End of the Line (Book 2): Stuck in the Middle by Lara Frater Read Free Book Online Page B

Keith put on the work boots he wore yesterday. I didn’t know if they were warm enough for snow. I reminded myself to tell Jim to get a pair for him in the next supply run but I don’t know if there would be one before spring.
    I walked to the deck followed by Keith and found Tanya at the bow looking at the water.
                  I followed her gaze and saw it.
                  It was a floater.
                  Not a piece of shit or something easy to deal with, but a floating zombie.
                  The one thing I was always grateful for was that when zombies go in the water, they bloat, and then float instead of sinking. I couldn’t imagine them at the ocean floor.
                  It was at the end of summer with still a few hot swim days left. The boat had a swim deck in the back.
                  One day the weather was perfect. Everyone put on their bathing suits or shorts and we hung around the deck. Jim found the boat had an Mp3 sound system with preloaded songs. We blasted pop music, had warm beers, and it seemed almost a party of friends rather than a refuge boat. Even Grace wore a skimpy bikini widening the eyes of every man but Jim and Eric. I think Mike was in the doghouse for a week for staring. Even though, I caught Hannah checking out Jim in his short shorts. I guess she thought it was okay because Jim was unavailable, but I don’t think Grace had any interest in anyone but herself.
                  It didn’t matter; we were having a great time. I almost stopped dreading the upcoming winter. I didn’t have a bathing suit so I wore shorts and a tee. The water felt refreshing on such a hot day.
                  That stopped when Henry screamed, so terrifying I thought he was drowning until I heard the moan. That’s when we saw the floater. It nearly ran into Henry and caused a panic with the other three people in the water: Jim, Hannah, and Dena.
                  Good thing zombies can’t swim. All four safely made it back into the boat while Grace shot it. She had her rifle even as she sat sunning herself on a lounge chair.
                  We never had a day like that again. We only had two more hot days and that involved quick dips. Grace, Mike, Tanya or me watched with a rifle. Henry wouldn’t even do that. He refused to swim again.              Jim came out wearing boots and an open coat.
                  “Where’s Grace?” I asked.
                  “She knows. She’s coming.” He began buttoning up his coat. I felt the chill of the morning and the sea wind.
                  We all took shooting lessons from her, but when we needed a quick shot, Grace did it.
                  I looked at the zombie, then Keith. He didn’t look scared. Neither was I. One thing a zombie can’t do is climb a ladder and the swim deck was closed. We were safe in the boat but it could get tangled up in the engine and if we didn’t kill it, it would stay with the boat and continually moan. We found that out the hard way. On a morning watch a few weeks ago, Dave saw a floater too far to take out. It was lost when we moved but showed up a day later, moaning and it brought two more with it.
                  I looked back to it. The scary part is it looked fresh, a new zombie rather than an old one. I couldn’t tell the gender because of the bloating and the gray skin, but it looked like it wore jeans and a t-shirt.
                  I heard the door of the below deck open. Grace came out with no coat, and still wearing her Jimmy Choos. She hadn’t changed from when I saw her in the bathroom. She had her pretty rifle on her back. She went to the bow, looked at the zombie, raised the gun and fired.
                  The zombie’s head vanished, but the bloated corpse stayed above water which it would briefly than