Dry Rot: A Zombie Novel by H.E. Goodhue Read Free Book Online

your arm okay?” Danni asked. A large purple bruise in the shape of Ian’s mouth blossomed on my forearm.
    “It hurts,” I said, “but he didn’t break the skin.”
    “What was wrong with him?” Danni asked. “He looked sick.”
    “Sick?” Jared laughed. “He wasn’t sick, mom, he was a fucking zombie.”
    “Don’t curse,” Danni said.
    “Sorry,” Jared shrugged, “but that doesn’t change the fact that Ian was a zombie. What else would you call him? Lucas said he was dead and then Ian shows up and tries to bite a chunk out of his arm. Sure sounds like a zombie to me.”
    “You’ve been playing too many video games,” Danni said. She turned towards me. “What do you think Lucas?”
    “No idea,” I said honestly. “Ian was dead. I’m sure of that. But that thing outside was Ian or at least had been.”
    “But do you really think he was a zombie?” Danni asked.
    “Shit,” I said. “I hope not.” I looked at my arm, remembering all of the zombie movies I had seen.
    “You’re fine,” Jared said, examining my arm. “He didn’t break the skin, so you’re cool.”
    “Thanks,” I said and turned back to the radio. 

 
    -14-
     
    Static popped and crackled on most channels. I had written down the channel we heard talking on the previous night. Now it was only white noise.
    “Keep looking,” Jared said. “Someone is out there. They have to be.” I scrolled through a few more channels. I still couldn’t make sense out of what Ian had become. He looked dried out and hardened, almost mummified. He most definitely looked dead, but could he really have been a zombie? I thought shit like that only existed in movies and videogames, but I couldn’t argue with Jared’s rationale. For lack of a better definition, Ian was a zombie.
    “…little more than husks of who they were…entire East and West Coasts...”
    The voice rattled through the radio. Everyone inside the bunker held their breath. My hand trembled, as if moving it might lose the voice. We were desperate for information.
    “Can you talk to them?” Danni said. Her voice was barely above a whisper. I nodded.
    “Please repeat,” I said.
    “Who is this? What’s your location?” the voice asked.
    “My name is Lucas,” I said. “I’m on the East Coast. Where are you?” I wasn’t going to tell them too much too soon. Disasters made people dangerous.
    “We’re in Buffalo. Wait, did you say East Coast? Holy shit, Lucas,” the voice said. “How are you still alive?”
    “What do you mean?” I asked. “I’ve been holed up for over a day in my basement.”
    “The entire East Coast is gone, so is the West,” the voice said. “Some kind of coordinated terrorist attack. They set off multiple dirty bombs around major cities. You’ve seen the ash falling, right?”
    “Yeah,” I said. “But I didn’t think dirty bombs would be capable of everything that I’ve seen outside. I’d expect some fallout and radiation poisoning, but nothing like what we’ve seen.”
    “You’ve seen the husks, haven’t you?” the voice said. “A handful of survivors are out there and they’re all reporting husks in their towns and cities.”
    “What the hell is a husk?” I asked. I was pretty sure that I already knew the answer.
    “The dead,” the voice said. “Those bombs weren’t just radioactive. They loaded them up with a myriad of viruses. Something happened when the bombs exploded, some kind of radioactive virus or something. Anyone who breathes in too much of the ash dies, but they don’t stay that way. The radiation kills them and dries them out, but the virus brings them back. They come back as withered human husks. Then they eat. Have you or anyone you’re with been bit?”
    I looked at the bruise on my arm. It had spread and yellowed on the edges, but it didn’t look like anything more than a bruise.
    “No,” I said. “No one has been bit by one of those things. One tried, but didn’t break the