The Zombie Wars: The Enemy Within (White Flag Of The Dead Book 8) by Joseph Talluto

over the wall for the next thirty days.”
    Carson scowled but kept his thought to himself.  He’d tried bucking his dad before, and it took the intervention of Heather Hobbes to keep Cole from seriously injuring his son.
     
    Darnell was cold.  He didn’t tell his daughter because she would worry, but he was deep down chilled to the bone cold. They slept during the day and walked at night, the reasoning being that the sun would keep them warmer as they recovered from their previous walk. It was more dangerous to travel at night, but Darnell was hopeful they would reach the Spring Creek road before the next sunrise. From there, they could move from campground to campground, heading south along a much easier path. Right now they had just walked until they reached the foot of the mountain, then followed the valleys.  Sometimes they had to go in directions they didn’t want to, but overall they made good progress.
    Alison was leading the way since she had better eyes and could see further in the dark.  Darnell just concentrated on stepping where she stepped and keeping out of the way.
    Suddenly, Alison stopped. “Dad!” she whispered quietly, but urgently.
    Darnell’s head snapped up. He looked around and saw several shadowy figures moving slowly in the open grass next to a noisy creek. A quick head count told him there were more of them than bullets in his gun.  Not a great place to be, mathematically.
    “Don’t move,” Darnell said. “We’re in a good spot here. They can’t see us in the trees, and they can’t hear us with the creek nearby.  “There’s no wind, so they can’t smell us. Just be patient, and let them pass.”
    Alison was frozen with fear. “But what if they hear us or know we’re here?” Her voice started to rise above a whisper, and Darnell put a kind hand on his daughter’s mouth.
    “Then we run for the nearest mountain and go up.  It’s too cold for them to follow, and they’re moving slow as it is.  Pretty soon they’re going to be frozen,” Darnell said with more confidence than he felt.  Deep down he was terrified as the small horde of about a dozen zombies slowly made their way towards him and his daughter.
    They moved very slowly, and it was strange to watch them walk nearly in unison. But they made their way slowly towards the small grove of trees that hid the terrified pair. Occasionally one would turn its head and smell the air with a large intake of air. But they always moved on, pushing aside long grass and sometimes tripping over hidden rocks.
    Darnell turned his daughter to face him. “Sit down by the big tree there. I’ll sit over at this one.  Don’t move unless you have to. And if you have to, head to your right, and make a run for the mountain. It’s our only chance,” Darnell said, as he saw the question in Alison’s eyes. She nodded and silently sat down on the side of the tree away from the zombies. Darnell ducked down and made it over to the other tree facing the same way.  No moans behind him suggested that they had gotten away with their little bit of movement. It was very dark, and the only way Alison had seen the zombies in the first place was one of them had glowing eyes.
    Darnell used his hands and told his daughter to cover her head with her hood and keep her face down. He’d had to do this before when he was running from the zombies during the first days of the Upheaval. He’d been chased down an alleyway by three of them, and around the corner was a car covered in a tarp.  He’d slipped under the tarp when they couldn’t see him, and they walked right on by.  He hoped it was a pattern, and he didn’t just kill himself and his daughter.
    He put his own head down, and with his eyes closed he listened as the footsteps got closer and closer.  They were about fifteen feet away, then ten, then five. The next sounds were the zombies walking around them, slowly, shifting through the grass, stumbling over the rocks. 
    From under his hood,