Blood Soaked and Invaded - 02 Read Online Free Page B

this?”
    “I have no idea. The machines have exceeded the parameters of the original design many times. Truly, I saw him shot and I was sure,” his voice cracked, “it was a fatal wound. He went down across Charlie’s legs and I saw the hole for a single moment. I thought he was dead, and then he got up.”
    “Huh. Sounds pretty freaky.”
    “Shawn, he went down the hallway like a Raksha… a man-eating demon… I could not watch.”
    “Don’t feel bad, B. I’m pretty sure I couldn’t have coped with that either.” Shawn turned to me and waved me over to the chair beside him. “C’mere Frank. Sit down here. You look uncomfortable standing there, and having you stare at us is tripping me out just a little bit.”
    I sat. As soon as I settled in, I farted.
    “Oh, holy God! Frank, don’t do that!” Shawn exclaimed, attempting to wave the noxious vapors away from his face. “I don’t know why I expect you to have manners now. You never did when your brain was workin’. Damn!”
    “Shawn, I hope that my wife and your sister come back soon.” Bajali fidgeted on the chair. “The sooner the better.”
    “Why’s that?”
    “The silverware is looking appetizing. Also, I am experiencing abdominal cramps. Is that what I should expect?”
    “As near as I can tell, that’s what everyone has gone through at some point. It seems to be much worse if you’ve got any physical damage that needs repair.” Shawn took off his ball cap, shook out his hair and ran his hand through it. “I took down a zombie last night after he gut shot me, and it still freaks me out.”
    “How so?”
    Before Shawn could answer, Charlie and Jayashri came into the room bearing a can. Bajali’s wife went to him, wrapped her arms around his shoulders and placed the can in his waiting hands. She didn’t let go of him as he brought the can to his lips, and didn’t flinch when he sighed with relief against the metal. No one looked twice when he began to gently lick the metal, or when the side of the can began to slowly disappear.
    Chunhua spoke up from the far corner of the kitchen where she’d been holding up the wall since Shawn crushed Bajali’s hand. “The zombie shot Shawn, and he collapsed. Then he came after me, but my back was turned and I was paying attention to another one that tried to take our position. I heard an inhuman howl behind me and turned to look.” She pointed at Shawn with her hand. “He was on his feet, howling, and he tore the man’s head off. About that time, I took a bullet to my neck.”
    Shawn took over the story. “Something animal inside me rose to the surface when I saw that she was in danger. Yeah. That wasn’t as bad as the hunger.” He hugged himself briefly. “I bashed the fucker’s head open and ate his brains like… Damn. Like a little kid with his hands in cake frosting.”
    Chunhua shoved her hands deep into the pockets of her jeans as if to keep them warm or to stop the physical memory of a movement.
    “I gagged on my own blood and felt it pouring down my body. I couldn’t breathe.” Tears collected in the corners of her eyes. “Then I was filled with incredible rage,” she said, flexing her fingers under the denim, “and I jumped down onto the Eater who shot me. I killed him with my bare hands and sucked his brains out of his eye socket.”
    I stared at her, not comprehending the words, but seeing the physical manifestations of her feelings all over her body. The kitchen, specifically Shawn and Chunhua, smelled like a combination of rotting leaves and animal musk. Something about the heat of that smell made me want to run, even if I had no destination. Everyone else sighed and tried to shake the tension off.
    “Coffee is ready,” Jayashri said, inserting something normal into the currents of unease that swirled through the room. “Charlotte, do you think that Frank would drink coffee now?”
    “Uh. You know, I have no idea. I guess we could give him some and see what