Chapter 2: No Way Back

  Sam’s body moved before his mind caught up. He turned and sprinted toward the back of the gas station, shoving past shelves of snacks and bottled drinks. Behind him, the sound of shattering gss exploded as the infected woman crashed through the entrance.

  The clerk screamed. A sickening crunch followed.

  Sam didn’t stop.

  He smmed through the employee-only door, his breath coming in ragged gasps. A narrow hallway stretched before him, lined with stacks of cardboard boxes. There had to be a back exit.

  He could still hear the chaos behind him—shelves toppling, bones snapping, that awful, wet sound of something being ripped apart.

  Then the door behind him burst open.

  Sam spun just in time to see the infected woman stagger into the hallway, her mouth dripping with red. Her eyes were wide, unblinking, dead. Her hands twitched at her sides, fingers curled like cws.

  She let out a guttural snarl and lunged.

  Sam grabbed the closest thing he could—a fire extinguisher from the wall. He swung it hard. The metal cylinder connected with her temple with a dull thud. She stumbled but didn’t go down.

  “Shit,” Sam muttered.

  She lunged again, faster this time.

  Sam had no choice. He swung again, harder. This time, the extinguisher smashed into her skull with a sickening crack. Bone split. Blood sprayed. The woman dropped, twitching on the ground.

  Sam stared, panting. His hands trembled.

  The woman didn’t move.

  His mind screamed at him to run, but for a moment, he just stood there, staring at the corpse at his feet. That wasn’t normal. No human should be able to keep moving after a blow like that.

  He swallowed hard. This isn’t just some outbreak.

  A loud bang outside snapped him back to reality.

  He grabbed the fire extinguisher and turned, pushing through the back exit. The door led to an alleyway filled with dumpsters and abandoned crates. The sky above was a bruised orange, the st traces of sunlight slipping behind the buildings.

  Then he saw the street.

  It was chaos.

  Cars sat abandoned, doors flung open. Smoke billowed from a crashed SUV. Bodies littered the sidewalks—some motionless, some crawling, others standing with jerky, unnatural movements. The infected were everywhere.

  Some sprinted after fleeing survivors. Others crouched over fallen victims, tearing into them with animalistic hunger.

  Sam’s stomach twisted. This wasn’t just an attack. This was the end of everything.

  A car sped past, nearly clipping him. A woman in the driver’s seat screamed through the window, her hands tight on the wheel. A man clung to the hood, pounding on the windshield with bloody fists.

  Sam had to move. He had to find Riley.

  A familiar ndmark caught his eye—a green street sign at the intersection. He knew this area. His apartment was only a few blocks away. If he could just get there, maybe he could figure out what to do next.

  Gritting his teeth, he gripped the fire extinguisher and ran.

  ---

  The closer he got to home, the worse it became.

  People screamed from inside buildings. A man was dragged out of a storefront, his nails scraping across the sidewalk as a group of infected swarmed him. A police officer fired off a few rounds before disappearing beneath a pile of bodies.

  The city was eating itself alive.

  Sam turned onto his street. His apartment building loomed ahead—a tall, gray structure with iron fire escapes zigzagging up the sides.

  Just a little farther.

  A figure stumbled onto the road ahead of him. Sam froze. At first, he thought it was another infected, but then he saw the man’s face—bloodied, terrified.

  “Help me!” the man croaked, reaching out.

  Sam hesitated.

  A shadow moved behind the man. Then another.

  Too te.

  Three infected smmed into him from behind. The man screamed, eyes wide with terror as they dragged him down.

  Sam turned and ran.

  ---

  His apartment door was locked. His hands shook as he fumbled for his key.

  “Come on, come on—”

  A low growl echoed down the hallway. A shadow appeared at the end, a dark shape moving toward him.

  The key finally slid into the lock. He twisted. The door flew open, and he smmed it shut behind him, locking it just as something heavy thudded against the other side.

  Panting, he stepped back.

  His apartment was dark, the only light coming from the window. He grabbed his phone, his fingers slick with sweat, and dialed Riley.

  No answer.

  He swallowed hard and tried again.

  Still nothing.

  His eyes flickered to the baseball bat leaning against the wall. Slowly, he picked it up, gripping the worn

  wood tightly.

  He didn’t know what was happening.

  But he knew one thing.

  This was only the beginning.