Generation Dead (Book 3): Beyond The Gates Read Online Free

lay over the floor.  All the foodstuff was gone, as well as all of the drinks in the coolers.  I did see something of great value, and I stepped through the glass to get it.  On the near side of the register was a small display, and tucked in neat little rows were road maps of Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, and South Dakota.  I grabbed one of each and tucked them in my side pocket. 
    A quick look in the back showed that the place had been empty for a long time.  The only thing I disturbed was a small raccoon that scurried out the open back door.  If there had been anything in here, it wouldn’t have stayed to tap on the glass. 
    Outside, I looked around, and then waited.  Patience wasn’t one of my virtues, but every now and then you had to sit back and let things happen.  You couldn’t always force it.  Five minutes into my vigil I heard it again. 
    Tap…tap…tap…
    That was on my left.  I knew for certain because there wasn’t a damn thing on my right.  Towards the left was Big Bat’s Car Wash, and there were several windows facing me, as well as big garage doors on the front and rear. I decided to go through the front, since that would let in the most light, and I didn’t feel like battling a locked door when I didn’t really have to.
    Walking to the front of the building, I looked hard through the cloudy plastic but couldn’t see very much aside from large colored brushes. I took hold of the handle near the ground and gave a pull.  The door lifted about a foot, then stuck.  I got a grip with both hands and heaved.  Whatever had held up the door gave way, and the garage door flew upwards. It smacked into the back of its rails and crashed down again, cracking the plastic in several places near the bottom.
    My first thought was I was lucky I wasn’t standing underneath it.  My second thought was I was glad Jake hadn’t seen what had just happened. My third thought was I was very grateful the door had come down, because two sets of very dead hands slammed into the plastic window a second after the door had come down.
    One pair of hands was very dark, and likely the owner had been a zombie for quite a while. The other pair were more white, with what looked like recent defensive tears.  If I had to guess, new hands had gone into the car wash for shelter, not realizing it was already occupied until it was too late.
    Faces replaced hands, and I was grateful the plastic was cloudy.  Oldy was definitely uglier, and Newby just in bad shape.  By the looks I could get, Oldy had done a number on Newby.
    Question now was how do I deal with these two?  I could leave them there, but there was something odd about Newby that I wanted to check out. If I opened the door, they’d be on me in a second. I looked around for a solution, then realized the door was the solution.  I went back to the station and found an empty milk crate.  At the window of the car wash I banged on it for a while with the side of my tomahawk until I was rewarded with a hand thump from the other side.
    I quickly went to the front and lifted the garage door, jamming the milk crate under it to keep it open.  It made a big enough space for the zombies to crawl through, but not enough to let them move quickly.
    I stepped to the side of the garage door and waited, using my hand to pound on the door.  Sure enough, the hands and faces were back, and they were making their own noise.
    After about five minutes, I realized the zombies were too stupid to figure out to go underneath the door ,and I was going to have to do this the hard way. I was hoping to trap them underneath as they tried to crawl through, but that wasn’t going to happen. I went to the side of the door again, and with one hand shoved it upward.  I backpedalled at the same time, trying to put some distance between myself and the coming dead.
     

Chapter 6
     
     
    They came out of the car wash at a decent clip.  The dark old zombie was moving pretty good on legs that must