It was time to run.

  One of the most important rules of fighting is to never turn your back on an opponent. But that rule didn’t matter when hundreds of angry Zombies were running at you.

  Eveth and I sheathed our swords as we ran.

  I would have liked to try to get more answers out of the Touched and maybe even taken her off the board, but there was no way that we were going to survive the tsunami of Zombies that would drown us if we stopped.

  We both yanked tents down as we ran, throwing them in the path of what was behind us. There was also the issue of blasts of air that we were having to dodge and run zigzag patterns through the empty camp so we didn’t get hit. All it would take was one of those small dust devils to hit us and that would be enough for the Zombies to catch us before we would be able to get our feet back under ourselves.

  “Where’s Val?” I almost tripped as I looked over at Eveth. The redhead was clearing out the area the farthest away from us, so there was a chance that she hadn’t seen my beacon and made it here in time. There was also the issue of the huge Zombie army between her and us. I hoped that the woman running close to me knew something about our friend.

  “I didn’t see her!” Eveth waved her hand and made a small barrier behind her that a couple Zombies faceplanted into. “Fig told me to come help you!”

  There was a whine in the air as another gust of air shot over my shoulder. If there weren’t so many Zombies in between us, the Touched would have probably hit one of us by now, but she was having to shoot around the undead army, which was limiting the places that we had to avoid.

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  “Hopefully she’s waiting for us!” I almost stopped when I saw the hole in the wall.

  It was over fifty feet wide, but only about ten feet high in most places. A Bokor would have been able to make a hole like that eventually, but not so cleanly in one blast. I wasn’t sure who had done it, but I doubted it was anyone here.

  There were still people running through the opening and they all weren’t going to get through before we reached them. There were still an easy hundred people trying to get through, though a dozen of them were guards and the mayor.

  “We’re going to have to fight!” A knot started forming in my throat as I yelled. This wouldn’t be a fight, we’d merely be a breaker for the wave to crash into before it resumed its charge.

  “GO!” The mayor motioned at the opening.

  The guards split, giving us a path through.

  For a moment, I thought about slowing down, but the way those men were standing as they raised their spears told me that they knew exactly what they were doing.

  The armored guards moved back around us, creating a line in between the Zombies and the remaining Humans. The opening was packed, which gave me a few seconds to look at the mayor.

  “Keep them safe!” The old man struck a piece of flint against the sword in his hand, sending sparks showering on the ground.

  The smell of alcohol hit me just before the sparks ignited it. A five foot thick line in front of the guards went up in flames. Zombies impaled themselves on the spears, adding their blood to the fire and making it burn even hotter now that it had something to burn.

  I slowly backed up as the Humans stood in front of a wall of fire so that the last people could get out. There were about twenty unarmored Humans with only swords and farming tools that were attacking any Zombies that managed to climb over the wall.

  I wanted to stay and help, but the mayor shoved my shoulder and pointed at the empty hole. “GO! They’re going to need you more than me!”

  I nodded and ran through the opening.

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