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wall.
    We all followed, advancing across the field toward the wall as the Chinook lifted into the air, its rotors flattening the long grass behind us. Hart had been right about the noise; if there were zombies in the area, they were sure to hear the chopper and come this way.
    We seemed to be in a farmer’s field. The farmhouse sat in darkness a couple of miles away, and the night breeze smelled of cows. I couldn’t see any in this field or the next, but we passed an open gate in the wall, so the cattle might have wandered off, leaving only their smell behind.
    Tanya stopped and took out a map from her pocket. “The compound is a few miles beyond the farm,” she said, pointing at a low, dark hill in the distance. “Over there.” She turned to look at us all. “Do we go tonight, or wait until morning?”
    “Let’s do it, man,” Sam said. “The sooner we finish this bullshit task, the better.”
    “I’m with Sam,” Johnny said. “We should get this over with.”
    “I’m not so sure that’s a good idea.” I pointed at the farmhouse. “Maybe we should hole up in there for the night and go to the facility in the morning. It’s already late, and we’ll be getting tired soon. I’d rather spend the night in that farmhouse than in the labs.”
    “I’m not tired at all,” Sam said. “I’m ready to kick ass. For some reason, I feel a sense of urgency. Oh, wait, maybe it’s because I have the fucking zombie virus in my blood.” He looked at me sharply.
    “I didn’t make you go to Apocalypse Island,” I reminded him. “In fact, I said I’d go alone.”
    “If it wasn’t for your stupid girlfriend getting herself bitten, we wouldn’t be here at all,” he said.
    The emotions that had been simmering inside me all day boiled over, and I lashed out at Sam. My punch, which I had been aiming at his face, connected with his shoulder. He was fast, and even as I was withdrawing my fist for a second blow, he drove his own fist into my stomach, forcing the air out of my lungs in an explosive whoosh. I fell down and lay in the grass, clutching my belly and trying to breathe.
    Sam stood over me. “If anybody gets killed on this mission, I’m blaming you, Alex. Their blood will be on your hands.”
    “Stop it,” Tanya said, pulling him away. “You two can fight it out when we get back with the H1 stuff, and we’ve all been given the antivirus. Until then, we need to work together or none of us will be going back alive.”
    Sam glared at her but seemed to take her words on board. He backed away and sat on the stone wall, sulking.
    I managed to suck in some breaths and stagger to my feet. I stood with my hands on my hips, looking up at the stars while I breathed slowly and tried to ignore the pain in my stomach.
    Jax put a hand on my shoulder. “Are you okay, Alex?”
    I nodded.
    Johnny pointed into the dark, at the place the helicopter had landed. “We should get moving.”
    I turned to see at least a dozen zombies shambling toward us. They were the slow-moving kind, trudging through the grass with hungry determination.
    Tanya set off toward the farmhouse. “Come on.”
    Jax and I followed while Sam and Johnny sauntered behind us, muttering to each other.
    “Are we going to the farmhouse?” I asked Tanya. She seemed to have assumed leadership of our group. We all knew how tough she was, and I couldn’t think of a better person to take charge.
    “No,” she said, shaking her head. “We need to get to that chemical as quickly as possible, while we’re still working together. If the group splits apart because of arguments, it’s going to be a hell of a lot harder to complete this mission.”
    Her talk of the group splitting apart sounded like an overreaction to me. Sure, everyone was mad at me because they all thought it was my fault we were here, but I didn’t think the group would split because of it. Or were everyone’s emotions running hotter than I knew? Maybe the others had been talking about me