Chapter 46: Highway of Blood and Flesh
The second floor was equally critical.
Lilly's hunting rifle ammunition ran out quickly. She retreated in panic, grabbing Larry's gun to continue firing.
Larry slumped against the wall in the corner, his leg roughly bandaged but still bleeding, the entire pant leg soaked red.
His face had gone deathly pale. Severe pain and blood loss caused cold sweat to pour down his body.
"Dad! What do we do?" Lilly asked tearfully.
"Idiot! Forget the front!" Larry endured the pain through gritted teeth.
He pointed toward the stairway leading to the first floor. "Guard the stairs! Absolutely do not let those things come up from below, or we're all dead!"
Doug gripped his small revolver, hands shaking badly.
He looked toward the stairs. He could already hear walkers breaking through windows downstairs.
"But... but... Hanks and the others... are still down there!" Doug's voice trembled.
"No buts!" Larry snarled. The outburst pulled at his wound, making him hiss in pain.
"Either we hold here or we all turn into monsters! Push that cabinet over! Block the stairwell! Now!"
Lilly and Doug had no other choice. They frantically pushed the heavy wooden wardrobe, struggling to move it toward the top of the stairs, trying to establish a fragile barrier.
Downstairs was already on the brink. Now without fire support from above, the defense line leaked from all sides.
"Lilly!"
Hanks's hysterical roar was forced to redirect his fire toward walkers charging in from behind.
His shout was drowned by roars and gunfire. Pressure at the front suddenly spiked from the distraction—several walkers nearly broke through the chain-link fence.
Hanks immediately spun back. The P226 erupted in continuous fury.
He headshot the most dangerous walkers, forcibly stabilizing the collapsing front line.
[Handgun Skill Upgraded]
[Handgun Skill Level 40: 1000/40000]
(Can reliably hit a coin at 15 meters, proficiently engage multiple targets with transitional shooting, and maintain accuracy while moving slowly)
[Handgun Skill Passive Unlocked]
[Mozambique Drill]
(Master the two-to-chest-one-to-head shooting technique, delivering three rounds precisely to the T-box)
He had no time for system notifications. The crisis at his back was imminent.
The sounds of breaking glass and walker roars downstairs grew closer. Lilly had abandoned everyone fighting below to a death trap.
"Kenny!" Hanks fired while roaring with every ounce of strength. "Don't worry about anything else! Drive! Ram the gate! We have to break out! Now!"
This was the only way out.
They had to use the RV's massive body to smash through the piled corpses and damaged gate.
Carve out a bloody path.
Holding position meant certain death.
Kenny heard Hanks's roar. He also heard the terrible sounds from the motel behind him.
He glanced at the rearview mirror. His wife Katjaa and Carley were firing from window gaps outward.
No time to hesitate.
"Hold on tight!" Kenny shouted into the cabin, his eyes turning resolute.
He slammed it into drive and floored the gas. The RV's engine gave a mighty roar.
The tires spun in place, smoking, then the heavy vehicle suddenly lurched forward.
But it didn't charge the gate directly—first it reversed sharply.
Wham! Crash!
The rear end slammed into several walkers approaching from behind, clearing a small space while building more momentum for the impact.
Then Kenny yanked the wheel hard.
He aimed the front at the trembling motel gate and the densely packed horde outside.
"Get out of my way!" Kenny roared, stomping the gas pedal to the floor.
The massive RV charged like a steel beast, thundering toward the gate with unstoppable momentum.
BOOM! CRACK!
The enormous impact was deafening.
The already-damaged wooden gate and part of the fence shattered instantly.
The corpses piled at the entrance were knocked aside like bowling pins, rolled under the vehicle.
Severed limbs and filthy blood sprayed everywhere.
The RV shook violently. The front bumper twisted instantly. The windshield was smeared with disgusting viscous matter.
But its momentum didn't slow. It carved out a bloody passage through the horde by sheer force.
"Lee! Follow!" Seeing this, Hanks immediately roared at Lee in the pickup.
He fired while quickly approaching the pickup, vaulting onto the truck bed in one motion.
Lee reacted instantly, shifting into gear and driving the pickup through the gap the RV had smashed open.
Hanks grabbed the sling and swung the M590 shotgun into his hands. Chambered. Fired.
The pickup bit tight to the RV's tail. The two vehicles moved one after another, struggling forward through the frenzied horde.
Headlights swung wildly in the chaos, beams sweeping across countless grotesque rotting faces and grasping arms.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Gun barrels constantly extended from the RV's windows, firing at walkers closing in from both sides.
Hanks stood in the violently bouncing pickup bed, feet welded to the truck bed, core muscles tensed, fighting every lurch of the vehicle.
"Lee! Speed up! Get ahead of the RV! We'll lead!" Hanks shouted toward the cab, his M590 roaring again.
BOOM! Countless steel pellets erupted.
A walker lunging at the hood was blown back through the air, mangled beyond recognition.
Lee didn't hesitate. He stomped the gas. The pickup's engine screamed as it passed the RV on the side.
The front end rammed aside several walkers blocking the way, surging to the front of the convoy.
Now the pickup was the spearhead.
Hanks was the sharpest edge of that spear.
He stopped conserving ammunition.
Under the blood moon, survival trumped everything.
Chack! BOOM!
The Firearms Master talent made the shotgun come alive in his hands.
The pump-action was so fast it became a blur. Every roar was deafening.
[Shotgun Skill Upgraded]
[Shotgun Skill Level 20: 100/20000]
[Passive Skill Unlocked: Suppressive Bombardment]
(Through technique, massively reduce recoil to achieve rapid and accurate consecutive shooting)
Hanks no longer aimed for single-shot kills.
Instead he used the shotgun's area damage for covering suppressive fire.
BOOM! One shot.
Three or four sprinting walkers in the forward fan-shaped zone were swept down as if hit by an invisible hammer, creating precious meters of forward space.
BOOM! Another shot to the right.
Several walkers trying to burst from the forest on the side were blown back, slamming into trees.
Wherever the barrel pointed, blood and flesh flew.
The frenzied walkers knew no fear, still surging forward in endless waves.
They charged from roadside drainage ditches, from the pitch-black forest.
The pickup's hood, doors, and windshield were covered with claw marks and impact dents.
One walker even grabbed the truck bed edge, its rotting face roaring as it climbed up.
Hanks swung the barrel around, pressing it almost point-blank against its chest.
BOOM!
The massive impact blew the walker away, a terrible cavity opening in its chest.
Shell casings rained from the truck bed, clattering onto the road.
Hanks emptied the tube.
His left hand instantly pulled two 12-gauge shells from the tactical bandolier, loading them without looking, pumping the action, continuing to fire.
The entire process remained flawlessly smooth despite the bouncing.
But there were too many walkers.
The pickup's speed was severely dragged down, struggling forward as if through a thick swamp of blood and flesh.
"Left side! Hanks! Left!" Lee screamed in terror from the cab.