Last Stand on Zombie Island by Christopher L. Eger Read Free Book Online Page B

only item he saw was a nylon strap, about the size of a suitcase handle that hung horizontally from the center of the door.
    He lunged for the strap with his face, grabbing at it with his lips like a catfish as he willed his jaws to elongate enough to bite the strap. As his teeth found purchase on the thick dirty nylon and he bit down hard, he felt the door jerk violently outward.
    He heard the growls of the pigtail girl yanking on the car door from the outside. Spud was prostrate on his stomach, legs akimbo, pulling back with his neck and grinding his knees into the bench seat for traction. His jaws ached and he felt an incisor pop forward at an angle it had never had before, but he held the door from opening any further with every muscle in his body.
    Spud heaved his body into something resembling an upside-down sit up and pulled the door closed. He sat listening in silence for a few seconds, teeth still sunk into the door strap. He felt the vibration through the door of the outside latch being worked again before he even heard the click . Just as the door began to open, again he pulled back hard with his neck, slamming it neatly.
    Frustrated growls and short yells punctuated by the sound of little fists beating on the door and window convinced Spud to hold on to the strap. The driver’s door opened and the pig-tailed girl sprang into the front seat. Spud released the strap as he rolled over and looked up at her. She threw herself at the sandwiched cage and Lexan screen that normally insulated the driver from the antics of a suspect in the back seat without effect. Spud could see her dead eyes, her swollen neck, and bubbling congealed blood smeared across her face, looking down on him.
    “Surprise, bitch,” he said without even thinking. He never expected to be grateful for that cage, no matter how many times he looked through one.
    She screamed and beat her tiny, blood-washed fists against the cage. He could see blood, thick like spilled paint, on her face and hair, splatter with every shake of the child’s body.
    He lay there watching her pound repeatedly on the cage without letting up, tearing her hands and nails. She seemed to be solely determined in her desire to get to him. It was as if whatever the child used to be had been replaced by a demon who’s purpose was to tear through the cage and get Spud.
    He heard more growls from outside the car and saw two, four then six more children pour into the front seat. Once they saw him laid across the backseat only inches away, they joined in the effort to tear apart the cage. Several of the children had the same horrible look to them as the pigtailed girl. Bloodied eyes, broken swollen faces, some had bite marks, torn clothes and one chubby boy looked as if something had removed his ear at the skull.
    Spud became as small as he could in the backseat. His hands were numb and he laid on them behind his back. He could not tell where his fingertips were anymore. He could not run away, he could not fight, he could not hide, and he could not call for help. There was nothing else he could do but puddle up on the seat and wait to see what would happen next.
    He heard the terrible sound of the door latch opening again. This time it came from the door at his feet. Just as the door started to pull open, he took both feet and kicked it as hard as he could. The door sprung open and knocked over the kid that had opened it before bouncing closed again. Spud wedged a foot up the door panel and into the strap on the door, holding it closed.
    The door latch next to his forehead clicked and started to open again, and as it did he craned his neck sideways and back as far as he could to get his jaw on the strap to hold it closed. The rear bench of a Crown Victoria Interceptor is 60 inches from door to door and Spuds 5’ 6” frame just barely managed to span this distance, holding both doors closed from the inside as the kids on the outside of the car tugged at each.
    The crowd growling and