“Well, can't stand here, just waiting for the shit to happen. I was so stupid!” Tala muttered, looking around, not knowing if she was to run for the cover, the guy would just point the shotgun and gun her down. “I was so stupid being all in the open, just watching and waiting. I heard the noise, why the fuck did I not go for a cover! Stupid, stupid, stupid. And stupid will kill me, one of these days.”

She had a gun in her backpack. It was empty, but the biker might not know that.

So, she grabbed it and pointed it into the air just as the biker was still doing with his shotgun.

Then, something strange happens. The biker hit the break, brought the shotgun down, and holstered it somewhere in the back of the bike. Then he raised his hand up with the palm of his hand toward her.

“Shit, I guess I live,” she growled, still not happy with herself at all, and instantly put the gun back into her backpack. “Still lucky and still stupid."

The next moment the biker moved his chopper to stop a few feet away from her.

“Hi,” he said and waved at her.

He was young, a few years older than her, at most. Heavyset with a thick blond beard and matching long hair that came out of the dark helmet. He had a goofy spark in his eyes, and even sitting now, Tala could tell he was at least a head taller than her.

“Hi, Hells Angels,” she said and gave him her best smile.

He chuckled. “No, I'm not one of them."

“You certainly look like one.”

“Sorry if I scared you with the shotgun. Then, I figured I know who you are.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, you're... the leader of Hotel Seven, aren't you? You run the show there, right?”

“So, who are you?” Tala asked, not wanting to confirm anything to him. Sure he had a benevolent smile and the tone of his words was gentle and right, but, she could not afford to trust anyone.

“Name's Sam. So glad you agreed to trade with us."

“I didn't, Tala was ready to say, but then she bit her tongue and stayed quiet.

“I guess you're here, providing a backup?”

“I actually was going to the trading place.”

“Oh, I see. Maybe I can take you then. It's only a few blocks away.”

Before accepting his offer, Tala squinted her eyes and asked him, “So, what were you doing?”

“Well, my dad... I mean... our leader said that we need to corral all the zombies and take them out of here. The idea was to get them all out of this zone, take them toward the border, and let the army and national guard deal with them, so we could have a quiet time here. You know.”

“Yeah, pretty smart,” Tala said and pointed her head at a dozen of them who were running toward them. “And what about them?”

“Shit, they must have followed me!”

“What the hell are you doing?” Tala asked him seeing he was getting his shotgun out. “You'll just bring everyone here!”

I'm not smart, but this guy is off the charts, Tala thought.

But Sam took her advice and shoved his shotgun back in its holster and said, “Well, I guess, we can drive down the way you were heading, and then a few blocks away, I can go and join with Martina and Rob.”

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“Yeah, you can turn left and I'll turn right and be a the Obesevation Deck in a minute.”

“Yeah, hop on. Glad to take you,” he said in a friendly tone, extending his hand to help her climb to the back.

But the guy was completely oblivious to the zombie that was sprinting toward them, and straight away, Tala saw they might not make it as the zombie was mere seconds from reaching them. So she jumped forward, her hammer in her hand already.

The zombie was a head taller than her, once a kid in his late teens, obviously very athletic. But none of it mattered. She ducked down so he missed grabbing her. Then in the same motion, she brought the hammer against his knee, knocking it out of its socket, and as the zombie flew down to hit the ground next to the bike, she jumped on his back and slammed his head into pieces.

Two more zombies were hot on their trail, but there was no need to wait for them. So she jumped behind mouth wide-opened Sam.

“Let's go!” she said, thinking if she did that slick duck-and-strike-from-behind move just to show off. Could have just knocked him down and jumped on the bike... oh well... But was he impressed or what? Did you see how his eyes went all wide, she thought with satisfaction.

“Shit, no wonder you're their leader. I guess I get it now, you samurai warrior, you... Well, Hammer Warrior. You certainly hammered his ass down!”

He made his bike roar, and they hollered out of there.

But not for too long.

A dark shape came out of nowhere, running like mad straight at them, running into the front tire of the bike before Sam could move out of the way.

They went flying, losing complete control over their bodies.

But only for a second. Tala, instinctively let go of holding on to the bike, went flying as she made a summersolt in the air, and landed on the ground feet first.

But Sam had no such luck. He stayed with the bike and crashed against the ground loud and hard.

She ran to him.

His lower body seemed to have ended somehow underneath what was left of his smashed bike.

She moved the bike's body out of the way and looked him over.

“Hey, you okay?” she asked him, not able to see any gashing wounds or bones sticking out.

“Yeah... I.. . think we ran over one of them,” he said a moment later. “Thank god for the helmet,” he added but then he shrieked in pain as he tried to move his body.

Shrieked even louder as another zombie was almost on top of them.

Tala did not hesitate but leg-kicked him in the stomach, folding him over while she grabbed the hammer and nailed him on the back of his head.

But two zombies seemed to have been only the start as a half dozen more came behind, even more so behind them.

“Shit,” Tala said, thought about running, But Sam was down on the ground, and he was not getting up.

So she ran into them, dancing around them, kicking them when she could not bring her hammer on them, breaking bones and skulls in an unstoppable fury that saw one deadly move flow without stopping into another one.

She counted six kills, ready to jump on the seventh one, when the loud bang of a gunshot ripped through the night air, made her duck down and turn around.

Sam had somehow wrestled the shotgun out of his bike and, lying down on the ground started to fire rounds into oncoming zombies.

Except, shooting from the ground up, the most he was getting were their legs and chests. Tala counted only one headshot.

She crunched down in a ball so as not to get shut herself while she screamed at him “Stop shooting!”

"Stop! Don't shoot!!" she yelled louder as he checked his shotgun again. “What the hell are you doing?!? That will just bring them all on top of us!!”

Sam heard her, but it seemed he could not hear her. He pressed the trigger again, pointing his shotgun at the zombie that was twenty yards away. But the shotgun clicked empty.

Tala scoffed. “And what are you going to do now? Throw the shotgun at them?”

“No, I've got a gun too,” he said and tried to reach for the bike where his gun must have been holstered.

Tala could not see the gun, but she figured it must be in the big holster, so she went over there and picked it up. “I'll give you your gun, but only if you stop shooting... you're just bringing them all in.”

“What?”

“Don't shoot.”

“But I have to kill them... kill them all.”

“Yeah, of course you do. How many zombies have you killed so far?” Tala said and added, “I counted only one head being blown away. You can break their bones and they will still walk and crawl. They do not care about pain, you understand?”

“Of course, of course, I do. I know that.”

“So then, why did you shoot them like that? Didn't you see I was taking care of them? And now... look down the street. There are at least a dozen of them coming our way,” she concluded and threw Sam's gun into her backpack. "I guess I better hold to that one.

“Fine, my Hammer Superwoman. Just promise me to take them down. Give them hell! That's what they are here for anyway!”

“Shit, you should just calm down, dude. And get up. I think we better leave,” she said but Sam only yelped a cry of pain.

“You can get up, can't you?” she asked.

He tried pulling his leg, but it only caused him to scream even louder. “No, no, I don't think I can,” he said, his voice filled with pain and horror.