The Dead & Dying: A Zombie Novel Read Online Free Page A
Author: William Todd Rose
with each passing moment, coming closer... and closer... ever closer.
What at first had seemed like a cavernous room now began to feel as dark and constricting as a coffin. It was almost as if I could feel the walls pressing in and the air suddenly seemed thin and dry, making each breath an act of sheer will power.
That screech echoing through the darkness: was that a wire raking against the outside of the silo? Or broken and jagged fingernails scratching against the metal, desperately searching for purchase?
My heart pounded in my chest and I clutched my tire iron closer to me, the metal warm and slick in my moist palms.
“Damn it, girl, you had to go and drop the gun didn't you? Shit.... ”
I pictured the shotgun, laying at the bottom of what could have either been a very large stream or an extremely small river. Probably trapped beneath ice by then, the way the temperature had been dropping. And I knew exactly how it felt: cold, isolated, and useless.
Something clanged against the outside of my shelter, the sound causing a queasy warmth to spread through my stomach. I held my breath and listened for it to repeat, for even the smallest ting or pop.
“Girl, you need to get up and get your ass out of here. You want to die in this place?”
The voice in my head sounded reasonable, but I laid there for several minutes with images of rotting flesh and gnashing teeth looping through my mind.
Could I really bring myself to kill them if I had to? And how many were out there? Just one? Ten?
“Be a whole lot more if you don't get your ass moving.”
I stood and walked to the entrance of the silo, holding the cold metal lever in one hand with the tire iron raised above my head in the other. Waiting. Listening.
My heart pounded in my chest and I could feel beads of sweat forming on my brow.
Another scraping sound, so soft that it could have been nothing more than a twig swaying in the wind.
But was it really?
Fuck this .
I threw open the door and my head instinctively whipped back as I winced in pain. Tears streamed from the corner of my eyes and I backed away, swinging the tire iron wildly before me.
When the door was flung open sunlight had flooded into the previously darkened silo. Intensified by the reflective blanket of snow, I found myself blind. Vulnerable. And trapped.
There was a sound in the doorway. A soft crunching that could only be feet breaking through icy crust. At the same time, a stench wafted in, a smell that reminded me of coming back from spring break only to find we had left steaks sitting on the counter in our dorm room.
I continued backing away, swinging the tire iron at what I imagined to be head level; trying to blink away the flashbulb-like explosions that obscured my vision.
But, inside, I knew that it was pointless. The little voice that had urged me to leave while I still had the chance now whispered with quiet certainty:
“Girl, you're going to die in this place.”
CHAPTER SIX: THE CHILD
He saw me, I know he did, I could tell by the look on his face. I knew he was just tryin' to ignore me and that he had to be able to see and hear me all along. I just knew it. And he can keep tryin' to pretend he doesn't but I know he can now so it won't do him no good. I'll keep yellin' and kickin' and hittin' and every time it looks like he might be ready to pass out or something I'll make sure he wakes back up. He has to feel every little bit of the pain, has to suffer every minute 'til he dies. If Mr. Boots was here, I'd say sic 'em boy, go get 'em and I know he would 'cause Mommy always said Mr. Boots was my protector and would do anything to keep me safe.
If Mr. Boots had been there that day in the creek, I know things woulda turned out different. He wouldn't have let that man point the gun at me and Mommy. I know he wouldn't.
When he said he was gonna shoot us if we didn't say somethin', I started tryin' to talk but it was like my brain had forgot how to make words. There was
What at first had seemed like a cavernous room now began to feel as dark and constricting as a coffin. It was almost as if I could feel the walls pressing in and the air suddenly seemed thin and dry, making each breath an act of sheer will power.
That screech echoing through the darkness: was that a wire raking against the outside of the silo? Or broken and jagged fingernails scratching against the metal, desperately searching for purchase?
My heart pounded in my chest and I clutched my tire iron closer to me, the metal warm and slick in my moist palms.
“Damn it, girl, you had to go and drop the gun didn't you? Shit.... ”
I pictured the shotgun, laying at the bottom of what could have either been a very large stream or an extremely small river. Probably trapped beneath ice by then, the way the temperature had been dropping. And I knew exactly how it felt: cold, isolated, and useless.
Something clanged against the outside of my shelter, the sound causing a queasy warmth to spread through my stomach. I held my breath and listened for it to repeat, for even the smallest ting or pop.
“Girl, you need to get up and get your ass out of here. You want to die in this place?”
The voice in my head sounded reasonable, but I laid there for several minutes with images of rotting flesh and gnashing teeth looping through my mind.
Could I really bring myself to kill them if I had to? And how many were out there? Just one? Ten?
“Be a whole lot more if you don't get your ass moving.”
I stood and walked to the entrance of the silo, holding the cold metal lever in one hand with the tire iron raised above my head in the other. Waiting. Listening.
My heart pounded in my chest and I could feel beads of sweat forming on my brow.
Another scraping sound, so soft that it could have been nothing more than a twig swaying in the wind.
But was it really?
Fuck this .
I threw open the door and my head instinctively whipped back as I winced in pain. Tears streamed from the corner of my eyes and I backed away, swinging the tire iron wildly before me.
When the door was flung open sunlight had flooded into the previously darkened silo. Intensified by the reflective blanket of snow, I found myself blind. Vulnerable. And trapped.
There was a sound in the doorway. A soft crunching that could only be feet breaking through icy crust. At the same time, a stench wafted in, a smell that reminded me of coming back from spring break only to find we had left steaks sitting on the counter in our dorm room.
I continued backing away, swinging the tire iron at what I imagined to be head level; trying to blink away the flashbulb-like explosions that obscured my vision.
But, inside, I knew that it was pointless. The little voice that had urged me to leave while I still had the chance now whispered with quiet certainty:
“Girl, you're going to die in this place.”
CHAPTER SIX: THE CHILD
He saw me, I know he did, I could tell by the look on his face. I knew he was just tryin' to ignore me and that he had to be able to see and hear me all along. I just knew it. And he can keep tryin' to pretend he doesn't but I know he can now so it won't do him no good. I'll keep yellin' and kickin' and hittin' and every time it looks like he might be ready to pass out or something I'll make sure he wakes back up. He has to feel every little bit of the pain, has to suffer every minute 'til he dies. If Mr. Boots was here, I'd say sic 'em boy, go get 'em and I know he would 'cause Mommy always said Mr. Boots was my protector and would do anything to keep me safe.
If Mr. Boots had been there that day in the creek, I know things woulda turned out different. He wouldn't have let that man point the gun at me and Mommy. I know he wouldn't.
When he said he was gonna shoot us if we didn't say somethin', I started tryin' to talk but it was like my brain had forgot how to make words. There was
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