Night of the Living Dead Read Online Free

but even in the poor light, he could see that it was very dirty — a particularly nasty stain ran from the left side of her neck down onto her breast. Her hair was a mess, too, hanging wild and hiding much of her face.
     
    And there she was, just standing in the middle of the road.
     
    "Here you go," the waitress said as she set his cobbler onto the table.
     
    "Mmm ...? Oh, thank you, ma’am ..."
     
    "You all right?" she asked, but then answered her own question when she followed his gaze. "Oh, my Lord!"
     
    One of the old men turned on his stool. "What’s that, Clara?"
     
    "Look there!" the waitress exclaimed. What Ben had considered merely strange had struck a stronger chord with his server, and her voice trembled as much as her pointing finger.
     
    Now both old men were looking out the big front windows, as were Ben’s fellow bus travelers. Only the janitor remained oblivious, still snoozing away in the back booth.
     
    "Is that Liza Connelly?" one of the men asked as he rose from his stool for a closer look.
     
    "I, I think so, yeah," the waitress answered. To Ben, she explained, "She’s my neighbor." Her fingertips were touching her quivering lower lips now. "She works as a nurse over at the county hospital. That’s a ways from here."
     
    The woman in the road, Liza, was moving now. A very slow pace, and with an awkward gait, but she was moving. Straight for the diner.
     
    Ben did not know why this disturbed him — if anything, Ms. Connelly looked as though she might need help — but it did.
     
    Perhaps this was why he was hesitant to stand, slow to move. He found himself reluctant to take action, which was very out of character for him. As such, it was one of the older patrons who announced, "I’ll go see if she’s okay." And it was the two old men together who hurried to the front door.
     
    And so Ben watched it all happen:
     
    The two old-timers hustled until they were about ten feet away from Liza, then they slowed down. Ben could see one of them talking to her, probably asking if she were all right.
     
    Liza turned in their direction, but she did not look up right away; her hair was still hanging in her face.
     
    The speaker reached out to Liza now, taking her by the arm, guiding her toward the diner.
     
    Liza leaned toward his hand, stooped her neck ... and bit at him. Ben blinked in amazement, but the waitress’ gasp told him that he had not imagined it — Liza had tried to bite the old man.
     
    The speaker jerked back, turning into profile as he addressed his partner from the counter. Ben saw his mouth form the words, Did you see that? His expression was both mystified and offended.
     
    Whatever the men might have tried next was irrelevant. Liza threw herself at the speaker, her temperament suddenly that of a wild animal.
     
    The speaker, now the victim , tried to push her away, but as he shuffled backward he lost his footing. He stumbled and fell.
     
    Liza landed atop him and bit him, bit him right on the face. Her teeth sank into his cheek and ripped the flesh away in horrifying strings of gore, exposing his gums and molars to the air.
     
    Ben could hear the victim’s screams through the glass. The man’s partner stared down at his friend, who was by now crying out for help as the crazed nurse continued her assault. The partner took a single step backward ... and then he turned and ran as fast as his old legs would carry him — up the road, away from the diner.
     
    Ben slowly became aware that the waitress was screaming as well. Her hands were pawing at her face as though she wanted to cover her eyes, yet could not. She hopped up and down in place, but seemed unable to look away from the carnage.
     
    One of Ben’s fellow travelers whimpered and hid her eyes; her male companion hunched deeper into the booth, vomiting onto the seat.
     
    In all the chaos, only two people maintained even a semblance of calm: Ben and the janitor, who was just now waking up, looking confused and