle, aimed, and pulled the trigger, taking out the first
infected. I leaned my face away. “Run, Jenna! Run to the house! They’re in the field! In the field!”
Jenna slowed down and looked around. She couldn’t see them coming.
“Run!” I screamed.
Jenna looked behind her, took Halle’s hand, and took off toward Nathan and Skeeter. I could hear
the boys calling to my children, motioning for them to hurry. I could hear Halle’s frightened cry carry
across the muggy summer evening air.
I pulled the bolt handle again, aimed, and shot. Grabbing another bullet, I loaded it into the
chamber, and then repeated the process. I’d had so much practice over the summer that I barely had to
look to load the bullets, but the more shufflers I put down, the more there seemed to be.
The first of the infected emerged from the wheat. Jenna stopped and leaned back so hard she fell
backward, taking Halle with her.
I kept shooting, and the boys and Miranda yelled to get the attention of the herd. A wall of bodies
was created between my friends and my daughters, with infected fanning out in both directions.
The girls hugged each other and screamed. “Mommy!” Jenna cried. “Mommy!”
I swallowed back my fear and continued shooting, focusing on the walking dead that were reaching
for my daughters. I was sure Nathan and the others were killing every undead thing in their path, but
the girls were defenseless.
My hands shook as I reloaded, but I forced myself to stay focused, to put down anything that got
too close to my kids. Suddenly, Nathan emerged from the opposite field and grabbed the girls. They
screamed at first, and then Nathan pushed them behind him. I aimed at the infected closest to him and
put it down, but there were three more behind it, and I couldn’t reload fast enough.
Nathan shoved the closest one away, but as I was reloading a gunshot went off. The infected fell.
Skeeter reloaded and shot again. Through my scope, I could see Nathan say something to the girls.
They nodded, and then they disappeared into the north field.
My heart nearly exploded when I lost sight of them, but I continued to put down anything that tried
to follow. A horrible, suffering scream made me search the area frantically through my scope. I
settled on Bryce, fighting off shufflers in front of him, but being attacked from behind. From pointblank
range, Miranda shot Bryce’s attacker in the temple, and then fell with her boyfriend to the
ground. I couldn’t tell where he was wounded, but they were both covered in Bryce’s blood.