Ridgetown: A zombie apocalypse novel Read Online Free
Author: Philip Radford
into. He didn't blame Helen for what she had done but it was something he considered an overreaction. He could tell that she still had real problems trusting people and it made him sad.
He
could see that Scott was a trustworthy person but Helen was still quite guarded around him. He felt flattered that she trusted him but also an overwhelming responsibility for her. He felt like it was his job to show her that she could trust people and knew just how delicate her trust in him was. He wondered whether some of her skepticism about trusting random people was rubbing off on him because he didn't necessarily think that sounding the alarm was the wrong thing to do, just maybe something that had been blown out of proportion on this occasion.
It was for precisely that reason that he had decided they needed to try and save this man. He needed to show Helen that they
had
to care about other people and that other people
were
important. He prayed that this person turned out to be friendly. If they were, maybe they could all be introduced to more likeminded people. They could only survive as a trio for so long, they needed other people to survive. Dennis couldn't explain why he had a positive feeling about this random survivor, he just did. He'd had the same feeling about Helen and Scott and he hadn't been wrong. Maybe he was doing this for himself as much as Helen but he felt that whoever it was for, it was important that he did it.
They saw the first zombie before they saw the substation, it was badly decomposed and struggling to walk. It wasn't even clear whether it used to be male or female. Scott slowed down and drove as close to the zombie as possible, Dennis unbuckled himself and leant slightly over the side of the truck. The creature raised its arms slowly towards him in a pitiful attempt at grabbing him, Dennis held a short handled axe in his right arm and with one swoop, dispatched it with a sickening blow to the skull.
Scott sped up slightly and followed the path stopping at the peak of the hill. From here they could see the building, a few figures shambling around outside but otherwise quiet. Dennis hopped out from the back of the truck and cursed silently at the pain in his knees when he landed, his body reminding him that he wasn't as young as he felt anymore. He tapped on the driver's window and Scott wound it down.
"Turn the truck around and make sure it's ready for a quick getaway if we need it."
Scott nodded and wound the window back up. He turned the truck round and pulled up on the edge of the path where it ended and the adjoining field began. He and Helen got out and put their backpacks on.
They all went out with the same gear so that it didn't matter who picked up which stuff. Each of them took a backpack and an identical, short handled axe that had been taken from a DIY store when they had been collecting supplies for reinforcing the house's defences. Despite being described on the shelf as a short handled axe, the handle was long enough for a person to hold with two hands and wield like an Olympic hammer throw. The backpacks were practically empty. They each had a torch, a bottle of water, a pozi head screwdriver and a roll of duct tape. Each item from the eclectic mix had proved its usefulness more than once on previous missions although the main reason for the backpacks was for collecting supplies. Even though they weren't expecting to find anything useful, due to them leaving the substation bare from their previous visit, there was still the possibility of finding some useful things and being able to carry supplies hands-free could quite literally save lives.
The only difference between them was that Helen always carried a small, four inch knife in a sheath above her ankle. She had never used it, always managing to stay out of situations that required anything more than the axe she carried, but Helen had been carrying it for so long that she felt vulnerable without it. There was something reassuring about
He
could see that Scott was a trustworthy person but Helen was still quite guarded around him. He felt flattered that she trusted him but also an overwhelming responsibility for her. He felt like it was his job to show her that she could trust people and knew just how delicate her trust in him was. He wondered whether some of her skepticism about trusting random people was rubbing off on him because he didn't necessarily think that sounding the alarm was the wrong thing to do, just maybe something that had been blown out of proportion on this occasion.
It was for precisely that reason that he had decided they needed to try and save this man. He needed to show Helen that they
had
to care about other people and that other people
were
important. He prayed that this person turned out to be friendly. If they were, maybe they could all be introduced to more likeminded people. They could only survive as a trio for so long, they needed other people to survive. Dennis couldn't explain why he had a positive feeling about this random survivor, he just did. He'd had the same feeling about Helen and Scott and he hadn't been wrong. Maybe he was doing this for himself as much as Helen but he felt that whoever it was for, it was important that he did it.
They saw the first zombie before they saw the substation, it was badly decomposed and struggling to walk. It wasn't even clear whether it used to be male or female. Scott slowed down and drove as close to the zombie as possible, Dennis unbuckled himself and leant slightly over the side of the truck. The creature raised its arms slowly towards him in a pitiful attempt at grabbing him, Dennis held a short handled axe in his right arm and with one swoop, dispatched it with a sickening blow to the skull.
Scott sped up slightly and followed the path stopping at the peak of the hill. From here they could see the building, a few figures shambling around outside but otherwise quiet. Dennis hopped out from the back of the truck and cursed silently at the pain in his knees when he landed, his body reminding him that he wasn't as young as he felt anymore. He tapped on the driver's window and Scott wound it down.
"Turn the truck around and make sure it's ready for a quick getaway if we need it."
Scott nodded and wound the window back up. He turned the truck round and pulled up on the edge of the path where it ended and the adjoining field began. He and Helen got out and put their backpacks on.
They all went out with the same gear so that it didn't matter who picked up which stuff. Each of them took a backpack and an identical, short handled axe that had been taken from a DIY store when they had been collecting supplies for reinforcing the house's defences. Despite being described on the shelf as a short handled axe, the handle was long enough for a person to hold with two hands and wield like an Olympic hammer throw. The backpacks were practically empty. They each had a torch, a bottle of water, a pozi head screwdriver and a roll of duct tape. Each item from the eclectic mix had proved its usefulness more than once on previous missions although the main reason for the backpacks was for collecting supplies. Even though they weren't expecting to find anything useful, due to them leaving the substation bare from their previous visit, there was still the possibility of finding some useful things and being able to carry supplies hands-free could quite literally save lives.
The only difference between them was that Helen always carried a small, four inch knife in a sheath above her ankle. She had never used it, always managing to stay out of situations that required anything more than the axe she carried, but Helen had been carrying it for so long that she felt vulnerable without it. There was something reassuring about
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