Infamy: A Zombie Novel Read Online Free Page B

almost done,” I say. “Get over here.”
    Rob snaps his mop over his knee to create a jagged edge. He drives it into the eye of a dark-haired, creeper-woman wearing a WELCOME TO SAN DIEGO t-shirt.
    I step through the hole into a bathtub.
    Rob follows and we barricade the bathroom with a dresser. Doesn’t take long and we hear fingernails scratching the walls.
    “I gotta get some air,” I say.
    Rob slides open the door to the balcony and we step outside. We’re high above the hotel pool.
    “ This shit is crazy man,” he says. “How we gonna to get out of here?”
    I point to the pool.
    “Jump?”
    “ What else are we going to do? This building isn’t secure.”
    “Maybe no place is safe.”
    “It’s safe somewhere,” I say. “We just have to get through these bastards and find our way to some safe buildings. We need weapons. We need a plan of attack.”
    “ Ain’t no plan when it’s all chaos.”
    “Look, Rob. I want to panic too. But we can’t give up. We have to survive.”
    “What’s there to survive?”
    “You’re just freaking out. You need to calm down. That pool isn’t so far down.”
    “It’s not lan ding in the pool that scares me,” he says. “It’s all the space in between.”
    “ We don’t have a choice. We hit the pool then we get the hell out and fight our way to some weapons, food and safety.”
    “Shit,” Rob says. He hears the crash the same time I do.
    The top part of the bathroom door breaks open. Arms pop through. Hands rip away wood. Screeches and growls bellow into the room.
    “Cheap fucking hotel doors,” I say .
    We both step onto the railing as zombies crawl over the dresser we used as a barrier.
                  “I don’t like this,” Rob says. “I just want answers. Will one of you fucking zombie bitches tell me what’s going on?”
    My “fuck this” switch flicks on and I jump first, feeling like a bird. Within three seconds I smash into the deep end of the pool. The water welcomes me with a painfully wet hello and I crash to the bottom. I’m not sure if I’m hurt, alive or dead.
    C old water sends chills through my torso, legs and arms, numbing any remainder of a drug hangover. I look for Rob as soon as I hit the surface. He hasn’t jumped yet.
    I wave my arms as I get out of the pool, trying to get him to come down. I don’t yell because I don’t want to attract attention.
    “What if I miss?” he yells from the ledge.
    He wants to jump but continues to hesitate.
    I check for zombies around the pool. I don’t see any and look back up.
    Rob is taking too long. Somehow in his desperation he can’t leap and the zombies are on him. He turns and kicks at faces and arms as they grab at his legs. There’s not enough room on the ledge and he loses his footing.
    “No!”
    Rob’s body is falling backwards in a trajectory to slap the concrete four stories below. But he’s still EdgeCrusher—one badass son of a bitch. I don’t know how he does it—he straightens his body out in mid-air. The fucker manages to grab the rail of the balcony one floor below, crashing his body hard, but holds on and pulls himself up.
    As he slips up and over the railing, the zombies after him from above start tumbling off the balcony. Some land in the pool. Others splat against cement, lawn chairs and tables.
    I’m dodging falling corpses when the pool doors burst open. Three hungry zombie women stumble into the pool area. One of them slips on the bloody concrete next to a sign that reads NO RUNNING IN POOL AREA and smashes her head against the concrete. The dumbass moans and twitches.
    “ I’m not jumping now,” Rob yells. “Those bitches look mean. I’ll stay up here a while.”
    “Barricade the door,” I say. “And help yourself the mini-bar.”
    I jump up on to the wall that surrounds the pool. The zombie bitches can’t reach me.
    Rob laughs. “You can’t climb for shit, Seth.”
    “Rob!” I shout a warning. Two hands grab his shoulders