Survive to Dawn by PJ Schnyder

Author:PJ Schnyder
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2014-03-03T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Danny studied the line of trees edging Rotten Row. It used to be a broad expanse of dirt for horseback riders. Now, the name had taken on a whole new meaning.

Staring at the line of trees and the park beyond, Deanna nodded. “Sure I am. You getting cold feet?”

Her bravado fell a wee bit flat, given her almost imperceptible trembling. Her face was pale and her heart rate accelerated, but she’d also set her jaw and her breathing was steady. Not a full twenty-four hours since her close call and she was facing the terror with the kind of courage people wrote books about.

“If a zombie approaches, let me dispatch it. Keep quiet. Noise will only attract more.” He frowned as she kept nodding. “Oy, I need a verbal from you. Let me know you’re understanding.”

She shot him a sharp glance. “Yes.”

He grinned. Good. She had a better chance of keeping it together if she was a touch riled up.

“This isn’t the way our team came in.” She jerked her chin to the right, in the direction of Queen Elizabeth Gate. “We didn’t see any at all as we entered from the corner gate.”

He wondered, briefly, if all humans thought in terms of entrances and gates, roads and paved footpaths. Made sense, he supposed. They’d built them. But he preferred game trails and lesser used paths.

“Perhaps not. There are a lot of wide open spaces there. But this is closer to the rose garden you said your sister described.” And this route gave him the best chance of getting her in and out in one piece.

“We didn’t realize the zombies were active during the day.” Her comment had been muttered under her breath, an observation.

Most likely she’d meant it for herself and not for him, but he responded anyway. “They are, but they’re slower. Sluggish. And tend to stay to the shadier tree areas. You can walk a good way into the park sometimes without seeing one. It’s why I made us wait until the noon hour. This time of day, you can outrun a corpse easily if there’s only the one. Don’t be daft and run right into the path of others. Keep your eyes open and stay near me.”

“But not too near.” She’d not sounded irritated, the way someone else might. She was taking his instructions seriously. A good thing. Otherwise, he’d not risk taking her in at all, not after he’d put so much effort into getting her out the previous night.

“Give me room to fight, but be aware of your surroundings while I’m engaged. Stay in the clear, downwind if you can.”

“Zombies hunt by smell too?” There might be a faint tremor to her voice. She still held steady in every other way.

“Not as well as shape-shifters.” In this, he could be reassuring. “They do seem attracted first by noise and excited by the scent of blood and fresh meat. If they see you, they’ll come to investigate, but their vision is poor.

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