Wild Strawberry: Book 3 Ascent Read Online Free Page B

space to set up home.
                  What had been less fortunate, was that a few hours after they had arrived on the first night of the outbreak, a forty-foot lorry had crashed into glass front of the building, rendering it un-securable.
                  Ever since the crash the zombie throng would expand slowly as every few days another creature would wander inside.
     
    *   *   *
     
    Helena and Rob called their forages below for food their ‘fishing’ trips.  Their expeditions had started as terrifying ordeals, but since the pair had quickly adapted quickly to their new lives, the terror had morphed into excitement: a welcome emotion when so many of the pleasures of their old life had gone.
                  “Whose turn is it to be bait?” asked Rob, running his fingers through his beard. 
                  “Rob, darling ,” Helena fluttered her eyelashes in mock flirtation, “I think it may be my turn, but I would love chance to have a look at the book shelf.”
                  Rob and Helena shared a love of literature.  Unfortunately the selection of books in the service station newsagent was limited to trashy thrillers, trashy romance, trashy horror and some top-shelf adult novels that were mostly about bondage and unlikely erotic encounters.
                  Rob started with thrillers, Helena with romances and erotica; they would meet in the middle with horror.
                  “Of all the cruelties this new world of chaos and death has to offer us,” lamented Rob by torchlight one cold night, “being stranded with no E.M. Forster and ten copies of the latest Jeffrey Archer is certainly among the worst.”
                  The process of ‘fishing’ involved one of the pair dangling as ‘bait’ from the ceiling at one end of the food hall. While the zombies were distracted the other would grab as much from the shops or restaurants as possible.
                  They had secured some storage rooms, and had made themselves a relatively comfortable living space.
                  They were just getting ready to go ‘fishing’ when the growls of the undead were joined by another sound: the engine of a car.
                  They had long since given up all hope of rescue, but now Rob could not prevent a thrill of excitement at the thought that this could be the Police or Army come to save them.
                  He leaned down as far as he dared from the metal rafters, attracting the attention of the zombies: their hands reaching up into the air beneath him.
                  It was a black car.  It was a large 4X4 with tinted windows, flames coming from a burning roof rack, skidding as it turned around sharply in the car park.  It was trailing a crowd of at least fifty hungry zombies.
                  Looking down Rob saw a trail of black smoke, a smoke signal to every zombie within a ten mile radius.
                  Their days of wine and roses were over: the whole area would be standing room only with monsters in a day or two.
                  They had better organise a final raid to claim as much as possible from the ground floor before it became too busy.
                  Just as Rob thought it could get no worse, the car smashed through the window, doubling the number of creatures infesting their home.

Chapter Six
    Unexpected Guests
     
    Adam looked at the bite in his hand.  He could see the bones of his metatarsal visible through the torn mess.
                  “I know the bloody score!” He whispered to himself.
                  Neil and Misha were cowering in the back seat.  The windows were darkened, so they did not think the creatures could see inside; but the zombies knew someone was in there, as their hands and teeth scratched at the surface.