Shavian was starting to understand that having the end of a rifle shoved into your back is uncomfortable as well as very, very scary. She’d fought every instinct to turn and smack the crap out of Jackson.
Higgins watched her with an expression that she couldn’t read, Elliott was staring and of no use what-so-ever, and Roger was… Roger. That son of a bitch was drinking again.
Slowly holding her hands up she moved forward and sighed. This was going to suck, this was really going to suck. As she moved around the table, Jackson stepped with her, his attention split between her and making sure the rest of her friends didn’t come after him.
“You know,” Roger said, “even if we don’t kill you, the zombies are going to rip you to pieces out there.”
Jackson sneered back at him. “I’ve seen their Zombie Master. All I have to do is just show him that I have his girl and he’ll make sure they don’t touch me.”
“Jackson, I’m not sure that’s how it works,” Shavian said through gritted teeth. She couldn’t believe she was trying to reason with this bastard.
He dug the riffle in again harder and she yelped. “You just keep walking Red and keep your pretty mouth shut!”
Elliott jumped forward but McNabb put a hand out to stop him, holding him back, but it was enough to get Jackson’s attention. Jackson turned to watch him. “Better listen to the older men, boy,” he said taunting him. “You are in way over your head.” He reached to open the door to the office. The zombies had moved off after the truck, looking for louder prey.
Everything happened at once; Jackson opened the door. Max crashed through atop a zombie, ripping the head from it and spraying the room with thick coagulated blood. Shavian turned and grabbed the rifle and tried to push it up at him, rounds ripping through the door as Jackson pulled the trigger in surprise. Falling back the two of them fell over onto Max and the zombie scrabbling about in the mess, both of them trying to gain the gun.
As if things couldn’t have gone worse, those zombies hearing the rifle go off came to investigate the noise. Shavian thought she had the upper hand though; Jackson was on his back, down in the blood, she was slipping about trying to get traction. But a zombie grabbed her leg and started to pull her out the door.
“Shavian!” Higgins shouted and rushed forward to reach her before she was gone.