The Zombie Virus (Book 2): The Children of the Damned Read Online Free Page B

like a living waterfall over the side of
the concrete bridge railings, pouring through the air in a tangle
of arms and legs. Some splashed into the river, the smacks and
cracks of bodies crashing into those below them echoing off the
banks. Steven stared in amazement, fighting to maintain a
controlled slide through the loose talus of the steep slope. Bodies
broke and bounced off the embankment before rolling lifeless into
the boiling water. Other Loonies rolled down the slope around him
and Kera, smacking into the riverbank and bouncing into the
churning water.
    Except for one.
    A large male Loony in the remnants of a plaid
pajama top stood with its hands tightly gripping the railing of the
overpass staring at them with blazing red eyes, its jaws snapping
open and closed spasmodically. It simply stood there watching them
while its brethren flowed around him. Steven glanced at the man
briefly and felt a chill race down his spine, then was forced to
move his attention back to the bodies falling around him.
    “Work your way to the side before we get
bowled over!” he screamed up at Kera, who was ungracefully slipping
down the slope like a cat on ice. They soon reached the bottom and
stumbled across the narrow embankment and out of the way of the
falling bodies. Gradually, the thuds and splashes of the flailing
Loonies ceased and Steven looked back up at the bridge and the
highway berm. The remaining Loonies meandered in a state of rage;
occasionally another would get knocked over the bridge and fall to
the embankment with a thud. Steven grabbed Kera’s chafed and
bleeding hand and dragged her away from the bridge abutments when
he saw several of the creatures that had slid down the embankment
picking themselves up.
    “Let’s get out of here,” he hissed.
    Kera glanced over her shoulder as more of the
Loonies stood up. “Oh shit!” she muttered.
    Close to a dozen of the crazed creatures took
off after them, some dragging mangled legs or running with arms
hanging limply at their sides. A few growled, although most were
deadly silent. Up on the highway the swarm began to coalesce again
when it spotted the two humans running. They started spilling off
the pavement and down the steep embankment, some instinctively
controlling their slides while others tumbled out of control. Soon
the hillside looked like a living carpet with the horde of Loonies
swarming over it.
    Kera glanced back over her shoulder again and
her face grew pale with terror. There were too many to count. Their
guns would be useless against those numbers. It was the largest
mass of Loonies she had ever seen and they were still pouring off
the roadway and down the slope in a cloud of billowing gray
dust.
    “We’ve got to get across that railroad
bridge!” Steven yelled, guiding her along the narrow river
embankment as fast as they could force their feet to move through
the thick tangle of weeds that flourished so close to the water’s
edge. She saw the narrow steel trestle that crossed the lazy, brown
river a few hundred yards ahead of them. They would only have to
climb a ten foot berm to the tracks where the twin rails left the
riverbank. At the base of the highway bridge, the growing horde of
raving mad creatures was building to a breaking point and like a
boiler bursting at the seams, exploded down the riverbank blindly
following those that raced ahead of them. She could hear their
footfalls, growls, and mutterings as they gave chase; she dared not
look back again for fear of what she would see.
    Their gear seemed to grow in weight, slowing
their pace while they sprinted the last few yards to the tracks and
raced up the berm to the rusting rails. They barely paused to look
back up the river at the snaking mass of Loonies, some of whom were
running on all fours like animals. The faster of the creatures were
only a few handfuls of yards behind them. They started across the
trestle, their feet dancing from one creosoted crosstie to the next
as they bounced