Zombies! Episode 3 - Love Bites Read Online Free Page B

There were tufts of it scattered on the floor. The exposed
portions of its scalp were red and blistered. The remaining hair
was almost entirely white but was, or had been, thick and soft. A
black and white mustache, thick with dried gore, was plastered to
its upper lip. The arm it was chewing on had probably belonged to
the super.
     
    "I've got it, Al," Culph said into the mike.
"Call it in and see if Dr. Luco wants it alive."
     
    "Roger," came the reply.
     
    Culph watched it with fascination, his rifle
leveled at its head. It took one jerking motion toward him but was
held fast by the collapsed shelf. It must have somehow understood
that it couldn't get to him because it ignored him after the failed
attempt and went back to gnawing on the severed arm.
     
    "Al?"
     
    "Yeah, Frank?"
     
    "I want to get some video of this thing."
     
    " What? "
     
    Culph chuckled into the mike. "Yeah, I think
Dr. Luco might like to observe their behavior."
     
    Al thought that Culph had a little bit of a
crush on Dr. Luco. She was a pathologist. Her interest began and
ended with the bacteria that caused the infection. Zombie behavior
was a different science altogether. There were other doctors that
might be interested, though. So he complied, comfortable in the
knowledge that the zombie had been found and all was safe.
     
    There was a portable video camera on Culph's
belt. Al came up behind him and removed it, flipping open the
digital lens and taking some footage. Culph watched as the thing
continued its gnawing motion. When Al walked up, it tried to free
itself again, just once. Then it went back to its bone. It was as
if the prospect of the new victim changed the state of its own
situation. It didn't make any rational sense but it did allude to a
sort of rationale behind the hunger.
     
    "Is that the super's arm?" Al asked as he
watched the thing through the lense. His voice quavered a bit.
Unlike Culph, Henry was not enamored with his job. He'd been there
at Sisters of Charity when the ER there had been invaded by
the undead. At Heron's order, he'd come into the hospital hefting a
giant sledge hammer as if he was going to bash through the walls
with it. When he'd been offered a place on the squad, he'd
initially declined. Later he'd changed his mind. Al Henry had a
very inflated perception of what his duty as a police officer was.
But inside he was a sensitive man without the real guts for this
kind of work.
     
    "I guess," Culph answered, not really caring
too much about the arm.
     
    "Where's the super's body?"
     
    Culph froze, suddenly chilled even through
his gear. He cursed once. Looking over at Al, he realized the kind
of danger that his partner was in. Without saying anything, he
turned him around and began marching him back toward the stairs. Al
must have also realized that there was a missing body and a missing
body meant a missing zombie. He didn't say anything either.
     
    It was perhaps a fifteen second march from
their position to the staircase when moving directly. Culph moved
behind Al, keeping his gun trained forward and his eyes everywhere.
Everywhere, that is, except behind himself. He didn't even think to
look out for himself.
     
    The zombie launched itself from out of the
shadows and grabbed Culph around the waist. Al stumbled forward,
away from the fray, while Culph tried in vain to recover. Off
balance, the zombie had all of the advantage. It sank its teeth
into his arm, tearing viciously at the woven material of his
sleeve.
     
    His sleeve held.
     
    This infuriated the zombie no end. When its
teeth came back with only fibers, it bit him again. And again. Al
moved forward to help, but Culph called him off angrily. The last
thing he wanted to see was a friend and partner bitten by a zombie.
That's what had happened to Heron.
     
    Twisting his body so that the zombie was
forced to begin work on a fresh part of his arm, he managed to
wrest his pistol from the holster. He'd dropped the rifle when he'd
realized that