Dead Hunger II: The Gem Cardoza Chronicle Read Online Free Page A

They began to fall backward, but the two layers of oncoming creatures pushed them forward and they collapsed almost at the men’s feet.
    “Flex!  I’m throwing you a full mag!” I shouted, and I tossed it.  Shit! I thought.   It was nowhere near where it had to be for him to reach it.  It landed five feet away and there were more zombies closing in from all sides.
    I might have just killed him.
    Trina stood, gripping her revolver in both hands, the hammer pulled back.  I looked quickly down at her and prayed with all my might that she would live through this.
    “Be ready, Trini!” I shouted.  I ran into the trees behind the zombies closing in on Flex and once I was sure the boys were out of my line of fire, I took out two of them.
    Both had been completely nude, their bodies covered in pustules, cuts and welts.  Their skin hung in flaps from their arms, legs and faces, and once my rounds exploded their brains, the damage was complete.  They fell away.
    This opened up a path for Flex, who ejected his spent magazine and dove toward the errant one I’d thrown.  He landed nearly atop it, grabbed it and slammed it into his gun. 
    But they were nearly on top of him already.  I held my breath and prayed even harder, unable to fire on the threat without hitting him with my spray of bullets.
    Lying on his back he fired up ward and took out two that were ready to drop down on top of him.  By the time they did, they were a mass of blood and gore and no longer a threat.
    This shit was too crazy.  And my little Trina looked frozen.
    “Trina, stand with your back against a big tree, honey!  Now!”
    Trina, despite her obvious fear and confusion, obeyed immediately.  She had not yet fired a shot.  She scurried to a large pine and pressed herself against it, her gun held high in her hands.
    Charlie ran into the woods, and it appeared she was attempting to flank the remaining zombies.  As I fired and took out another three in four quick bursts of fire, one of her arrows flew and pinned another of the formerly female creatures to a tree.  She’d missed her head, but the arrow appeared to have punched through her shoulder blade and embedded deep into the pine, pinning the human-thing there.
    She ignored that one, no longer an immediate threat.  She was using her arrows sparingly, making each one count.
    Flex and Hemp were both back in business, and it seemed, gaining the advantage and their confidence once again.
    “ I think we’re going to get ‘em!” Flex shouted, bringing down another creature who wore what appeared to be the uniform of a restaurant busboy or dishwasher.  The once-white apron was covered in blood and filth, and now, much of the busboy-zombie’s brain.
    The clouds had been building all day, and now thunder rolled across the sky above us.  The day had begun to grow darker, and shadows closed in on us, the smok y haze combining with the fading sun to make visibility an issue now.
    “Gem!” shouted Hemp.  “Trina!”
    I looked over, the immediate area around me clear for the moment.
    One of the shambling creatures was five feet away, approaching her head-on, and I was too far away to kill it.  Charlie, who was about thirty yards on the opposite side of Hemp and Flex, let arrow after arrow fly, making good progress taking out the moving de ad things, and as far as I knew, she wasn’t aware of Trina’s situation .
    My heart skipped two beats and I held my breath as I watched her, her arms held straight out, both hands gripping the butt of the revolver.  I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her; I wanted to call out to her, tell her to shoot, shoot! but I didn’t want to distract her for a split second, because I knew if I did, she would look at me in time for me to see her die.
    She fired the gun.  The bullet appeared to pass through the thing’s neck, but I couldn’t be sure from this distance.  It kept coming.  Three feet.  Two feet.  She fired again, this time the bullet hitting