Paradise Lost: Tales of the Dead Tropics by Sue Edge Read Free Book Online

saying..."
    I couldn't speak, tears choking my throat. Biggs had been loud, short tempered and bossy but he'd also been brave and honorable, and ultimately, had sacrificed himself for us.
    "I don't know how much more of this I can take." Emma's voice trembled. How much more could any of us take, I wondered. How much fear, pain, death can any person bear before they break? It felt like I had been drowning in a sea of terror for an eternity. Even greater than my desperate desire to live was the unbearable fear for my children. It wrapped, like heavy chains, ever tighter around my heart with each passing minute. Were they safe, were they afraid, were they crying for me somewhere?
    Ken started to speak, stopped and cleared his throat. "So what do we do now? We can't hide out in this lane forever."
    Jim nodded. "We need to work on getting a vehicle and finding a safe location." He looked around at us. "Any chance one of you has a car handy?"
    "I was late this morning so I'm parked just across the road." I offered dryly, " but I don't think it will help us, seeing the car keys are in the ER staff room."
    Jim sighed. "Okay, let's see what the situation is out front."
    Cautiously, we moved down the alley, keeping as close to the wall as possible. Every excruciating step of the way, I kept expecting to see the monsters appear in the lane. As we neared the front, Jim waved at us to stop. He inched forward carefully and peered around the edge of the hospital wall for a few seconds. Pulling back, Jim looked at us impassively. "Well, there's good news and there's bad news."
    B1 ( Roy, I corrected myself ) snorted quietly. "This whole day has been bad news!"
    Jim ignored him and continued. "There are at least fifty or sixty zombies milling in front of the ER."
    "I really hope that wasn't the good news." Ken responded drily as he removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes tiredly.
    Jim allowed himself a little smile in response. "There are four ambulances pulled up at the front. I'm guessing, with all the chaos this morning, that at least one of them ..."
    "still has the keys in them!" Emma finished excitedly.
    I pushed past Jim to take a look for myself. Just as Jim had said, the front of the hospital was full of dull-eyed zombies shambling aimlessly. Two ambulances were stopped randomly in the driveway while another two were parked further away. Trolleys lay overturned and, scattered on the ground, were pieces of a body. Or bodies. A zombie stood nearby, gnawing on a hand. I tried to block out the scene as I calculated the difficulty of getting to the nearest ambulance. It was clear that we would have to go right through the zombie horde. Shiiiiitte .
    I met Jim's deadpan expression as I drew back slowly. "What do you think, ma'am?"
    "Piece of cake." Even to me, my voice sounded strangled.
    His lips quirked momentarily before resuming its expressionless state. "Our options appear pretty limited. We can head down the other way and hope to find a car there or we can make a run for one of these ambulances."
    "Jesus!" Roy exclaimed incredulously, if softly. "How is that even an option! We try the other way, of course!"
    I shook my head determinedly, holding Jim's bland gaze. "We know that zombies are pretty slow moving. True, if we all tried to run through that crowd, the chances are that most of us wouldn't make it. But one or two fast people could dodge them and make it to the ambulances. Then they would pick up the others. Theoretically."
    "Theoretically." Jim agreed. "So, who wants to volunteer?"
    "Shit, not me!" Roy replied vehemently. "Like hell I'm going to run towards any frigging zombies! You're crazy!" He looked around him for support. "Am I right? It's lunacy!"
    Emma rolled her eyes but her normally rosy complexion had paled considerably. "You really think we have a chance?"
    I swallowed hard and nodded. I couldn't believe I was even contemplating running through a crowd of zombies but I had to be the one behind the wheel. It was the