In the Dead: Volume 1 Read Online Free Page A

firing the shotgun before he got there. The smells of cordite and blood filled the air as he vaulted to her side and continued to fire his own weapon.
    “ Nice shooting,” he panted as he looked at the two dead zombies who were already collapsed against the stairs one level down from them. The remaining three were already starting to crawl over the bodies, drooling and growling out their desire for blood and brains.
    “ I hope it’s worth it,” Carrie said as she shot him a side glance. “Because I’m out.”
    He jerked his head toward her. “Out-out?”
    She nodded. “That was my last shell. I told you we didn’t have much ammo.”
    “ Ok,” he breathed as he fired off another shot at the zombies below. He cursed as the it went wide and hit the wall and not the male zombie with the sideways baseball cap. Seattle Mariners. “I think I have about five bullets left. Use your shotgun as a bludgeon and go up to where your Mom is waiting.”
    She stared at him. “But-”
    “ Do it!” he snapped.
    “ Be careful,” she said as she ran off behind him.
    Zander grunted an acknowledgment of her advice and fired again. This time he hit the baseball fan and he collapsed back against the zombie behind him, sending them both toppling out of sight on the stairwell.
    “ Four zombies, four shots,” Zander said to himself.
    His hands started to shake. What the hell was he doing anyway? Really shooting things, really killing monsters? He was a gamer! A slacker! He wasn’t built to be a real hero.
    Except if he wasn’t, then he would die. And so would Carrie. And so would Mrs. Floyd.
    The zombies who had fallen down the stairwell had already climbed their way back up and around into his sightline again. One of them had broken his arm in the fall, too. The bone stuck out of his rotting flesh in a twisted, sickening manner.
    Zander swallowed back the vomit that had risen into his throat and fired at the zombie with the broken arm. With a hissing gurgle, it jerked and the bullet hit the side of his head. A flap of skull and hair flew off into the distance, revealing brain, but the zombie kept coming.
    “ Shit!” Zander said, stunned momentarily by the image of exposed brain material and unstoppable hunger.
    “ Shoot it!” Carrie screamed from somewhere above him.
    Zander shook his head. Yeah, he could not get too distracted. Not if he wanted to live. The four remaining zombies were coming faster up the stairs now, sniffing at the air like rabid dogs and screaming and gurgling with hunger and rage.
    He fired his final three shots in rapid succession. One after another, three of the zombies fell as they moved up the stairs. But the last one, Mr. Exposed Brain Matter, kept coming.
    Zander backed up in horror, and without thinking, threw the gun at the thing.
    The weapon bounced off the zombie’s face, breaking his nose off at the tip and making the thing hiss and vomit sludge. Then the damaged monster leapt forward. Zander raised his arms and the zombie landed on him, his dead weight crushing Zander against the stairs and forcing his elbows to bend with the pressure.
    “ Oh fuck!” he screamed, though he hardly recognized his own high-pitched, terror-filled voice.
    The zombie pushed toward him, growling as he snapped his teeth and tried to bite. His breath smelled like rotten meat and something metallic.
    “ Get off!” Carrie’s voice came from somewhere behind him.
    And then, miraculously, the butt of the shotgun swung dangerously close to his head and connected squarely with the zombie’s face. The monster flew back off of him with a hissing whine. Zander sat up and scooted backward, away from the creature and watched in horror as Carrie swung her shotgun three more times, pulverizing the skull of the creature until it released one last shudder and then lay still.
    The stairwell was quiet again, just as it had been when they first entered it. The only sounds were those of his own breathing, as raspy and broken as it