Arena Three

Without a second’s hesitation, we race forward, heading straight for the door. At the same time, shadows lurch out of the corridor.

Crazies. At least ten of them.

They race toward us, their faces melted, their deformed hands stretching out for us. I’m ready for them. I start shooting before anyone else has even had a chance to draw their weapon. My first shot is so precise it only just skims past Ryan’s face before meeting its target.

Emmanuel screams and freezes on the spot. I have no choice but to grab him and start dragging him, making me unable to fire my weapon. I just pray the other three can cover me.

Ryan, Zeke, and Molly shoot their guns desperately at the crazies but none of the bullets find their destination. They’re panicking too much. Finally, Molly gets herself together and manages to shoot one of the crazies dead. He falls directly in my and Emmanuel’s path. Emmanuel trips over the corpse and goes flying across the slippery marble floor, right into another crazy. The deformed man snatches him up in his arms, ready to whisk him away. But there’s no way I’m going to let that happen. This whole thing is my fault. Emmanuel was safe before we turned up. I won’t let him die because of me.

I aim my gun up and blast the crazy right in the face.

Blood explodes all over the place and the crazy falls to the floor dead, releasing Emmanuel, who crumples into a heap, shivering, staring at the place where the crazy’s face used to be.

“GET UP!” I cry at him. “MOVE!”

He drags himself to his feet and runs toward where Jack is barking by the door, ready to lead the boy to safety.

With Emmanuel safely out the way, I wheel and direct my gun at the shadows, at the figures darting around in them. Molly’s gun cracks out another bullet, hitting a crazy in the chest. She fires two more times, and he finally falls. Ryan and Zeke both fire on a second crazy and he collapses to his knees before falling face first onto the marble with his arms splayed either side of him. I turn my gun on the last standing crazy and fire. My bullet hits him right between the eyes. He pauses momentarily before falling to the ground.

Panting, blood-splattered, we look around at the fallen group of crazies. Ten of them lie dead on the floor. That was way too close for comfort, but we did it. We killed them all.

Suddenly, I hear the sound of Jack’s barking coming from outside the castle. If Jack is barking, that means there’s more danger. My mind immediately thinks of Emmanuel, who followed the pit bull outside. He’s completely defenseless.

Ryan, Zeke, Molly, and I exchange a quick glance before rushing out of the castle doors. And that’s when we see them. Through a gray sheet of rain, we take in the sight of more crazies. A whole gang of them—on our boat. The ones inside the castle were just an offshoot of this main group, a distraction used to give these crazies the opportunity to steal our boat. And there in the center sits Emmanuel. He’s been completely bound in rope. His frantic gaze locks with mine.

“NO!” I scream.

The engine of our boat thrums and the black water churns as the propellers turn. The boat starts to move away, taking our weapons, food, and medical supplies with it.

Flooded with anger, drenched by rain, I raise my gun. But what can I do? I can’t get a clear shot of the crazies driving the boat because Emmanuel is in the way. If I shoot it to sink it, that would be no help either. We’d lose everything, including Emmanuel, who wouldn’t be able to swim to safety. There’s nothing I can do. I’m completely defeated.

Suddenly, I feel something grab me from behind. I scream and thrash around frantically. Beside me, Molly, Ryan, and Zeke have all been grabbed as well. As I finally catch a glimpse behind me, I realize that the whole island is filled with crazies. There are at least fifty of them surrounding the castle. The ones in the boat were just a decoy. We’re trapped. There’s nothing we can do.

I’m certain I’m about to meet my death when the sudden blast of a shotgun splinters the air. Something whistles past my face and immediately the arms that were latched tightly around me release. The crazy who’d been holding me falls into the wet, muddy earth, dead, with a neat bullet hole in the side of his face.

I touch my cheek and feel warm blood mingling with the ice cold rain drops. The bullet grazed me. Whoever just fired that gun was a millimeter from blasting my face off.

I don’t have time to think about the fact I’m still alive or how. I dart forward with my gun, spin on the spot, and start shooting the crazies. I free Molly first, knowing full well that she’s a better shot than either of the guys. She looks completely startled as she wriggles free from the dead crazy who’d been holding her. She’s soaking wet from the rain. Her uniform weighs her down and her ginger hair is plastered to her head.

“Save Emmanuel!” I shout at her.