Redemption of the Dead by A.P. Fuchs Read Free Book Online Page A

kitchen. The water was off. Even after
checking the master valve, nothing was running into the house. Joe
swallowed back his thirst and sat alone on the bed in what seemed
to have been a teenager’s bedroom. KISS posters dominated the
walls. Clearly whoever had lived here was a fan. He browsed the CD
rack and there were a dozen of their albums, their edges covered in
dust.
    Tracy was right: it had been a
bonehead move to try and take on the zombie by himself, especially
since he was unarmed. He was thankful he was still alive, though
there was a brief moment while taking on the creature that he
thought it might be for the best if the thing killed him. Finally,
then, he’d be free of this world, the heartache, this disgusting
reality of undead monsters and supernatural forces.
    Except when you hit the other side, he thought, then
you’ll be spending eternity with the supernatural anyway. You’ve
seen enough to know that. He
just hoped he’d make it to the right side when his time
came.
    Misplaced
affection had been the real culprit. His love for April, her
untimely death, undeath, then death again—Joe knew full well he’d
never get over her. Not completely. At best, he’d remain as he was:
used to a life without her, the pain of the past always present and
hanging over the future. But this world, the one he was in, the one
he and Billie and August emerged in after the Storm of Skulls—it
wasn’t theirs. April could still be alive here. If so, he’d have to
find her. There was no choice.
    But Tracy . . . he
thought. The girl was growing on him. He saw so much of himself in
her that it was surreal he even found her, never mind actually got
to spend lots of time with her. She understood him, he knew, his
mission, his pain. She was on a similar quest of her own, this
undead world a twisted salve to their pulsating wounds.
    He’d pushed
her out of the basement for the same reason he immediately tore off
into the gray rain the day it first fell: to ensure the girl he
cared about was safe. Something had come over him the moment he saw
that creature emerge from the freezer, an instinct to protect her
overriding any thought for his own safety.
    “She would
have been fine standing right there with me,” he said to himself.
“She could take you down if needed and would probably have no
trouble doing so.” He touched his cheek where she slapped him. His
skin was still sensitive.
    Joe just wasn’t sure if he was substituting Tracy for
April, and the feelings he had for his beloved were being projected
onto someone who might be able to take her place.
    “You can’t
treat her like that, though,” he told himself. “She can’t be a
surrogate. She deserves better than that. Deserves someone who
cares for her just for her, no strings attached.” He sighed. “Can’t
believe I’m even thinking about this stuff when there’re more
important things to worry about.”
    The thing
was, he knew he’d remain restless until he knew for certain April
was deceased in this reality.
    It’d be the only way I might be able to move on, he thought, but knew it was very
unlikely. As if you’re going
to find her, though.
    The real
problem at the moment was Tracy, and he wasn’t sure if he should
come clean with her and tell her what was going on inside
himself.
    * * * *
    After
searching the kitchen herself for something to eat and coming up
empty, Tracy paced the living room floor, the can of chickpeas in
one hand, a clenched fist in the other.
    You’re stupid if you think you can stay mad at him. You
need each other because you both know what it’s like to go it alone
in this Hell-on-Earth. “But
it’s his fault!” She clamped a hand to her mouth; she
hadn’t meant to speak so loudly. There was no stirring upstairs so
Joe probably hadn’t heard her.
    She’d just
been so relieved he was okay after the fact. He’d been in worse,
she knew, but somehow at that moment, it was like his life was in
serious jeopardy and the thought