The Swiss Family RobinZOM Read Online Free

got fifteen
minutes left,” Bill said.
    They hustled down the
corridor, their feet and shins wet. Their
movements disturbed the water, causing a door to drift open. There
was a rattling sound like a nail file rubbed against iron grating.
Bill and the boys stiffened, gripping their weapons in tight fists.
Bill peered into the room.
    A man lay on the floor,
pinned down by a bed ’s frame. His dead
white eyes stared up at them. The man’s greasy hair was brushed
back from his head, and blue veins like ripe cheese stood out on
his forehead. His blood red lips opened and let out a deep guttural
groan that came from the depths of his soul. The sound was slow and
long. It reverberated down the metal corridors. The Lurcher’s call
was answered by a dozen others, and then two dozen, and then
innumerable. Some were close, others distant, but they all filled
the Robinsons with terror. Bill took out another grey tube and
tossed it onto the bed. Bill swung his machete and buried it in the
man’s head. A thin spurt of blood squirted over Bill’s trouser leg.
He removed his machete and they rushed down the
corridor.
    “ Let’s get out of here!” Bill said.
    Bill and the boys waded through the corridor, the low death rattle
of Lurchers near and far echoing up and down the cruise liner’s
innards. They passed a cabin, and the sound of a death groan grew
in volume. None of them turned to look back. They got to the cargo
hold. Fritz and Ernest took position beside the door. Bill reached
into his pack again and took out another grey tube and attached a
timer. He set it for five minutes. Bill slid the grey tube through
a link in a chain that hung from the ceiling. They ran out of the
cruise liner, where Jack stood waiting for them.
    “ Everything go all
right?” Jack said.
    “ We’ll see in a few
minutes,” Bill said.
    “Did you find anything?”
    As if in response, groans
from hundreds of throats issued up from the ship.
Jack ’s face turned pale. Fritz and Ernest
each grabbed a cart handle and pushed it along the beach back
toward the bridge.
    “ It’s funny,” Fritz said.
“Despite the extra weight of the crates, the cart somehow feels
lighter.”
    “ Miraculous,” Ernest
said.
    High up on the cruise
liner, the silhouettes of dozens of figures pressed against the railing, arms outstretched and
reaching for the departing flesh of the living.

Five

    Bill and the
b oys put fifty feet between themselves
and the cruise liner. Figures emerged from the hole, turning their
heads, looking around, and then ambling toward the
Robinsons.
    “ We need to hold them
here,” Bill said. “We have to stop them from entering the jungle,
or we’ll never live in peace.”
    The
Lurchers ’ movements were hesitant and
juddering, without a hint of grace. Many had broken or missing
limbs, adding to their grungy gait, but moved surprisingly fast.
Most of them wore summer holiday wear, the rest smart crimson
uniforms, adding a comical edge to the scene. There was a long
chain of them, perhaps fifteen in total, and more pouring out of
the hole in the ship’s hull.
    “ Remember your training,”
Bill said. “Make calm, smooth motions. Nothing flashy. Stay
relaxed. Never panic. Jack, stay behind me at all times, all
right?”
    Jack nodded, his eyes
wide , hands gripping the baton tight. The
first Lurcher approached. It was a large man wearing a bright
Bermuda shirt. Bill brought his machete down across his neck. He
cut halfway through the flesh, the knife’s edge caught on the
undead’s larynx. Another two hacks, and the head was severed. The
body slumped to the ground. The thick congealed blood lay on top of
the sand, and wasn’t absorbed by it. Fritz met a female Lurcher.
She wore large sunglasses. He brought the baseball bat around. It
connected with the woman’s temple, the bat buried in her skull. She
looked at him with an element of confusion. Fritz pulled the bat
free and hit her again. This time she went down. The third